September 25, 2004

Haitians riot for food

United Nations troops fired smoke grenades on Friday as crowds of Haitian flood victims tried to break into a food distribution site, increasingly desperate over the slow pace of relief after Tropical Storm Jeanne devastated the city of Gonaives. At least 1,160 people were killed in last weekend's storm. Meanwhile, about three-quarters of a million residents of Florida's east coast were urged to evacuate -- again -- as Jeanne churned west. The 100-mph storm could come ashore somewhere on the state's east coast by Sunday.

GOP introduces 9/11 bill

House Republicans say legislation they introduced Friday will make America safer by including the Sept. 11 commission's suggestions to improve intelligence, immigration and national security. The House Republican bill includes creation of a national intelligence director and counterterrorism center, new anti-terror and immigration enforcement powers, stronger identity theft and money-laundering preventive measures.

Israeli American killed in Gaza

An Israeli missile strike killed one Palestinian and wounded five early today, hours after militants killed an Israeli-American woman in the first deadly shelling of a Jewish settlement in Gaza in four years of fighting. The settlement attack, which came just before the start of Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, was likely to mobilize further opposition to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip next year. The Hamas group claimed responsibility for firing at the settlement.

Copyright © The Sun-Times Company
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.