News In Brief

Secretary of State Colin Powell was to announce that Yugoslavia qualifies for $50 million in US assistance, partly because of its arrest of ex-President Slobodan Milosevic early Sunday. Certification will be qualified in accordance with US sanctions law, a State Department official said.

The Supreme Court allowed continued federal funding for Christian Science nursing care. The justices, without comment, turned down an appeal that claimed Medicare and Medicaid payments to church-affiliated health centers violate the constitutional separation of church and state. A taxpayer group had tried to stop payments, arguing that the church relies on prayer for healing, not traditional medicine. Although Christian Science nurses don't use medical treatments, the affiliated centers receive Medi-care and Medicaid payments for general nonmedical care - but not for prayer.

The Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that a criminal suspect's constitutional right to have an attorney present does not extend to police interrogation on a related offense. The high court refused to broaden the requirement that police notify counsel before questioning a suspect, unless the defendant waives that right, on offenses factually related to those that have been charged. Texas prosecutors had argued that extended protections would make it harder for crimes to be solved.

The US gained more people in the 1990s than at any time in history, reversing 40 years of declining rates of growth, Monitor correspondent Laurent Belsie reported. The Census Bureau said the 32.7 million jump eclipsed the last record of 28 million, set during the 1950s. Demographers attribute the growth to recent immigrants, who not only have boosted the population but also tend to have high birth rates.

Demand for high-tech jobs in the US will drop by about 44 percent this year compared to 2000 because of the slowing economy, an Information Technology Association of America study found. But companies still expect to hire 900,000 new IT workers this year. Of them, 425,000 positions will go unfilled because of a lack of qualified applicants, the study said.

Mobs of Purdue University basketball fans set fires and overturned cars in West Lafayette, Ind., after the school's 68-66 loss to Notre Dame in the women's NCAA championship game. Hundreds of police used tear gas to break up crowds as large as 1,000 people. At least eight people were arrested.

(c) Copyright 2001. The Christian Science Monitor

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
QR Code to News In Brief
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/2001/0403/p24s1.html
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe