News In Brief
THE US
Congress and the White House began staking out positions for impending negotiations over how to reach a compromise on balancing the budget. President Clinton's veto threat loomed over the budget bills that passed the Senate Friday and the House Thursday. He wasn't even ready to talk with the GOP unless it restored funding for Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the environment, he said Saturday.
It was a Russian's cold-war dream: Gen. Pavel Grachev, the Russian defense minister, pushed a button Saturday triggering the explosion of an underground silo in a Missouri cornfield that once housed a Minuteman II missile aimed at the USSR. Grachev was joined by US Secretary of Defense William Perry. On Friday, the two watched joint US-Russian maneuvers (Russian troops above). They also reached an agreement on a joint US-Russian force to serve in Bosnia apart from the NATO peacekeeping operation. The two are to meet in Brussels next month to work out details.
In preparation for Detroit's notorious "Devil's Night" - an annual arson-melee the night before Halloween - city workers have demolished 1,790 buildings and cleaned up 180,000 tires. Mayor Dennis Archer, who was criticized for not being prepared for the event last year, says he has 20,000 volunteers to combat the destructive acts.
A federal court's ruling to allow more sales of old-growth timber in the Northwest would cause "grave environmental injury," Clinton said Saturday. He says he will move legislatively to block the ruling. At issue: how broad should the interpretation be of a law allowing salvaging of dead timber and logging of some green timber. Clinton says the court's decision surpasses the original intent of the law.
The widow of Maj. Stephen Badger, who died in Friday's sniper attack at Fort Bragg, N.C., expressed compassion for the suspect, Sgt. William Kreutzer. "He was obviously distraught," she said. Eighteen soldiers were wounded when a gunman opened fire on 1,300 troops as they set out on a four-mile morning run.
The US doesn't comment on intelligence matters, Assistant Secretary of State Winston Lord told Japan's ambassador Friday. This after Japan, which was irked by news stories that the CIA spied on Japanese officials during recent car-part talks, asked for US comment on the reports. The US "will not deny it, and their statement that they cannot comment further leaves room for doubt," a Japanese spokesman said Friday.
Retired Gen. Colin Powell could jump to the front of the Republican field if he entered the presidential race, a CBS News-New York Times poll said yesterday. Powell, who has canceled several speeches recently to have more time to mull over a White House bid, is expected to decide by Thanksgiving.
Ian Paisley said Friday he got the White House to promise it wouldn't meddle in Northern Ireland's affairs when Clinton visits there next month. Paisley is the head of Northern Ireland's hard-line Democratic Unionist Party. A White House official said Clinton has never interfered in Ireland's affairs and has always been neutral on the issue.
Halfway through a 16-day science mission, space shuttle Columbia's seven astronauts said yesterday they long for showers and pizza. The crew has conducted fluid, potato plant, crystal, and other experiments in the shuttle's lab module since Oct. 20. The mission, one of NASA's longest, is set to end Nov. 5.
The House will vote on limiting lobbyists' gifts to lawmakers by Nov. 16, majority leader Dick Armey said Friday. But Armey said some of the laws could be weakened to let lawmakers go on charity golf, tennis, and ski trips: "We ought to debate it," he said. The House will also take up the thornier issue of campaign finance early next year, he said.
How to clean up talk shows was the topic of closed-door discussions among talk-show hosts and producers in New York Saturday. It was a "constructive swapping of ideas on how to empower people," said Mark Walberg, one of the hosts attending. The "Talk Summit" also included host Rolonda Watts and behind-the-camera crews from "Geraldo," "Sally Jesse Raphael," "Jerry Springer," and "Carnie."
THE WORLD
Followers of Islamic Jihad leader Fathi al-Shqaqi pledged yesterday to avenge his Oct. 26 assassination in Malta by attacking Israeli targets worldwide. The PLO has called for restraint and said retaliation will jeopardize the peace process. Israel has been silent about its possible role in the killing. Meanwhile, the Middle East and North Africa Economic Summit opened yesterday in Amman, Jordan. Tomorrow, summit officials are set to announce the formation of a development bank, a regional tourism board, and other cooperative bodies.
It's too close to call today's referendum where 5 million Quebeckers will vote "oui" or "non" to the question: Should Quebec be a sovereign country? Canada faces turmoil regardless of the result, experts say. A legal challenge and Canada-wide referendum are already being considered. Economists say the Canadian dollar could plunge to an all-time low and the huge deficit that Quebec would inherit could rise sharply.
Croatians went to the polls yesterday. President Franjo Tudjman is expected to retain power by a wide margin. Meanwhile, the threat of a new conflict escalated in eastern Croatia, and US and UN envoys scrambled to prevent new fighting over Serb-held territory. Saturday, Bosnian Serbs canceled talks aimed at reaching a peaceful settlement.
About 300 people were killed and 140 injured in an underground railway train blaze Saturday in Baku, Azerbaijan. A spark from a high-voltage cable is suspected, but some did not exclude the possibility of sabotage.
Tropical storm Zack struck central Philippines yesterday and left nearly 100 people dead and 60,000 homeless. Zack also ravaged the islands of Negros and Panay which produce 70 percent of the country's sugar.
Britain banned the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the controversial leader of the Unification Church, from entering the country. The British Home Office said his presence was "not conducive to the public good."
Lt. Gen. Hussein Kamel Hassan, Saddam Hussein's son-in-law, who fled to Jordan in August, is planning to make a dramatic return to Baghdad this week, London's Sunday Telegraph reported.
At least 70 people were killed in fierce fighting between Sri Lankan troops and separatist forces yesterday in a new government advance in Tamil rebel-held territory in the north, the military said.
Grigory Yavlinsky's group and Alexander Rutskoi's Derzhava party were barred yesterday from participating in Russia's December 17 parliamentary elections. Rutskoi challenged President Yeltsin's economic and political reforms in 1993. Yavlinsky is a popular economist and politician, and was ahead of all other liberal parties in recent opinion polls. Meanwhile, Yeltsin's condition was stable yesterday, three days after he was hospitalized with a heart problem.
A car bomb exploded in the Algerian city of Rouiba yesterday, killing six and wounding 83. Over the past week, Muslim militants stepped up their campaign of violence in the run-up to next month's presidential election. In Paris, four Algerians were jailed Saturday on suspicion of links to Muslim extremists.
Magnus Malan, a former South African defense minister, was to be charged with 13 political murders, a prosecutor said yesterday, setting the stage for a case that will force South Africa to confront the bloody excesses of apartheid. In 1994, a multiparty Cabinet agreed to an African National Congress plan for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to hear evidence about political crimes. The commission grants amnesty to those who confess to crimes committed during the apartheid era.
ETCETERA
The first foreigner to blow up a US missile silo is the minister of defense of Russia, how about that?"
- Russian Foreign Minister Pavel Grachev after jointly destroying a silo with US Secretary of Defense Perry Saturday.
Braves fans were dancing in the streets in Atlanta Saturday night. Their team beat the Cleveland Indians 1-0 on a combined one-hit gem by lefthander Tom and reliever Mark Wohlers to win baseball's 1995 World Series four games to two. (See list below.) This is Atlanta's first championship in any major sport.
It's show time for Rubie's Costume Company, the largest manufacturer of Halloween costumes in the US. The New York firm sells to major department stores and also rents outfits. Batman and Barbie are among its most popular costumes this year..
Skywalker Jay Cochrane stepped off a mountain Saturday and walked for 53 minutes along a 2,098-foot steel rope suspended 1,354 feet above China's mightiest river. With no safety net, he traveled over the Yangtze River where it flows through one of the scenic Three Gorges - Qutang in southwestern Sichuan Province.
World Series One-Hitters
Here are the one-hit games pitched in World Series history with pitcher(s), team, opponent, date, and which inning the hit occurred:
1. Ed Reulbach, Chicago (NL) vs. Chicago, Oct. 10, 1906, no outs in the 7th.
2. Claude Passeau, Chicago (NL) vs. Detroit, Oct. 5, 1945, two outs in the 2nd.
3. Floyd Bevens, New York (AL) vs. Brooklyn, Oct. 3, 1947, two outs in the 9th.
4. Jim Lonborg, Boston (AL) vs. St. Louis, Oct. 5, 1967, two outs in the 8th.
5. Tom Glavine (8 innings) and Mark Wohlers (1), Atlanta (NL) vs. Cleveland, Oct. 28, 1995, no outs in the 6th.
- Associated Press
