5 U.S. soldiers die in helicopter crash

5 U.S. soldiers diein helicopter crash
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- A U.S. military helicopter crashed in central Honduras, the U.S. military said, and radio quoted local police as saying that all five U.S. soldiers aboard were killed.
The American Black Hawk helicopter from Soto Cano Air Base in Palmerola crashed about 8:55 p.m. Wednesday while on routine training, said Lt. Col. Bill Costello, a spokesman for U.S. Southern Command in Florida.
"Right now we are classifying it as a training accident," Costello said. "It is being investigated."
Five crew members were aboard and have not been found, he said.
But Arnold Espinal Guti & eacute;rrez, a Honduran police spokesman near the site of the crash, told Radio HRN today the "the bodies of all the helicopter's occupants were recovered earlier this morning. All of them are U.S. military personnel."
Espinal said the cause of the crash was not determined, but that there had been heavy rains in the area over the past three days.
Honduran and U.S. soldiers participated in the rescue operations, which lasted 10 hours, he said, adding that the helicopter was destroyed.
Storm leaves thousandswithout electricity
BALTIMORE -- Thousands of homes and businesses remained without power early today after the second mid-Atlantic ice storm in a week pulled down tree limbs and power lines.
Freezing rain and slush coated roads from Virginia north into New Jersey and westward into parts of the Ohio Valley. However, the National Weather Service canceled most winter weather and storm advisories as warmer air moved northward.
Secondary roads were slippery across western Maryland, where ice was up to a half-inch thick in places.
"Most people are staying home," Maryland State Police Cpl. David Paskowski said Wednesday.
In North Carolina, Duke Power said Wednesday it still had 127,000 customers without power because of last week's ice storm, down from a peak of nearly 1.3 million. The company said it hoped to have all customers back on line by Saturday.
In western Maryland, nearly 26,000 Allegheny Energy customers were without power early today. While most would have power restored by late today, some would be without electricity until Saturday, an Allegheny spokeswoman said.
Justice speaks outon cross-burning issue
WASHINGTON -- Normally stoic and silent during arguments, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas found his voice Wednesday, condemning cross burning as a symbol of oppression during "100 years of lynching" in the South by the Ku Klux Klan.
The subject also evoked strong emotions from his white colleagues, who joined in expressing concern about violence and racism during arguments in the second cross-burning case to reach the Supreme Court in a decade.
Justices are considering how far states may go to discourage the Klan and others from burning crosses, a provocative practice rooted in racial hatred but still given some free-speech protections. At issue is the constitutionality of a 50-year-old Virginia law that bans cross burning.
The Supreme Court historically has been protective of First Amendment rights of the most controversial of groups, including burners of the American flag, adult entertainers and even cross burners.
Thomas, who was raised in segregated Georgia, said burning crosses were "intended to cause fear and terrorize a population."
Suspects in poisonings
BEIJING -- Chinese police have arrested two men on charges they put rat poison in school cafeteria food, sickening 193 students and teachers, a police officer said.
No deaths were reported in the Nov. 11 poisoning in the central Chinese city of Changde. It added to a string of mass poisonings, many of them blamed on people with grudges or business disputes.
He Zhaohai and Tang Bixin are accused of adding a strong rat poison to breakfasts served at the No. 1 High School in Changde, said a police officer contacted there. He would give only his surname, Liu.
The men, who are cousins, were feuding with the school over their catering contract and had hoped to coerce administrators into raising their fee, Liu said.
Also in Changde, a 14-year-old high school student was arrested on charges of putting poison in food at a restaurant, Liu said. He said several people were sickened but wouldn't give details, citing the suspect's age.
A government newspaper, China Daily, said the boy wanted revenge against a classmate who owed him money.
Associated Press