Around The World
ISRAELI PLANES HIT HEZBOLLAH TARGETS IN SEPARATE CLASHES
MARJAYOUN, Lebanon - Israeli warplanes fired at least six rockets on suspected guerrilla strongholds in south Lebanon today, hours after a deadly ground clash with Shiite Muslim guerrillas.
Security sources said two Israeli bombers targeted the hills of Iqlim al-Tuffah, where the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group has its main bases.
Four guerrillas were killed and two Israeli soldiers were wounded in a pre-dawn clash at Houla hill in the center of the occupied border enclave manned by Israel and the South Lebanon Army militia, the sources said.
Several hours later, two Israeli soldiers were wounded in another clash with Hezbollah in the occupied enclave, the security sources said.
ONE KILLED AS BOMB EXPLODES NEAR HINDU TEMPLE IN INDIA
JAMMU, India - A bomb hidden in a motor scooter exploded today near a Hindu temple in Jammu, a northern town often targeted by Kashmiri separatists. At least one person was killed and 42 hurt.
No one immediately claimed responsibility.
United News of India said the victim was a Hindu ascetic preparing for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage.
Since late 1989, Muslim militants have been fighting for the independence of Jammu-Kashmir, the only Muslim majority state in mostly Hindu India.
This year's pilgrimage has been complicated by the kidnapping in the Pahalgam area of five Western tourists, including Spokane resident Mark Hutchings.
NEWSPAPER ORDERED TO PAY SINGAPORE LEADERS OVER LIBEL
SINGAPORE - The Supreme Court today ordered the International Herald Tribune to pay Singapore's top three leaders a total of $678,572 for libel.
The award stems from an article the paper published in August 1994 that implied Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong moved up in government because his father is former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, the founder of modern Singapore.
The newspaper, published in Paris and distributed globally, did not contest its liability for the story and published an apology a month after the story appeared. But the plaintiffs - the two Lees and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong - said the apology was insincere, which only aggravated the libel.
Goh was awarded $250,000 and the two Lees $214,286 each.
CHINA REPORTEDLY TO MARCH LARGE FORCE INTO HONG KONG
HONG KONG - China plans to march 15,000 troops into Hong Kong on July 1, 1997 - the day the British colony reverts to Chinese rule, the Far Eastern Economic Review reports.
In this week's issue, to be published tomorrow, the magazine said Britain had tried to talk China out of the massive force's entry into Hong Kong, warning that the troops would unnerve Hong Kong residents.
China has not disclosed the size of the garrison it plans to station in Hong Kong after 1997. Last year, Britain agreed to hand over 14 military sites in Hong Kong to the Chinese armed forces.
Hong Kong government spokesman Kerry McGlynn described the report as "pure speculation."
Also today, legislators approved an Anglo-Chinese deal to set up an appeals court to protect Hong Kong's freedoms. The bill passed 38-17 in Hong Kong's 60-member legislature after 12 hours of heated debate.