News digest: Oct. 12, 2001

The day's events | Losses

THE DAY'S EVENTS

• An NBC News employee in New York City has been diagnosed with cutaneous (skin) anthrax, a less deadly form of the disease than the inhaled cases that have been discovered in Florida. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson said the NBC employee is being treated with antibiotics and is responding well.

• Attorney General John Ashcroft said the FBI is opening a separate criminal investigation to determine the source of the anthrax in New York. Ashcroft said investigators are looking at a piece of mail that contained a powdery substance.

• In a primetime news conference Thursday evening, President Bush said the war in Afghanistan will "last as long as it takes to bring al Qaeda to justice." But he offered the Taliban regime a "second chance" to turn over Osama bin Laden and bring a halt to the strikes. "I will say it again: If you cough him up and his people today that we'll reconsider what we're doing to your country," Bush said.

• Senate lawmakers overwhelmingly passed tough new antiterrorism and airline-security measures Thursday night. The airline-security bill would federalize the job of airport screening, increase the number of federal marshals on commercial flights, and increase cockpit security. The antiterrorism bill would ease restrictions on searches, wiretaps, and other forms of electronic surveillance. The measures now head to the House for consideration.

• The FBI yesterday released an alert that additional terrorist attacks against the United States and U.S. interests abroad could occur over the next several days. The alert offered no specific details about the type or location of possible attacks. In his news conference, President Bush said the alert was issued because of "a general threat" received by government officials.

• Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said 39 names have been added to the U.S. list of individuals and organizations whose financial assets are being frozen in an effort to block the funding of terrorist activity.

• A Friday Commerce Department report showed that retail sales dropped 2.4 percent in September, the largest drop in nearly 10 years.