USA
Campaigning in Michigan, President Bush said he was "shaken" by reports that US military guards had mistreated Iraqi prisoners of war. He also reportedly urged Defense Secretary Rumsfeld to get to the bottom of the scandal surrounding the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. In related developments:
• Larry Di Rita, the top spokesman for Rumsfeld, said the US military did a "top-level review" last fall of its detention centers in Iraq, months before commanders were first told about the sexual humiliation and abuse of Iraqis. He said a criminal investigation was ordered Jan. 14 by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the senior US commander in Iraq, and since then four other probes have begun. On March 20 criminal charges were filed against six military police. As many as three of the cases have been referred to trial, and others are in preliminary hearings, officials said.
• The attorney for Hossam Shaltout, a Canadian living in Los Angeles, said Monday his client filed a lawsuit late last month claiming that he was tortured by US troops in Iraq. According to the complaint, Shaltout was hoping to persuade Iraqi leaders to step down but was accused of being a "right-hand man" to former dictator Saddam Hussein when he was arrested.
A new federal building was dedicated Monday in Oklahoma City, Okla., replacing the one destroyed nine years ago by a terrorist bomb. The three-story building is within yards of the site where the Alfred P. Murrah Building once stood and is a block from a memorial to the 168 people who died in the 1995 attack. About 600 people, among them Attorney General Ashcroft, attended the dedication of the new structure, which includes shatterproof glass, a steel-plated entrance, and concrete vehicle barriers.
Factory orders went up 4.3 percent in March from the previous month - the largest increase since July 2002, the Commerce Department reported. The rise reflected a growing demand for a variety of goods, and economists said they hoped the manufacturing sector, which has struggled for three years, increase hiring in the months ahead.
A 3,900-acre wildfire near Temecula, Calif., that destroyed several homes was 30 percent contained early Tuesday, authorities reported. The blaze was the largest of several on the first day of the state's wildfire season. More than 8,000 acres were charred.