News In Brief
The US
The FBI and ATF roles in the raid at Waco, Texas, are under scrutiny as congressional hearings continue. Lawyers for Branch Davidian leader David Koresh said federal agents fired first in the deadly raid. FBI officials were expected to testify about negotiations with Koresh. A Justice Department spokesman said negotiators ''bent over backwards to work with Koresh.'' On Monday, an ATF agent testified that his superiors proceeded with the raid despite his warnings that Koresh had been tipped off to the impending assault. (Story, Page 1.)
In Whitewater hearings, Senator D'Amato refused a request that Hillary Clinton testify. But Republicans want to know if she helped restrict access to the office of White House aide Vincent Foster after his suicide. The office contained papers on President and Mrs. Clinton's failed Whitewater investment. Three former White House aides were expected to testify yesterday.
The $256 billion social-program budget would lose $9 billion next year in a bill that passed the House Appropriations Committee Monday. It trims job training, public broadcasting, college aid, and Head Start, while increasing funds for the National Institutes of Health. The measure would let states withhold Medicaid abortion funds for rape. Clinton says he will veto the bill. (Department of Energy, Page 4.)
The Senate was expected to vote on lifting the arms embargo on the Bosnian government yesterday. Senator Dole says the Bosnians must be allowed to fight for themselves. Clinton has said he will veto the bill.
Clinton is throwing a 30-year birthday party for Medicare. The week-long celebration is a Democratic attack on GOP plans to cut the health-care program for the elderly by $270 billion. Legislation isn't expected until the fall, but the effort highlights the issue's importance for the 1996 election. In Iowa, meanwhile, Speaker Gingrich said Medicare is ''the most difficult issue we're dealing with.'' He challenged Clinton to generate an alternative to the GOP plan to cut Medicare.
California's challenge to the federal ''motor voter'' law was rejected by a federal appeals court Monday. The law requires states to register voters at motor-vehicle and welfare offices. California and five other states refused to implement the law, saying it costs too much. In Mississippi a federal court ruled that the law is inefficient because it created separate federal and state voter-registration systems.
Tobacco giant Philip Morris tracked third graders as potential future customers, California Congressman Waxman said Monday at a hearing. The company also gave electric shocks to college students to see if the resulting anxiety would make them more likely to smoke. Philip Morris declined comment.
Shannon Faulkner is set to become the first female cadet at The Citadel military academy in South Carolina. A federal judge ruled there is no time to consider an alternate program designed to keep her out of the all-male cadet corps at the state-supported school. The Citadel plans to seek a court order against the move.
The Senate was expected to pass a lobby-reform bill yesterday. The bipartisan measure would strengthen registration and reporting requirements. Despite a 50-year gridlock on the issue, supporters hoped Congress will pass the bill this year.
Few public colleges will follow the University of California in dropping affirmative-action programs, said the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges. So far, only Michigan has considered banning the programs. Though Texas Governor Bush said Monday the state's affirmative-action policies should be reviewed.
Congress moved Monday to lift a 22-year ban on Alaskan oil exports. Supporters said the move will boost US production.
The US will expand its list of ''Big Emerging Markets'' to include Vietnam and 5 other fast-growing Asian nations, Commerce Secretary Brown said.
US workers' wages, salaries and benefits rose 2.9 percent in the year ended June 30, tying the smallest advance since 1981.
The World
Bosnian Serb troops marched into Zepa yesterday, seizing a second UN ''safe area'' and sending civilians fleeing. In The Hague, Netherlands, the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal indicted Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic, army commander Mladic, and 22 other Serbs for genocide and crimes against humanity. And NATO military planners met yesterday to gain consensus on airstrikes against the Bosnian Serbs. (Story, Page 7; Editorial, Page 20.)
A majority of Israelis want peace talks with the PLO nixed after an Islamic suicide bombing killed six people Monday, according to a poll taken by the newspaper Maariv. Foreign Minister Peres said yesterday the peace talks will resume today in Europe, but PLO Chairman Arafat said he wants them to remain in the Middle East.
Nigeria's ruling generals met yesterday to review sentences passed against 40 alleged coup plotters. They said they would take into account a flood of local and foreign appeals for mercy. Their recommendations will go to the governing council, which has the final say on the men convicted in March.
Oil seeping from a 140,000-ton tanker is devastating fish farms on South Korea's pristine south coast. The tanker ran aground in the wake of typhoon Faye. Fog and a lack of equipment are hampering cleanup efforts.
On the first day of renewed peace talks in Mexico between rebels and the government Monday, a top Roman Catholic bishop there said troubles in Chiapas state could not be separated from national woes. His comments were a blow to federal negotiators, who hoped to limit talks to local issues.
Russian and Chechen negotiators suspended peace talks Tuesday in Grozny. The breakdown followed Chechen leader Dudayev's televised criticism of the negotiators as ''hair splitters'' who had not accomplished anything in five weeks of talks.
Forty-eight Australian legislators have signed up to board a ship bound for France's South Pacific nuclear test site Sept. 2 to protest the testing, organizers said Tuesday. Meanwhile, Vietnam's Communist Party chief Do Muoi was to visit Australia and New Zealand this week, underscoring Hanoi's efforts to end years of international isolation.
The US applauded Turkey Monday for approving amendments July 23 to its military-era constitution, saying this should enhance democracy and improve chances for European integration. The 17 amendments were widely supported by the Turkish public as necessary to convince Western allies that Turkey is serious about democratization.
The Iraqi Kurdish group Patriotic Union of Kurdistan said Monday it accepted US offers to mediate between it and the Kurdistan Democratic Party in northern Iraq to end months of armed feuding. The rival groups clashed again yesterday.
China test-fired two more missiles into the sea near Taiwan, causing the island's stock market to tumble again Tuesday and a major Taiwanese company to put off a $38-million investment project in China. Meanwhile, China urged the US yesterday not to grant further legitimacy to Taiwan when Madame Chiang Kai-shek visits Congress this week, and blasted Taiwan's President Lee in a People's Daily commentary for trying to split China. Relations soured between China and Taiwan in June after a landmark trip to the US by President Lee. China says Taiwan is not entitled to international relations.
Voters in Gabon overwhelmingly approved a package of constitutional reforms Sunday aimed at mending long-standing rifts between the government and opposition that arose in January 1994.
Etcetera
Johnson Chestnut Whittaker was granted a posthumous military commission Monday, more than 100 years after he was hounded out of West Point, where he was one of the first black Americans to be a cadet. President Clinton presented the commission to his descendants in a White House ceremony.
With the demand down for spying, Russian scientists are planning to use nuclear submarines to lay underwater communications cables.
Boosted by better attendance at Disneyland Paris, Euro Disney reported its first profit since the theme park opened in 1992.
How Big Is Your Carpool?
Most developed countries have an average of two people for every car. Other nations have higher averages.
Country Total cars (000) Avg. people per car
Australia 8,280 2
Bangladesh 33 3,792
Brazil 11,613 14
Canada 13,478 2
China 1,765 675
Ethiopia 40 1,468
France 24,385 2
Germany 39,202 2
Ghana 90 191
India 2,807 328
Japan 40,722 3
Mexico 8,100 11
Rwanda 8 1,047
Switzerland 3,116 2
Britain 23,403 2
US 146,314 2
- American Automobile Manufacturers Association
'' Lee Teng-hui's so-called 'popular sovereignty' is the political hallucinogenic drug for 'Taiwan independence.' ''
- China's People's Daily
