Schools show spirit with colors red, white, blue
JONESBORO, Ga. -- Until two weeks ago, the theme for Friday's homecoming celebration at Jonesboro High was "Old School," and each class had been asked to construct a float representing a different decade. Poodle skirts and tie-dyed T-shirts would be de rigueur. After the events of Sept. 11, the student council changed the theme to "Pride and Patriotism," and students cleaned local stores out of red, white and blue crepe paper.

By saving woman, rescuers saved themselves
NEW YORK -- The six firefighters would have moved faster if they hadn't stopped to help a weary woman trying to flee. They would have moved slower if they hadn't been able to coax her along, telling her that if she wanted to see her children and grandchildren again, she had to keep moving down the stairs.

Bin Laden recruits with graphic video
NEW YORK -- A masked man in a loose-fitting black robe rolls once in the red dirt and leaps upright. Feet apart, he aims a pistol and fires once, twice, three times -- into a life-size moving video image of former President Bill Clinton.

Rural Vermont town pushes for pledge to be said in school
CORINTH, Vt. -- Townspeople have assailed administrators of a rural school for not adopting a policy of pledging allegiance to the flag in classrooms each day.

Taliban gets strength from foreign volunteers
Among those taking up the fight for Islam in Afghanistan are recruits from nations as distant as China and Yemen.

U.S. force in place, Bush can strike at will
WASHINGTON -- The United States has now amassed a military force of 28,000 sailors, airmen and troops, more than 300 warplanes and two dozen warships spread for thousands of miles across a military theater with Iraq and Afghanistan at its heart.

Russians: You must know the terrain
MOSCOW -- Maj. Gen. Alexander Popov was prepared for the high mountains, bitter winter cold and blistering summer heat. But when the Soviet army crossed into Afghanistan in 1979, he didn't know the caves would be so deep, the tunnels so long or the Afghans so clever at hiding in the daunting terrain that defied so many invaders in the past.

America responds notebook
Crowds line up for reopened Empire State deck

U.S. is ready for biological attack, Thompson says
WASHINGTON -- Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson says the United States is prepared to take care of any kind of biological attack, but the public is not so sure.

Citizens abroad told to beware
WASHINGTON -- The State Department issued a worldwide travel alert for Americans after discovering that extremists in nine countries might be preparing to kidnap or kill American and British civilians in response to expected U.S. retaliatory strikes against terrorists, Knight Ridder reports.

Terror experts: Look at radicals from Algeria
Here's a tip for those seeking to make sense of the ever-widening circles of investigation welling up from the Sept. 11 hijacking attacks on New York and Washington:

Paper trail leads FBI to Germany
WASHINGTON -- The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were financed with a $500,000 bankroll, a law enforcement official said Saturday as the FBI sent more agents to Germany in the search for masterminds of the plot.

Safety first, but security, too
WASHINGTON -- Maybe the Federal Aviation Administration could learn a thing or two from itself.

Food shipments to Afghans resume
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Fearing widespread starvation in Afghanistan if America attacks, the United Nations on Saturday sent its first food shipments there since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a U.N. spokesman said.

CIA tried to have bin Laden killed
WASHINGTON -- The CIA secretly began to send teams of American officers to northern Afghanistan about three years ago in an attempt to convince the leader of the anti-Taliban Afghan opposition to capture and perhaps kill Osama bin Laden, the New York Times reports.

Bush adds might to counterterrorism force
WASHINGTON -- President Bush plans to name a retired Army general to a new counterterrorism post, and declared Saturday that his war preparations are gaining momentum but are unlikely to produce quick results.

Globalization protest becomes plea for peace
WASHINGTON -- They gathered on a hard carpet stained with instant coffee and lousy cafeteria food. Six college students, four with black markers and green and red cardboard posters, brainstorming for slogans but coming up with little.

Ground zero diary: 12 days of fire, fear and grit
NEW YORK -- The last of the big fires erupted at 3:30 a.m., a rushing orange-and-red wall that swiftly overwhelmed the ruined Marriott Hotel. Dozens of firefighters sat in office chairs in the open air at the corner of Liberty and West streets. Their faces were brightened by flames. Some slept, slumped backward in fire-retardant coats.

Canada seeks better border security
Canada is looking at measures to increase security at the U.S. border and to tighten immigration and refugee policies.

TV Times addenda
Here is a listing of today's television news shows.