USA

November 5, 2007

Ford Motor Co. reached a tentative contract agreement Saturday at its Dearborn, Mich., headquarters with the United Auto Workers, but analysts believe that 54,000 rank-and-file union laborers may be cautious about ratifying the deal, whose details weren't immediately released. That's because after other recent UAW deals were signed, General Motors and Chrysler announced layoffs.

The Bush administration is considering a plan to close the Navy's Guantánamo prison, grant war-on-terror detainees legal representations at hearings, and possibly move some detainees to US locations, The New York Times reported in Sunday's editions.

The California Highway Patrol said it may take months to sort out exactly what happened Saturday during a fog-enshrouded freeway pileup of more than 100 cars and trucks near Fresno that killed two people and injured dozens.

Noel, the deadliest storm of the 2007 hurricane season, delivered only a glancing blow to the Northeast coast Saturday.

Hundreds of people gathered Saturday in Charleston, W.Va., to call on prosecutors to add hate crime charges against six white defendants – three men and three women – accused of kidnapping, torturing, and sexually assaulting Megan Williams, a 20-year-old black woman (above l., with her mother).

Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, reversed course Saturday and said that with the help of alumni fundraising it would keep the cash-strapped school open. Last June, the trustees had announced that the college known for its pioneering academic programs would close after the 2008 spring term and reopen in 2012.

Stanford University's entry in a robotic-car competition was the first of 11 finalists across the finish line Saturday in the US Defense Department's Urban Challenge. Operated via computer, it completed 60 miles of simulated city driving on a deserted air base in Victorville, Calif., in under six hours.

Navy's football team ended decades of frustration Saturday against Notre Dame with a 46-44 triple overtime victory. The win snapped a national record 43-game losing streak in the rivalry. The outcome raised Navy's record to 5-4, while dropping Notre Dame to 1-8. Above, Navy players celebrated in South Bend, Ind.