Around the world
CRASH KILLS 55: A jetliner that crashed in eastern Turkey, killing 55 people, stirred controversy because of reports the pilot insisted on landing despite a snowstorm that drastically cut visibility. The Turkish Airlines Boeing 737 crashed on Thursday afternoon just two miles from the airport at Van, about 50 miles from the Iranian border. The death toll increased to 55 Friday when one of the injured passengers died in a hospital, the state radio said. The report said 18 survivors remained hospitalized, while the three others were discharged.CHINA QUAKE: An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.7 hit southwest China's Sichuan province today but caused no deaths, the Central Seismology Bureau said. The earthquake struck at 2:58 a.m., and 52 aftershocks were registered by 11 a.m., with one of magnitude 4 and one of magnitude 5, said Xu Wei at the seismology bureau. He said about 100 people were injured, but no one died.
Across the nation
SENTENCED: A man infected with the AIDS virus was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping an 8-year-old boy. Zachary Halsell, 29, pleaded guilty Thursday in Dallas to attempted murder, intentional exposure to AIDS, aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child in exchange for the 10-year sentence. If convicted on all charges, he could have faced life in prison. The boy has so far tested negative for the human immunodeficiency virus, his mother said.
LAWYER ACCUSED: The lawyer for a Chicago couple convicted of leaving their children alone at home while they vacationed in Mexico is accused of unethical behavior for trying to get them to turn over the rights to their story. Gerard C. Kepple, 47, declined to comment Thursday on the complaint filed last week. The state commission that regulates lawyers accused Kepple of violating standards of professional conduct by trying to persuade his clients, David and Sharon Schoo, to sign the rights to their story over to him and two other lawyers. They declined. The couple pleaded guilty to child neglect and was sentenced to probation. The children are being adopted by another family and the couple has separated.