New judge assigned to embassy bombings case

NEW YORK -- A new judge has been assigned to the case of two men accused of being involved in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.

Judge Kevin Thomas Duffy of Federal District Court in Manhattan will replace Judge Leonard Sand, The New York Times reported Saturday. It was unclear why the case was reassigned.

Sand handled last year's trial of four terrorists convicted of conspiring with Osama bin Laden in the 1998 bombings that killed 224 people at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. All four men were sentenced to life in prison.

Duffy previously presided in the trial of Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, who was convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

Proposed military budget hike biggest in world

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's proposal for the biggest hike in Pentagon spending in 20 years would add more money than any other country currently spends on its military.

Bush has proposed spending $38 billion more on defense next year, plus a $10 billion "war reserve" fund to be tapped for active military operations overseas. That would increase the Defense Department's budget to $379 billion for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.

By comparison, Britain spent $34.8 billion on its military in 2001, according to the London-based International Institute for Security Studies.

Russia spent $29 billion on its military in 2000, and China spent $14.5 billion on its military that year, the institute report said.

Toddler survives 4 days alone in apartment

ELYRIA, Ohio -- A 21-month-old boy survived four days alone by eating potato chips, part of a cookie and probably drinking toilet water after his single mother died.

Test results to determine the exact cause of Karen Crisp's death were still pending, but Lorain County Coroner Paul Matus ruled Friday that she died of natural causes. Authorities said Crisp, 44, had asthma and other lung problems.

Police were called Tuesday because Crisp's co-workers had not heard from her since Jan. 18, three days after she fell ill and left work early.

Her son, Allen Shackleford, was found standing by the door of their apartment, shaking and clutching a bottle of tile cleaner. Cans of food lay on the sofa where his mother lay dead. Relatives said they believe he got water from the toilet, which was dry.

He was treated at a hospital for malnutrition, dehydration and skin irritation.

Three dead, one injured in restaurant shooting

PITTSBURGH -- Three masked men entered a sandwich shop and opened fire, killing two men and a young girl, police said.

Witnesses to Friday's shooting said it appeared the gunmen were targeting a man in a wheelchair, who was one of the people killed. A woman also was injured.

Police did not release the names of the victims, but witnesses said the man in the wheelchair was paralyzed in another shooting in the mid-1990s.

The young girl, who police said was 6 or 7, was brought to a hospital and died shortly afterward, hospital officials said. The third fatality also died at a hospital, police said.

-- From wire reports