New warship honors New York's Sept. 11 victims

NEW YORK -- A new $800 million warship to be used in the fight against terrorism was named the USS New York on Saturday in honor of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"On Sept. 11, 2001 our nation's enemies brought their fight to New York ... The USS New York will now bring the fight to our nation's enemies well into the future," Gov. George Pataki said at a naming ceremony aboard the flight deck of the USS Intrepid, a floating museum on the Hudson River.

Construction on the USS New York is scheduled to start in mid-2003, with delivery expected in 2006. A model unveiled Saturday will be displayed at the Intrepid Air-Sea-Space Museum.

Pataki held the ceremony with Navy Secretary Gordon England, who granted special dispensation for the name. Currently, only submarines carry the names of states, Pataki said.

U.S. to begin tracking Mideastern visitors

WASHINGTON - Already swamped with more than 800,000 change-of-address forms from noncitizens, the Immigration and Naturalization Service Friday said it would begin fingerprinting and photographing visitors from five Middle Eastern countries next week.

The new registration requirements will affect as many as 200,000 visitors who are either suspected of terrorism or hold passports from five countries named for the first time in a federal notice Friday: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria. Those five, along with North Korea and Cuba, are the only countries officially listed as sponsors of terrorism by the State Department.

The INS is prepared to take on the extra load of processing and paperwork, said Justice Department spokesman Jorge Martinez, with registration beginning at undisclosed selected ports of entry on Sept. 11 and all ports of entry on Oct. 1.

Teen in custody over attack with hammer

WARRENSVILLE HEIGHTS, Ohio -- A 16-year-old boy was in police custody Saturday, accused of bludgeoning another student with a hammer during a dispute over a video-game controller, authorities said.

The attack occurred Thursday at Warrensville Heights High School.

The victim, also 16, suffered a fractured skull and was taken to Hillcrest Hospital. The hospital on Saturday would not release the condition of the boy, who is in 9th grade.

His accused attacker, an 11th-grader, could be charged with felony assault, police Detective Dennis Fossett said.

School superintendent Gwendolyn Cooke said she would recommend the 11th-grader's immediate expulsion.

Chopper chases off bears drawn to accident

BIG SKY, Mont. -- A helicopter crew trying to assist a woman injured in an all-terrain vehicle accident had to chase off grizzly bears that may have been drawn by the smell of blood, authorities said.

As the pilot prepared to land after Wednesday's accident, a grizzly sow and two cubs walked in the landing zone toward the woman, said Sheriff's Deputy Frank Calvin.

"We were glad to have that helicopter. That's the one thing" that would scare the bears off, Calvin said.

Kay Francis, 67, of International Falls, Minn., was riding an ATV up a steep hill near Big Sky when it struck a rock and flipped over.

--From wire reports