Terrorist attack cost half a million dollars

WASHINGTON -- The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were financed with a $500,000 bankroll, a law enforcement source said Saturday as the FBI sent more agents to Germany in the search for masterminds of the plot.

FBI agents tracked the hijackers' bank accounts, their communications and their travel tickets as they followed a trail that could lead to a small group of chief plotters in Europe and the Middle East.

The FBI said it's pursuing more than 100,000 leads as agents narrowed their overseas search. Simultaneously in the U.S., more than 100 investigations were under way into alleged hate crimes against Arab-Americans.

Gate area evacuated after security breach

BOSTON -- A gate area at Logan International Airport was evacuated Saturday morning after two ticketed passengers entered without going through metal detectors.

The pair was allowed to get into the area through an emergency exit by a private security guard. They were detained by state police, questioned, then released, said Jose Juves, spokesman for Massachusetts Port Authority. He declined to give further details.

Passengers were allowed to re-enter the US Airways gate area after authorities swept it for bombs.

Egyptian immigrant mistaken for terrorist

BERKELEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- Akram Mena knew he was in trouble the moment he saw the FBI photograph of a terrorist hijacker suspected of flying a jetliner into the World Trade Center.

Marwan Alshehhi bears a striking resemblance to Mena, who until earlier this year had been toiling in anonymity at a New Jersey gas station, trying to make enough money to bring his family here from Egypt.

Mena says he was fired from his job as a welder, and the gas station where he used to work is in danger of closing, the owner said. Passers-by have aimed obscene gestures at workers.

Mena said he contacted authorities himself to head off what he knew would be inevitable backlash.

"I called the FBI myself, to let them know who I was," he said. "Then I called a newspaper."

Anti-war protesters rally in Australia

SYDNEY, Australia -- More than 1,000 anti-war protesters marched through downtown Sydney on Saturday, campaigning for the government to limit its military role in the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

The protesters rallied at Sydney's Town Hall, carrying banners reading: "Stop This Racist War."

A Uniting Church minister, Rev. Ray Richmond, told protesters that Prime Minister John Howard had been too quick to commit Australian troops to an undefined hostile operation.

"This does not mean we should stop our task of putting out of existence the terror networks," Richmond said. "But we might end up with a war history will label the long war between Christians and Muslims."

Clinton, Dole to raise millions in scholarships

WASHINGTON -- Former President Clinton joined his former rival Bob Dole Saturday in launching a nationwide effort to raise $100 million to make sure scholarships are available for children of people killed or disabled in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"It seems to me this can be a living memorial, and they'll understand as they grow older ... that Americans continue to care," said Dole, who lost to Clinton in the 1996 presidential election.

People wishing to contribute to the fund or to apply for a scholarship can do so online at www.familiesoffreedom.org or mail checks in any amount to CSFA, 1505 Riverview Road, P.O. Box 297, St. Peter, Minn., 56082. All donations are tax-deductible.

-- From wire reports