Around the world
KANTOR: First in public, then in private, U.S. Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor paid tribute Thursday to his predecessor, Ron Brown, who died in a plane crash trying to land at the airport in Dubrovnik, Croatia. "Ron Brown and his colleagues gave their lives in the name of peace, in pursuing the hope . . . in the power of economic revival," Kantor said after landing in Dubrovnik at the airport where new navigation equipment was installed after the fatal crash.CHECHNYA: A top Russian commander was killed Thursday when his armored truck hit a land mine in Chechnya, where Russian forces pushed ahead with air and artillery attacks on towns controlled by separatist rebels. Maj. Gen. Nikolai Skripnik, 52, deputy commander of the North Cau-ca-sus military district, was killed outside Gekhi, site of the fiercest fighting, the military said. Several others in his armored personnel carrier were reported wounded.
Across the nation
VIPERS: Six Viper Militia members accused of making bombs could be released pending trial if they agree to end their militia activities and refrain from using firearms. Under conditions set out in Magistrate Barry Silverman's order Wednesday in Phoenix, the six also must remain at home, report daily to the court and be released to a responsible third party.
KEVORKIAN: A woman with multiple sclerosis who committed suicide with Dr. Jack Kevorkian's help was "in far, far better shape" than his other MS patients even though she complained about excruciating pain, a medical examiner said. Rebecca Badger, who Tuesday became the 33rd person to die in Kevorkian's presence since 1990, said two days earlier that she was ready to die. However, the medical examiner said Thursday that the internal effects of MS, in Badger's case, were at a stage that would have caused a "pins-and-needles type sensation," not severe pain.
RHINOS: He's 5-foot tall, weighs 4,500 pounds and is the only guy she knows, but a teenage rare white rhinoceros still won't mate with her half-brother. So Pittsburgh Zoo officials are sending her - and the rejected male - all the way to China to find suitable partners. They'll be returned to Pittsburgh after they've produced offspring.
MIR: Astronaut Shannon Lucid isn't worried about extending her five-month stay in space. After all, she brought along plenty of books to read. Lucid spoke from the Russian space station Mir Thursday, a day after NASA said she may have to stay in orbit six weeks longer because of problems with the shuttle that is to retrieve her.
EMBEZZLER: A former treasurer of the national Episcopal Church who claimed a psychological disorder drove her to embezzle $1.5 million got a five-year prison sentence and a scolding from a federal judge in Newark, N.J. "I condemn this crime and the greed that caused it," U.S. District Judge Maryanne Trump Barry told Ellen Cooke at Wednesday's sentencing. Barry rejected arguments from Cooke's lawyer that she suffered from a "haughty, high flying and reckless" mood disorder that caused her to steal and then forget what she had done.