ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct. 27 - US Announces New Powers To Hunt Down Terrorists Amid Anthrax Spread.

After approval by the Senate of the new anti-terrorist legislation, US Attorney-General John Ashcroft declares a new era in the fight against terrorists, saying police will employ aggressive arrest and detention powers, "airtight surveillance" and new technologies to trace terrorists over the internet. They will also begin to use new subpoena powers to obtain payment information, such as credit card or bank account numbers of suspected terrorists, on the internet. Ashcroft says: "If you overstay your visas even by one day, we will arrest you. If you violate a local law, we... will make sure that you are put in jail and be kept in custody as long as possible. We will use every available statute. We will seek every prosecutorial advantage. We will use all our weapons within the law and under the Constitution to protect life and enhance security for America. The new tools for law enforcement in the war against terrorism are the products of hundreds of hours of consultation and careful consideration by the administration, by members of Congress, and by state and local officials. They are careful. They are balanced. They are long-overdue improvements in our capacity to prevent terrorism". Meanwhile, an employee at a State Department mailroom in suburban Virginia becomes the 13th diagnosed anthrax case in the US and an employee at NBC in New York was suspected of contracting the skin infection. Tom Ridge, director of homeland security, says the letter sent to Tom Daschle, Senate majority leader, was found to contain a purer form of anthrax that those found in letters in New York and Florida. Ashcroft says there is no definitive link between the hijackers who brought down the World Trade Centre and the anthrax found in letters in four cities, but those "now poisoning our communities are either associated with or seeking to take advantage" of the hijackers' attacks.