bin Laden Confidant Surrenders to Saudis

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - A confidant of Osama bin Laden, seen on a videotape with the al-Qaida chief as he talked about the Sept. 11 terror attacks, surrendered to Saudi diplomats in Iran and was flown to the kingdom Tuesday.

Khaled bin Ouda bin Mohammed al-Harby, a potentially valuable asset in the war on terror because of his closeness to bin Laden, was shown on Saudi TV being pushed in a wheelchair through the Riyadh airport.

Al-Harby is the most important figure to surface under a Saudi amnesty promising to spare the lives of militants who turn themselves in.

"Thank God, thank God ... I called the embassy and we were very well-received," al-Harby told Saudi TV in the airport terminal. "I have come obeying God, and obeying the (kingdom's) rulers."

Al-Harby - also known as Abu Suleiman al-Makky - is considered a sounding board for the al-Qaida chief rather than an operational planner for his terror network, a U.S. counterterrorism official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Another U.S. official said al-Harby was not a senior member of al-Qaida. The official, who declined to be identified, called him "an aging mujahideen."

Bush : Kerry Brags About Abandoning Troops

MARQUETTE, Mich. - Courting conservative voters in Michigan's rural Upper Peninsula, President Bush (news - web sites) said Tuesday that rival John Kerry abandoned support for U.S. troops in Iraq and then bragged about it.

"Leaders need to stand up with our military," Bush told a cheering crowd, kicking off a two-day tour of three crucial states that he lost in 2000 to Democratic Vice President Al Gore.

Kerry said Monday that he and running mate John Edwards were proud of the fact that they opposed the $87 billion aid package for Afghanistan and Iraq "when we knew the policy had to be changed." Kerry said the Bush administration should have gotten other allies to help with the war in Iraq.

"He is entitled to his view," Bush said, adding that Kerry should not have gone on to "brag about it."

Bush's visit to the largest city in Michigan's Upper Peninsula with a population of 20,000 was the first by a sitting president since William Howard Taft in 1911.

"It was worth the wait," Judi Schwalbach told the crowd. She is the mayor of the Upper Peninsula town of Escanaba, Mich. Bush's daughter, Barbara, accompanied him to Michigan.

CDC Ships 'Chem Packs' for Preparation

WASHINGTON (AP) - The government is quietly shipping stocks of antidotes against chemical weapons to states under a long-awaited program to boost response to a potential terrorist attack.

New York and Boston, sites of the upcoming political conventions, were among the first areas to receive the "chem-packs."

Within two years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hopes to have the allotments dispersed to every state.

"It's a quick way for hospitals to know they'll have the antidotes they need," Donna Knutson, CDC's deputy director of terrorism preparedness, said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press.

The program was begun in part because there has been "an uneven level of protection across the country," added Steve Adams, deputy director of the Strategic National Stockpile Program.

Much of the nation's efforts to prepare for terrorism have focused on biological attacks. For example, the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile contains tons of drugs, vaccines and other medical supplies in storage around the country, so that any U.S. city could receive an emergency shipment within 12 hours.

CT : 2 Day Shooting Spree Injures 5

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (CNN) -- Five people in New Haven have been hospitalized since Sunday in apparently random shootings involving the same gun, police said Tuesday.

Connecticut State Police said shell casings from each scene were identified as being fired from the same gun. Police would not say what type of gun was used in the shootings in two neighborhoods.

Greg Jones, 18, and Christopher Lowery, 20, were shot early Sunday, police said. They are listed in fair condition at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Police would not give the names of remaining victims, who were attacked early Monday within 11 minutes of each other in New Haven's Hill section.

A 24-year-old man shot near his home, and a 41-year-old man wounded near Sylvan Avenue and Elliott Street remain in critical condition at Yale-New Haven Hospital, officials said.

A 54-year-old man shot near Congress Avenue and Downes Street is in stable condition at the Hospital of San Raphael.

Bulgarian Hostage Killed in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A Bulgarian government spokesman confirmed reports Wednesday that one of two Bulgarians held hostage in Iraq had been killed.

"Yes, I may confirm that he is a Bulgarian," government spokesman Dimitar Tsonev said in a telephone interview from Sofia.

Tsonev added that he did not know which of the two hostages was killed.

The confirmation came shortly after the Arabic-language news network Al-Jazeera reported that it had received two videotapes, one showing the killing of the Bulgarian hostage and the other containing a message from an Egyptian hostage also being held in Iraq.

The network said the Jihad and Unification group claimed responsibility. The group, which claims loyalty to insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, also took responsibility for beheading U.S. businessman Nicholas Berg and South Korean translator Kim Sun-il.

The network broadcast part of a videotape showing a man in an orange shirt kneeling in front of three masked men dressed in black. It did not broadcast the killing.