News In Brief
THE US
Bomb scares reverberated across the US after a pipe bomb exploded at Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park, killing one person and wounding more than 100. A caller who phoned in a warning about the bomb sounded like a white male, authorities said. Atlanta's Underground entertainment complex also was evacuated for more than two hours after authorities received a call about a suspicious package. Also, a bomb threat in Washington prompted police to evacuate 1,000 people from Union Station. Ferry service was disrupted in the Seattle area and two buildings were evacuated after threats. And police searched for a bomb at a sports stadium in Buffalo, N.Y.
Investigators are working on a theory that a bomb exploded the front cargo section of TWA Flight 800. They believe the blast ripped the cockpit and first-class cabin away from the rest of the plane, sources say. The last sound recorded by the cockpit voice recorder was an abrupt loud noise, investigators said. Searchers are still looking for a piece of the plane to back up the theory. The possibility that a missile struck the plane hasn't been ruled out. Mechanical failure is now considered a remote possibility. Divers have found 150 of the 230 victims' bodies. The search is being reinforced with the arrival of another Navy salvage ship.
Two Russian athletes were stripped of their medals in Atlanta after testing positive for drugs, the International Olympic Committee said. Andrei Korneev, bronze medalist in swimming's 200-meter breaststroke, and Zafar Gouleiev, a Greco-Roman wrestler who won a bronze in the 48-kilogram class, were disqualified. Lithuanian cyclist Rita Raznaite, who finished 13th in the sprint event, had her results cancelled when she also tested positive for the drug bromantan.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak arrived in Washington for talks with President Clinton and Secretary of State Warren Christopher. He is expected to seek support to pressure Israel to trade land for peace during his five-day visit.
The House is expected to take up the compensatory time bill this week, which would allow employers to offer the option of 1.5 hours of comp time for every hour worked in excess of 40 hours per week. The Senate passed a $12.25-billion foreign aid bill, and voted to hold up some aid to Mexico until the 10-most-wanted drug kingpins are arrested.
Broadcasters and government officials drew closer to a compromise on boosting the quantity and quality of children's TV as the White House opened a summit on the topic. Children's TV advocates are pushing for stations to air at least three hours of educational shows each week.
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt announced a proposal for new rules doubling flight-free zones over the Grand Canyon National Park. Scenic flights would also be banned generally between sundown and sunset and capped for two years. Babbitt, a former Arizona governor, called the rules necessary because the 277-mile-long canyon has become increasingly noisy.
A Lebanese refugee hijacked an Iberian Airlines jet bound for Havana and diverted it to Miami. Saado Ibrahim threatened to blow up the plane, but what he claimed was a bomb was a tape recorder wrapped in aluminum foil. He faces at least 20 years in jail if convicted of air piracy.
A fire that broke out on a cruise ship in Alaska's Inside Passage killed five crew members and injured about 70 of the ship's 730 passengers. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the fire, which appears to have started in the laundry room.
IBM won a $94 million government contract to build an ultrasupercomputer 300 times faster than any machine now in use. The computer will be used to simulate nuclear explosions to test atomic bombs without actually blowing them up. The computer is expected to do 3 trillion operations per second.
THE WORLD
Turkish prisoners struck a deal with Ankara to end a 69-day hunger strike that sparked riots across the country and claimed 12 strikers' lives. Mediators said they brokered an agreement with inmates at Istanbul's Bayrampasa prison, considered the ringleaders of the nationwide strike. Strikers were protesting transfers to remote locations, prison brutality, and inadequate medical care. Ankara accepted the inmates' demand that they be jailed closer to where their trials are held, negotiators said.
Burundi's new ruler Maj. Pierre Buyoya said the forced expulsion of Rwandan Hutus would stop. This signals a major policy shift by the new government, which came to power last week after an Army coup. Also, Uganda's and Tanzania's leaders condemned the coup but failed to call for the restoration of the ousted Hutu president. They also did not comment on a possible plan of action, saying it would be discussed at an African summit meeting Wednesday in Arusha, Tanzania.
Indonesian security forces patrolled the streets of Jakarta, detaining and beating antigovernment protesters a day after a government crackdown on pro-democracy forces. Indonesia suffered some of its worst rioting in three decades when police raided opposition party headquarters and forcibly evicted supporters of pro-democracy leader Megawati Sukarnoputri. About 10,000 people later attacked state-owned buildings in protest. At least two protesters were killed and 46 injured in scuffles with police.
Sri Lankan security forces said they plan to attack northern Tamil rebel strongholds as more than 100,000 civilians fled the targeted town of Kilinochchi. Meanwhile, the foreign minister said Colombo is determined to seek a political settlement to the 13-year-old civil war, despite the recent upsurge in fighting.
US envoy Richard Holbrooke warned Bosnian Serbs they risk renewed sanctions and exclusion from elections if Radovan Karad-zic participates in political life. Holbrooke, who brokered Karad-zic's ouster as head of the Bosnian Serb party, told German magazine Der Speigel that a Bosnian Serb foreign minister's remarks that Karadzic could continue to have a hand in politics violated previous assurances. Also, Karadzic said he will not leave his stronghold in Pale. Holbrooke and Serbian President Milosevic reportedly had agreed to a plan to return Karadzic to his native Montenegro.
Syria rejected Israel's proposal that they try to end hostilities in Lebanon before tackling the future of the Golan Heights. Israel captured the Heights in 1967, and its return is a key Syrian demand. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says he doesn't plan to return the strategic area.
Cuba's shootdown of two US planes on Feb. 24 was unlawful, the UN Security Council said, but shied away from any condemnation of Havana. The decision follows the release of an International Civil Aviation Organization report that concluded the planes were over international waters when they were shot down.
Thousands of South Koreans began returning home after the worst rainstorm in almost a decade. About 21 inches of rain fell over two days, causing landslides and flooding that killed at least 57 people and forced 50,000 to flee to higher ground.
Algerian troops killed ousted militant leader Dkamel Zitouni July 16, the Armed Islamic Group said. Zitouni was the suspected architect of a series of bombings in France last year. He was ousted after the May killings of seven French monks.
Comoros Island villagers put to sea to search for survivors of a boat that sank off the coast of Madagascar. The boat was carrying 57 people; three survivors have been rescued so far.
ETCETERAS
"If shamelessness were an Olympic event, the Gingrich Republicans would take the gold."
-- House minority whip David Bonior on a GOP proposal to allow workers to exchange overtime pay for paid leave. Democrats say it would cheat workers of their wages. Republicans argue it would help people juggle work and family.
Actor Cary Grant worked as a spy detecting Nazi sympathizers in Hollywood, the London Sunday Times said. A new biography, due out this fall, reveals Grant worked for British security services during World War II.
Botanists at London's Royal Botanic Gardens planned escape routes for visitors overcome by the titan arum flower's stench. Fortunately, the plant, called "the corpse plant" in Sumatran, blooms only three times in a 15-year life span.
Martin Richardson found saviors in three dolphins that circled him, flapping their fins to scare off a shark that attacked him in the Red Sea. They stayed close until friends pulled him to safety.
Swimmer Amy Van Dyken became the first US woman to win four gold medals at a single Olympics. Canada's Donovan Bailey broke the world record for the 100-meter final. Briton Steven Redgrave's and Matthew Pinsent's victory in men's rowing made Redgrave the fourth Olympian to win gold at four straight games. Ecuador received its first medal when Jefferson Perez won the 20-km walk.
THE DAY'S LIST
Famous Fulbrighters
The Fulbright scholarship program celebrates its 50th anniversary Thursday. Sen. William Fullbright started the program, which allows students to study abroad. Some prominent Fulbright scholars:
Aaron Copland, musician
Rita Dove, US poet laureate emeritus
Ronald Grabe, astronaut mission commander for Discovery
Stacey Keach, actor
Anna Moffo, opera singer
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, US Senator
Richard Thomas, chief executive officer of First National Bank of Chicago
John Updike, author
Garrick Utley, TV journalist
Eudora Welty, author
-- Associated Press
