Israeli planes and helicopters rained a shower of rockets on Beirut, Lebanon, on Thurs., Apr. 11. The attack, Israel's first in 14 years, was in retaliation for the violence of the Muslim fundamentalist group Hizbollah, which is also pro-Iranian. At least five people were killed and 15 wounded in the raid, which should last for several days. Hizbollah promised an "astonishing" violent response.
Jessica Dubroff, the seven-year-old trying to break the record for the youngest pilot to fly across the United States, died with her father and flight instructor in a plane crash in Cheyenne, Wyo., on Thurs., Apr. 11. A snowstorm caused the crash soon after takeoff on the second leg of the eight-day, 6,900 mile journey. Ironically, the Guinness Book of World Records stopped recognizing this record to prevent unsafe flights.
Paroled child molester Larry Don McQuay signed a contract guaranteeing his castration on Wed., Apr. 10. The San Antonio, Tex., criminal said he would kill his next victim if he did not receive the operation, but the state could not legally provide it. Justice for All, a victim's group, has raised $1,200 to pay for the surgery.
In the wake of a new outbreak of violence in Liberia, the United States began airlifting Americans and foreigners out of the capital city of Monrovia on Tues., Apr. 9. A fleet of 25 U.S. Air Force helicopters began ferrying 600 diplomats, relief workers, and businessmen out of the international safe haven of the U.S. embassy in Monrovia. Fighting recently broke out among the seven political factions which have been vying for national power since a Liberian civil war in 1989. Unabomber evidence accumulates
Evidence mounted in the federal investigation of Unabomber-suspect Theodore J. Kaczynski when Federal agents obtained hotel records placing him in Sacramento, Calif. at the time when several of the Unabomber's letter bombs were mailed from that city. Agents have also been in contact with a former romantic interest of the bomber's. A search of Kaczynski's Montana cabin revealed an explosive device nearly identical to that used in one of the Unabomber's most recent killings. Towards the end of the week, Federal prosecutors were nearing a decision on whether to charge Kaczynski with two of the bombings.
In an emotional ceremony in Washington, D.C., President Bill Clinton, LAW '73, vetoed a bill that would outlaw a rarely used procedure for late-term abortions. The procedure, known as "partial birth" abortion, is performed only 100 times each year, and has drawn fire from abortion opponents. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kans.) said that the procedure "blurred the line between infanticide and abortion."
-Compiled by Mike Burstein and Brian Lavery from the New York Times and Reuters on-line service.
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