Washington, D.C.: Anthrax scares reported at two financial agencies

More than a thousand World Bank employees worked from home after an anthrax scare Tuesday, and its sister agency, the International Monetary Fund, found evidence of spores in its mail room.

With no discernible progress on the investigation months after the anthrax letter attacks, the FBI prepared to give lie detector tests to current and former workers at a pair of Army medical labs where the microbes are on hand.

More than 200 polygraph tests will be given to current and former employees at Fort Detrick, Md., and Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, a law enforcement official said Tuesday.

New York City: Hijacker visited twin towers just days before Sept. 11

The leader of the Sept. 11 hijackers visited the World Trade Center days before the attack to obtain coordinates for a navigation device, law enforcement officials now believe.

Credit card records show Mohamed Atta was in New York on Sept. 10 and perhaps Sept. 9, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation.

New evidence has emerged that leads investigators to believe Atta made a last-minute visit to double-check coordinates of the towers and plug them into a sophisticated Global Positioning System device bought by the hijackers, the source said.

Washington, D.C.: State Department victim of computer virus forgery

The State Department’s e-mail identity was forged by a computer virus that sent itself to law enforcement and media outlets across the country, a department official said Tuesday.

Variants of the virus, called Klez, have been spreading since the late 1990s and are transmitted through e-mails and attachments. Klez does not destroy computer files but can clog up mail systems and corporate networks.

Saturday, the virus sent hundreds of e-mails with the return address of the State Department’s public affairs office, a State Department official said on condition of anonymity.

The State Department sent an apology to those who received the e-mail.

Thailand: Monk takes 30 hostages

A Buddhist monk was arrested today after storming Thailand’s parliament with an AK-47 assault rifle, taking about 30 people hostage and demanding to speak with the prime minister.

The monk, wearing a traditional saffron robe, was captured by three plainclothes police posing as reporters. They took the gun and handcuffed him after a one-hour standoff, during which he fired into the air once. No one was injured.

Police Col. Luechai Sutyod said the suspect faces charges of illegal weapons possession, breaking into a government office and illegal detention of others with a penalty of 20 years in prison.