USA
President Bush pointed to Labor Department statistics showing 308,000 new jobs were created in March as a positive sign of economic growth. The statistic, cited during his weekly radio broadcast Saturday, was the best of any month in four years. Still, John Kerry, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, said in a separate broadcast that the data show the number of manufacturing jobs remained constant in March.
It's probably time to debate the Bush administration's June 30 deadline for turning over responsibility for their own affairs to the people of Iraq, US Sen. Richard Lugar (R) of Indiana said on ABC's "This Week" Sunday. Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Iraqi police forces are not prepared for a takeover.
Investigators determined that Audrey Seiler, a University of Wisconsin student who claimed she was abducted at knifepoint, faked her 3-1/2-day disappearance last week. Evidence, including a videotape showing Seiler buying a knife and rope, has disproved her story, they said.
Legal experts predicted a shorter trial with more precision by prosecutors when former Tyco International executives Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Schwartz again face charges of looting the company of $600 million. A federal judge declared a mistrial in the six-month proceedings Friday because of threats to one juror.
To help address a projected two-year budget shortfall of $169 million, the Detroit Public Schools announced a cut of 3,200 jobs, including at least 900 teaching positions.
A Texas jury found Deanna Laney, who beat two of her sons to death with a rock and badly injured another, not guilty by reason of insanity Saturday. She claimed God had told her to commit the acts.
The University of Connecticut and Georgia Tech advanced to Monday night's NCAA men's basketball basketball championship game in San Antonio, with Final Four semifinal wins Saturday night. UConn erased an eight-point deficit in the last three minutes to beat Duke, 79-78. Tech broke a tie with 1.5 seconds left to defeat Oklahoma State, 67-65.
In his much-anticipated Major League Soccer debut, 14-year-old Freddy Adu of Washington's D.C. United came off the bench Saturday but never got a shot. The game opened the league's ninth season.
