FBI checked Muslim sites for radioactivity
WASHINGTON, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- The FBI monitored a number of private U.S. sites for radioactivity in the last three years, many of them mosques, homes or businesses of Muslims.
A story on the monitoring first appeared on the U.S. News & World Report Web site, but the facts have been confirmed by a number of news outlets, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, using official sources.
The Times said the government has acknowledged the radioactivity monitoring at ports, subway stations and other public places, but the monitoring of private property was not generally known.
The monitoring involves the use of small radiation alarms, worn like pagers on the belt.
Much of the private site monitoring took place in Washington, New York, Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas and Seattle, reports said. Since the agents were monitoring from public areas, no warrants were sought.
U.S. officials have been concerned terrorists might use a "dirty bomb," a conventional explosive device wrapped in radioactive material, inside the United States.
None of the reports suggested the monitoring uncovered any radiation.
Alito cited attorney general immunity
WASHINGTON, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito Jr. once argued that the attorney general should be legally immune when acting in the name of national security.
He contended that immunity even should extend to actions involving illegal wiretapping of U.S. citizens, The Washington Post said.
Documents released Friday show that Alito, then a lawyer in the Reagan Justice Department, argued that the attorney general should be free to combat terror and espionage without worrying about being taken to court, the Post said.
But even though he contended in a 1984 memo that the attorney general has such authority, Alito urged that it not be used publicly.
The memo's release comes as President Bush is facing criticism for using a secret National Security Agency program to bypass the courts and tap into the overseas telephone calls and e-mail of U.S. citizens with suspected ties to terrorists.
Toll rises to 44 in China gas explosion
BEIJING, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- The death toll from a gas explosion at a road construction site in southwest China has risen to 44.
Xinhua reports the blast in Sichuan Province occurred Thursday in a tunnel under construction between the cities of Dujiangyan and Wenchuan.
Most of the victims were construction workers. At first, officials listed 42 dead, but two more bodies were found Saturday.
Eleven people were hospitalized, two in critical condition.
An investigation into the cause of the explosion is continuing.
U.N. enacts reform budget
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- The U.N. General Assembly has passed a $3.8 billion compromise 2006-2007 budget with checks on spending.
The budget authorizes the full amount and allows for complete assessments to be handed each of the 191 nations for their dues, but it appropriates only an initial $950-million for spending before the secretary-general has to return to the assembly for the additional funds, contingent on reform implementation.
Late Friday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a statement it "will enable the organization to continue its work uninterrupted while (U.N.) member states pursue the reform proposals adopted during the 2005 World Summit."
