Around the Nation

Around the Nation

Airborne laser, future role in defense

The airborne laser is a little known but potentially important part of a future defense against missile attack. The work being done at Boeing Co.'s development center is part of an effort to leap ahead of the traditional approach to missile defense.

Critics and doubters say it may be an expensive flop like many other attempted innovations in missile defense during the past two decades.

The Clinton administration is developing two kinds of missile defense systems, both possibly using laser weapons:

- Relying on the airborne laser to help provide protection against missile attack on U.S. and allied troops abroad.

- Protecting the U.S. homeland, first by shooting down missiles with other missiles and later, perhaps, with laser weapons orbiting in outer space.

Air Force Gen. Michael Ryan sees a bright future for airborne lasers.

''We think we've got all the physics about right,'' he said recently. ''Now we need to see if we can engineer it onto the (airplane) and shoot it. That's the next test. This could be a revolutionary kind of capability.''

Halloween bash ends in deadly shootout

About 100 people had packed into the home after a Ball State University fraternity party. About 4 a.m., a car pulled into an alley behind the house and began firing into the home, said Marlon Glass, 31, who was at the party.

The house, in a student neighborhood near campus, was riddled with bullet holes, and a trail of shell casings still led from the back door to the alley yesterday afternoon. The windows of some of the half-dozen cars parked behind the house had been shot out.

Police and witnesses said at least two people had fired as many as 40 rounds from outside, and investigators were looking in to whether shots were fired inside the house as well.

Julian Brown, 28, a former Ball State student from Gary, Ind., was found dead in the kitchen, Muncie police Chief Joe Winkle said.

Two people were in fair condition yesterday at Ball Memorial Hospital and two were treated and released, a hospital spokesperson said. One person was treated at the scene.

Porn Websites may change to xxx domain

Domain names are the three letters that end a Website's address. Domains are used as tags for the content of a site. There are now six domain names, the commonly used ".com", ".org", ".net" and ".edu", as well as ".gov" for government-related sites and ".mil" for military sites.

11-01-99