USA
Global financial organizations are prepared to help solve economic woes around the world, but the key to improvement must come from the bottom up, US Treasury Secretary O'Neill told International Monetary Fund and World Bank policymakers in Washington Sunday. Nearby, protesters were set for another day of demonstrations after filling up five city blocks a day earlier with smaller-than-expected antiglobalization crowds. Only a handful of arrests were reported Saturday including two men and two women detained on illegal-weapons charges after being found with an explosive device described by police as a coffee can filled with nails.
West Coast ports resumed cargo operations after a 36-hour lockout of longshoremen. Terminal operators closed the ports Friday in response to what they characterized as work slowdowns staged by unions during acrimonious contract talks. A renewed shutdown could be economically devastating. The ports move an estimated $1 billion worth of goods each day with September the peak month for Asian imports.
The number of Americans without health insurance climbed by 1.4 million last year to 41.2 million, as fewer people received medical coverage from employers, according to US government estimates. The Census Bureau reported the percentage of people covered by health insurance offered by an employer dropped 1 percent to 62.6 percent in 2001.
Hundreds of American food industry executives and state farm officials dined with Fidel Castro in Havana Saturday during the first US food fair in communist-ruled Cuba. The fair, sponsored by food processing giants Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill Inc., was only reluctantly approved by the Bush administration, which has vowed to block further easing of the trade embargo instituted against Cuba in 1962. Cubans lined up at fair stalls to sample American products ranging from steak and sausages to lemon meringue pies not seen on the island in decades.
A woman accused of hitting her 4-year-old daughter in a beating case caught by surveillance cameras surrendered to face new charges of giving police false addresses. Madelyne Gorman Toogood turned herself in Friday night on the misdemeanor charge of false information. She was released after posting a $2,000 bond. Toogood had been out on bail after pleading innocent to felony battery of a child. That charge was filed after a Sept. 13 beating in a department store parking lot.
US Rep. Patsy Mink (D) of Hawaii, whose political career predated Hawaii's statehood, died Saturday. Mink earned a reputation as a fierce liberal during 24 years in Congress. She coauthored the landmark Title IX of the Education Act which bans gender discrimination in schools that receive federal funding. Mink's name will remain on the November ballot and a special election will be held if she is reelected posthumously.
