West Bank

Israelis enter Bethlehem

Israeli forces entered the West Bank town of Bethlehem early today, retaliating against the hometown of a Palestinian suicide bomber who blew up a Jerusalem bus, killing 11 and wounding dozens.

The first Israeli forces entered Bethlehem from the south, witnesses said, and surrounded the Dheisheh refugee camp next to the town.

Troops headed for the Church of the Nativity, said Israeli military spokesman Doron Spielman. He said the object was to prevent gunmen from seeking refuge in the church.

In April, dozens of gunmen fled into the church ahead of invading Israeli troops, setting off a tense 39-day standoff. It ended when Israel and the Palestinians agreed to send 26 of the gunmen to Gaza and exile 13 others to Europe.

Lebanon

American missionary killed

A gunman fired three bullets into the head of an American missionary Thursday at the clinic in Sidon where she worked as a nurse. It was believed to be the first targeted killing of a U.S. citizen in Lebanon in more than a decade.

Bonnie Penner, 31, was slain at the Unity Center, which houses a Christian chapel and a clinic.

Investigators said they thought the gunman knocked at the door of the clinic and shot Penner in the head with a 7mm pistol. A colleague found the woman’s body lying in a pool of blood, police said.

Penner, a nurse married to a British citizen, had worked for about two years for the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Lebanon, according to officials from the U.S. and British embassies. She was originally from California, but her hometown was not available.

Washington, D.C.

Drunken driving deaths up

The number of drunken driving deaths in the United States rose last year after holding steady during most of the 1990s, Mothers Against Drunk Driving said Thursday.

There were 17,448 drunken driving deaths in 2001, up from 16,572 in 1999, the last time MADD conducted its “Rating the States” survey.

The organization graded the nation with a C ” down from a C plus in 1999 ” with California ranking the highest with a B plus, and Montana flunking.

Kansas dropped from a B in the earlier report to a B minus.

The grades are based on the number of alcohol-related crashes in each state, trends in the number of deaths, state laws and enforcement efforts.

Honolulu

Military intercepts missile in first defense program test

The U.S. military successfully launched and shot down a dummy ballistic missile during its ascent Thursday, the first in a series testing the Pentagon’s plans to shield America from short- and medium-range missiles.

The missile was launched from the Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands toward the Pacific Ocean and was intercepted within four minutes on the ascent by another missile launched from the cruiser USS Lake Erie, the Department of Defense said.

The missile was intercepted 500,000 feet above sea level.