The US Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation to...

The US Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation to bring the United States into compliance with two international counterterrorism treaties, easing extradition of bombing suspects and conforming laws against financing of terrorist activities.The bill, which passed 83-1, is needed to meet US commitments to the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, which the United States signed after the deadly blasts of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998, and a companion treaty on Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism signed in 2000.The treaties require countries fight terrorism by criminalizing attacks on public places with bombs or biological, chemical or radiological devices, and to criminalize aiding or conspiring to undertake such attacks. The convention on bombing was signed by 28 countries and went into effect in May, 2001, while the convention on financing that also criminalizes terrorist conspiracies is still awaiting final ratification. The Senate bill to implement the treaties was a compromise worked out with the House of Representatives and the White House, and must be voted on again in the House before it is sent to President Bush to sign into law.The Senate bill has a death penalty provision that conforms with existing law, while the original House bill had a new death penalty provision.