News In Brief

Local

Amendment vote draws sparse turnout at polls

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - New Mexicans were bombarded with mailings and were spun the best spin partisans could muster, but poll workers in some precincts outnumbered voters at times during a constitutional election on education.

Two constitutional amendments proposed to change the way education was administered and funded in New Mexico - one to make the education executive a governor's cabinet-level appointee, the other to loosen the flow of money from a permanent fund dedicated mostly to education.

But issues were complex and muddied by politics, and the average voter was unsure what the amendments would do, what they would mean and whether any of that was worth the bother of voting, polling consultant Brian Sanderoff said.

National

Translator charged with espionage at prison

WASHINGTON (AP) - An Air Force translator at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp for terror suspects has been charged with espionage and aiding the enemy, officials said Tuesday, three days after disclosing the arrest of a U.S. Army chaplain working at the same base. The two men knew each other, an Air Force spokesman said, but officials said they didn't know if there had been any conspiracy to breach security at the prison camp.

Appeals courts rules to allow recall election

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - With stunning decisiveness, a federal appeals court Tuesday unanimously put California's recall election back on the calendar for Oct. 7, sweeping aside warnings of a Florida-style fiasco two weeks from now. The American Civil Liberties Union, which had sought a postponement, said it would not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, removing the final legal roadblock to the recall and setting up a 14-day sprint among the candidates in the historic election to remove Gov. Gray Davis.

State Deptartment says computers hit by virus

WASHINGTON (AP) -The State Department's electronic system for checking every visa applicant for terrorist or criminal history failed worldwide late Tuesday because of a computer virus, leaving the U.S. government unable to issue visas.

Flooding causes power outage on East Coast

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The East Coast's recovery from Isabel was dealt a setback Tuesday by another round of storms that caused renewed flooding, flattened trees that had withstood the hurricane and knocked out power to thousands of customers, some for the second time. A tornado with winds of nearly 70 mph touched down along a four-county path that crossed Richmond.

Official to disclose WMD progress report findings

WASHINGTON (AP) - The man in charge of the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is briefing senior intelligence officials in Washington this week but the public may not be told of his findings right away. CIA adviser David Kay is expected to complete his progress report to agency Director George J. Tenet soon, U.S. officials said.

International

Bush calls for nations' help in rebuilding Iraq

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - President Bush rejected calls from France and Germany to hasten the transfer of power in Iraq, insisting that the shift to self-government can be "neither hurried nor delayed." He urged allies Tuesday to put aside bitter divisions over the U.S.-led war and help lead a massive reconstruction effort. French President Jacques Chirac challenged Bush by demanding a "realistic timetable" for granting sovereignty. But Chirac said he would not block a U.N. resolution sought by the United States to encourage other countries to contribute troops and money for Iraq.