The Earlybird: Today's headlines

Taliban finds bin Laden, Bush talks airline safety, Abdullah meets with Bush, Indonesia protests, Giuliani proposes extended term, Bush Sr. gives W. a boost:

• A Pakistani delegation arrived in Afghanistan today to try to convince the Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden, CBSNews.com reports. "The foreign minister of the Northern Alliance tells CBS News that the fugitive Saudi millionaire has been spotted in the central Afghan province of Uruzgan, and his closest advisers were seen in the city of Jallalabad, near the Pakistani border."
• "In the first indication that its desire to protect Osama bin Laden is weakening, Afghanistan's Taliban regime said Thursday that it had found the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against the United States and informed him that he should leave the country," the Chicago Tribune reports.
• Sources told USA Today on Thursday that "elite troops from U.S. special operations forces have been inside Afghanistan the past 2 weeks looking for Osama bin Laden, but they're having difficulty locating him and are asking other nations for additional intelligence help."
• White House officials told the Washington Times on Thursday that "the U.S. military has begun discreetly helping the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, while the Bush administration is nearing a decision to arm the opposition force in its stepped-up war against the Taliban regime."
• A defector from bin Laden's al Qaeda organization told ABC News "that one of the men accused of hijacking the planes used in the Sept. 11 attacks trained with him at one of the terrorist mastermind's camps in Afghanistan."
• The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Thursday "that he might try to meet with Afghanistan's Taliban rulers in an effort to persuade them to hand over Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda terrorist associates," the New York Times reports.
• Taliban officials denied that they had invited Jackson to mediate the situation, the Washington Times reports.

• Speaking at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on Thursday, President Bush outlined his plan for airline safety, saying he "would ask Congress to authorize hiring thousands of armed air marshals to fly undercover on commercial flights, order design changes for cockpit doors to keep hijackers out, position up to 5,000 National Guard troops at 420 U.S. airports, and equip cabins with video cameras to alert pilots to any problems," the Chicago Tribune reports.
• During his speech, Bush told Americans to fly commercial airlines, saying: "Get on the airlines. Get about the business of America," the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
• After Bush's speech, the nation's governors "began calling up National Guard units Thursday to provide security at airports," USA Today reports.
• Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said he welcomed Bush's plan "but said the plight of laid-off airline workers should be addressed at the same time," Reuters reports.
• Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday that U.S. Air Force pilots are now allowed "to shoot down hijacked commercial airliners with the approval of regional commanders, if time does not permit the president or other senior leaders to be contacted," the Washington Post reports.
• "In a bipartisan gesture to get Americans flying again, Commerce Secretary Don Evans and his Clinton administration predecessor, Bill Daley, will take a commercial flight to Kansas City, Mo., Friday," the Wall Street Journal's "Washington Wire" reports.

• Members of Congress are hesitant about quickly approving Bush's anti-terrorism measures, the New York Times reports. "The concerns over civil liberties -- and the desire to keep careful checks on the government -- run deep on Capitol Hill, although they are expressed with the utmost care these days, given the magnitude of the losses and the anger at the terrorists who caused them."
• "Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans said yesterday that he wants a capital gains-tax cut to be included in an overall stimulus package to get the economy growing again," the Washington Times reports.

• Bush will meet at the White House today with King Abdullah II of Jordan "to discuss how the nations can hunt down terrorists," AP reports.
• On Thursday Saudi Arabia "signaled that it will permit U.S. troops and planes stationed on its soil to participate in military action against Osama bin Laden and his protectors in Afghanistan," the Washington Post reports.
• "The commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet held talks with defense officials in Singapore on Friday and said support from Southeast Asia was strong for the U.S.-led anti-terrorism campaign," AP reports.
• Mexican President Vicente Fox said during an interview Thursday that he "pledged 'unconditional support' to the United States in its war against terrorism," the New York Times reports. In doing so, Fox abandoned "Mexico's history of neutrality in times of violent conflict."
• Fox "outlined steps his government has taken to support U.S. anti-terrorism efforts, a response to criticism that Mexico has not done enough," the Dallas Morning News reports.
• "When Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi contended that Western civilization was superior to Islamic culture, he jolted an already fragile global anti-terrorist alliance," the Chicago Tribune reports.

• Mohamed Atta, "one of the key organizers among the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks, left behind a five-page handwritten document in Arabic that includes Islamic prayers, instructions for a last night of life and practical reminders to bring 'knives, your will, IDs, your passport' and, finally, 'to make sure that nobody is following you,' the Washington Post reports.
• A Middle Eastern man who was arrested "when he tried to fly into Chicago on Sept. 11 with false passports and two airline uniforms was traveling with at least four accomplices who still may be at large, say other passengers on the flight," the Washington Times reports.
• Attorney General John Ashcroft "on Thursday released photographs of the 19 suspected hijackers, saying that it is part of 'a national neighborhood watch' in which investigators hope Americans might recognize some of the hijackers," AP reports. The San Francisco Chronicle has the pictures.
• "Federal agents arrested eight more Middle Eastern men Thursday" in Pennsylvania, Texas and Michigan "and charged them with fraudulently obtaining trucking licenses that allow them to transport hazardous materials," CNN.com reports.
• "Authorities in Detroit announced what are believed to be the nation's first grand jury indictments stemming from the federal terrorism investigation," the Detroit Free Press reports. Youssef Hmimssa is "one of three people indicted Thursday in Detroit on fraudulent document charges."
• "Three Pittsburgh-area men" were arrested in an "investigation of a scheme to bribe a former Pennsylvania Department of Transportation official for licenses to haul hazardous materials were released on bond yesterday and ordered to appear in federal court next week," the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
• A 27-year-old man "already in custody under Britain's anti-terrorist laws" is "due to appear in court in London after being arrested on an international arrest warrant originated in the United States," CNN.com reports.
• "Terrorists may have exploited false identities," which shows "what college undergraduates and nightclub bouncers have known for years: getting a fake ID is easy," the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
• "The most sweeping criminal investigation in US history has ensnared more than 350 people so far," but "one high-ranking Justice Department official said yesterday that there was no specific information indicating that any of those detained or arrested possess 'complicit knowledge' of the terrorist plot," the Boston Globe reports.

• Police in Indonesia on Friday "dispersed several thousand anti-U.S. demonstrators converging on the embassy in the capital Jakarta," Bloomberg reports.
• Because of the protests in Indonesia, "the United States Embassy told most of its staff today that they could leave the country if they chose," the New York Times reports.
• The United Nations "is appealing for nearly £400 million in aid to prevent a 'major humanitarian crisis' in Afghanistan," Britain's ITN reports.
• Some international Muslim newspapers are casting blame for the Sept. 11 attacks on Israel, USA Today reports. "Conspiracy theories have been ubiquitous in the Middle East and Central Asia for centuries. Wherever there are conflicts, enemies conjure up complicated scenarios blaming each other for evil deeds. Israel is a frequent villain."

• "Russian officials have confiscated nine tons of explosives found on a cargo plane" that was headed "from Vienna to Kazakhstan," Ananova reports.
• "A woman was shot in the leg and 13 police officers injured during a second night of rioting in Belfast," CNN.com reports.

• Acting Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift (R) "is sending in heavily armed National Guard troops to fortify security at Logan Airport and plans to give an extraordinary statewide TV address next week to ease public fears," the Boston Herald reports.
• "Government scientists successfully conducted the Oboe 8 subcritical nuclear experiment Wednesday at the Nevada Test Site," the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. The experiment "is one in a series aimed at ensuring the safety and reliability of nuclear weapons by determining how the stockpile ages."
• On Thursday Metro officials discussed adding "longer Metro trains, new routes on the Blue and Orange lines, roomier station platforms and an underground passage between two busy downtown stops" as short-term solutions for D.C's overcrowded subway system, the Washington Post reports.

• New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R) "summoned the three mayoral candidates this week and laid out" his plans for the future, the New York Times reports. He said if "they did not agree to let him stay in office an extra three months, he would seek re-election on the Conservative Party ballot."
• A spokesman for mayoral candidate Mark Green (D) said Green "would support extending the mayor's term until April 1 so the city could have a 'seamless transition' of power in the wake of the World Trade Center attack," while candidate Fernando Ferrer (D) "issued his own statement saying he opposed Giuliani's plan to extend his tenure," the New York Post reports.
• New York Gov. George Pataki (R) and state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R) "have shown support for postponing Giuliani's departure," and GOP mayoral candidate Michael Bloomberg "agreed to it immediately," Long Island Newsday reports.
• "A senior Giuliani aide warned earlier yesterday that if the mayor wasn't able to gain a consensus for an extended term, 'It's the full intent of the mayor to run for reelection... and move to overthrow term limits,'" the New York Daily News reports.

• New Jersey gubernatorial candidates Bret Schundler (R) and Jim McGreevey (D) both "wooed potential voters at the annual New Jersey Black Issues Convention" on Thursday, the New York Times reports.
• Virginia gubernatorial candidate Mark Warner (D) "fired back at Republicans last night, posting a new television commercial aimed at thwarting GOP claims that he favors higher taxes," the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. The spot "scolds" gubernatorial rival Mark Earley (R) "for using negative tactics during this 'challenging time.'"
• Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge's (R) move to Washington hurts Democratic governor candidates Ed Rendell and Bob Casey Jr., who "weren't counting on having to beat an incumbent," Lt. Gov. Mark Schweiker (R), who is now "more likely" to "run in the Republican primary for governor next year," the Philadelphia Daily News reports.

• Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk (D) "unveiled a list of 100 supporters of his expected U.S. Senate campaign Thursday that includes three former governors, dozens of elected officials, business leaders and numerous campaign donors," the Dallas Morning News reports.
• Texas Republican Reps. Henry Bonilla and Joe Barton "said they expect to announce" if they're running for the seat "by the end of next week," the Dallas Morning News reports.
• "Voters in new areas of Rep. Gary Condit's [D-Calif.] redrawn district think less of him than his current constituents do," and 64 percent say "he shouldn't run again, according to a poll released Thursday," AP reports.

• "Former President George Bush gave his son a vote of confidence on Thursday, predicting the president's address to Congress after deadly attacks in New York and Washington would go down as one of the 'truly great speeches' in American history," Reuters reports.