USA
Those resonsible for terrorist bombings in Saudi Arabia "will learn the meaning of American justice," President Bush vowed, after attacks that killed 91 people, among them seven US citizens. Bush was speaking in Indianapolis at the end of a two-day, three-state tour to promote his tax-cut proposal, and dispute Democrats' criticism that it favors the rich. He later went on to Pierce City, Mo., to survey one of the towns hardest-hit by the tornadoes that raged through the central and Southern US over the past week.
The Bush administration expelled 14 Cuban diplomats - seven from that country's UN mission and the rest from the Cuban interest section in Washington. The Cubans were ordered out for "activities deemed harmful" to the US, diplomatic shorthand for spying.
The US trade deficit expanded to $43.5 billion in March, growing 7.6 percent to the second-highest level on record, the Commerce Department reported. The report came as the dollar fell to a new four-year low against the euro, the European Union's common currency.
An alleged double-agent for China and her former FBI handler and reputed paramour pleaded not guilty Monday at an arraignment in federal court in Los Angeles. Neither was charged with espionage, however. Chinese-American businesswoman Katrina Leung is accused of copying classified documents taken from James Smith's briefcase. Smith is accused of gross negligence and wire fraud.
More than 50 Texas lawmakers, all Democrats, were refusing to return from Oklahoma in a dispute that brought the state House in Austin to a standstill. The legislators fled to protest what they consider unfair treatment as the GOP-led legislature debated such issues as spending cuts and redistricting. Their absence left the House short of the 100-member quorum needed to convene Monday and prompted the Speaker to send state troopers to find them.
Several senior girls videotaped in a brutal hazing incident are being suspended for 10 days, and may be expelled, the principal of Glenbrook North High School, near Chicago, said Monday. A lawyer for one of the girls sought a temporary restraining order on the punishment. Five girls required medical treatment after the hazing, which drew national attention.
