SINGAPORE: Terror group linked to al-Qaida uncovered

Asian law enforcement officials investigating an alleged plot by Muslim extremists to blow up Western embassies and U.S. naval vessels here have uncovered a sophisticated underground group affiliated with the al-Qaida terrorist network in Southeast Asia that aided participants in the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

The group, known as Jemaah Islamiah, or Islamic Group, had cells in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia and also operated in the Philippines, officials said. They said the militant group was directed by Riduan Isamuddin, a radical Indonesian cleric who uses the alias Hambali and who served as a conduit between his eager followers in Asia and al-Qaida leaders in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

North Korea: Bush’s remarks bring North Korean response

Three days after President Bush said North Korea was part of an “axis of evil,” leader Kim Jong Il said his regime may increase the capabilities of the world’s fifth-largest army to prevent an invasion.

The official Korean Central News Agency did not clarify whether Kim mentioned Bush by name.

“No force on earth can overpower these great forces firmly determined not to allow any aggressors to dare invade the inviolable territory of our country but wipe them out to the last one at the risk of their lives,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

These were the first reported comments from Kim since Bush’s State of the Union speech Tuesday. In the speech, Bush said North Korea, Iran and Iraq formed an “axis of evil.”

Afghanistan: Warlord’s forces re-arm; U.S. troops not intervening

A warlord re-armed his men Saturday to mount another assault on a provincial capital where residents don’t want him as governor and are dismayed that U.S. forces operating in the area won’t come to their rescue.

The power struggle for Gardez, the capital of strategic Paktia province, triggered the worst fighting in Afghanistan since the ouster of the Taliban and dealt a setback to Prime Minister Hamid Karzai, who returned early Saturday from a six-day trip to the United States and Britain.

Warriors of the Gardez local council forced fighters loyal to Karzai’s newly appointed governor for Paktia, warlord Bacha Khan, to retreat into the surrounding mountains Friday.

Philadelphia: Oklahoma governor backs profiling of terror suspects

Some kinds of racial profiling are just what the country needs to track potential terrorists inside American borders and keep out those who have “mischief on their minds,” one governor told the country’s top terrorism prosecutor Saturday.

“I think it is negligent not to look at everything, including racial factors,” when assessing potential terrorists, Gov. Frank Keating, R-Okla., said.

Keating was part of an American Bar Assn. panel discussing the security of Americans at home, and the legal and civil liberties issues arising from the government response to the Sept. 11 jetliner attacks.