Washington, D.C.

Bin Laden threats prompt new alert

The latest threats by Osama bin Laden prompted the State Department on Wednesday to issue a worldwide caution for Americans everywhere.

The department said Americans need to remain vigilant to a continuing terror threat that could target civilians.

Citing new threats by bin Laden released last week, the department said groups linked to his al-Qaida organization posed an increased risk of terrorist attacks.

They may include suicide bombings and kidnappings, the statement said. “These individuals have proved they do not distinguish between official and civilian targets,” the department added.

In a separate statement, the department said it was concerned that an attack similar to the one in Bali, Indonesia, last month may occur in other Southeast Asian nations, including Malaysia.

London

Britain says U.S. has requested troops

The United States has asked Britain to contribute troops if war erupts in Iraq but no decision has been made, top officials said Wednesday.

British lawmakers are scheduled to debate the Iraq situation next week in the House of Commons. Many are wary of joining a U.S.-led military action to disarm Saddam Hussein.

Prime Minister Tony Blair called the American request a general inquiry, not a specific request, and said Washington has sounded out many other nations in the same way.

“We have received the same general request as everyone else. We haven’t received a specific request in relation to specific troop requirements,” Blair said during a Commons question-and-answer session.

The United States has drawn up plans to invade Iraq with up to 250,000 troops if the country doesn’t comply with the U.N. resolution calling on Iraq to get rid of its weapons of mass destruction.

Washington, D.C.

Senate bill would lure Iraqi scientists to U.S.

Iraqi scientists yielding information on their country’s weapons of mass destruction would be given safe haven in the United States under a bill the Senate approved Wednesday.

The bill, which would cover up to 500 weapons scientists and their families, comes as the United States threatens war against the Iraq unless leader Saddam Hussein agrees to disarm.

“We owe it to Iraq’s people and its neighbors to do everything we can to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction programs,” said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, D-Del. “We owe it to our own people to do all we can to achieve that end peacefully.”

The Senate adopted the measure by voice vote just before adjourning for the year. If the House does not approve it Friday when it meets for the last time, lawmakers will have to begin work on the measure anew when the new Congress convenes in January.

Washington, D.C.

U.S. bombs 3 Iraqi air defense sites

Iraqi gunners on Wednesday fired missiles and artillery at U.S. warplanes and the Americans responded by bombing three communications facilities at air defense sites in southern Iraq, officials said.

U.S. planes have attacked six air defense facilities this week. Pentagon officials said Iraq has stepped up its efforts to shoot down American and British pilots patrolling the “no-fly” zone over southern Iraq as U.N. weapons inspectors prepare to begin their work.

“It looks like it’s a spike” in the long-running pattern of Iraqi challenges to the no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq, said Rear Adm. David Gove, deputy director of global operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In a decade of flying over southern and northern Iraq, no U.S. or British pilot has been shot down.