Around the world
VIOLENCE: A protest against the expansion of a Jewish settlement on the West Bank turned violent Friday, in a scene more reminiscent of the Palestinian uprising than the era of Palestinian-Israeli peace. Up to 11 Palestinians, one Israeli peace activist and six Israeli soldiers were injured during exchanges of tear gas and rocks, according to the army and Palestinian medical workers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The clash oc-curred on the ninth day of protests over plans by the Jewish settlement of Efrat to expand onto land claimed by the Palestinian village of Al-Khader.KIDNAPPING: Even as Khmer Rouge soldiers and supporters continue to defect by the hundreds, the guerrilla group has continued its tactic of kidnapping civilians, a Cambodian government report said Friday. Ten civilians were kidnapped last weekend in Banteay Srey district, 12 miles northeast of the famous Angkor Wat temple complex in the northwestern province of Siem Reap, a senior provincial official said. Their location and conditions are unknown, said the provincial official. More than 1,000 people have reportedly been abducted by the Khmer Rouge in Siem Reap in recent months.
DRUG RAIDS: Colombian police arrested 150 people and seized 25 airplanes throughout Colombia on Friday in a surprise operation aimed at combating drug trafficking, the national police announced. The raids, dubbed "Operation Swallow," were carried out at airports in the capital, Bogota, and other cities by the national police. About 7,000 officers were involved. The 25 planes were seized because they did not have proper registration.
DROUGHT: The drought gripping the Australian state of New South Wales has worsened dramatically, with an unprecedented 98 percent of the state drought-stricken, the government said Saturday in Sydney. Experts and historians now say this is the worst drought in the history of New South Wales. Ian Armstrong, the acting state premier, said Saturday the drought had cost the state more than $1.5 billion in lost production.
Across the nation
THREATS: The inmate accused of killing Jeffrey Dahmer attacked prisoners and staffers, slashed his own wrists and made death threats, according to prison records released Friday in Milwaukee. "I could snap your neck. I could kill you," Christopher Scarver told a guard in August 1993, the records show. "Do you understand I could snap your neck and kill you? Check my record and see what I do when I don't like someone." Scarver, 25, is charged with killing Dahmer and inmate Jesse Anderson on Nov. 28, at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage. Authorities say Scarver used a metal bar from a prison exercise machine to beat them to death.
DEAD: Collie Leroy Wilkins Jr., a Ku Klux Klansman convicted in one of the most infamous slayings of the civil rights era, died in Birmingham, Ala., at 51. Wilkins died Dec. 23, and was buried Tuesday, his family said. The cause of death was not disclosed. Wilkins was the last survivor of three Klansmen accused in the 1965 shooting death of Viola Liuzzo, a white Detroit housewife and mother who went South and volunteered to help register blacks to vote. An all-white state jury acquitted Wilkins in 1965 of murder. Later that year, Wilkins was convicted in federal court along with William Orville Eaton and Eugene Thomas of violating Liuzzo's civil rights. Wilkins served about seven years of a 10-year sentence.
CRASH: An Amtrak passenger train traveling 70 mph crashed into a car at a Hanford, Calif., railroad crossing Friday, killing three people in the car. No one on the train was injured and the train did not derail in the 6:50 a.m. accident, said Cliff Black, an Amtrak spokesman in Washington. Investigators said the car's driver tried to go around the crossing arms, which were lowered. The train struck the car broadside, they said.
In Washington
VOYAGE: Defense Secretary William Perry leaves Washington next week to visit Egypt, Israel, Pakistan and India, the Defense Department announced Friday. "Perry will leave next Friday and return to Washington Saturday, Jan. 14," it said. "The purpose of the trip is to enhance U.S. military relationships," the Pentagon said in a brief statement. "Secretary Perry will meet with senior officials in each country."
JOINING FIRM: Former Senate Democratic Leader George Mitchell, who last April turned down an opportunity to become a Supreme Court justice, is joining a Washington law firm, the firm said Friday. Mitchell, who retired from his Maine Senate seat, is to join the firm of Verner Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand as special counsel on Jan. 9, the firm said. The firm does lobbying and litigation and represents a wide range of companies, trade associations, not-for-profit organizations and public bodies.
Other news
A BRITISH WOMAN, setting out to prove that you're never too old to learn, has enrolled at her local college at the age of 106. Retired caretaker Tabitha Barker will take a course in reminiscence at Farnborough College of Technology in southern England. The course encourages students to think of themselves as a living part of history. . . . COCA-COLA CO. won an injunction Friday requiring Polar Corp., a 112-year-old, family-run, soft drink business, to revise an ad that shows a polar bear tossing a Coke can into a trash bin. Atlanta-based Coca-Cola filed a motion for the injunction against Polar of Worcester, Mass., in U.S. District Court in Boston Thursday, saying the commercial made Coke's product appear impure. . . . A LEOPARD attacked a Scottsbluff, Neb., zoo employee in its cage. Judy McAuliffe, 26, was in stable condition Friday after surgery to repair her windpipe. She also suffered injuries to her face and chest.