Libya: Strongman says country changing its rogue ways

Eager to shake off his pariah image, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi said Saturday that his country was no longer a rogue state and had even detained some Islamics suspected of links with the al-Qaida terror network.

In a two-hour speech on Libyan national television, Gadhafi condemned the Sept. 11 attacks, saying: “We have never seen such a horrific and terrifying act performed in such an exhibitionist manner.”

But he warned the United States and Britain against any invasion of Iraq to topple President Saddam Hussein, saying “the collapse of the Iraqi regime will turn Iraq into another Afghanistan.”

Chicago: Andersen closes book on auditing of public firms

After 89 years in business, Arthur Andersen LLP on Saturday ended its role as auditor of public companies.

The Chicago-based company was convicted in June of obstruction of justice for shredding and doctoring documents related to Enron audits. Afterward, Andersen told the Securities and Exchange Commission it would cease auditing public companies. It announced it did so in a statement Saturday.

The company now has fewer than 3,000 of the roughly 28,000 employees it had before the Enron scandal. Of its more than 1,200 public-company audit clients, none will remain.

London: How to contain Saddam unclear to British leader

Caught between American leaders’ increasingly stern talk on Iraq and doubts at home about the wisdom of going to war, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Saturday that he didn’t yet know how best to ensure Saddam Hussein does not maintain weapons of mass destruction.

The prime minister insisted the world would not stand by while the Iraqi leader violated U.N. resolutions on the weapons, but said he had not decided whether military action was the way to stop him.

“Doing nothing about Iraq’s breach of these U.N. resolutions is not an option,” Blair said. “That’s the only decision that’s been taken so far. What we do about that is an open question.”

Berlin: Germany seeks assurance U.S. won’t execute suspect

Germany has told the United States it would withhold evidence against Sept. 11 conspiracy defendant Zacarias Moussaoui unless it received assurances that the material wouldn’t be used to secure a death penalty against him, Germany’s justice minister said in remarks released Saturday.

Investigators suspect Moussaoui, who is awaiting trial in Virginia, was training to become the pilot of one of the airliners hijacked for the attacks when he was arrested.

German prosecutors say he received money for flight school fees from a member of the terrorist group based in the northern city of Hamburg.

But the government insists it can’t bend laws forbidding the extradition of suspects to countries with the death penalty or supplying evidence that could incriminate someone facing execution.