Nation digest 03/01/05

Prosecution outlines case against Michael Jackson

SANTA MARIA, Calif. -- Jurors were given opposing images of Michael Jackson as the pop star's trial opened Monday. In opening statements, the prosecution portraying him as a perverted child molester and the defense said he was the victim of a con artist who used her cancer-stricken son to prey on celebrities for money. Jackson, 46, is charged with molesting the then-13-year-old cancer patient at Neverland in 2003, plying him with alcohol and conspiring to hold him and his family captive.

May takeover bets on department store future

CINCINNATI -- Federated Department Stores Inc. plans to double its size by acquiring May Department Stores Co. in what amounts to an $11 billion bet that department stores have a future even as consumers increasingly shop at discounters and specialty stores. The cash-and-stock deal was announced Monday. Many of May's department stores eventually will be converted to the Macy's name as Federated accelerates its strategy of creating a nationwide brand that would give it pricing leverage with suppliers.

Judge: Charge terror suspect or release him

WASHINGTON -- A federal judge ordered the Bush administration Monday to either charge terrorism suspect Jose Padilla with a crime or release him after more than 2 1/2 years in custody. U.S. District Judge Henry Floyd in Spartanburg, S.C., said the government can not hold Padilla indefinitely as an "enemy combatant," a designation President Bush gave him in 2002. Floyd gave the administration 45 days to take action. The Justice Department did not immediately comment on the ruling. The administration has said Padilla, a former Chicago gang member, sought to blow up hotels and apartment buildings in the United States in addition to planning an attack with a "dirty bomb" radiological device.

Former WorldCom CEO denies role in fraud

NEW YORK -- Bernard Ebbers took the stand at his trial Monday and flatly denied any role in the $11 billion accounting scandal that sank WorldCom, telling jurors his "marks weren't too good" in school and that he knows little about accounting. The former WorldCom CEO said he fancied himself as "coach" of the company and left the numbers-crunching to former finance chief Scott Sullivan. Ebbers is accused of orchestrating the accounting fraud that plunged WorldCom into the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history in 2002.

Multiple sclerosis drug withdrawn from market

BOSTON -- The makers of a promising new multiple sclerosis drug announced Monday they are voluntarily pulling the medication from the market after a patient died and another developed a serious disease of the central nervous system. Biogen Idec Inc. and Elan Corp. said they will investigate the effects of the medication further, and they are not giving up hope that the drug may eventually return to the market.