U.S. says alleged Afghan
drug kingpin arrested
NEW YORK (AP) - A reputed Afghan drug lord who authorities say operated with the protection of the Taliban has been captured and faces charges that he tried to smuggle more than $50 million worth of heroin into the United States, authorities said.
Bashir Noorzai, who is on the U.S. list of most-wanted drug kingpins, was ordered held without bail at his initial court appearance in Manhattan. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Senators Frist, Reid work on judge-approval deal
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WASHINGTON (AP) - In private talks with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, the Senate's top Democrat has indicated a willingness to allow confirmation of at least two of President Bush's seven controversial appeals court nominees, but only as part of a broader compromise requiring Republicans to abandon threats to ban judicial filibusters, officials said Monday.
At the same time, he offers to clear two nominees to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals for approval, officials said. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., wants a third appointee to be replaced by an alternative who is preferred by Michigan's two Democratic senators.
Two toddlers found dead
in Georgia sewage pond
WARRENTON, Ga. (AP) - Two toddlers who were reported missing from their home over the weekend were found dead in an algae-covered sewage pond a few hundred yards away Monday after a two-day search.
The cause of death was not immediately disclosed, and Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman John Bankhead said it was not known whether the youngsters were the victims of foul play. Autopsies were planned.
67 killed, hundreds hurt
in commuter train wreck
AMAGASAKI, Japan (AP) - Investigators focused on excessive speed and a 23-year-old train driver's lack of experience after a crowded commuter train jumped the rails on a curve Monday and plowed into an apartment building, causing Japan's deadliest rail accident in four decades.
Rescuers worked through the night trying to free survivors from twisted rail carriages left when the train hit the nine-story building's parking garage, killing at least 67 people and injuring 442.
U.S. weapons inspector
finishes fruitless search
WASHINGTON (AP) - In his final report, the CIA's top weapons inspector in Iraq said Monday the hunt for weapons of mass destruction has gone "as far as feasible" and has found nothing, closing an 18-month investigation into the purported programs of Saddam Hussein that were used to justify the 2003 invasion.
"As matters now stand, the WMD investigation has gone as far as feasible," wrote Charles Duelfer, who led the Iraq Survey Group. "After more than 18 months, the WMD investigation and debriefing of the WMD-related detainees has been exhausted."
In 92 pages posted online Monday evening, Duelfer provided a final supplement to a roughly 1,000-page report released last fall.
Bush urges Saudis to boost oil production
CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - President Bush prodded Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah on Monday to help curb skyrocketing oil prices, and the White House expressed hope that the kingdom's plans would ease U.S. gasoline prices, which have shot above $2.20 a gallon
"A high oil price will damage markets and he knows that," Bush said of Abdullah.
