NATION IN BRIEF

Ala. Worshipers Return To Arson-Hit Churches

BRIERFIELD, Ala. -- Standing at a charred pulpit, the Rev. David Hand counted the blessings of his little country church on Sunday.

Arson hit five churches in rural Alabama last week, destroying three. But Hand's church, Old Union Baptist, and another house of worship had only minor damage. "I'm just so thrilled we have a building today," Hand said to "Amens" from the 60 people gathered in the 146-year-old, frame church.

Elsewhere, members of Rehobeth Baptist Church knelt in prayer beside the rubble of their church before holding Sunday school and a worship service in a nearby building.

The regional head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Jim Cavanaugh, has said all five fires that started early Friday in Bibb County south of Birmingham were "obviously" arson. Agents also are trying to determine whether a sixth fire a day earlier at a church in neighboring Chilton County was arson.

Investigators said they had no suspects or apparent motive, but the FBI said it was looking at possible civil rights violations under laws focusing on attacks on religious institutions.

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· CAPE CANAVERAL -- A spacesuit that was tossed out of the international space station after being stuffed with old clothes and a radio transmitter was again sending weak signals as it circled Earth, ham radio operators reported. NASA said late Friday that the spacesuit had stopped transmitting. "Death reports were premature," said Allen Pitts, a spokesman for the American Radio Relay League, a Connecticut-based association for amateur radio operators. He said the signals were "weak, cold and really hard to copy, but alive."

· TOTOWA, N.J. -- A ruptured tank spilled more than 9,000 gallons of refined oil into the Passaic River on Sunday, causing an eight-mile oil slick, authorities said.

· CAPE CANAVERAL -- Steve Fossett plans to depart at dawn Tuesday on an 80-hour, 27,012-mile journey in an experimental airplane in a quest to break a 20-year-old record for longest flight. If successful, Fossett's trip would surpass the previous airplane record of 24,987 miles set in 1986 by the Voyager aircraft piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeanna Yeager, as well as the balloon record of 25,361 miles set by the Breitling Orbiter 3 in 1999.

-- From News Services