Explosion damages school in Netherlands

Explosion damagesschool in Netherlands
THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- A suspected bomb blew the front door off a Muslim elementary school in a southern Dutch town today, days after a suspected Muslim radical allegedly killed a Dutch filmmaker, police said. No injuries were reported.
Television news footage showed the burned-out entrance of the school, which was empty at the time of the 3:30 a.m. attack. Windows across the street were shattered.
Police suspected it was related to the brutal murder last week of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a suspected Islamic radical, said spokesman Cees Dekkers in Eindhoven, about 75 miles south of the Dutch capital Amsterdam.
The school sustained substantial damage inside, he said.
The Tarieq Ibnu Zyad Islamic school, said to have links with a mosque that has allegedly been a gathering place for radicals, also suffered a minor attack a year ago. Dekkers said police had visited Islamic schools in the city but had not decided on additional security measures.
Eindhoven Mayor Alexander Sakkers was meeting later with parents of students. "It is essential that we stick together," he told journalists. "One single person who pulls off such an idiot act ... should not have the result that our society goes to pot in this way."
Attorneys seek morefreedom for Hinckley
WASHINGTON -- A federal judge is considering whether to allow more freedom for John Hinckley Jr., who has lived at a psychiatric hospital since trying to assassinate President Reagan in 1981.
His attorneys are asking a federal judge today to allow five-day, unsupervised visits every two weeks at his parents' home in Virginia. Since late last year, Hinckley has been allowed shorter visits with them, and now his lawyers say he is ready for longer trips.
Government attorneys oppose the request, saying these trips are not appropriate. In court filings, they reminded the judge that in trying to kill Reagan -- an attempt to impress actress Jodie Foster -- Hinckley shot three other people, including James Brady, who was permanently disabled and has had to use a wheelchair ever since.
Hinckley has lived at St. Elizabeth's hospital in Washington since he was acquitted of the shootings in 1982 by reason of insanity.
Since then, experts have determined that he has made substantial progress, and his attorneys told the court he has proven that he poses no danger to himself or others.
Earthquake hits Japan
TOKYO -- A strong earthquake rocked northern Japan today near the area where the country's deadliest quake in a decade struck last month. At least eight people were injured.
The 5.9-magnitude quake, which hit at 11:16 a.m., was centered close to the earth's surface in the Chuetsu area of Niigata state, the Meteorological Agency said. It was considered an aftershock to the 6.8-magnitude tremor that hit Oct. 23, the agency said.
After the quake, service on a high-speed train line between Tokyo and Niigata was suspended for safety checks. One train derailed last month when the initial quake struck almost directly under its tracks.
Television footage from Niigata showed swaying power lines and ceiling lamps. Three weaker tremors of magnitudes 5.0, 4.5, and 4.2 struck in rapid succession in the half hour following the initial aftershock, the Meteorological Agency said.
There was no danger of a tsunami, or ocean waves triggered by seismic activity, it said.
Peterson murder trial
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- No unfiltered TV. No Internet. No visitors.
After a weekend without the creature comforts of home, sequestered jurors in Scott Peterson's murder trial were set to resume deliberations today for a third full day.
Jurors were monitored throughout the weekend in an area hotel where they could only watch sports and movies on television, and could use a computer without access to the Internet. They were forbidden from discussing the case.
Judge Alfred A. Delucchi has decided to allow them to deliberate only Monday through Friday. Twenty-one bailiffs have been sworn in to watch over them throughout the process.
Peterson is charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of his wife, Laci, and the fetus she carried. Prosecutors claim Peterson killed Laci around Dec. 24, 2002, then sunk her weighted body in the bay.
The remains of Laci and the fetus were discovered a few miles from where Peterson claims to have gone fishing alone the day his wife vanished. Defense lawyers claim someone else abducted Laci while she walked the couple's dog and killed her, then framed her husband.
Associated Press