The Earlybird: Today's headlines

Troops in Afghanistan, Chrétien in D.C., Congress' split agenda, grounding crop dusters, Giuliani's extended term, Jordan's extended career:

• U.S. troops "are moving into position near Afghanistan," ABCNews.com reports. The troops "will enlist the help of Afghan guerrilla fighters who have been waging their own longtime war with the Taliban" and "will likely try to slip into the country and hunt for indicted terrorist Osama bin Laden."
• Bush administration officials on Sunday told "Americans not to expect a massive military response to the Sept. 11 attacks but a silent and invisible diplomatic and financial campaign aimed at crippling terrorists," the Washington Post reports.
• Officials on Sunday "would not rule out the possibility that Iraq might also be subject to U.S. military action in the campaign against terrorism," CNN.com reports.
• Officials are "debating whether to make the overthrow of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan an explicit objective of the upcoming military campaign," the Washington Post reports.
• On Sunday Pentagon officials said they had "lost contact with a unmanned spy plane the Taliban claims to have shot down," the Washington Times reports.
• On Sunday the Northern Alliance, "a loose confederation of Afghan opposition groups, announced it captured a key district of Balkh province and killed at least 80 Taliban militia fighters," FoxNews.com reports.

• President Bush will meet with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien at the White House today, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports. They "are expected to talk about Canada's possible military, diplomatic or financial contributions" to the U.S. war on terrorism.
• A U.S. military team has "arrived in Pakistan for talks on an anticipated military operation against Afghanistan to flush out Osama bin Laden and other suspected terrorists," UPI reports.
• On ABC's "This Week," Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday said that the United States will "soon will release documents proving that the Saudi-born and Afghanistan-sheltered terrorist is to blame for the coordinated assault," the Houston Chronicle reports. Powell, along with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, "scoffed at claims by the Taliban that bin Laden is now missing and may no longer be in their country."
• An official in Saudi Arabia said Sunday that "the United States cannot use a major Saudi air base for an offensive against terrorism," AP reports.
• Iran and Syria -- two nations accused of sponsoring terrorism -- "said they favor the implementation of an international coalition to fight terrorism under the umbrella of the United Nations," UPI reports.
• "India and Pakistan have welcomed the lifting of U.S.-imposed sanctions as both countries commit to an international campaign against terrorism," CNN.com reports.

• Bush will "sign an executive order identifying terrorist groups and their operatives around the world and freezing their U.S. assets," AP reports.
• Bush "has asked Congress for authority to waive all existing restrictions on U.S. military assistance and weapons exports for the next five years to any country if he determines the aid will help the fight against international terrorism," the Washington Post reports.
• Bush is considering issuing a national identification card for all Americans, the Drudge Report reports. But a White House source said Bush is "reluctant" about the idea.
• The official mourning period ended Sunday when Bush, visiting Camp David, "saw the U.S. flag raised to full staff... for the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks," Reuters reports.

• Some members of Congress want to dedicate more time to the domestic agenda that was put aside after the attacks, Roll Call reports. They want "a parallel-track strategy that would allow Congress to work simultaneously on legislation related to the Pentagon and World Trade Center attacks in addition to issues such as education, energy, the patients' bill of rights and a prescription drug benefit for seniors."
• Despite the attacks, "congressional leaders are seriously planning to stick with their schedule of calling it quits in October and returning home for three months," U.S. News and World Report's "Washington Whispers" reports.
• House members are "still hoping to address the critical issue of election reform this fall," Roll Call reports.
• "House and Senate tax writers are starting to draft a package of tax cuts and other economic-stimulus measures that could total as much as $100 billion next year," the Wall Street Journal reports.
• "Lawmakers from both parties are drafting legislation that would make the federal government the insurer of last resort for practically all businesses that suffer future terrorist attacks," the Wall Street Journal reports.
• And "many House Democrats are growing increasingly frustrated at being kept on the sidelines while Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., cuts deals with his Republican counterparts and President Bush," Roll Call reports.
• Democratic leaders said Sunday they "favored a federal takeover of airport security," the New York Times reports.
• "The top four Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate yesterday urged the reopening of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport as soon as security improvements are completed," the Washington Times reports.

• Mohamed Atta, "the suspected terrorist who crashed hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center, went twice to a small airport in South Florida and asked detailed questions about how to start and fly a crop-duster plane," the Miami Herald reports.
• Crop dusters "could be used to spread airborne agents, such as the anthrax virus, that are highly deadly," the Boston Herald reports.
• Federal "investigators discovered a manual on crop-dusters in the possession of Zacarias Moussouai, a man with alleged links to Osama bin Laden," the Washington Post reports.
• For the second time since the Sept. 11 attacks, the "federal government ordered a one-day grounding of crop-dusting planes nationwide," AP reports.
• "Experts are quick to point out that there is no hard evidence" that "bin Laden has managed to acquire chemical or biological weapons," the Baltimore Sun reports. But "satellite photographs are said to show dead animals" near a bin Laden camp, "perhaps the result of experimentation with a toxic agent," and a former bin Laden associate said "he was taken to a factory in Sudan where al Qaeda is accused of having made chemical weapons."

• "New evidence" leads federal officials to believe "the hijackers may have had accomplices deep within the 'secure' areas of airports," including "shops and restaurants in the terminal behind the metal detectors, or amongst the thousands of people who work in catering, fueling or cleaning aircraft," Time.com reports.
• "Recorded transmissions from a hijacked United Airlines flight that crashed in Pennsylvania without hitting a target on Sept. 11 offer a horrific glimpse of how hijackers surprised the two pilots by storming into the cockpit," USA Today reports.

• "NATO defense ministers will hold a special one-day meeting in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss the consequences of this month's attacks on the United States," Reuters reports.
• "Just hours" after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "repeated his demand for 48 hours of calm before talks could take place with the Palestinian leadership," an Israeli woman in the West Bank was killed Sunday, CNN.com reports. It was "a blow to an already shaky truce."

• Many money managers are planning on "approaching the coming week cautiously, not planning on buying aggressively in case the market dropped further," the New York Times reports.
• "The slide in share prices since the World Trade Center disaster is likely to hang over the US stock market until at least the end of this year," Financial Times reports.
• European financial markets "soared" Monday after airline companies received "European approval for insurance coverage," CNNfn.com reports.
• Sales of "gas masks, bulletproof vests, military food rations and a host of other protection and survival gear" are on the rise in the United States, USA Today reports.

• The National Rifle Association "is divided over endorsing Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate" Mark Earley or "staying out of the race entirely, which would be a big boost" to Democratic candidate Mark Warner, the Washington Times reports.
• A debate Friday showed that "the Virginia governor's race was on again, breaking through the shared solemnity of two politicians trying hard not to appear like politicians," the Washington Post reports.
• At a conference of the Arab American Institute, New Jersey gubernatorial candidates Bret Schundler (R) and Jim McGreevey (D) "said the backlash against Arab Americans since the attack was unjustified" and that "the government must be vigilant toward acts of discrimination against Arab Americans and members of the Islamic faith," the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
• Former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris "on Sunday kicked off a campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination," pledging "to fight for more funding for public schools and for a third airport in the south suburbs," the Chicago Tribune reports.
• Former Ambassador Pete Peterson (D) last week dropped his bid for Florida governor because he "didn't have the stomach to criticize the brother of the nation's commander in chief in the midst of the biggest national crisis since World War II," the Miami Herald reports.
• "In a sign that his effort is accelerating," former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell (D) "is set to announce tomorrow that he has hired a team of respected campaign operatives with vast experience in Pennsylvania politics," the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
• Although he will now be taking the place of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge (R), Lt. Gov. Mark Schweiker (R) said this weekend he still has no plans to run for governor next year, the New York Times reports.

• Texas Attorney General John Cornyn (R) "declared his candidacy for the U.S. Senate on Friday, pledging to be a fiscal 'watchdog' in the mold of" Sen. Phil Gramm (R), the Dallas Morning News reports.
• Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, "made a strong statement of his own by conducting a statewide poll" that "found Cornyn in the lead with 20 percent," followed by Barton at 14 percent and Rep. Henry Bonilla (R) at 12 percent, Roll Call reports.
• Elizabeth Dole (R) "has officially joined the race to fill" the North Carolina Senate seat of retiring Sen. Jesse Helms (R) by filing the "necessary paperwork required for her campaign to move forward," AP reports.

• New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R), "who is barred by term limits from running for re-election this fall, is trying to extend his term" and will make an announcement about his efforts today, Reuters reports.
• "Instead of the traditional advertising blitz leading up to tomorrow's primary, the mayoral campaigns will feature low-key palm cards and fliers reminding voters that there's an election -- and linking its importance to the terror attacks two weeks ago," the New York Post reports.

• The Religion Newswriters Association on Sunday "said it was 'troubled' by the frequent use" of the term "Islamic terrorist" and similar labels and "suggested that reporters avoid" such terminology, the Washington Times reports.
• "Peace and love filled the air" on Saturday "as more than 100 pop divas, actors, sports figures and TV personalities gathered in Midtown to record a new version of 'We Are Family' in the wake of the terrorist attack on America," the New York Post reports.
• Michael Jordan "has decided to end his three-year retirement from the NBA to play for the Washington Wizards and will announce his intentions as early as today," the Washington Post reports.