Virginia

Government, Moussaoui will not discuss death penalty

Zacarias Moussaoui, the man indicted as a Sept. 11 accomplice, tried to speak with prosecutors about the death penalty and classified information but they refused, the government said Thursday.

Prosecutors said they had been informed of the request Tuesday by a jail official, an indication that Moussaoui who wants to represent himself in the case already is trying to do so.

Moussaoui, however, cannot make that decision on his own. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said she would rule after Moussaoui, a French citizen, has a mental examination.

Moussaoui’s court-appointed lawyers, who remain in the case for now, were informed of the request by government attorneys and have asked Brinkema not to allow the meeting.

Washington

Trade center rebuilding costs could be lower than expected

Cleaning up and rebuilding downtown Manhattan is expected to cost up to $29 billion, $6 billion less than had been estimated earlier, according to a new report.

The analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that overall, New York City was in better fiscal shape after the Sept. 11 attacks than had first been thought.

The report attributed $4.5 billion in lost income to the attacks. Federal Reserve Bank President William McDonough said that figure was “far below estimates that we would have made a few weeks after the attack.”

Washington

FBI warns of possible attacks on shopping centers, markets

The FBI has quietly issued a warning to its agents nationwide about unconfirmed information from an al-Qaida member that terrorists may be planning attacks against supermarkets or shopping centers.

The warning, sent Tuesday to all FBI field offices and relayed to some state and local police, cautioned that the information from a captured senior al-Qaida official was unsubstantiated. And it did not include specific information about possible targets, timing, numbers of people involved or any particular method of attack.