Bill would help ensure health of jobless since Sept. 11
WASHINGTON -- President Bush and Congress are working on legislation to provide health benefits to hundreds of thousands of people laid off in recent months. But they disagree over how to deliver the aid and how much to spend.

Religious charity bill to be sliced
WASHINGTON -- President Bush has set aside his most ambitious plans to give federal money to religious charities and instead will support a watered-down version of his religion-based initiative, senators and administration officials say.

He seemed like such a nice boy
Follow the path Ziad Jarrah took from beloved, well-educated son to terrorist hijacker.

Flood of cash for N.Y. leaves other charities dry
In normal times, 100 donations a week flow into the Make-a-Wish Foundation in Cleveland. But since Sept. 11, donations have dried to a trickle.

Canada beefs up border security, adds ID cards
Taking steps to battle terrorism and counter fears that Canada is a terrorist haven, the government announced Friday it would spend more money on law enforcement and add high-tech tools to protect borders.

Pilot: Taliban's weapons antiquated, but functional
ABOARD THE USS ENTERPRISE -- Between missions over Afghanistan, an American pilot said Saturday that Taliban forces were still firing surface-to-air missiles at U.S. aircraft a week into the bombing campaign but had not hit any planes.

America strikes notebook
Bush to U.S.: Stay calm, pitch in, we will win

More cases of exposure reported
Three new reports of exposure to anthrax in three states surfaced Saturday while authorities announced that a letter from New Jersey -- not St. Petersburg -- may have delivered the rare disease to NBC's New York offices.

Saudi philanthropy or funding for terrorists?
They are the elite of Saudi society: wealthy, respected men with investments that span the globe and reputations for generosity.

Antiwar protests fill the streets in Europe
LONDON -- An estimated 20,000 people marched through central London in the largest of several demonstrations in Europe on Saturday against the military strikes in Afghanistan.

Terror's new focus unheeded
The CIA intercepted a cryptic but chilling message last year from a member of al-Qaida, who boasted that Osama bin Laden was planning to carry out a "Hiroshima" against America, according to government officials.

Atta: Shy child to single-minded killer
Two years ago, not long before he traveled to the United States to coordinate the worst terrorist attacks in history, Mohamed Atta attended a wedding. The event was held in Hamburg, the German port city, where Atta had recently earned a university degree, but this was not the marriage of a college friend.

A better system?
WASHINGTON -- Two days after the terrorist attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration announced it was getting tough about weapons. Knives and box cutters were banned from flights.

The last 12 days
OCT. 3: A laboratory biologist at JFK Medical Center in West Palm Beach examines samples taken from patient Bob Stevens, 63, who is deathly ill with meningitis and pneumonia. A sample of suspicious bacterium is taken by courier to the Florida Department of Health laboratory in Jacksonville. It is identified as anthrax.

Care needed in anthrax tests
Reliable tests for the spores usually take time. Quick results can produce a false-positive or miss a pathogen.

Afghans welcome 'strange' food aid
KHWAJA BAHAOUDDIN, Afghanistan -- U.S. cargo planes swooped over this desert village near the Tajikistan border and blanketed its plains with packets of food Saturday morning, prompting hundreds of townspeople to race from their homes and gather up the bounty from the sky.

Afghan rebels expect to take Kabul in a month
JABAL-US-SARAJ, Afghanistan -- Assessing the military situation on the ground after a week of U.S. airstrikes, anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan said Saturday they expect to be in control of the capital, Kabul, before Ramadan, the Muslim holiday about a month away.

Taliban's soldiers survive a week of U.S. airstrikes
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A week of methodical pounding by U.S. warplanes has ripped apart the Taliban's military infrastructure and demolished what little modern weaponry the group had. But the bombing has done little to prompt mass desertions or kill the Taliban fighters, many of whom are now reported to be dispersed in residential neighborhoods and across the forbidding terrain of Afghanistan waiting for American troops to arrive.

Bomb destroys Kabul homes
KABUL, Afghanistan -- The supreme leader of Afghanistan's Taliban rulers on Saturday rejected an overture from President Bush, saying the movement won't hand over Osama bin Laden to the United States, despite a weeklong U.S.-led air assault.