New York

Judge overturns convictions in Central Park rape case

A courtroom erupted in cheers Thursday as a judge threw out the convictions of five men in the 1989 rape of a Central Park jogger — a racially charged case that made New York look like a city on the verge of civil breakdown.

The defendants are likely to return to court with lawsuits against the city. All have completed their prison terms, which ranged from seven to 13 years.

Acting at prosecutors’ request, state Justice Charles Tejada, in a five-minute hearing, undid the convictions of a dozen years ago.

The district attorney’s office had asked the judge on Dec. 5 to set aside the convictions after a rapist behind bars, Matias Reyes, confessed to the crime and was connected to the attack by DNA on the woman’s sock.

Washington, D.C.

Democrats prepare proposal for unemployment benefits

House Democrats, seizing on words of support from President Bush, readied a plan to extend payments to laid-off workers through the middle of next year. Republicans drew up their own proposal and the issue of unemployment benefits is likely to be one of the first the next Congress takes up.

Under current law, benefits will run out for more than 800,000 people three days after Christmas. The last session of Congress ended with the parties blaming each other for failing the needy in a faltering economy.

Incoming House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other top Democrats are to outline their benefits plan today and press the GOP-controlled House to move swiftly to assist those who will lose their financial support during the holidays.

New York

West Nile virus infects fetus

A brain-damaged baby girl born last month in upstate New York was infected with West Nile virus while in her mother’s womb, marking the first known instance of West Nile transmission in the uterus and raising fears that the virus can cause lasting neurological problems in newborns.

Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they were not certain the newborn’s severe nervous system problems were caused by the infection — though they ruled out the other most likely potential sources. They held out hope that mother-to-fetus transmission may ultimately prove to be rare.

West Nile is a mosquito-borne virus that has spread dramatically across the nation since it first appeared in late 1999 in the United States. This year it was detected in 44 states, including Kansas.

Jerusalem

Israelis expel Jewish settlers

Israeli police evicted 200 Jewish settlers Thursday from a makeshift encampment on West Bank land where Palestinian militants killed 12 Israelis last month.

Shouting through loudspeakers and backed by soldiers, police ordered the settlers off the settlement crudely constructed on a road into the West Bank city of Hebron. The site was near where Islamic Jihad militants ambushed Israeli soldiers and security guards on Nov. 15.