Caught off guard [AP photo] WASHINGTON -- At a time when politicians and postal workers are demanding answers about the spread of anthrax, some of the nation's top public health experts acknowledged Tuesday that they still have much to learn about the dangerous disease.

When tragedy attracts tourists
City officials are faced with an awkward question: what to do with the tourists who want to see the most famous sight in New York?

Ramadan adds pressure to mission
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Muslim allies are pressuring the United States to score a major victory on the ground before the Islamic holy month Ramadan begins around Nov. 17 or agree to a lengthy delay in the Afghan operation.

Holy month of Ramadan has a few modern trappings
CAIRO -- Ramadan, which this year starts in mid November, is a holy month of fasting and prayer for Muslims -- the most sacred period on the Islamic calendar.

Boy, 9, is war's willing mascot
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan -- Nasir Aqa is a front-line mascot, a little boy who brings bread and water to soldiers and learns the ways of war at their feet.

Camps set up for Afghan refugees
QUETTA, Pakistan -- Pakistan is shipping some illegal Afghan refugees back across the border to tent villages being set up by the Taliban just inside Afghanistan, the Pakistani government said Tuesday.

Life a struggle in target-rich site
QUETTA, Pakistan -- When darkness falls, it is absolute: There's no electricity, and those who light lamps or candles risk Taliban punishment. Many people don't have money for food, but even if they do, shop after shop is shuttered tight.

7 drug companies may make vaccine
WASHINGTON -- At least seven drug companies are considering ways to make about 250-million doses of smallpox vaccine by the end of next year, but some are asking for special concessions from the government.

Irradiation may be used on mail
The government is exploring whether irradiation, already used on foods, can kill anthrax.

New York hunts for final toll
NEW YORK -- After more than a month of cross-checking and detective work, police and city officials think they are closing in on a reliable figure for the number of people missing and dead in the attack on the World Trade Center.

Cases of deadly inhalation anthrax grow
The new cases are reported in three, and possibly as many as five, postal employees at facilities in Washington, D.C., and Trenton, N.J.

National ID cards? Proposal falls flat
Calls for a national system of identification cards -- sparked by the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon -- have gained little traction, failing to win endorsements from the Bush administration or congressional leaders.

Taliban hides out among civilians
AINGARI, Afghanistan -- Taliban forces are taking cover among the civilian population of Kabul and stashing their military equipment in mosques and schools to avoid U.S. airstrikes, according to refugees who have fled the capital in recent days.

America Strikes Back: Notebook
Poll: Non-Sept. 11 charities should expect less

Linked fugitives may offer leads
WASHINGTON -- U.S. and European authorities believe that three men wanted by German authorities helped plan the Sept. 11 terror attacks and may hold the key to an investigation that has yielded few solid clues so far, law enforcement officials said Tuesday.

No one knew victim was a postal worker
WASHINGTON -- In retrospect, the symptoms were inexorable. Joseph P. Curseen Jr., a 47-year-old postal worker at the Brentwood Road mail sorting center in Washington, told his wife last Tuesday that he thought he had a cold and food poisoning.

Israelis spurn U.S. pullout demand
JERUSALEM -- In a deepening confrontation Tuesday, Israel turned down a blunt U.S. demand to pull its army out of six Palestinian towns in the West Bank.

Stockpiling Cipro a bad, dangerous idea
Lost amid the public health establishment's call for calm about anthrax is the fact that stocking up on antibiotics isn't just a threat to public health. Even if you care only about yourself and your family, taking these drugs is misguided, dangerous and possibly deadly.