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American Kristallnacht - A commission will decide next week what, if any, reparations should be awarded to the few survivors of one of the worst race riots in American history, CNN reports. On 31 May 1921, whites and blacks clashed in Tulsa, Oklahoma after the attempted lynching of a black man accused of assaulting a white woman, a charge which was later proven to be false. In the bloodbath that followed, anywhere from 300 to 3,000 people -- mostly black -- were killed, although the official history puts the death toll at under 100. However, archaeologists using ground-piercing radar have discovered evidence of a mass grave outside a Tulsa cemetery. The survivors, most of them in their 80s and 90s, aren't interested in money. But they think an apology would be nice. [Wired News]
And the Winners Are ... - The 1998 Pulitzer Prize for fiction was awarded Monday to The Hours by Micheal Cunningham. Set in New York, the novel is based on Virginia Woolf's classic, Mrs. Dalloway. Also honored was Margaret Edson, a 37-year-old kindergarten teacher who was cleaning her classroom when she learned of winning the drama award for Wit, her unsentimental play about a woman's fight with ovarian cancer, and Duke Ellington, who was posthumously awarded a special music citation, for his "indelible contribution to art and culture," on the centennial of his birth. [Wired News]
Ankle Oglers - Capri pants, that unfortunate legacy of the '50s now hugging the hips and exposing the ankles of fashion-conscious women in the '90s, may go unisex by next spring, a leading men's fashion association predicts. Men's pantlegs will be moving up the leg, mavens say, from just above the ankle to just below the knee. Like those black, horned-rim glasses and ugly plaid, short-sleeved shirts men sport today, the idea is, in the words of one flack, so square that it's hip. That's a matter of opinion. [Wired News]
Anniversary Day - On this day in 1945, Major General Alfred Jodl signed Germany's surrender in a little schoolhouse in Reims, France, ending World War II in Europe. Nine years later, the French grip on its colonial possessions in Asia was dealt a fatal blow with the crushing defeat at Dien Bien Phu. While the anniversary of Germany's surrender is passing quietly in Europe, the Vietnamese marked the 45th anniversary of their decisive victory with a colorful, patriotic celebration at the site of the old battlefield in the Vietnam highlands. To the stirring strains of martial music, medal-bedecked veterans of the battle, wearing their distinctive green pith helmets, paraded before thousands of cheering spectators. For Americans, Dien Bien Phu is of more than passing interest, for it was they who stepped into the void left by the French. [Wired News]
Another School Shooting - Two gunmen in black trenchcoats and wearing ski masks opened fire in a Littleton, Colorado high school Tuesday, wounding at least 16 students, according to first reports. SWAT teams, joined by more than 100 police officers, surrounded Columbine High School, where the gunmen are believed to be holding hostages. CNN reported that explosions and gunfire could be heard coming from inside shortly after the gunmen stormed the school around 11:30 a.m. local time. One of the victims, a girl, was reportedly shot nine times in the chest. No fatalities have been confirmed. [Wired News]
Another View - Ah, the Brits, lord love 'em. Never miss a chance to tweak their knuckle-dragging cousins across the Pond. British journalists took their most recent pot shot after watching with bemusement as Americans along the Eastern Seaboard panicked and fled in the face of Hurricane Floyd, which turned out to be a tempest in a teapot. The British press -- that bastion of restraint -- chided the US media for overreacting and stampeding the herd. "In evacuating 1 percent of its population, the most powerful nation in the world has demonstrated an astonishing ability to mobilize its people, even in a near-pointless cause," wrote Bronwen Maddox in The Times of London. "At the same time, the latest gun massacre shows America's inability to tackle one of the gravest threats to the lives of its citizens." [Wired News]
Apparent Suicide - The actor who played Todd, a character on the NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan, apparently hanged himself in a Las Vegas motel room. David Strickland's body was discovered by an employee of the Oasis Motel on Monday, hanging from a bedsheet strung from a beam. A chair and an empty six-pack of beer were nearby. Strickland, 28, joined the cast of Suddenly Susan three seasons ago. [Wired News]
Assassination in Paraguay - Gunmen shot Paraguay's vice president to death Tuesday as he entered his office in the capital of Asuncion, the Associated Press reported. The slaying of Luis Maria Argana, the country's former foreign minister under dictator Alfredo Stroessner, comes only a month after the Paraguayan congress began impeachment proceedings against President Raul Cubas. Paraguay, a dictatorship for 35 years, returned to democratic rule in 1989. Argana's killers fled after the shooting. [Wired News]
Assassins Foiled - A bomb shattered a bridge Sunday, killing four people shortly before Pakistan's prime minister was to cross it. A delayed trip saved the leader and his family from the assassination attempt. The explosion could be heard for miles around Raiwind, where Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lives. The government said the bombing, which also left three people wounded and two missing, was carried out by an ethnic party formerly allied with Sharif. [Wired News]
Assault by Air - The United States has Slobodan Milosevic surrounded. Not by ground troops -- which may ultimately be necessary to settle things in Yugoslavia -- but by radio transmitters, which the Americans are using to beam NATO's perspective on the fighting to the Serbs. Circling the country with FM transmitters makes it more difficult for Serbian authorities to jam the signal, even though the FM frequency is easier to disrupt than an AM signal. Serb speakers working for Radio Free Europe have been enlisted to broadcast to their countrymen in the hopes of undermining Milosevic's hold on Yugoslavia. The smart money says don't bet on it. [Wired News]
Atlanta Slayings - Police are still piecing together the details of Thursday's shootings in Atlanta, where Mark Barton, a day trader apparently sparked by stock market losses, went on a shooting rampage, killing nine people. He also bludgeoned to death his wife and two children, and had designs to kill several more victims before he was cornered by police and committed suicide. In-depth coverage from Lycos [Wired News]
Attacks Underway - NATO air strikes against Serbian military targets, which have been threatened for weeks, began Wednesday, President Clinton said in a national address. Clinton told the American people that the allies hope to achieve three main objectives through these operations: to deter further Yugoslav military action against the Kosovo Albanians, to demonstrate NATO's commitment to peace in the region, and to undermine the Serbian army's capacity to wage war. CNN correspondents on the scene in Belgrade and Pristina, Kosovo's capital, reported hearing heavy explosions and small-arms fire but could not confirm any damage. [Wired News]
Austrian Avalanche - Seven people are confirmed dead, 20 have been rescued, and the rest remain missing after an avalanche struck near the Austrian resort town of Galtuer Tuesday afternoon, burying 55 people. Rescue workers said that most of those saved were badly injured by the avalanche, which struck around 4 p.m. local time. Blizzard conditions prevailed, keeping the injured from being evacuated and additional rescuers from being flown in. With fatal avalanches on Monday and Tuesday, Austria joins the list of Alpine countries hit hard by avalanches during a very hard winter in Europe. [Wired News]
BBC Newscaster Slain - The Daily Mirror reports that a professional hitman may have murdered top BBC television personality Jill Dando, 37, who hosted a program that tracked down criminals. Police say the newscaster was killed by a single gunshot to the head outside her London home. Neighbors told police they saw a well-dressed man with a cellular phone fleeing the scene. Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was deeply shocked to hear the news, calling Dando "totally charming and hugely talented." There had been press reports last year that Dando was being harassed by a stalker. [Wired News]
Baby Boom - Reuters reports from Moscow that "a tipsy Russian priest accidentally set off a hand grenade after a weekend christening..." The explosion may have been unintentional, but it does leave some questions unresolved. Like what was a priest doing liquored up and waving around a hand grenade? The baby was unharmed in the "accident" but the priest and the baby's grandmother suffered some injuries. [Wired News]
Back to Berlin - A celebration tempered by the weight of history welcomed the German parliament home to Berlin Monday, a major step in returning the seat of government to the once and future capital. Legislators, led by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, entered a lavishly restored Reichstag building, unused by the German government since Adolf Hitler proclaimed the Third Reich in 1933. Schroeder assured his countrymen, many of whom opposed the restoration of Berlin as the national capital, that democracy remains strong in Germany and that its continuity will not be broken. An irony of Monday's move is that it coincides with Germany's participation with other NATO countries in the war against Yugoslavia, the first time German troops have attacked a sovereign nation since World War II. [Wired News]
Bad Apple - Parents often disapprove of failing grades. But when Dale Robinson saw his daughter's report card, he took matters into his own hands. Robinson was charged Wednesday with beating up his daughter's math teacher and breaking some of his teeth. Teacher Antonio Centeio had given Robinson's daughter a D-minus in math and a D in effort. Robinson, a self-described minister and youth counselor, pleaded innocent to assault and battery charges. School officials said it wasn't the first time that Robinson had visited the school. [Wired News]
Bad Dog - Police in the southwestern German town of Bad Urach ruled out both suicide and foul play in the shotgun death of a 51-year-old hunter, whose body was found alongside his car earlier this week. Left with no other scenario, the Polizei concluded that the man -- who was not identified in news reports -- must have been killed when his dog jumped onto the shotgun laying on the front passenger's seat, causing it to discharge. The NRA may want to amend its assertion that "guns don't kill people. People kill people." [Wired News]
Bad Vibes - What's approved for use -- even encouraged -- in China, but might result in a US$10,000 fine and serving some hard time in Alabama? A dildo, that's what. At least 14 states in the United States have passed laws banning the use of so-called marital aids. Now, four women are challenging the law in Alabama but according to a report on ABC.com, their chances of winning are slim. Sex toys have been banned for being both "obscene" and "harmful," although sex therapists dismiss the first as inane and the second as completely untrue. But with Georgia and Texas already having had their sex-toy bans upheld in court, it looks like a lot of long, lonely nights ahead for those Alabama ladies. [Wired News]
Bang for the Buck - The B-2 "stealth" bomber, heavily criticized for its costliness when unveiled as the eventual replacement for the B-52, made its combat debut in the skies over Yugoslavia Wednesday. A pair of B-2s took off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, refueled over the mid-Atlantic, and hit targets in Kosovo after being airborne for 15 hours. The plane's primary tactical advantage is that it's nearly impossible to detect by radar. It carries a payload of 16 2,000-pound bombs, which can be individually directed to selected targets. The B-2, built by Northrop Grumman Corp., is indeed costly: roughly US$2.2 billion each. Total cost for the projected 21-bomber fleet is estimated at $44 billion. [Wired News]
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