158 still 'missing' at trade center
NEW YORK -- Almost six months after the World Trade Center attack, 158 people are officially classified as missing -- some of them almost certainly dead, some perhaps mistakenly on the list, and some possibly trying to fake their deaths.

Bombs pound al-Qaida forces
ROHANI BABA, Afghanistan -- U.S. forces kept up a punishing air and ground assault Thursday on al-Qaida and Taliban forces in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. In Washington, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the operation may conclude as early as this weekend.

Antibiotics cut anthrax infections
WASHINGTON -- The rapid use of antibiotics by thousands of people cooled the hot spots in last fall's anthrax-by-mail terrorist attacks, holding down the inhaled infections and deaths, researchers say.

By Sept. 11, Pentagon desks will be back at impact site
WASHINGTON -- Workers are rebuilding the Pentagon so quickly that by Sept. 11, Defense Department employees will be working at the spot where a hijacked airliner crashed into the building a year earlier.

Philippines to try to rescue U.S. hostages
MANILA, Philippines -- Philippine armed forces, with U.S. assistance, have determined the general location of two American hostages being held by Islamic militants on the southern island of Basilan and are ready to launch operations to free them, the country's chief military spokesman said Thursday.

Washington in brief
GOP delays vote on judge nominee

The nation in brief
Hubble gets new camera

Families to get more from fund
WASHINGTON -- They did not get all they wanted, but after two months of politicking and pleading with a federal special master, the families of the Sept. 11 dead will get more money from a federal Victims' Compensation Fund than originally proposed.

Fighting terror notebook
U.S. speeds release of Pakistani detainees

Soldier recounts savage fighting
WASHINGTON -- An American soldier who was dropped by helicopter into a barrage of al-Qaida fire says he and his fellow troops survived an 18-hour firefight so brutal it's hard to tell the entire tale.