In the Nation

WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Dick Cheney yesterday condemned the Justice Department's decision last Monday to investigate suspected CIA prisoner abuses, indicating that he may not cooperate with the prosecutor assigned to the case.

Cheney, in a taped Fox News interview that aired yesterday, said President Obama set a "terrible precedent" by allowing an "intensely partisan, politicized look back at the prior administration."

Asked whether he would talk to John Durham, the veteran prosecutor appointed by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to examine allegations that the CIA abused Sept. 11 terror suspects, Cheney said: "It will depend on the circumstances and what I think their activities are really involved in."

Cheney said he was aware of a Bush administration order banning the CIA from advising Congress about a program to kill or capture terrorists.

The House intelligence panel is investigating whether the CIA broke the law by not telling Congress of the secret program. - Washington Post

BRUNSWICK, Ga. - The man who reported the gruesome slayings of eight people in a Georgia mobile home faces charges of lying to police and tampering with evidence, and authorities said yesterday that they have not ruled him out as a suspect in the killings.

The killer was not among the dead, whose bodies were found Saturday, or the two critically injured, said Glynn County Police Chief Matt Doering.

Guy Heinze Jr., 22, was arrested late Saturday and also faces charges of illegal possession of prescription drugs and marijuana, said Doering.

Asked if Heinze was involved in the slayings, Doering said: "I'm not going to rule him out, but I'm not going to characterize him as a suspect." - AP

PORT ARANSAS, Texas - Three Texas boaters missing for a week were reunited with their families yesterday after they were found alive, sitting on top of their capsized catamaran 180 miles from land, the Coast Guard said.

The crew of the Affordable Fantasy spotted the men Saturday night off Port Aransas and rescued them from their 23-foot catamaran, said Petty Officer 3d Class Renee Aiello. A Coast Guard boat brought them back to land, where all declined treatment.

The three - Curtis Hall, 28, of Palacios; Tressel Hawkins, 43, of Markham; and James Phillips, 30, of Blessing - were reported missing Aug. 22 after they left Matagorda, southwest of Houston, on a fishing trip and never returned.

The Coast Guard officials said they survived because they stuck with the boat. The men also rationed bubble gum and crackers and used a hose to suck fresh water out of a "washdown" tank that fishermen use to wash fish slime off their boat. - AP

Space shuttle Discovery pulled up and docked at the International Space Station last night, delivering a full load of gear and science experiments. The linkup occurred as the spacecraft zoomed more than 200 miles above the Atlantic and ended a round-the-world chase of nearly two days.