Nation in brief

Medicare nominee eases drug stance

WASHINGTON - President Bush's nominee to run Medicare and Medicaid, Dr. Mark McClellan, said Monday that he would work with Congress on bipartisan legislation to assure the safety of prescription drugs imported from Canada.

The way to do that is by giving the Food and Drug Administration more money, more personnel and more power to police imports, McClellan said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee.

As commissioner of food and drugs for the last 16 months, McClellan has led the Bush administration's campaign to stop unauthorized drug imports. He has said such products endanger American consumers because they are often counterfeit, mislabeled or contaminated.

Under questioning by several senators on Monday, McClellan appeared to soften his tone a bit. Several senators have threatened to hold up his nomination if he adamantly resists drug imports.

Senate Republican leaders said they hoped the Senate would confirm him by the end of this week.

WASHINGTON - Top counterterror officials in the Clinton and Bush administrations are to testify at public hearings March 23-24 sponsored by the federal panel reviewing the Sept. 11 attacks.

The bipartisan panel released its schedule Monday for its four remaining hearings.

Among those scheduled to testify this month are Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, CIA director George Tenet and Secretary of State Colin Powell. Also on the witness list are the three main security officials of the former Clinton administration: Defense Secretary William Cohen, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and national security adviser Sandy Berger.

Commission officials also are seeking public testimony from President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, who has refused to appear on the advice of White House lawyers.

Former President Bill Clinton and his vice president, Al Gore, have consented to unlimited questioning in private. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have agreed only to private, separate, one-hour meetings with the commission's chairman and vice chairman.

LONDON - Five British prisoners at the U.S. jail for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will be sent back to Britain within 24 hours, Home Secretary David Blunkett said Monday.

The five are among nine British citizens at the base in eastern Cuba. About 640 terror suspects are at Guantanamo Bay. The military has freed 88 and transferred a dozen to the custody of their home countries.

The fate of the four other British citizens in custody remains uncertain. Relatives of the men were in Washington on Monday calling for their release.

DAUGHTER LOST IN FIRE RETURNED TO MOTHER: A 6-year-old girl who allegedly was kidnapped as a newborn and was thought to have died in a fire was returned to her mother Monday. Luzaida Cuevas, 31, and the child she named Delimar Vera were officially reunited Monday at state family services offices in Burlington County, N.J., the mother's attorney said.

THOUSANDS LOSE POWER IN WIND STORMS: Nearly 100,000 customers in the Carolinas remained without power Monday after a fast-moving cold front blew through with up to 70 mph winds that snapped trees and caused at least three deaths.

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