Book: Al-Qaida planned attack on NYC subway

Book: Al-Qaida plannedattack on NYC subway
NEW YORK -- U.S. officials received intelligence that al-Qaida operatives had been 45 days away from releasing a deadly gas into the city's subways when the plan was called off by Osama bin Laden's deputy in 2003, according to a book excerpt released Sunday on Time magazine's Web site. According to the investigative report by Ron Suskind, an informant close to al-Qaida leaders told U.S. officials that Ayman al-Zawahri had canceled the plan in January 2003, despite the likelihood that the strike would have killed as many people as the Sept. 11 attacks.
Iran criticizes U.S.
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran accused the United States on Sunday of steering Europe away from a possible compromise on Tehran's disputed nuclear program. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the U.S. insistence on conditional negotiations over a Western package of incentives has narrowed the scope of possible talks and made it tougher for all parties to reach a solution. The incentives are meant to persuade Iran to stop enriching uranium, a process that can make nuclear fuel for a power plant or fissile material for an atomic bomb. "We feel that the Americans are trying to take Europe to a point that the case could not be easily solvable," Asefi said.
Americans' giving rises
NEW YORK -- The urgent needs created by three major natural disasters -- the tsunami in Asia, earthquake in Pakistan and hurricanes Rita, Katrina and Wilma -- drove American philanthropy to its highest level since the end of the technology boom, a new study showed. The report released today by the Giving USA foundation estimates that in 2005 Americans gave $260.28 billion, a rise of 6.1 percent, which approaches the inflation-adjusted high of $260.53 billion that was reached in 2000.
Associated Press