U.N. weapons experts in Iraq said they had found 11 undeclared warheads capable of carrying chemical weapons. Iraq denied that the warheads were for chemical weapons, and said they had been listed in its December weapons declaration to the U.N. (WaPost/AP)

A local court in Moscow began hearing a claim filed on behalf of the hostages in the October siege of a Moscow theater by Chechen rebels. The $59 million lawsuit against the city of Moscow is unusual in Russia, where damage claims are usually small. (BBC)

The United States requested a session of the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to discuss how to proceed after U.N. weapons inspectors file their Jan. 27 report on Iraq. The chief U.N. arms inspector in Iraq, Hans Blix, has indicated that he intended to follow the Jan. 27 report with a more substantial report in March, a schedule the Bush administration does not agree with. (NYT)

Further tests found no indication of anthrax on a piece of mail that had been sent to the Federal Reserve Board and had originally tested positive for the deadly bacteria. (UPI)

A Bush administration aid announced a budget forecast predicting a deficit of $200 billion for this year, and as much as $300 billion in 2004. Concerns that the cost of President Bush's proposed tax cut would raise that deficit significantly higher prompted 11 U.S. senators, including five Republicans, to meet to discuss possible alternate proposals. (NYT)

AOL Time Warner said CEO Richard Parsons would replace Steve Case as chairman in May. Parsons will also continue to serve as CEO. (CNet/Reuters)

Argentina and the International Money Fund agreed to a deal in which Argentina will make a $1 billion debt repayment to the IMF in time for a Friday deadline, and the IMF will loan Argentina about $6 billion. It is not clear how Argentina will use the funds to address its current financial crisis. (ABCNews/AP)

A Belgian scientist warned that a number of diseases and pests threaten to wipe out the common banana within 10 years. Genetic manipulation could save the plant, the scientist said. (BBC)

A U.S. District Court judge ordered Microsoft to provide Sun Microsystems' Java software with its own Windows operating system within 120 days. The ruling is expected to be appealed. (ZDNet)

Researchers in California announced they had engineered a bacterium that produces an amino acid not produced by any other known organism. The technique they used may be helpful in developing new drugs. (New Scientist)

Researchers reported findings that some types of insects had evolved to grow wings at least four seperate times over the course of tens of millions of years. (Reuters)

A U.S. District Court judge ordered Microsoft to provide Sun Microsystems' Java software with its own Windows operating system within 120 days. The ruling is expected to be appealed. (ZDNet)

The space shuttle Columbia launched on the U.S. space program's first purely scientific expedition in several years. The shuttle's crew includes the first Israeli astronaut. (CNN)