News In Brief
President Bush welcomed Yugo-slavia's arrest of Slobodan Milosevic, after a 36-hour standoff ended between government police and bodyguards for the former president. Bush urged authorities in Belgrade to work with the UN war crimes tribunal, so that he can be tried for "crimes against humanity." Secretary of State Colin Powell was expected to announce today whether the arrest brought Yugoslavia in full compliance with US sanctions, making the Balkan country eligible for $50 million in US aid.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was to encourage Bush to take a more active role in resolving Middle East conflict when they meet today in Washington. Bush repeatedly has said he won't "force peace" in the region. Mubarak also was expected to express dismay over the administration's Iraq policy, which involves strikes against antiaircraft batteries that officials say threaten US planes patrolling no-fly zones.
Blacks and whites in cities and suburbs nationwide are more likely to live in integrated neighborhoods than they were a decade ago, but Hispanics increasingly live in their own ethnic enclaves, particularly in the South, a Washington Post analysis of the 2000 Census showed. Nationally, fewer than 4 in 10 whites live in all-white neighborhoods, compared to more than half in 1990, the Post reported. The lowest levels of black-white segregation are in the rapidly growing South and West. Segregation levels remained higher in Chicago and other Midwestern cities where blacks and whites have historically lived separately.
In his weekly radio address, Bush highlighted plans in his budget to bolster spending for children's health and education. He said his "Reading First" plan would triple funds to improve and expand literacy programs to help pupils read by the third grade. It also would increase funds for preschool Head Start programs for disadvantaged youth, establish 1,200 new community health centers to help poor children, and increase child-care program funding to $350 million.
A chartered jet that crashed in Aspen, Colo., killing all 18 people aboard, should not have attempted a landing because snowy conditions made visibility poor, the National Transportation Safety Board said. Because the Aspen runway is difficult to land on, the Federal Aviation Administration had issued a warning two days prior to the crash that planes not be allowed to make instrument landings at night. The accident occurred late Thursday night.
Iowa's state House unanimously passed a bill that would make it a crime for politicians to knowingly lie about an opponent in campaign advertising. Under the measure, anyone who pays for such ads could face up to a $1,500 fine and a year in prison. It is expected to pass the state Senate this month.
(c) Copyright 2001. The Christian Science Monitor
