10 Palestinians killed in Gaza refugee camp

10 Palestinians killedin Gaza refugee camp
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopters hunted a fugitive militant in a crowded refugee camp in the Gaza Strip early today, setting off chaotic gunbattles that killed 10 Palestinians.
Men called through mosque loudspeakers for people to come out and battle the Israeli soldiers, who entered the Bureij Camp just after midnight.
Fighters poured into the dark streets, and gunbattles raged for three hours.
It was unclear how many of the dead were fighters.
The military said a helicopter fired a missile into a street, killing five armed men from the violent Islamic Hamas movement.
The camp's mayor, Kamal Baghdadi, had originally said a tank shell had hit a building, killing seven people.
Ahmed Rabah, a doctor at the Al-Aqsa hospital in the nearby village of Deir el Balah, said nine people were killed and 11 were wounded. Rabah did not identify the casualties.
An official at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said a tenth person, a woman, died of injuries.
Clergy abuse scandal
BOSTON -- Newly released files containing allegations that a priest fathered at least two children has led to renewed criticism against the Boston Archdiocese, including calls for the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law.
The outrage stems from handwritten notes in the Rev. James D. Foley's personnel file, which was among 11,000 documents handed over by the archdiocese to attorneys representing dozens of alleged victims of sex abuse in the Roman Catholic church.
The notes indicate that Foley allegedly fathered at least two children in the 1960s. The papers also say that when the mother of the children collapsed from an apparent drug overdose, Foley got dressed, left and returned an undetermined time later before calling 911.
The woman later died, but it is not clear if it was a result of the overdose. Police in Needham, where the documents indicate the woman lived, said they have no record of it. The state attorney general's office was also examining the documents.
Families express anger,frustration over case
NEW YORK -- Families of the defendants in the Central Park jogger case accused authorities of railroading the five youths in a rush to judgment.
"These young men all spent years of their lives in prison because police made a predetermination about their guilt," defense attorney Eric Seiff said Thursday after District Attorney Robert Morgenthau asked a judge to toss out the convictions in the notorious 1989 case.
Defendant Antron McCray hopes to restore his reputation and move on with his life, said his mother, Linda.
"I was never ashamed of my son -- never -- because I always knew he was innocent," she said.
Deloris Wise, mother of defendant Kharey Wise, said her son entered prison as a confused young man and left bitter and broken. She wept as she said he "doesn't even realize what's going on today."
Defense attorneys have contended videotaped confessions by four of the five men were coerced. They also accused police of ignoring or withholding information about another rape in the park committed by a man who has confessed to the jogger attack.
"There is clearly wrongdoing on the part of the police officers in this case," defense attorney Michael Warren said at a rally outside court.
Small plane crashesinto bank in Miami
MIAMI -- Federal Reserve Bank officials were celebrating the holidays when a small experimental plane slammed into the sprawling building, crashing in a heap of smoke and fire.
The pilot of the Four Winds 192 died when the plane hit the northeast side of the bank Thursday and exploded. No one inside the one-story, 280,000-square-foot building was injured.
"When we first came out of and walked around the side, it was really hard to determine that it was a plane," said Jay Curry, the bank's vice president and branch manager, who went to investigate with security officials.
"There wasn't much to view except the smoke and fire."
Authorities don't believe the crash was deliberate.
"It appears to be an accident," said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown in Washington.
The building, which also houses the Miami bureau of The Associated Press, had some broken windows but no structural damage.
The pilot was the only one aboard the plane when it left Marathon for the return trip to New Smyrna Beach on Thursday night.
Associated Press