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Show A4 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30. THE DAILY HERALD - f Lewinsky ir.lsfct keep WASHINGTON (AP) House impeachment investigators may not seek fresh testimony from key figures like Vernon Jordan, Betty Currie, Linda Tripp and even Monica Lewinsky, Republican officials said Thursday. Witnesses who could be summoned at hearings next month, such as presidential confidant Bruce Lindsey, also may be told they cannot invoke executive privilege to avoid answering questions, the GOP officials on the House Judiciary Committee said. Republicans hope to begin hearings the week of Nov. 16. Candidate pleads innocent CROSSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Byron (Low Tax) Looper pleaded innocent Thursday to killing his political rival, a popular state senator who champi- oned crime victims' rights. Looper, 34, did not speak as he was arraigned in the death of Sen. Tommy Burks. On the way out of court, he winked and smiled to two rows of family members and friends. A Nov. 19 preliminary hearing was set. Looper's lawyer, Lionel Barrett, said Looper "recognizes the situation he's in and he's holding up well." Looper also remains hopeful of victory on Tuesday, Barrett said. Starr paid top dollar WASHINGTON (AP) Kenneth Starr's $40 million investigation has paid more than $700,000 for private investigators besides his federal agents, $19,000 a month for apartments for eight staff members and $400 an hour in consulting fees for Watergate veteran Samuel Dash. The bill for hotel expenses the day Linda Tripp wore a government "wire" to record her lunch discussion with Monica Lewinsky: $434. Government accounting records obtained by House Democrats also show spending figures for such items as parking spaces, a psychological evaluation of evidence and legal help. British justify arrest LONDON (AP) Despite a court decision to throw out arrest warrants against former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet and make Britain pay for his legal costs, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said Thursday that Britain was not embarrassed. "The Foreign Office has consistently taken the position that we want to see due process of law carried out," Cook said, denying Britain made a mistake by arresting Pinochet on Oct. 16 on Spanish charges of murder, torture and kidnapping of political opponents during his regime. 17-ye- Man sues to see Titanic A man RICHMOND, Va. (AP) who hopes to take a sightseeing tour of the Titanic asked an appeals court Thursday to overturn a judge's ruling barring anyone but the company that salvaged it from making money off the wreck. "No state may exercise sovereignty over the high seas," said Alex Blanton, attorney for Phoenix businessman Christopher Haver, who wants to view and photograph the ship 400 miles off Newfoundland. U.S. District Judge J. Calvitt Clarke Jr. ruled that an American salvage company, R.M.S. Titanic Inc., had exclusive rights to excavate, view and photograph the wreckage. Johno Dgdddd RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) After proposing a package of spending cuts and higher taxes, the government on Thursday turned to selling the painful measures aimed at ing the economy. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's economic team headed to Congress to try to get needed backing for the plan, which would save nearly $24 billion in 1999 and pare the huge budget deficit. But resistance to the measures was expected, even among Cardoso's allies. space ddd 3S yeairs affJeir At least 200,000 squeeze in to be part of special moment in history By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Still the hero and still making history, John Glenn roared back into space Thursday, retracing the trail he blazed for America's astronauts 36 years ago. "Boy, enjoying the show," Glenn said as Discovery soared 340 miles over Hawaii three hours into the flight. This is beautiful. It's still a trite old statement: Zero-and I feel fine," he added, repeating the words of his first flight. His commander, Curtis Brown Jr., said: "Let the record show that John has a smile on his face and it goes from one ear to the other one and we haven't been able to remove it yet." Glenn, the first American in orbit on Feb. 20, 1962, became at age 77 the world's oldest space traveler when he and six crewmates lifted off aboard the shuttle Discovery By Fla. -Aof the banks the Indian long River across from the launch pad, a single chant climbed above the chorus of cheers when the space shuttle discovery lifted off the pad. T1TUSVILLE, J 'A i ' V people cried as the glistening white tle climbed through cloudless blue sky. .1 I Along "V tJ J:.,. k '4 "Liftoff of Discovery with six astronaut heroes and one : iv III! Mm -: shores, moment in history. The launch did not disappoint. "I can hear it. I can hear it," squealed Anna Kincaid, 5, as the roar of the shuttle crew onward. "Go. Go. Go," yelled her husband, Greg. "Fifty seven hundred miles an hour," Zack Strickler, 10, exclaimed as he pressed a portable scanner close to his ear and listened to the conversation between astronauts and Houston flight control. Many cheered. Some wept tears of joy. Some watched with fingers crossed. Others with hands locked in prayer. y bottom deck for launch, staring at a row of metal lockers. He wore a baggy orange suit with a U.S. flag stitched to his left shoulder, a contrast to his sleek silver suit of Mercury. Soon after reaching orbit, the blastoff rumbled across the river and swept over the throngs. "My heart is pounding," said Sandy Strickler, 34, from Miffenburg, Pa. She clutched a tiny American flag, thrusting it skyward, urging the drag-chut- e windowless sun-bathe- d shut- parks and highways more than 200,000 squeezed themselves into northern Brevard County to be part of a special at 2:19 p.m. EST. American legend," launch commentator Lisa Malone said. It was a space sequel with all the right stuff. Discovery's departure a mere 19 12 minutes late was practically routine compared with Glenn's pioneering flight. The launch was marred when an door fell from the shuttle's tail and struck an engine moments before liftoff. But NASA said it will pose no risk to the crew when the shuttle returns to Earth on Nov. 7 after the nine-daflight. "Let the winds of Discovery lift us on to the future," launch control said in its final words to the astronauts. In taking the second spaceflight of his life, Glenn realized a dream that he never thought possible. His return to space as the first orbiting geriatric test subject captured the American imagination, so much so that hundreds of thousands of people jammed the area to see the retiring senator off. President Clinton, the first president to witness a shuttle liftoff, pronounced Glenn's flight "a great day for America and a great day for our senior citizens." As the low man on the crew, Discovery's Democratic senator from Ohio riding as a mere Payload Specialist No. 2 sat in the middle seat of the PHIL LONG Knight RiJdec Newspapers g Cameras, telescopes, binoculars, eyes and hearts followed Discovery's thunder- ing ascent through the ens. 1.1 W SUMP kilifhl Kidder Irihuiic Liftoff: The space shuttle Discovery blasts off the launch pad carrying Sen. John Glenn and other crewmembers into space on Thursday. The trip marked Glenn's return to space 36 years after he became the American to orbit the Earth. "Let the winds of Discovery lift us on to the future." launch control, in its final words to the astronauts however, Glenn unstrapped himself and for the first time ever floated free and weightless. Back in 1962, he never got out of the seat of his 7 cramped Friendship his Mercury capsule during three-orbi- t flight and had little time for sightfive-hou- r, "First report is great. I don't know what happens on down the line, but today is beautiful and great, and Hawaii is, I just can't even describe it," Glenn said. The crew took note the moment Glenn surpassed his previous flight time of four hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds. "I'm now doubled on my space time and building up every second," he told mission control. Scott Carpenter, watching the liftoff with the two other surviving Mercury astronauts from the press site four miles away, sent his best seeing. wishes to the crew and reprised his immortal benediction from 1962: "Good luck, have a safe flight and ... once again, Godspeed, John Glenn." It took 11 attempts over two months for Glenn to blast off on America's first manned orbital flight. This time, a single try was enough; the weather was perfect and the countdown was interrupted only by a minor alarm problem and then five stray planes that delayed liftoff 19 minutes and 34 seconds. The pilots were angling for good views of the launch. heav- or Many wore a $20 more sold shuttle by scores of roadside merchants. Along the carnivallike homeowners strip, hawked package deals like $20 for parking, food and a use of a bathroom. Vacant lots became parking concessions with owners charging up to $65 a space. Cars, trucks and campers squeezed in. For George Ocker, 47, who brought his toddler sons from Woodstock, Ga., the experience was the homecoming of hope. "It's the unity. It's a time when we can forget all the bad stuff," Ocker said. "We get a daily diet of negativity. We need this," he said waving his hand toward the jubilant crowd. Israel, Palestinians react swiftly to suicide attack By DINA KRAFT Associated Press Writer Brazil tries to sell high taxes bach GUSH KATIF JUNCIt took TION, Gaza Strip solsecond for Israeli a only diers escorting the school bus to realize something was terWithin wrong. ribly moments, two people were dead. Within hours, Yasser Arafat launched an unprecedented crackdown on Islamic militants. Arafat put Sheik Ahmed Yassin under house arrest Thursday after his militant Islamic Hamas, group, claimed responsibility for the bombing that targeted the bus full of eleschool children. mentary The 40 students on board not a single were saved one was hurt but the car bomb killed an Israeli soldier in the jeep, a immigrant from Ukraine now being praised as a fallen hero. Political reverberations the first suicide attack against Israelis in six months were swift. Coming only six days after the signing of a agreement in from the explosion y Washington, it was a destabilizing new factor in what is already a highly delicate prelude to implementing the accord. That process is to start next week. Blocking the pact is the avowed goal of Hamas, which bitterly opposes any peace with Israel. Hamas has carried out attacks that have killed scores of Israelis. As the bus from Kfar Darom, an isolated Jewish settlement in the heart of the Palestinian-controlleGaza interseca Strip, passed busy tion Thursday, a car with Palestinian plates tried to cut d into the convoy and ram it. The lead army jeep, one of two escorting the bus, rushed to block the car's path and took the brunt of a blast so powerful it flipped the jeep like a toy, leaving it lying charred and mangled in the soft, early morning light. It was a suicide blast; the car's driver died too. Six oththree Israelis and ers were three Palestinians hurt. Israeli troops quickly sealed off the Gaza Strip, preventing any Palestinians from leaving. Arafat's In response, Palestinian Authority took what has been one of its strongest steps ever against Hamas: it placed Yassin, the group's spiritual leader who has been nearly paralyzed and in a wheelchair since an accident as a teen, under house arrest. Officers sealed off the sandy slum streets near Yassin's house in Gaza City and questioned passers-by- . The house arrest was a stunning move by Arafat, who in the year since Yassin's release from Israeli jail has bent over backward to avoid open conflict with the Hamas leader. |