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Economy. Economy sheds 80,000 jobs in March "The employers cut payrolls for a third month in a row in March, slashing 80,000 jobs for the biggest monthly job decline in five years as the economy headed into a downturn," Surge in jobless claims stokes fears about recession "In another scary sign for the sluggish U.S. economy, the Labor Department said that initial jobless claims last week rose 38,000 to 407,000 - the highest in three years." Delinquent consumer loans reach highest level since 1992 "More Americans have fallen behind on consumer loans than at any time in nearly 16 years, as credit problems once concentrated in mortgages spread into other forms of debt." 81% in Poll Say Nation Is Headed on the Wrong Track "Americans are more dissatisfied with the country's direction than at any time since the New York Times/CBS News poll began asking about the subject in the early 1990s,"

Child abuse. Report Cites Abuse of 91,000 Babies Under 1 "More than 91,000 babies were mistreated in their first year of life in the United States in 2006, according to the first national estimate of abuse of the nation's youngest, most vulnerable children,"

AIDS relief. Congressman's trip to Africa prompted a change of heart "Conservative U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., joined some of his most liberal colleagues in the House of Representative on a recent trip to Africa. What he saw there changed him, at least a little. Struck by the unrelenting poverty in a South African slum, Nunes this week joined Democrats in supporting a $50 billion global AIDS relief package. Most of his fellow Republicans opposed the bill."

Iraqi Christians. An advocate for Iraq's displaced Christians "Robert DeKelaita, a U.S. lawyer who is himself a Christian born in Iraq, is on a mission to help others gain U.S. asylum. He would rather see them return to a safe homeland."

NATO. Missile Defense Endorsed By NATO "President Bush advanced his plans to build a controversial missile defense shield in Eastern Europe by winning the unanimous backing of NATO allies and sealing a deal with the Czech Republic to build a radar facility for the system on its soil." NATO Endorses Europe Missile Shield "NATOleaders agreed to endorse a United States missile defense system based in Europe and to provide more troops for Afghanistan, but they refused to back President Bush's proposal to bring Ukraine and Georgia closer to NATO membership." Putin warns Nato over expansion "The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, today repeated his warning that Moscow would view any attempt to expand Nato to its borders as a "direct threat".

Zimbabwe. New Signs of Mugabe Crackdown in Zimbabwe" Zimbabwe's government staged separate police raids against the main opposition party, foreign journalists and at least one democracy advocate, raising the specter of a broad crackdown aimed at keeping the country's imperiled leaders in power." Zimbabwe officials crack down on MDC and journalists "Authorities searched offices of the main opposition party and detained foreign journalists, fueling fears that ruling party hard-liners were trying to block a deal to end President Robert Mugabe's 28 years in power." Zanu-PF discusses Mugabe future "Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has convened a meeting of his ruling party on how to react to presidential poll results, still not officially declared." Mugabe: I will quit, as long as I do not face prosecution "Robert Mugabe's aides have told Zimbabwe's opposition leaders that he is prepared to give up power in return for guarantees, including immunity from prosecution for past crimes."

Iraq. Basra Assault Exposed U.S., Iraqi Limits "When Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched an offensive in Basra last week, he consulted only his inner circle of advisers. There were no debates in parliament or among his political allies. Senior American officials were notified only a few days before the operation began." In Iraq, Maliki warns of more offensives "Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki vowed after last week's battle in the southern port of Basra to carry out more offensives around Iraq, mentioning as targets neighborhoods in Baghdad associated with Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr's Mahdi Army militia." More Than 1,000 in Iraq's Forces Quit Basra Fight More than 1,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen either refused to fight or simply abandoned their posts during the inconclusive assault against Shiite militias in Basra last week, ... Iraqi military officials said the group included dozens of officers, including at least two senior field commanders in the battle."

North Korea. North Korea's Growing Rancor May Increase Hunger "North Korea's rising tensions with South Korea and the United States, along with soaring international grain prices and flood damage from last year, will probably take a heavy toll among famine-threatened people in North Korea,"

Iran. Diplomats: Iran Assembling Centrifuges "Iran has assembled hundreds of advanced machines reflecting a possible intention to speed up uranium enrichment, diplomats have told The Associated Press."

Special feature: The 40^th anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

News.

Marchers to Honor King in Memphis Today Presidential candidates, civil rights leaders, labor activists and thousands of everyday citizens are coming together to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the 40th anniversary of his death."

The Other Side of the Mountaintop "Near the end of his life, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. felt cornered and under siege. His opposition to the Vietnam War was widely criticized, even by friends. He was being pressured both to repudiate the black power movement and to embrace it. Some of his lieutenants were urging him to jettison his urgent new campaign to uplift the poor, believing that King had taken on too much and was compromising support for the civil rights struggle."

King Followers Mourn Loss of Activism "But four decades after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., black pastors who try to follow King's example by fighting against war, racism and poverty consider themselves a minority within a minority."

King's words resonate at L.A. church "The 40th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. comes as a poignant reminder of the day the civil rights leader stood in the pulpit at Holman United Methodist Church in Los Angeles and preached a Sunday morning sermon about "the meaning of hope."

What would cable TV have said about Martin Luther King? "But what if there had been 24-hour news channels with liberals and conservatives talking over one another, or YouTube and video cellphones to capture more of the civil-rights leader's ever-escalating public challenges to -- and exasperated criticisms of -- 1960s America?"

Opinion.

A moment for Martin Luther King (Editorial, Los Angeles Times)"In the final years of his short life, King became nearly as concerned about the war and the plight of the poor as he was about racial discrimination. His murder silenced one of the most powerful voices on these topics that this country has ever known, and we're still paying the price; if King were alive today (he would have turned 79 on Jan. 15), the fight against poverty would probably be higher on the national political agenda and the opposition to the Iraq war more focused."

If King Had Lived, What Now? (Allen G. Breed, Associated Press) "The preacher in him would have continued speaking out against injustice, war and maybe even pop culture. He would likely not have run for president. He probably would have endured more harassment from J. Edgar Hoover. Four decades after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. fell to an assassin's bullet, colleagues and biographers offer many answers to the question: What if he had lived?"

The prophetic anger of MLK (Michael Eric Dyson, Los Angeles Times) "Before 1965, King was upbeat and bright, his belief in white America's ability to change by moral suasion resilient and durable. That is the leader we have come to know during annual King commemorations. After 1965, King was darker and angrier; he grew more skeptical about the willingness of America to change without great social coercion."

King's impact (Cal Thomas, Washington Times) "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. challenged this country to live up to its ideals and what he knew was its better nature, if it could escape from behind the barricade of prejudice and ignorance."

Two Black Americas (Eugene Robinson, Washington Post) "Forty years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, we sometimes talk about race in America as if nothing has changed. The truth is that everything has changed -- mostly for the better -- and that if we're ever going to see King's dream fulfilled, first we have to acknowledge that this is not an America he would have recognized."

When Liberalism's Moment Ended (E. J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post) "Forty years ago, American liberalism suffered a blow from which it has still not recovered. On April 4, 1968, a relatively brief but extraordinary moment of progressive reform ended, and a long period of conservative ascendancy began."