A federal appeals court yesterday ordered a new trial for two African American men who were convicted of civil rights violations in the fatal stabbing of a Hasidic Jew in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in 1991. The court ruled the judge in their 1997 trial had improperly manipulated jury selection and conducted a race- and religion-based reshuffling of the jury that had denied the men a fair trial. The ruling marks another twist in a long and contentious case that was an outgrowth of one of the most bitter racial conflicts in New York City’s history.

President George W. Bush is becoming famous for his verbal blunders, grammatical mistakes and inability to make a clear distinction between Slovenia and Slovakia. But this time he’s made remarks that are being called overtly racist. At the White House yesterday, Bush used the term “Paki” when speaking to reporters about the tense situation between India and Pakistan. The term is an ethnic slur toward Pakistanis. The White House defended Bush’s use of the phrase, saying he meant no disrespect.

The Pentagon announced it is wrapping up its search for Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora in Afghanistan. General Tommy Franks admitted for the first time yesterday the search had failed to turn up bin Laden. Franks also said an arrangement has been put in place that could lead to U.S. troops pursuing him in neighboring Pakistan. This comes as the Bush administration announced U.S. officials will stop making public speculations on the whereabouts of bin Laden.

Newly declassified documents have revealed details on the extent of U.S. support for jailed Peruvian intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos. He was the right-hand man to the ex-dictator Alberto Fujimori and is now imprisoned on a wide range of corruption charges. Montesinos had worked extensively with the CIA and was the mastermind of widespread campaigns of state terror inside Peru. The documents show clearly U.S. officials were aware of Montesinos’s involvement, or alleged involvement, in massacres and corruption, but continued to view him as the “go-to guy” and a close ally in the so-called war on drugs. Among the many accusations against Montesinos is that he accepted payoffs from a drug kingpin to use an airspace to ship cocaine out of the Peruvian jungle.

According to weapons specialists inside and outside the government, the Bush administration is considering resuming underground nuclear testing. While the United States refused to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1999, Bush’s father, President George Bush, imposed a moratorium on underground nuclear testing in 1992. The moratorium was upheld by President Bill Clinton. The idea to resume testing for the first time in 10 years will be raised today, when the administration lays out its broad strategic nuclear plans to Congress.

The New York Times is reporting that the Bush administration is considering what would amount to the biggest rollback in the Clean Air Act since its passage 30 years ago. If allowed to go forward, power plants will no longer be required to upgrade pollution control equipment when they upgrade their operations. Such a move has long been pushed by energy and industry groups, many of whom have been big supporters of President Bush. However, it’s being protested by environmental groups, as well as the attorneys general from some states in the Northeast which often bear the brunt of pollution from industrial plants in the Midwest.

Convicted Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols lost another appeal before the Supreme Court yesterday, clearing the way for a state trial on murder charges that could lead to a death sentence. Nichols was convicted in federal court in 1997 of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of eight federal agents. The jury sentenced him to life in prison. Nichols was acquitted, however, of the most serious charges in the 1995 bombing, which could have brought the same federal death sentence handed to bombing mastermind Timothy McVeigh. McVeigh was executed last June.

Federal health officials said yesterday that of the 10,000 people who may have been exposed to anthrax during the recent attacks, fewer than 2% have taken the anthrax vaccine, a figure that reflects postal employees’ deep reluctance to enroll in a medical experiment. The postal workers were so unwilling that officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considered asking them to enroll in a second study to explore their reasons for refusing the vaccine. However, the agency deemed the plan too politically sensitive, and it was dropped.