News In Brief
THE US
The Senate expects to vote tomorrow on a $265.5-billion defense budget bill President Clinton says he will sign. The bill is $11 billion more than Clinton wanted. Clinton said he will also sign a bill expected to pass the Senate tomorrow that bars federal recognition of homosexual marriages. The Senate will consider separately a measure that would outlaw job discrimination against homosexuals. Earlier, the Senate passed a bill requiring insurers to pay for 48-hour hospital stays for mothers after they give birth.
Sun Diamond Growers of California, charged with trying to influence former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, was expected to go on trial today. The giant fruit cooperative has been accused of spending more than $9,000 on Espy for gifts including tickets and a limousine to the 1993 U.S. Open tennis tournament, and with spending thousands on his girlfriend. It is also accused of making illegal campaign contributions to Espy's brother and of wire fraud. Espy resigned in 1994.
Clinton ordered a Pentagon review of aircraft flying on White House and Cabinet trips after a Marine Corps helicopter accompanying him on a campaign trip rolled over and burst into flames at Florida's Orlando Executive Airport. None of the six crewmen aboard the twin-rotor Boeing CH-46E Sea Knight were seriously hurt. Another Marine helicopter traveling with Clinton's entourage made a "precautionary landing" south of Orlando after a warning light lit up.
Hurricane warnings remained posted for the British and US Virgin Islands, despite reports by the National Hurricane Center that Hortense is not strengthening. Forecasters said Hortense's maximum sustained winds had decreased to 55 m.p.h. from 60 m.p.h. At least 17 people were killed when Fran hit the North Carolina coast.
Ramzi Yousef and two other men were convicted by a New York jury of plotting to blow up a dozen US airplanes. They face mandatory life terms when they are sentenced Dec. 5.
FBI agents found a hand-drawn map of an escape route from the scene of the Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in the trash at bombing defendant Terry Nichols's home, the "Daily Oklahoman" reported. Also, unnamed sources said Nichols and Timothy McVeigh were in downtown Oklahoma City three days before the bombing.
US Astronaut Shannon Lucid set a record Saturday for the longest spaceflight by a woman - 169 days. Lucid's stay on the Russian space station Mir was extended by hurricane Fran.
Whitewater prosecutors denied offering probation rather than jail time to Susan McDougal, a former business partner of Clinton, if she would give them evidence implicating him in illegal business dealings. McDougal made the accusation after a meeting with prosecutors in which she said she would begin a jail term today rather than accept a court order to testify before a grand jury against Clinton. Independent counsel Kenneth Starr didn't deny her claims that she was offered a plea bargain deal.
The Aviation Safety and Security Commission was to submit controversial airline security measures to Clinton today that would profile airline passengers in an attempt to uncover terrorists. The plans also would set aside $300 million for high-tech bomb detection equipment. The American Civil Liberties Union says passenger profiling raises concerns of discrimination based on nationality, race, and religion. (Story, Page 3.)
Some 69 percent of Americans approve of Clinton's decision to launch missile attacks in Iraq, a new TIME magazine/CNN poll. The survey polled 2,080 likely voters.
Dr. Jack Kevorkian attended his 40th suicide despite police attempts to prevent it. Authorities in Oakland County, Mich., burst in on a counseling session between Kevorkian and Isabel Correa, who had been diagnosed with a spinal disease. She took her life the following day.
THE WORLD
Iraqi-allied Kurdish forces overran the towns of Degala and Kuysanjaq, a rival group reported. If Iraq is involved in the attack, Baghdad is in defiance of last week's US missile strikes. Also, Iraq said it would take whatever action was necessary to stop Turkey from establishing a proposed buffer zone in the region. And Saddam Hussein's attack on the Kurds reportedly interrupted a covert operation by the CIA aimed at overthrowing the Iraqi leader. About 100 Iraqis associated with the effort were reportedly executed.
Russian troops began withdrawing from Chechnya in accordance with a peace deal brokered last month by security chief Alexander Lebed. A Russian Army official said the first stage of the pullout will involve 4,500 Army servicemen and an unspecified number of interior troops, Interfax news agency reported. It wasn't clear when the withdrawal will be completed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to fly to Washington to discuss ways to jumpstart peace talks with Syria. But officials said they don't expect much progress until after US presidential elections this fall. Also, Foreign Minister David Levy said in London that Israel was prepared to move quickly on peace with the Palestinians, but action must be reciprocal.
Okinawans voted overwhelmingly in favor of a measure to reduce US military presence on the island, exit polls conducted by NHK television showed. About 60 percent of islanders turned out for the vote.
More than 200,000 trade union workers gathered in six German cities to protest planned government budget cuts. The proposed cuts would slash sick pay, raise the retirement age, and reduce disability and jobless benefits. The cuts are to ensure Germany qualifies for the projected single European currency.
South Africa's highest court said the country's new constitution is flawed and will have to be partly rewritten. The Constitutional Court ruled that the charter, which was drafted by the first postapartheid parliament, failed to give sufficient power to provincial governments.
Voters in India's volatile Jammu and Kashmir state took a first step toward peace when they cast ballots on the first day of four-stage assembly polls - the first local elections since 1987. More voting is set for Sept. 16, 21, and 30.
Moves toward peace in Liberia are bringing much-needed relief to starving villagers. Aid workers were able to reach the western town of Tugmanburg, which had been cut off by faction fighting since February. There they began distributing food and medical supplies to hundreds of starving women, children, and elderly people. The aid workers plan to return again this week with more supplies. Also, faction leader Alhaji Kromah turned over his weapons to West African peacekeepers in his stronghold of Voinjama.
A Turkish Cypriot soldier was killed near the UN-patrolled buffer zone that separates Greek and Turkish Cypriots, British military officials said.
The EU said US laws that aim to punish foreign companies doing business with Cuba, Iran, and Libya would hurt EU business, but said retaliation was unlikely until after US presidential elections in November.
Seven African countries agreed to ease sanctions imposed on Burundi to allow humanitarian aid to reach refugees, sources said in Arusha, Tanzania. But there was no official response to a plea from Burundi's military ruler, Maj. Pierre Buyoya, for the full lifting of sanctions imposed after the July coup that brought him to power.
Egypt sponsored the country's first mass wedding for couples unable to afford a traditional ceremony. Three Egyptian pop stars sang for free, caterers donated refreshments, and first lady, Suzanne Mubarak, made an appearance as 600 couples took their vows.
ETCETERAS
"I feel like I've been run over by a $60 million bulldozer trying to get to Bill Clinton."
-- Susan McDougal, the president's former business partner, commenting on the cost of the Whitewater investigation.
Pet owners won't be surprised by a British researcher's findings: Their pets know when they're coming home from work. Forty-six percent of dogs got ready to welcome their owners up to an hour before they got home, even if they worked irregular hours, the Times reported. One mynah bird began shrieking "Robbie's coming home!" whenever its owner was returning from an overseas trip.
Gadget-packed cars driven by film spy James Bond will be displayed in a special exhibit at the Paris Car Show in October. The display will feature trucks, motorcycles, and even a tank with ejectible seats and missile launchers that helped Bond evade enemies in 17 films.
Freshmen engineering students at West Virginia University were given an assignment they could really sink their teeth into: design edible cars. One student fashioned a car out of a bell pepper with pepperoni wheels. Another concocted a car out of cheese and Oreo cookies.
THE DAY'S LIST
Cultural Giants
Washington's Kennedy Center for Performing Arts announced it will honor five artists for their lifetime contribution to US culture at a December ceremony:
Oscar-winning actor Jack Lemmon
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee
Composer and saxophonist Benny Carter
Country singer Johnny Cash
Ballet dancer Maria Tallchief
- Associated Press
