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Mike Shiloh News:                        
Mike Shiloh is a 20-year veteran  of broadcast and print news covering  politics, economics  and  American culture.

US NAVY VIDEO RELEASED FRIDAY PROVES CHINESE JETS HAVE BEEN HARASSING US RECONNAISSANCE PLANES FOR MONTHS. Pilot Lieutenant Shane Osborn is being honored as a hero as details emerge that a Chinese jet was harassing Osborn's plane -- flying within mere feet of the US prop plane -- when the jet's tail "clipped" Osborn's propeller, sending the tail crashing into the nose of Osborn's plane.

The Chinese jet crashed.  The pilot has not been found, according to the Chinese press. 

The US Navy released video Friday from January of harassment by fast Chinese jets of slower US reconnaissance planes, the jets flying steady under one US wing, so close that the camera captures the Chinese pilots face. 

The ID number on the plane in the January video matches that of the plane that  clipped Osborn's plane two weeks ago, forcing Osborn to pull out of a quick descent, level the plane, send out more than a dozen Mayday calls and find a landing spot on Chinese soil, saving the lives of his crew of 23.

Chinese officials claim the propeller-driven US plane suddenly banked, ramming the much sleeker and faster Chinese jet, hard to believe considering the differences in the two planes.

Both US and Chinese officials now admit the collision between the US plane and a Chinese military jet happened in international airspace.

PRESIDENT BUSH AND VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY HAVE FILED THEIR INCOME TAXES.  Cheney made more than 35-million dollars last year, paying more than 13-million in taxes (he's in the 39-percent bracket); Bush made more than 800-thousand last year.

A VAST MAJORITY OF THE CHINESE MASSES ARE UPSET ABOUT THE RELEASE OF THE US CREWMEMBERS, according to the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald. Much of the anger is based on the Chinese government news media line that the US plane caused the crash with a Chinese jet, and that the US was in Chinese airspace when it happened.

CNN REPORTER LISA ROSE WEAVER WAS DETAINED BY CHINESE AUTHORITIES while the US crew was still being held; the Chinese accused her and her crew of taking illegal video shots of the US crewmembers leaving their quarters to board a plane to leave the country.

Videotape was confiscated; Weaver was questioned for four hours, then released.

 FOUR DAYS OF RIOTING IN CINCINNATI -- now there's a curfew underway after the mayor declared a state of emergency.  The riots began over the weekend after the shooting by police of an unarmed black man wanted on more than a dozen arrest warrants.

Arson, looting, pulling motorists from passing vehicles and setting buildings afire were among the mayhem caused by rioters the past four nights.

President Bush Thursday appealed to the rioters to be peaceful.

MOST OF THE RESIDENTS OF MISSISSIPPI SAY THEIR FLAG IS FINE, but the National Association For the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is threatening a boycott of the state because that flag is the last one in the US that closely resembles the flag of the Confederacy.

There'll be a statewide vote to change or keep the flag; recent polls show 70-percent of Mississippi residents and as many as one-third of blacks don't want the flag changed.

The NAACP's reasoning for wanting a new flag: The Confederacy reminds blacks that slavery once existed, so all flags that even resemble the Confederate flag must change.

"60 MINUTES" CREATOR DON HEWITT ADMITS THAT NETWORK EVENING NEWS SHOWS ARE ON SHARP DECLINE. On Fox News' "O'Reilly Factor," the CBS producer-legend said he'd heard from two top network executives that local stations will likely soon begin taking back for local use the half-hour used by network news shows each night.

Hewitt also admits "60 Minutes" is investigating millionaire Jesse Jackson for a future piece.

The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather's ratings are down so far in some cities that it's being beaten in the ratings by old sitcom reruns. Local stations are only provided about four minutes of commercials during network news; they could make a lot more money by programming something local, selling all the commercials.

THE NEW BLACK PANTHER IS PROTESTING EX-PRESIDENT CLINTON's move of his post-presidency office to New York's Harlem from Radio City.  The publicity-pandering Panthers say Clinton's presence in Harlem reflects the continuing takeover of Harlem property by "white people."

Never mind that Clinton has repeatedly said he considers himself the "first black president."

THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION FRIDAY ROLLED BACK NEW ENERGY-EFFICIENCY STANDARDS that will cause the cost of washing machines and water heaters to go up. Previous energy standards called for a 30-percent improvement in energy use by those machines within several years. Friday, the Bush Administration rolled back the standards to a 20-percent increase in energy efficiency over the next few years.

ATTORNEY GENERAL JOHN ASHCROFT  WILL ALLOW A CLOSED-CIRCUIT BROADCAST OF THE EXECUTION OF TIMOTHY MCVEIGH. The families of those killed (168 victims in all, including 16 children) in the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building will be the only ones allowed to view the execution on television.

Ashcroft also ruled that journalists will not be allowed broadcast interviews with McVeigh, who's to be put to death next month.  McVeigh can, however, be interviewed by telephone for 15 minutes each day.

THE NUMBER OF GUN DEATHS WAS DOWN IN THE MID-1990S, to the lowest levels in 20 years, according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, which credits more gun laws, stricter sentencing of gun criminals and a decline in the popularity of crack cocaine.

INTERNET SERVICE YAHOO IS NOW SELLING PORNOGRAPHY. For the sordid details see the San Francisco Chronicle. Yahoo is also laying off more than 300 employees as it struggles to survive in a reduced-horizon web environment. Top level executives are also jumping ship.

VIDEO, MUSIC, BOOK AND MAGAZINE DELIVERY SERVICE  KOZMO.COM IS OUT OF BUSINESS. As predicted here at TheLatest.Net Thursday, the company's history; 1100 employees out of work; the website closed. 

JUNO.COM IS RAISING THE PRICE OF ITS INTERNET ACCESS. The net provider has offered free access (with floating banner ads) and access without the ads for as little as $3.99 a month.  Subscribers were told Tuesday that the cost of all access will go up to $19.99 per month beginning in May.

The company still offers free Internet access to those who only occasionally use the net; those who use it at all regularly are consigned to late night hours like 4 AM.

Rumors abound that Juno will file for bankruptcy within weeks.

AMAZON.COM MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE A REASON FOR EXCITEMENT at recently-reduced loss figures.  MSNBC columnist Christopher Byron says a recent review shows Amazon may be playing around a little with their books, and he doesn't mean the merchandise.

ACTOR MARLON BRANDO IS SAID TO BE HOSPITALIZED WITH PNEUMONIA.

ACTRESS BROOKE SHIELDS -- DIVORCED FROM TENNIS STAR  ANDRE AGASSI -- IS MARRIED AGAIN, this time to writer-producer Chris Henchey, who works on the TV series Spin City.

HOW'S THAT AGAIN? A Houston radio newscast: "Republican Senator Phil Gramm was a guest speaker an an annual meeting of the National Rifle Association yesterday.  A reporter who was there said Gramm's remarks were low key and weren't of any news value."

Good, informative story.

So help me.

--Mike Shiloh