News In Brief
THE US
The Washington Post met the Unabomber's deadline yesterday by publishing his 35,000 word anti-technology treatise. The elusive terrorist had threatened to continue his 17-year mail-bombing campaign unless the Post or the New York Times printed the anti-technology manifesto. The move was made with the Times's assent and came at the urging of Attorney General Janet Reno, who hopes it will lead to the Unabomber's capture. Some criticized the move, saying it violated journalistic rules by allowing someone to dictate coverage.
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Did the FBI cover up its issuance of "shoot-on-sight" orders in the aftermath of the deadly incident at Ruby Ridge, Idaho? Eugene Glenn, the FBI field commander during the 11-day siege in 1992, has been blamed for the orders. But he planned to testify to a Senate panel yesterday that then-Deputy Director Larry Potts issued the order after the first day of confrontation. Potts denies the claim. With the new order in effect, white separatist Randy Weaver's wife was killed.
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The St. Thomas airstrip was abuzz with cargo planes, helicopters, and chartered aircraft yesterday as relief supplies arrived at the island in hurricane Marilyn's aftermath. With its 110 m.p.h. winds, the storm was headed to Bermuda yesterday. Meanwhile, heavy-surf advisories were issued for the US mid-Atlantic coast.
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Netscape says it will provide a new tamper-proof version of its Internet surfing software. This after two University of California at Berkeley students said Sunday they were able to break the program's coding system in less than a minute. The break-in gave them access to sensitive information, including customers' credit cards. Netscape says the new safer version will be at its web site (http://home.netscape.com) within a week.
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House GOP Tax Committee members introduced a plan to reduce the $153 billion Earned Income Tax Credit yesterday. The $153 billion tax bonus, which is designed to keep low-income workers off welfare, would be reduced by $23.3 billion over seven years. President Clinton highlighted the move by threatening a veto. Other tax changes being debated include: tightening or repealing two-dozen corporate tax breaks and raising $10 billion over seven years by allowing companies to withdraw excess funds from their pension plans.
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The House Ethics Committee has "put the pieces together" on Speaker Newt Gingrich's book deal said Representative McDermott, a senior committee member, Monday. Sources also said that interviews for potential candidates for independent counsel will begin Tuesday.
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Plans are afoot for Clinton's participation in the nuclear-safety summit with President Boris Yeltsin of Russia and other G-7 leaders, scheduled for next April, in Moscow. And US-Chinese talks began this week to plan an autumn summit between Clinton and his Chinese counterpart, Jiang Zemin.
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Clinton kissed what may have been his first baby of the 1996 campaign in Philadelphia Monday as he began a four-state quest for $5 million in campaign funds. He hoped to get $600,000 in Miami last night and did raise $600,000 in Philadelphia. He aims to get $1 million in Denver, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
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The US plans to seek extradition of Frank Terpil, a rogue CIA agent under house arrest in Cuba, the State Department said Monday. He fled the US in 1980 and was subsequently convicted in absentia of selling 10,000 automatic weapons to undercover police agents. He is also charged with training terrorists in Lybia.
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Willie Williams, the L.A. police chief, filed a $10 million claim against the city and Police Commission for making public details of an ethics probe against him. The report said Williams accepted free hotel rooms in Las Vegas between 1992 and 1994.
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The Senate put the Board of Tea Experts on the chopping block Monday. Since 1897 the board has met for two days each year in a Brooklyn warehouse to sniff, touch, and taste tea from around the world to see if its good enough to drink.
THE WORLD
The UN hopes to secure a cease-fire around Sarajevo today if the Bosnian Serbs comply with their promise to remove all siege guns by today's deadline. Meanwhile, the UN and US urged Bosnia to stop a Muslim-Croat offensive against the Serbs as artillery crossfire killed two Danish peacekeepers in northwestern Bosnia. Croat and government forces said they captured 12 percent of Bosnia in the past week. US National Security Adviser Anthony Lake rejected UN chief Boutros-Ghali's recommendation that UN peacekeepers be replaced with a multinational force should the US peace plan succeed. And Russian lawmakers just back from the former Yugoslavia demanded yesterday that Russia supply the Bosnian Serbs with military aid.
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The PLO and Israel reported progress in peace talks yesterday. But it remained doubtful whether the two sides could agree on the final issue - the West Bank city of Hebron - in time for tomorrow's scheduled signing of a peace agreement at the White House. Meanwhile, the PLO set up municipal offices next to a Jewish seminary Monday as part of its campaign to reclaim the center of the disputed West Bank city.
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An Iranian airplane with 177 passengers and crew that was hijacked after it left Tehran landed yesterday at an air base in southern Israel, where the armed hijackers surrendered. There were unconfirmed reports that several people aboard were hurt. The identity of the hijackers and their demands were not immediately known. Jordan and Saudi Arabia refused the plane permission to land. Israel gave permission because the plane was running out of fuel.
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During a visit to the Czech Republic yesterday, US Defense Secretary William Perry said he hopes the republic will become a NATO member. Perry is touring nations in the region to evaluate their readiness to join NATO. While visiting Slovakia earlier, he said the country needs to improve its democracy before inclusion.
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A top government official and the chief aide to Georgia's most powerful warlord were among "terrorists" arrested Monday in connection with an assassination attempt on Georgian leader Eduard Shevardnadze. Warlord Jaba Ioseliani - Shevardnadze's rival and until last week fellow candidate for president - has not been directly accused.
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Lawmakers in Ireland opened formal debate this week on a Nov. 24 national referendum to legalize divorce, nine years after voters first rejected the move. One-fifth of Ireland's births are out of wedlock, and new marriages have dropped by one-quarter in the past two decades, census figures show. A poll by the Market Research Bureau of Ireland showed 66 percent of voters favor legalizing divorce.
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At least 19 foreign aid workers - including five Americans - have been detained for three days warlord Mohamed Farah Aideed's forces. Aideed seized the southwestern Somali city of Baidoa Sunday. Rival leader Ali Mahdi Mohamed gave Aideed a 24-hour ultimatum Monday to pull out of Baidoa or face war.
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The World Economic Forum opened an economic summit in Singapore today for political leaders, economists, and businessmen from Europe and East Asia. The Forum hopes to forge a 1996 agenda on closer business links between the regions.
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More than 100 million children - some as young as 4 - are forced to work in appalling conditions to make consumer products for Western nations, an Australian group charged Monday. The Anti-Slavery Society said children work from 6 a.m. to midnight. Punishments include being branded with hot irons, rapes, and being locked in cupboards.
ETCETERA
The light here is red. It's a red stop light. Stop the fighting.
Go back to the negotiating table."
- Strobe Talbott, US Deputy Secretary of State, responding to Muslim-Croat offensives.
The Nature Conservancy's, "Last Great Places" campaign was hailed a success Monday for rescuing fragile ecosystems from development. The group's ambitious mission included preservation of 75 unique prairies, watersheds, streams, and islands that are home to hundreds of rare species.
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A bunch of "losers" from Norway's Losers Rights Union kept losing out because no one took them seriously. Until, perhaps, Monday, when King Harald V of Norway granted them audience. The union helps people who missed a decent childhood, never got an education, or were somehow shut out of society. "The only requirement for membership is you have to feel you're a loser," said Ola Odegaard, founder of the group.
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For the first time in its 70-year history, a woman played in the prestigious Tokyo Big Six University Baseball League. More than 7,000 spectators at Jingu Stadium watched American Jodi Haller pitch for Meiji University. The left-hander yielded no runs or hits, but walked four batters.
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A Santa who showed up a bit too early than his appointed time got stuck in the chimney of his girlfriend's house Friday night in Nantes, France. The Romeo became trapped in the narrow flue. Firemen destroyed the chimney to set him free.
Child-Slavery Nations
The Anti-Slavery Society estimated the number of child slave laborers in Asian countries. The nations with the highest figures are:
Number of children in millions
1. India 73 - 115
2. Pakistan 8.0
3. Nepal 5.7
4. Philippines 5.5
5. China 5.0
6. Bangladesh 2.8
7. Indonesia 2.4
8. Thailand 1.1
9. Sri Lanka .5
Anti-Slavery Society, Melbourne, Australia/AP
