Red Cross: Hundreds of civilians killed in fighting

Red Cross: Hundreds of
civilians killed in fighting

N’DJAMENA, Chad — Hundreds of civilians have died in fierce fighting between rebels and government forces in Chad’s capital, Red Cross officials said Tuesday, as the insurgents agreed to a cease-fire and their momentum faded. Former colonial power France threatened to enter the fight to support the government.

Chad’s government told the French military it still was fighting rebels using “air power” outside of N’Djamena, the capital, according to French military spokesman Cmdr. Christophe Prazuck.

Chief rebel leader Mahamat Nouri charged that they were being bombarded by French Mirage jets — but France said it had not yet gone on the attack. French intervention in the past helped stave off a major rebel attack in this oil-rich country on President Idriss Deby, accused by the insurgents of corruption and embezzling millions in oil revenue.

8 Hamas militants killed

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel killed eight Hamas militants Tuesday, firing missiles into the sandy courtyard of a Hamas police station as the Islamic militant group claimed responsibility for a bold strike inside Israel, the first suicide mission in more than a year.

The latest round of violence followed two weeks of anarchy on the Gaza-Egypt border that has heightened Israeli concerns that Islamic militants could use the chaos to infiltrate into Israel to carry out attacks.

The last three weeks have seen a succession of violent events — starting with a Hamas rocket barrage on Israel, then a tightened Israeli economic blockade of the territory, and finally a Hamas-engineered border breach with Egypt on Jan. 23 that enabled thousands of Gazans to break out.

Israeli security chiefs had warned that Palestinian militants used the breach to slip out of Gaza and sought to make their way from Egypt through the porous 150-mile stretch of mostly unsecured Sinai desert that borders Israel.

Tornadoes hit three states

ATKINS, Ark. — Tornadoes tore across Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi on Tuesday, killing at least three people and injuring several others in a rare midwinter outbreak of violent weather.

A couple and a child were killed in Atkins, the Pope County Sheriff’s Office said.

Emergency crews went door to door seeking possible victims, authorities said. Power lines blocked traffic to the community of 3,000 along the Arkansas River in the central part of the state.

At least six tornadoes touched down between Oxford, Miss., and Jackson, Tenn., said Richard Okulski of the National Weather Service in Memphis.

NASA clears shuttle
for Thursday launch

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA has cleared the shuttle Atlantis for liftoff this week on a long-delayed mission to deliver a European science lab to the international space station.

Space agency officials said Tuesday they are confident they’ve solved mechanical problems that have dogged the mission since December. However, weather prospects for Thursday afternoon’s launch are poor: a forecast for rain offers just a 40 percent chance of favorable conditions.

Launch director Doug Lyons said the countdown was going well, and “we’re hoping it will stay that way.”

“We’re all thinking that Thursday’s the day regardless of what the weather guy might tell you,” he said.

‘General Hospital’ actress
Shell Kepler dies at 49

PORTLAND, Ore. — Actress Shell Kepler, who for years played the gossipy nurse Amy Vining on the TV soap opera “General Hospital,” has died. She was 49.

Kepler died Friday at Oregon Health & Science University hospital, which did not give the cause of death.

Kepler’s busybody character on “General Hospital” was a fan favorite and enjoyed a long run, 1979-2002.

In addition to her run on “General Hospital,” she was also in a 1982 Joan Collins film, “Homework,” and a couple of episodes of the situation comedy “Three’s Company.”

On the side, she was a businesswoman, marketing clothing on the former Home Shopping Club. She said in a 1994 Associated Press interview that her “Lacy Afternoon” collection had sales topping $20 million that year alone.

Kepler was born in Ohio, and the family moved to California when she was 10. She recalled in 1994 that she didn’t yet have a driver’s license when she began trying out for film roles.

Associated Press