NEW YORK (AP) -- A complex of angular buildings and a 1,776- foot spire designed by architect Daniel Libeskind was chosen as the plan for the World Trade Center site on Wednesday, The Associated Press has learned.

Libeskind's design beat the THINK team's "World Cultural Center" plan, which envisioned two 1,665-foot latticework towers straddling the footprints of the original towers.

The new building is planned to be taller than the trade center towers, which briefly stood as the world's tallest at 1,350 feet. Libeskind's tower also would surpass Malaysia's 1,483-foot Petronas Twin Towers, the tallest buildings in the world.

CNN.com - New WTC plan is taller than twin towers - Feb. 26, 2003

Friday, February 28, 2003 Posted: 5:06 PM EST (2206 GMT)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Police Chief Earl Sanders and nine other policemen have been indicted in connection with an off-duty fight outside a bar and an alleged attempt to cover it up.

Those indicted Thursday included an assistant chief, his police officer son, and a deputy chief. It was not immediately clear whether Sanders and the others would turn themselves in, or be arrested.

The indictments stem from a November incident in which three off-duty officers allegedly beat two men in front of a bar just after closing time, and from the alleged cover-up that followed.

Sanders and six others each face one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice in the alleged cover-up. The three officers allegedly involved in the brawl face felony assault and battery charges.

CNN.com - San Francisco police chief, others indicted in connection with fight - Feb. 28, 2003

FEBRUARY 27--Joe Millionaire has been marked down to $15,000. But if that's too rich for your blood, his purported lady love is available for a mere ten grand. In a move to milk what's left of their 15 minutes, Evan Marriott and Zora Andrich have signed with an agent who will deliver the reality TV stars for personal appearances nationwide. Booker Mike Esterman told TSG that interest in Marriott is high and that the below sales pitch has already yielded 10 "tentative" dates for the half- millionaire. What will you get for 15k? There will, of course, be no speech, just a few hours of autograph signing and posing for pictures with the 28-year-old ex- underwear model. Esterman explained that the salary gap between Marriott and Andrich is purely market driven: nightclubs, for example, would rather be packed with women looking at Marriott than men ogling Andrich (because if a club is jammed with gals, the guys will invariably follow). How much for both of the TV lovebirds? Esterman said he is willing to negotiate the fee for a joint appearance. No word yet on whether "Joe" runner-up Sarah Kozer--star of those wonderful bondage and fetish videos--is also for rent. (3 pages)

The Smoking Gun: Joe Millionaire for Rent

Heist 'geniuses' got $100m gems

The haul from Belgium's most spectacular diamond robbery in Antwerp earlier this month was worth more than 100 million euros ($107m), Belgian police have said.

In what police authorities have called the heist of the century, 123 of the 160 vaults at the Antwerp Diamond Centre were emptied.

Antwerp's judicial director, Erik Sack, called the crime on 16 February "a piece of genius in its simplicity".

He said the gang had learned to circumvent the alarm system and had copied master keys after renting an office in the Diamond Centre in the name of a phantom company.

During the theft, they taped over security cameras and may have put old videotapes in the surveillance system, police said.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Heist 'geniuses' got $100m gems

Read daily reports from the National Infrastructure Protection Center, which will become part of the Department of Homeland Security effective 1 March 2003.

Each report begins with a daily overview, followed by summarized news items (with supporting URLs to the full text) in each of fifteen industry-specific categories.

NIPC Daily Report

] The Dept of Homeland Security would like to take this
] opportunity to explain the current political situation to
] you all.

Kieran Healy's Weblog: Public Service Announcement

quoted:
Shut up, antiwar people. Shut up, pro-war people. Shut down your computers and shut your goddamn pieholes. No one gives a shit what you write, so stop writing about the war. Shut up, all of you.

Just Shut Up, Nobody gives a shit what anti-war or pro-war writers think. Really. So shut up. That goes double for poets. Shut the hell up, poets. Everybody just shut up., by (02/20/03)

Three hundred and sixty-seven years ago, a small band of men and women left behind their embattled city, struck out on their own, and created a new community. Guided by principles of fairness and individual liberty that would later find their way into the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, they stood together to resist the social intolerance and government persecution of their time. Out of a wilderness, they built a village. Over the centuries, that village became the vibrant city we love.

Those of us who live and work in Providence feel a grateful

connection to our seventeenth century founding fathers and mothers. Indeed, all Americans owe them a debt for their visionary contribution to the principles of religious tolerance, free speech, and the right to self-determination. Honored more in the breach than in the observance in 1635, these ideas have since proven themselves among the most powerful forces for change in the history of humankind, capable of moving entire nations toward more humane, equitable and economically successful forms of society.

Mayor David Cicilline's Inaugural 2003 Address

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Saddam Hussein indicated on Monday that he does not intend to follow U.N. orders to destroy his Al- Samoud 2 missiles, and challenged President Bush to an internationally televised debate via satellite linkup.

In a three-hour interview with CBS anchor Dan Rather, the Iraqi leader said he envisioned a live debate with Bush along the lines of those in a U.S. presidential campaign, according to the network. The White House dismissed the debate offer as meaningless.

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Saddam Hussein Challenges Bush to Debate

French fries off US menu

A fast food restaurant in America says it has received huge support after renaming its French fries, in protest at France's opposition to the United States' stance on Iraq.

Neal Rowland, the owner of Cubbie's diner in Beaufort, North Carolina, said his newly-named 'freedom fries' have been a hit with customers.

"Everybody's been in support of it," he told BBC News Online.

"World War II veterans have been coming in, telling stories of when they were in France. They're overwhelmed about it, they can't believe it."

A sign in the restaurant's window reads: "Because of Cubbie's support for our troops, we no longer serve French fries. We now serve freedom fries."

BBC NEWS | Europe | French fries off US menu