National and International News-Friday

JERUSALEM (AP) - Hezbollah rockets aimed at Israel today struck a United Nations observation post in Lebanon instead. No word on casualties. Israeli warplanes have kept up their attacks amid signs that a major ground operation is coming.

LINTHICUM, Md. (AP) - A middle-of-the-night homecoming for the second batch of Americans to return home from Lebanon. About 240 people were on the plane that landed in Maryland early today. Those on the first flight yesterday said they had been terrified during the Israeli attacks.

BOSTON (AP) - A steady, driving rain is falling on coastal Massachusetts, courtesy of Tropical Storm Beryl. The storm made landfall on Nantucket early today. The National Hurricane Center is advising folks to play it safe and not go out to watch the wind andwaves.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush says he looks forward to signing an extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act now that Congress has approved it. The act opened voting booths to blacks by ending poll taxes, literacy tests and other obstacles that kept them from voting.

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - Three people have pleaded guilty in Oregon to participating in an ecoterrorism spree across the Northwest. They've agreed to help in the investigation of a seriesof fire bombings at ranger stations, wild horse corrals, a ski resort and lumber mill offices.