News In Brief
The US
Theodore Kaczynski was to be charged in Helena, Mont., in the series of Unabomber attacks that have killed three people and injured 23 since 1978. Kaczynski, a former math professor at the University of California at Berkeley, was arrested after the FBI found a partially assembled bomb when they searched his shack. The FBI began investigating him when Kaczynski's relatives told authorities they suspected he was the Unabomber after finding some of his writings in his former Chicago home. (Story, Page 1.)
Flags flew at half mast for US Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. Brown and 32 others, including New York Times reporter Nathaniel Nash and seven top US business executives, were killed when their plane crashed into a hill outside Dubrovnik, Croatia. There was no indication of hostile fire. President Clinton canceled his public schedule in the wake of Brown's death, calling Brown "a magnificent life force."
Clinton was set to sign the farm bill, the most sweeping overhaul of governmental farm policy in 60 years. And he was set to approve the line-item veto, giving the president power to veto specific spending programs.
Clinton, James McDougal, and Whitewater witness David Hale discussed a federal $300,000 loan that was later used illegally to complete a land development in a 1986 meeting, Hale testified. But Hale did not say whether there was any talk of using the loan for the development at that meeting. And he was prohibited from talking about whether Clinton knew how the proceeds of the loan would be used. The president has called Hale's claims "a bunch of bull."
A former general manager of Daiwa Bank's New York Branch pleaded guilty to hiding $1.1 billion in bond-traded losses from federal authorities. Daiwa was evicted from the US last year.
Massachusetts House Speaker Charles Flaherty pleaded guilty to tax evasion. Flaherty admitted in federal court that he fabricated records in 1987, and agreed to pay $50,000. Flaherty says he'll stay in office through June 1.
Lincoln Savings and Loan head Charles Keating's state conviction was thrown out by US District Judge John Davies. Davies ruled that Judge Lance Ito (above) had given jurors improper instructions. Prosecutors say they will appeal. Keating will remain in prison while he appeals his federal conviction.
The freemen group want to talk to someone who can help get them justice - not the FBI, a relative who visited the group says. The antigovernment group and federal agents have been in a standoff for almost two weeks. The FBI says it's considering outside offers to mediate a peaceful surrender. Also, arrested freemen leader Richard Clark was ordered to remain in jail without bond.
Federal and state laws restricting protests at abortion clinics invalidate abortion opponents' free speech rights, a North Carolina judge ruled. Other courts have upheld the federal law so it isn't clear whether the judge's action is binding.
TV executives are considering a rating system based on general categories rather than individual programs. All episodes of a series would be given the same rating. If an individual episode were to "leap beyond" material covered by the rating, it would be rated separately, Motion Picture Association of America President Jack Valenti said.
The Writers Guild filed an unfair labor practice charge against CBS, and the network's 350 writers were set to walk out. CBS says programming won't be affected.
Sudan is a "vipers' nest" of terrorism, UN Ambassador Madeleine Albright said while urging the Security Council to slap more sanctions on the African country.
Shares of AT&T's $3.02 billion spinoff of Lucent Corp. - the largest ever initial public offering, soared on Wall Street.
Remember to set your clocks ahead. Daylight savings time starts 2 a.m. Sunday.
The World
Talks in Vienna to curb worldwide arms exports broke down after the US and Russia clashed over Russia's refusal to disclose details of its military-hardware sales, a Western diplomat said. The talks between 31 Western and former communist states were designed to establish the first post-cold-war system to curb arms and military technology exports. The meetings are expected to reconvene in July.
World leaders expressed shock at the news of US Commerce Secretary Brown's death. In the Palestinian territories, South Africa, and Northern Ireland, Brown encouraged US investment to squelch violence and strenghten peace plans. He planned to join President Clinton on a state visit to Japan April 16-18. A senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official said Japan is concerned about how trade relations might be affected. by his death.
Libya will not be allowed to complete what US intelligence agencies believe is a chemical weapons plant, US Defense Secretary William Perry said while visiting Egypt, in an implicit threat to use military force. Perry shared evidence of the large underground plant, including photos, with Egyptian President Mubarak during talks in Cairo.
Accusing South Korea of violating the armistice signed at the end of the Korean War, North Korea said it will "give up its duty" of controlling the demilitarized zone between the two countries. It did not explain what the statement meant. North Korea also accused the South of moving personnel, tanks, and heavy weapons into the buffer zone, and said it would take "legitimate self-defensive steps." And more than 10,000 students marched through Seoul demanding President Kim Young Sam apologize for the death of a protestor during a clash with police last week.
Palestinian President Arafat fired a senior police commander who ordered a raid on a West Bank university. He also promised special guard units for universities. Earlier, students protesting crackdowns on Islamic militants scuffled with police and heckled Arafat in Ramallah, in the West Bank. Also, Palestinian police arrested three members of the Islamic militant group Hamas suspected of plotting suicide bombings. According to a survey by a Palestinian think tank, 58.5 percent of Palestinians queried support the crackdowns. And the New york-based Human Rights Watch condemned what it called arbitrary arrests of Palestinians by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, saying some detainees were tortured.
Some 32 fugitives holding three hostages were at large after negotiating their release from a Brazilian prison. Earlier, prison officials traded guns, ammunition, bulletproof vests, cellular phones, money, and get-away cars for 10 hostages. The standoff began last week when inmates overpowered 27 officials and reporters touring the overcrowded prison. In Argentina, more than 6,000 prisoners are revolting to demand better housing conditions. Above, relatives of prison inmates who seized Argentina's Sierra Chica Prison cook a meal outside the penitentiary.
Sri Lankan soldiers killed at least 41 Tamil rebels who had taken refuge in a Hindu temple. The rebels reportedly attacked the soldiers in the Jaffna Peninsula. Five soldiers were killed.
Alberto Pandolfi Arbulu replaced Dante Cordova as Peru's new prime minister after Cordova resigned apparently over discrepancies on the pace of free market reforms.
IRA leaders said they won't let-up in the war against British rule, dashing hopes for an early peace breakthrough. Britain refuses to allow the IRA's political wing, Sinn Fein, to take part in June talks unless the IRA restores its cease-fire.
One of every four children in Ghana, India, Indonesia, and Senegal is in the work force, most as field hands or in family businesses, according to a UN report. Most of those children are employed at least nine hours a day, often six or seven days a week, it said.
Etceteras
Jews held what they said was the world's largest Seder, the traditional Passover dinner, in the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Nepal. About 1,000 Jews took part, making the occasion the world's biggest Passover service in the world's only Hindu kingdom, organizers said. The holiday celebrates the Israelites' escape from Egyptian slavery more than 3,300 years ago.
Sea World in Orlando, Fla., has reportedly offered to adopt Hondo and four other sea lions who could face the death penalty in Seattle for eating too many steelhead salmon. The state of Washington is trying to protect the fish. Officials declined to confirm or deny the story.
For Bob Norris and Catherine Smylie, it was "love at first byte." The couple met in the internet and sealed their romance by exchanging wedding vows beamed onto a 100-foot E-mail bulletin board in Times Square. New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani officiated in what was billed as the world's first digital wedding.
Conservationists urged Zaire's president to move against poachers of the endangered northern white rhinoceros. A second dead rhino, this one a pregnant female, was found in Garamba National Park in northeastern Zaire. Its much-sought-after horns had been removed. About 30 northern white rhinoceros remain in the wild.
Average Baseball Salary
Here's the average salary on opening day, based on salary studies by the Associated Press. Figures include pro-rated shares of signing bonuses. In some cases, parts of salaries deferred without interest are discounted to reflect present-day values.
Year Average
1989 $512,804
1990 578,930
1991 891,188
1992 1,084,408
1993 1,120,254
1994 1,188,679
1995 1,071,029
1996 1,176,967
- Associated Press
" He was a man who could reach across all divides."
- Joseph Nye, dean of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, about the late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, who headed an advisory committee there.
