Around the world
RETALIATION: Muslim extremists killed one policeman and wounded another and threw a firebomb at a police patrol Thursday in Cairo, Egypt, retaliating for the government's bloodiest crackdown on militants in a decade. Shootouts triggered by police sweeps Tuesday night and Wednesday killed 14 extremists, a militant's wife and her baby and four police officers.
FIGHTING: Violent clashes in the Afghan capital of Kabul left another 30 people dead, including a high-ranking defense official, as government and rebel Mujahedin leaders tried to hammer out a cease-fire that would salvage the country's newly signed peace accord.
ATTACK: Raking houseboats with automatic rifle fire, unidentified attackers killed 33 people in an ethnic Vietnamese fishing village in northwestern Cambodia, a U.N. spokesman said Thursday.
Across the nation
NO CONTEST: A judge who helped create California's drunken driving law pleaded no contest to a lesser charge, averting his third trial in a drunken driving case. Municipal Court Judge Edward Davenport, 64, on Wednesday pleaded no contest in Santa Monica to reckless driving. He got a suspended 30-day jail sentence, one year's probation and a $400 fine.
BOY DIES: Authorities Thursday considered criminal charges against the Christian Scientist parents of a 12-year-old boy who lapsed into a diabetic coma and died in St. Charles, Mo. Medical Examiner Mary Case Wednesday ruled the Dec. 31 death of Aaron Witt of St. Charles a homicide because the child's parents never sought medical help.
BURGLARIES: A man who installs electronic garage door openers is suspected of breaking into locked garage doors on the homes where he installed the openers in Waukesha, Wis. Manford Frye, 32, appeared in Circuit Court Wednesday on a burglary charge.
POISONED: Four family members died of carbon monoxide poisoning at their home in Greeley, Colo., and two surviving boys were critically injured, police said Thursday. The source of the gas was not immediately identified.
In Washington
PEACE TALKS: Secretary of State Warren Christopher announced that Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians had been invited back to Washington April 20 for the ninth round of Middle East peace talks. Israel accepted the invitation, but the Arabs delayed acting on it until a meeting on March 25. Christopher also announced resumption of the broader multi-lateral talks that complement face-to-face negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, Jordanians, Syrians and Lebanese.
THREAT EASES: The Environmental Defense Fund says more than half the animal species placed on the first endangered species list 26 years ago are doing better now. Of the 78 species listed by the government as in danger of extinction in 1967, 44 are either stable or increasing in numbers, the group said Wednesday.