Opening arguments began Monday in the sentencing trial of Zacarias Moussaoui with government prosecutors claiming the defendant's lies to the FBI when he was arrested in August 2001 could have prevented the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks . Court-appointed defense attorneys for Moussaoui argued instead that he had no knowledge of the attacks, backing his contentions [...]

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The Hamas-controlled Palestinian Legislative Council on Monday voted to strip Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of powers given him last month by the lame-duck parliament dominated by Abbas' Fatah party . Among those was the authority to appoint a constitutional court empowered to cancel any law approved by the newly-elected Hamas-led assembly considered contrary to [...]

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Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday signed into law new anti-terrorism legislation giving the Russian police and military broad authority to tap telephone conversations and control electronic communications in the vicinity of counter-terror operations, shoot down hijacked planes threatening public places or strategic facilities, and deal with the aftermath of terrorist attacks. The legislation passed the [...]

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President Bush announced Monday that he is sending new legislation to Congress that would give him "line-item" veto power over specific provisions in Congressional spending bills, allowing rejection of particular provisions without compromising entire legislative packages. Speaking at the White House swearing-in of new Council of Economic Advisers chair Edward Lazear, Bush said :Congress gave [...]

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US District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema on Monday sat 12 jurors and 6 alternates in the sentencing trial of al Qaeda co-conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui following several weeks of jury selection . While Moussaoui's lawyers attacked many of the 83 potential jury members as being tainted with personal connections to victims of Sept. 11, the prosecution [...]

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