Around the world
PRIZE: Despite U.S. opposition, Spain plans to give its top journalism prize to a newspaper report on claims that Latin American children were being killed for organ transplants in the United States and Europe. King Juan Carlos is to award the prize Monday to Brazil's Correio Brasilense newspaper for its 1995 story on alleged trafficking in the organs of murdered children. U.S. officials said the allegation is untrue and has been repeatedly debunked since it began circulating in 1987. And the Spanish government was given material disproving the story, including a United Nations report. "It is difficult to understand how the government of a modern, Western country with adequate experts at its disposal decided to become associated with this series of articles, which contain false information," Brian Carlson, a diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, said Saturday.SENTENCE: Peru's military's highest court Friday upheld the sentence of life in prison without parole for an American woman convicted of aiding leftist guerrillas. Lori Berenson, 26, was convicted of treason Jan. 11 for helping rebels in a foiled plot to kidnap congressional representatives. Berenson's family and the U.S. State Department have objected to Berenson's trial in a secret military court. They said she should have been tried in an open civilian court.
SUICIDES: A chain of suicides by French police officers has prompted calls for counseling to help police cope with job stress. A policeman found hanged in his garage on Saturday is thought to be the 14th suicide among French police officers this year. Four policemen have committed suicide in the past two weeks alone.
Across the nation
LAWSUIT: Two black detectives are suing Motel 6 for alleged racial discrimination because they were told there were no rooms available, then a white woman got a room 30 minutes later. The Punta Gorda motel in Fort Myers, Fla., says it was understaffed and all the rooms had not been cleaned on March 2, 1994, when Janet Jackson and Delois Evans first came in. When they returned later, the motel says all the rooms had been taken.
CRASH: The Navy searched waters off Puerto Rico on Saturday for two pilots whose plane crashed during a routine exercise. The S-3 Viking plane piloted by Lt. Thomas P. Wilcox III, and Lt. Donald R. Cioffi crashed shortly after takeoff from the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis on Friday night, naval officials said. "The plane was launched successfully, there seems to be no particular cause," said Cmdr. Kevin Wensing of the Naval Airforce Atlantic Fleet, in Norfolk, Va.
RECALL: Veryfine Products Inc. recalled four flavors of its Apple Quenchers juices on Friday, saying a pasteurization problem at the plant left traces of mold in some 46-ounce jugs. Veryfine has received 18 complaints from consumers who found bits of mold in the bottles, but there have been no illnesses reported, said company spokeswoman Jane Gapinski. The recall covers only the large 46-ounce bottles of Apple Raspberry Cherry, Apple Strawberry Banana, Apple Peach Plum and Apple Pear Passionfruit flavors.