World
Israel's government identified four men it said had assassinated Tourism Minister Revaham Zeevi and demanded that the Palestinian Authority turn them over or face retribution "in the way currently accepted by the international community." The ultimatum was rejected, and at dawn Israeli tanks rolled back into Palestinian-controlled cities. Three Palestinians, among them a 12-year-old girl, were killed in clashes with the Israeli troops. Below, mourners wait in Jerusalem to pass Zeevi's coffin. (Story, page 7.)
The first three casualties among senior followers of Osama bin Laden - a death and two injuries - were reported as a result of US bombing in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the opposition Northern Alliance said it was awaiting orders to advance against the capital, Kabul. (Related stories, pages, 1, 8.)
In related developments:
Despite its long hostility to the US, Iran's government agreed to perform search-and-rescue missions for American pilots whose planes might crash on its territory during the Afghanistan campaign.
Residents of Saudi Arabia, bin Laden's home country, were threatened with drastic penalties by the Interior Ministry if they sympathize with "those who try to impair security in the name of Islam." And the Ministry of Islamic Affairs banned the nation's Muslim clerics from declaring a jihad, which it said was the exclusive right of the kingdom's rulers.
Four members of a Kenyan businessman's family became the first confirmed cases of exposure to anthrax outside the US since the scare began. Health officials said they'd handled a letter mailed from Atlanta that contained cloth covered in white powder.
As expected, the largest Protestant political organization in Northern Ireland withdrew from the province's power-sharing government. The move by the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) was aimed at forcing Britain to suspend the experiment in cooperation with Catholics indefinitely. Under the so-called Good Friday accord, the coalition cannot survive without the UUP.
A Briton diagnosed as terminally ill lost a legal battle over immunity for her husband if he helps her to commit suicide. In a landmark ruling, the High Court said the law gave higher priority to the right to life than to a person's right to subject herself to "deliberate killing." The plaintiff vowed to appeal to the House of Lords, the only avenue left open by the justices.
