USA
Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said American military commanders in Iraq will get additional troops if they request them for fighting a growing Shiite uprising. The day before, President Bush said June 30 "remains firm" as the date for transferring power back to the Iraqis, and, appearing on ABC-TV's "Good Morning America," Paul Bremer, the US civilian administrator of Iraq, said he is comfortable with that commitment. Bremer also called a comment by US Sen. Edward Kennedy (D) of Massachusetts - that Iraq had become "George Bush's Vietnam" - "completely inappropriate."
The American Civil Liberties Union was expected to challenge the federal government practice of banning travelers viewed as security risks from commercial flights. Its class- action lawsuit on behalf of seven plaintiffs - among them a clergyman and student - contends that innocent travelers are kept off passenger jets by a "no fly" list compiled by the Transportation Security Administration. Federal law-enforcement and intelligence agencies request the TSA to put names on the list.
The Los Angeles Times was awarded five Pulitzer Prizes - the highest honor in journalism - for excellence in editorial writing, feature photography, breaking news, national reporting, and criticism. Only the New York Times, with its coverage of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, has won more Pulitzers in a single year.
Former President Clinton and his Clinton Foundation will negotiate to buy inexpensive, generic AIDS drugs for poor countries as part of a joint plan of the UN, World Bank, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, it announced. Some observers viewed the announcement as a jab at the Bush administration, which has questioned the safety of generics and has proposed not using US aid funds to buy them.
Emeka Okafor, an academic All-American, scored a game-high 24 points to lead the University of Connecticut's men's basketball team to an 82-75 victory over Georgia Tech in Monday night's NCAA championship game in New Orleans. UConn became the first team since Kentucky in 1996 to begin and end the season ranked No. 1. On the school's Storrs, Conn., campus, more than 20 boisterous fans were arrested for starting fires and overturning cars.
Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader came up short in his first attempt to get on a state ballot for the Nov. 2 election. At a petition-signing rally in Oregon, where he's been well received in the past, only 741 people showed up, far short of the 1,000 needed to assure him of a place on the ballot. Nader said he will try to collect 15,000 signatures over three months by other means.
