WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- The Justice Department says it is investigating leaks about the National Security Agency's classified domestic surveillance program.

The secret eavesdropping program, which President George Bush authorized shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, allows the NSA to intercept domestic communications without a warrant, so long as one party is outside the United States.

Bush, who confirmed the program's existence earlier this month after The New York Times broke the story, says it is essential to help counterterrorism agents quickly trace the communications of terror suspects.

Democrats and some Republicans have questioned the legality of the program and some are seeking an independent investigation or congressional hearings.

During a recent news conference Bush suggested there may be an investigation into the leak of information about the program. The Times said it held the story -- at the government's request -- for about a year before publishing. One of the Times reporters plans a book on the issue to come out early next year.

Bad weather threatens Pacific coast

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- While Texas and Oklahoma sizzle under unseasonably warm weather, the Pacific Coast could be hit by heavy rains, flooding and mudslides.

Soaking conditions are forecast for the West during the weekend that will close out 2005. The weather may not spare even the Rose Bowl parade in California, reports USA Today. Elsewhere in the country, mild to wet weather is expected to usher in the New Year.

The recent storms in the West have put much strain on a Los Angeles berm built to protect waterfront homes and business from flooding and more rains in the forecast, says the report. But the opposite will be true in the southern plains where dry, warm winds have continued to fan wildfires.

"It's too bad we can't get some of this moisture down to Oklahoma and Texas," said a National Weather Service spokesman. Nearly 200 homes were destroyed and four people killed in fires that charred 20,000 acres in the two states.

Snow is predicted in New York and much of the Northeast as well as in parts of the Midwest. Elsewhere in the eastern half, showers were expected by Saturday.

Palestinian police storm Gaza crossing

RAFAH, Gaza, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Dozens of Palestinian policemen, angry at growing lawlessness in the Gaza Strip, have stormed the southern border crossing at Rafah, officials say.

Backed by gunmen from the Fatah party, police blocked access to the crossing with Egypt and forced EU monitors manning it to flee, the BBC said.

The Palestinian Authority took control of the crossing last month after a deal brokered by the United States. Under the terms of the agreement, EU monitors must be present for the crossing to operate. Those who fled the police surge are expected back when it's safe.

Julio de la Guardia, a spokesman for the EU monitors, said Palestinian police had advised them to leave and that they temporarily withdrawn to the Israeli-controlled border crossing at Kerem Shalom.

There have been a spate of kidnappings, armed takeovers of government buildings, and gun battles in Gaza since Israel withdrew in September after 37 years of occupation.

Fla. teen goes to Iraq to see democracy

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Farris Hassan just wanted to see Iraq's struggle for democracy firsthand, so the Florida teenager hopped a plane and went.

Hassan, 16, was headed back to the United States Friday following his foray to his parents' native country, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

Hassan's father, Dr. Redha Hassan, said he had been planning to take his son to Iraq during the summer, but the youth didn't want to wait. He used his own money to buy a plane ticket to Kuwait and headed over two weeks ago, leaving behind only an e-mail message saying, "Don't worry about me, I will be safe."

"I said to myself, 'You have no idea what you're getting yourself into.' For $100, they kidnap people," Redha Hassan told the newspaper. "The suicide bombers, they look for foreigners. He's young, with an American passport and doesn't speak a word of Arabic."

Hassan's mother told "CBS Morning News" she would be confiscating her son's passport.

Bowler rolls 300, then drops dead

KALAMAZOO, Mich., Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Ed Lorenz, an avid bowler at age 69, rolled a 300 game at his favorite Kalamazoo, Mich., lanes, and dropped dead minutes later.

It was the third perfect score for Lorenz but midway though in the next game he clutched his chest and collapsed. Efforts to revive him failed, the Kalamazoo Gazette said.

"If he could have written a way to go out, this would be it,'' said Johnny Masters, who was bowling with Lorenz in the Schoolcraft Miller Lite League.

Lorenz, who began bowling in 1957, was a fixture on the Kalamazoo Gazette's monthly senior bowling honor roll. He lived in Portage and worked for many years at Fuller Manufacturing.