USA
Pentagon planners are nearing consensus on how to carry out strikes against Iraq, as President Bush weighs military action among other options to disarm Saddam Hussein, the Washington Post reported. While plans remain fluid, the newspaper said, their broad outlines include sharply focused attacks on Hussein and the people and institutions vital to his hold on power in near-simultaneous air and ground campaigns. Meanwhile, the draft resolution that would give Bush authority to OK an attack was criticized as "much too broad" by Sen. Carl Levin (D) of Michigan. The chairman of the Armed Services Committee appeared on "Fox News Sunday."
Former New York police officer Charles Schwartz pleaded guilty to perjury in the Abner Louima case and received a five-year prison sentence. In return for the plea Saturday, prosecutors agreed to drop civil rights and other charges against Schwartz, avoiding a fourth trial that had been scheduled to begin today. Two previous convictions were overturned in February. In a 1997 incident considered one of the nation's most notorious examples of police brutality, Schwartz is alleged to have held Louima while another officer assaulted the Haitian immigrant in a Brooklyn police station restroom.
Qwest Communications International is expected to retract about $1 billion in revenue booked in 2000 and 2001 from controversial capacity swaps on its network, reports said. The Rocky Mountain News of Denver, where Qwest is based, said the announcement is likely to come tomorrow when two executives from the troubled telecommunications firm testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
A woman who was videotaped punching her daughter in a department store parking lot surrendered to police in Mishawaka, Ind., Saturday. Release of the tape to the news media set off a nationwide search. Madelyne Gorman Toogood was charged with child battery and freed on bail. Authorities took temporary custody of her 4-year-old child, who showed no signs of injury. While conceding that the beating was wrong, Toogood said the child shouldn't pay for her mistake and should be placed with other family members.
Miss Illinois, Erika Howard was crowned Miss America 2003 in Atlantic City, N.J. Howard, who put off attending Harvard University for the pageant, said she'd make prevention of youth violence a theme of her tenure. She receives a $50,000 scholarship and could earn up to $250,000 more from Miss America-related events.
