London: 50 suspected pedophiles arrested in seven countries

Police in seven European countries struck Tuesday at a sophisticated child abuse and pornography ring dubbed “Shadowz Brotherhood,” arresting 50 people and seizing computer equipment, CD-ROMs and videos, authorities said.

Police described the images created and distributed by the group as some of the most shocking they had ever seen. Members of the ring allegedly broadcast live pictures of abuse on the Internet and posted images of child sexual abuse and torture.

Arrests were made in Germany, Belgium, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.

British police said the ring was set up about two years ago and also had members in the United States, Canada, Denmark, Romania and Switzerland.

Virginia: Moussaoui wants to make congressional appearance

Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person indicted as a Sept. 11 conspirator, said he wants to tell Congress that the FBI had him and the 19 hijackers under surveillance before the attacks.

Moussaoui requested the unlikely appearance in one of five handwritten motions released Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria. The French citizen, 34, is acting as his own lawyer.

The government has denied Moussaoui’s repeated contention that the United States was watching him and the attackers before Sept. 11. Moussaoui was arrested in mid-August after his conduct at a Minnesota flight school caused employees to contact the FBI.

New York City: WTC memorial gets director

A longtime organizer of cultural events in Lower Manhattan was appointed Tuesday to oversee creation of a memorial to victims of the World Trade Center attack.

Anita Contini, 58, a vice president for global sponsorships and events marketing for Merrill Lynch, will be vice president and director of memorial, cultural and civic programs for the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the city-state agency charged with rebuilding the area.

Some relatives of the more than 2,800 victims of the Sept. 11 attack want the entire 16-acre site to become a memorial. On Saturday, Gov. George Pataki promised there would be no commercial development on the one-acre patches each tower occupied.

Washington, D.C.: Taliban sanctions extended

President Bush on Tuesday preserved sanctions against Afghanistan’s former Taliban ruling regime as the administration continued efforts to stop the flow of support to terrorists.

Former President Clinton had imposed economic sanctions against the Taliban in 1999, freezing any of the religious militia’s assets within U.S. jurisdiction and prohibiting trade. The Taliban was accused even then of supporting Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network, al-Qaida.

On Tuesday, Bush amended an executive order that froze the assets of a number of individuals and organizations suspected of financing terrorist. The new action adds the Taliban and its leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, to that list.