Italy seeking to prosecute U.S. jet crew
     ROME - February 19, 1998 10:01 a.m. EST -- Italy will seek U.S.
 permission to prosecute the four-man crew of the U.S. Marine jet
 that severed a ski gondola cable, killing 20 people, the justice
 minister said Thursday.
     The four Americans could face charges of manslaughter if the
 United States agreed to permit them to face trial in Italy -- a
 move that would be unprecedented.
     Marines train in Italy under the auspices of NATO, and treaties
 governing the alliance make U.S. military personnel subject only to
 American law.
     The jet sliced through the cable while flying low on a Feb. 3
 training run from the U.S. air base of Aviano in northeast Italy.
 The cable car plunged to the snowy mountainside, killing 19 skiers
 and the cable car's operator.
     Italian and American military investigators are conducting a
 joint investigation to determine whether the crew or its commanding
 officers should face charges.
     Italian civilian prosecutors, however, want to the right to try
 the Americans. Italy was seeking jurisdiction because Italians have
 "shown the strong desire that justice be carried out in our coun-
 try," Justice Minister Giovanni Maria Flick told Italy's parliament
 Thursday.
     "The U.S. will give full consideration" to the request, said an
 Aviano spokesman, Tech. Sgt. Bill Lincicome. He emphasized, however,
 there is no precedent for a NATO member to surrender jurisdiction
 in a probe involving personnel on duty.
     Italy's request is to be made in the next few days via the
 foreign ministry.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
    Taiwan authorities criticized for handling of crash victims
     TAIPEI, Taiwan - Feb 19, 1998 10:18 a.m. EST - Authorities were
 hit by a wave of anger Thursday over what critics said was slow,
 sloppy and disorganized handling of Taiwan's worst air crash. One
 newspaper said looters had invaded the crash site.
     A China Airlines Airbus A300 jet crashed Monday night as it
 returned from Bali, killing 202 people, including six people on the
 ground. Initial reports put the death toll at 203, but police
 revised that figure Thursday.
     The dead included five Americans, a U.S. government spokeswoman
 confirmed Thursday.
     The cause of the crash has not been determined, and so far there
 has been no criticism of investigators. But victims' relatives and
 newspapers excoriated authorities for their handling of victims'
 bodies.
     Many of the bodies were dismembered and badly burned in the
 crash. By Thursday, only 110 bodies had been tentatively identified
 and most were still being held for DNA testing.
     The remains were wrapped in yellow funeral shrouds and sitting
 in makeshift coffins in a morgue.
     "There are no freezing facilities," a woman cried at the morgue.
 "The bodies have been moved around several times."
     Transport Minister Tsay Jaw-yang caused a public uproar with his
 comments that the government's handling of the crash was "not much
 inferior" to Japan's handling of a crash of a China Airlines plane
 in 1994 that killed 264 people.
     Lawmaker Wang Tien-chin asked Tsay to apologize to the each of
 the victims' relatives for his remarks.
     Several newspapers described Taiwan's handling of the crash as
 sloppy and disorganized. The China Times reported that looters had
 sneaked into the crash site and taken personal items of the victims.
     U.S. spokeswoman Susan Stahl said families of all five Americans
 who died in the crash had been notified. Stahl said she would pro-
 vide no further information until identification of the bodies was
 completed.
    Three of the Americans have been identified in the United States.
 They are 28-year-old fitness trainer Chris Cory and 35-year-old
 Kenneth Cowan, a public TV producer, both of whom were identified
 by employers in Boston, and Thomas Hadell of Ukiah, Calif.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
          100 tons of food on the way to earthquake zone
     DASHT-E-QALI, Afghanistan - February 19, 1998 07:42 a.m. EST --
 A Hercules cargo plane parachuted food, plastic sheeting and other
 emergency aid Thursday to snowbound residents of quake-ravaged
 northeastern Afghanistan.
     The plane took off from neighboring Pakistan to airdrop supplies
 to the remote areas devastated by the Feb. 4 earthquake, which
 killed at least 5,000 people and left another 30,000 homeless.
     Snow and fog have so far blocked delivery of aid to many areas
 devastated by the quake. But conditions improved today, allowing
 the plane, leased by the United Nations and the Red Cross, to fly
 supplies to Rustaq, the hardest-hit region.
     "It's a clear sunny day . . . which is a miracle," said Rupert
 Colville, a U.N. official. "We haven't had two good days running
 since this began."
     Colville spoke in the river town of Dasht-e-Qali, 18 miles from
 the town of Rustaq, as he awaited the arrival of rafts loaded with
 food and building material from U.N. warehouses in neighboring
 Tajikistan.
     The supplies will be transferred to trucks and shipped to quake
 victims.
     The Taliban Islamic militia so far has allowed aid convoys to
 cross front lines to reach the quake-ravaged area, which is
 controlled by a northern-based opposition alliance.
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