WASHINGTON

TEAMSTERS GIVE LEADERS AUTHORITY TO LEAVE AFL-CIO

The Teamsters yesterday gave their union’s leaders the authority to decide whether to leave the AFLCIO. That puts four of the five unions unhappy with AFL-CIO policies in position to leave if their leaders choose, possibly before the labor federation’s convention next week. Several of those unions are threatening to bolt by then if it looks like they will not get enough concessions from the AFL-CIO president, John Sweeney.

“This vote is one more sign of the determination of the Teamsters Union and the other unions that are part of the Change to Win Coalition that the AFL-CIO must be restructured in order to survive in the future,” the Teamsters president, James Hoffa said. The Teamsters’ decision was made during a meeting of the union’s general executive board in Chicago.

Leaders of the dissident unions were to be in Chicago for meetings late this week of the AFL-CIO’s governing bodies – the executive committee today and the executive council tomorrow. After that, some say, the unions will decide whether to stay for the full convention.

The Teamsters join service employees, along with food and commercial workers and hotel and restaurant employees, who have given their leaders the right to choose to leave the federation.

– Associated Press

WEINER INTRODUCES BILL TO OUST ARAB BANK

A New York congressman vying for the Democratic mayoral nomination, Anthony Weiner, introduced legislation yesterday to revoke the charter of a Jordanian financial institution that allegedly funnels cash to terrorists, Arab Bank. Class-action lawsuits currently pending in Federal District Court in Brooklyn charge that since 2000, the bank has transferred more than $40 million in “death benefits” from Saudi donors to the relatives of so-called Palestinian “martyrs,” including the parents of suicide bombers.

An order issued by the Treasury Department in February barred the bank from opening new accounts or transferring its $450 million in American assets out of the country. The bill introduced yesterday would go a step further, evicting the bank from its lone American branch in Manhattan. The legislation would require federal authorities to seize the bank’s assets, distributing the funds to terror victims.

Two House Democrats from New York, Carolyn Maloney and Joseph Crowley, are co-sponsoring the bill along with Rep. Shelley Berkley, a Democrat from Nevada.

In a statement yesterday, Arab Bank officials said Mr. Weiner’s legislation “is nothing more than gutter politics, designed to promote his last-place mayoral campaign by attacking a respectable Arab institution.” The Bank also denied that it has ever conducted business with “known terrorist entities.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MID-ATLANTIC

BUSH URGES EXTENSION OF PATRIOT ACT

BALTIMORE – President Bush visited this city’s busy port yesterday and renewed his call for Congress to extend the expiring provisions of the USA Patriot Act, which gives government wide latitude in investigating suspected terrorists.

Calling the law a potent weapon against terrorism, Mr. Bush said it gives law enforcement authorities the tools they need to stop terrorists before they strike. “This is no time to let our guard down, and no time to roll back good laws,” he said. “The Patriot Act is expected to expire, but the terrorist threats will not expire.”

Mr. Bush said the law, enacted in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, gives law enforcement and intelligence agencies new authority to share vital information. He also credited the measure with helping authorities break up potential terrorist cells in several states.

“The Patriot Act hasn’t diminished American liberties,” Mr. Bush said. “It has helped to defend American liberties.”

The Patriot Act includes 16 provisions that are set to expire at the end of the year unless renewed by Congress. Although most of the measures are not controversial, lawmakers are battling over the fate of several key surveillance and search provisions and whether to limit them or make them permanent.

– The Washington Post