News In Brief
THE US
Congress sent two measures to the White House. It isn't clear if President Clinton will sign a controversial bill that aims to curb illegal immigration, even though an amendment to let states bar the children of illegal immigrants from public school was dropped. But Clinton is expected to sign a popular measure that guarantees at least 48 hours of hospital care for new mothers. The measure is part of a $64.4 billion spending bill - the seventh and probably last of 13 bills to make it separately to the White House before fiscal year 1997 begins Oct. 1. White House officials and Congress are negotiating to wrap the remaining six bills into an omnibus measure.
Clinton was to announce the creation of a new inflation-indexed bond before attending a gala fundraiser in Philadelphia. The bond is aimed at middle-class families trying to pay for college or retirement and concerned their savings will be stripped away by inflation.
The White House released Secret Service documents it says show the FBI background files of hundreds of prominent Republicans were gathered by mistake. The White House says the documents appear to be portions of outdated lists of names used by Anthony Marceca to gather the files. The White House has contended Marceca mistakenly relied on outdated lists of names. Meanwhile, the House Government Reform Committee accused the White House of using the files to create an enemies list. Democrats on the committee say the Republican-backed report is "election-year politics."
The House passed a White House accountability act that would hold the White House to the same employment laws governing the private sector and Congress. The bill would extend to employees at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue the protection of 11 laws, including the Civil Rights Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act. It also calls for the creation of a chief financial officer and inspector general at the White House. The Senate is to take up a similar bill this week.
The FBI arrested Navy intelligence employee Robert Kim on charges of spying for South Korea in Fort Myer, Va., an FBI spokesman said. Court documents allege that Kim passed more than two dozen secret documents to South Korea. It was not clear why the naturalized US citizen would spy for his native country, which is friendly to the US.
The Fed decided to leave short-term interest rates unchanged, indicating the central bank may not be concerned about inflation. Analysts say the Fed may also have been unwilling to raise rates in the middle of the presidential election campaign.
Four-year public universities and colleges hiked tuition an average 6 percent last year, according to a new College Board study. While that's much less than double-digit increases between 1991 and 1993, it still exceeded the rate of inflation.
A judge ruled that millionaire John du Pont was incompetent to stand trial for the murder of Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz. He will be held in a mental hospital until doctors conclude he's capable of understanding the charges against him and help with his own defense.
The space shuttle Atlantis is expected to touch down today, at Cape Canaveral, Fla., returning astronaut Shannon Lucid to Earth after 188 days in orbit - longer than any other American.
Per capita incomes showed their fastest growth in five years - jumping 5 percent to a national $23,200. Every state except Hawaii and North Dakota reported gains last year that exceeded inflation, with the fastest growth on the East Coast.
Sales of existing homes slipped in August for the third month, as the housing market showed signs of leveling off.
THE WORLD
Israeli troops and Palestinian police exchanged gunfire near the West Bank town of Ramallah. Three Palestinians were killed. The gunfire erupted near an Israeli Army checkpoint after troops tried to break up a protest of more than 1,000 Palestinians. Riots also erupted in the West Bank and Jerusalem in the worst violence since the 1987-93 revolt against Israeli occupation. The new protests were touched off by Israel's completion of a tunnel along the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, the third holiest site of Islam. It also flanks the Western Wall, Judaism's most sacred site. Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes rocketed guerrilla bases in southern Lebanon.
NATO defense ministers meeting in Bergen, Norway, discussed whether a new international force is needed in Bosnia after the alliance's peacekeepers depart in December. Also, Bosnian Muslims increased their presence from 100 to 300 in Jusici, a village in Serb-controlled territory, and began hauling in building supplies for houses, the UN said. NATO troops seized and destroyed arms from the Muslims, who first entered the village Friday. NATO also urged Serb authorities not to enter the village, which is their right under the Dayton peace accord.
An Egyptian court stayed an earlier ruling that a professor of Arabic literature be forced to divorce his wife. It was a rare victory for Nasr Abu Zeid in a case symbolizing tensions between Egyptians who want to impose Islamic law and secularists fearing human rights abuses. The suit says Abu Zeid's writings indicate he has renounced his faith -- and therefore can't be married to a Muslim woman.
The Afghan Taliban militia claimed to have entered the Afghan capital Kabul. The rebels, mostly religious students, now control two-thirds of the country.
Rival militia signed a ceasefire in Monrovia, Liberia, and agreed to dismantle all roadblocks on a road leading northwest, where tens of thousands of people are believed in need of supplies. For the first time in months, relief workers in Liberia were sent into the southwest Cape Mount region to search for civilians who survived fighting among rival factions. Earlier, a similar team discovered thousands of starving people there.
A group of cardiologists decided that Russian President Boris Yeltsin will remain in a hospital or clinic for six to 10 weeks, at which time he will undergo heart surgery. Also, the Kremlin's security chief Alexander Lebed warned that the Russian government's failure to pay soldiers' wages could spark military uprisings. Officers are malnourished, suicidal, and have resorted to begging and stealing, he said.
Burma's military government plans to charge prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi with political crimes, an official newspaper reported. The military recently said she's been aiding exiled dissident groups in a plot to overthrow the government. The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner spent six years under house arrest for her role in leading Burma's democracy movement.
Sri Lankan forces have killed or wounded more than 500 Tamil Tiger rebels in their northern stronghold since the weekend, Sri Lankan officials said.
The leadership of Turkey's only legal Kurdish political party went on trial in Ankara. Eighteen senior members of the People's Democratic Party are accused of "leadership of an armed gang." Also, up to 11 people died and several were injured in a riot by rebel Kurds over prison conditions at a jail in Diuarbakir.
ETCETERAS
"This is an escalation by the Israeli government against our people, who are protesting
against a breaching of the [peace] agreement."
-- Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, blaming Israel for gun battles in Ramallah in the West Bank.
In a sartorial tribute to retiring Sen. Paul Simon, nearly every member of the Senate appeared on the floor wearing a bow tie - the trademark of the dapper Illinois senator. Arkansas Sen. David Pryor and Florida Sen. Connie Mack came up with the idea and ordered the blue-and-white, polka-dot clip-ons. Female senators donned matching scarves.
The first channel devoted to films featuring blacks is headed for cable this February. BET Movies/Starz!3's investors include actor Denzel Washington and the publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines. It will feature films such as "To Sir with Love" and Spike Lee's "Clockers."
A silky terrier is the first Australian canine to receive a medal for valor. Fizo jumped off a balcony to save three children from a poisonous Brown snake and was bitten several times while destroying the reptile. His fearlessness won him the right to wear the Purple Cross Bravery medal on his collar.
THE DAY'S LIST
Top 10 Movies in the US and Canada, Sept. 20-22
Top movies ranked by gross receipts, followed by total gross and weeks in release.
1. "The First Wives Club," Paramount, $18.9 million, one week.
2. "Last Man Standing," New Line, $7 million, one week.
3. "Fly Away Home," Columbia, $3.8 million, $9.5 million, two weeks.
4. "Maximum Risk," Columbia, $2.9 million, $10.3 million, two weeks.
5. "Bulletproof," Universal, $2.6 million, $15.6 million, two weeks.
6. "First Kid," Buena Vista, $2.3 million, $20.2 million, four weeks.
7. "Tin Cup," Warner Bros., $1.8 million, $49.5 million, six weeks.
8. "A Time to Kill," Warner Bros., $1.6 million, $103.3 million, nine weeks.
9. "Independence Day," Fox, $1.59 million, $290.6 million, 12 weeks.
10. "The Rich Man's Wife," Buena Vista, $1.57 million, $5.6 million, two weeks.
- Exhibitor Relations/AP
