New Jersey: Miss Illinois is Miss America

Miss Illinois Erika Harold, who put Harvard University Law School on hold so she could compete in the Miss America Pageant, won it all Saturday.

Harold, 22, an opera singer from Urbana, Ill., wowed judges with “Habanera,” an aria from the opera “Carmen,” and performed ably on a newly added contemporary culture pop quiz given to the five finalists.

She received the crown from outgoing Miss America Katie Harman.

Miss Alabama Scarlotte Deupree was first runner-up; Miss Oklahoma Casey Preslar was second runner-up; Miss Nevada Teresa Benitez was third runner-up; and Miss Maryland Camille Lewis rounded out the finalists.

Indiana: Mother surrenders in child battery case

A mother turned herself in to police Saturday to face a child battery charge, eight days after a nationally televised videotape depicted her shaking, slapping and punching her 4-year-old daughter in a store parking lot.

Madelyne Gorman Toogood, 26, and her lawyer met police at an undisclosed location and arrived late Saturday afternoon at the Mishawaka Police Station, Lt. Jeff Giannuzzi said.

The girl was temporarily placed with another family that is not related. She was to undergo an examination at a hospital.

Police had been searching for Toogood and her daughter since the Sept. 13 incident, caught on video by a surveillance camera outside a Kohl’s department store.

Yemen: Three suspects questioned for alleged al-Qaida ties

Yemen questioned three al-Qaida suspects who were detained after a fire fight that killed two alleged members of the terror network, an official said Saturday.

Two Yemeni soldiers and a woman in a nearby house were wounded in the gunfire late Friday, which erupted when security forces stormed a one-story house in the suburb of Rawdah. Their condition wasn’t known.

Yemeni officials have said the country does not shelter terrorists; U.S. officials consider it a longtime al-Qaida recruiting ground where members could find refuge in lawless tribal areas.

Washington: Reports identify 70,000 alleged terrorists worldwide

U.S. officials have identified at least 70,000 suspected terrorists around the world and say an unknown number of al-Qaida-trained soldiers have been trying for at least five years to infiltrate the United States and launch “spectacular” attacks.

The news is contained in two congressional reports issued last week that were all but ignored in the flurry of headlines that accompanied hearings into intelligence failures before the Sept. 11 attacks, The Los Angeles Times reported in a story for today.

U.S. officials stressed that the threshold for making the watch list is low.