The Earlybird: Today's headlines

Safety plans, more arrests, a shrinking surplus, a growing coalition, a decision from Giuliani, a key endorsement for Warner, a compromise on trade and announcements that attacks are "not imminent":

• During a visit to Chicago's O'Hare airport today, President Bush will announce an airline safety plan, which will include "placing armed federal marshals on virtually all U.S. commercial air flights and significantly boosting the federal role in airport security screening," CNN.com reports. However, Bush will not endorse allowing pilots to carry handguns in the cockpit.
• "Bush's appearance at O'Hare is designed as a pep rally to thank airline workers who are bearing the brunt of the terrorist aftermath," the Chicago Sun-Times reports. "Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and FAA Administrator Jane Garvey will be flying commercially to join Bush in Chicago to underscore the message that people should return to the skies."
• On Wednesday Bush met with Sikhs and Muslims, and he "vowed to do all he can to stop discriminatory practices against Sikhs in America, stemming from the attacks," CBSNews.com reports.
• Bush reiterated his support for CIA Director George Tenet during a visit to the agency's headquarters Wednesday, Reuters reports. Tenet "has come under fire after the Sept. 11 attacks revealed major gaps in U.S. intelligence operations."

• On Wednesday the Pentagon called up more than 600 extra military reservists, AP reports. "Those tapped included Seabees and other Naval reservists as well as security forces with an Air Force Special Operations unit in Florida."
• Bush administration officials said Wednesday that "military operations would not be the 'primary piece' of its campaign" against terrorism, the New York Times reports.
• A second delegation of U.S. military officials is expected to head to Pakistan to discuss action against Afghanistan, UPI reports. After talks with the first delegation, Pakistani officials said Wednesday "that Pakistan had accepted the U.S. demand for the use of Pakistani airspace for operations into Afghanistan."
• Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz warned NATO defense ministers in Brussels yesterday "that terrorists in the future could carry out attacks using weapons of mass destruction," the Washington Times reports.
• Wolfowitz also said that a strike against Afghanistan is not imminent, the Washington Post reports.
• Air Force Gen. Ralph E. Eberhart told the New York Times Wednesday that Bush has "authorized two midlevel Air Force generals to order commercial airliners that threaten American cities shot down without checking first with him."

• Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar on Thursday "warned Afghans... not to look to the United States for help in challenging his hard-line Islamic rule," AP reports. Meanwhile, Pakistan made plans "to send a new delegation to Afghanistan to talk to the Taliban about handing over terror suspect Osama bin Laden."
• On Wednesday Afghan protesters destroyed the vacated U.S. embassy in Kabul after a Taliban march, the New York Times reports.
• "Many Pakistanis are enraged by their government's promise to help the United States in its fight against global terrorism," and "half a million Pakistani students are ready to fight alongside the Taliban in a holy war against the United States," AP reports.
• The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Wednesday "that Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia has asked him to lead a 'peace delegation' to the region," and he "suggested he is open to making the trip if his involvement could prevent the deaths of Afghan civilians during a U.S. military campaign against terrorism," AP reports.

• Mohamed Abdi was arrested in Alexandria, Va., after his "name and phone number were found in a car registered to one of the 19 suspected hijackers," AP reports. "A prosecutor described him as an essential witness" and said "he may be more."
• Ten "Middle Eastern males" were "arrested last night" in Missouri, Michigan and Washington state "on charges of possessing fraudulent driver's licenses to transport radioactive waste, biological agents or other hazardous materials across the United States," the Washington Times reports.
• "Three foreign nationals who were arrested at the Detroit apartment of a former Boston taxi driver with reputed links to terrorist Osama bin Laden are expected to be indicted in federal court today and may eventually be charged with plotting an attack on an American airbase in Turkey," the Boston Herald reports.
• "German authorities have found evidence of contacts between a small group of hijackers who lived in Hamburg, including Mohamed Atta, and the al-Qaeda terrorist network headed by Osama bin Laden," the Washington Post reports.

• On Wednesday legislators "forged a compromise on legislation that would give President Bush power to negotiate broad trade pacts," Reuters reports.
• The proposal "would give labor and environmental issues greater prominence than previous agreements," CongressDaily reports, "but some critics say it still falls short."
• "Republicans yesterday backed away from the administration's request to detain immigrants indefinitely and Democrats embraced greater wiretap authority for the FBI as lawmakers sought quick passage of anti-terrorism legislation," the Washington Times reports.
• The $345 billion defense bill was stalled in the Senate after Wednesday's session because senators could not agree on several Republican amendments, AP reports.
• Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., on Wednesday "called for a board of inquiry" into why intelligence did not predict the Sept. 11 attacks, CNN.com reports.
• "Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman says spending on farm programs is uncertain following this month's terrorist attacks but declined on Wednesday to say whether a $170 billion House bill would bust the budget," AP reports. The House could vote on the farm bill next week.
• Members of Congress are "looking to the administration for guidance on how to complete a suddenly pared-down policy agenda," Roll Call reports.

• "In a blow to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, Sudan has quietly begun rounding up extremists who have used the African country as an operating base and safe haven for more than a decade," the Los Angeles Times reports.
• "The Japanese parliament is beginning a debate on whether to allow the armed forces to provide logistical assistance during any US-led military campaign against Afghanistan," BBCNews.com reports.
• "Pakistan observed Thursday a 'day of solidarity' to express support for the government's decision to back a U.S.-led campaign against terrorism," UPI reports.
• "Russia's defense minister said Thursday that the opposition forces fighting Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia only want the rugged, Soviet-era weapons they know and like best," AP reports. Sergei Ivanov "urged the West to share the cost of their delivery."
• White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer on Wednesday "accused Chechnya of harboring terrorists," the Washington Times reports.
• Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said Wednesday he will not offer condolences to Bush over the attacks "because the United States is 'launching a war on us' and his condolences would be hypocritical," CNN.com reports.

• "The Bush administration and Congress' nonpartisan budget analyst are dramatically lowering their expectations for federal surpluses as the economy continues to look weaker," AP reports.
• The International Monetary Fund released its semiannual World Economic Outlook Wednesday, which "predicts global growth at 2.6% this year and 3.5% next year after an expansion at 4.7% during 2000," the Wall Street Journal reports. "It would be the meekest global expansion since 1992."
• Bush met Wednesday night with economic advisers "who presented him with a range of stimulus options," the Wall Street Journal reports.
• "OPEC members are pressing non-member oil producers for 'immediate joint action' to shore up slumping oil prices," Agence France-Presse reports.

• "Sources close to" New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R) "said he planned to speak to New York Gov. George Pataki [R] and leaders of the state Legislature in an attempt to get them to extend or change the term limits law that otherwise would force the mayor to leave office on Dec. 31," ABCNews.com reports.
• "But the mayor also appeared to be setting aside, at least for now, his and his staff's flirtation with a full third term," the New York Times reports.

• The 5,500-member Virginia Professional Fire Fighters union "bestowed its endorsement yesterday on" gubernatorial candidate Mark Warner (D), the Washington Post reports.
• "Trailing Warner in polls," GOP candidate Mark Earley "launched an almost $1 million statewide television ad blitz in which Earley emphasized that he and Gov. Jim Gilmore [R] believe" in "cutting taxes" and says, "My opponent, Mark Warner, has a plan -- to raise taxes $900 million," the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.
• Warner "dismissed the ad as part of ongoing efforts 'to mischaracterize and distort my positions,'" the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reports.
• In New Jersey, Republican gubernatorial nominee Bret Schundler made "yet another break" from acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco and said that he "opposed the governor's plan for the state to assume a greater control of Camden's government," the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
• "Staying away from politics," Florida gubernatorial candidate Janet Reno (D) "on Wednesday urged on the fight against terrorism but warned that Americans must be vigilant in protecting their freedoms," AP reports.

• Arkansas state Sen. Gunner DeLay "said Wednesday his tough stand against illegal immigration helped him get into the Republican runoff for 3rd District congressman and electing him would tell Congress to stand tough on the issue," the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.
• House Majority Whip Tom DeLay's cousin "edged out" former Rep. Asa Hutchinson's "nephew Tuesday in a GOP primary to succeed Hutchinson, but DeLay will not wade into an Oct. 16 runoff on his cousin's behalf," Roll Call reports.

• "Top Democratic officials say the terrorist attacks have severely hampered their recruitment efforts, particularly for candidates for the Senate, and have upended their entire political game plan for the midterm elections next year," the New York Times reports.
• "Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have begun to quietly resume their fundraising operations after a brief hiatus, albeit with a softer tone and less partisan approach than before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks," Roll Call reports.
• On Saturday, former Vice President Al Gore will begin "raising his profile after his agonizingly narrow loss of the White House" by addressing "the biggest annual fund-raising event in" Iowa, "where the presidential nominating season begins," AP reports. "He must deal not only with a nation focused on anything but politics, but a party that isn't ready to concede the nomination to him."

• Air Canada and Air Canada Regional announced Wednesday they will cut 5,000 jobs, "a move said to be the direct result of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States," the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports.
• Delta Air Lines said Wednesday it "will cut 13,000 jobs, or 16 percent of its worldwide work force, and reduce its flight schedule by 15 percent," CBSNews.com reports.
• "Every major airline except Southwest" has announced schedule cuts of 15 percent to 25 percent, USA Today reports.
• "Continental Airlines' top two executives said Wednesday they would forgo all compensation for the rest of the year," the Houston Chronicle reports.

• The "unprecedented wave of patriotic giving that has poured nearly $600 million into relief organizations" has "some charities and nonprofit groups... concerned that the money pipeline pointed toward the devastation at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon may leave fewer dollars for them," the Dallas Morning News reports.
• "Noxious fumes from an unknown source forced the evacuation of a downtown Los Angeles subway station during the early evening commute Wednesday," but "no sign of any hazardous chemicals" was found, UPI reports.
• "A jittery New York was on high alert yesterday as security was beefed up at major road crossings, seaports and power stations in a bid to prevent further terrorist attacks on the city," the New York Post reports.
• "Blockbuster Video plans to place disclaimers on movies and games featuring terrorism," AP reports.

• Three Palestinians were killed Thursday after "Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen fought a fierce gunbattle in the Gaza Strip," Reuters reports. The fighting broke out "despite an agreement to try to forge a lasting truce that could bolster U.S. efforts to create a global anti-terror alliance."
• "Fourteen people were shot dead on Thursday when an armed man burst into the regional parliament of the canton of Zug in central Switzerland and opened fire randomly at local deputies," Pakistan's The News reports.
• Two passenger trains collided in southern Germany Thursday, "injuring at least 100 people, 20 of them seriously," BBCNews.com reports.