Sri Lankan free media campaigner assaulted

A Sri Lankan press freedom campaigner and government critic was abducted and assaulted while returning from work Monday.

Poddala Jayantha, the secretary of Sri Lanka Working Journalists' Association, said he was pushed into a vehicle by a gang that beat him severely, cut his hair and beard and dropped him by the roadside.

A passer-by brought him to the hospital.

Dr. Hector Weerasinghe of Colombo National Hospital said Jayantha's injuries are not life threatening.

Police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekara confirmed the assault and said authorities don't know who was …

Friend Floyd shares in Couples' moment

AUGUSTA, Ga. Fred Couples enjoyed two embraces on the 18th greenafter winning the Masters title Sunday.

First came his wife Deborah, then came friend and mainchallenger Ray Floyd. The hug with Floyd lasted much longer than theone with Deborah.

Neither player will say what words were spoken.

"It's kind of private, a personal thing," Floyd said.

"He's just happy for me," Couples said.

The relationship between Floyd, 49, and Couples, 32, is special.

It started when Floyd was the captain of the 1989 U.S. Ryder Cupteam and Couples was one of his players. Couples missed the greenwith a 9-iron in a crucial match to help the European team …

Carlos the Jackal to stand trial in France in Nov

PARIS (AP) — Prosecutors say the Venezuelan convict known as Carlos the Jackal is set to face trial in Paris starting in November for his alleged role in four deadly terror bombings in the early 1980s in France.

The Paris public prosecutor's office said Thursday the trial is scheduled from Nov. 2 to Dec. 16.

Carlos, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez …

Pletcher using spread offense to get to Derby

Todd Pletcher will be sending out many of his 3-year-olds to compete in races over the next few weeks in his quest to win the Kentucky Derby for the first time.

Going into this weekend, the trainer has three of the top 6 horses in the AP's Run to the Roses Top 10 list of Derby contenders. They are No. 2 Eskendereya, No. 4 Rule and No. 6 …

Notre Dame 3rd In Poll

Miami and Washington, which finished 1-2 in last year'sAssociated Press college poll, are starting 1992 the same way.

Miami received 40 first-place votes and 1,511 points inpreseason voting by a nationwide panel of writers and broadcasters.

Washington, which earned a share of last year's national titleby winning the USA Today-CNN coaches' poll, received 12 first-placevotes and 1,453 points in the AP preseason survey.

If the Hurricanes finish No. 1, they'll become the …

Vilna Ghosts: Illinois Senator Dick Durbin steps into a dispute on the future of a Jewish archive

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) is hopeful that an "open and honest" approach, and a letter from 58 of his Washington colleagues, will help to resolve a long-standing dispute about the fate of a rich collection of tens of thousands of pre-Holocaust documents in Lithuania.

Durbin, who was invited by Lithuania and Poland to visit those countries on a week-long trip, told the Jewish Star last Friday before leaving Washington that he first learned of the collection in November from a newspaper article.

The material documents Jewish life during the inter-war years in what was then Polish Wilno (Russian, Vilna; Lithuanian, Vilnius). Notwithstanding the political and economic …

Ecuadoreans vote on new constitution

Ecuadoreans on Sunday resoundingly approved a new constitution that would significantly broaden leftist President Rafael Correa's powers and allow him to run for two more consecutive terms, exit polls showed.

"Three to one!" Correa shouted jubilantly upon hearing the news that at least 66 percent of voters were in favor of the measure.

"We're making history, onward!" a beaming Correa proclaimed before singing his party's anthem, "Patria," in his coastal hometown of Guayaquil, where resistance was expected to be highest but "yes" apparently won.

The Cedatos polling organization said 70 percent of voters …