Israelis kill girl, Palestinians say

Israelis kill girl,Palestinians say
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israeli tanks entered the town of Deir al-Balah in Gaza early today, surrounding the house of an Islamic Jihad activist, and an 11-year-old Palestinian girl was killed earlier, Palestinians said.
The Israeli military had no comment on an entry into Deir al-Balah. Incursions into Palestinian areas in Gaza take place almost every night, as Israeli forces destroy houses belonging to suspected militants. Israeli officials have said the policy acts as a deterrent, but Palestinians and human rights groups complain that innocent relatives of militants are made to suffer.
On Thursday, an 11-year-old Palestinian girl was killed in the town of Rafah on the Gaza-Egypt border.
Palestinians said she was killed by Israeli gunfire, but the Israeli military said it did not know about a girl being killed.
The area is the scene of frequent exchanges of fire.
Israel Radio said the girl was apparently hit by a stray bullet.
In the West Bank on Thursday, Israeli soldiers dragged about 200 Jewish settlers through rain and mud, dismantling a makeshift settlement in the city of Hebron, as candidates debated the future of settlements in advance of Israel's elections.
Lab identifies remainsof patrol plane crew
HONOLULU -- The remains of all nine crew members aboard a U.S. Navy patrol plane that crashed in Laos during the Vietnam War have been identified, the Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii, announced Thursday.
The OP-2E Neptune crashed into the cloud-covered face of Phou Louang Mountain on Jan. 11, 1968, according to officials at Honolulu-based Joint Task Force-Full Accounting.
The crew was on a mission to drop sensors along the jungle floor to detect enemy troop movements and conversations.
Excavations began in 1996 after the crash site was located near the mile-high mountain summit, and the work was completed last February, the officials said.
Since 1973, the remains of 750 American service members formerly listed as missing or unaccounted for in Southeast Asia have been identified.
There are currently 1,891 Americans still missing or unaccounted for.
Mother Teresa's miracle
VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II brought Mother Teresa closer to sainthood today when he approved a miracle attributed to the nun who dedicated her life to the poor.
The Vatican said the nun's work in the past century had made her a "world emblem of Christian charity" and that a "vast movement" in support of society's most marginalized was inspired by her example
The miracle allows a beatification ceremony, scheduled for Oct. 19 in Rome, her order said. A second miracle would make Mother Teresa eligible for sainthood.
At Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity house in Calcutta, India, nuns celebrated by passing out candies to nearly 100 orphans.
"The mood is joyous. It's great news for us," Sister Priscilla said. "This is something very special, not only to India, but to the whole world."
As a sign of admiration for Mother Teresa's dedication to the destitute, the pope waived the customary five-year waiting period to begin procedures that can lead to canonization. Mother Teresa died in 1997 at the age of 87.
The miracle attributed to her involves a young Indian woman with a stomach tumor who recovered after a picture of Mother Teresa was placed on her abdomen.
Court finds billionaireguilty of insider trading
PARIS -- A French court today convicted billionaire investor George Soros of insider trading and fined him $2.2 million.
The fine by the court is the same amount the Hungarian-born magnate was accused of having made from buying stocks at French bank Societe Generale with insider knowledge 14 years ago.
The fine was in line with the request by prosecutors.
Soros, 72, the president of Soros Fund Management, denies having privileged information.
He was not in court today.
In court testimony in November, Soros said: "I have been in business all my life, and I think I know what is insider trading and what isn't."
Societe Generale was privatized in 1987.
A year later, its stock price went up during an unsuccessful takeover bid.
Soros was accused of having obtained insider information before the abortive corporate raid pushed up the stock price.
Soros went on trial with two other men, Jean-Charles Naouri, former top aide to France's then-Finance Minister Pierre Beregovoy, and Lebanese businessman Samir Traboulsi.
Associated Press