Fatality

A 27-year-old New York man was killed today when his 1985 Z-28 Chevrolet Camaro went out of control on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway just east of 22nd Street, hit a street light and slammed into a tree. The victim, whose identity was being withheld until his family could be told, died in Hahnemann University Hospital of massive internal injuries. A 26-year-old woman passenger, whose name also is being withheld, was listed in satisfactory condition at Hahnemann with facial cuts and injuries to her ribs and back.

Police officer looks at car on which a 33-year-old West Philadelphia woman landed this morning after leaping from a 24th-floor fire escape at the rear of 1616 Walnut St. Police said the woman, whose identity was not immediately disclosed, died later of multiple injuries at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. The car, parked on Chancellor Street, is owned by Common Pleas Judge Vito F. Canuso.

You must never mess with fate or try to manage destiny. You must never mess with fate or try to manage destiny. You must never mess with fate, or try to manage destiny. How many times can you say the same thing over and over and over? If you've got 2 1/2 hours to kill, you could actually tally it up during "Annie Maye's Child," the second in the Bushfire Theatre of the Performing Arts' trilogy of plays by African-American women. A world premiere, the play is an ode to Greek tragedy.

A crowd gathers to see the wreckage at the scene of a two-car collision in which one person was killed and three were injured shortly before 9 last night at Broad and Master streets, police said. The four were in a car that was rammed by one driven by a person who then ran away after the crash, police said. The injured were taken to three area hospitals.

Is Israel trying to help Hamas? Is Jerusalem trying to undermine its strategic position in the Middle East? One can't help asking such questions after Israel's botched attack on a civilian aid flotilla bound for Gaza, which killed several Turkish citizens. Who but Hamas could benefit from an Israeli military raid on an international convoy that was clearly not running guns? The most troubling question: Did Israeli officials never consider the consequences of attacking a Turkish vessel with Turkish nationals aboard?

SEATTLE - The U.S. Justice Department launched a civil rights investigation of the Seattle Police Department Thursday after the fatal shooting of a homeless, Native American wood carver and other incidents of force against minority suspects. The investigation aims to determine whether Seattle police have a "pattern or practice" of violating civil rights or discriminatory policing, and if so, what they should do to improve, Seattle U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan and the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's civil rights division, Thomas E. Perez, said during a conference call Thursday morning.

NEW YORK - A laid-off women's accessories designer shot a former co-worker to death in front of the Empire State Building, authorities said, causing a chaotic showdown with police Friday in front of one of the world's best-known landmarks. Police killed the suspect, and at least nine others were wounded, some possibly by police gunfire, city officials said. Some of the wounded were grazed by bullets and others hit directly, but all were expected to survive, officials said. The gunshots rang out on the Fifth Avenue side of the building about 9 a.m., a time of day when the sidewalks around the building are packed with pedestrians, and merchants were opening their shops.