Successful test is a first for missile shield plan

HONOLULU -- An interceptor missile fired from a Navy ship knocked a target rocket out of the sky over the Pacific yesterday in the first successful test of a US missile defense system in more than a year, military officials said. In June, an interceptor missile missed the target in a similar test. An Aegis cruiser launched a Standard Missile-3 interceptor -- designed to destroy its target by colliding with it rather than using a large explosion -- from an undisclosed location in the Pacific. The target missile launched from Kauai was intercepted at an altitude of about 85 miles, said Chris Taylor, Washington-based spokesman for the federal Missile Defense Agency. (AP)

ALABAMA

Death penalty sought for bombing suspect

BIRMINGHAM -- Prosecutors said yesterday they will seek the death penalty against serial bombing suspect Eric Robert Rudolph in a deadly blast at an abortion clinic. US Attorney Alice Martin said Attorney General John Ashcroft had authorized her office to seek the death penalty in the 1998 bombing that killed a police officer and seriously injured a nurse. Rudolph, 36, was captured in North Carolina on May 31 after a five-year manhunt. He also is accused in the 1996 Olympic bombing in Atlanta that killed one woman, and a pair of bombings in Atlanta in 1997. (AP)

MARYLAND

Kin of slain prosecutor say they'll assist probe

BALTIMORE -- The family of a slain federal prosecutor said yesterday they are shocked and overwhelmed by the 38-year-old's "tragic and violent death" and are cooperating with investigators. In their first public statement, faxed to the Associated Press, Jonathan Luna's family said they could not comment on the investigation. "Jonathan was a loving, caring and attentive husband and father. He and his wife shared a wonderful life with their two sons," the family wrote. (AP)

NEW YORK

Child's killer ordered to pay mother $15m

NEW YORK -- Convicted child killer Joel Steinberg has been ordered to pay $15 million to the birth mother of his illegally adopted daughter. Justice Louis B. York found Steinberg liable for pain and suffering inflicted on the girl when Steinberg killed her in 1987. (AP)