February 6, 1996
Web posted at: 11:30 p.m. EST
NEW HYDE PARK, New York (CNN) -- Two's company, three's a crowd, but five's great news -- for two proud parents, at least.
Pnina Klaver delivered quintuplets shortly before midnight Monday at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. The three girls and two boys ranged in weight from 1 pound, 9 ounces to 1 pound, 14 ounces. The 47-year-old mother was taking fertility drugs at the time of conception.
The babies, delivered by cesarean section, were 13 weeks premature, but were said to be stable.
Klaver and her husband, Shumel Klaver, live in Brooklyn and have two sons, 10 and 12 years old. The family has made a public appeal for financial assistance to help feed and clothe their five brand new children.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- The FBI is investigating the disappearance of three paintings stolen from an overnight storage area at Kennedy Airport last Thursday. The works of art are valued at some $15 million, according to Newsday Tuesday.
A lawyer representing businessman Avelino Espinosa Gonzalez told Newsday that his client had carried the paintings -- two by Pablo Picasso and one by Camille Pissaro -- aboard an Aeromexico flight that arrived Thursday night.
Apparently, when Gonzalez declared the paintings at customs he was told that, because of their value, additional paperwork would be required. Arrangements were made for a baggage handling company at JFK to store the paintings.
When Gonzalez came to claim them on Friday, they couldn't be found.
The paintings were being brought to New York for appraisal at Sotheby's and Christie's auction houses, according to the paper.
GLENDALE, California (CNN) -- A father admitted to setting an apartment fire that killed seven members of his family, including four children.
Police say the father, George Avanesian, surrendered after fleeing the scene with blistered hands. The fire, which engulfed the first-floor apartment, was brought under control before it spread to other apartments in the four-story building.
The Armenian family had moved from Iran to the United States just a few months ago, neighbors said. Police refused to speculate on a motive for the crime.
DEDHAM, Massachusetts (CNN) -- The judge in the double murder trial of anti-abortion activist John Salvi allowed reporters to observe jury selection Tuesday.
The first day of jury selection had taken place behind closed doors after the judge said an open court would slow the process.
Salvi is accused of killing receptionists Shannon Lowney and Lee Ann Nichols at two Boston-area women's clinics and wounding five other people in 1994.
HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- An alleged Mexican drug lord pleaded not guilty Tuesday to smuggling billions of dollars worth of cocaine into the United States.
Juan Garcia Abrego, suspected to be the kingpin of the Gulf cartel in northern Mexico, is accused of smuggling 13 tons of cocaine into the United States and laundering $8.5 million. He is being held without bail.
Security was tight for his arraignment, and Abrego wore a bulletproof vest.
Abrego's trial is set to begin March 11.
ST. JOSEPH, Missouri (CNN) -- The TWA pilot hailed as the hero of a 1985 Middle-East hijacking drama died after a prolonged battle with cancer Tuesday. He was 68.
John Testrake kept his cool throughout as Lebanese hijackers held a gun to his head in a 17-day ordeal at Beirut International airport.
The Trans World Airlines jet, with 145 passengers and nine crew members, was flying from Athens to Rome on June 14, 1985, when it was hijacked by Shiite militiamen demanding the release of hundreds of Lebanese from Israeli jails.
The hijackers killed a navy diver and threw his body from the plane, but eventually released Testrake and everyone else on board.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Taxpayers will bear the bulk of Hillary Rodham Clinton's air fare for a tour to promote her best-selling book about children, according to government and airline estimates.
Since the Secret Service wanted the first lady to use a government plane for security reasons, Mrs. Clinton is flying on a 12-seat Air Force jet that costs $2,890 per flying hour.
The total bill for the plane will come to about $69,360 by the time the tour ends later this month. Taxpayers will absorb about 80 percent of the cost, while the rest will be borne by Mrs. Clinton's publisher, New York-based Simon & Schuster.
The book, "It Takes a Village and Other Lessons Children Teach Us," is No. 1 on The New York Times' best seller list. Most of the proceeds from it will go to children's hospitals and other charities.
MEDIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- A judge has ordered millionaire John E. du Pont to be tested for organic brain dysfunction before his preliminary hearing on charges of killing Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz. Du Pont's attorneys requested the test, which was approved Monday by Delaware County Judge Patricia Jenkins. The hearing is scheduled for Friday.
Du Pont, 57, will be examined at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Philadelphia to see if there is an organic cause for his behavior, which has been described as "bizarre, irrational and highly agitated," according to the defense motion. Schultz, a world-class wrestler, was shot to death January 26 on the grounds of du Pont's 800-acre estate in Newtown Square.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Although not completely pleased with it, President Clinton is expected to sign a bill Thursday designed to revolutionize how Americans get telephone, television and computer services.
His staff negotiated with GOP leaders to come up with the final version, but presidential aides remain concerned about a section designed to keep children away from smut on the Internet. They say it raises constitutional issues.
Nevertheless, Clinton intends to sign the bill revamping the 1934 Communications Act, said the aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity Monday. The measure passed by Congress last Thursday would let local and long-distance telephone and cable companies into each others' businesses, deregulate cable rates and allow media companies to expand their holdings more easily. It also would restrict smutty material on television as well as on computer networks.
The American Civil Liberties Union and computer users groups say they intend to challenge in court the provision that would outlaw transmission of sexually explicit and other indecent materials to minors over computer networks. Opponents say the provision is too broad and would outlaw electronic transmissions of legal speech. Supporters say it simply regulates legal speech to shield children.
STRATFORD, Texas (CNN) -- Residents were allowed to return home early Tuesday after authorities stopped a noxious gas leak from a ruptured tank line in Stratford, Texas -- about 90 miles north of Amarillo. Five people, including one firefighter, were hospitalized in stable condition. About 25 others were injured.
Monday's accident, which forced the evacuation of nearly all 1,800 residents in the panhandle town, occurred as workers tried to transfer anhydrous ammonia from a railroad tank car into a bulk tank, authorities said.
The victims complained of chest pains, respiratory problems, nausea and vomiting.
"Some people say they have lost their animals," said Wanda Clark, nursing director at Dumas Memorial Hospital. "But it could have been a lot worse."
Exposure to anhydrous ammonia, used as a fertilizer, can irritate the skin; in large doses, inhalation can be fatal.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The number of U.S. military air crashes have dropped four-fold in the past 21 years, but still cost the Defense Department more than $1 billion a year.
The number has dropped from 309 in 1975 to 76 in 1995, according to a congressional report released Monday. The General Accounting Office report said fatalities dropped from 285 to 85 over the 21 years.
Representative Ike Skelton, who released the report, attributed the decline to improved flight safety procedures and greater experience with older planes.
"A 10-year model aircraft has fewer mishaps than one that's just brand new in the fleet," the Missouri Democrat said. But he said the report showed that human error by pilots, ground crews, air traffic controllers and others accounted for nearly three-fourths of the crashes.
The military has reduced crashes by making sure recommendations from crash investigations are followed and by conducting special investigations. But Skelton wants even more safety training and sharing of safety information among the military services.
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