News In Brief
A military jury acquitted a Marine pilot charged with recklessly flying his jet into an Italian gondola cable, killing 20 people near the Alpine town of Cavalese, Italy. Capt. Richard Ashby of Mission Viejo, Calif., was at the controls of the EA-6B Prowler jet when it hit the cable Feb. 3, 1998. He could have been sentenced to 200 years in prison if convicted.
Monica Lewinsky told her side of the scandal that now bears her name in a TV interview and in a new book packaged to capitalize on public curiosity. In the latter, she attacked the motives and methods of independent counsel Kenneth Starr.
The US imposed provisional 100 percent tariffs on some European luxury goods, as part of a trade dispute over bananas. The Customs Service will require importers of products - ranging from Scottish cashmere sweaters to Italian cheese - to post bonds to cover the threatened duties. The US has asked World Trade Organization arbitrators to impose 100 percent duties on some $520 million in EU goods to compensate for Europe's banana-import policy. European Trade Commissioner Leon Brittan reacted by accusing US officials of "fanning the flames" of the trade dispute.
The House voted to bar the Concorde supersonic airliner from US skies if the European Union proceeds with plans to prohibit aircraft equipped with engine mufflers from flying over Europe. The Europe-made Concorde is a notorious noise polluter. One proposal would prohibit registration of "hush-kitted" aircraft in Europe after April 1. EU officials say US-made hush kits reduce noise, but contribute to air pollution because they're slapped on old engines. The proposed rules could devalue airplanes in the US fleet, which are often resold in Europe. Final action on the EU proposal is scheduled March 29.
A Rocky Mountain presidential primary began to take shape as Utah and Wyoming passed bills to hold one Friday, March 10, 2000. Colorado, Idaho, and Montana are considering similar bills. The proposed primary would fall between California and New England primaries, set for March 7, and the Southern state's "Super Tuesday" primaries on March 14.
The US Olympic Committee pledged to root out corruption in its own ranks - and asked President Clinton to take legal steps to help ensure the Swiss-based International Olympic Committee (IOC) follows suit. USOC sent a letter to Clinton, asking him to declare the IOC a "public international organization," thus making bribery of its officials illegal under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and international statutes.
The bow section of a burned and broken cargo ship was back on an Oregon beach after ripping free from the tug towing it out to sea for burial. Mired in sand off a rocky stretch of coast between Waldport and Yachats - 60 miles north of where it originally scraped bottom Feb. 4 - the New Carissa was again leaking fuel.
Retired Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, who died in Arlington, Va., was the author of the 1973 decision that legalized abortion. Blackmun was considered a staunch Republican conservative in his early days on the court. But by the time he retired, he was often referred to as its most liberal justice.
