Lyons

A bomb exploded in the building that houses the American Express offices in Lyons, France, early today, a day after the British manager of Black & Decker tools in Lyons was murdered by a hooded gunman. A blast tore through the British Bank of the Middle East in west Beirut before dawn today, and police reported extensive damage but no casualties. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either blast. British employees of the bank have left mostly Muslim west Beirut in fear of terrorist reprisals in the wake of the U.S. raids on Libya, as have dozens of other Westerners.

The National Baptist Convention USA, battling to emerge from scandal, elects a new president tonight in Tampa, Fla., with a Philadelphia pastor and a Philadelphia native as two of the leading contenders. The Rev. William Shaw, of White Rock Baptist Church, 53rd and Chestnut streets, and the Rev. Franklyn Richardson, Philadelphia-born pastor of a church in Mt. Vernon, N.Y., have been campaigning for the $50,000-a-year presidency since both lost in the 1994 election. The winner that year, the Rev. Henry J. Lyons, of St. Petersburg, Fla., resigned this spring when he was convicted of state and federal charges for stealing $4 million paid by corporations to the world's largest black religious organization.

The Rev. William J. Shaw, the West Philadelphia Baptist preacher who campaigned nationwide to restore integrity and spirituality to the scandal-rocked National Baptist Convention USA Inc., is now its president. Shaw, 65, defeated 10 other candidates in Tampa, Fla., last night for a five-year term to head of one of the nation's largest black religious organizations. He has served as pastor of White Rock Baptist Church, 53rd and Chestnut streets, for 43 years. Now that church is likely to become a beehive of activity - while the National Baptists maintain headquarters in Nashville, the president has customarily based operations at his home church.

Integrity won. Now comes the healing - and some counting. That's the message in the Rev. William J. Shaw's victory as he heads back to his West Philadelphia pulpit today - the newly inaugurated president of scandal-wracked National Baptist Convention USA Inc. The man he succeeds, the Rev. Henry Lyons, missed the ceremonies yesterday from his state prison cell two hours north of the Tampa, Fla., Ice House. Lyons is serving 5 1/2 years for abusing his office to steal more than $4 million from vendors and convention coffers.

GLENDALE, CALIF. HIGH-FIVES AFTER HOMELESS BEATING Four young men beat, kicked and stabbed a homeless man, then appeared to exchange high-fives as he lay dying on a sidewalk, police said. "It looked like they were celebrating, and were getting joy out of killing this man," Detective Dennis Smith said. There was no indication of a motive in the killing of John Vice, Smith said. GADSDEN, ALA. BABY-TOSS STORY UNVEILED AS HOAX An anonymous call last month that a woman tossed a baby into a swollen river was a hoax, say police, who were considering taking action against an officer who claimed he nearly rescued the baby.

Independent insurance adjuster Bruce Turnbull has seen plenty of tornado wreckage in his time. The stories rolled off his tongue yesterday afternoon as he walked through downtown Lyons, appraising the damage wrought by a tornado that ripped through the Berks County hamlet Sunday night: He recalled an oak door pierced by a straw; an 80-year-old client who "went for a ride" in his mobile home; the town of Albion, Pa., flattened by a ferocious tornado...

After an absence of 10 years, the Seagull Classic is returning to Philadelphia. The classic will be held Dec. 26-29 at the St. Joseph's University fieldhouse. The announcement yesterday, by tournament director Rev. Edward Lyons, ends a month-long search for a new facility after Holy Spirit High School in Absecon, N.J., the host facility the last eight years, declined to make its campus available. The change was prompted by violence on the opening night of the 1987 tournament.

It was funeral director Emil J. Ciavarelli's helping hand that convinced Jeffrey A. Lyons. Lyons, personnel director at the Regina Community Nursing Center in Norristown, was trying to help an 18-year-old employee whose father had died. The woman, whom Lyons did not want to identify, was putting herself through college and didn't have the money for a funeral. A hospital suggested donating his body to science or allowing the state to bury him in a pauper's grave. She didn't want to choose.

The Rev. William J. Shaw was welcomed home to Philadelphia yesterday by the faithful who rallied around the new president of the National Baptist Convention like supporters at a political rally - waving flags and wearing T-shirts bearing his name. Then reality set in. Though elated by the hugs and handshakes at Philadelphia International Airport, Mr. Shaw was solemn when discussing the task of repairing the image of America's largest African American religious organization.

A dozen prison guards who were fired last year as the result of the bungled Operation Ferret prison-corruption investigation have asked the city Civil Service Commission to restore their jobs. The three-member commission is in the midst of hearings for 11 of the 12 and is expected to rule on the 12th guard's appeal within the next few weeks. Former Philadelphia Prisons Superintendent Edmund H. Lyons, testifying last month at the hearings, estimated that 25 guards - half of whom he said were implicated in crimes such as drug smuggling by Ferret investigators - had been reinstated.