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Two
more bodies, cockpit voice recorder retrieved
KIMHAE,
South Korea (AP) — Rescue workers assisted by sniffer dogs
recovered two bodies and a cockpit voice recorder Tuesday from the
mangled wreckage of a Chinese airliner that slammed into a fog-cloaked
mountain in southern South Korea with 166 people on board.
The
discovery of the two bodies pushed the death toll to 122 in Monday’s
crash of an Air China Boeing 737-200 near Busan, South Korea’s
second largest city. Thirty-eight people survived and six others
were listed as missing, police said.
The
death toll could rise because many of the survivors were in serious
or critical condition, they said.
Flight
CA129 from Beijing was approaching Busan’s Kimhae Airport in
heavy rain and fog when it hit the 1,000-foot, forest-covered mountain
on Monday.
The
jet shattered and caught fire on impact, leaving a trail of fallen
trees 30 yards wide and 100 yards long.
The
Chinese pilot — Wu Xing Lu — survived but was in serious
condition and has not spoken to crash investigators, police said.
South Korean television showed the pilot lying on a hospital bed,
his lips bruised and partly covered with clotted blood. Doctors
said that he was suffering from minor brain hemorrhage.
Vatican
calls on American cardinals for discussion
ROME
(AP) — The Vatican said Tuesday it was summoning American cardinals
to discuss “guidelines meant to restore security and serenity
to the families” of victims of sex abuse by priests and to
restore “trust to the clergy.”
In
a brief statement, the Vatican said all 13 American cardinals have
been asked to the unprecedented meetings. It was not clear how many
would attend.
The
April 23-24 talks will “examine problems created in the church
in the United States by scandals connected to pedophilia and to
indicate guidelines meant to restore security and serenity to the
families and trust to the clergy and the faithful.”
The
Vatican said the cardinals would meet with the heads of the Vatican
departments, called “congregations,” responsible for doctrine,
for the clergy and for bishops. All three congregations are themselves
headed by cardinals.
The
meeting also appears aimed at countering criticism that Pope John
Paul II and the Vatican have been slow to respond to a scandal with
global implications.
Beer
tax cut opposed by anti-alcohol groups
WASHINGTON
(AP) — Cutting the tax on beer in half could leave Americans
with a “$1.7 billion hangover” in trying to replenish
lost federal funds, opponents of a bill being considered in Congress
said Tuesday.
Millie
I. Webb, president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said a reduction
in the tax of $18 per barrel — that’s about 33 cents per
six-pack — would also have “dire and deadly consequences
for adults and youth with respect to drunk driving, underage drinking
and alcohol problems in general.”
Rep.
Phil English, R-Pa., introduced the measure last year. “It’s
an unfair tax that targets lower- to middle-class Americans,”
said Jennifer Hall, his spokeswoman. She said that two-thirds of
the beer consumed in the country is bought by people earning less
than $45,000 per year.
The
bill’s opponents, speaking at a Capitol Hill news conference
Tuesday, said the last beer tax increase in 1991 was in part responsible
for saving the lives of more than 600 minors every year.
Sign
of terrorist attacks, involvements unveiled
BERLIN
(AP) — German prosecutors on Tuesday questioned and then released
a man detained in connection with a truck explosion that killed
15 people at a Tunisian synagogue and said indications of a terrorist
attack were growing, just as a group linked to Osama bin Laden claimed
responsibility.
U.S.
authorities were investigating the claim, a government official
in Washington said. If verified, it would make the blast at the
Ghirba synagogue on the resort island of Djerba the first terrorist
attack by bin Laden’s al Qaeda network since the Sept. 11 attacks
in the United States.
German
officials took a suspect into custody Monday in the city of Duisburg
after receiving a tip from Tunisian authorities that the suspected
attacker, identified by Tunisian officials as the driver of the
gas-laden truck, had spoken by phone with the suspect hours before
the blast last Thursday.
But
authorities freed the unidentified suspect after questioning and
gave no indication of the man’s role, if any, in the case.
Supreme
Court strikes two provision of pornography act
WASHINGTON
(AP) — The government went too far in trying to ban computer
simulations and other fool-the-eye depictions of teen-agers or children
having sex, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
Youthful
sexuality is an old theme in art, from Shakespeare to Academy Award-winning
movies, the court found in striking down key provisions of a 1996
child pornography law on free speech grounds.
The
law would call into question legitimate educational, scientific
or artistic depictions of youthful sex, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy
wrote for a 6-3 majority.
The
court invalidated two provisions of the Child Pornography Prevention
Act as overly broad and unconstitutional. Free speech advocates
and pornographers had challenged the law’s ban on material
that “appears to be” a child in a sexually explicit situation
or that is advertised to convey the impression that someone under
18 is involved.
Longest-surviving
recipient of artificial heart goes home
CENTRAL
CITY, Ky. (AP) — The longest-surviving recipient of a self-contained
artificial heart returned home Tuesday seven months after his operation,
waving to well-wishers as he rode a wailing fire truck through town.
“It’s
good to be home,” 71-year-old Tom Christerson said after the
caravan of dozens of vehicles finally pulled up to his house.
He
was given a plastic-and-titanium AbioCor heart at Jewish Hospital
in Louisville on Sept. 13. Christerson, the second recipient of
the device, was released from the hospital March 20 and had been
living at a hotel one block away.
After
the news conference, the retired tire dealer and his wife drove
to their home in Central City, a town of 6,000 people about 125
miles southwest of Louisville. Christenson sat in the passenger
seat of the minivan, which was fitted with an electrical outlet
so he could recharge the heart on the road.
When
he got to Central City, Christerson was helped up the four steps
onto the fire truck, the ride fulfilling a wish he had expressed
weeks ago.
Photographer sentenced for invasion of privacy
CINCINNATI
(AP) — A commercial photographer was sentenced to 2 1/2 years
in prison Tuesday for taking pictures of corpses posed with various
objects in the county morgue.
Judge
Norbert Nadel also sentenced former Hamilton County Deputy Coroner
Dr. Jonathan Tobias to five months in prison and 250 hours of community
service for letting Thomas Condon photograph the bodies.
The
judge called the pictures “the worst form of invasion of privacy.”
Condon
has said he was attempting an artistic portrayal of life and death.
Prosecutors said Condon posed bodies with sheet music, a key, an
apple and other objects. A jury in October convicted Condon, 29,
and Tobias, 31, of abuse of a corpse.
Twelfth
drug tunnel found underneath Mexican border
TUCSON,
Ariz. (AP) — An 85-foot drug tunnel that was strung with bare
light bulbs and ended near a parking lot used by Customs Service
employees was discovered underneath the Mexican border.
The
tunnel, found on Monday, is the 12th discovered in Nogales since
1995, and the second in the border city to run directly beneath
the international boundary.
No
drugs were found inside the tunnel, which was reinforced with two-by-fours,
Customs spokesman Roger Maier said.
Investigators
believe smugglers punched a hole through the asphalt and would pass
narcotics up into a waiting vehicle, then seal the hole with an
asphalt plug.
Avocado
growers working on national ad campaign
VENTURA,
Calif. (AP) — Got guacamole?
Avocado
growers say the right national ad campaign could do for their crop
what the “Got Milk?” slogan did for the dairy industry.
Avocado
growers will vote this summer on whether to tax themselves to raise
up to $14 million a year for research and promotion. About 6,000
growers and importers will be eligible to vote.
The
plan would establish a mandatory fee of 2 1/2 cents per pound to
pay for the campaign. The U.S. Department of Agriculture would assemble
a national board to set policy for the effort.
California
growers produce 90 percent of the nation’s avocado crop. Although
the California Avocado Commission and grower groups have long been
involved in a variety of promotional campaigns, the federal program
seeks to broaden those efforts.
Police
chief pleads for his job after denial of term
LOS
ANGELES (AP) — Police Chief Bernard Parks pleaded his case
for reappointment before the City Council on Tuesday, a week after
being denied another term by the Los Angeles Police Commission.
Parks
told the council he wanted the city to hear his vision of the Police
Department, to give the “true facts of my record” and
to shine “a clear light on the process that I’ve gone
through regarding reappointment.”
Parks
defended his accomplishments after the civilian Police Commission
voted 4-1 to deny him a second and final five-year term. The commission
said the department was “in crisis” because of low morale,
understaffing and rising crime.
The
City Council can override the commission but would have to act by
the end of this week. The decision to let Parks speak did not obligate
the council to take further action.
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