Alliance Says Commander Enters Kunduz The first northern alliance troops entered Kunduz on Sunday, and the city's Taliban and foreign defenders were surrendering ``continuously,'' alliance spokesmen said. No fighting was initially reported as the alliance moved in.

Boston Globe Online / Metro | Region / Harvard professor missing A world-renowned Harvard scientist and expert in highly contagious and deadly viruses mysteriously disappeared in Tennessee early last Friday, leaving a rental car on a Memphis bridge.

Bush administration quietly overturning environmental rules / Some policies eased in name of security In the last two months, the Bush administration has proceeded with several regulations, legal settlements and legislative measures intended to reverse Clinton-era environmental policies.

Dalai Lama Visits Portugal Amid Chinese Criticism The Dalai Lama arrived in Portugal on Saturday at the start of a five-day visit that has generated criticism from the Chinese government.

sunspot.net - Some rights we should surrender Here are the rights and freedoms we should be willing to surrender to shore up the nation's security:

CNN.com - FAA evacuates passenger terminals at four airports - November 24, 2001 Passengers at airports in Seattle, Washington; Oakland, California; and Reno, Nevada, were evacuated and rescreened Saturday morning after a security agent discovered a metal detector at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was not turned on, an FAA spokesman said.

Wait Until Dark If the administration were really proud of how it's grabbing "emergency" powers that skirt the law, it wouldn't do so in the dead of night.

GN Online: Here's looking at you, Israel During the past week, a television programme called Irhabiat broadcast on Abu Dhabi satellite television has seen strong reactions from the Israeli government. Here is an overview of the issue and reactions in the Arab press.

Israeli Missiles Strike Gaza Positions Israeli helicopters fired at least 20 missiles at Palestinian targets in the Gaza Strip early on Sunday, destroying a security position and wounding three people, Palestinian security officials said.

CNN.com - Japanese troops on aid, rescue mission - November 24, 2001 Japan will send 1,500 troops for the Afghan relief operations which are likely to start in next few weeks, a senior Japanese official said Friday.

CBS News | Hamas Vows 'Painful' Revenge | Sat, 24 Nov 2001 16:10:03 EST More than 60,000 Palestinian mourners in the West Bank and Gaza vowed on Saturday to launch revenge attacks in Israel, a day after an Israeli missile strike killed a senior militant from the Hamas group.

BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Pakistan warns of Kunduz 'tragedy' Pakistan has continued to express its grave concern about the situation in the besieged city of Kunduz, in northern Afghanistan.

BBC News | ASIA-PACIFIC | China eyes the Moon China says it will launch a manned flight into space before 2005 to be followed by a mission to the moon.

In New York, On Alert for Bioterrorism (washingtonpost.com) Just before noon on Nov. 13, Farzad Mostashari gazed down at his computer printout and wondered aloud if he was staring into the face of a biological attack.

Milosevic To Stand Trial for Genocide (washingtonpost.com) Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic will stand trial on charges of committing genocide during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia, a U.N. war crimes tribunal announced today. The 60-year-old Serbian nationalist will be the first head of state to be taken to court on allegations of genocide, the most grievous of all war crimes.

Visitors to U.S. can expect probing terrorism questions Although federal terrorism investigators say none are suspects, thousands of Middle Eastern men in the United States will be asked detailed questions -- ranging from whether they sympathize with the Sept. 11 hijackers to where they have traveled. (Also see Highlights from the questions list.)

Fighters Stream From Kunduz; Bush Vows to Prevail More than 1,000 Taliban fighters surrendered to U.S.-backed Northern Alliance forces besieging the Afghan town of Kunduz on Saturday as President Bush warned Americans of ``difficult times ahead'' as his war on terrorism accelerated.

U.N. meeting on Afghanistan delayed until Tuesday (11/23/2001) A conference of Afghan groups trying to form a transitional government in their country has been delayed a day, with differences still dividing the rival factions, a U.N. official said Friday.

Reflections On 'Wartime' (washingtonpost.com) There's a hollow ring to this loud new wartime motto, "We'll show our enemies we're more powerful than they are." Our enemies know that already, they've known it all their lives as they trained to the careful, hateful mastery of tools the weak may use against the mighty. They can plainly see we are richer, stronger, in every way more capable of destruction. I would like us to show them, instead, that we are better.

Initial Tests Negative in Connecticut Anthrax Death Initial tests showed no trace of anthrax in the mail or home of an elderly Connecticut woman who died earlier this week of inhalation anthrax, Gov. John Rowland said on Friday, leaving investigators with no clear answer to how she contracted the deadly bacteria.

Rabbani to Step Aside for New Afghan Leader Burhanuddin Rabbani, still officially the president of Afghanistan, says he would relinquish any claims to power if next week's talks in Germany succeed in naming a transitional leader.

Israel Kills Hamas Leader as U.S. Peace Bid Nears An Israeli missile strike killed a senior member of the militant Islamic group Hamas, prompting a vow of revenge as Washington prepared a new mission hoping to end 14 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

U.S. Warplanes Target Afghan Caves, Drop Huge Bomb U.S. warplanes pounded tunnels and caves in Afghanistan's mountains and the Pentagon said on Friday it had dropped a devastating ``Daisy Cutter'' bomb south of the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar as the United States stepped up the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

CNN.com - U.S. releases Taliban 'catalogue of atrocities' - November 22, 2001 The White House expanded the information war against the Taliban Thursday, releasing a report documenting what it called "atrocities" committed by the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

Five Palestinian children killed in explosion near elementary school Five Palestinian children were killed on their way to school Thursday by a powerful explosion in a Gaza Strip refugee camp. In the West Bank, Palestinians fired at an Israeli factory, injuring two workers.

Bush Has Wartime Thanksgiving with Family, Aides Like millions of other Americans, President Bush spent the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday surrounded by family and friends. Unlike any other American, he also had a war to run.

Northern Alliance Moves to Take Besieged Kunduz Northern Alliance troops and tanks launched an attack on the besieged Afghan city of Kunduz on Thursday after attempts to negotiate a Taliban surrender collapsed.

At destroyed camp, glimpse of how al-Qaida members lived -- and how some died (11/21/2001) Scattered around the 15-foot-deep craters left by American bombs lay the detritus of one of Osama bin Laden's former terrorist camps: spent anti-aircraft shells, mortar detonators, collapsed buildings and payroll records.

Guardian Unlimited | Columnists | Peter Preston: Don't overestimate Bin Laden We are required, because of the havoc he has wrought, to dub him a mastermind, the supreme spider at the centre of an evil web.

U.S. Deploys Cutting-Edge Hardware to Afghanistan The United States rushed a new unmanned spy plane to the skies over Afghanistan and sought to base deadly gunships nearby as the U.S. Pentagon chief on Wednesday said he'd rather see Osama bin Laden killed than captured.

U.S. Hunts Bin Laden; Taliban to Surrender City The U.S. war in Afghanistan looked more and more like a manhunt for Osama bin Laden on Wednesday as the Pentagon's chief said he would rather take the Islamic militant dead than alive, while the Taliban agreed to surrender its northern stronghold.

Portland police stymie terror probe The acting police chief in Portland, Ore., has rebuffed a Justice Department request for help in interviewing Middle Eastern men as part of its post-Sept. 11 terrorism investigation.

America's three Afghan challenges | csmonitor.com How will US planners handle these challenges? The signs are far from encouraging.

BBC News | ASIA-PACIFIC | 'Over 100' dead in Philippines uprising Fresh fighting in the southern Philippine island of Jolo pitting government forces against guerrillas loyal to a rebellious Muslim governor has so far left more than 100 people dead.

BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Afghan aid agencies looted The organisation's premises in the eastern city of Jalalabad and the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif has been ransacked, UN spokesman Eric Falt says.

Bin Laden's Bay Area recruiter A confessed operative of a Silicon Valley terrorist cell says he recruited 10 U.S. citizens into Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organization during his 12-year residence in California, according to a new account of his statements to an Egyptian military court.

Right wing telling Bush to hit Iraq With the Taliban and Osama bin Laden on the run in Afghanistan, President Bush's fellow conservatives are pushing him to attack Iraq as the next step in the war on terrorism.

Visiting Troops, Bush Warns of Protracted War President Bush warned U.S. troops -- and the nation -- on Wednesday that the war on terrorism was entering a dangerous phase in the mountains of Afghanistan, and he vowed to pursue the al Qaeda network beyond the borders of the Central Asian country.

Taliban and U.S. Exchange Death Vows The Taliban and the United States both wished death on their foes on Wednesday as the strict Muslim movement said it hoped ``mighty Allah will break America'' and the Pentagon chief said he would prefer Osama bin Laden dead rather than captured alive.

Inhalation Anthrax Kills Connecticut Woman A 94-year-old woman from a rural Connecticut town on Wednesday became the fifth person in the United States to die from inhalation anthrax, rekindling fears of the potential germ warfare agent.

Was Paper on Bomb a Parody? ...according to Jason Scott, a reporter for a Web newsletter, rotten.com, the document was not quite so chilling a display of nuclear knowledge as The Times might have believed.

BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Nations unite to rebuild Afghanistan Representatives of 21 countries, as well as the World Bank, the European Union and the Islamic Development Bank, held discussions in Washington on Afghanistan's post-war reconstruction.

CNN.com - U.N. says it can't oversee Taliban surrender at Konduz - November 20, 2001A top U.N. official said Tuesday that the United Nations cannot oversee the surrender of Taliban troops holed up in the northern Afghanistan city of Konduz, and the Pentagon described the situation there as a "standoff."

ABCNEWS.com : Vatican Heightens Security Around Pope But for a series of missteps, authorities believe a plot against the pope would have been carried out six years ago. As the pope prepared for a visit to the Philippines in 1995, bin Laden's operatives scrambled to get into place for an attack.

ABCNEWS.com : U.S. Mulls Bombing Break as Afghans Talk The United States has agreed to stop bombing locations around the besieged city of Kunduz if it improves the chances of a Taliban surrender — but has refused to do so if it would allow Taliban or al Qaeda leaders to flee Afghanistan.

Connecticut woman tests positive for inhalation anthrax (11/20/2001) An elderly woman who lives by herself in the farm country of southwestern Connecticut has inhalation anthrax, according to initial test results disclosed Tuesday.

Depraved minds think alike My generation frequently has wondered how the world could not have been alert to the evil of Hitler, especially after he made his insane, murderous agenda clear in "Mein Kampf." Today, many anti-war types have been willing to paper over the bloody plans of bin Laden, so hungry are they to make America the world's villain.

Spanish Judge Details Islamic Suspects' Calls A Spanish judge has detailed what he believes to be a coded telephone conversation between suspected Islamic militants that referred to the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Named Atta Contact Charged An Indonesian man named in FBI documents as a contact for airline hijacker Mohammed Atta is being charged with helping obtain false identification for another man listed in the same documents as a contact for Osama bin Laden.

Afghan Talks Set; Taliban Battles On U.S. bombers attacked the last Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan Tuesday as the United Nations set talks in Germany next week to begin mapping the road to peace for a country still very much at war.

ABCNEWS.com : Reporter's Notebook: Siege of Kunduz As we made our way out of the recently liberated town of Taloqan toward the large city of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan, we passed about a dozen Soviet-era T-55 tanks, armored personnel carriers, and some mobile artillery parked on the outskirts.

BBC News | ASIA-PACIFIC | Philippines peace deal broken Hundreds of Muslim rebels have launched attacks on army units in the southern Philippines, reneging on a 1996 peace deal with the government.

BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Pakistan's Taleban ties dissolve The Pakistan Government has said for the first time it no longer has any relations with its old allies, the Taleban.

Powell demands Israel end occupation of West Bank and Gaza, halt settlement activity (11/19/2001) Secretary of State Colin Powell accused Israel of crippling chances for peace with the Palestinians by building homes for Jews on the West Bank and in Gaza.

Courting Muslims, Bush Hosts Ramadan Dinner Hoping to give America's wartime image a boost in the Islamic world, President Bush brought ambassadors from Muslim countries to the White House on Monday for prayers and a traditional Ramadan dinner, telling them the bombing must continue because ``evil has no holy days.''

United States accuses Iraq, North Korea of developing biological weapons (11/19/2001) The United States accused Iraq, North Korea and four other countries on Monday of building germ-warfare arsenals, and said it worried one of them might be helping Osama bin Laden in his quest for biological weapons.

Ha'aretz - Article There appears to be some evidence that Palestinian public opinion is sympathetic to Osama bin Laden.

U.S. Announces Mideast Mission but No Solutions Secretary of State Colin Powell has spelled out Washington's vision for peace in the Middle East and announced a diplomatic mission, but offered no solutions to Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Bush Signs Law Ordering Federal Baggage Screeners President Bush on Monday signed legislation ordering the federal government to hire thousands of airport baggage screeners in an attempt to boost public confidence in flying after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States by hijacked commercial airliners.

U.S. Pushes for Total Victory Over Taliban The United States combed southern Afghanistan on Monday for Osama bin Laden and rejected any negotiated surrender for his al Qaeda fighters or top Taliban protectors that would allow them to avoid capture or death.

The Manila Times Internet Edition | TOP STORIES > Terrorists ‘can’t sow fear forever’ The President said Friday while she was in ground zero, the area where the twin towers of the World Trade Center once stood, she couldn‘t help but think that from the island of Basilan to the island of Manhattan, the terrorists have sowed fear in the hearts of the world.

Terrorists traces left in Kabul | csmonitor.com A bomb-making laboratory found in a residential house is part of a growing body of evidence emerging in the Afghan capital, Kabul, about the global magnitude of terrorist activities here.

BBC News | MEDIA REPORTS | Mediawatch: Fears of Afghan fallout The startling speed with which the Taleban's rule in Afghanistan ended has spawned fears in Pakistan that instability will cross the border.

BBC News | UK | UK troops' Afghan mission delayed The deployment to Afghanistan of thousands of British soldiers has been delayed after "discouraging" reports from troops on the ground, the BBC has learned.

Taliban Base May Be Crumbling, Alliance to Talks A blistering U.S. bombardment showed signs of prying Taliban fighters from their last northern stronghold in Afghanistan on Sunday as opposition leaders agreed to talks to form a broad-based government for the war-torn nation.

What the Muslim World Is Watching Al Jazeera, which claims a global audience of 35 million Arabic-speaking viewers, may not officially be the Osama bin Laden Channel -- but he is clearly its star...

ABCNEWS.com : On My Mind: Break for Afghan Women I remember the old saying we hear in this country: "When you educate a man, you educate an individual. When you educate a woman, you educate a family."

Despite recent military gains against Abu Sayyaf, Philippine island's woes seem far from over (11/18/2001) While the United States wages war in Afghanistan, the Philippines is fighting its own terrorist enemy and claiming progress.

CNN.com - Konduz surrounded; Taliban urged to defect - November 18, 2001 Northern Alliance forces have surrounded Konduz and are urging Taliban soldiers to surrender, offering them safe passage from the Afghan city if they hand over their weapons, CNN correspondent Satinder Bindra told CNN.

Rice says U.S. moving closer to bumping up against constraints of missile defense treaty (11/18/2001) U.S. testing of a missile defense shield will approach the limits of an arms control treaty with Russia and require the two countries to ``move beyond'' the pact at some point, the president's national security adviser said Sunday.

Tanker Sinks After U.S. Boarding, Five Missing An overloaded tanker suspected of smuggling Iraqi oil sank in the North Arabian Gulf on Sunday after being boarded by a U.S. team enforcing U.N. sanctions, leaving one Iraqi dead and three Iraqis and two Americans missing, the Pentagon said.

Taliban Hang On, Lose Track of Bin Laden Afghanistan's Taliban clung on to their last two main strongholds on Sunday in the face of U.S. bombing as their only diplomatic envoy said for the first time Osama bin Laden was no longer in territory under their control.

The Times - Andrew Sullivan: Remind me, who put this triumph together? With amazing swiftness and surprising finality, the enemy caved in last week. I refer not to the Taliban but to the chattering classes — especially its left-liberal sections. Never before in the field of human conflict have so many armchair generals been exposed as idiots in such a short period of time.

Afghan Alliance Agrees Talks, U.S. Pursues Al Qaeda U.S. officials on Sunday welcomed progress toward setting up a broad-based post-Taliban government in Afghanistan but stressed their top priority was to hunt down Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network.