USA
The Senate takes up legislation Monday on the proposed $350 billion federal income tax cut. In his weekly radio address Saturday, President Bush praised the House's passage of a larger, $550 billion version, and urged the Senate to complete its work this week so the two chambers can resolve their differences and "get a tax-relief bill to my desk as soon as possible." Bush was spending the weekend in Santa Fe, N.M., before appearances in that state, Nebraska, and Indiana to push for the cuts that his administration asserts will spur economic growth and create 1 million new jobs this year. Democrats and some economists dispute that.
Retired US Gen. Jay Garner and several top aides in Iraq are being reassigned in a shakeup, The Washington Post reported. Barbara Bodine, who served as de-facto mayor of Baghdad, was leaving for a new post at the State Department Sunday, and further staff changes could take place in the next two weeks, the paper said, following heavy criticism of the postwar reconstruction effort.
Heavy rains, tornadoes, and hail injured at least 27 more people and destroyed or damaged dozens of homes in central Illinois, Missouri, and Kentucky Saturday, remnants of a volatile weather system that has battered the region for the past week. Bush declared major disasters in nine Oklahoma counties hit by tornadoes last week. Federal emergency officials said more counties could be added to the list as damage surveys continue.
A Texas mother was charged with capital murder and assault after calling 911 Saturday to say she'd killed two young sons. Deputies found Deanna Laney behind her home in New Chapel Hill, and the remains of the boys, 6 and 8, in the front yard. An infant third child was found severely injured in his crib.
Authorities were deciding on charges against a suspect in a seven-hour armed standoff in which one person died and two others were wounded at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland Friday. Biswanath Halder was identified as a graduate who had received military training with the Indian army, and who had once sued a university employee.
The New York Times said an internal review found "frequent acts of journalistic fraud" in articles by ex-reporter Jayson Blair. Blair, who resigned May 1, plagiarized other newspapers, made up quotes, and filed articles from locations he hadn't visited. The Times said it was working to correct the record and apologized to readers.
