AN ELDERLY priest yesterday acknowledged he was naked in saunas with former US congressman Mark Foley decades ago when the latter was a boy in Florida, but denied the two had sex.

US President George Bush today faces questions about North Korea’s claimed nuclear test and the political fallout from a congressional intern scandal.

The CIA’s independent watchdog has recommended disciplinary reviews for current and former officials who were involved in failed intelligence efforts before the attacks of September 11, 2001.

A Senate report detailing serious flaws in US intelligence-gathering highlights the urgent need for a permanent CIA director given the current terrorist threat, leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee said.