WORLD
BEIRUT, Lebanon – Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said Sunday that he would not have ordered the capture of two Israeli soldiers if he had known it would lead to a wider war.
Hezbollah guerrillas killed three Israeli soldiers and seized two more in a cross-border raid July 12, which sparked 34 days of fighting that ended Aug. 14.
“We did not think even 1 percent that the capture would lead to a war at this time and of this magnitude. You ask me, if I had known on July 11 … that the operation would lead to such a war, would I do it? I say no, absolutely not,” he said in an interview with Lebanon’s New TV station.
NATIONAL
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A commuter jet taking off for Atlanta crashed just past the runway and burst into flames, killing 49 people before dawn Sunday and leaving the lone survivor in critical condition.
Comair Flight 5191, a CRJ-200 regional jet, crashed at 6:07 a.m., said Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the plane to crash in a field just beyond Lexington’s Blue Grass Airport. The plane was largely intact, and authorities said rescuers were able to get one crew member out alive.
The crash was the country’s worst domestic airplane accident in nearly six years. FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said the agency had no indication that terrorism was involved in any way.
WASHINGTON – Later this year, women who fear an unwanted pregnancy can go to a pharmacy and pick up the morning-after pill without first seeing a doctor. Girls 17 and younger, however, still need a prescription to buy the emergency contraceptive.
The Food and Drug Administration’s decision is a compromise in a three-year battle over easing restrictions on the drug, which has been available only by prescription since 1999.
“While we are glad to know the FDA finally ended its foot-dragging on this issue, Planned Parenthood is troubled by the scientifically baseless restriction imposed on teenagers,” Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said. “The U.S. has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the Western world. Anything that makes it harder for teenagers to avoid unintended pregnancy is bad medicine and bad public policy.”
An estimated 41 countries allow emergency contraceptives to be sold without a prescription, Planned Parenthood said. It wasn’t immediately clear how many, if any, have age restrictions.
Opponents of the measure worry that greater availability of the pills will increase promiscuity and open use of the pills to abuse by sexual predators.
Barr hasn’t said what the nonprescription pills will cost when they go on sale, perhaps as early as November. They now cost $25 to $40 in prescription form.
The pills will be sold only from behind the counter at pharmacies, not at convenience stores or gas stations. Pharmacists will check photo identification. Men will also be able to purchase them for their partners.
LOCAL
RICHMOND, Va. – A population boom will cause an increase in the number of public-school students in Virginia over the next five years.
The Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service report showed that the number of public school students will grow about 30,000 students to 1.22 million in 2010, a 2.5 percent increase over current enrollment. The projected growth follows a steady increase in school population since 1985, the report said.
A 30,000-student increase will cost an additional $275 million in local, state and federal education dollars, assuming that per-student spending stays constant, and this will have a “dramatic impact on the state budget and on the budget of many local school divisions,” the report said.
But 60 percent of the state’s school divisions are expected to have fewer students by 2010. Virginia Beach public schools will see a 4,500-student drop over the next five years, and Richmond, Hampton and Norfolk are each expected to lose between 1,400 and 1,700 students, the report said.