Osama Bin Laden's Second-In-Command Urges

Hello and welcome. I'm Danielle Elias at the CNN center in Atlanta. Here's what's happening NOW IN THE NEWS.

Osama bin Laden's second-in-command urges Hamas not to enter any new agreements with Israel. Ayman Al-Zawahiri made the comments in a released video tape that aired in Arabic TV Network al-Jazeera. He also condemned the recent controversial cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman says questions remained about the 2004 friendly-fire death of NFL star and Army Ranger Pat Tillman. The US army plans to open a criminal investigation to determine if Tillman's death was a result of negligent homicide. Tillman was killed while serving in Afghanistan.

President Bush is back to the White House and he is upbeat about his 3-nation trip to south Asia. Tomorrow the president will meet with Russia's foreign minsiter in Washington. The leaders will likely discuss Iran's nuclear ambitions and Hamas's victory in the Palestinian elections.

A University of North Carolina graduate charged with trying to kill 9 people on campus Friday is due in court tomorrow. University police say the suspect drove an SUV through a crowded square on the Chapel Hill campus. They say he told investigators he wanted to avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world.

Another international flight to the United States has been cancelled amid continued security worries.

British Airways scrubbed one of three daily flights from London to the Washington area Thursday, the latest in a series of cancellations of international flights bound for the United States.

British Airways spokesman John Lamphill, "The British government directed British Airways to cancel flight 223. We can only assume that is due to security reasons, but we have no other explanation."

Wednesday, another British Airways flight was detained several hours upon arrival at Washington's Dulles Airport while U.S. authorities questioned a number of passengers and conducted extra baggage screening. All passengers were eventually allowed to disembark.

FBI spokeswoman Debbie Wierman said authorities acted on "routine interest" rather than a specific threat or allegation.

"There were names listed on the manifest of the plane that matched [the names of] persons that U.S. law enforcement officials were interested in interviewing. It was routine interest on our part, and, when it was all said and done, we had no concerns or worries."

But not everyone sees the stepped-up security effort as benign. One passenger from the delayed British Airways flight vented his displeasure. "This was detention without due process, as far as I am concerned. I am an American citizen and I expect to be treated as such in

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