House OKs terrorism detainee bill
The House approved legislation yesterday giving the Bush administration authority to interrogate and prosecute terrorism detainees, moving President Bush to the edge of a pre-election victory with a key piece of his anti-terror plan.

The mostly party-line 253-168 vote in the Republican-run House came shortly after senators agreed to limit debate on their own nearly identical bill, all but assuring its passage today.

Republican leaders are hoping to work out differences and send Bush a final version before leaving town this weekend to campaign for the Nov. 7 congressional elections.

For nearly two weeks the GOP have been embarrassed as the White House and rebellious Republican senators have fought publicly over whether Bush's plan would give him too much authority.

Al-Qaida No. 3 accused of part in Pearl killing
The top al-Qaida operative accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks either killed or took part in the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, Pakistan's president has alleged for the first time.

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's claim, made in his memoirs released this week, could now be used to try to clear one of Pearl's four convicted killers, who is appealing his death sentence, the prisoner's lawyer said yesterday.

Musharraf accused Khalid Sheikh Mohammed of taking part in Pearl's killing in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, following the journalist's kidnapping on Jan. 23, 2002. Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan in 2003 and is in U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Saudis plan fence along border with Iraq
Saudi Arabia is pushing ahead with plans to build a fence to block terrorists from crossing its 560-mile border with Iraq - another sign of growing alarm that Sunni-Shiite strife could spill over and drag Iraq's neighbors into its civil conflict.

The barrier, which hasn't been started, is part of a $12 billion package of measures including electronic sensors, security bases and physical barriers to protect the oil-rich kingdom from external threats, said Nawaf Obaid, head of the Saudi National Security Assessment Project, an independent research institute that advises the Saudi government.

The ambitious project reflects not only concern over terrorism but also growing alarm over the situation in Iraq.

Clinton's challenger: Too many theatrics
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's underdog Republican challenger accused the former first lady and her husband yesterday of engaging in timeworn theatrics with their criticism of President Bush's handling of the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

"Once again President Clinton is wagging his finger with righteous indignation and once again Hillary Clinton is rushing to his defense," said former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer. "This act is getting old and the American people realize it."

The broadside from Spencer, with its reference to the Clintons' behavior during the early stages of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, came as the political world buzzed about the former president's testy interview with Fox News' Chris Wallace that aired Sunday.

In the exchange with Wallace, the former president contended that, unlike him, the newly installed Bush administration ignored bin Laden until the Sept. 11 attacks.