ATLANTA: Powder found at Army post tests negative for anthrax

White powder in a bag found at the U.S. Army Reserve Command headquarters building at Fort McPherson was not anthrax, an Army spokesman said.

Field tests shortly after the bag was found Friday afternoon had indicated anthrax, but more conclusive tests Saturday proved anthrax was not present, Col. Guy Shields told a news conference.

The five civilian employees who found the package and two firefighters who responded were showered down because of possible contamination, and the building was locked down with about 200 people inside for about five hours Friday. None of the people involved were given medication for anthrax, Shields said Saturday.

Afghanistan: Interim leader may ask for help controlling warlords

If rival warlords threaten Afghanistan’s attempts at a stable future, interim leader Hamid Karzai said Saturday that he won’t hesitate to ask U.S. and other foreign troops to settle the feud.

“If there is an element that we definitely find out to be instrumental in deliberately trying to destabilize Afghanistan and we cannot stop them, then sure we will call upon the security forces to help,” Karzai told The Associated Press in an interview.

Factional fighting has erupted in different parts of the country involving regional warlords with heavily-armed troops. The worst outbreak of fighting in eastern Paktia province last month left 50 people dead.

WASHINGTON, d.c.: Readiness issues dog U.S. on potential strike on Iraq

A published report says it could take up to a year before the United States is ready to launch a coordinated assault likely to achieve the Bush administration’s goals of destroying Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction capability and replacing Saddam Hussein’s regime.

The Washington Post, citing testimony and interviews with senior administration and Pentagon officials, foreign diplomats and non-government analysts, said depleted weapons stocks, demands on U.S. ships and aircraft in the Afghan campaign, severe strains on active duty and reserve forces over the last five months, and the need to obtain regional basing and command center agreements have imposed an unavoidably lengthy timeline on U.S. action.

Iraq, Iran and North Korea make up the “axis of evil” in the war on terrorism cited by President Bush.

North Carolina: Escaped Texas murderer captured on East Coast

An escaped Texas murderer was arrested at a Raleigh hotel on Saturday, almost a week after he overpowered a corrections officer and fled in a pickup truck.

John William Roland III, 33, was arrested around 5 p.m. after police negotiated with him for about an hour, said Lt. Tom Earnhardt of the Raleigh Police Department.

Roland had been tracked to the Red Roof Inn through a stolen credit card, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Larry Todd said.