National and International News-Friday, Dec. 1st

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush will probably decide on any U-S troop changes in Iraq "in weeks rather than months." That's from his national security adviser. Steve Hadley says Bush will consider both the bipartisan Iraq Study Group's recommendations, and a separate in-house review of Iraq policy.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Do you fly much outside the U-S? Do you buy one-way tickets, with cash? Sit on the aisle? What do you eat? Since Nine-Eleven, the U-S government has been assigning terrorism-risk scores to travelers, based on such details. Privacy advocates call the assessments intrusive.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - Pope Benedict says the Vatican does not want to impose anything on anyone. And he'd like to see an end to all the divisions among the world's Christians. Before leaving Turkey, the pontiff also made it clear he expects Islamic countries to improve rights of Christian minorities.

NEW YORK (AP) - The Navy's finished with a dredging operation to get rid of bottom mud from around the U-S-S Intrepid, at a New York city pier. But no one is saying when the aircraft carrier will be moved to New Jersey for a 60 million dollar overhaul. The World War II relic has been sitting still for 24 years.