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Show mON & WORLD A A4 - '4s SATURDAY, THE DAILY HERALD (www.HarkTheHerald.com),, JUNE 2, 2001 Mradl crossings conicern GL03AL BRlZFIfG . Beach bombing kills 1 By LAURENCE ARNOLD TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) An explosion late Friday on a crowded beachfront in Tel Aviv killed a suicide bomber who had mingled with young people outside a disco, Israel media reported. Hospital officials said at least 28 people were wounded, five seriously. The area is lined with coffee shops and restaurants and was packed with Israelis enjoying the start of their Sabbath weekend. Israel TV said the explosion occurred near the nightclub not far from the aquarium on a beachside boardwalk. A witness told Israel Radio that the bomber had stood with a group of young people waiting to get in. Pan-sh- a, train-pedestri- WASHINGTON Hundreds of people die each year at railroad crossings, some recklessly trying to outrun trains, others who never see danger coming. Now, with Amtrak pushing to d introduce trains in g densely populated areas, safety has become a more pressing issue. The federal government is steering money toward crossings where fast trains may operate, and state officials are scrambling for ways to improve high-spee- grade-crossin- safety. "High-spee- (rail) corridors are d where you have lots of traffic, pedestrians, highway users and Log trucks set on fire Three ESTACADA, Ore. (AP) logging trucks were torched Friday near a federal forest where environmental protesters have camped out to try to keep loggers from cutting down trees. No one was injured. A logging company had tentatively planned to begin harvesting trees in the Mount Hood National Forest on Friday, and activists had vowed to try to stop them. But the group fighting the logging said it was not behind the fires. a- Associated Press Writer iimvmujam w ---f ut-- : . mm The number of military personnel discharged for homosexual conduct or for stating their homosexuality rose by 17 percent last year to the highest total in recent years, the Pentagon said Friday. The Army's total more than doubled, while the Air Force Tiad a 50 percent decline. In all, 1,212 members of the armed services were discharged during the 2000 fiscal year that ended last Sept. 30, compared with 1,034 the year before and 1,145 the, year before that, the Pentagon said. Single moms plentiful 'Me m Students on strike SEATTLE (AP) Graduate teaching assistants at the University of Washington went on strike contract Friday after negotiations collapsed. The university remained open, but the walkout by the Graduate Student Employee Action Coalitionlast-ditc- h Auto Workers, which represents as many as 1,600 teaching aides, could hamstring grading of final examinations in the week -United before commencement June 9. About 250 graduate students demonstrated at the university and sympathetic city bus drivers refused to follow routes on campus. Cabbie crosses country RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) : ' Jr t! Cab driver Jerry Howell wasn't exactly prepared for a 3,800-mil- e trip, but that's what he got when he picked up five men from the Philippines asking for a ride to Boston. "I left town with a sweat shirt and a can of deodorant," he said. The trip took six days out and back. They started on "May 22 and arrived in Boston on May 24. A rental car would have been much cheaper but none of the five was licensed to drive in the United States. The fare? $2,400, of which Howell gets 40 percent. The kicker? No tip. Man fired, wins lottery HOBART, Australia (AP) man fired from his job at a V, company Friday learned hours later that he had won the $4.5 million jackpot in a nationwide lottery. The man said in a statement through Tattersall's lottery agency, which runs the Powerball lottery, that he found out early Friday that he and 99 fellow workers were to be laid off by Incat. The man said he was later in the day when he heard on the radio that authorities were looking for a Powerball winner in his hometown. He drove to a lottery outlet and had his ticket checked. The man said he immediacy gave up job-hunti- IT job-huntin-g. ft n Hol-broo- k, grade-crossin- g "5 i i4 f"t ' ! "r f 1 w- If- - ti l I 1 High-Spee- high-spee- d high-spee- d TERRE HAUTE, Ind. Preparing for his execution at the hands of the government he despises, Timothy McVeigh gave fellow death row inmates everything he owned, arranged for his body to be turned over to family members and readied himself for what some saw as martyrdom. He sat in his stuffy cell and waited. Then he learned of an FBI error, saw a chink in the government's armor. Now instead of waiting to die, the man convicted of killing 168 people in the Oklahoma City bombing has found a reason to live. "I would say he has some new resolve," said attorney Robert Nigh, who described his client's demeanor after a meeting in the federal prison here Thursday. McVeigh's attorneys have filed court papers in Denver and now await a Wednesday hearing to argue for a stay of McVeigh's June 11 execution. They say they need more time to review thousands of documents the FBI failed to turn ,over during McVeigh's 1997 trial, and they hope to show that the government's mistake could mean a new trial, The decision stands in stark contrast to McVeigh's previous stance. In December, he asked that all appeals be dropped and his death be scheduled quickly. Among the possessions he handed over to fellow inmates was his fan, prized in death row cells without air conditioning. As early as Thursday morning, when he met with Nigh and attorney Richard Burr at the U.S. Penitentiary, he had yet to decide whether to seek a stay or move forward with the execution. "He had prepared himself psychologically and emotionally," Nigh said. "He had prepared himself to die." y- 0 iSk . .... - JEROME DELAYThe Associated Press Coming together; Thousands of Palestinian mourners, some carrying a giant Palestinian flag, pass through the Damascus gate in Jerusalem's Old City for the funeral procession of Faisal Husseini. Palestinians lay claim to Jerusalem tinians and viewed by many By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press Writer JERUSALEM to see more money going toward that," said Anne Chettle, director d of public affairs for the Ground Transportation Association, a trade group. Amtrak has asked Congress for permission to raise an additional $12 billion over 10 years lor highspeed rail, much of it to improve grade crossings. Meanwhile, states interested in rail are developing exploring different approaches: Grade crossing safety is an issue as well for the nation's freight railroads. But it is acutely pressing for Amtrak, the national passenger railroad, which is staking its nature on intercity trains. ice. "Obviously we would like Associated Press Writer Nt 111 desigserv- Government weakness reason to live for McVeigh tv" V high-spee- d By REX W. HUPPKE J. JJ '4i I ments in 10 rail corridors nated for future Hi 4 Thousands of Palestinians triumphantly laid claim to east Jerusalem on Friday as they mourned Faisal Husseini, at least temporarily fulfilling the beloved Palestinian official's dream on the day he was buried. Israeli border police, trying to avoid friction, stood by as West Bank residents poured into the city to accompany the coffin of Husseini, the top Palestinian official in Jerusalem. Husseini wis 60 when he died Thursday of a heart " attack in Kuwait. "We have freed Jerusalem!" cried one mourner, Nafiz Abdou, 23. There are no (Israeli) police. There are no soldiers. The streets are full of Palestinians. I feel like they surrendered the city to us!" - Husseini, a champion of coexistence with Israel, dedicated his life to cementing the Palestinians' claim to east Jerusalem as their capital. Israel captured the sector in the 1967 Mideast war and says it will never relinquish it. Husseini was beloved by Pales Israelis as a moderating force. A welcome guest W Israeli TV and radio programs', he explained the Palestinian view in the Hebrew he learned in Israeli jails. Some 20,000 mourners, many of them jubilant and waving Palestinian or black flags or carrying posters of Husseini, walked through the walled Old City in east Jerusalem. Several Israeli peace activists joined the crowd, including Jerusalem city council member Moshe Amirav, who had been close to Husseini since the 1980s. Amirav was asked to address the crowd, as one of several speak- ers. "I had the great honor to know a man who was a gentleman and a fighter for Jerusalem," Amirav later said of Husseini. "What united us was the love for Jerusalem." The day's events were mostly peaceful, but Palestinian youths later scaled a wall at Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's apartment and tore down a camera and the lower third of a huge Israeli flag hanging from an archway. Sharon bought the apartment in the late 1980s, to demonstrate Israeli control over the city, but has rarely spent time there since. Palestinians also smashed security cameras at the Old City's Damascus Gate, and looted and set ablaze a Jewish-owneshop, police said. No one was injured. At another shop, a Jewish tourist sprayed tear gas at would-b- e looters, witnesses said. g Police reported a few incidents and said officers prevented dozens of young Palestinians from breaking into a J police station. To the chants of "Long live Palestine," Husseini was buried at Jerusalem's holiest Muslim shrine, at the side of his father, a legendary military commander killed in a 1948 battle for Jerusalem. "What happened was not a funeral," said Adnan Husseini, a relative of the deceased. "It was a campaign in which all people from all over the West Bank and Jerusalem came here to show that Jerusalem is an Arab city." "Jerusalem was liberated today," he said. "I can say that what happened in today Jerusalem is unprecedented." d stone-throwin- . 10-fo- ot Young activist's voice silenced By SUSANNA LOOF Associated Press Writer cate and was able to reach people beyond many South Africa," UN. Kofi Annan General said. "We have lost a Secretary-- JOHANNESBURG,. In a counSouth Africa try badly damaged by the AIDS panand the harsh stigma that accompanies it, demic g high-spee- i. ever-worseni- A ferry-buildin- a mix that Ci.fv.-- : V" . PINE RIDGE, S.D. (AP) Amid the exodus of youth from the Plains are four Dakota counties with sobering similarities: They are among the nation's youngest, they have startlingly high numbers of single mothers and all are on American Indian reservations. Shannon County, on the Pine Ridge reservation, had the highest percentage of children under 18 living with single mothers in the 21.4 United States last year percent, more than double the statewide average. accidents. "It's warrants all of our attention." There were 259,554 grade crossings in the United States as of 1999, according to the Federal Railroad Administration, and they were the sites of 402 fatalities. By comparison, 83 people died in commercial airline crashes last year. Though the railroad fatality figure has decreased in the past 25 years, many crossings remain extremely dangerous. For example, since 1975 a crossing in Ariz., has had 18 accidents "tend 10 deaths. One in San Diego has been the site of eight accidents and six deaths. -v Discharges of gays rose WASHINGTON (AP) In most areas of the country, the maximum speed for passenger trains is 79 mph. But Amtrak and many state governments are contemplating speeds of 100 to 150 d trains. mph for new Amtrak's new Acela Express already hits a top speed of 150 mph during its Washington-to-Bostotrip. Where speeds exceed 125 mph, the Federal Railroad Administration requires that grade crossings be eliminated. But that is expensive. Building a bridge to separate rail from road can cost $2 million to $4 million, said Randy Wade, a rail planner with Wisconsin's Department of Transportation. For now, the federal government is distributing $5.2 million a improve year for lots of trains," said Gerri Hall, president of Operation Lifesaver, a private organization that seeks to and reduce train-ca- r fficSals young Nkosi Johnson was a brave voice urging acceptance. On Friday, he was killed by the disease he battled for all of his 12 years. An outspoken representative of the millions of infected South Africans who never discuss their disease," Nkosi impressed many disappointed in the government's lackluster fight against the epidemic. "He was a very courageous young man, a courageous child. And I think he became a wonderful advo voice." Nkosi, who contracted HrV during birth, began his career as an activist battling to force a public to admit him school despite his infection. He later campaigned to raise AIDS and awareness fought in vain for the government to do more to save other babies from becoming infected. He earned international fame in July, when he told delegates at the International AIDS Conference in Durban that people infected with HIV should not be shunned. "We are all human beings. We are normal," he said. "We have hands. We have feet. We can walk. We can talk. We have needs just like everyone else. Don't be afraid of us. We are the same." Nkosi's foster mother, Gail Johnson, said Nkosi died peacefully in his sleep early Friday. He had not been able to eat or talk since he collapsed in d December with brain damage and viral infections. Doctors had expected him to die shortly afterward. "His race was run and I think we knew that a long time ago. I'm exceptionally proud of Nkosi," Johnson told Teporters Friday, her eyes filling with tears. In life, Nkosi put a powerful face on a disease other South Africans suffer in shamed silence. His death Friday focused the nation on the pandemic. Making a difference: AIDS activist and sufferer Nkosi AIDS-relate- Johnson speaks during the 13th International Aids Conference in Durban, South Africa, on July 9, 2000.. HhnMh. C THEMBA HADEBEThe p. r""n Associated Press Johnson died Friday. |
