Morning Coffee Edition for Friday, September 11, 1998
*******************************************************************
Earn DOUBLE Rew@rds Points with NextCard Internet Visa. Open a new
account with a qualifying balance transfer and you'll earn
DOUBLE points for every dollar you spend. Use your points for
Frequent flyer miles, music, books, clothes, dining and more!
Learn more at http://www.nextcard.com/index.html?ref=epribtae05
*******************************************************************
U.S. Front Page Stories
-----------------------
*** House panel votes to release Starr report on Internet
*** Hillary Clinton comes out to bat for president
*** Clinton worries seen undermining U.S. economy
*** Northwest, pilots reach tentative contract pact
*** Swissair probe highlights wiring fault issue
*** Former U.S. envoy Crowe to head Africa bombings probe
The U.S. Political Scene
------------------------
*** U.S. politicians rush to confess past sexual sins
*** House panel agrees only $3.4 bln for IMF
*** House, Senate leaders say agree on U.S. tax cuts
*** Clinton said likely to endorse U.S. farm relief plan
*** Republicans say will avoid fight on spending bills
*** Former Gov. Wallace in critical condition
The Courts
----------
*** U.S. High Court to decide census statistical plan
*** Anti-tobacco lawyers want smoker-free U.S. jury
*** Judge dismisses Democratic fund-raising charges
*** Rabbi charged in wife's murder after 4 years
*** Va. Christian teacher indicted over student affair
*** U.S. jury indicts Italian for cruise ship rape
U.S. Business and Financial News
--------------------------------
*** U.S. stocks tumble as Clinton uncertainty rattles
*** U.S. steel companies, workers worried by imports
World Front Page Stories
------------------------
*** Wall Street buckles, Asia markets fold
*** Russia Duma set to vote on PM-designate Primakov
*** More join Congo food airlifts, war rages on
*** UN's Annan tells Milosevic to stop Kosovo violence
*** Gaddafi demands talks before any Lockerbie trial
*** IMF errors may cost lives -Toffler
The World Political Scene
-------------------------
*** U.S. envoy sees Mideast peace hurdles
*** China mulls approval of opposition party-HK group
*** U.S. says it averts collapse in N. Korea dialogue
The Americas
------------
*** Mexicans plead with Zedillo for flood relief
*** Air Canada and pilots reach deal to end strike
*** Brutality, drug dealing rife in Haiti police - UN
*** Cuba to try alleged migrant smugglers from U.S.
*** Protests by displaced paralyze Colombia oil town
*** Brazil Cardoso's popularity rises amid crisis
Europe and Russia
-----------------
*** As Bosnian vote looms, leaders abandon moderation
*** 2 jailed for Spain 'dirty war' role
*** Kohl treated to hero's welcome in hometown
*** Generali signs Holocaust commission pact
Africa
------
*** Former UNITA officers in Luanda call for peace
India and the Middle East
-------------------------
*** Israel seals West Bank, Gaza after killings
*** Battle rages to save Dhaka dike as floods worsen
*** Iran in new war games as Afghan tension boil
*** Blast in northern Sri Lanka kills several
*** 2 drug couriers shot dead on Tajik-Afghan border
*** Libya shows images of 'Gaddafi assassination bid'
The Far East
------------
*** 1 dead as pro-Hun Sen crowd marches in Cambodia
*** China MD-11 makes emergency landing, 7 hurt
*** Vietnam party daily slams reports on mass amnesty
*** China discharges 100,000 soldiers under reforms
*** Indonesia withdraws final combat troops from Aceh
*** Australia's Hanson labeled a 'joke'
Science and Medicine
--------------------
*** Low fat diet reverses diabetes, at least in mice
*** New species of mayfly found preserved in amber
*** Immunex reports positive Novantrone trial results
*** Hay diet could prevent E. coli outbreaks - study
*** Many pregnant English women keep smoking -study
*** Transsexuals forced into risky business - study
The Environment
---------------
*** Lead pollution dates back 6,000 years, study finds
*** Alien species push native animals near extinction
*** Gore speaks on global warming, silent on Clinton
*** U.S. oil and natural gas reserves increase
Human Interest
--------------
*** Billy Graham crusade not religious, Fla. rules
*** Words of 'God' reach Fla. by billboards, buses
*** Designer unveils plan for new wonder of the world
*** Titanic rivets may sink theory of causing tragedy
----------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. Front Page Stories
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** House panel votes to release Starr report on Internet
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress will publish on the Internet part of
Kenneth Starr's report on the White House sex-and-perjury scandal,
promising the world an extraordinary glimpse into details of a
tangled affair that could bring down a president. The 445-page report
sent to the House, including a 280-page narrative outlining President
Clinton's affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky,
should be available to the public by Friday afternoon, House leaders
said Thursday. The release of the material, now locked away in a
House office building, promises to be crucial to determining whether
Clinton can weather the scandal and keep the support of nervous
Democrats waiting for the report's details to emerge. House leaders
said the information would be accessible on the Library of Congress'
"Thomas" web site - http://thomas.loc.gov - or a special House site
being prepared at www.house.gov/icreport. The report should be
available Friday afternoon. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556000710-a1f
*** Related: Internet smut hearing collides with Starr report, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555997580-565
*** Also: White House trying to find response to Starr report, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555996560-fc1
*** And: Clinton scandal report faces Internet traffic jam, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555994967-82b
*** Hillary Clinton comes out to bat for president
WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - Hillary Rodham Clinton came out to bat
publicly Thursday for her husband under fire and her press secretary
said the first lady had forgiven him for his infidelity. "None of
what has been done in the last five-and-a-half years to put our
country on the right track ... could have been done without the
leadership of one particular person," Mrs. Clinton said as she
introduced the president at a dinner for Democratic business
executives. "Day after day I've seen his determination - his
unrelenting determination to do what is best for America and for the
children who will inherit our country," she said in her first
comprehensive remarks since Clinton admitted publicly last month to
having an affair with a woman half his age. Mrs. Clinton recited a
list of accomplishments, including the extension of health insurance
to millions of uninsured children, improvement of schools and efforts
to help secure peace in Northern Ireland. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556000523-5f0
*** Related: Clinton thanks Democrats at fund-raiser, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556001373-7a4
*** Also: Clinton's stream of apologies becomes a flood, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555999002-316
*** Also: White House sex scandal in Clinton's own words, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555997857-234
*** And: Clinton apologizes to cabinet in tough session, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556001600-e57
*** Clinton worries seen undermining U.S. economy
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Worries over President Clinton's political
future hurt global financial markets Thursday amid growing fears the
scandal could undermine one of his administration's key legacies: the
solid U.S. economy. Analysts widely agreed that wobbly political
leadership in Washington was a sure recipe for shaky markets
everywhere. And combined with the uncertainty over the outlook for
emerging markets around the world, the domestic upheaval could damage
confidence and demand in the world's top economy, they warned.
"Markets cannot live with a wounded president facing the risk of
impeachment for months and months to come," said David Hale, chief
economist at Scudder Kemper Investments in Chicago. "If the stock
market falls (drastically), you depress consumer confidence and
spending. It's a negative, but it's hard to quantify yet." See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555995470-50d
*** Related: Clinton, Nixon and the market, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555996555-1f2
*** Northwest, pilots reach tentative contract pact
PLYMOUTH, Minn. (Reuters) - Northwest Airlines Corp. and negotiators
representing its 6,200 striking pilots reached a tentative contract
agreement Thursday that could end a 13-day shutdown of the nation's
fourth-largest airline. In an announcement at the White House,
President Clinton said the two sides have "reached terms that form
the basis of an agreement." The pilots will remain on strike at the
St. Paul, Minn.-based airline until at least Saturday, when the
union's bargaining committee, the Master Executive Council, meets in
Minneapolis to consider the pact. Details of the agreement, crafted
over the past three days were being withheld until that meeting,
though sources familiar with the contract said both sides made
concessions in their wage demands. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555999528-c3f
*** Swissair probe highlights wiring fault issue
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The investigation of last week's crash of a
Swissair jet has focused attention once again on sometimes deadly
aircraft wiring problems, aviation safety experts said. While the
Swissair investigation has a long way to go, investigators have found
early signs of heat damage to the cockpit and evidence of
interference with the MD-11 plane's electrical systems. Swissair
flight 111, traveling from New York to Geneva, went down in the water
near Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Sept. 2 killing all 229 people on
board. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555995066-1dc
*** Former U.S. envoy Crowe to head Africa bombings probe
WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - Adm. William Crowe, a former U.S. ambassador
to Britain, will investigate whether there were security lapses at
two U.S. embassies in Africa hit by suicide bombings Aug. 7, the
State Department said Thursday. Crowe will head two "accountability
review boards" which will probe the bombings in Nairobi, where 253
people - 12 of them Americans - died and more than 5,000 were
injured, and Dar es Salaam, where 10 people were killed and dozens
hurt. Questions he will look into include whether security measures
were adequate and properly implemented, what intelligence and
information were available, and whether anyone was in breach of their
duty, spokesman James Rubin said. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555997403-482
*** Also: U.S. attack made Bin Laden a hero - Sudan's Turabi, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555996069-eb1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The U.S. Political Scene
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** U.S. politicians rush to confess past sexual sins
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - From Idaho to Indiana, American politicians
are being forced to follow the example of President Clinton by
washing their dirty sexual linen in public. Idaho Republican Helen
Chenoweth, a heroine for Christian conservatives nationwide, became
the latest politician Thursday to acknowledge an adulterous
relationship, after being confronted by the Idaho Statesman
newspaper. "Fourteen years ago, when I was a private citizen and a
single woman, I was involved in a relationship that I came to regret,
that I was not proud of," Chenoweth said of her 6-year relationship
with Vern Ravenscroft, a former state legislator who was and remains
married. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555995098-f55
*** Also: Clinton's Democrats take on new importance, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555995581-989
*** House panel agrees only $3.4 bln for IMF
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A key U.S. congressional panel voted Thursday
to give the International Monetary Fund $3.4 billion, a fraction of
the money the White House says the fund needs to tackle global
financial emergencies. Despite turmoil in world markets and warnings
IMF cash reserves were depleted by bailouts in Asia and Russia, the
House Appropriations Committee refused to give the IMF the full $18
billion sought by the Clinton administration. Instead, it agreed to
appropriate only $3.4 billion to pay Washington's share of the New
Arrangements to Borrow, a special fund to help the IMF cope with
problems threatening world economic stability. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555999411-011
*** Related: House panel snubs White House on IMF, abortion, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555999888-07d
*** House, Senate leaders say agree on U.S. tax cuts
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House and Senate Republican leaders said
Thursday they had reached a general agreement to cut taxes this year
by $70 billion to $80 billion over five years by using the budget
surplus. "I believe we have broad agreement," said Senate Majority
Leader Trent Lott. "We still have to look at the details of what
would be in it," he said after a meeting with House Speaker Newt
Gingrich. President Clinton opposes using the budget surplus for tax
cuts this year, and has said surpluses should be set aside until a
long-term plan to shore up Social Security was developed. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555995860-219
*** Related: Republicans to push for U.S. tax cuts, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555998087-fb0
*** Also: Clinton will not agree to use surplus for tax cut, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555995542-b65 and
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555995922-9c1
*** Clinton said likely to endorse U.S. farm relief plan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton is expected to endorse a $3
billion farm-relief proposal Friday offered by Senate Democrats amid
growing criticism that the White House has moved too slowly to help
cash-short farmers. The measure would protect farmers from skidding
world prices for grains and livestock, giving growers more generous
harvest time loans and payments for weather-related losses. Sponsored
by Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the
legislation would also pay farmers to store grain and make corn
silage eligible for the loan-deficiency payments, which occur when
market prices fall below Agriculture Department loan rates. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555998157-56b
*** Republicans say will avoid fight on spending bills
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Republicans said Thursday they
planned to avoid a fight with the White House over spending bills
that could cut off money to federal agencies next month. But
Republican leaders said Congress will need at least a week-long
extension of the Sept. 30 deadline to pass the 13 bills that keep the
government running with the start of the new fiscal year in October.
Some Republicans have accused the White House of setting up a
confrontation with Congress over the spending bills - which could
result in cutting off funds to some agencies - as a ploy to divert
attention from the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555999028-b8e
*** Former Gov. Wallace in critical condition
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (Reuters) - Former Alabama Gov. George Wallace, once
the standard bearer of segregation in the U.S. South, was rushed to a
hospital Thursday in critical condition with an acute bacterial
infection. Jackson Hospital spokeswoman Carmen Stegall said, "He's
suffering from septic shock, an overwhelming bacterial bloodstream
condition." Stegall said the cause of the infection was still
unknown, but "that's what we're trying to find out right now."
Wallace, 79, was also having difficulty breathing, Stegall said. The
hospitalization was the third this summer for the former governor and
four-time presidential candidate who was paralyzed by a would-be
assassin's bullet in 1972. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555995687-c27
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Courts
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** U.S. High Court to decide census statistical plan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court agreed Thursday to quickly
decide if statistical sampling may be used for the 2000 census, a
high-stakes case that could sway elections and affect how billions of
tax dollars are spent. The case has political overtones because
sampling would most likely add population to cities and other areas
that tend to vote Democratic. That would help Democrats more than it
would help Republicans in the drawing of new political boundaries.
The case also could affect billions of dollars in government funds
that are allocated based on state and city populations. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555996414-47a
*** Anti-tobacco lawyers want smoker-free U.S. jury
MIAMI (Reuters) - Anti-tobacco lawyers want the judge in Florida's
$500 billion class-action lawsuit against cigarette makers to ban
smokers from the jury that will decide the landmark case, a court
official said Thursday. If granted, the ban would further delay the
start of testimony in the pioneering case by extending jury
selection, now ending its 10th week. Lawyers have so far screened
about 1,000 people in Engle et. al. vs. RJ Reynolds et. al. and have
tentatively settled on 84 of the 96 people needed for a jury pool.
See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555995137-de4
*** Judge dismisses Democratic fund-raising charges
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge dismissed all but one of the
six charges Thursday against Democratic fund-raiser Maria Hsia
arising from contributions to President Clinton's 1996 re-election
effort and other campaigns. In a setback for the Justice Department's
campaign finance task force, Judge Paul Friedman dismissed the false
statement charges against Hsia, but let stand the conspiracy charge
at the heart of the case against her. Hsia was charged in February
with conspiring to defraud the U.S. by using corporate money
belonging to a Buddhist Temple to make illegal campaign contributions
to the Clinton-Gore campaign. The indictment alleges Hsia and others
solicited contributions for a 1996 fund-raising event at a Buddhist
temple in Hacienda, Calif. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555998323-a10
*** Rabbi charged in wife's murder after 4 years
CHERRY HILL, N.J. (Reuters) - The former spiritual leader of a
prominent New Jersey synagogue was charged Thursday with arranging
his wife's murder following a criminal investigation that spanned
nearly four years, police said. Rabbi Fred Neulander, wearing an
orange prison uniform, appeared in Camden County Superior Court for
arraignment on charges of conspiracy and accomplice murder stemming
from the death of 52-year-old Carol Neulander, who was bludgeoned to
death in her living room Nov. 1, 1994. He later returned to a county
prison cell with bail set at $400,000. Prosecutor Lee Solomon said
the founder of Congregation M'kor Shalom in Cherry Hill had a long
history of extra-marital affairs and tried to hire an underworld hit
man to kill his wife after one of his lovers demanded that he get a
divorce. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555998343-b73
*** Va. Christian teacher indicted over student affair
RADFORD, Va. (Reuters) - A woman who taught in a one-room Christian
school in Virginia was indicted Thursday for allegedly having a
long-running sexual affair with a former 8th grade student. Cynthia
Mariam Carroll was charged with seven counts of felony carnal
knowledge with a child stemming from sexual liaisons she allegedly
had with the student from Dec. 1991 through Sept. 1992. Carroll, the
lone teacher and principal of the 3-Angels Christian School in
Radford, could not be reached for comment on the indictments, handed
down in state circuit court. The student, Jeremy Leonard Cultice, now
20, filed a $25 million civil lawsuit in August against Carroll and
the Potomac Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, which
operated the school. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556000958-aee
*** U.S. jury indicts Italian for cruise ship rape
MIAMI (Reuters) - A U.S. grand jury has indicted an Italian seaman
for the alleged rape of a crew member on a Carnival Cruise Lines ship
on which he served as a senior officer, the U.S. Attorney's Office
said Thursday. U.S. authorities will seek the extradition of
defendant Yurij Senes from Italy where he is under arrest, the office
said in a statement. Senes, who was third engineer on board the
Carnival Cruise Lines ship "Imagination," allegedly raped another
crew member Aug. 13 during a week-long cruise of the western
Caribbean. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555996185-4b7
----------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. Business and Financial News
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** U.S. stocks tumble as Clinton uncertainty rattles
U.S. stocks extended their losses Thursday as investors worried about
President Clinton's future on the day before a long-awaited report
about his affair with Monica Lewinsky is made public by Congress. The
Dow closed unofficially off 249.48 points, or 3 percent, at 7615.54,
adding to Wednesday's 155 point loss. Stocks headed south at the
opening bell as already jittery investors began worrying that Clinton
may be forced to resign or be impeached. On the NYSE, declining
issues sprinted ahead of advances by 3-to-1, with 880 million shares
changing hands, among the heaviest on record. The Nasdaq shed 39.22
points to close at 1585.33. The broad market Standard & Poor's
500-stock index shed 26.01 points to close at 980.19. The 30-year
Treasury bond closed up 1-9/32, pushing the yield to a record closing
low of 5.18%. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555996705-1fd
*** U.S. steel companies, workers worried by imports
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. steel producers and workers vowed
Thursday to "fight back" against steel imports from Asia, Russia and
other countries they said were dumping product in U.S. markets and
threatening American jobs. The nation's largest steel manufacturers,
Bethlehem Steel Corp., LTV Steel Corp. and USX Corp., as well as
other steel companies joined forces with the United Steelworkers of
America to launch a national campaign aimed at obtaining relief from
a "flood" of cheap imports. At a news conference, the newly formed
coalition said it would sponsor an advertising campaign to educate
the public and lawmakers about the impact a surge in low-priced steel
imports from economically depressed Asia and Russia was having on
their industry, which employs 170,000 people. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555997430-23b
----------------------------------------------------------------------
World Front Page Stories
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Wall Street buckles, Asia markets fold
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asian markets buckled Friday under the weight
of an overnight fall on world markets, unsettled by fears about
President Clinton's future. Tokyo shares also came under early
pressure from a gloomy report from the Bank of Japan, outlining
deteriorating economic conditions. By 0413 GMT, the Nikkei had fallen
nearly 5% or 670.88 points to 13,995.15, hammered by a 3.17%
overnight fall in the Dow Jones industrials in New York. "There are
mounting bearish factors," said Kazue Mayuzumi, head of equities at
Nikko Securities. "A deterioration in U.S. profits ... would spill
over into Japan's ailing economy." Hong Kong suffered a double-whammy
of Wall Street losses and home-grown price cuts on flats by several
property developers, losing 2.26% at the open. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556002072-74b
*** Related: Tokyo stocks slide 5% on meltdown jitters, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556002102-46a
*** Also: World marts gyrate wildly as investors seek safety, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555997608-c5f
*** Also: Brazil markets stung by dollar flight, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555997329-a84
*** Also: LatAm bourses battered despite economic measures, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555997087-9e8
*** Russia Duma set to vote on PM-designate Primakov
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's parliament votes Friday on whether to
confirm Yevgeny Primakov as the new prime minister amid signs of rare
political unity during a period of political and economic turbulence.
President Boris Yeltsin, after three days of indecision amid mounting
pressure from the Communist-dominated State Duma lower house of
parliament, nominated Acting Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov
Thursday. The likely "yes" vote on former spymaster Primakov would
mark a major step in ending the country's political crisis sparked
when Yeltsin abruptly dismissed the government of Sergei Kiriyenko
last month. The Duma twice rejected the president's initial choice,
Viktor Chernomyrdin, the prime minister from 1992 to March this year,
whom they blamed for the sorry state of the Russian economy. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555997859-562
*** Also: Russia asks Japan foreign min to postpone trip, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556001625-c1c
*** Also: U.S. looks forward to good ties with Primakov, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555995434-0d2
*** More join Congo food airlifts, war rages on
KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Reuters) - International
donors have lined up to join an airlift of food and medical supplies
for the Congolese capital Kinshasa but there is no sign of a truce in
the civil war that has led to the emergency. France announced
Thursday it would fly food and medical aid to Kinshasa Sunday and
then help out with airlifts to other parts of the Democratic Republic
of the Congo. The Cooperation Ministry in Paris made the announcement
as Belgium landed the first emergency aid flight in Kinshasa, where
nearly 6 million residents are cut off from port supplies because of
civil war raging since Aug. 2. France said one of its aircraft would
fly in 34 tons of food along with medical kits and electricity
generators. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555998120-75d
*** Also: Kinshasa airlifts start, rebels claim gains, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555995488-9be
*** UN's Annan tells Milosevic to stop Kosovo violence
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan disclosed
Thursday a critical letter he sent to Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic charging indiscriminate violence against civilians in
Kosovo, the destruction of villages and the continuing flow of
refugees. U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said no reply had been received
to the letter sent Sept. 1 that asked Milosevic to "take immediate
steps to end the practice of the destruction of homes and livelihoods
by security forces...and to ensure respect for and protection of
human rights." Annan's position was supported by the Security
Council, whose president, Hans Dahlgren of Sweden, called on
Milosevic to "halt all repressive actions against the civilian
population in Kosovo." See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555996964-634
*** Gaddafi demands talks before any Lockerbie trial
TUNIS, Tunisia (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi ruled out
Thursday any trial of the two Libyan suspects in the Lockerbie
bombing unless the U.S. and Britain held talks to guarantee the men
would not be transferred to either country. "They must negotiate with
us, against their will, otherwise there will not be a trial," Gaddafi
said. Both Washington and London have said the proposal, backed by
the U.N. Security Council, for a trial in the Netherlands was not
negotiable. Gaddafi said Libya, which strongly oppose any trial of
the suspects in the U.S. or Britain, accepted a trial in a third
country. But he said the arrangements made by Britain with the
Netherlands for the court case there would allow the transfer of the
two suspects to Britain at any time. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555996822-38e
*** IMF errors may cost lives -Toffler
BUENOS AIRES Argentina (Reuters) - Social thinker Alvin Toffler warns
Latin American nations that free markets are not the gospel truth and
that International Monetary Fund medicine can costs lives. The
futurist and author of best-sellers like "Future Shock" and "The
Third Wave" said Wednesday the IMF prescribed "essentially the same
medicine to every disease." "To go into Indonesia (earlier this year)
and to say that they should raise interest rates in order to attract
capital was not only stupid and arrogant, it got people killed," he
said, referring to attacks on the Chinese minority. "And that's not
the only place - around the world they leave a trail of social
unrest," said Toffler. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555996190-b2f
*** Also: IMF plays down chance of early Russia cash, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555995778-e78
*** Also: IMF says Asia slowing Latam growth, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555995039-eed
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The World Political Scene
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** U.S. envoy sees Mideast peace hurdles
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. envoy Dennis Ross said Thursday that
Israelis and Palestinians were interested in breaking an 18-month
impasse in Middle East peacemaking but still had many differences to
overcome. "The initial set of discussions, I think, reflect that both
sides are interested in trying to find a way forward and we'll see if
we can do it," Ross said hours after meeting Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu on the second day of his mediation mission. "We're
always hopeful but we also have to deal with realities. There are a
lot of different issues that still have to be sorted out," he told
reporters. Asked earlier if his mission would help deflect attention
from the White House sex scandal plaguing President Bill Clinton,
Ross smiled slightly but did not respond. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555996543-906
*** China mulls approval of opposition party-HK group
HONG KONG (Reuters) - China has said it might let dissidents
establish a pro-democracy opposition party, according to a Hong
Kong-based human rights group. The Information Center of Human Rights
and Democratic Movement in China said Thursday that a Chinese
official had told dissidents Beijing was considering allowing them to
form a party. The official's reported remarks coincided with a
landmark visit to China by U.N. human rights chief Mary Robinson. The
official at the registry for organizations in Jinan in eastern
Shandong province told two dissidents trying to register the Chinese
Democratic Party that the government was considering allowing the
party to be formed, the center said. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556002327-8b4
*** U.S. says it averts collapse in N. Korea dialogue
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. said Thursday it had averted a
collapse in the fragile dialogue with North Korea, reviving
cooperation on freezing the Stalinist state's nuclear program and on
reining in its missiles threat. State Department spokesman James
Rubin said without the agreements, reached in talks in New York last
week, the U.S. could have faced a "return to the brink of crisis"
over Pyongyang's nuclear threat that gripped the world in 1994. But
he said there were still deep suspicions the reclusive state is
building a secret underground nuclear facility which can only be
dispelled with an outside inspection of the site. The two sides
agreed to resume talks Oct. 1. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555997294-eef
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Americas
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Mexicans plead with Zedillo for flood relief
TONALA, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexicans left homeless by raging
floodwaters and hungry after days without food begged President
Ernesto Zedillo for supplies Thursday after nearly a week of deadly
storms in southern Chiapas state. Hundreds of others, many barefoot
and soaked to the skin by driving rain, struggled to reach their
villages in a frantic search for loved ones stranded in hundreds of
small villages cut off by the swollen rivers. Nonstop storms on the
Pacific coast of Chiapas have turned rivers into raging torrents that
have swept along everything in their path, including highways and
thousands of homes. At least 40 people were feared dead and some
25,000 left homeless. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556001016-d92
*** Related: Mexicans search for missing in Chiapas floods, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555996963-972
*** Air Canada and pilots reach deal to end strike
TORONTO (Reuters) - Air Canada and its 2,100 striking pilots reached
a tentative agreement late Thursday to end a nine-day strike which
had crippled the country's largest airline. The company and its
pilots union told a news conference in Montreal that the two sides
reached a tentative contract agreement at 8:30 p.m. EDT. Pilots will
vote to ratify the deal over the next three days. While both sides
expressed confidence that the proposed contract will be ratified,
they said they have agreed to keep details of it secret for the time
being. "No details are to be released until our association is
informed of what the deal is," said Peter Foster, a spokesman for the
union. Air Canada's planes were grounded Sept. 1 after contract talks
failed over demands by the pilots for higher wages. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556001553-bfd
*** Brutality, drug dealing rife in Haiti police - UN
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - The U.N.'s mission in Haiti accused
the country's fledgling police force Thursday of often acting in a
brutal manner and said an increasing number of its members were
involved in drug smuggling. However, the report said despite these
complaints, police conduct had improved in some areas over the past
year. Police shot 13 people in the first five months of 1998 against
22 in the same period last year. In the first five months of 1998,
292 agents were suspended and disciplinary action was taken against
332. From January to May this year, 150 reports of brutality were
investigated and confirmed by the MICIVIH. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555998747-7e9
*** Cuba to try alleged migrant smugglers from U.S.
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba said Thursday it intended to try six
Florida-based men it captured at sea on suspicion of trying to
smuggle illegal immigrants from the communist-run Caribbean island
into the U.S. The men, including five U.S. residents of Cuban origin,
are being detained after being intercepted by Cuban patrol boats
during an apparent wave of smuggling attempts this summer. The U.S.
Coast Guard said last week that five Florida men had been caught in
Cuban waters on suspicion of smuggling immigrants. The U.S. has been
strictly upholding a 1995 immigration accord this year and returning
to Cuba scores of would-be escapees picked up at sea or after
landing. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555996022-ebf
*** Protests by displaced paralyze Colombia oil town
BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Thousands of people made homeless by
Colombia's civil war protested in its main oil town Thursday,
prompting oil workers to down tools in solidarity and virtually shut
it down. There were no reports of serious violence from Thursday's
mass street protests involving up to 10,000 peasants who have poured
into the grimy, river-front oil town of Barrancabermeja in recent
weeks. But Cuban-inspired National Liberation Army rebels ambushed a
column of armored personnel carriers on the outskirts of the city
Wednesday night. The vehicles were dispatched from Bogota for crowd
control in Barrancabermeja and were ferrying about 50 soldiers into
the city at the time of the attack, military spokesmen said. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555996168-727
*** Also: Colombia's Pastrana pays tribute to police, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555998835-47e
*** Brazil Cardoso's popularity rises amid crisis
SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazilian President Fernando Henrique
Cardoso's popularity has climbed amid a financial crisis roiling the
country's stocks and currency markets, a poll revealed Thursday. A
nationwide Ibope poll showed 47% of those surveyed would vote for
Cardoso in the Oct. 4 elections, up from a previous 44%. The
president also strengthened his lead against his main opponent,
leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, to 24% from a former 19%.
Lula's support dropped to 23% from 25% in the earlier poll. The
latest poll surveyed 3,000 voters across Brazil between Sept. 3 and
8. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556000606-143
*** Also: Brazil raises interest rates to plug dollar outflows, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556000260-3b7
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Europe and Russia
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** As Bosnian vote looms, leaders abandon moderation
SARAJEVO (Reuters) - In their final pronouncements before this
weekend's Bosnian elections, leaders of the country's three ethnic
groups issued tough statements backing their own communities, dashing
Western hopes of a spirit of reconciliation. Carlos Westendorp, the
Spanish diplomat overseeing the peace process in Bosnia, said this
week he was confident that moderates would gain in the two-day
presidential and parliamentary elections. Robert Barry, the
international official supervising the elections, backed his view,
saying he believed that Bosnian voters would send their politicians
the message "that they are tired of all this nationalist posturing."
See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555997103-e0c
*** 2 jailed for Spain 'dirty war' role
MADRID (Reuters) - A former Socialist government minister and his
ex-deputy began serving 10-year prison sentences Thursday for their
involvement in Spain's "dirty war" against Basque separatists. Former
prime minister Felipe Gonzalez, who numbered the two among his
closest aides in the 1980s, joined the entire Socialist leadership
and several thousand chanting supporters for an emotional send-off
outside the Guadalajara Prison northeast of Madrid. Just two days
after the Supreme Court denied their pleas to remain free while
appealing against convictions, former interior minister Jose
Barrionuevo and former national security chief Rafael Vera were
ordered to turn themselves in. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555995239-a36
*** Kohl treated to hero's welcome in hometown
LUDWIGSHAFEN, Germany (Reuters) - Chancellor Helmut Kohl got a hero's
welcome in his hometown Thursday as the jeers that have marred many
of his campaign rallies elsewhere turned to cheers. Savoring the
chance to speak without a chorus of boos and whistles, Kohl slipped
into his local Palatinate accent and turned on the homespun charm.
"It feels good to be home," Kohl said before beginning a 90-minute
address laden with the kitsch-filled stories about his childhood and
post-war hardships that draw chuckles in big cities but won hearty
applause in this Rhine River town famed for its sprawling chemical
factories. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555996696-d4c
*** Generali signs Holocaust commission pact
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali SpA has
joined five other major European insurers in signing an agreement to
form an international commission to resolve Holocaust-era insurance
claims, New York insurance superintendent Neil Levin said Thursday.
The agreement, called a memorandum of understanding, has already been
signed by Zurich Insurance Co., Allianz AG Holding of Germany,
France's Axa-UAP , Basler Leben and Winterthur, which was acquired
last year by CS Group of Switzerland. Levin said he and National
Association of Insurance Commissioners President Glenn Pomeroy
received a letter from Generali, Italy's largest insurer, Wednesday,
informing them that the agreement had been signed. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555995113-c92
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Africa
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Former UNITA officers in Luanda call for peace
LUANDA, Angola (Reuters) - A group of senior UNITA military officers,
now integrated into the Angolan Armed Forces under the country's
peace process, called Thursday on UNITA forces still in the field to
lay down their arms. "We consider that UNITA must be a civilian
political party," said Demosthenes Chilungatila. Chilungatila was a
general in the UNITA rebel movement and until Sept. 1 was
vice-minister of defense in Angola's Unity Government. He was
accompanied by Gen. Ben Ben, former UNITA commander-in-chief and now
deputy commander-in-chief of the FAA. Their statement was the latest
in a series by UNITA supporters since Aug. 31 when the Angolan
government moved to suspend UNITA ministers and members of parliament
in retaliation for the rebel movement's failure to disarm. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555995209-fbf
*** Also: Annan warns UN force may quit Angola by Feb., see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555995577-00d
----------------------------------------------------------------------
India and the Middle East
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Israel seals West Bank, Gaza after killings
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel sealed its borders with the West Bank
and Gaza Strip Friday and put its forces on alert after Israeli
soldiers shot dead two Palestinians described by the army as
terrorists. Israel Radio identified the two men as brothers Imad and
Adel Awadallah, allegedly two of the most wanted members of military
wing of the Islamic militant Hamas movement that has killed scores of
Israelis in suicide attacks. Hamas responded to the killings with a
vow to retaliate, saying Israel would "pay a dear price." "Revenge
will be very strong in order to convince (Prime Minister Benjamin)
Netanyahu's government that the continuation of this policy means
they will drink from the same poison and will lose more than the loss
of Hamas," said Mahmoud al-Zahhar, a Hamas political leader in
Palestinian-ruled Gaza. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556003028-116
*** Battle rages to save Dhaka dike as floods worsen
DHAKA, Bangladesh (Reuters) - Thousands of Bangladeshi troops and
rescue workers worked through the night shoring up a vital embankment
in the capital threatening to collapse under the pressure of surging
flood waters. "Efforts have been stepped up to save the
Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra embankment by dumping sandbags and erecting
bamboo walls," said an official. "I can only say the embankment
withstood the onslaught of the rising rivers. We only hope it does
not crumble," said local resident Shahiduddin Mondol. He said he and
many others had evacuated their families Thursday after fears grew
that the dike might give in before morning, inundating tens of
thousands of homes. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556001638-75e
*** Iran in new war games as Afghan tension boil
TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taleban militia pledged
Thursday to punish some of its fighters who "acting on their own"
killed nine Iranian diplomats, an apparent attempt to appease an
angry Iran which is preparing a second round of major war games on
their common border. The Sunni Moslem Taleban, which rules most of
Afghanistan, said renegade Taleban guerrillas acting without orders
killed the Iranians in an incident which has provoked the huge
military buildup by Shiite Iran. In New York, members of the U.N.
Security Council condemned the killings of the Iranian diplomats and
called for an "urgent investigation into these crimes" in order to
bring the perpetrators to justice. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555997540-958
*** Related: U.N. condemns Taleban killing of Iranians, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555996836-07a
*** Blast in northern Sri Lanka kills several
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels exploded
a bomb in northern Sri Lanka Friday, killing several people,
including senior military and police officials, military officials
said. They told Reuters the bomb went off during a meeting at the
Jaffna municipality council office. Further details were not
immediately available. Initial reports said Jaffna mayor P. Sivapalan
and the town's military commander Brigadier Susantha Mendis were
among those caught in the blast that shattered the municipal office.
Several civilians and police officials were also believed to have
been present when the explosion occurred at around 11.15 a.m.
Officials said the area had been sealed off and that no group had
immediately claimed responsibility for the blast. In May, the earlier
mayor of Jaffna, Sarojini Yogeswaran, was shot dead in her home in
the northern peninsula by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
rebels. Jaffna is the former stronghold of the LTTE, who have been
fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in Sri Lanka
since 1983. ###
*** 2 drug couriers shot dead on Tajik-Afghan border
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (Reuters) - Russian border guards in Tajikistan
shot dead two armed drug couriers trying to cross into the ex-Soviet
state from Afghanistan, a spokesman for the guards told Reuters. The
officer said the trespassers had been killed in a shootout with the
border guards as they tried to cross the borderline Pyandzh river in
an inflatable dinghy some 110 miles south of the Tajik capital
Dushanbe. He said that besides firearms the two people had tried to
smuggle into the Central Asian state 8.8 pounds of heroin.
Tajikistan, an impoverished mountainous state of 5.7 million which
lived through a civil war, has become a transit point for drug
traders smuggling cheap Afghan narcotics derived from opium to Europe
across Central Asia. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556003037-ce2
*** Libya shows images of 'Gaddafi assassination bid'
TUNIS, Tunisia (Reuters) - Libya showed television images of what it
said was an assassination attempt in 1996 on its leader Muammar
Gaddafi by an alleged British intelligence agent. The images were
broadcast for the first time Thursday by the London-based Arab
satellite television channel ANN during an interview live with
Gaddafi from Tripoli, and monitored in Tunis. The pictures, with a
commentary by Gaddafi himself, showed the Libyan leader being greeted
by crowds at a people's rally in Wadi Achatt, in the southern
province of Fezzan, when a man threw what Gaddafi said was a hand
grenade at him from less than three meters. "It fell at my feet and I
pushed it away ... It did not explode," Gaddafi said. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555997117-835
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Far East
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** 1 dead as pro-Hun Sen crowd marches in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (Reuters) - An opposition demonstrator was shot
dead and another wounded when a large crowd of Cambodia government
supporters, many with clubs or hand guns, clashed in Phnom Penh
Friday with opposition protesters. Witnesses said the fight between
the rival groups near the home of opposition leader Prince Norodom
Ranariddh was brief, and the protesters appeared to disperse without
further major clashes. Up to 1,000 government supporters marched
through the city, holding up banners supporting the result of the
July 26 election won by government leader Hun Sen and his Cambodian
People's Party. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556002190-d0d
*** Related: Cambodia royalist general urges restraint, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556002468-8b8
*** China MD-11 makes emergency landing, 7 hurt
SHANGHAI, China (Reuters) - Seven people were hurt when a Chinese
MD-11 airliner with jammed front wheels made an emergency landing,
sliding nose down in a shower of sparks at Shanghai airport Thursday.
Fire trucks sprayed chemical foam and water at the China Eastern
Airlines plane and fleeing passengers after the jet skidded to a stop
on the airport tarmac, local TV showed Friday. Passengers were shown
sliding down emergency chutes, some of them tumbling wildly to the
ground, as emergency workers rushed to their aid. Flight MU586,
carrying 120 passengers and 17 crew, was en route to Beijing from
Shanghai on the final leg of its journey from Los Angeles when the
pilot noticed problems with the front landing gear. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556002919-6c1
*** Vietnam party daily slams reports on mass amnesty
HANOI, Vietnam (Reuters) - Vietnam's Communist Party daily slammed
foreign reporting Friday of the country's recent mass amnesty for
prisoners and said inmates were freed because of the country's
lenient policies. Analysts have been quoted in the foreign press as
saying the release of five top dissidents and Buddhist monks as part
of the amnesty stemmed from international pressure and Hanoi's desire
to improve trade ties with the U.S. and Europe. But the Nhan Dan
(People) daily, without referring to the dissidents or monks,
rejected this view. The release of the five was part of an amnesty
for 5,219 inmates to coincide with Vietnam's anniversary of
independence Sept. 2. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556001389-27b
*** China discharges 100,000 soldiers under reforms
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has discharged more than 100,000 soldiers
as part of a plan to slim down and modernize the People's Liberation
Army, the People's Daily said Friday. The troops, taken from
rank-and-file, included many who were released before their normal
term of duty had expired, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party said.
The move was lauded as an important step in shifting budget
priorities for the world's largest army. During the Communist Party's
15th congress last September, party boss Jiang Zemin pledged to trim
500,000 from the PLA's more than 3 million active and reserve troops
over three years. China's State Council has called on local
governments to take steps by the end of the year to find work and
living arrangements for retired servicemen. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556003014-c44
*** Indonesia withdraws final combat troops from Aceh
JAKARTA, Indonesia (Reuters) - The Indonesian armed forces have
withdrawn the 300 remaining combat troops from Aceh province
following the restoration of order in the riot-hit region, the
Jakarta Post reported Friday. The troops were transported by military
trucks from the Aceh Military District Headquarters in the town of
Lhokseumawe Wednesday. The first and second withdrawals of more than
1,000 troops took place Aug. 20 and Aug. 31. Combat troops had been
deployed in the province since the Red Net military operation was
launched in 1989 to crush a Moslem insurgency there. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556001448-ad0
*** Also: Indonesia army says will crack down on protests, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556001356-68a and
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556001423-02d
*** Australia's Hanson labeled a 'joke'
CANBERRA, Australia (Reuters) - Support for Australia's Labor
opposition has dipped dangerously early in the general election
campaign, while nationalist MP Pauline Hanson is struggling for votes
outside her northern heartland, a poll found Friday. The conservative
Liberal-National government holds a healthy lead over Labor, with its
support staying steady at 43% while Labor's dipped three points over
the past week to 39%, the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper poll
showed. Hanson's plan for a 2% tax on everything - dubbed the "Happy
Tax" by one Hanson candidate - has been widely ridiculed and the poll
found 71% of voters were against it, compared with 14% who supported
it. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2556000862-b8d
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Science and Medicine
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Low fat diet reverses diabetes, at least in mice
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fat, not sugar, is the key to controlling
diabetes, U.S. researchers said Thursday. They said mice fed a simple
low-fat diet were cured of their diabetes, and say the same should be
true of people. "If you cut out fat and cut it down to a very low
level - in our case it was 10% of calories consumed - you will
reverse diabetes," said Richard Surwit, a psychiatry professor at
Duke University who led the study. He said problems controlling blood
sugar levels are a side-effect, and not a cause, of diabetes. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555995596-546
*** New species of mayfly found preserved in amber
CARDIFF, Wales (Reuters) - A new species of mayfly, preserved in
amber and estimated to be more than 25 million years old, was
unveiled Thursday. Andrew Ross, a curator of fossils at Britain's
Natural History Museum, told a science conference that the specimen
was extremely unusual. "It is the first known mayfly in Mexican
amber. It's a completely new species," he said. An amber dealer, who
bought the sample from local Indians in Mexico, brought it to Ross
for identification and evaluation. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555994843-688
*** Immunex reports positive Novantrone trial results
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Drug company Immunex Corp. said Thursday that
preliminary results of a phase III clinical trial showed that its
Novantrone drug delayed relapses in multiple sclerosis patients. The
Seattle-based company already markets Novantrone, known generically
as Mitoxantrone, for the treatment of leukemia and prostate cancer
but is hoping to gain approval to market the drug for multiple
sclerosis. The phase III trial of 194 patients showed the median time
to the first relapse was 24 months for those taking the drug compared
to 15 months in the placebo group. The trial revealed the annual
relapse rate for those on Novantrone was 21% or 36%, depending on
dosage, compared to 60% in the placebo group. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555979820-2dd
*** Hay diet could prevent E. coli outbreaks - study
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Simply feeding cattle a hay diet for a few
days before slaughter could prevent outbreaks of E. coli food
poisoning, researchers said Thursday. They said tests showed that the
grain diet now fed to most cattle created just the right conditions
to allow bacteria such as E. coli to become dangerous. But writing in
the journal Science, they say the problem is easily solved - just
clean out the guts of the cattle with a little bit of hay. James
Russell, a U.S. Department of Agriculture microbiologist, and a team
at Cornell University tested a herd of cattle there and found that
grain-feeding created acid conditions in the digestive tracts of
cattle. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555993386-e25
*** Many pregnant English women keep smoking -study
LONDON (Reuters) - Efforts to persuade English mothers-to-be to stop
smoking have made no headway in recent years, British health
officials said Friday. Despite government campaigns warning of the
risks to unborn babies, surveys since 1992 show there has been no
drop in the number of pregnant women smoking, the Health Education
Authority said. Researchers said about one in 10 smokers quit the
habit immediately before becoming pregnant, and slightly more than
one in six stopped during pregnancy. Studies show that smoking during
pregnancy increases the risk of having a child with a low birth
weight and it is associated with a greater chance of sudden infant
death syndrome, or cot death. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555993281-8f9
*** Transsexuals forced into risky business - study
MIAMI (Reuters) - Society's rejection of transsexuals and
transvestites forces them into the sex trade, where they risk
becoming victims of violence and AIDS, according to a University of
Florida study released Thursday. The study of Miami male transsexuals
found they were often rejected by their families at an early age and
had few ways to make a living other than street prostitution, in the
course of which they were often subjected to robbery and rape.
Transsexual prostitutes were infected with HIV, the virus that causes
AIDS, at a much higher rate than female prostitutes, in part because
they indulged in high-risk sex practices to satisfy customers, said
James Bay, a UF graduate anthropologist who wrote the study. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555994829-935
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Environment
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Lead pollution dates back 6,000 years, study finds
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pollution is nothing new - people have been
dirtying the air with lead for eons, research published Thursday
showed. As long as 6,000 years ago, people were causing lead
pollution - mostly by farming, an international team of researchers
found. William Shotyk of the University of Berne in Switzerland and
colleagues studied a peat bog in the Jura Mountains, analyzing layers
that had been undisturbed for 14,000 years. They found that just
about everyone from early farmers, to miners slaving for the Roman
Empire, to medieval German silversmiths, created some levels of lead
pollution. They also found a baseline of natural lead emissions
released as glaciers receded for the first 8,000 years. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555997209-726
*** Alien species push native animals near extinction
CARDIFF, England (Reuters) - All is not well in the animal kingdom
and man is to blame for introducing rogue species into the
environment, scientists said Thursday. American mink rampage around
the British countryside in huge numbers, threatening the domestic
water vole with extinction. Crayfish brought in to conquer a virulent
fungus are eating their smaller brethren, and even the humble
hedgehog is creating havoc among wading birds in the Outer Hebrides.
David MacDonald of Oxford University told Britain's annual science
festival that the American mink, introduced here for farming when
furs were fashionable, was a supreme predator. But he said it had
caused huge problems in the country. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555989408-ff5
*** Gore speaks on global warming, silent on Clinton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Al Gore stuck to his script and
talked about tax breaks, the weather and baseball home run records,
not the intensifying Monica Lewinsky scandal, at a White House event
Thursday. Gore listened to speeches by Deputy Treasury Secretary
Lawrence Summers and Rep. Robert Matsui (D-Calif.), before delivering
brief and lighthearted remarks. Gore trumpeted Matsui's proposed
legislation offering tax breaks to fight global warming, an issue he
has embraced during his executive branch tenure. "I would like to
unveil some startling new information about the sweltering summer
that we have just lived through. You don't have to be a scientist to
know that it has been dangerously hot this summer," he said. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555995487-705
*** U.S. oil and natural gas reserves increase
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Proven crude oil reserves in the U.S. at the
end of 1997 increased for the first time in a decade, while natural
gas reserves were up for the fourth year in a row, the Energy
Information Administration said Thursday. In its annual report on
energy reserves, the EIA said proven crude oil reserves totaled
22.546 billion barrels, up 2.4% from the year before. Natural gas
reserves reached 167.223 trillion cubic feet, up 0.4% from 1996.
Proven reserves are those quantities of oil and natural gas that
geological and engineering data demonstrate can be easily recoverable
in future years from known reservoirs. Half the increase in oil
reserves was due to large revisions in the amount of recoverable
crude in California fields because of better drilling technology. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555992742-692
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Human Interest
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Billy Graham crusade not religious, Fla. rules
TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) - The Rev. Billy Graham may be one of the
nation's best known evangelists, but Florida tax collectors say a
crusade he will hold in Tampa does not qualify for a tax exemption
because it is not a religious institution. The department said it had
denied the group a state sales tax exemption because it did not have
"its own established physical place for worship" where nonprofit
religious services were regularly held. The Billy Graham Evangelistic
Association has headquarters in Minneapolis. Its Billy Graham
Crusades are staged around the country and move into towns as much as
a year before the events, renting office space, hiring staff and
recruiting thousands of volunteers. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555997011-492
*** Words of 'God' reach Fla. by billboards, buses
MIAMI (Reuters) - God is talking to residents of south Florida, and
doing so in a typically mysterious way. This week, roadside ads for
the lottery and local television stations along Interstate 95 were
joined by this white-on-black billboard question: "What Part of 'Thou
Shalt Not ...' didn't you understand? - God." Drivers on a jammed
commuter road faced this warning, in the same lettering: "Keep using
my name in vain, I'll make rush hour longer," also signed simply
"God." None of the statements are attributed to anyone but God. That
anonymity came at the orders of the person who paid for the ad
campaign, which began Sept. 1 and will last through November. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555996610-d6a
*** Designer unveils plan for new wonder of the world
LISBON, Spain (Reuters) - French fashion master Pierre Cardin
presented Thursday a 145-meter high marvel of glass and light to be
built on the site of the former lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the
seven wonders of the ancient world. "It will be a symbol for peace in
the next century," Cardin told journalists, presenting a model of the
lighthouse he plans to erect at the port of the old Egyptian city.
The giant obelisk, made of glass-coated concrete, will contain
thousands of multi-colored lights that will make it visible at night
at a distance of 37 miles. By day, the surface of the new "Pharos of
Alexandria" will reflect the light of the sun just as its giant
predecessor was reputed to have done for some 1,500 years. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555992774-3f5
*** Titanic rivets may sink theory of causing tragedy
BOSTON (Reuters) - A rusted, two-story section of the hull of the
Titanic, put on display in Boston Thursday, may sink the theory that
weak rivets hastened the liner's end, conservators said. Some
scientists have speculated iron rivets from the luxury White Star
liner were prone to snap easily because of an unusually high slag
content. But preliminary tests on the rivets from a 20-ton section of
the hull, torn from the ship when she sank in April 1912 and raised
from the Atlantic Ocean floor last month, show that they are as
strong as those found on modern vessels. Further tests may show
Titanic was a strong ship, despite the apparent fragility of the
twisted, one-inch thick, rusty red hull. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2555998933-7a4
-------------------------------------------------------------
Visit Amazon.com to find and buy books, music, and more. Click here!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/stores/infb05722045
Does someone you know deserve flowers? proflowers.com
http://www.proflowers.com/index.cfm?REF=infobeat_emailbrick
Get the Most Out of News! Upgrade to Outlook Express at
http://www.oe.infobeat.com/text/?email=gleason@rrnet.com.
You are subscribed with e-mail address: [gleason@rrnet.com]
If you'd like to subscribe to other InfoBeat products or
modify your current settings, visit our web site at
http://www.infobeat.com.
You are subscribed with e-mail address: [gleason@rrnet.com]
Copyright 1998 InfoBeat Inc. All rights reserved.
InfoBeat Services are for personal use only. Commercial
use or redistribution in any form, printed or electronic is
prohibited.
-------------------------------------------------------------