World
Israel's Army lifted a curfew so that Palestinian students in Hebron could take their exams, but detained hundreds for questioning. They also withdrew from Qalqiliya, leaving six of the eight main Palestinian cities in the West Bank under their control. Meanwhile, in a rare public demonstration against Yasser Arafat, an estimated 4,000 Palestinians in Gaza City invaded his compound Monday, demanding food and jobs. Arafat is confined to his West Bank headquarters.
Investigators were searching for the cause of the worst midair collision in six years. The accident, at 36,000 feet over southern Germany, killed 71 people. It involved a Russian charter flight carrying children to a vacation in Spain and a cargo jet belonging to the DHL package delivery service. Russian authorities suggested that European air-traffic regulations were to blame. But Swiss controllers said the Russian pilot took too long to obey requests to descend to a lower altitude.
Saying, 'We cannot contain our anger," South Korean President Kim Dae Jung demanded an apology from North Korea for Saturday's gunboat battle. He said the North would "suffer great damage" if it tried a similar provocation again. The battle, along the disputed maritime boundary between the rivals, killed four South Korean sailors and wounded 19 others. North Korea's news agency said the clash was "orchestrated" by the US, a claim rejected by the State Department as "spurious."
NATO peacekeepers, in a predawn raid on a house belonging to Bosnian war-crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic, seized firearms, "forged documents," and a computer floppy disk apparently hoping for clues to his whereabouts. NATO's Stabilization Force is under constant criticism for failing to catch Karadzic, who refuses to surrender to the UN war-crimes tribunal.
By a 4-to-1 vote, the Supreme Court of Chile ruled ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet mentally unfit to stand trial for political killings during his long rule. The decision, analysts said, could affect other cases pending against him. But prosecutors and plaintiffs said they'd press on with legal action against Pinochet aides alleged to have been accomplices in the murders of 75 political opponents in his first few weeks in power.
