NATION IN BRIEF

9 Killed in Fire, N.Y.'s Deadliest Since 1990

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· NEW YORK-- Screams poured from the burning building along with smoke and flames: "Help me! Help me! Please! Please!" Bystanders looked up to see a woman toss her children out the window one at a time to those below.

The scene unfolded early Thursday during New York's deadliest fire in nearly two decades -- a blaze that killed eight children and one adult, all African immigrants who shared a rowhouse near Yankee Stadium.

The woman who tossed her children jumped from the building. Her fate and that of her children were not immediately known.

Investigators believe the fire started overnight when a faulty space heater or overloaded power strip ignited a mattress in the basement; the flames quickly raced up the stairs of the four-story structure. Most of the 22 residents -- 17 of them children -- were stranded on the upper floors as the blaze raged out of control.

The victims included five children from one family, along with a woman and three children from a second family.

The fire was New York's deadliest since the 1990 Happy Land social club blaze in the Bronx, which killed 87 people. It was the city's deadliest residential fire since a 1983 blaze in Chinatown that also killed nine.

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· CHARLESTON, S.C.-- Nearly 50 alleged victims have come forward since the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston announced that it would set aside as much as $12 million to settle claims of sexual abuse by priests and church workers, a lawyer said. The diocese has settled about 50 sexual abuse claims for roughly $3 million since 1950. The four dozen new claims emerged after a class-action settlement was announced in January, said attorney David Haller, who worked on the agreement on behalf of abuse victims.

· ST. LOUIS-- An attorney for Michael J. Devlin, the former pizzeria manager charged with abducting two Missouri boys, dismissed a plea deal that was expected to include several life sentences, saying his client could do better before a jury. Devlin faces six federal and 75 county-filed counts involving kidnapping, sexual assault and the production of child pornography.

· LARGO, Fla.-- A city manager facing dismissal after going public with plans to get a sex change said he plans to fight to keep his job because his case represents the struggle "to deal with morality, sexuality and gender." Steve Stanton said he would try to persuade the Largo City Commission to reverse its 5 to 2 vote last month to begin the process of firing him. The commission must now hold another public hearing so Stanton can make a final appeal to keep his job of 14 years.

· UNITED NATIONS-- U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon urged all nations to end "the pandemic" of violence against girls and women by working to change cultural attitudes that tolerate beatings, sexual attacks and other abusive acts. The new U.N. chief said at the commemoration of International Women's Day that most countries have passed laws proscribing such violence but that too often they do not enforce them.

· WOODBINE, N.J.-- Ed Nabors, Georgia's newest millionaire, skipped work after claiming half of the $390 million Mega Millions jackpot. Lottery officials in New Jersey waited for the second winner to surface in the richest lottery in U.S. history.

-- From News Services