Terror Subpoenas Sought by Bush Broaden Government Powers

Sep 13, 2003 - The Associated Press
AP News in Brief Terror Subpoenas Sought by Bush Would Broaden Government Powers

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration wants to bring to the war on terror a subpoena power that does not require federal investigators to seek approval from a judge or grand jury.

Justice Department officials say use of "administrative subpoenas" would enable the FBI to obtain information that might prevent a terror strike more quickly from records or witnesses. Critics say the extension of power is unnecessary and would permit investigations with no judicial supervision.

President Bush pressed Congress last week to unshackle law enforcement by adding terrorism to the list of investigations in which administrative subpoenas can be used. They already are used often in health-care fraud, child sex abuse and other cases.

Bush also wants lawmakers to expand the federal death penalty to cover more terror-related offenses and make terror suspects ineligible for release on bond.

--- ^Powell's trip to include his first visit to Iraq

GENEVA (AP) - Secretary of State Colin Powell will visit Iraq after concluding his discussions here with U.N. Security Council members on the situation in that country, the State Department announced Saturday.

A brief statement said Powell will travel to Kuwait and Iraq but did not specify a date. He was concluding his visit here Saturday afternoon.

The visit to Iraq, the country that has been the major focus of his attention since he took office, will be Powell's first. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld traveled to Iraq last week, his second such visit in four months.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Powell will meet with Iraqis and with members of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority in order "to see first hand the progress being made by the international community and by the Iraqi people in rebuilding their nation and society."

--- ^U.S. offers condolences for shooting; tribal leaders call for strike in Fallujah

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The U.S. military offered condolences to the families of those mistakenly killed during shooting in Fallujah, saying it was aware of "at least one death." Iraqi police said eight of their officers and a Jordanian security guard were killed.

Tribal leaders and Fallujah dignitaries issued a statement, distributed in mosques, calling for a one-day general strike on Sunday and a three-day period of mourning to begin the same day for the deceased, who were to be buried Saturday.

The statement of condolence released late Friday contained the first confirmation by the U.S. military in Baghdad of any deaths in Friday's incident, when Iraqi police said U.S. forces fired on three vehicles carrying police that were chasing a car involved in highway banditry. Nine people were also wounded, police said.

--- ^Swedish tabloids publish pictures they claim show suspect in foreign minister's stabbing

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Swedish tabloids on Saturday published pictures they claimed showed video surveillance images of a man sought by police in the stabbing death of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh.

Swedish police declined to comment on the authenticity of the pictures and protested their leaking to the media, saying it could jeopardize the investigation.

The pictures published in Aftonbladet and Expressen showed a man wearing a blue cap and a gray sweater with the sleeves rolled up. His face was blurred.

Police seized footage from surveillance cameras at the department store where Lindh was stabbed in her chest, stomach and arms Wednesday. They said the footage was from the floor above the attack. Cameras did not capture the attack itself.

--- ^Typhoon Maemi pounds South Korea, leaving 48 dead, 25 missing

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Typhoon Maemi tore through the South Korean coast, flipping over a floating hotel, twisting massive cranes, killing at least 48 people and leaving another 25 missing by Saturday morning.

The typhoon lashed the southeastern coast with 135-mph winds Friday night before subsiding into a tropical storm Saturday morning. Nearly 25,000 people fled to shelters as the storm dumped 17.8 inches of rain in some places, triggering landslides and floods.

In Busan, the nation's second-largest city and its main port, the storm toppled 11 container-lifting cranes and mangled their steel legs and arms. Steel containers as long as 20 feet were scattered around the port.

A floating hotel anchored at Busan's beach flipped over and lay on its side in shallow water. It had evacuated before the storm.

Elsewhere in Busan, a construction crane collapsed on a fire engine, injuring five firefighters.

The typhoon caused a landslide early Saturday that derailed three cars of the Saemaeul Express train as it traveled from Seoul to the southern city of Andong. One person was hospitalized, while 27 others were treated for minor injuries and released.

--- ^Midway through grueling pilgrimage, ailing Pope John Paul II struggles again

ROZNAVA, Slovakia (AP) - Midway through a strength-sapping trip, Pope John Paul II struggled on Saturday to celebrate Mass for tens of thousands of pilgrims who gathered on a wind-swept hillside in this eastern Slovakia town.

The 83-year-old pope appeared rested and alert Saturday, but his voice was weak and slurred and his left hand trembled badly. After losing his place in his welcoming remarks and reading the same line twice, John Paul asked Cardinal Jozef Tomko to finish his homily to the crowd of at least 100,000 people.

The pontiff, partially shielded by a canopy from gusts that buffeted the platform, went on to read parts of the liturgy.

The pope's 102nd foreign pilgrimage has severely tested his health. John Paul suffers from Parkinson's disease and crippling hip and knee ailments, and has been wheeled by aides on a throne-like chair.

Formerly conjoined 3-year-old twins who were successfully separated through surgery were introduced to the pope. Local bishops said the presentation was intended to show John Paul, who touched their cheeks, the joy their mother would have missed if she had resorted to an abortion.

--- ^Schwarzenegger, under pressure from rival, wooing conservative convention delegates

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Arnold Schwarzenegger hoped to take the state GOP convention by storm with a major rally and speech, as he aimed to win over party activists who may be leaning toward his conservative opponent.

Schwarzenegger was to attend a morning rally Saturday outside the convention hotel, then woo the faithful with a lunchtime address aimed at casting him as the successor to California Republican leaders such as Ronald Reagan and former Gov. Pete Wilson.

Republican rival Tom McClintock, a state senator from Northridge, was giving his own speech Saturday evening, buoyed by a new poll showing him edging close to Schwarzenegger.

The biannual convention opened Friday evening with a plea for unity from the man largely responsible for qualifying the Oct. 7 recall of Democratic Gov. Gray Davis for the ballot.

Rep. Darrell Issa, who spent $1.7 million of his own money to fund the recall, told some 1,500 delegates that if they divided their votes between Schwarzenegger and McClintock they would be handing the election to Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, the one major Democrat on the ballot.

--- ^Hurricane Isabel drops to Category 4 strength in Atlantic

MIAMI (AP) - Hurricane Isabel weakened slightly as it edged closer to the Atlantic coast early Saturday, slowing its winds to 150 mph and dropping to Category 4 strength.

Forecasters said Isabel was moving westward at 9 mph and they expected the hurricane to continue in that direction until at least Sunday morning.

At 4 a.m. EDT, Isabel's maximum wind speeds held steady at 150 mph, dropping it to a Category 4 storm. Until late Friday, the hurricane maintained Category 5 strength, the strongest. A hurricane hits the top of the scale when its winds reach 156 mph.

Isabel churned about 455 miles northeast of Puerto Rico Saturday morning. Forecasters expect large ocean swells and dangerous surf conditions for several days over portions of the Leeward Islands in the northeastern Caribbean Sea.

--- ^Injured tennis star confident Argentina can overcome absence of key players in Davis Cup

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - U.S. Open semifinalist David Nalbandian insisted Friday that Argentina can overcome the absence of the team's top two players in its Davis Cup semifinal against Spain.

Nalbandian and Guillermo Coria both withdrew from Argentina's team this week because of injuries they suffered in the U.S. Open.

At a news conference before Argentina's departure for next week's best-of-five series, Nalbandian dismissed speculation that Argentina had been struck a crippling blow.

"Of course the withdrawal of Coria and myself had an impact. But they are a great team and I told them I would join them in the finals," he said.

Nalbandian was up two sets against American Andy Roddick in the U.S. Open last weekend before suffering an inflamed left wrist and a pulled abdominal muscle. Roddick went on to win the match and the tournament.

Nalbandian plans to rest for nearly a month.

"My injuries are rather severe for playing even a few days now," he said. "If I compete now, I run the risk of having to stop more than a month."

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