WASHINGTON IN BRIEF
The U.S. Postal Service posted a $1.7 billion loss for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, despite productivity gains, chief financial officer Richard Strasser said yesterday.</br></br>The Postal Service delivered mail to 1.7 million new addresses with fewer workers and work hours than last year. It has cut 22,500 jobs in the last two years. But mail volume declines, a delay in carrying out the latest rate increase, and costs associated with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks contributed to the loss, he said.</br></br>Despite the deficits, the Postal Service is awarding $124.5 million in "pay for performance" bonuses to 52,000 supervisors and managers who have met various productivity and safety targets, Strasser said. The bonuses average $1,500 per participant, he said.</br></br>Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, the Taliban, Afghanistan and Iraq are named as defendants in a public interest law firm's $210 million lawsuit in U.S. District Court here on behalf of the estate of a woman killed in the World Trade Center attack.</br></br>Drawing on media reports and recent books by journalists, the conservative law firm Judicial Watch said Mohammad Atta and other Sept. 11 terrorists had met with Iraqi officials and that bin Laden had run a training camp near Baghdad.