Osama Bin Laden

Sen. John F. Kerry caught President Bush off guard during their final debate Wednesday night, asserting that the president once said he was "not concerned" about hunting down Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. In one of the testiest moments of the evening, Bush protested, "I don't think I ever said I'm not worried about Osama bin Laden. That's kind of one of those exaggerations." But during a news conference at the White House on March 13, 2002, Bush said something close to what Kerry quoted.

In the first official Egyptian reaction, the police minister said a videotape in which Osama bin Laden is shown rejoicing over the Sept. 11 attacks amounts to a "complete confession." "This tape is a clear and complete implication of Osama bin Laden, contrary to what he had said earlier about having nothing to do with the attacks," Interior Minister Habib Adli, in charge of Egyptian civilian security forces, was quoted as telling the weekly magazine Al Mussawar.

Osama bin Laden bribed Afghan militias to give him free passage into hiding after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, the head of Germany's spy agency said. August Hanning made the comments in an interview with the Handelsblatt newspaper. U.S. Gen. Tommy Franks said after the invasion that some Afghans were probably accepting bribes to free Al Qaeda or Taliban fighters.

The CIA has authenticated a section of the audio on a new Al Qaeda videotape as a recording of Osama bin Laden's chief deputy, but analysts are unsure whether the voice purported to be Bin Laden's is his, an agency official said. The tape, aired Wednesday by Al Jazeera television, has two voice-overs, one purportedly from Bin Laden and the other from the deputy, Ayman Zawahiri. Analysis was continuing.

More Western aid workers pulled out of the Afghan capital, Kabul, fearing a backlash if the U.N. Security Council imposes new sanctions against the ruling Taliban movement, Western sources said. An announcement about the arms embargo is expected Tuesday. Imposition of an embargo, banning Taliban officials from overseas trips and shutting Taliban offices abroad are sanctions proposed by the U.S. and Russia to force the expulsion of militant Osama bin Laden.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Osama bin Laden was not in Afghanistan and that his government had no idea where the terrorist leader was. The comment came days after Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said Bin Laden wasn't in Pakistan and could be hiding in southeastern Afghanistan. U.S. officials have said they believe Bin Laden is hiding in the rugged mountains between the two nations.

The FBI put alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and anti-abortion activist and accused doctor killer James Charles Kopp on the bureau's list of Ten Most Wanted fugitives. There is a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of bin Laden, and $650,000 for information leading to the arrest of Kopp.

Federal prosecutors in New York ended their case against four followers of Osama bin Laden after two months of testimony aimed at proving the Saudi dissident headed a broad conspiracy to kill Americans. Prosecutors rested their case after reading into the record a communication from the London cell of Bin Laden's militant organization al Qaeda claiming responsibility for the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

An unemployed 45-year-old man who looks like Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden was ordered out of an Indian town after he started to draw crowds, a local official said. The man with a flowing beard and slim frame drew attention when he arrived Monday at Daspalla in the eastern state of Orissa, seeking work. "The action was taken in good faith to prevent any kind of communal tensions," the official said.

Abdullah Awad bin Laden, patriarch of one of the wealthiest families in Saudi Arabia and uncle of terrorist Osama bin Laden, has died. He was 75. Abdullah bin Laden died in Medina on March 21 and was buried that day in the holy city in western Saudi Arabia in accordance with Islamic tradition, according to a death notice published in the London-based newspaper Asharq al-Awsat. No cause of death was given, although Abdullah bin Laden had high blood pressure and diabetes.