WASHINGTON - PRESIDENT Barack Obama left the door open on Tuesday to prosecuting Bush administration officials who devised the legal authority for gruesome terror-suspect interrogations.

Mr Obama said the United States has lost 'our moral bearings' with use of the tactics.

BOSTON - PROSECUTORS said on Tuesday they found a semiautomatic weapon at the home of a Boston medical student who was been ordered held without bail on charges he shot to death a masseuse he had lured to a hotel through the Web site Craigslist.

Philip Markoff said nothing during the brief hearing in Boston Municipal Court.

GENEVA - A UNITED Nations meeting on racism on Tuesday adopted a final declaration against racism, xenophobia and intolerance, a day after an anti-Israel speech by Iran's president triggered a mass walkout.