An anthrax attack on the heart of the US political system, the country's most senior Democrat politician, Senator Tom Daschle, has led to renewed speculation that the series of recent suspected attacks are related to Osama bin Laden.
In New York, a seven-month-old baby boy was last night confirmed as having contracted a form of anthrax after visiting the offices of the ABC news broadcasting network late last month. The child, whose father is an employee of the company, was reported to be responding well after being treated with antibiotics.
Bioterrorism scares are spreading around the world, with officials investigating a package containing suspicious white powder delivered to Germany's Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schr÷der's office in Berlin. At the federal chancellery, authorities sealed off the mailroom after two postal workers discovered white powder trickling out of an envelope.
In Australia, France, Lithuania, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Poland, suspicious packages were being investigated, although to date none have tested positive. A Continental Airlines jet grounded at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport also turned out to be a false alarm.
President George Bush, who revealed the Daschle incident during a White House press conference, said "there may be some possible link" between bin Laden and the recent flurry of anthrax-related developments.
"I wouldn't put it past him but we don't have any hard evidence," he said.
The incidents bring to 14 the number of people who are confirmed to have been exposed to spores of anthrax, with one death.
Meanwhile, the former head of UN weapons inspection, Ambassador Richard Butler, has pointed to a possible Iraqi connection in the anthrax mailings, saying he did not believe terrorist groups could have made the bacteria alone.
Signalling a possible new phase in its military campaign against the Taliban, the Secretary of Defence, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, hinted strongly yesterday that the troops dug in between the Northern Alliance and Kabul may soon face air attacks.
Asked to respond to reports that the Taliban front lines had been left largely untouched by the bombing, which continued last night, Mr Rumsfeld said any reluctance to bomb such targets was due to lack of detailed targeting information.
They now had an "evolving and improving" ability to get detailed information from the ground and air for targeting.
Mr Rumsfeld, responding to claims of civilian casualties in the village of Karom near Jalalabad, said the Taliban and al-Qaeda were "accomplished liars". But he admitted the US had struck at local tunnels which they believed contained munitions.
He suggested casualties may have been the result of such explosions. "They weren't cooking cookies there," he said.
The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, arrived in Islamabad under tight security last night for key talks aimed at allaying Pakistan's concerns over military action in Afghanistan.
A call for a nationwide strike by Islamic parties to protest against the visit received only a muted response. Mr Powell announced the appointment of Mr Richard Haass, currently Mr Bush's special adviser to Northern Ireland, as special representative on Afghanistan, and said he would be talking to the UN this week about the formation of a new government in Kabul.
Meanwhile a three-man team sent by Afghanistan's ex-King Zahir Shah, who is seen as a possible figurehead for a transitional government in Afghanistan, met Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Mr Abdul Sattar, in Islamabad yesterday.
