USA
Army Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr. could be sentenced Monday to three years and three months in prison and dishonorably discharged for being found guilty of negligent homicide during his interrogation of an Iraqi general. A panel of six officers spared Welshofer from a murder charge in the general's 2003 death at a detention camp. Prosecutors alleged that by placing a sleeping bag over the general's head and sitting on his chest, Welshofer caused him to suffocate.
Gov. Joe Manchin (D) of West Virginia said he plans to introduce mine-safety legislation Monday as the state sorts out its second deadly coal-mining accident in less than a month. On Saturday, the bodies of two men who failed to escape a conveyor- belt fire in Melville, were found. Their deaths follow 12 others that occurred when the Sago mine exploded Jan. 2. Federal investigators entered the latter mine Saturday, but it could take a week to reach its deepest parts.
A 1779 full-length painting of George Washington on the Revolutionary War battlefield sold for $21.3 million at a weekend auction at Christie's in New York. Art dealer C.L. Prickett's winning bid set a record for the sale of an American portrait.
Ford Motor Co. said it plans to announce major restructuring measures Monday. Reports say the automaker is expected to lay off as many as 25,000 hourly employees and close 10 plants to improve efficiency in North America, where it lost more than $1.4 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year. Plants in St. Louis and Atlanta are considered among those most at risk.
The release of former President Gerald Ford from a Rancho Mirage, Calif., medical center near his home will be considered on a day-to-day basis, his chief of staff said. Ford has been treated for pneumonia since Jan. 14 and "continues to improve."
Forcing a debate, not winning, is the issue, former seven-term US Rep. Pete McCloskey said of Monday's planned announcement that he'll seek the GOP nomination against incumbent Richard Pombo in northern California. Pombo is among those in Congress who've been implicated in the Abramoff lobbying scandal.
