By John Shiffman and Mark Hosenball (Reuters) WASHINGTON - U.S. intelligence officials on Tuesday identified two of the more than 50 classified cases in which they say National Security Agency eavesdropping helped thwart terrorist plots including a planned attack on the New York Stock Exchange. The other, a San Diego money laundering investigation tied to financing for a Somali militia, is among the 27 cases cited in a Reuters report Tuesday [ID:nL2N0ET0PZ] in which the U.S. government filed public notice that it used a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant. ...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Seeking to break a weeks-long impasse in efforts to fix the state's woefully underfunded pension system, Illinois will turn to a rarely used legislative conference committee in hopes of reaching a compromise solution, Governor Pat Quinn's office said on Tuesday. State lawmakers return to the state capitol on Wednesday for a special session on pensions called by Quinn. A series of meetings over the last two weeks has brought the Democratic Senate president and House speaker no closer to tackling the state's nearly $100 billion unfunded pension liability. ...

By Jane Sutton GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - No court in the world has ever ordered the International Committee of the Red Cross to open its confidential files on prisoner visits and the U.S. Guantanamo war crimes tribunal would set a dangerous precedent if it becomes the first to do so, a lawyer for the humanitarian group said on Tuesday. ...