Video of kidnapped CARE worker telecast
BAGHDAD, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Al-Jazeera TV Tuesday broadcast a video of relief agency worker Margaret Hassan, who was kidnapped in Baghdad.
Hassan, who was born in Ireland and has dual Iraqi and British citizenship, was seen on the video looking distressed and her hands appeared to be tied behind her back, the BBC reported.
Hassan, who is married to an Iraqi, was abducted on her way to work in Baghdad at 7:30 a.m., local time, Tuesday.
She has been living in Iraq for more than 30 years and has worked for CARE since the early 1990s.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair condemned the kidnapping and said Hassan had spent years helping Iraqi people.
"I think it shows you the type of people we are up against, that they are prepared to kidnap somebody like this," he said.
An Iraqi armed group said it had captured Hassan, but did not identify itself or give any demands, al-Jazeera said.
Federal union worried over U.S. borrowing
WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Federal employees and retirees are concerned about administration borrowing from their retirement fund, the head of the largest federal union said Tuesday.
The National Treasury Employees Union said the borrowing is to keep government spending below the congressionally mandated debt limit.
In a letter to Treasury Secretary John Snow, NTEU president Colleen Kelley asked for an update on actions the secretary has taken so far "to avoid breaching the federal debt limit," as well as his assessment of "the expected duration of the current crisis."
Kelley said this the third time in three years that the economic policies of the administration and its inability to secure a timely increase in the national debt limit have led to borrowing from the federal Thrift Savings Plan.
The TSP represents the savings of federal employees and retirees.
By law, federal employees and retirees who have invested in the TSP G Fund are to be made whole after the conclusion of a federal debt crisis.
2nd teen charged with school murder plot
MARSHFIELD, Mass., Oct. 19 (UPI) -- A second teenager has been charged with plotting a mass murder at Marshfield High School in Massachusetts to emulate the 1999 Columbine massacre.
Senior Joseph T. Nee, 18, Monday pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mass murder and one court of promoting anarchy in Plymouth District Court, the Boston Globe reported Tuesday.
Nee provided the original tip to police about a plot to kill eight named students, teachers and administrators. He is the son of Thomas J. Nee, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association.
Junior Tobin Kerns, 16, was charged in September with contributing to the massacre plot.
U.S. election sparks absentee frenzy
WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Absentee and early ballots for the U.S. presidential election are being reported in record numbers from sea to shining sea.
With more than 5 million eligible voters living abroad and millions of others stateside voting early or absentee, elections officials from California to Maine say they're being inundated by requests this year compared to past elections.
Maricopa County officials in Phoenix have more than 487,000 absentee ballot requests compared to fewer than 76,000 in the 2000 election, the Arizona Republic reported Tuesday.
Los Angeles, which had a record 499,000 absentee applications in 2002, is up to 633,000, the Sacramento Bee said.
The Washington Post reports a record-setting 22,674 absentee ballot applications so far in Fairfax County, Va., and Hall County, Neb., says it has double the number of absentee ballots for this election as opposed to the 2000 presidential election, the Grand Island Independent says.
Arkansas is braced for 200,000 early and absentee votes, officials told the Little Rock Democrat-Gazette and Clay County, Fla., officials told WJXX-TV, they're seeing early voters "in droves."
Even Alaska is not exempt from the early voting frenzy.
"Each year I've seen an increase in absentee voting, but this year it is a significant increase," Election Supervisor Pam Crowe told the Juneau Empire.
