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SHIPS COLLIDE: A U.S. aircraft carrier collided with a support ship in the Persian Gulf Monday, damaging the smaller ship and injuring a member of the crew. Both ships were operating under their own power, but the support ship USS Sacramento was returning to port to evaluate the damage, the Navy said. A crew member aboard the Sacramento suffered slight injuries. The nuclear-powered carrier USS Abraham Lincoln entered the gulf through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday. The collision occurred Monday while the two ships were transferring parts and fuel.GREENPEACE PROTEST: Four Greenpeace activists in Italy unfurled a banner atop the bell tower in St. Mark's Square Monday to protest pollution in the Venetian lagoon. The en-vir-on-men-tal-ist group blames a nearby petrochemical plant for the high levels of dioxin and other pollutants in the waters surrounding Venice. The Italian government has allocated $6.2 million to clean up the pollution but is reluctant to close the plant at Porto Marghera. The protesters climbed up scaffolding on 323-foot tower, which is undergoing restoration.
Across the nation
CLINIC ALLEGATIONS: Doctors at a fertility clinic already under investigation for mishandling a patient's eggs face new allegations that they pocketed $967,000 in cash, The Orange County Register reported. Director Ricardo Asch and partners Drs. Jose P. Balmaceda and Sergio C. Stone have been placed on administrative leave from the University of California-Irvine Center for Reproductive Health. All have denied any wrongdoing. Last month, a patient accused Asch of taking three eggs from her and giving them to another woman, who had a baby about nine months later. The latest allegations stem from an April audit conducted by accountants hired by the university, the Register reported.
AIRLINE PROBED: Express One International, a passenger charter and commercial freight carrier in Dallas, has stopped service after being investigated for problems with its parts and maintenance program. "This is a terribly sad day. But there seems to be no economically viable alternative," airline president Kevin H. Good said Sunday in announcing the shutdown. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman John Clabes said the agency had asked the airline to consider grounding its aircraft until the entire 39-plane fleet of 727s and DC-9s could be checked. Good said a hasty decision to close was made because company officials believed the FAA was about to shut the airline down. Express One employs 1,200 people.
Other news
AN IDAHO university student won an $87.3 million Powerball jackpot - the fifth highest payoff in the game's history. Pam Hiatt, a 22-year-old junior at Boise State University, bought her winning ticket at a food store . . .A MODERATE EARTHQUAKE shook western Greece and some Ionian Sea islands Monday but no injuries or damage were reported . . . U.S. MARINES will hold joint exercises with Ukrainian marines in the Black Sea next month, a Ukrainian navy spokesman said Monday . . . SOMALI MILITIA LEADER Mohamed Farah Aideed said Monday that the day his supporters killed 24 U.N. troops two years ago "would be remembered and celebrated by future generations."