Honolulu: Democrat wins House seat

Democrat Ed Case beat out 43 other candidates to win a wide-open special election in Hawaii’s 2nd District and become the final member selected to the 108th Congress, election officials said Sunday.

Case was an incumbent for five weeks after easily winning a special election to finish the remainder of the late U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink’s term.

Case won with 33,002 ballots, or 43 percent, in the vote cast Saturday and tabulated Sunday. He will be sworn in Tuesday.

The special election was needed after Mink was posthumously re-elected to her seat representing rural Oahu and the neighbor islands. She died Sept. 28, a week after easily winning her primary but two days after a deadline to replace her name on the general election ballot.

New York City: Fire engulfs half a city block

A huge fire engulfed a furniture store and spread to a nearby liquor store Sunday as firefighters battled to control the flames. Seven firefighters and a civilian were injured, none seriously.

Three apartment buildings were evacuated as the fire spread over more than half a city block in the Bronx borough.

The blaze still burned more than six hours after it started and was being fed by packing material and the furniture store’s merchandise. About 200 firefighters were battling the blaze.

Furniture store manager Gina Endico, 24, said the fire started in the basement, possibly because of an electrical problem.

South Dakota: Daschle says he’s leaning toward presidential run

Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle said Sunday he’s strongly considering a run for president in 2004, joining a growing field of potential candidates.

Daschle spent the weekend talking with supporters in Rapid City, Aberdeen and Sioux Falls. He said an announcement on an exploratory committee is likely “in the next couple of weeks.”

Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina have joined outgoing Vermont Gov. Howard Dean in forming exploratory committees. Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri will form an exploratory committee today. And Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut is expected to announce he will run soon.

Hong Kong: Suspects agree to extradition in al-Qaida missile plot

Two Pakistanis and an Indian-born U.S. citizen today told a Hong Kong court that they agreed to be extradited to the United States on charges that they plotted to swap drugs for anti-aircraft missiles to sell to the al-Qaida terror network.

The men were caught in September in an FBI sting operation by undercover agents who said they offered to provide hashish and heroin in exchange for four shoulder-fired Stinger missiles, which experts say would be capable of shooting down civilian jetliners flying at low altitudes.

Pakistanis Syed Mustajab Shah, 54, and Muhammed Abid Afridi, 29, and naturalized U.S. citizen Ilyas Ali, 55, of Minneapolis, expressed their willingness to be extradited as court convened today.