December 5, 2001

After months of criticism by civil liberties groups, supporters of the Bush administration's antiterrorism crackdown have begun to outline a legal defense of the actions. Page B6.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency's administrator, Christie Whitman, said yesterday that the agency would move forward with a nearly $500 million dredging plan to remove PCB pollution from the upper Hudson River. In doing so, the agency rejected General Electric's efforts to scale back the cleanup. The E.P.A. plan, which would be one of the largest and most complex environmental cleanup projects in the nation's history, is essentially identical to the government's initial proposal, issued in August. Environmentalists said the decision to stay the course was a major victory.

Afghan delegates meeting in Bonn, Germany, reach agreement on new post-Taliban government for Afghanistan that will assume power in Kabul on December 22; interim administration will be led by Hamid Karzai, Pashtun leader currently fighting Taliban in home territory of Kandahar; one of five vice chairmen will be Dr Sima Samar, who will also be in charge of women's affairs; Dr Suhaila Seddiqi will be in charge of public health; other appointees not identified; new administration will be made up of chairman, five deputies and 23 other ministers; will take over country's seat at UN; current administration in Kabul, led by former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, will be supplanted; photos (M)

Pres Bush defends contentious order establishing military tribunals to try non-citizens suspected of being terrorists, speech, Orlando, Fla; says he needs tribunals and other legal weapons to protect Americans; says they are needed to safeguard national security secrets, arguing that ordinary trial procedures for suspected terrorists could compromise capacity to keep America safe; issue is being scrutinized before Senate Judiciary Committee, where tribunals are praised and criticized across ideological spectrum; Profs Laurence Tribe (Harvard Law School), Cass Sunstein (University of Chicago) and Sen Charles Schumer agree there is need for tribunals and that some secrecy is necessary; Timothy Lynch (Cato Institute) opposes tribunals as unconstitutional; says they overlook rights to jury trial, speedy trial and protection against unreasonable searches and seizures (M)

European Commission reports that industrial and consumer confidence indicators in 12-nation euro zone declined in November, falling two points each from Oct, but that decline is less severe than month ago; indicators for 15-member European Union copy euro zone decline (S)