Around the world
EDITOR SLAIN: The editor-in-chief of one of Algeria's most authoritative newspapers was shot to death in an attack Tuesday that was attributed to Muslim extremists, police sources reported in Algiers. Omar Ouartilan, 36, edited the privately owned, independent daily El Khabar. He was the 54th journalist to be killed in Algeria's 3-year Islamic insurgency by extremist groups trying to topple the military-installed government and install strict Islamic rule. Muslim extremists accuse journalists of collaborating with the government, and the ultraradical Armed Islamic Group regularly issues death threats against members of the media.BAD HARVEST: Devastated by drought, Russia's grain harvest for 1995 will be the worst in 30 years, Agriculture Minister Alexander Nazarchuk said in Moscow. Nazarchuk said the harvest probably will total only 71.5 to 72.6 million short tons, down 19 percent from 89.4 million short tons last year. Overall, Nazar-chuk said Tuesday, agricultural production fell 10 percent from 1994. Russia already has threshed 66 million tons of grain this year, he said. Nazarchuk said Russia probably will both import and export grain this year, depending on regional market conditions. Domestic prices already are even with world market levels, he noted.
CAPTIVE: Four Western tourists, including an American, held hostage in India's troubled Kashmir region entered their fourth month of captivity Wednesday with no sign of freedom in sight. Indian authorities said they were still hoping to renew talks with Al-Faran, the Muslim separatist group holding the Westerners, even though there has been no contact since negotiations were broken off on Sept. 19. "We are displaying our patience," said a government spokesman. "There has been no sign of a renewal of talks."
Across the nation
CLOSING IN? FBI agents seeking the Unabomber have asked for the transcripts of a handful of former students at three Chicago-area high schools, the Chicago Tribune reported Wednes-day. The FBI blames the Una-bomber for three deaths and 23 injuries in 16 package-bomb attacks since 1978, starting in the Chicago area. The FBI believes the Unabomber, who was so named because his first targets were connected with universities, may have attended high school in the north suburban Niles Township district in the 1970s. "We hope we're finally in the right area," said FBI spokesman Bob Long. "For reasons I cannot disclose, the tips we've gotten have led us to believe that Niles would be a productive area. But until we catch the guy, we won't know."
MOTOR VOTER: Virginia will comply with a judge's order and implement the federal "motor voter" law in time for next year's presidential election, the governor says. Gov. George Allen had charged in a lawsuit that the National Voter Registration Act, which requires states to register voters at motor vehicle and social services offices and by mail, is an unconstitutional federal mandate. But after a 90-minute hearing in Richmond on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Richard Williams upheld the act and set a March deadline for the state to comply.
ABUSER: A mother in McMinnville, Tenn., was acquitted of murder but convicted of abusing her two toddlers, who died after she left them in a sweltering car while she drank in her boyfriend's motel room. Jennie Bain Ducker faces 15 to 25 years in prison for each of two counts of aggravated child abuse in the deaths of her sons, Devin, 2, and Dustin, 1. She was to be sentenced Nov. 9. "I think she wants punishment. She feels very guilty," said her attorney, Mike Galligan. "It's her parents that are hurting. They've lost two grandchildren and a daughter."
In other news
SEARCHERS on Wednesday found some wreckage from a Navy helicopter that crashed 40 to 60 miles off the coast of Cape Henry, Va., on Tuesday but are still trying to find its four-member crew. . . . A WOMAN was arrested in Albuquerque after her 11-month-old daughter died of a heart attack that may have been caused by crack cocaine fed to her by her 2-year-old brother.