Acting CIA Director John McLaughlin says the agency has made changes since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and he sees no need for a new national intelligence chief. The bipartisan commission investigating the 2001 hijackings will release its final report this week, and it is expected to recommend the creation of a Cabinet-level position to oversee the nation's 15 intelligence agencies and control their budgets. McLaughlin said ``a good argument can be made'' for such a post. But he added: "It doesn't relate particularly to the world I live in."
■ United States
DNA no help on death row
In the first test of a state statute permitting convicts to seek exonerations through DNA tests, the Georgia Supreme Court and the state parole board have denied a request from a man who was scheduled to be executed yesterday. Barry Scheck, a lawyer who presented the case to the Board of Pardons and Paroles last week, said that to his knowledge it was the first time a death row inmate had been denied DNA testing after making every possible appeal at the state level. "It's just never happened before," Scheck said. "Usually some clemency board, or the governor or someone will step in."
■ Brazil
Slave labor flourishes
An estimated 25,000 people are working as slave laborers in Brazil clearing the Amazon jungle for ranchers, or producing pig iron in the forest using charcoal smelters, according to a new study. An unpublished report for the Geneva-based International Labour Organi-sation concludes that despite the best efforts of the government of President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva to free slaves and prosecute offen-ders, the level of lawlessness in the country's interior means that the practise continues. The report also uncovers a new area of labour "analogous to slavery," where men, women and children who are illegal immigrants from Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay are working in sweatshops in Sao Paulo.
■ United States
Winds fan fires
Dry temperatures and strong winds fanned a wildfire toward hundreds of houses in northern Los Angeles County, forcing about 1,000 people to flee their homes. More than 600 homes
near Santa Clarita were threatened as the fire, which was 35 percent contained, grew to more than 1,680 hectares on Sunday, said county fire department spokesman Mike Brown. An unexpected wind shift pushed the fire toward the houses just hours after officials had lifted an earlier evacuation order. By afternoon, the fire -- fanned by winds up to 24 to 32 kph -- had moved northeast toward homes in the neighborhood of Fair Oaks Ranch, Brown said.
■ United States
CBS will fight Jackson fines
Television network CBS will fight any fines leveled against its television stations over Janet Jackson's startling Super Bowl per-formance, a top executive with parent company Viacom said. CBS could face a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fine of US$550,000 or a maximum penalty of US$27,500 for each of 20 CBS-owned stations, reports said last month. An FCC staff recommendation did not call for fining CBS affiliates that aired the Super Bowl halftime show but are not owned by Viacom. A fine would be "grossly unfair," Leslie Moonves, Viacom co-president and co-chief operating officer, said.
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