The Jerusalem Post Newspaper : EU to Arafat: Take tougher measures against terror European officials assured Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat yesterday of growing world support for a Palestinian state and urged him to take tough measures against Palestinian militants. Arafat told the EU delegates that he is doing his best to enforce a cease-fire.

CNN.com - Polling stations close in Kosovo - November 17, 2001 Voters in Kosovo have gone to the polls in elections for a new 120-seat assembly in the U.N.-run Yugoslav province.

Chicago Tribune | Factory ships nuclear reactor body to Iran amid U.S. protests The only Russian factory capable of making a complete nuclear reactor on Friday shipped its first reactor body to Iran, part of a project that has raised strong U.S. protests.

Treasury to issue war bonds The Treasury Department is going to issue war bonds--the first since World War II--to help pay for the fight against terrorism and for relief efforts after the Sept. 11 attacks.

CBS News | Terror Supporters Among Us | Sat, 17 Nov 2001 16:25:05 EST The largest criminal investigation in American history has exposed the rough outlines of at least a half-dozen centers of terrorist support on U.S. soil operating underground before the Sept. 11 suicide attacks, officials say.

BBC News | UK | UK troops 'staying in Afghanistan' There are no plans to pull British soldiers out of Afghanistan despite Northern Alliance demands for the withdrawal of troops near Kabul, the Foreign Office has said.

Rumsfeld: U.S. Campaign Splitting Al Qaeda, Taliban The U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan is driving a wedge between the Taliban and al Qaeda network even though Osama bin Laden and Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar share common views, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a Chicago newspaper.

U.S., British Troops on Bin Laden's Trail - Report Britain's Sunday Times said British and U.S. special forces had narrowed the search for Osama bin Laden to a 30 square mile area in southeastern Afghanistan.

Taliban Back Off Claim on bin Laden A Taliban official said Saturday that Osama bin Laden has fled Afghanistan. Later, he backed off the claim, saying he didn't know where bin Laden was.

Fmr. President Arrives in Kabul In a convoy of vehicles with his picture plastered on the windshields, the Afghan president ousted five years ago by the Taliban returned Saturday to the capital to reclaim his post. His return raised worries over the effort to build a broad-based, post-Taliban government.

Ha'aretz - American betrayal? Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's most successful Peace-Not-Now ploy is running out of steam. The tactic was simple and successful - no negotiations under fire. It spoke to the heart of America even before September 11 and, of course, afterward as well.

Israel Says Pulled Out of Another West Bank City The Israeli army said on Saturday it had withdrawn from the West Bank city of Tulkarm in the latest pullout from Palestinian areas seized last month after the assassination of an Israeli cabinet minister.

New Afghanistan: Power plays begin A deputy to the U.N.’s top envoy to Afghanistan is heading to Kabul Saturday to try to persuade the Northern Alliance to take part in a meeting, outside the country, on forming a transitional government in Afghanistan. Alliance leaders, though, continue to insist the gathering be held in the capitol, raising concerns that they may seek to defy countries who want the country’s new government to represent multiple ethnicities.

Taliban Said to Quit Southern Afghan Powerbase (11/16/2001) Senior officials of the victorious Afghan opposition said on Saturday they did not welcome foreign troops on their soil, even as 42 days of relentless U.S. air raids appeared finally to have crushed the defiance of the Taliban's supreme leader.

National Guard troops returning to protect Capitol for first time in three decades (11/16/2001) The stationing of National Guard troops around the Capitol grounds means that armed and uniformed soldiers will be protecting the building for the first time in more than three decades.

Cuba ready to normalize relations with U.S. (11/16/2001) Cuba is ready for normal relations with the United States ``on the basis of respect and noninterference in the domestic affairs of each country,'' Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said Friday.

For many Afghan women, bare faces and lives resumed | csmonitor.com Saida Oranos Al Ghazal was so elated Monday night when the Taliban fled Kabul, "I couldn't stand up," she says.

CBS News | Do We Want Him Dead, Or Alive? | Fri, 16 Nov 2001 07:50:04 EST As special forces try to fulfill President Bush's desire to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive," many lawmakers say bluntly that dead is preferable. They are concerned about a trial, whether in open court or closed military tribunal.

FOXNews.com - Taliban Is Losing Popularity Among Pakistani Holy Warriors Pakistani holy warriors are deserting Taliban ranks and streaming home in large numbers, tribal leaders said Friday, while in the streets of Peshawar, portraits of Osama bin Laden go unsold.

The Sacramento Bee -- sacbee.com -- Justice: One standard Lawmakers need to summon their courage and demand, at a minimum, that the administration justify its plans, even if it has to be done behind closed doors. And if they are not persuaded, they must fight this threatened subversion of American principles -- principles that deserve to be defended just as fiercely as the war against terrorism must be fought.

BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | US allies deny 'Mazar massacre' The Northern Alliance has denied reports of the mass execution of captured Taleban soldiers in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | UN 'winning battle' against famine The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says it is winning the battle to get enough food aid into Afghanistan to feed the six million Afghans who most need it.

ABCNEWS.com : Second Senate Anthrax Letter Found Sources tell ABCNEWS that the letter was "similar in nature" to the one opened in Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle's office on Oct. 15. Officials told ABCNEWS that the letter was postmarked Oct. 9 from Trenton, N.J. It also had the same phony return address from the Greendale School.

washingtonpost.com - Aid Workers Recount a Time of Contrasts in Prison Even as Heather Mercer's Taliban guards treated her like a sister, allowed her to sing and pray and occasionally sent meals prepared by the commander's cook, she often listened as Afghan women prisoners in the same jail were beaten until they bled.

On Left and Right, Concern Over Anti-Terrorism Moves (washingtonpost.com) A growing chorus on the left and the right is accusing the Bush administration of ignoring civil liberties while leaving the courts and Congress out in the cold as it aggressively pursues the war on terrorism here and abroad.

washingtonpost.com - U.S. Special Forces Engaged in Ground Combat Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said today that U.S. special operations forces are engaged in ground combat in southern Afghanistan, operating inside the country for days at a time and "killing Taliban that won't surrender."

Congress Passes Airport Safety Bill The U.S. Congress on Friday approved and sent to President Bush a bill ordering a government takeover of airport security in response to the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Bin Laden Aide Said Killed, Taliban in Retreat In rapid gains in the U.S-led war on terrorism, American warplanes apparently killed the suspected military planner of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States and Afghanistan's ousted Taliban rulers reportedly decided to pull out of their besieged stronghold.

Abandoned al-Qaida Lab Found in Kabul Materials left behind in a compound used by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network - including a booklet offering advice on how to survive a nuclear explosion - suggest the terrorist group may have been trying to develop chemical arms and other unconventional weapons.

Taliban Leaders Captured, Bin Laden Still Free In a potential intelligence coup, Northern Alliance opposition forces on Thursday apparently captured some senior Taliban leaders in war-torn Afghanistan, but Saudi-born fugitive Osama bin Laden remained on the run despite U.S. assertions it was ``tightening the noose'' on him.

Yemeni fugitive believed to have been 20th Sept. 11 hijacker (11/15/2001) Investigators believe a Yemeni fugitive named Ramzi Binalshibh was intended to be the 20th hijacker on airplanes seized on Sept. 11 and crashed in suicide attacks, officials confirmed Thursday.

Facial recognition technology will be used during Olympics Olympic hockey spectators at the E Center will be examined with the facial recognition technology used at last season's Super Bowl.

Afghanistan turns a corner | csmonitor.com For much of the past month, this busy corner of Islamabad's Aabpara market has been pulsating with thousands of furious Muslim conservatives, who burned effigies of President George Bush. Today, guava fruit sells better than posters of Osama bin Laden.

Iran's soccer fervor turns political and violent | csmonitor.com Following a succession of recent soccer matches, hundreds of thousands of Iranian boys and girls have poured into streets across Iran, chanting "Zindibad azadi!" (Long live freedom), blaring banned Western pop music from car radios, and shouting in support of the exiled son of the shah, now emerging as the unlikely figurehead for the democratic desires of Iranian youth.

Lawmakers Strike Airport Security Deal U.S. lawmakers reached a deal on Thursday to turn airport security over to the government, after weeks of wrangling about how to make flying safer following the Sept. 11 hijack attacks.

U.S. Says It Tightens Noose Around Bin Laden Afghanistan - The United States said it was ``tightening the noose'' around Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan on Thursday, as thousands of his Arab troops and Taliban protectors were surrounded in the northern city of Kunduz, facing a fight to the death.

Navy Plane Crashes in Washington State A U.S. Navy radar jamming airplane with three people on board crashed in rural Washington state on Thursday, the Coast Guard said.

Troops Rescue 3 Filipino Hostages From Abu Sayyaf (11/14/2001) Philippine troops have rescued three Filipinos held hostage for nearly six months on southern Basilan island by Muslim extremists linked to Osama bin Laden, the military said on Thursday.

Israeli Forces Raid Two Palestinian Towns, 13 Hurt (11/14/2001) Israeli tanks and troops raided two Palestinian-ruled towns in the Gaza Strip and West Bank early on Thursday, wounding at least 13 Palestinians in heavy shooting, witnesses and medical officials said.

Afghan Alliance Says Won't Cling to Power (11/14/2001) The opposition Northern Alliance that has captured Kabul told Reuters on Thursday it had no desire to cling to power but would govern the capital until a broad-based post-Taliban government was formed.

CNN.com - Ex-Afghan president heads to Kabul - November 14, 2001 Former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani is expected to arrive in the capital of Kabul on Wednesday to declare the city free from Taliban rule.

Report: Nuclear Bomb Papers Found in Kabul House Documents giving details of how to build a nuclear bomb have been found in a looted Kabul house used by Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, The Times newspaper reported on Thursday.

BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Taleban leader remains defiant Taleban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has rejected any cooperation in a future broad-based government for Afghanistan.

U.N. Approves Afghanistan Measure The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Wednesday endorsing efforts to help fill a political vacuum in Afghanistan and provide security for the vast areas of the country captured by anti-Taliban forces.

Freed Aid Workers Land in Pakistan Eight foreign aid workers, including two Americans, held captive in Afghanistan for three months for preaching Christianity were airlifted to freedom Wednesday by U.S. military helicopters.

New York Daily News Online | News and Views | Opinion | Other Islamic Dictators Will Fold Like Taliban But Kabul has given George W. a reputation on the Middle Eastern street. All those planes and carriers and troops poised in the region, and a wall-to-wall consensus at home, mean that he's got the next move. He should use it to present the Islamic Axis with two simple, nonnegotiable demands...

Exiled King Urges Afghans to Unite Afghanistan's exiled king urged Afghans on Wednesday to unite and freely choose their own destiny now that the Taliban rulers have fled Kabul.

Bush: Foreign Aid Workers Rescued From Afghanistan President Bush said on Wednesday night that U.S. forces had rescued eight Western aid workers in Afghanistan, including two Americans, who had been held by the Taliban under threat of death since August.

The Jerusalem Post Newspaper : Online News From Israel - News Article Palestinian Authority officials said yesterday, the eve of the 13th anniversary of the PLO's symbolic declaration of statehood in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and east Jerusalem, that they have come closer to their aspiration of statehood as result of America's endorsement of a Palestinian state based on UN resolutions.

Hurdles to building a stable Afghan regime | csmonitor.com In military parlance, it's called gathering in the victory: turning military success into a sustained win by making sure the political goals that justified war are achieved.

ABCNEWS.com : Blair Presents New Bin Laden Evidence A document released by the British government today claims newly declassified evidence proves nearly all of the hijackers behind the attacks were linked to al Qaeda, rather than just three who were initially tied to the group.

U.S. Military Cautions War Not Over in Afghanistan With the Taliban reeling before rebel forces and U.S. warplanes, the Pentagon cautioned on Wednesday the war in Afghanistan was not over and America was prepared to fight a guerrilla conflict there if necessary.

Bush OKs Tribunal to Try Terrorists The Sept. 11 attacks and the threat of new terrorism justify President Bush (news - web sites)'s decision to allow the trial of noncitizens by military tribunals, administration officials say. The United States has not seen such tribunals since World War II.

Taliban Control Crumbling; Hunt for Bin Laden Is On Anti-Taliban forces swept across still more of Afghanistan on Wednesday with the hard-line Islamists' control of their stronghold of Kandahar apparently crumbling.

After the Taliban (washingtonpost.com) Now that the American-led effort in Afghanistan has achieved its first significant success -- the removal of the Taliban from Kabul -- four ingredients are essential to prevent the country from slipping back into anarchy of the sort that followed our last success there in 1989.

U.S. Special Forces On the Trail of Taliban Leaders (washingtonpost.com) After five days of swift battlefield success that put about half of Afghanistan in the hands of the opposition, the United States is zeroing in on the leadership of Afghanistan's retreating Taliban militia and its allies in Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday.

New Palestinian Official Puts His Feet to the Fire With Words of Moderation Thrust back into the spotlight, Nusseibeh immediately offered words of moderation and wisdom not often heard here in the last blood-soaked months.

All forces must pull out of Kabul: CE: UN peacekeepers demanded -DAWN - Top Stories; 14 November, 2001 President Gen Pervez Musharraf called on Tuesday for all forces to withdraw from Kabul and the deployment of a UN force in the city following its capture by the Northern Alliance.

CNN.com - Bush announces major nuclear cuts - November 13, 2001 President George W. Bush on Tuesday announced the United States will slash its nuclear weapons stockpile by about two-thirds over the next decade to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads.

BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Afghan women find new freedom The Northern Alliance has announced that women in Afghanistan can now go back to work, and girls can go to school - activities that were banned by the Taleban.

Rattling noise heard in cockpit seconds before fatal crash (11/13/2001) The cockpit voice recorder from American Flight 587 indicates the pilots struggled to control the jetliner after a rattling was heard less than two minutes into takeoff, investigators reported Tuesday.

FOXNews.com - Afghan War Phase Two — in the South — Will Present New Challenges for U.S. The next focus of the Afghanistan war — in the south where Usama bin Laden is believed to be hiding in caves — could present the U.S. military with a formidable challenge.

Afghan Refugees Start Trip Back Home At a refugee camp in Afghanistan bustling with women loading donkeys for the long-awaited trip home, a crowd of men swelled around a transistor radio and listened to the stunning news of Taliban forces being routed in city after city.

Rumsfeld: U.S. Warplanes Pound Fleeing Taliban U.S. warplanes on Tuesday hounded Taliban troops and al Qaeda guerrillas fleeing Kabul and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said elite U.S. troops were now operating in both northern and southern Afghanistan.

NTSB: Jet's Engines Show No Internal Failure A preliminary inspection of the engines from doomed American Airlines Flight 587 showed no evidence of internal failure, investigators looking into what caused the airliner to crash, killing up to 265 people, said on Tuesday.

BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | 'No more retreat' Taleban troops told The leader of the Taleban, Mullah Mohammad Omar, has ordered his troops to stand and fight following the fall of the Afghan capital Kabul, it is reported.

CBS News | Iraq Denies Kuwait Attack | Tue, 13 Nov 2001 10:35:05 EST Iraq Monday dismissed as lies a Kuwaiti report that it fired a mortar across its border.

No Time To Haggle (washingtonpost.com) When Sam Rayburn was speaker of the House, he used to say, "There is no education in the second kick of a mule." We are about to learn whether Congress and the Bush administration have realized there is nothing to be gained by ignoring the threat of terrorism twice.

Russian Official Reveals Attempt Made to Steal Nuclear Materials (washingtonpost.com) A senior Russian official has reported a major incident involving the attempted theft of nuclear materials in the past two years, raising fresh fears about the security of the former superpower's aging nuclear arsenal.

FAA had issued warning about engine Federal safety officials concluded a month ago there was an unsafe condition in the type of engine that powered an airliner that crashed in New York City, and started moving toward tougher inspections.

Another blow to the economy, and maybe to the GOP The immediate reaction by policymakers inside the Bush administration to Monday's air disaster was concern about the effect on the nation's morale and the economy if it's ultimately shown that the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 resulted from another terrorist attack.

Group Seeks Negotiations for Future The foreign minister of the Afghan northern alliance said Tuesday that it had invited all the country's factions - except the Taliban - to come to newly captured Kabul to negotiate a post-Taliban government.

More scary news for jittery Americans (11/12/2001) For a few frightening moments, it seemed to be happening all over again: the news-channel images of flame and fear flashing over a waking nation. The sketchy details exchanged breathlessly across breakfast table and hotel lobby.

U.N. Calls for Quick Meeting on Afghanistan The United Nations said on Tuesday it would send political personnel into Kabul immediately and called for all factions to meet in one place for a conference on the country's future as soon as possible.

Kandahar Airport Falls to Opposition-Tribal Chief The strategic airport outside the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, powerbase of the fundamentalist Taliban, fell to opposition forces on Tuesday, tribal leaders said.

U.N. Fears for Civilians as Afghan Cities Fall U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson urged the United States and Britain on Tuesday to ensure civilians are not massacred as Afghan cities controlled by the ruling Taliban fall to the Northern Alliance.

Afghan Opposition Predicts Speedy Fall of Kandahar The Afghan opposition based in Pakistan on Tuesday predicted that the Taliban's southern stronghold of Kandahar could fall within 24 hours as moderate Taliban forces abandon the hard-liners.

Afghanistan Hijacked By William Saletan As Britain and the United States launch their public relations campaign to defend the war, they must take this message to the people and national leaders whose discomfort with civilian casualties is driving the global outcry for a bombing halt. The conscience of the world is the cover of terrorists. That's just as true when we attack terrorists as when they attack us. Americans hate killing civilians. But we were prepared to pull the trigger on Sept. 11, when the civilians in the crossfire were our own.

TNR Online | TRB: Life Support by Peter Beinart In the eyes of the world, we are told, the United States is losing the moral high ground in the war against terrorism. The reason: We are killing innocent Afghans. And if we kill innocent Afghans in retaliation for the killing of innocent Americans, how are we different from the Taliban?

Bush tells Russian reporters he will `substantially lower' U.S. nuclear arms levels (11/12/2001) President Bush said Monday he will slash U.S. nuclear weapons to ``substantially lower'' levels even if Russian President Vladimir Putin refuses to respond with similar cuts. The two leaders open three days of talks Tuesday.

Taliban Military Said to Flee Kabul Taliban military forces appeared to have deserted the capital of Kabul at dawn Tuesday, after a series of stunning military victories by opposition forces over the past four days, witnesses said.

Israel Raids Palestinian Village In a 10-hour raid Monday on a Palestinian village, Israeli troops killed an Islamic militant and arrested 45 residents, including 16 on Israel's wanted list.

Investigators Rule Nothing Out in NY Plane Crash Authorities scrambled on Monday to determine what caused the crash of an American Airlines Airbus A300-600 jetliner in New York, with the government ruling out nothing but taking steps consistent with a safety probe rather than a criminal one.

Pentagon to base U.S. aircraft in Tajikistan to step up pressure on Taliban (11/12/2001) The Pentagon, hoping to intensify pressure on the Taliban, has decided to put military aircraft at one or more airfields in the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan on Afghanistan's northern border, a senior defense official said Monday.

FOXNews.com - Veterans Day Different This Year For many, Veterans Day had become little more than a day of flying flags, visits to the cemetery, old soldiers in uniform, and gradually thinning parades down Main Street — but the first post-Sept. 11 Veterans Day saw the often-overlooked holiday infused with a new spirit of patriotism.

Rebel force ‘waiting to enter’ Kabul With Taliban fighters reportedly fleeing in droves, Afghan opposition troops were waiting Monday just outside the capital after a lightning-fast military advance, but opposition officials said they would honor international requests that they not move into the city. Truckloads of jubilant fighters chanting “God is great!” rolled south toward the front lines, leaving behind celebrations among residents of a strategic northern city they captured over the weekend.

CNN.com - White House: No sign of terrorist link to crash - November 12, 2001 There's no evidence of terrorism in the crash Monday of American Airlines Flight 587, and the government had no information of any threat against U.S. commercial airliners, senior Bush administration officials told CNN.

BBC News | AMERICAS | Powers search for Afghan settlement Foreign ministers from eight key powers have agreed to speed up efforts to form an alternative government for Afghanistan.

BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Major boost for Afghan aid effort Uzbekistan says it will allow a big emergency aid operation to begin into neighbouring Afghanistan on Monday, two days earlier than planned.

BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Three journalists killed in Afghanistan Three journalists - two French and one German - have been killed in northern Afghanistan in a Taleban ambush on an opposition convoy.

Opposition Advances on Kabul; Some Taliban Flee Dozens of Taliban tanks and armored personnel carriers raced out of Kabul when darkness fell Monday after the opposition broke through front lines, backed by U.S. bombers and a fierce artillery barrage.

Saudi Dissident Says Al Qaeda Planning More Attacks Osama bin Laden's network of supporters in Saudi Arabia is planning a strike against government or U.S. military interests in the oil-rich desert kingdom, a leading Saudi dissident said Monday.

Plane's Flight Data Recorder Recovered From Wreckage Investigators quickly recovered the flight data recorder from the doomed American Airlines jetliner that crashed in New York on Monday, a senior investigator said.

Passenger Jet Crashes in New York Residential Area An American Airlines flight with 255 people on board crashed in a nosedive on Monday while taking off from John F. Kennedy International Airport, setting fire to a swath of nearby homes and sending new fears through a city still jittery from the Sept. 11 attacks.

Opposition Ministry Orders Kabul Advance -Commander The opposition Northern Alliance Defense Ministry has ordered an advance against the Taliban-held Afghan capital Kabul on Monday, a frontline commander said.

BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Pakistan offers India arms talks Pakistan has offered to hold talks with India to discuss way of reducing tensions between the neighbouring nuclear powers.

BBC News | AMERICAS | Pakistan wins big aid deal The United States has promised Pakistan more than a billion dollars in aid as a reward for its support of the war on terrorism.

BBC News | UK | British troops in Afghanistan British troops are on the ground in Afghanistan, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon confirmed on Sunday.

Bin Laden says he is not responsible for anthrax attacks (11/11/2001)Osama bin Laden was quoted Sunday as saying he is not responsible for the anthrax attacks in the United States, and most U.S. investigators won't argue with him on that.

Insight on the News - Police State
Rep. Ron Paul says the text of the USA PATRIOT bill was not made available for review before the vote.

Russia Says Test Ban Impasse Could Bring Crisis Russia, challenging U.S. objections, on Sunday warned of ``dangerous trends toward disrupting'' a global treaty banning nuclear tests and said this could lead to a crisis and the uncontrolled spread of nuclear weapons.

Boston Globe Online / Editorials | Opinions / A war to end the terrorist era WE ARE NOW into the long haul of the new kind of war that began for us Sept. 11. Victories on the ground are few or invisible; we hear more and more about the need for patience; we speak more and more about quagmires.

Bush Pays Tribute to Veterans of War, Sept. 11 President Bush marked Veterans' Day on Sunday with a tribute to Americans who fought in past wars and vowed U.S. troops now in action in Afghanistan would exact ``a serious price'' for Sept. 11.

Taliban Foes Eye Kabul After Victories Afghanistan's opposition Northern Alliance said on Sunday the ruling Taliban's main fighting force had been wiped out after a string of surprise weekend defeats and refused to rule out an advance on the capital, Kabul.