USA
At one of many ceremonies to mark the 50th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, Vice President Cheney laid a wreath Saturday at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, Va. The armistice, signed July 27, 1953, ended fighting between North and South Korea although the two technically remain at war. This year's observance comes amid heightened tensions over North Korea's resumed nuclear program.
The Bush administration plans to propose $1 billion in new aid for Afghanistan, The Washington Post reported, citing unidentified senior officials. The package is more than triple the $300 million in current aid to the post-Taliban government of President Hamid Karzai and reportedly follows criticism that the administration has lost interest in Afghanistan while focusing on postwar Iraq. The new funding would go to build roads and schools, train police, and other one-year infrastructure projects, the paper said.
Partial human remains found at a quarry near Waco, Texas, may be those of missing Baylor University basketball player Patrick Dennehy, sources said. The medical examiner's office in Dallas was conducting tests to confirm the identity. The decomposed body reportedly was recovered late Friday at one of three sites identified by Dennehy's former roommate, Carlton Dotson, who was charged last week with his murder.
Singing songs and waving "sav-us from Dav-us" signs, about 1,000 supporters of the effort to recall California Gov. Gray Davis (D) staged a lively rally in Sacramento, the state capital, Saturday. Businessman Bill Simon, the Republican nominee defeated by Davis last year, strongly hinted he'll seek the post again if voters approve the recall Oct. 7. Counterdemonstrators also rallied in support of Davis.
Two people died and two others were injured when a helicopter ferrying firefighters to a blaze in the Aspen Ridge area northeast of Phoenix crashed. Meanwhile, firefighters in Montana's Glacier National Park were working to protect its headquarters complex from one of three blazes that have consumed more than 40,000 acres.
US prisons and jails held 2,033,331 inmates at the end of 2002, a rise of 3.7 percent from the previous year, the Justice Department reported. Black males aged between 20 and 39 accounted for about one-third of those serving time in state or federal institutions, while female inmates accounted for 7 percent, the report said. Seventeen states increased their prison populations by at least 5 percent; nine had decreases.
