Puerto Rico: Eighth body recovered near plane-crash site

Rescuers Friday recovered the body of an eighth American serviceman killed when a U.S. Air Force special operations plane slammed into a mountainside.

The body was found far down the mountainside where the MC-130H transport plane crashed Wednesday night on the outskirts of Caguas, 20 miles south of San Juan. On Thursday, rescuers found seven bodies, some charred, and parts of the fuselage.

The search team also found one of the aircraft’s two “black boxes,” said Adolfo Menendez, commander of a National Guard unit at the scene. He did not know if it was the data or voice recorder.

The bulky plane was flying in rain and fog when it struck a heavily wooded area on Monte Perucho, broke in two and erupted in flames, witnesses said.

India: Formula presented for prime number

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Indian computer scientists said Friday they have solved a mathematical problem that has eluded researchers for 2,200 years and could be crucial in modern times in improving computer configurations.

A three-member team of scientists at the Indian Institute of Technolgy in the northern Indian city of Kanpur have devised a method that will make no mistake in quickly determining a prime number those that are divisible only by themselves and 1.

Computer scientists and mathematicians have devised many ways to solve the problem, but all such methods carry a small risk of error.

The scientists have authored a paper detailing the formula, which was posted on their department’s web site Sunday. Copies of the paper were also dispatched to leading computer scientists and mathematicians across the world.

Zimbabwe: White farmers face uncertain future

The government deadline for Zimbabwe’s white farmers to give up their lands passed Friday with President Robert Mugabe’s regime taking no action against landowners who defied the order.

It remained unclear how the government will treat 2,900 white farmers who had been ordered off their land by midnight as part of the country’s program to seize white-owned farms and give them to blacks.

The evictions deadline passed as half of Zimbabwe’s 12.5 million people face a severe hunger crisis, according to the World Food Program. The WFP blames the crisis on drought combined with the agricultural chaos created by the seizures of commercial farms, mainly owned by whites.

The Mugabe government has targeted 95 percent of white-owned farms for seizure.

Netherlands: Evidence disclosed in political killing

Dutch prosecutors laid out their case Friday against the accused killer of anti-immigration politician Pim Fortuyn, saying the suspect was captured with gunpowder on his gloves and cell tissue on his trousers.

During a preliminary hearing, Prosecutor Koos Plooy also said police found chemicals that could be used for making bombs at the home of the defendant, Volkert van der Graaf.

It was the most extensive disclosure of evidence in the case, which has captured the nation’s attention since the May 6 killing.

The slaying was the first of a prominent political figure in the Netherlands in 400 years. It came just nine days before national elections in which Fortuyn’s party won a stunning second place.