Mikhail Metzel/AP
Worshippers light candles during the Easter service at Christ the Savor Cathedral in Moscow.

Around the World

China releases Wang Dan, Tiananmen Square leader

BEIJING- Wang Dan, a jailed leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, was released Sunday and flew to the United States for medical treatment, his mother said.

The release came two months before a planned visit by President Clinton. In the past, China has tried to use such releases to create an upbeat atmosphere before high-level contacts, prompting human rights groups to accuse it of playing ''hostage politics.''

Wang, 29, is the second leading Chinese dissident released for medical reasons in the past six months. Wei Jingsheng, the most prominent government critic, was sent to the United States in November. China has been encouraging dissidents to go abroad, hoping they will lose their political effectiveness in exile.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Wang was released on medical parole but did not give any details. Wang has suffered for months with a throat infection and headaches that his family believes might indicate a brain tumor.

The Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said Wang left aboard a Northwest Airlines flight for New York via Detroit.

Wang was imprisoned for 3 1/2 years after the government crushed the Tiananmen Square movement. Emerging unrepentant in 1993, he resumed pro-democracy activities, leading to his rearrest in 1995 and an 11-year prison sentence on subversion charges.

In April, the Chinese government denied that it made a deal with Washington to release Wang after the Clinton administration refrained from criticizing Beijing's human rights record in a U.N. resolution.

Linda McCartney, wife of former Beatle, dies

LONDON - Linda McCartney, the American photographer who broke a generation of teen-age girls' hearts when she married Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, has died of cancer, her publicist said Sunday. She was 56.

Linda McCartney died Friday while on vacation in Santa Barbara, Calif., Geoff Baker said. Her husband and children were with her.

''The blessing was that the end came quickly, and she didn't suffer,'' a statement from Paul McCartney's office said. Two days before her death, Linda and Paul had been horseback riding, one of her main passions, the statement said.

The couple announced in December 1995 that Linda McCartney, a keen vegetarian who marketed her own meat-free dishes, was being treated for breast cancer.

The treatment at first appeared to be working well, but in March the cancer was found to have spread to her liver, Sunday's statement said.

It said Sir Paul, 55, will issue a statement later in the week and asked that people wanting to send flowers should give a donation to charities involved in cancer research, animal welfare, ''or, best of all, the tribute that Linda herself would like best: Go veggie.''

Linda Eastman was already acclaimed for her moody, gritty photographs when she married Paul McCartney in 1969. They had three children, Mary, Stella and James.

''Linda was always upbeat about our work against cruelty and we'll fight harder in her name,'' Dan Mathews, a campaign director for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said Sunday. ''Linda understood the power of the fork.''

Speaking about his wife's fight against cancer in an earlier interview, Paul McCartney called her ''the most positive person on earth.''

Funeral arrangements were not immediately available.

Around Athens

Plains man's car collides with school bus Saturday

A resident from The Plains is in the intensive care unit at Grant Hospital in Columbus after his car collided with a Parkersburg High School bus Saturday night east of Guysville at the intersection of Route 50 and Bethany Ridge Road .

Jeremiah Sheilds, 17, 49 Clinton St., was driving home from work at approximately 10:15 p.m. when he failed to stop at a stop sign and slid through the intersection into the path of the school bus, State Highway Patrol Sgt. Steve Belyus said.

Of the bus' 37 occupants, nine Parkersburg High School students suffered from minor visible injuries. All were treated at either St. Joseph's Hospital or Cadem Clark Hospital in Parkersburg, W. Va., and released.

The State Highway Patrol is investigating the incident, Belyus said.

A second crash occurred near the accident scene shortly after the first, when a vehicle driven by Michele R. Meriott, 23, St. Clairsville, was following another vehicle too closely. The first vehicle slowed down as it approached the accident scene, and Meriott ran off the road to avoid colliding with the car, Belyus said. Meriott was cited for failure to control her motor vehicle.

Lee Fisher to speak at Athens Democratic rally

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lee Fisher will be a keynote speaker at an Athens County Democratic Party dinner and rally this Friday.

Every Democratic candidate running for state office will be in Athens for a series of events sponsored by the Athens County Democratic Party. Party members and labor groups will hold a labor rally at 5:30 p.m. at the Athens Fairgrounds Junior Fair Building. Dinner also will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Athens VFW and will be served at 6:30 p.m.

Local and regional Democratic candidates will participate in all the events.

Conference takes participants back to the '60s

OU's campus will revisit the 1960s this week.

Historians, journalists and authors from across the nation will participate in "1968 Revisited," a conference featuring civil rights marchers, protestors and the people who reported it all.

Kwame Ture, formerly known as Stokely Carmichael when he led civil rights marches in the South during the 1960s, Pulitzer-Prize-winning columnist Clarence Page and former Vietnam war correspondent Garrick Utley are among the visitors participating in the conference.

Other conference participants include: