Around the world
COUP IS HISTORY: A week-old military coup ended on the African islands of Sao Tome and Principe on Tuesday when rebel soldiers signed an accord to restore the democratically elected government in exchange for an amnesty. Parliament President Fernando Pires and coup leader Lt. Manuel Quintas de Almeida signed the accord restoring "democratic order."
REFORM SCHOOL FIRE: Police in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday charged 16 young women with arson and murder for setting fire to their reform school during an escape attempt, killing 37 people and injuring 16. A school official faced negligence charges for allegedly failing to unlock the school's doors quickly. Police said the girls piled up blankets in several rooms of their two-story dormitory and set them on fire early Monday to create confusion while they escaped. Instead, 37 women died before the doors were opened.
Across the nation
BOMBING TRIAL: The judge assigned to the federal building bombing case wants lawyers to figure out ways to avoid sequestering jurors during the trial. "Use your imagination," U.S. District Judge Wayne Alley said in an order released Monday. He also told prosecutors and lawyers for Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols to submit questions for potential jurors in two parts - questions to be used only if the trial is held in Oklahoma City, and questions needed wherever the trial might be held. Attorneys for McVeigh and Nichols want a change of venue, maintaining neither defendant could get a fair trial in Oklahoma City, where the April 19 bombing killed 168 people.
UPHELD: A New Jersey appeals court has upheld a five-day jail sentence for a man who scribbled a reference to O.J. Simpson on child-support checks to his estranged wife. Superior Court Judge Helen Hoens concluded last year that the letters "O.J." on the memo line of two child-support checks were written by Glenn Ettman and were sufficient to be seen as a threat to his wife, Frances Ettman. Hoens concluded that the initials violated a court order for Ettman to refrain from threatening his wife, and sentenced him to five days in jail, one year on probation and a $250 fine.