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WEEK OF 12/27/941INFO/GENERAL INFO ON INEWS DAILY - INEWS@AOL.COM5TO REACH EDITOR ------------------ INEWSEDIT@AOL.COM$CLICK THE INDEX BUTTON FOR THE MENU.UNITED STATES,USA.LATIN AMERICA,LATIN AMERICA.EUROPE,EUROPE.RUSSIA  FORMER REPUBLICS,CIS.ASIA,ASIA.AFRICA,AFRICA.MIDDLE EAST,MIDDLE EAST.PACIFIC STATES,PACIFIC .INEWS DAILY FREE TRIAL,SUBINFOUNITED STATES+        \FEATURES-CURRENT EVENTS\FEATURES\/        \FINANCIAL-ECONOMY-BUSINESS\FINANCIAL\        \MEDICINE\MEDICINE\        \POLITICS\POLITICS\%        \SCIENCE-TECHNOLOGY\SCIENCE\.           CLICK TRACK TO RETURN TO THIS MENUFEATURES-CURRENT EVENTSE   \U.S. NAVY PURSUES SHIP IN VIOLATION OF SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAQ\2\E   \CIA BELIEVES CHECHEN INVASION MAY CAUSE POWER SHIFT IN RUSSIA\7\G   \DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE ACQUIRES RUSSIAN S-3000 AIR DEFENSE SYSTEM\9\=   \U.S. CONCERNED ABOUT CIVILIAN CASUALTIES IN CHECHNYA\14\-   \U.S. EXTENDS SANCTIONS AGAINST LIBYA\15\0   \U.S. TO LIFT RESTRICTION ON CUBAN PRESS\16\*   \JIMMY CARTER: NAIVE OR VISIONARY?\26\"   \CUBA MISSILE CRISIS TAPES\37\   \CARBON MONOXIDE MANIA\41\>   \THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS, ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION\179\   \TRANSIT MADE FRIENDLY\174\   \U.S. AIR SAFETY\166\=   \REP. KAPTUR LAUNCHES CHILD LABOR AWARENESS CAMPAIGN\161\   \HIROSHIMA BOMB DEBATE\110\D   \SEVERAL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SEEK EXPANSION OF NAFTA PARITY\114\!   \SMALL PLANES AND WEATHER\79\F   \U.S. TO COURT MARTIAL OFFICER INVOLVED IN HELICOPTER SHOTDOWN\81\*   \NORTHWEST AIRLINE TROUBLESHOOTERS\83\!   \U.S. DRUG PROBLEM GROWS\116\B   \TRANSPORTATION DEPT. PLAN NEW AIRLINE SAFETY REGULATIONS\103\    \CNN/NORIEGA TAPE RULING\85\8   \TIME MAGAZINE NAMES THE POPE "MAN OF THE YEAR"\164\2   \WORLD BANK REPORT ON GLOBAL MALNUTRITION\173\0   \NEW COMPUTER MOVIE: WING COMMANDER III\175\7                        CLICK FORWARD FOR MORE CHOICES   \HOLLYWOOD INTERACTIVE\177\.   \U.S. NUCLEAR PLANT CONSTRUCTION ENDS\180\   \WOMEN AND WAGES\181\F   \40 YEAR-OLD DOCUMENT REVEAL U.S. CONSIDERED NUCLEAR ON CHINA\127\>   \US REPORTS A 3-DAY INCIDENT WITH A CHINESE SUBMARINE\148\.           CLICK TRACK TO RETURN TO THIS MENUFINANCIAL-ECONOMY-BUSINESS)   \U.S. ECONOMY CONTINUES TO EXPAND\58\   \ITT TO BUY CAESARS\94\F   \BUSINESSMAN SAYS TECHNOLOGY IS REASON BEHIND FREE TRADE MOVE\147\   \U.S. TRADE DEFICIT\82\.           CLICK TRACK TO RETURN TO THIS MENU	MEDICINE   \LYME DISEASE VACCINE\27\'   \HIV KEY ENZYME SECRET UNLOCKED\54\/   \CHLORINE PROVEN TO DESTROY OZONE LAYER\89\9   \EXACTLY HOW SUNBURN CAUSE SKIN CANCER DISCOVERED\55\0   \ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE: IT'S IN THE GENES\183\.           CLICK TRACK TO RETURN TO THIS MENU	POLITICS@   \DEPARTING DEMOCRATIC LEADERS ADVISES PARTY ON ITS FUTURE\8\*   \MCCURRY NEW WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN\28\-   \A LOOK BACK AT THE LIFE OF DEAN RUSK\45\.   \GINGRICH'S 4 MILLION DOLLAR BOOK DEAL\47\!   \DEE DEE MYERS' DEPARTURE\50\-   \CARTER COMMENTS ON HIS PEACE MISSION\59\<   \WORLD OPINION ON THE CARTER PEACE MISSION TO BOSNIA\57\+   \FLORIDA IMMIGRATION SUIT DISMISSED\65\)   \REPUBLICAN FOREIGN POLICY AGENDA\76\7   \THE DEBATE OVER EXPANDING THE SECURITY COUNCIL\80\A   \HERITAGE FOUNDATION FOREIGN AID "ECONOMIC FREEDOM INDEX"\92\   \TAX BUDGET ANALYSIS\100\F   \TENSION BETWEEN NEW REPUBLICAN CONGRESS AND HOUSE MINORITIES\113\D   \U.S./NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR AGREEMENT SCRUTINIZED BY CONGRESS\124\8   \REPUBLICAN PROPOSE CHANGES IN U.S. FOREIGN AID\125\J   \U.S. WON'T PARTICIPATE IN UN BOSNIAN PULL-OUT UNLESS LED BY NATO\137\K   \CLINTON ADMINISTRATION BLAST REPUBLICAN PROPOSED FOREIGN AID CUTS\150\1   \CLINTON'S MIDDLE CLASS "BILL OF RIGHTS"\157\K   \CLINTON ADMINISTRATION COMPARE DEMOCRATIC AND REPUBLICAN TAX CUTS\158\8   \LANI GUINIER'S PROPOSAL FOR A DIALOGUE ON RACE\176\A   \CLINTON ADMINISTRATION BEGIN TO DEFEND U.S. FOREIGN AID\102\+   \OFFICIAL DEFENDS U.S. FOREIGN AID\165\.           CLICK TRACK TO RETURN TO THIS MENUSCIENCE-TECHNOLOGY   \MOLECULAR COMPUTING\97\%   \6,000-YEAR-OLD ICEMAN UPDATE\99\9   \CAPTIVE BREEDING METHODS & ENDANGERED ELEPHANTS\108\$   \DINOSAUR EMBRYO DISCOVERED\178\,   \U.S. DRAWS CLOSER TO SPACE STATION\182\.           CLICK TRACK TO RETURN TO THIS MENULATIN AMERICAG   \CONTINUED VOLCANO ACTIVITY LEADS TO MORE EVACUATIONS IN MEXICO\29\#   \CONTINUED FALL OF THE PESO\30\"   \REBEL ATTACKS IN COLOMBIA\33\6   \CUBAN EXILE GROUP WARNS NOT TO INVEST IN CUBA\44\-   \NEW MILITARY LEADERSHIP IN NICARAGUA\51\C   \COLOMBIAN CONVICTED OF COLOMBIAN PLANE BOMBING IN US COURT\90\)   \THE LATEST COLLOR FAMILY TRAGEDY\61\+   \INDEPENDENT POLL OF CUBAN CITIZENS\91\(   \PANAMA INVASION 5TH ANNIVERSARY\74\.   \FORMER BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT ACQUITTED\111\J   \RIGHTS GROUPS SAY MEXICAN TROOPS GUILTY OF EXECUTIONS IN CHIAPAS\130\4   \VENEZUELA GOVERNMENT TAKES OVER MORE BANKS\153\;   \U.S. TAKES NEW STEP TO REVITALIZE HAITIAN ECONOMY\151\.           CLICK TRACK TO RETURN TO THIS MENUEUROPE%   \SARAJEVO: 1000TH DAY OF SIEGE\5\"   \CHRISTMAS EVE IN SARAJEVO\13\1   \RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ENDANGERED IN BULGARIA\18\1   \ITALY SEEKS WAYS OUT OF POLITICAL CRISIS\25\,   \ROMANIA FIVE YEARS AFTER REVOLUTION\53\   \EUROPEAN UNION EXPANDS\46\2   \OECD REPORT SAYS RECOVERY SHOUND CONTINUE\73\M   \SERBIAN LEADER IN GREECE TO PROPOSE A CONFEDERATION OF BALKAN STATES\93\K   \DELORS ANNOUNCES HE WILL NOT BE A CANDIDATE FOR FRENCH PRESIDENCY\118\&   \EU EFFORTS TO REBUILD MOSTAR\121\E   \TURKISH PROSECUTOR APPEALS VERDICT OF KURDISH TREASON TRIAL\126\4   \TO WITHDRAW OR NOT TO WITHDRAW FROM BOSNIA\146\2   \TEMPORARY LIFTING OF YUGOSLAV EXPORT BAN\154\   \BALTIC ECONOMY\156\9   \FORMER COMMUNIST PARTY REGAINS POWER IN BULGARIA\84\   \BULGARIAN ELECTION\104\   \SLOVAK ECONOMY\142\G   \U.S. EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER TURKEY'S ATTEMPT TO DEAL WITH PKK\152\.           CLICK TRACK TO RETURN TO THIS MENURUSSIA/FORMER SOVIET REPUBLICSC   \RUSSIAN INVASION OF CHECHNYA COME UNDER CRITICISM IN RUSSIA\4\G   \RUSSIA DENIES REPORTS OF HEAVY CIVILIAN CASUALTIES IN CHECHNYA\21\1   \CHECHEN INVASION TAKES TOLL ON CIVILIANS\22\E   \INDISCRIMINATE CHECHEN BOMBING GROWS UNPOPULAR WITH RUSSIANS\34\   \UZBEK ELECTIONS\38\.   \CSCE SENDS PEACEKEEPERS TO AZERBAIJAN\40\E   \EXPERT SAYS NOTHING HAPPENED IN CHECHNYA TO WARRANT INVASION\42\   \CHECHNYA AND OIL\62\;   \RUSSIA CONCERNED ABOUT CHECHEN TERRORISM IN MOSCOW\77\*   \HISTORY OF THE CHECHEN CHALLENGE\119\&   \CRISIS IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS\115\;   \CZECH/RUSSIAN NUCLEAR POWER AGREEMENT CONTROVERSY\159\)   \UN TO SEND OBSERVERS TAJIKISTAN\163\H   \SOME FORMER SOVIET STATES MAY NOT MAKE TRANSITION TO DEMOCRACY\129\H   \U.S. SAYS IT IS TAKING A NEUTRAL POSITION ON CHECHNYA INVASION\149\.           CLICK TRACK TO RETURN TO THIS MENUASIA%   \MISSING TOURISTS IN CAMBODIA\11\C   \VIETNAMESE PRIME MINISTER MEETS WITH NEW CATHOLIC CARDINAL\17\9   \DEMONSTRATION IN BURMA AGAINST CHINESE INFLUENCE\19\.   \BURMA: SEEKING WORLD APPROVAL AND AID\20\G   \CHINESE LAWYER GETS 3-YEARS HARD LABOR FOR USING A FAX MACHINE\23\:   \NEPAL'S COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT WINS CONFIDENCE VOTE\31\-   \CHINA/U.S. COPYRIGHT TALKS BREAKDOWN\43\7   \CHINESE ATTEMPT TO JOIN GATT SUFFERS A SETBACK\64\"   \INDIAN POLITICAL SCANDALS\66\6   \INDONESIAN STUDENTS PROTEST CHECHNYA INVASION\67\E   \CORPORATE DONATIONS FLOW TO POLITICAL PARTIES AGAIN IN JAPAN\49\B   \N. KOREA SAYS U.S. WAS WARNED ABOUT AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE\52\*   \CHINA TO ISSUE BONDS TO BUILD DAM\63\    \LEANER, TALLER JAPANESE\70\.   \PHILIPPINE REBELS CLASH WITH MILITARY\75\=   \CHINESE COLLEGE GRADUATES FACE POOR JOB PERSPECTIVES\88\C   \INDIAN PRIME MINISTER PRESSURED TO CHANGE ECONOMIC POLICY\120\C   \NEPAL NEW PRIME MINISTER PLANS TO STOP INDIAN IMMIGRATION\122\0   \CHINA REVEALS PLAN TO REDUCE INFLATION\131\!   \PAKISTAN HEROIN ARRESTS\139\C   \INCREASE FRICTION BETWEEN CHINA AND VIETNAM OVER SPRATLYS\143\    \TAIWAN CABINET CHANGES\144\/   \THAILAND ACTS ON ITS TRAFFIC PROBLEMS\145\<                             CLICK FORWARD FOR MORE CHOICES.           CLICK TRACK TO RETURN TO THIS MENU!   \BURMA REBEL ANNIVERSARY\107\D   \CAMBODIAN ARMY COLONEL ARRESTED FOR MURDER OF A JOURNALIST\112\    \KARACHI GENERAL STRIKE\106\,   \CHINA COUNTDOWN RETURN OF HONG KONG\86\D   \TRADE EXPERT EXPECTS CHINA TO JOIN WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION\87\3   \HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ON TRIAL IN TURKEY\101\&   \JAPANESE PROTECTIONISM STUDY\134\J   \SINGAPORE PROFESSOR SPEAKS OUT ABOUT GOVERNMENT PRESS CENSORSHIP\141\AFRICA"   \SOUTHERN AFRICA'S DROUGHT\35\-   \U.N. HALTS ITS MISSION IN MOZAMBIQUE\36\>   \MRS. ABIOLA SPEAKS OUT ABOUT CHIEF ABIOLA IN NIGERIA\138\3   \3 FAMOUS KENYAN ELEPHANTS SHOT IN TANZANIA\95\=   \UN APPEALS FOR MORE MONEY FOR SOMALIA RELIEF MISSION\56\*   \MOZAMBIQUE'S 1,000,000 LAND MINES\98\1   \PEACE DEMONSTRATIONS CONTINUE IN LIBERIA\96\/   \AID WORKERS LEAVE RWANDAN REFUGEE CAMP\78\=   \AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CRITICIZES NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT\72\2   \TRIAL OF FORMER ETHIOPIAN MARXIST RULERS\117\   \NIGERIAN ECONOMY\123\,   \MANDELA RELEASES HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY\136\   \RWANDAN WEAPONS SWEEP\140\'   \ETHIOPIA HUMANITY TRIALS OPEN\160\:   \KENYA HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION RELEASE NEW REPORT\162\C   \UN ANNOUNCES SOUTHERN AFRICAN NATIONS FACE FOOD SHORTAGES\155\.           CLICK TRACK TO RETURN TO THIS MENUMIDDLE EAST7   \HAMAS CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR SUICIDE BOMBING\3\/   \SYRIA DAMPENS HOPE OF PEACE WITH ISRAEL\6\-   \BAHRAIN RECALLS AMBASSADOR FROM IRAN\10\?   \SUICIDE BOMBER DETONATES BOMB AT BUS STOP IN JERUSALEM\12\   \UNREST IN BAHRAIN\60\0   \KURDISH FACTIONS CLASH IN NORTHERN IRAQ\24\@   \IRAQ LASHES OUT AT ARAB NATIONS SUPPORTING UN SANCTIONS\48\C   \ISRAEL WARNS OF FUTURE ACTION AGAINST HEZBOLLAH IN LEBANON\68\=   \PERES AND ARAFAT TO DISCUSS WEST BANK TROOP WITHDRAW\69\;   \PROLIFERATION OF ARMS IN THE MIDDLE EAST CONTINUES\71\   \HAMAS FUNDING\109\5   \LEBANON HEZBOLLAH FIGHTERS INCREASE ATTACKS\135\>   \NO CONFIDENCE VOTED CALLED OVER KING DAVID IN ISRAEL\105\L   \RABIN EXPRESS CONCERN OVER EXPORT OF N. KOREAN MISSILES TO MIDEAST\133\=   \UN APPROVES ADDITIONAL IRAQI COMPENSATION TO KUWAIT\132\.           CLICK TRACK TO RETURN TO THIS MENUPACIFIC STATES4   \AUSTRALIA SCRAMBLES TO COPE WITH BOAT PEOPLE\1\9   \AUSTRALIA CONTINUES HARDLINE POLICY ON REFUGEES\128\   ---------------0   AUSTRALIA SCRAMBLES TO COPE WITH BOAT PEOPLE   MARK MILLER
   MELBOURNE<   The Australian government is scrambling to cope with the>biggest influx of boat people since the Vietnam crisis of theAlate 1970's.  The Australian government is threatening to reviewits refugee policy.<   Last year only three boats arrived here illegally.  They>carried 81 refugees.  This year 800 people have arrived on 16@vessels.  More than half have come to Australia since November.BThe latest arrived last week.  They were towed by the coast guardBinto Darwin's harbor after being spotted Thursday and Friday. The0boats left China for Australia three weeks ago.@   This has left the Australian government fearing the arrivals?are the start of a wave of up to 20,000 Chinese refugees.  The@boat people have come mostly from the Beihai region of southernChina.<   The area is undergoing an economic boom.  The Australian@government says houses and apartments are being knocked down to?make way for new developments.  The boom has left thousands of=Chinese homeless and looking for a better life.  The Chinese3government admits the growth is creating problems.?   Australia is negotiating with Beijing in an attempt to stop<the flow of boat people.  But, the Australian government is:warning it may review its refugee policy.  An immigrationAdepartment spokesperson says very few boat people have been sent:back so far, and in China that may be seen as a sign that(Australia is an easy place to get into.   ---------------   ---------------A   U.S. NAVY PURSUES SHIP IN VIOLATION OF SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAQ   VICTOR BEATTIE   WASHINGTON>   A Honduran-flagged cargo vessel impounded off the coast of>Bahrain by U.S. warships tried to escape late Saturday.  U.S.?forces took control of the ship because it violated U.N. tradeAsanctions against Iraq.  Reports U.S. Marines and Navy Seals hadAto board the vessel after it ignored repeated warnings to returnto waters off Bahrain.@   The U.S. Navy says the incident occurred as the vessel along6with others awaited U.N. inspection for violating the<international embargo imposed following Iraq's August, 1990Binvasion of Kuwait.  The vessel, the MV Ajmar believed to contain@a small amount of Iraqi oil, was awaiting docking permission in7Bahrain.  It had been apprehended December 13th duringenforcement of the sanctions.A   U.S. Defense Department spokeswoman Lt. Colonel Joan FergusonAsays the ship's crew decided to leave the so-called penalty box,&where ships await further inspection:?   "On the 24th (of December) it had left the penalty box. So,;the U.S.S Vandegraf went to track it and it was eventually
boarded."A   The boarding involving about two dozen Marines and Navy Seals:occurred without incident.  The ship had ignored repeatedwarnings to stop.<   The spokeswoman says the vessel is being returned to theApenalty box, to waters off Bahrain, to await further inspection.AThere is no indication yet why the crew tried to leave the area.   ---------------   ---------------3   HAMAS CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR SUICIDE BOMBING   SUSAN SAPPIR
   JERUSALEM<   The Islamic group Hamas has claimed responsibility for a>suicide bomb in Jerusalem.  Twelve people were wounded in theblast.>   In a statement to news agencies, Hamas named the bomber asBAyman Radi, a resident of the Gaza Strip.  Police said the bomber@was carrying a five-kilogram charge of TNT when he blew himself5up at a bus stop crowded with soldiers early Sunday.A   But the chief of Jerusalem police says the bomb may have gone>off earlier than planned as the streets got more crowded with>commuters.  He said if the charge had been detonated inside a@bus, there would have been more casualties.  In October a Hamas;bomber blew himself up in a Tel Aviv bus, killing 22-otherpeople.A   PLO leader Yasser Arafat has condemned the Jerusalem blast as.a criminal attack against innocent civilians.B   The early morning attack seems to have kept pilgrims away fromAJerusalem's Christian sites.  Christmas day, usually a very good;day for the tourism business, was very quiet in Jerusalem.   ---------------   ---------------?   RUSSIAN INVASION OF CHECHNYA COME UNDER CRITICISM IN RUSSIA   ELIZABETH ARROTT
   MOSCOWA   Russia's invasion of the breakaway Chechen Republic is coming?under increasing criticism, this time, from Russia's own humanrights commissioner.;   The human rights official urged Russian President BorisBYeltsin to stop what he called the crazy massacre in Chechnya and1put an end to, in his words, blood-stained lies.<   Sergei Kovalyov, a Yeltsin appointee, also suggested the;president is a puppet of others in the government.  In his@telegram sent from the Chechen capital Grozny, the human rights?commissioner told Mr. Yeltsin, those who started this war willvery soon not need you.@   Mr. Yeltsin has remained silent on Chechnya since before the:invasion two weeks ago, but is expected to meet with this?Security Council Monday.  Aides say he may address the Russian?people soon afterward and finally make a statement on Moscow's&largest military venture in 15 years.B   Despite the size of the operation, journalists in Chechnya say?the Russian military continues to meet fierce resistance as it>tries to seal the capital.  Heavy fighting is reported in theAvillage of Argun, east of Grozny.  One western reporter said the+settlement is almost completely destroyed.=   Hundreds of anti-war protesters gathered in Gorky Park to<protest both the invasion and the indiscriminate bombing ofcivilian areas.   ---------------   ---------------!   SARAJEVO: 1000TH DAY OF SIEGE   LARRY JAMES   SARAJEVO@   This Christmas holiday weekend has brought with it the first@bit of breathing space the city of Sarajevo has felt for a long<time.  The ceasefire that went into effect Saturday lowered@tensions slightly in a city that has seen many other agreements
collapse.@   Sarajevo began its day with a Christmas midnight mass at the>750-year-old Saint Peter's Cathedral.  Hundreds of the city's<Roman Catholics, along with many of their Muslim neighbors,@filled the church and spilled into the streets to hear Cardinal'Vinko Puljic offer a prayer for peace.B   "We want to ask for men who will make a better future," prayed@Cardinal Puljic. "Not only we Catholics are praying tonight for=that, all people of goodwill have the same wish, god give uspeace."@   Among those attendance in the audience were two young Muslim@men. One serving in the Bosnian army the other in his last yearof high school.@   They represented the sentiments of many here who desperately.want peace but have doubts it will ever come.>   Just a few hours later, the sharp report of a high-powered<sniper's rifle brought a burst of automatic weapons fire in;return to shatter the early morning quiet.  It was only an>isolated incident, but it served as a reminder of how fragile>peace can be in this region which has grown more skeptical as-each of the last one-thousand days crept by.   ---------------   ---------------+   SYRIA DAMPENS HOPE OF PEACE WITH ISRAEL   PEYMAN PEJMAN	   CAIRO=   Just days after Syrian and Israeli military officials met@face-to-face in Washington, a Syrian government newspaper seems-to be dampening hopes of a quick settlement.?   In an article Sunday, the official daily Al-Baath newspaper;said the Syrian government rejects a series of suggestions?allegedly made by Israel about the issue of the Golan Heights.=   Israel captured the heights in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.9Syria says Israel should un-conditionally return all the@territory before it signs a peace treaty with the Jewish state.=   Israel says it is willing to eventually withdraw from the?territory, but wants full diplomatic and trade relations to beestablished first.@   The baath report said the Syrian government rejects Israel's?demand to keep observation posts on the golan.  It did not say when Israel suggested the idea.?   Israeli and Syrian officials met in Washington Thursday for@their first direct meeting in 10 months.  Syria broke off talks>in protest against the killing of dozens of Palestinians by a<Jewish settler at a mosque in the West Bank town of Hebron.   ---------------   ---------------A   CIA BELIEVES CHECHEN INVASION MAY CAUSE POWER SHIFT IN RUSSIA   VICTOR BEATTIE   WASHINGTONB   A newspaper report says there may be a power shift in Russia's@leading elite as a result of the controversial Russian military,campaign in the breakaway Chechen Republic.<   The Boston Globe, quoting a source from the U.S. Central@Intelligence Agency , was not specific about what kind of shiftBmight occur.  However, the paper quotes sources familiar with theBintelligence report who say it is a cautiously-phrased warning of+a possible move against President Yeltsin.B   Russian experts are warning that the military campaign againstBchechnya has caused deep divisions within the Yeltsin government.@They believe the continuing conflict has weakened Mr. Yeltsin'spolitical power.A   According to the U.S. source quoted by the newspaper nearly a<week of Russian bombings of the Chechen capital grozny have<stirred deep dissent within the Russian armed forces.  Some?senior officers have denounced the operation for its brutality7while others say they will refuse orders to invade the?mostly-Muslim caucasus region which announced its independence;three years ago. One commander who refused such orders hasalready been disciplined.A   The report was published one day before Mr. Yeltsin is due to=meet with his national Security Council in Moscow in what is@viewed as a crucial session.  A Yeltsin spokesman says Monday's?session could become a forum for a no, holds-barred discussion@between supporters and opponents of the move against Chechenya.   ---------------   ---------------<   DEPARTING DEMOCRATIC LEADERS ADVISES PARTY ON ITS FUTURE   VICTOR BEATTIE   WASHINGTON3   Outgoing congressional Democrat leaders, SenateAMajority-lEader George Mitchell and House Speaker Tom Foley, say@they are optimistic their party will regain control of CongressBsoon and hang on to the White House in 1996.  Both men warn their8Congressional Democrat colleagues against a strategy of>obstructionism when they become the minority in the new 104th
Congress.@   Senator Mitchell is optimistic Democrats will regain controlAof both Houses of Congress soon, and will retain the White House<in the 1996 presidential election.  He says last November's?election result, while dramatic in ending 40-years of Democrat5control of Congress, was not a political earthquake.:   He cautions against reading too much into the results,:insisting the Democrats will return to their image of jobcreation and economic growth.A   Mitchell says the result will be a return to majority status:A   "Economic growth is the solvent for most social problems. You@can not deal effectively with any of the others unless you haveAcontinued growth and job creation.  It is our policies that have?put in place a framework to make that possible, and it is thatemphasis that must be given."=   The first speaker to lose his seat in more a century, Mr.;Foley says once disaffected Democrat voters get a taste of.Republican rule they will return to the fold.;   Senator Mitchell, who retired from office, believes Mr.AClinton will have the upper hand for re-election in 1996 becausethe economy remains strong:?   "I also believe in presidential elections, the state of the?economy rises to a higher level in voter consciousness than it<does in off-year elections.  I think that will greatly help6President Clinton and Democratic candidates in 1996."A   Mr. Mitchell also believes Texas billionaire-businessman RossAPerot will run another independent presidential campaign, taking0votes from the Republican presidential nominee.>   Mr. Foley says he agrees President Clinton should go along:with Republicans in enacting tax relief for middle-incomeAmericans.>   But, Foley says it must be tax relief that can be paid for,without raising the federal budget deficit:<   "I think the president may have to be very tough on this@point.  He may have to speak out very clearly about the dangersAof getting involved in not paying for these tax cuts in terms ofincreasing the deficit."?   Both men urge the president to stand firm against what they@perceive as irresponsible tax cuts that threaten to balloon the	deficit.@   Both men also urge their Democrat colleagues not to obstruct=legislation in the new Congress that begins its work JanuaryAfourth.  They insist such a strategy will hurt the party because@voters will not tolerate it.  They urge constructive compromise>in the next two-years, pointing out Republican majorities are?slim and both parties will need each other to get things done.   ---------------   --------------C   DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE ACQUIRES RUSSIAN S-3000 AIR DEFENSE SYSTEM   VICTOR BEATTIE   WASHINGTON:   A published report says a private American company has=successfully acquired a new Russian-made air-defense missileBsystem. The New York Times quotes U.S. Government officials, arms:dealers and defense analysts who say the S-300 system was5obtained from the former Soviet Republic of Belarus.A   The company, BDM International, began its clandestine project=two years ago after winning a contract from the U.S. Defense:Department to acquire the S-300 for American intelligence=agencies.  The head of BDM is former Defense Secretary Frank
Carlucci.B   The Defense Intelligence Agency, which received the cargo lastBweek aboard a Russian-made cargo plane, reportedly wants to studyBits guidance and radar systems.  That way they can better prepare:American pilots should they face the S-300 in the future.>   The acquisition was reportedly made with the former Soviet<Republic despite Russian protests and a denial by presidentBAlexander Lukashenko.  He is said to have also sold another S-300=system to another party, although to whom and for what priceremains uncertain.?   The S-300 is likened to the American Patriot Missile system=that thwarted many of Iraq's scud missile attacks during the>Persian Gulf War in 1991.  The report quotes Russian military@officials as saying the S-300 is better than the patriot system*although American officials dispute that.<   Russian officials are quoted in the report as saying theAacquisition of the S-300 will seriously hamper prospects to sell/it abroad and cost Russia billions of dollars.   ---------------   ---------------(   BAHRAIN RECALLS AMBASSADOR FROM IRAN   PEYMAN PEJMAN	   CAIRO5   Bahrain has recalled its ambassador in Tehran for?consultations.  The action may be related to Iranian reporting>and commentary on recent anti-government protests in Bahrain.<   Bahrain's Gulf News Agency, which reported the recall on=Friday, did not say when or if the ambassador is expected toreturn to his post.?   His return to the emirate is apparently in reaction to what@Bahraini officials see as state-sponsored Iranian media attacks6on bahrain.  They believe the Iranian media have been>exaggerating recent clashes between Bahraini police and humanrights activists.2   The two countries have been at odds for years.A   The majority of Bahrain's half-million population is believed;to be Shi'ite Muslims, as in Iran, while the government isdominated by Sunni Muslims.@   Many gulf countries are suspicious that Iran has been trying?to spread its influence among their population and destabilizeBtheir governments.  In 1981, Bahrain arrested more than 50 people>who were charged with an Iranian-backed attempt to topple thegovernment.   ---------------   ---------------    MISSING TOURISTS IN CAMBODIA   BILL HARRIS   PHNOM PENH;   Cambodia's government says it has started looking for a=missing foreign tourist who disappeared near the border withAThailand.  But, government officials say they can not confirm he%was taken by Khmer Rouge guerrillas.@   Cambodia's foreign affairs minister says investigations have?begun into the fate of the German tourist who disappeared near;the Thai border, close to a Khmer Rouge held area. Foreign?minister, Ung Huot, says he has ordered Cambodia's defense and-interior ministries to investigate the case.9   Details are still un-clear, but the minister said the;investigations will focus on two northwestern provinces of@Cambodia which border Thailand.  Thai soldiers last saw the manBtwo-weeks ago trying to cross the border into Cambodia.  They sayAit is likely that Khmer Rouge guerrillas are responsible for theman's disappearance.A   Cambodian government officials say they have no international?access points along the border where it is thought the tourist=crossed.  The Khmer Rouge have long controlled these densely=forested areas.  But, Cambodian government officials can not(confirm the guerrillas are responsible.A   If it is the Khmer Rouge that have taken this man, he will be?the fifth westerner confirmed kidnapped by the guerrillas this6year. Only one of the other four survived the ordeal.   ---------------   ---------------:   SUICIDE BOMBER DETONATES BOMB AT BUS STOP IN JERUSALEM   SUSAN SAPPIR
   JERUSALEM<   An Arab suicide bomber has died at a crowded bus stop in3Jerusalem.  Police say eleven people were injured.?   It is not clear who is behind the explosion.  But, it bears?the mark of Islamic guerrillas who killed 22-people in a blastBtwo-months ago on a Tel Aviv bus, and who carried out a series ofsimilar suicide attacks.@   The explosion occurred at early Sunday at a bus stop crowded<with Israeli soldiers.  Witnesses said a group of air forceBsoldiers had finished boarding a bus seconds before the explosionAat the bus stop, near Jerusalem's western highway leading to Tel@Aviv.  Eyewitnesses said another bus absorbed much of the blast*and shielded many people from being hurt.>   The blast came in sharp contrast to the serenity of nearby@bethlehem, where hours earlier the latin patriarch for the holy=land said mass.  In his Christmas message, Jerusalem's Roman?Catholic leader said violence had lamentably become the commonlanguage for Jew and Arab.   ---------------   ---------------   CHRISTMAS EVE IN SARAJEVO   LARRY JAMES   SARAJEVOA   The guns were silent on the snow covered hills of Sarajevo onBSaturday, Christmas Eve.  It was a welcome change for a city thatBwill mark its one thousandth day under siege on Sunday, Christmas>day.  The Bosnian capital is a predominantly Muslim city, but5there is a small Christian community there, as well.B   The Paofalici community center sits high on a hill overlooking>the city.  Outside the building, a blanket of new fallen snow'covers Sarajevo, and the air is still.?   The quiet is broken only by shouts of children on sleds andBskis who have commandeered streets too slippery for cars and mostAtrucks.  The only other sound is that of young voices inside theBcommunity center. British major James Kelly worked with the UNHCRto help organize the party.@   "I am in the British army," says Kelly, "but I am working on=commerce for the U.N.H.C.R.  And one of my jobs is to be the=field officer for the front line commune, of which there are;about 12 front line communes, of the 111 or so in Sarajevo<altogether.  And what we have seen here this morning is theBU.N.H.C.R handing out all sorts of Christmas presents and special?foods.  We gave the commune, about three or four days ago, the@ingredients to make special cakes and biscuits (cookies) and so<on. And managed to get hold of some orange squash and lemon@squash (fruit-flavored drinks) from the British army . . . ThisAis a particularly well organized commune, the lady who runs it.">   Small hands, sticky from cakes and cookies, put down their>stuffed animals and coloring books long enough to applaud theBchildren who had put on the show.  Judging from their smiles, the/party was all the UNHCR had hoped it would be.   ---------------   ---------------8   U.S. CONCERNED ABOUT CIVILIAN CASUALTIES IN CHECHNYA   VICTOR BEATTIE   WASHINGTON:   U.S. officials are expressing concern about reports ofAmounting civilian casualties during the Russian army's operation=in the breakaway Chechen Republic.  The U.S. concern followsBcharges by Russia's human rights commissioner of gross violationsby Russian troops.B   U.S. State Department spokesman David Johnson says the Clinton>administration would be following up the allegations with theARussian government.  He says Washington is watching developments	closely.B   Mr. Johnson noted Russian President Boris Yeltsin's pledge his;troops would only fire on armed opposition.  He also noted@Russia's human rights commissioner Sergei Kovalov's allegations3of gross violations by Russian troops in Chechnya.@   The State Department spokesman says respect for human rightsBhas been, and will continue to be, a basic precept of U.S. policytowards Russia.?   Last week, Secretary of State Warren Christopher called for?Russian restraint.  But, he stressed the United States did notBwant to see a nuclear-armed Russia fragmented.  He also noted the=move to end Chechnya's three-year separatist movement was aninternal matter.:   The latest U.S. statement stopped short of criticizingARussia's military action against Chechnya.  One State Department<official says the political consequences in Russia from the@Chechnya operation could create instability by undercutting theYeltsin government.   ---------------   ---------------(   U.S. EXTENDS SANCTIONS AGAINST LIBYA   VICTOR BEATTIE   WASHINGTON>   President Clinton has extended for one more year trade andBfinancial sanctions against Libya. The decision follows the sixth@anniversary of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie,=Scotland, a terrorist act suspected of being masterminded by	Libyans.>   In a statement, President Clinton says Libya has continuedBactions and policies in support of terrorism despite calls by theBU.N. Security Council that it demonstrate by concrete actions its@renunciation of such terrorism.  The White House says all trade<with Libya is controlled by the Treasury Department and allAassets owned or controlled by the Libyan government or possessed!by American citizens are frozen.B   The statement calls for even stronger U.N. sanctions should beBenacted against tripoli if it continues to defy the internationalAcommunity.  The U.N. has imposed an air travel embargo, a ban on1arms sales and the downgrading diplomatic links.;   Libya has refused to turn over two men suspected in theBLockerbie bombing that killed 270 people in December of 1988.  ItAhas also denied involvement in the crash of a French airliner inthe Niger desert in 1989.<   The United States joined Britain in 1991 in charging two@libyans with responsibility for the bombing in a plot allegedly>orchestrated by libya's intelligence service.  Washington has>rejected a libyan offer to have the two men tried by scottishBjudges at the international court of The Hague.  A U.S. spokesman/this week called such an offer "diversionary."   ---------------   ---------------+   U.S. TO LIFT RESTRICTION ON CUBAN PRESS   JIM TEEPLE	   MIAMIA   Press reports indicate the Clinton administration is planningBto lift restrictions that bar Cuba from operating news bureaus in@the United States. The policy shift would also remove obstacles@which have prevented American journalists from working in Cuba.?   The Miami Herald newspaper reports that early next year the@White House will allow Cuba to open one or more news bureaus inthe United States.?   The plan also calls for the approval of licenses which will>allow U.S. News organizations to spend money so they can open@news bureaus in Cuba.  Previously the State Department rejectedsuch licenses.?   Currently, reporters from Cuba or the United States have to>apply for temporary visas to work in either country, and Cuba:frequently rejects or ignores such requests from Americanreporters.B   The Castro government expelled the last U.S. based reporter in<1969, prompting the U.S. Government to close all Cuban news6bureaus, except one at U.N. headquarters in New York.A   According to the Miami Herald, regulations have been prepared=but not yet finalized which will allow news organizations toBspend as much money as they want to, and place no restrictions on*the number of bureaus that can be opened.@   In recent months several prominent American journalists have;called for the lifting of restrictions on working in Cuba.>However two Cuban-American members of Congress from the Miami'area say they will oppose the measure.   ---------------   --------------->   VIETNAMESE PRIME MINISTER MEETS WITH NEW CATHOLIC CARDINAL   DAVID BUTLER   BANGKOK?   Official media in Vietnam report Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet<met Friday with the country's newly-invested Roman Catholic;cardinal.  The prime minister had un-usually warm words of-support for Vietnam's six-million Catholics.@   Prime Minister Kiet met with Cardinal Pham Dinh Tung shortly=after the cardinal's return from Rome, where he was invested2along with other new cardinals by Pope John Paul.@   Saturday's reports said the prime minister conveyed the bestAregards of the communist party's executive central committee and+the government to all Vietnam's Catholics.>   The reports said Mr. Kiet spoke highly of the contribution@made by Vietnamese Catholics, including bishops and priests, to#the cause of the country's people.A   Mr. Kiet said he hoped the Catholics would integrate into the?community more closely.  He said the Catholics could help move?Vietnam out of backwardness and narrow the gap between Vietnamand its neighbors.>   The reports quoted Cardinal Tung, who is the archbishop of=Hanoi, as thanking the government for its concern and sayingBCatholics were ready to share the tasks of renovation, the course*of economic liberalization begun in 1988.?   While Vietnam remains predominantly Buddhist, the number of?Catholics is believed to have doubled since the end of the war7nearly 20-years ago.  Catholics now comprise more than.eight-percent of Vietnam's 72-million people.8   Even non-Catholics are expected to jam the country'sBcathedrals and churches for midnight mass.  Many then will engagein late-night parties.;   The communist party reviews the appointment of bishops,;retaining the right to disapprove candidates.  The Vatican;reluctantly acceded to this arrangement earlier this year.=   The U.S. based Puebla Institute, which monitors religious>freedom around the world, says it knows of 75 Buddhist leader1and 22 Catholic leaders under arrest in Vietnam.>   The institute says some clerics from both faiths have been@released recently as part of Vietnam's drive to attract foreign>investment and move further into the international community.?   The sharpest religious conflict in Vietnam concerns a large7buddhist order that was critical of the anti-communistBgovernments of the former south Vietnam.  The order has attempted;to maintain its independence and outspoken tradition undercommunist rule.<   The order's leader has been under house arrest since the1980's.   ---------------   ---------------,   RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ENDANGERED IN BULGARIA   STEFAN BOS	   SOFIA?   Human rights workers have expressed concern about what they:claim to be growing aggression by the authorities against?evangelical Christians and non-traditional church groups. FiveByears after the peaceful revolution, religious oppression appears(to be a continuing reality in Bulgaria.@   Every Sunday about 200 Bulgarian Christians gather in the socalled Good News Congregation.:   It is only one of the many free religious groups whichAmushroomed after communist dictator Thodor Zhivkov was ousted by>his own politburo in 1989.  But five years later, evangelical@groups such as the good News Congregation are facing increasing=opposition from former communists, who won the parliamentaryelections this month.@   Human right organizations say the problems center around theABulgarian constitution, which was implemented in communist times=in 1949.  One paragraph describes the orthodox church as the"traditional religion of Bulgaria.9   Church officials fear the new parliament in which the>Bulcartan Socialist Party has a majority will change the word@"traditional" into "official".  This could practically mean the@elimination of evangelical groups and more troubles for foreignmissionary workers.9   Krassimir Kanev is chairman of the Bulgarian Helsinki@Committee, the organization that investigated religious freedom?in Bulgaria. He says religious oppression increased this year.A   Mr. Kanev says some Christians lost their jobs after speaking>about their faith or after distributing Christian literature,*such as the New Testament Gospel of John.>   Foreign missionary workers confirmed night searches by the+Bulgarian police as recently as last week.:   Mr. Kanev says police in cooperation with local formerBcommunist authorities also participated in closing down buildings'where evangelical Christians gathered:@   "In several cases, when the access to the halls was blocked,Bthe police used methods that could be related to brutality.  This<was in order to expel people from certain places around thehall."=   Bulgarian pastor George Bukalov is pastor of "The Word ofALife" congregations, one of the groups mentioned in the Helsinkireport.?   Mr. Bukalov, who accepted the Christian faith in 1989, says*the troubles increased in June this year:=   "June 21st this year, we had the police come to us.  TheyBclosed our building.  They did not allow us to come in or to take@any of our property.  They said the city authorities had issued=an order saying we are a criminal sect that must be stopped.BWell, we were never given any document about why this was done to:us.  For four months, we had 24 hour police guards on our@building from the squad, the special anti-terrorist group, from
the police."@   The International Baptist Church saw its building blocked byBpolice forces on election day last Sunday.  But Christo Muttanov,Adirector of the government bureau for religious affairs, defends
this policy.9   Mr. Muttanov says the authorities closed down certain'locations after complaints by parents:>   "There are a lot of parents that feel that their rights as>parents have been violated.  My negative reaction was on this=point.  If they really want to defend the right of religious>freedom in Bulgaria, they have to take into account all these@complaints.  Because I am sure some of these groups, especially2word of life, are also a threat to human rights.">   Non-orthodox Christians and foreign missionary workers sayBthey expect more troubles to come when the former communists, now#socialists, form a new government.   ---------------   ---------------4   DEMONSTRATION IN BURMA AGAINST CHINESE INFLUENCE   DAN ROBINSON   BANGKOK9   Pro-democracy forces outside Burma are trying to draw;attention to what they call China's continuing support for=political repression by Burma's military government. ChineseBpremier, Li Peng, is scheduled to pay a visit to Burma soon, amidBincreasing economic and military links between the two countries.>   Li Peng's visit to Rangoon next Monday is in response to a@visit to Beijing last September by a powerful member of Burma's/military junta, Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt.?   China's military and economic involvement in Burma has beenincreasing for several years.<   Another agreement for military equipment and weapons was:signed recently.  Cross-border trade, notably with Yunnan9Province, has flooded Burma with Chinese consumer goods.=   China has been the biggest supporter of the Rangoon junta?since Burma's military crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in"Rangoon and other cities in 1988.B   In Bangkok Friday, about a dozen Burmese students demonstrated;outside the Chinese Embassy, shouting slogans, and raising9banners condemning Chinese military assistance to Burma.?   A statement given to reporters urged the Chinese premier to9cancel his visit, and said Chinese policies in Burma areBprolonging military control and endangering security in SoutheastAsia.   ---------------   ---------------)   BURMA: SEEKING WORLD APPROVAL AND AID   STEPHANIE MANN   WASHINGTONB   Some outsiders who have been to Burma recently, and others whoAwatch developments there, say there are indications of increased?openness on the part of the government.  Authorities want moreBforeign trade and investment, but they know they must first reach@some form of reconciliation with the political opposition. SomeBobservers are concerned that the Burmese government's actions may<be a show for the international community and not a genuine$effort at political reconciliation.@   After Burma gained its independence from Britain in 1948, it>enjoyed a brief period of democratic government.  Since 1962,@however, the country has been ruled by the army.  When dictator=General Ne Win retired in 1988, many Burmese saw a chance to@press their desire for more democracy and human rights.  But inBAugust, 1988, the military crushed the civilian uprising and thenAset up the state law and order restoration council, or Slorc, asthe new government.B   The Slorc pledged to hold democratic elections and allowed theBformation of opposition parties.  But many opposition politicians@were detained and, in 1989, the most popular opponent, Aung San@Suu Kyi, was placed under house arrest.  Her party won the 19909election, but still, The Slorc refused to give up power.?   Against this backdrop, the international community has beenBpressing the Slorc to transfer power to a civilian government and@improve its human rights record.  The United Nations repeatedly=has expressed concern about Burma's human rights violations,<including forced labor, abuse of women, torture and summary8executions, and has urged Rangoon to free its political?prisoners. The U.N. Secretary General's office has begun talks:with the Slorc about progress toward a transfer of power.@   Janelle Diller, of the International Human Rights Law Group,Bsays she is heartened by this development, but she wonders if the Slorc's intentions are genuine:?   "One has to remain a bit circumspect, thinking that perhapsBSlorc is doing this because the General Assembly is reviewing it,@and maybe there will be less willingness on their part later to9talk with the U.N.. But perhaps it is the beginning of aAbreakthrough, and perhaps (in) the coming year one would hope to@see some really substantial progress, if not an actual transfer	itself."<   Ms. Diller wonders if the Slorc's seeming willingness to;cooperate with the United Nations is part of its desire to;attract foreign trade and investment. In 1988, the Burmese7government officially abandoned its so-called "road to?socialism", which had kept the country virtually isolated from<the outside world. Since then, Burma has tried to implement@market-oriented policies.  Still, Burma is a very poor country,Bwith per capita output at about 660 dollars a year and an economy"heavily dependent on agriculture.A   In early November, deputy assistant Secretary of State ThomasAHubbard became the highest level U.S. official to visit Burma in@six years.  Some observers interpreted the decision to send himAto Rangoon as a change in U.S. policy, indicating a new interest1in engaging in dialogue with the Burmese regime.@   Thomas Hubbard denies there has been a change in policy, butBhe says the administration has changed the way it is pursuing itspolicy toward Burma:A   "We remain concerned about the overall state of human rights,<the state of democracy, or the absence of democracy, and we=remain concerned about the narcotics problem that flows from@Burma.  As a result of our concerns, we have had cool relations7with Burma for the past six years.  We have not had anAambassador. We have not had senior visitors going to Burma.  And@we have cut off all economic assistance. We haven't changed any
of that."=   Mr. Hubbard says Washington decided it was time to try to<promote change in Burma through direct contact.  He says he=presented the Burmese leadership with a choice. If the SlorcArestores democracy, protects human rights, releases Aung San Suu@Kyi and other political prisoners and works harder to stop drugAtrafficking, Mr. Hubbard says, Burma can expect closer ties with;the United States.  Otherwise, he says, Washington will be@reluctant to increase its cooperation with Rangoon. And how did)Burma's leaders respond to this message?;   "We were told that the Burmese regime would like warmer>relations with the United States", said Hubbard.  "They wouldBlike to have access to international lending.  They would like to;have access to modern technology.  And they see the United,States' attitude as standing in their way."A   The Slorc has convened a national convention to prepare for a?new constitution and what the government says will be national=unity and political reconciliation.  The Slorc points to the<convention as proof that it is working toward a transfer of;power. However, Thomas Hubbard says many of the convention@delegates who were elected in 1990 have been put in prison, and7the Slorc has appointed its own representatives to theconvention.=   Janelle Diller says the convention appears to be a publicBrelations ploy by the Slorc trying to make it look free and fair,;but she says its results so far indicate that the militaryintends to maintain control:?   "All of the proposals that the military have put forward to;the convention have been accepted, despite rather strident>opposition from certain of the political parties, some of the5elected representatives, and even some of the workerArepresentatives.  Those proposals have, by and large, managed toBcreate a system where the military would have a leading role in apost-Slorc government."@   One development that has given many observers cause for hope>is the start of a dialogue between the Slorc and Sung San Suu?Kyi, who is in her sixth year of house arrest.  Some observersBare hopeful that the negotiations might result in her being freedin the new year.?   When Burmese trade minister Tun Kyi visited Washington this?year, he was asked about the negotiations.  He spoke through atranslator:A   "It is known to the whole world that Senior General Than ShweAand Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt have met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.<It has been declared that meetings may continue as and when@required.  Our principle is that if it may be beneficial to the(country and the nation, we will do it."B   In the past, the Slorc has offered freedom to Aung San Suu Kyi@if she would leave Burma, and she has refused. Now, apparently,?the two sides are looking for a way that she can be freed from2house arrest and allowed to stay in her homeland.   ---------------   ---------------B   RUSSIA DENIES REPORTS OF HEAVY CIVILIAN CASUALTIES IN CHECHNYA   PETER HEINLEIN
   NEW DELHIA   Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin has denied reports=of heavy civilian casualties in Chechnya, despite reports of>several Russian air raids and artillery attacks on Grozny the>Chechen capital.  Mr. Chernomyrdin is in New Delhi on a statevisit.:   Speaking to reporters in the Indian capital through an@interpreter Friday, the Russian prime minister said air strikes3on Grozny were aimed strictly at military targets:@   "As for military strikes, they are launched in Chechnya only@against military equipment and those facilities from which fireis maintained."@   Mr. Chernomyrdin termed reports of heavy civilian casualtiesAin the Chechen capital as idle talk. Despite television pictures@seen in the Indian capital showing heavy casualties among women>and children, the Russian prime minister denied Chechens werebeing attacked:?   "The Chechen people are not fighting that war.  I will tellAyou more.  The war is being fought mostly by mercenaries, not by8the Chechens themselves.  So I think there are not manycasualties among civilians.";   Mr. Chernomyrdin said most of the mercenaries were from:Islamic regions; countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan,$Azerbaijan and the western Ukraine.A   The Russian prime minister is on a brief visit to India in anBattempt to repair the struggling alliance between former cold warBallies.  The military and business relationship between New Delhi=and Moscow, which once formed the bedrock of India's foreignApolicy, has suffered since the collapse of the old Soviet Union.?   Among topics reportedly discussed during Mr. Chernomyrdin'sBvisit is India's 10-billion dollar debt to Russia, which has long?been a sore point in the relationship.  Newspaper reports this@week have said a settlement may have finally been reached, withARussia agreeing to accept a lesser amount if India is willing topay in hard currency.   ---------------   ---------------,   CHECHEN INVASION TAKES TOLL ON CIVILIANS   ELIZABETH ARROTT
   MOSCOW@   Russia's relentless attack on the breakaway Chechen republic@has resulted in numerous civilian casualties and general terroramong the population.?   Dalinskaya is a farming village cradled in a valley beneathAsnow-covered hills.  But the livestock go untended.  The few men?remaining in Dalinskaya have no time.  They are trying to hold(the northwest front in the Chechen War.B   Russian troops line the hills above.  They tried to come down,@but the Chechens fought them back.  A captured tank sits at the:edge of Dalinskaya as proof.  Still, the Russians keep up8relentless artillery and sniper attacks on the village.    As one Chechen fighter says:9   "The Russian empire wants to subdue the spirit of theAChechens, says this villager, armed with only a shotgun.  But no-state, no people, has ever broken our will."B   If there is a villager whose will might be tested, it could be@Nadia.  She, her husband and two small children have been holed<up in their cellar for more than a week, pinned down by the@Russian barrage.  The only way to get to or from their house isacross a free-fire zone.A   The cellar is cold, dark and dank.  The family has  no  food,Blet alone heat or electricity.  Nadia says she is happy they havesome pails of water.1   As for the war, she has nothing but contempt.B   Nadia says she cannot understand why the leaders in Moscow areBdoing this, or why, she says, after the Chechen people themselvesBelected a pro-independence leader, Moscow now attacks them in thename of democracy.=   "I am not a politician", Nadia says.  "But, remember, the?people themselves wanted independence and if the people wanted#it, Russia should leave us alone."B   Hers is a sentiment shared by many Chechens.  But Nadia is not=Chechen.  She is Russian, an ethnic Russian whose family has)lived in Chechnya for three generations.=   "This is our motherland", she says.  "Where shall we go?"?   Like many of the civilians caught in this war, Nadia has no@relatives outside the besieged republic.  This is the only homeshe knows.>   But the long-term future of Nadia's family will wait.  For;now, they will try only to leave Dalinskaya and get to her*mother's house, away from the front line.A   The four of them crouch down, their footsteps muffled as they;run across the sniper zone, a Russian family the target ofRussian guns.@   Near the car that will take them away, Nadia's daughter, 12-?year-old Katya, stands dazed, the family cat tucked inside her0coat.  She looks around at her damaged village.=   "I have no feelings about any of this", she says quietly.<"I'm sick of it.  We have suffered a lot, all the villagerssuffered."@   In the car, on the way out, the family gasps as they see the<captured Russian tank.  Despite assurances it is in Chechen>hands, Nadia says she still will not rest until she is at hermother's house.=   When they arrive, they do relax somewhat.  They thank the?journalists who brought them, asking that the story of what is=happening in Chechnya be told.  Two days later, one of those<journalists, a young American photographer, would be killed4trying to record the damage of the Russian attacks.B   As for Nadia and her family, their fate is unknown.  The offer>to leave Dalinskaya, gratefully accepted at the time, may now@seem a mistake.  Nadia's mother's house is in Grozny, where thebombs are raining down.   ---------------   ---------------B   CHINESE LAWYER GETS 3-YEARS HARD LABOR FOR USING A FAX MACHINE   DAVID DYAR   BEIJING?   An American-based human rights group says Chinese officials?have sentenced a Chinese lawyer to three-years in a labor camp>for allegedly trying to engage in an anti-government protest.<   The organization known as Human Rights in China says theAthree-year sentence was given to Zhou Guoqiang last month, after%he was detained earlier in the year.9   The human rights group says Mr. Zhou was detained for@colluding with hostile organizations, and planning to engage inanti-government activities.A   The group says he was also accused of planning to disrupt the@annual meeting of China's parliament last March by distributingBt-shirts containing provocative writings.  In addition, the group?says the dissident was charged with illegally installing a fax'machine to send articles to Hong Kong.A   Mr. Zhou served as a legal advisor to prominent Chinese labor>activist Han Dong fang, who has been barred from returning toAChina because of his efforts to establish labor unions in China.A   The human rights group says Mr. Zhou's actions have broken nolaw.;   Last week, a Chinese court sentenced nine dissidents to=between three and 20-years in prison for what officials call"counter-revolutionary activities.?   Another prominent Chinese dissident, Wang Dan, says Chinese;police threatened to kill him.  He filed a lawsuit against;Chinese authorities to end what he says has been months of6harassment.  He is reported to have gone into hiding.?   Some western analysts say the new tough line being taken by?China may be related to increased concerns about the health ofsenior-leader Deng Xiaoping.@   The analysts say officials do not want to be seen as soft onBdissidents at a time when the political future of the country may/be under stress due to Mr. Deng's poor health.B   Other analysts say the crack-down may be related to the beliefBinternational condemnation of China's human rights practices willbe limited.   ---------------   ---------------+   KURDISH FACTIONS CLASH IN NORTHERN IRAQ   AMBERIN ZAMAN
   ANKARA=   Fighting has erupted between the main Kurdish factions in?Northern Iraq.  Kurdish officials say at least six people havedied in the battle.@   The clashes have brought to an end a cease-fire reached last@August between Massoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party KDP;and Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or PUK.B   Safeen Dizayee, the Ankara representative of the KDP, said theAfighting broke out in the towns of Raniyah and Koysincak killingAbetween half a dozen to a dozen Peshmerga fighters.  Mr. Dizayee<added that the immediate cause for the hostilities remained@unclear, but that most likely they were due to tensions betweenlocal residents.B   Mr. Dizayee said Mr. Talabani and Mr. Barzani were expected to<meet on Friday to establish the cause of the clashes and toAensure they did not escalate.  The two leaders have shared powerBin a regional government established in the wake of parliamentaryelections held in May 1992.?   But traditional rivalries have marred the Iraqi Kurds firstAexperiment with democracy.  Fighting between the PUK and the KDPAspread across the three Kurdish controlled provinces in Northern3Iraq in May and in August killing over 700 people.   ---------------   ---------------,   ITALY SEEKS WAYS OUT OF POLITICAL CRISIS   PEGGY POLK   ROMEB   The president of Italy has begun consultations on a way out of>the political crisis precipitated by the resignation of PrimeAMinister Silvio Berlusconi. A public opinion poll indicates that>most Italians want the president to name a non-partisan prime8minister to lead a broad-based transitional government.B   President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro has two choices.  He can name a>candidate to try to form a new government, or he can dissolve>parliament and call elections less than a year after Italianslast went to the polls.A   Mr. Berlusconi, who is acting as caretaker prime minister forAthe present, told a year-end news conference that he has advisedBthe president to call elections as soon as possible and leave his=government in charge until then.  But the president has made=clear he is against immediate elections.  He will announce a>decision after completing a round of political consultations.?   Mr. Scalfaro scheduled his first consultations with Italy's=two living former presidents, 86-year-old Giovanni Leone andBFrancesco Cossiga, who has been mentioned as a possible candidatefor prime minister.?   After a Christmas break, the president will meet with party-and parliamentary leaders, starting Tuesday.<   The Berlusconi government lasted just over seven months.=   Mr. Berlusconi, a multi-millionaire businessman who led a<right-wing alliance to a decisive victory in elections last@March, was forced to resign when Northern League leader UmbertoABossi pulled out of the governing coalition.  The prime minister>resigned Thursday rather than risk defeat on three motions of9no-confidence filed by Mr. Bossi and opposition leaders.B   According to a poll conducted by the Direct Research Institute<over the last three days, what almost three-quarters of the>Italian electorate wants is a broad-based government led by aAnon-partisan prime minister to enact electoral and institutional(reform before they return to the polls.   ---------------   ---------------%   JIMMY CARTER: NAIVE OR VISIONARY?   PAMELA TAYLOR   WASHINGTONA   Former President Jimmy Carter's forays into private mediation?on behalf of the U.S. Government have provoked both praise and@criticism.  His supporters point to his successful negotiations@earlier this year in North Korea and in  Haiti.  In both cases,Athey say, Mr. Carter's efforts pulled the Clinton administration<back from the brink of conflict by brokering deals that had>eluded official negotiators.  His critics, however, say it isBsetting a naive and potentially dangerous policy to allow privateBcitizens to mediate American foreign policy.  And they say, going;to Bosnia was going too far to establish moral equivalencybetween warring parties.>   When Jimmy Carter stumbled over the difficult names of the=major players in Bosnia-Herzegovina, diplomats in Washington=cringed.  At another point, when he called the Bosnian Serbs>"Serb-Croats", others laughed.  But many think Jimmy Carter'sBstrength may be precisely what others consider as his weaknesses.BMartin Goldstein, a professor of government at Widener University>in Chester, Pennsylvania thinks his down-home (down to earth)@Georgia peanut farmer manner works in his favor because it sets?him apart from the usual stiff and formal government official:9   "Even some of the mistakes he makes are helpful, likeAmis-pronouncing names, getting a few details wrong.  It shows he;hasn't been overly briefed, he's not memorized scripts andAscenarios.  He's thrusts himself into a situation and says "here?I am, I'm the mediator, let me see what I can do to bring thisAconflict to a resolution.  I may not succeed but I don't have an?agenda here other than resolving the conflict and if I have toAsay some nice things about some pretty brutal people in order toAgain their confidence, well, I'm going to do it.  It'll be worth3it to relieve the suffering and stop the killing.";   His view is shared by a former official in Mr. Carter's:administration.  Stansfield Turner was President Carter's;Director of the CIA and is now a visiting professor at theUniversity of Maryland:@   "Jimmy Carter is a man with the greatest sense of integrity,Bgreatest sense of principle that we've had in high office in this>country in many, many years.  That gives him credibility as aAnegotiator that he will be honest, he will be fair, he will lookBat both sides of the problem and I believe that's what is carriedBhim through these several negotiations.  He is seen as being ableBto talk to them with credibility so they don't see he is there toBshortchange their side of the story.  Sometimes it looks to us asAthough he's leaning over backwards in their direction and saying?things about the United States that we don't fully appreciate.ABut what I think he's trying to do is to establish a credibility!so he can be a useful mediator."@   Jimmy Carter, who was president from 1977 to 1981, was first?criticized for his naivete when he expressed shock at the 19799Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.  His greatest diplomatic;achievement was the 1978 Camp David conference at which he?virtually locked up Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and IsraeliAPrime Minister Menachem begin until they signed a set of accords>which became the basis for the 1979 Middle East peace treaty.B   Some think Mr. Carter's determined mediation efforts stem from@his failure while president to find any way to convince Iran toBrelease American diplomats held hostage for more than 400 days at7the U.S. Embassy in tehran. Jimmy Carter has spent theAintervening years developing the Carter center in his home state9of Georgia into a world renowned humanitarian institute.>Professor goldstein says unlike most former presidents, JimmyBCarter refused to retire to the golf course and instead travelled<extensively, mostly to third world nations, promoting human/rights, public health and conflict resolution:?   "Jimmy Carter has something in common with Mr. Gorbachev of@the (former) Soviet Union in that both of them are more revered?outside their countries than within.  Most Americans that I've@spoken to, when I mention Jimmy Carter, sort of smirk and laughBand don't have very good feelings about him. But around the world@he's a hero, especially in many third world countries where his=photograph is on the walls of many huts, so I'm told, in the@third world. He's seen as the last American president to really&care about the well being of people."@   Not everyone is so favorably impressed with Jimmy carter the;mediator however.  Tom Shehee is a policy analyst with theBHeritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington D.C.9Mr. Shehee thinks the White House is setting a dangerous3precedent by  using private citizens as diplomats:B   "Its very troublesome that we have an un-elected official here?out on the stage engaging in diplomacy on behalf of the United>States.  It's very damaging to the Clinton administration.  IBdon't think its in anyone's interest to see President Clinton and@the state department so weak that Jimmy Carter has to step into?the void.  Additionally troublesome is the fact, I think it is=well known that the White House has very little control overAJimmy carter.  He chafes at any type of direction from the White9House.  On many of his adventures abroad, he's taken the@initiative and has not had a relationship with the White House,:has not told them what he's doing and I think that's verydangerous.B   Mr. Shehee grants that Carter-type meditations may indeed lead>to immediate, if short-term diplomatic successes but he warns@that how well North Korea will honor its nuclear agreement withAthe United States remains to be seen, as does whether or not the?return of President (Jean Bertrand) Aristide ultimately brings?peace and prosperity to Haiti.  As for Bosnia, Mr. Shehee said;that one thing Mr. Carter does not understand is that someAtyrants can only be dealt with by force.  He says he shudders at@the though of what might have happened had Jimmy Carter been in9the White House and tried to use mediation to get (Iraqi)president) Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.   ---------------   ---------------   LYME DISEASE VACCINE   JESSICA BERMAN   WASHINGTON?   More than one billion people around the world have received=the BCG vaccine to protect them against tuberculosis, or TB.?Now, scientists are using BCG to create vaccines against other#illnesses, including lyme disease.@   Vaccines offer protection by tricking the body into thinking@that it's being attacked by a disease.  In response, the immuneBsystem produces antibodies which can circulate in the bloodstream@for many years.  When they come in contact with real germs, the3antibodies go on the attack, preventing infection.B   The bacillus calmette-guerin, or BCG, vaccine was developed in?the early 1900's.  BCG is given mostly in developing countriesBwhere tuberculosis is prevalent. It is made from a live, weakened=strain of bacteria that causes a disease in cows that's veryBsimilar to human tuberculosis.  As a result, there's no danger of5the vaccine causing tb in humans when it's injected.;   Sol Langermann  is with the American biotechnology firm:Medimmune Incorporated in Gaithersburg, Maryland.  DoctorBLangermann is leading a group of scientists that is using the BCG@vaccine as a "shortcut" (time saver) to making vaccines againstother diseases.=   According to Langermann, they're doing this with a littlebiological manipulation"A   "We can clone (copy) proteins from foreign germs into BCG andBexpress them as very immunogenic proteins, called 'lipoproteins,'?on the surface of BCG.  And we've done work demonstrating that@these foreign proteins from germs are on the surface of the BCGorganism.">   These "immunogenic" lipoproteins stimulate a strong immune<system response in animals.  But they do not cause disease.@Researchers at Medimmune have now used this technique to createApotential vaccines against bacterial pneumonia and lyme disease,Ba bacterial illness that's transmitted through the bite of a deerBtick.  In experiments with laboratory mice, the animals still had;antibodies against lyme disease, and were, thus, protectedBagainst the illness, one-and-a-half years after being vaccinated.;   Edward McSweegen is lyme disease program officer in the<allergy and infectious diseases branch at the U.S. NationalInstitutes of Health.@   Lyme disease, which gets its name from the Connecticut town,Ais most common in the U.S., although cases have been reported inBEurope, China, Russia, Australia and Japan. The illness can cause?extreme fatigue and flu-like symptoms in the early stages.  AtAthat point, lyme disease is easy to treat with antibiotic drugs.<In the later stages, the disorder may or may not respond to:antibiotics.  In severe or chronic cases of lyme disease,?patients experience severe joint stiffness and pain, and therecan be neurological problems.=   Doctor McSweegen says there's a problem with using a lyme,disease vaccine that's been made using BCG:@   "You wouldn't get TB, but you would test positive for the TB8test that we use in the United States for detecting and?diagnosing cases of tuberculosis.  It's a very important, very@useful diagnostic aid, and I think people would be reluctant to<give that up in favor of a BCG based lyme disease vaccine."=   In fact, any BCG derived vaccine would produce a positiveBresult on a TB skin test.  But in countries where the BCG vaccineAis used widely, and tuberculosis skin tests are not, this shouldBnot be a problem.  As a result, BCG based vaccines may eventually?become an important weapon to fight infectious diseases in the
third world.   ---------------   ---------------%   MCCURRY NEW WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN   RON PEMSTEIN   STATE DEPARTMENT:   Senior White House officials have confirmed widespreadAspeculation that State Department spokesman Michael McCurry will?replace Dee Dee Meyers as President Clinton's spokesman in theBnew year.  White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta is expected to/make a formal announcement after the new year.B   White House officials have sensed for the last few months that?President Clinton needs a spokesman other than 33-year old DeeBDee Myers.  Someone, in the words of one official, more sober and:settled, a presidential-type of spokesman with Washingtonexperience.?   The man selected to be President Clinton's new spokesman in=1995 appeared at one of his last State Department briefings,>throwing peppermint candies at reporters and dressed in a red.Santa Claus costume with a phony white beard.;   Sounding suspiciously like the usual spokesman, MichaelAMcCurry, "Santa Claus" said he needed travel advisories from theAState Department to know what airspace to avoid on his Christmas
eve travels.=   "Santa" had gifts for his bosses, especially Secretary ofState Warren Christopher:>   "The Secretary of State, I am getting him an uninterrupted?vacation in Santa Barbara (California) for the next week and a=half.  Some people might not know this, I just purloined his>secure telephone so it is not going to be possible for him to5have contact with his staff for the next two weeks.">   As for the Deputy Secretary Strobe Talbott, the gift was a@one-way airplane ticket to Moscow, to give the Russian expert a"chance to repair shaky relations.B   With a wave, Santa Claus left the briefing room to prepare for<Mr. McCurry's usual sober and serious recitation of foreign	affairs:A   "I just wanted to say hello to everybody (sound of bells) andAwish you merry Christmas.  I'll go see how Mr. McCurry is doing.=As usual, he's a little bit late as you can tell.  Good-bye,#(sound of bells) merry Christmas."A   This is the sober, more presidential type of person that will?be speaking to the press on behalf of President Clinton in the
new year.<   In his more usual role, the 39-year-old Mr. McCurry is a>veteran Washington spokesman.  He has worked for senators and:senate committees, and has been a campaign strategist and:spokesman for presidential candidates in Democratic Party5primaries in 1984, 1988 and 1992.  Mr. McCurry notes=deprecatingly, every one of them was a loser.  He originally@supported Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey, not Bill Clinton, in the1992 campaign.=   However, Mr. McCurry was selected as Warren Christopher's?spokesman in April, 1993, and quickly picked up the diplomatic9nuances here at the State Department, while declining to=speculate about political issues that take up so much of theWhite House briefings.;   When rumors about Mr. McCurry replacing Ms. Myers first@surfaced a few months ago, he denied them, telling reporters he?already has the best job in Washington.  However, on President?Clinton's trips to the Middle East, Asia and Hungary in recentBmonths, the White House staff assigned Mr. McCurry to brief White>House reporters on the background of the foreign issues beingdiscussed.@   With his Washington experience, his political background and@his 20 month seminar on foreign relations here, Michael McCurryAhas the preparation to face the White House press corps.  But as;for sober and settled, this is the same man who grabbed myBmicrophone stand on the way to the airport and began singing Tina7Turner songs, in exact imitation of the female singer.   ---------------   ---------------B   CONTINUED VOLCANO ACTIVITY LEADS TO MORE EVACUATIONS IN MEXICO   JOHN GALLAGHER   MEXICO CITY?   Evacuations are continuing around the Popocatepetl volcano,Ajust outside Mexico City.  Authorities ordered the evacuation ofA75,000 people after small eruptions started today Friday sendingBtons of volcanic ash into the air.  Peasants and towns people are9being cared for in communities farther from the volcano.@   The bells of a 18th century church ring a Christmas greeting9across the plaza of Santiago Xalitzintle.  But this tiny=community in the shadow of the volcano is now empty save for8soldiers, rescue workers, and a few stubborn residents.?   The government says 75,000 people have been evacuated afterAPopocatepetl started spewing ash on Wednesday.  Authorities have<stand-by plans for the evacuation of another 150,000 if thevolcanic activity gets worse.@   Many refugees have come to Huejotoingo, where officials haveBset up shelters.  Volunteers have joined Mexican soldiers to helpwith the feeding and caring.B   Many poor Indian peasants left with nothing but the clothes on;their backs.  They're worried about crops and animals leftBbehind, and they want to go back.  But town official Angel Ajanel$Vargas tries to explain the danger.?   Ajanel Vargas says residents cannot return until scientists?and the government decide it is safe.  Soldiers and police are?patrolling empty villages.  But officials say some looting has
occurred.>   The volcano is registering 30 tremors a day.  Popocatepetl?means "smoking mountain" in the language of the Aztecs.  It isB5452 meters high and 60 kilometers southeast of Mexico City.  But;its snow-capped peak has been hidden by the clouds of ash.?   The volcano's last major eruption was in 1921.  More than aBhalf dozen earlier eruptions date to 1519, when Hernan Cortes led=his Spanish conquistadores through the mountain passes here.B   Vulcanologists say they do not know whether Popocatepetl is in&the early stages of a major eruption.9   Government officials say Mexico City is in no danger.   ---------------   ---------------   CONTINUED FALL OF THE PESO   ART CHIMES   WASHINGTON>   This week's fall in the value of the Mexican peso, by more=than 30-percent, has unnerved investors worldwide and raised.questions about economic stability in Mexico.=   The peso's dramatic tumble began Tuesday when the Mexican9government widened the permissible trading range for the<currency, which amounted to a de facto devaluation.  And it>picked up Wednesday when Mexican officials abandoned entirely>efforts to prop up the peso.  Canadian and U.S. central banks:also intervened in an effort to help shore up the Mexican
currency.@   Mexico's stock market dropped through Tuesday and Wednesday,Athen recovered as the peso found its level.  The market recovery@was good for domestic investors, but Mexico has seen a flood of@foreign investors in the past couple of years, and the recoveryAof the Mexican market was not enough to make up for the currencyloss.A   Analysts say that despite the possibility of higher inflation=and slower growth, the devaluation will make Mexican exports?cheaper abroad and that should help reduce the country's trade7deficit and give a boost to export-oriented companies.;   The U.S. and Mexican economies have become increasinglyAintertwined in recent years.  The trend gained new momentum lastAyear when the two countries, plus Canada, linked up in the North>American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA.  A large number of U.S.<companies now have manufacturing operations or suppliers in=Mexico, and many sell products there.  The devaluation makes@goods produced in Mexico cheaper in dollar terms.  It will also.make imported goods more expensive in Mexico.<   The devaluation cast a shadow over the new government ofApresident Ernesto Zedillo, whose economic challenges follows the3political challenge of rebels in Chiapas province.<   Mexican officials sought to reassure investors about the@long-term health of the country's economy.  Assurance also came9from Washington.  The Undersecretary of the Treasury for;International Affairs, Lawrence Summers, said Mexico has a@balanced budget and an independent central bank.  He also noted@that business and labor leaders have pledged not to raise wages or prices for at least 60-days.   ---------------   ---------------5   NEPAL'S COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT WINS CONFIDENCE VOTE   ANJANA PASRICHA
   NEW DELHI@   Nepal's new communist government has won a unanimous vote of?confidence, but this will not bring political stability to themountain kingdom.<   Nepal's three-week-old minority communist government was=jubilant after winning a vote of confidence from all members%present in parliament late Thursday.7   The communists hold only 88 seats in the 205-member?parliament, and are critically dependent on the opposition fortheir government's survival.B   But despite the unanimous vote, political analysts said Friday:that fears of instability for nepal's fledgling democracy	persist.<   Opposition legislators have called the confidence vote a@one-time show of undivided support, and warned the ruling partyAthat it could be thrown out of power if it does not consult themon main policy decisions.8   Sher Bahadur Deuba, parliamentary leader of the main=opposition Congress Party, has already spelt out his party's?demands.  He wants the communist government to protect law and:order, give full autonomy to local governments and pursueeconomic liberalization.:   So far prime minister Man Mohan Adhikary has adopted aApragmatic line. He says his party is sensitive to the feeling of@other parties, and has assured parliament that he will look forpolitical consensus.@   The prime minister is also likely to proceed cautiously on a@program for land reform, and other radical promises made during the November election campaign.A   Political observers say Mr. Adhikary has little choice.  TheyBpoint out that the opposition supported the confidence vote as it=does not want to face another election, but it can block the ruling party's programs easily.B   The communist government has already suffered its first defeatAat the hands of the combined opposition.  Last week these groups:voted together to have their own candidate elected as the:powerful house speaker after defeating the ruling party's:candidate.  Observers say this could be the first of many=political assaults on the ruling party in the coming months.:   November's poll was the second election in nepal after9multi-party democracy was introduced in 1990 following apro-democracy movement.   ---------------   ---------------   ORAL AIDS TEST   ALAN SILVERMAN   LOS ANGELES>   An oral aids test that does not require a blood sample was?approved by the U.S. government's Food and Drug Administration6Friday.  He "Orasure" device invented and marketed byoregon-based Epitope.B   It looks like a child's lollipop, but instead of candy Orasure?has an absorbent pad attached to the end of a small stick.  ToAtake a sample, the device is simply held in the patient's mouth,;alongside the cheek, for two minutes, then sent off to thelaboratory.B   Inventor Andrew Goldstein explains it concentrates oral fluidsfor lab tests:?   "What the Orasure device collects to use in the test is notBthe virus, but antibodies against the virus.  In fact, that's the>same type of test that's done with blood.  Once the sample is@brought to the lab, it goes in to an "eliza" test and the steps?are very similar to the way in which a blood sample is tested.<   By the year 2000, according to World Health Organization@estimates, up to 40 million people will have been infected with?the aids virus.  Using blood test techniques, some 150-million4HIV tests a year are administered around the world.<   Epitope official John Fitchen says public health studies;indicate many people who should be tested for aids are notbecause they fear blood tests:=   "A substantial number of people would go forward with HIVAtesting if they didn't have to have a needle stuck in their vein?or a lancet stuck in their finger.  There does appear to be an?impediment to giving a blood sample and Orasure clearly solves?that.  Another key point: Orasure is portable.  The collectionAcan go to the patient instead of the patient having to go to theAcollection site. We think that will increase access to testing."=   It's so simple, claims the manufacturer, that with proper?training by a doctor, anyone from social workers to employment$counselors can administer the test.=   Mr. Fitchen says there's also an important safety factor:;   "Because the device involves no needles, the chance for;so-called "needle stick" accidents suffered by health careBworkers is eliminated.  In addition, clearly the collection of an0Orasure specimen is painless and non-invasive."8   The manufacturer acknowledges the oral fluid test is?statistically slightly less accurate than blood tests, but, as@with previous techniques, lab procedures require a positive HIVBresult with Orasure to be verified with a more sensitive "westernblot" blood test.>   Epitope spent 30-million dollars to develop Orasure and it@took almost four years to win FDA approval, but now the company@expects to have the device available commercially within two orthree months.?   Orasure has been licensed for sale in some 20 countries and@Epitope president Al Ferro says China is expected to be a major1market for the device, but not for aids testing:@   "Probably the first application of Orasure in China will not>be for HIV, but probably for hepatitis-B which is a much more$serious disease in China than HIV."@   The Beaverton, Oregon company hopes to be granted government=approval of Orasure oral tests for other diseases, including;hepatitis, measles and rubella, and drug abuse, especially	cocaine.   ---------------   ---------------   REBEL ATTACKS IN COLOMBIA   PAMELA MERCER
   BOGOTAA   Eleven people were killed in northern Colombia Thursday after>bombs exploded in three public transportation buses.  A rebel=group calling itself "The National Liberation Army" or "ELN"@claimed responsibility for the attacks, which took place in thecity of Cartagena.>   Two miners and a pregnant woman were among those killed by@explosions in three buses Thursday.  Authorities said that many?of the dead bodies were so badly burned that they had not beenidentified.>   Authorities said Friday that the attack was perpetrated by@left wing guerrillas.  The bombings come at a time when several?rebel factions and spokesmen for the government Ernesto Samper:are engaged in secret peace talks as a prelude for formalnegotiations.=   The attacks took place in Colombia's most popular tourist?spot, Cartagena, which is now experiencing its busiest season.?Immediately after the attacks, the government deployed several9police contingents to ensure the security of tourists in(Cartagena during the Christmas holiday.>   One television news program said that four people had been8arrested after the attack, but gave no further details.   ---------------   ---------------@   INDISCRIMINATE CHECHEN BOMBING GROWS UNPOPULAR WITH RUSSIANS   ELIZABETH ARROTT
   MOSCOW>   Russian jets continue to bomb the capital of the breakaway=Chechen Republic, as the escalated air war launched Thursday<continues.  The indiscriminate bombing of Grozny is proving'increasingly unpopular among Russians.:   Russian forces continue to bomb and strafe the Chechen<capital, sending panicked citizens fleeing for their lives.>   Western journalists in Grozny describe scenes of terrified@residents, stopping only long enough to bury their dead, before(they themselves try to escape the city.9   The Russian government, in a statement carried by theAItar-Tass news agency, says Russian forces have sealed the city.@But western correspondents in the region say the main road east1of the capital was still open as of late Friday.9   Chechen president Dzhokhar Dudayev speaking after the@stepped-up air attacks began, has called on his people to fight<an Islamic holy war against the Russians.  Mr. Dudayev, whoBdeclared independence for the small, mainly Muslim republic threeByears ago, denounced Moscow's invasion as (in his words) satanic.B   The day time air raids follow what has been a difficult ground@operation for Russian troops.  Dissent in the military, as well?as fierce resistance from Chechen fighters left Russian ground>forces bogged down nearly two weeks after the invasion began.@   The operation has also proved politically difficult as well.;Russia's lower house of parliament has appealed to RussianAPresident Boris Yeltsin to stop the fighting.  While Mr. Yeltsin?has the backing of his prime minister and many in his cabinet,@his long-time supporters in parliament have criticized the war.:   Public sentiment is apparently also moving against the@invasion. A poll released Friday shows 75 percent of MuscovitesAsurveyed said the bombing of Grozny is unnecessary, and that was<in a poll taken before the relentless daylight raids began.B   Russian military analysts here express concern the fighting in=Chechnya could develop into another Afghanistan, the 10-yearAfiasco that embroiled Moscow in a guerrilla war.  Saturday marks4the 15th anniversary of the doomed Afghan invasion.   ---------------   ---------------   SOUTHERN AFRICA'S DROUGHT   MALLORY SALESON   JOHANNESBURG@   South Africa and other countries in southern Africa are once<again facing the threat of severe drought in the midst of a<heatwave.  The weather situation is not good news for these%economically hard-pressed countries.A   Southern African countries are facing the grim possibility ofBmass starvation because of weather patterns that could again grip>the entire region in severe drought.  October to march is the?normal rainy season in Southern Africa, but the rains have notBcome.  Drought has already wreaked havoc with crops and cattle in?a number of countries prompting fear these countries will facesevere shortages.?   One of the hardest hit countries is Mozambique, even thoughBaid donors have already agreed to cover an emergency shortfall ofBfood for the early part of 1995.  As the newly-elected governmentAfaces enormous political and economic challenges it will have to<add the possibility of mass starvation to its list of woes.BParticularly hard-hit will be the central and southern provinces,6the same area hit by the devastating drought of 1992.A   The issue was likely to be on the agenda at the first cabinetAsession of the new government Friday.  Though the ruling Frelimo@party and the main opposition Renamo party have both called forAnational reconciliation, the government elected in October afterA16-years of civil war has had a shaky start.  Renamo has refused?to take its seats in parliament until Frelimo agrees to voting&rules that allow for a secret ballot.;   Another country facing a bleak season is Zimbabwe.  The?country had a poor start to its rainy season, in fact rain for@Zimbabwe, like many southern African countries, is a key to the>economy. The government is making contingency plans to extendBdrought relief aid to as many as five-million people, nearly half=the population.  Zimbabwe's economy is only now beginning toBrecover from the 1992 drought, when thousands-of-tons of food hadto be imported.B   Malawi too is facing a crisis, with officials there estimating?nearly seven-million of the country's nine-million people will>need food assistance.  In zambia, a long dry spell has killed:most of the maize crop in key harvest areas of the south.A   Earlier this week, the U.N. food and agriculture organizationAissued a report warning a number of African countries, including4several in southern Africa, face serious shortages.A   The war-ravaged country of Angola is also facing another year>of starvation and severe malnutrition for many of its people.@But in Angola the problem is not a result of poor rain, but the@civil war that has displaced millions of farmers into towns andBvillages.  Millions of landmines planted by both warring factions?during two-decades of conflict have also made planting all but8impossible in many areas that should be producing food.@   The U.N. world food program has already announced additional=plans to help Angola next year, and officials are hoping the>peace accords signed in November will hold so food aid can be>easily delivered.  The military leaders of the government andBrebel UNITA movement are expected to meet soon to try to solidify-the ceasefire and discuss the peace process.<   South Africa is in the grip of a heatwave and drought in@provinces that should should have already been planting for the@harvest.  Farmer organizations have warned the crop will be the?worst in many years unless it rains soon.  Some are predicting?the worst famine in South Africa's history, and warn food will<have to be imported on a large scale.  That places enormous>pressure on a new government hoping to deliver on promises of"better living conditions for all.   ---------------   ---------------(   U.N. HALTS ITS MISSION IN MOZAMBIQUE   CHRIS SIMKINS   UNITED NATIONS8   The United Nations has ended its two year mission in?Mozambique, with a senior U.N. official hailing it Friday as agreat success.;   Aldo Ajello, the U.N. special envoy to Mozambique, told@reporters the United Nations can be proud of its mission in the>country.  He said the 17 million dollar project has helped to=guarantee peace and security in Mozambique for more than twoyears.A   Mr. Ajello praised the international community for helping toBestablish the political conditions for implementation of the 1992'general peace agreement in Mozambique.@   The U.N. official also credited the people of Mozambique forAensuring that the former rebel Renamo group was transformed from0a military organization into a political party.9   Last month, the U.N. officially declared Mozambique's@first-ever multi-party democratic elections, held last October,as free and fair.;   Mr. Ajello said despite achievements in Mozambique, the@international community will have to maintain an active role in)helping to rebuild the war-torn country:>   "The country has been devastated by 16 years of civil war.?There is no infrastructure,  no schools, no hospitals, and theAlevel of literacy is very low.  There is a lot of work to do andMozambique needs help.">   U.N. officials say it will take about six months to see ifBMozambique's first-democratically elected government will be ableBto maintain support in parliament, especially among the country'sopposition party leaders.   ---------------   ----------------   CUBA MISSILE CRISIS TAPES   RICK NUNEZ   WASHINGTON@   The long secret White House tapes have shed new light on one=of the most frightening episodes of the cold war between the>United States and the former Soviet Union:  The Cuban mIssileBCrisis of 1962.  The declassified tapes, released Wednesday, show=former president John Kennedy under considerable pressure to
invade Cuba:=   The tapes were recorded during two meetings:  One between@President Kennedy and top cabinet advisors, and another between>the president and members of congress.  The records were made>public by the John F. Kennedy presidential library in Boston,Massachusetts.=   The conferences took place on October 22, 1962.  One week<earlier, U.S. reconnaissance planes had photographed SovietBrocket launchers capable of hurling medium range nuclear missilestoward the United States.A   Sheldon Stern is a historian at the Kennedy Library.  He says@the atmosphere between the president and his advisors was grim:;   "Everytime his advisors talk about what may happen, the@president seems to think it is going to be terrible. Everything8from the Russians seizing Berlin to total nuclear war."A   On the tapes, President Kennedy weighs the costs and benefits>of using military force to respond to the Soviet buildup.  HeBsays failure to react to the deployment of missiles in Cuba would send the USSR the wrong signal.:   Mr. Stern says the president was reluctant to mount animmediate invasion of Cuba:A   "President Kennedy was extremely reluctant to take that first;step, because he was extremely fearful that once you start-military action, it's very hard to stop it."B   But historian Stern says the president, despite his deliberate?approach, remained ready to use force in Cuba as a last resortthat October:B   "The plans during the period from October 16th to October 22ndBwere to go first with the naval blockade. If the blockade was not@effective, the U.S. would then return to the options of bombing?the missile sites or invading Cuba or both.  Plans to do those6things, particularly the invasion were moving ahead."A   Shortly after the two meetings of October 22, 1962, president?Kennedy appeared on nationwide television to announce the U.S.Bblockade.  Six days later, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed@to withdraw his country's missiles from Cuba.  In exchange, Mr.;Kennedy promised not to attack the island-nation.  He also4pledged to remove NATO missiles deployed in Turkey.B   Sheldon Stern of the John F. Kennedy presidential library saysAthe center plans to release more tapes recorded during the Cuban>Missile Crisis.  Before becoming available to the public, the?records must be cleared by the National Security Council.  The>council deleted forty-eight seconds from the latest series oftapes.   ---------------   ---------------   UZBEK ELECTIONS   JENNIFER GLASSE
   MOSCOWA   The former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan Sunday will hold itsBfirst parliamentary election since it declared independence three:years ago.  The results are expected to favor the currentpresident's party.<   The new parliament of Uzbekistan is half the size of the9former supreme Soviet and two political parties will putBcandidates up for its 250 seats.  They are the popular DemocraticBParty, which formerly was the communist party, and the FatherlandProgress Party.?   Uzbeki president Islam Karimov is a member of the DemocratiAParty which has been the dominant political force in the country?since his election in 1991.  Mr. Karimov's government has been@criticized for suppressing opposition parties, but his party is<expected to take a majority of the seats in Sunday's votingAbecause its candidates are running in nearly every constituency.B   The Fatherland Progress Party has fielded 140 candidates, with9the balance of parliament hopefuls nominated by regional>administrations.  The opposition parties that Mr. Karimov had;been accused of oppressing in the past were not allowed toregister for the elections.<   The new parliament will replace one elected in 1959 whenBUzbekistan was a Soviet republic.  It will usher in a new era for>the nation, but the balance of power is not expected to shiftradically.@   Uzbekistan has made economic progress in the past years, andBit is thought that the International Monetary Fund and the  worldAbank will offer the nation financing in 1995.  Holding the firstAparliamentary elections is seen as another sign that the country!is on the way towards democracy.   ---------------   ---------------4   AFGHANISTAN DENIES HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION CHARGE   DOUGLAS BAKSHIAN
   ISLAMABADB   The administration of Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani has;rejected charges of large-scale human-rights violations inBAfghanistan.  The administration says, given the civil war in the0country, it is doing its best to uphold rights.@   The administration of president Rabbani has rejected chargesBmade by the London-based human-rights group Amnesty International<last week. The organization says rival Afghan factions wereAcarrying out mass murder, arbitrary detention, torture and rape.@   Mr. Rabbani's administration, in a statement released by the:Afghan embassy in Islamabad, calls the charges biased and>exaggerated.  The statement accuses groups fighting presidentARabbani of killing innocent people in Kabul, the Afghan capital.<But the statement says, in areas of Kabul controlled by Mr.?Rabbani's forces, authorities guard against rights violations.A   The statement blames what it calls extremist opponents of Mr.BRabbani for rights violations.  No names are mentioned, but prime>minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is Mr. Rabbani's main rival. TheBstatement admits there is anarchy in parts of Afghanistan becauseBof the conflict between rival factions, but it says the situation/is not as bad as Amnesty International claims.9   Amnesty International criticizes Muslim countries forAremaining silent about the abuses in Afghanistan, while speakingBout about violations against Muslims in other parts of the world.=The group has also condemned the international community forignoring the Afghan conflict.?   Amnesty International estimates at least 15 thousand people<have been killed in Kabul since April of 1992, when Islamic@fighters toppled the communist government of Najibullah.  SinceBthen, they have turned their guns on each other in a bloody power
struggle.   ---------------   ---------------)   CSCE SENDS PEACEKEEPERS TO AZERBAIJAN   ALI JALALI   WASHINGTONB   The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, or CSCE,<recently agreed to send peacekeeping forces to the troubled@Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, to maintain peace once a?political settlement is reached there The project may become aAtest of the CSCE's ability to react more effectively to regionalconflicts.?   This would be the first dispatch of peacekeepers under CSCE?sponsorship, as the organization moves toward a larger role ininternational peacekeeping.=   The presumed multi-national character of the force is, in=part, a response to Russia's longstanding campaign to win an@exclusive right to deploy peacekeeping troops in territories of@the former Soviet Union.  Russia has been seeking international>support for a plan to establish a mainly Russian peacekeeping>contingent to help defuse conflicts and maintain peace in theBCaucasus, including the disputed territory in the mostly armenian+enclave of nagorno-karabakh in Azerbaijan.B   However, CSCE leaders who met in Budapest in December opted to>create an umbrella group to lead a multi-lateral peacekeeping1force that will also include troops from Russia.@   The head of U.S. Delegation to the CSCE meeting in Budapest,ASam Brown, says a multi-national peacekeeping force prevents any/single country from having too much influence:@   "Russia has particular economic and other relationships with<many independent countries of the former Soviet union.  The@United States rejects the notion of any sphere of influence forARussia in the former Soviet union; and as a consequence, we lookBto a truly independent force which acts as a third party monitor,:to ensure that it is not simply in some way an attempt to=reestablish any kind of hegemonic relationship, any historic?relationship that Russians may have had, but that it really is;there to provide security and ensure stability, which is a1legitimate goal of the international community."@   The CSCE has been skeptical about any peacekeeping operationBwhich does not involve the international community right from the@start, both in monitoring and in the related political process.<   In Nagorno-Karabakh, after six years of fighting between>Armenians and Azeris, a cease-fire has generally been holdingAsince may.  And a CSCE mediation and negotiation forum, known as@the Minsk group, has been working with the parties to help themreach a settlement.;   A decision on deployment of the proposed multi-national=peacekeeping force under CSCE leadership will be made once a>political settlement is reached.  Therefore, questions of its2composition and command are yet to be determined.@   The State Department coordinator for regional affairs in the?new independent states, Joseph Presel, says the opposing sidesAare also providing some input on what percentage of peacekeeping&troops should come from each country:A   "One of the conflicting parties has expressed its willingness@for any international peacekeeping force. Another has expressed9its strong preference for one that was multi-national inBcharacter, that did not allow for more than between a quarter andAthird of the force to come from any one country, and that it was+under the command and control of the CSCE.?   CSCE officials emphasize that the force will need a clearly=defined mandate, which specifies exactly when and under whatBcircumstances the mission is finished and the force should leave.   ---------------   ---------------   CARBON MONOXIDE MANIA   PAUL FRANCUCH   CHICAGOA   The sound of fire truck sirens filled the air Wednesday night>around the Midwest city of Chicago, not because fire brigades>were trying to put out another "Great Chicago Fire." The fireBfighters were responding to hundreds of calls from homeowners who@feared their houses were filled to dangerous levels with deadlycarbon monoxide gas.<   Chicago's fire department got more than 1,800 calls from>panicked residents whose carbon monoxide alarms had gone off.ABut few, if any, were in actual danger.  The alarms were set off@by overly-sensitive detectors which had accumulated readings ofAthe gas caused by lingering smog which has blanketed Chicago thepast few days.A   Abnormally warm weather combined with calm breezes to product=conditions to keep the carbon monoxide in place.  Detectors,Awhich in recent months became legally required in Chicago homes,Bwent off after accumulating particles of the gas over a number ofhours.?   Chicago's mayor, Richard Daley, told reporters Thursday theAcarbon  monoxide detectors do save lives and will continue to berequired in homes..   But Daley said modifications are in order:>   "Clearly, carbon monoxide poisoning is a genuine threat to@anyone and  it can strike anywhere at anytime in someone's home>or garage.   However, it's equally clear that the city cannotAcontinue dispatching  fire trucks and ambulances to thousands ofBhomes for no reason each time mother nature decides to have a newweather condition."=   The leading smoke detector manufacturer, First Alert, has7admitted its devices are too sensitive and the private@laboratory, Underwriters Laboratories, which sets standards for:detectors has come up with new, less sensitive standards.=   Meanwhile, Chicago's fire department has put out a publicBnotice urging residents not to call for emergency help when their>carbon monoxide detectors go off unless they feel symptoms of3poisoning, such as headaches, nausea and vomiting.   ---------------   ---------------@   EXPERT SAYS NOTHING HAPPENED IN CHECHNYA TO WARRANT INVASION   ANDRE DE NESNERA
   MOSCOW?   The Russian armed forces are stepping up a campaign against<the Chechen capital Grozny, subjecting the city to repeated=bombings.  Russian troops are engaged in heavy fighting withChechen forces north of city.;   Russian President Boris Yeltsin ordered troops into the?southern region of Chechnya more than a week ago, but who else;was actually involved in the decision-making process stillremains a mystery.8   Sergei Rogov, deputy-director of Moscow's USA/Canada<Institute, says there was no dramatic change in Chechnya to'warrant the sending of Russian troops.B   Rogov believes one of the reasons President Yeltsin dispatched<the military there was to divert attention from the lack of@progress on the domestic economic front, and the very slow paceof reforms:@   "When all of a sudden the Chechen crisis became predominant,Bit looks for many people as a rather strange effort to change the=developments in Russia by staging a confrontation in a placeAwhere organizers believe they can achieve a quick and impressiveAvictory, so they can enhance their position not only in the city+of Grozny but also in the city of Moscow.">   Mr. Rogov says during the past few years, there has been a=disturbing phenomenon in Russia, namely that Russian leaders2believe democracy can be obtained by firing guns:@   "Well it seems that at the crucial points in the developmentBof Russian democracy, whether in August, 1991, or December, 1993,Bor December, 1994,, tanks are becoming the symbols of the RussianBprogress toward democracy and you start wondering how far you can?move on tanks as far as institutionalization of democracy is.">   Turning to the situation in Chechnya, the Russian academic>believes with its overwhelming superiority in guns, tanks and?aircraft, the Russian military will ultimately take control ofAthe Chechen capital Grozny.  But he says that will happen at the%cost of many lives, mostly civilian.B   Mr. Rogov says the taking of Grozny will mean an escalation of@the war which may not be limited only to Chechnya.  He said theAnature of the war will also change, Russian forces will face the3same guerrilla tactics as they did in Afghanistan.;   Politically, Mr. Rogov says all of the main parties and<factions have criticized the Russian military intervention,except one:>   "The only major political group which is supportive of the>decision is the Liberal-Democratic (nationalist) Party of Mr.>Zhirinovsky, there are some minor figures also but, that is a@strange realignment of political forces on the Russian domestic?scene which is now taking place:  When Mr. Zhirinovsky and hisBsupporters are the only ones who are committed to the president's>policy while other groups are trying to distance themselves."B   Since Russian troops entered Chechnya December 11th, presidentBYeltsin has kept a very low profile, releasing statements throughAhis office and having prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin run the@operation.  Mr. Rogov says he does not understand why at such a=critical time, the Russian president has decided to lay low.!No-one, he says, has the answer.   ---------------   ---------------(   CHINA/U.S. COPYRIGHT TALKS BREAKDOWN   DAVID DYAR   BEIJING@   Chinese officials have strongly criticized the United StatesAfor the collapse of talks last week on the issue of intellectualproperty rights violations.@   Chinese officials Thursday gave their strongest response yet@to American allegations that China was not doing enough to stop4Chinese pirating of American intellectual property.@   Talks on the issue took place last week in Beijing, but U.S.@officials decided to end the discussions saying no progress hadbeen made.A   The United States has set a year-end deadline for progress orit may impose sanctions.B   The Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Thursday said the talks<failed because the U.S. negotiators continued to impose new=conditions and raise concerns which went beyond the issue ofintellectual property.;   The spokesman criticized the head of the delegation for=leaving China in the middle of the talks without even saying=good-bye. He says China expresses its utmost regret over theoutcome of the talks.B   The U.S. trade official who headed the talks said in Hong Kong;after leaving China there would not have been any point inBcontinuing the discussions because China did not make any seriousoffers.B   However, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said China had=offered what he called a positive scheme to help resolve the@remaining problems.  He claimed China had already done a lot to@crack down on piracy, but  he said his country will never yield%to threats or pressure from outside.B   A Chinese newspaper this week quoted China's trade minister as?saying Beijing will retaliate against any sanctions imposed onChina by the United States.?   Washington officials say U.S. firms lose nearly one billionAdollars a year in sales to the illegal copying of American videoAdiscs and cassettes, as well as compact music discs and computer
software.A   U.S. officials say some Chinese factories near Hong Kong that@are producing pirated video, audio and computer discs are ownedby the Chinese government.   ---------------   ---------------1   CUBAN EXILE GROUP WARNS NOT TO INVEST IN CUBA   JIM TEEPLE	   MIAMI>   A Cuban exile group is warning foreign governments  not toAinvest in Cuba.  The warning is part of a stepped up campaign to>put pressure on countries and investors who have been seekingbusiness in Cuba.A   The chairman of the Cuban American National Foundation, Jorge?Mas Canosa, has mailed a letter to the Washington embassies of?countries who have extensive investments in Cuba, warning themBtheir investments could be in jeopardy in a post-Castro Cuba. The>United States which maintains a trade embargo on Cuba has for=years warned against buying or investing in confiscated U.S.;Property in Cuba, worth an estimated five billion dollars.AHowever Mr. Mas Canosa's letter goes further because it says all@foreign investment will be scrutinized and not just confiscated!property belonging to Americans.B   Jose Cardenas is the Washington director of the Cuban American@National Foundation.   While he will not say to which embassiesAthe letter was sent, he does say the letter was sent in responseBto a campaign by the Cuban government to seek foreign investment:=   "The Cuban government is stepping up its campaign to lure;foreign investment, and it is targeting very very stronglyAcertain countries like Mexico, the United Kingdom, Colombia, and?we want those people to know that there is a different side toAthis issue.  We believe that once these people that are thinkingBabout investing need to know that there is going to be a day whenBthe Cuban people are going to be able to play a role are going to<have a say in the deals that were cut with the illegitimate>government.  And therefore we believe that any deal that (is)Astruck with the current Cuban government is going to be reviewed9by a future Cuban government.  A future democratic Cuban
government."A   Mr. Cardenas says his organization will take every legal step9it can to block foreign investment in Cuba.  He says the:foundation will work closely with the incoming Republican<Congress to pass legislation in the coming months, to allow@owners of confiscated property in Cuba to pursue claims in U.S.@Courts against any foreign investor who buys or invests in such
property.@   Jack Child a professor of Latin American studies at American<university in Washington, says the new Republican dominated>Congress is likely to try and help the foundation achieve itsgoals:A   "What could happen is a series of punitive laws that would in8effect punish any company foreign or U.S.  That has any9involvement with Castro.  And you could do that at leastBtheoretically by either fining them or seizing assets in the U.S.BOr in some way hampering their operations in the United States if9evidence is brought up that they are dealing with Cuba.":   Mr. Child says the Clinton administration will be in a?difficult position if this happens, because it might be forced>into court to sue for assets belonging to its allies in LatinBAmerica and Europe.  Canada, Mexico, Great Britain and other U.S.AAllies have harshly criticized the Cuban Democracy Act passed byACongress in 1992.  That law backed by the Clinton administration@blocks trade with Cuba by U.S. Subsidiaries in third countries.@Those same allies also dispute warnings by the State Department:about purchasing confiscated American properties in Cuba.>   However the majority of Cuban exile groups favor sanctions?against investment in Cuba, and as the Cuban American NationalBFoundation points out; their views are likely to prevail when the;new Republican dominated Congress takes office in January.   ---------------   ---------------(   A LOOK BACK AT THE LIFE OF DEAN RUSK   ANDREW J. BAROCH   WASHINGTON>   Dean Rusk, the former U.S. Secretary of State who presided@over American foreign policy during the 1960's, has died at hishome in Athens, Ga, WednesdayA   Dean Rusk was a staunch advocate of U.S. military involvement@in Vietnam. Addressing an American veterans convention in 1965,BMr. Rusk said the United States had an obligation to defend southVietnam from the north:A   "We have a commitment, a commitment of policy which runs fromBthe Truman Administration through President Eisenhower, PresidentAKennedy, and President Johnson a commitment known and recognizedBby the Congress from time to time in a variety of ways: the SEATO4treaty ratified by an overwhelming vote, annual aidAappropriations, a special act of the Congress last congress, and0the solemn declarations of several presidents.":   In the late 1960's, Dean Rusk remained one of the last>holdouts in the administration of President Lyndon Johnson infavor of the war.@   Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who served<in the Johnson administration and was also vilified for hisAposition on Vietnam in the 1960's, praised Mr. Rusk as "the most?selfless, devoted servant of our nation that I've ever known."BGeorge reedy, former press secretary to President Johnson, called?Dean Rusk "the ideal foreign relations expert." Mr. Reedy says>that, in his words, he "made a very deep impression on Lyndon
Johnson."A   Still, Dean Rusk and Lyndon Johnson ultimately disagreed over	Vietnam.B   Lincoln Gordon, who served as Assistant Secretary of State for=Latin America from 1966 to 1967, directly under Secretary ofAState rusk, says Mr. Rusk did not want to halt the U.S. military
involvement:=   "In the end of the Vietnam policy, the end of the Johnson>administration, they had these critical meetings in the WhiteBHouse with the President, when he was finally deciding to give upBand withdraw, and, indeed, withdraw his candidacy for re-election;in 1968. Dean rusk believed that we should continue, go onAfighting there. What he did acknowledge later in life, when he'd:gone down to the University of Georgia in retirement from8Washington [service], he acknowledged that he had badlyAunderestimated the tenacity of the North Vietnamese [communists]in their cause."B   Mr. Rusk was also involved in the decision-making in the CubanBmissile crisis in 1962. When president John Kennedy demanded thatAthe Soviet Union withdraw its missiles from Cuba, Dean Rusk said?that the two nuclear superpowers had been "standing eyeball to:eyeball, and the other fellow," he added, "just blinked."B   Paul Warnke (warn-key), the Assistant Secretary of Defense for?International Security Affairs for the Johnson administration,@says Mr. Rusk's quote was bluster, that the former Secretary ofBState sought a peaceful solution, which included a naval blockade	of Cuba:@   "Certainly, he must have had a strong input in resisting anyBsort of forcible military action and relying instead on diplomacy9and on the so-called quarantine. So that i'd call that a'success.'"A   Dean Rusk also presided over the Bay of Pigs debacle in 1961,Bwhen a group of Cuban exiles with CIA support failed to overthrow?Cuban leader Fidel Castro, though, according to historians, he5questioned the wisdom of the mission from the start.=   In the early years of his eight-year tenure, Mr. Rusk wasAdescribed by historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., as sitting in on?White House meetings "with a Buddha-like face and half-smile."BHistorian John Lewis Gaddis writes that Mr. Rusk was "mysterious"%and "often cryptic in what he said."@   Lincoln Gordon says Dean Rusk had "an untiring dedication to>his job" and was a "good" Secretary of State, but not, in Mr.AGordon's view, a "great Secretary of State" like Dean Acheson or.John Foster Dulles, who served in the 1950's:?   "He wasn't good at articulating a perspective. You contrast?him with Dean Acheson who had an absolutely magnificent way ofBreducing complicated problems, not oversimplifying them but goingAto the heart, to the nugget. Dean Rusk found it hard to do that.8He tended to talk at too great length around problems."?   Dean Rusk was born on Feb. 19th, 1909, one of five childrenBraised in rural Georgia by a father who couldn't hold down a job.9   Mr. Gordon says that Mr. Rusk overcame the adversity:9   "At one point during the depression years, the father<developed some sort of physical ailment, and the family was?really on starvation rations. Dean Rusk earned his way through:college, and then Rhodes Scholarship, the years at Oxford@[University], really transformed his outlook. It introduced himto a wider world."<   Dean Rusk served in the far east during World War II andAjoined the State Department after the war. He resigned to become@president of the Rockefeller Foundation in New York in 1952. In;his later years, Dean Rusk taught at the law school at theAUniversity of Georgia and once said he never missed being at the$center of power in the White House.<   "The only thing in Washington I miss," he added, "are my@friends." In recent years, Mr. Rusk cared for an ailing wife as/his own health deteriorated. Dean rusk was 85.   ---------------   ---------------   EUROPEAN UNION EXPANDS   FRANCIS RONALDS   WASHINGTON@   On January 1st, the European Union will expand from 12 to 15?members, as Austria, Sweden and Finland join in, enlarging the;common market to 340 million citizens.  At a recent summit6conference in Essen, Germany, six more countries from=East/Central Europe were promised aid and trade so that they>could build the political and economic institutions that will0prepare them for membership within a few years.?   Of all the far-sighted statesmen who have worked to build a@united Europe, historians agree that France's Jean Monnet (zhan>mo-nay') had the greatest vision for building a united Europe9"from the Atlantic to the Urals."  As one vital step, he;developed plans for the European coal and steel community.=Beginning in 1951, the ECSC tied the economies of France and;Germany so closely together that future military conflictsAbetween the two countries became impossible.  But Lord Eric Roll;says that the Marshall Plan, which required the nations of=Western Europe to agree on how to divide American aid to the;war-torn continent, gave the first and decisive impetus toAunification, beginning in 1947.  Now 87-years-old, Lord Roll was<the British representative on the organization for EuropeanBEconomic Cooperation in the early post-war period.  He is now the?president of S. G. Warburg, the largest investment bank in theUnited Kingdom.B   "The Marshall plan was really the rock on which Monnet and the?others were able then to build the idea of a European economic?community," Says Lord Roll.  "In the vision of an enlargement,Awhether it is to the immediate candidates, like Austria, FinlandBand Sweden , Norway, alas, not yet, or whether it is going beyond9to the former communist countries in Eastern Europe, theprinciple is the same."B   A former prime minister of the Netherlands, Andreas Van Agt is!now EU ambassador in Washington.A   Today, according to Andreas Van Agt (ahn-dray-ahs fahn ahgt),Bthe European Union is concerned most of all about its competitive?strength compared with north America and east Asia, especiallyBsince it is only now coming out of a recession and must deal witha high level of unemployment:A   "The initial drive towards European integration was basically:to build a bridge between France and Germany, to create aAcommunity that would secure peace in Europe for decades to come.9That we all take for granted now. Talking about European8integration now is much more talking about our economic>competitiveness, our industrial competitiveness.  And in that>perspective, taking in countries such as Austria, Finland and>Sweden will certainly strengthen the mechanisms we have apart(from other advantages that go with it."?   The European Union has been criticized for failing to offer<more aid to Eastern Europe and particularly for maintainingAbarriers to imports.  But Ambassador Van Agt points out that the>EU has provided two thirds of western aid, and will eliminate>tariffs on industrial products within two years.  Eliminating?barriers on agricultural imports will be more difficult, since8many farmers in Western Europe barely get by, even withgovernmental subsidies.@   Michael Emerson, eu Ambassador in Moscow, agrees that the EUBhas not done badly, considering the difficult economic conditionsof the past few years:B   "Fundamentally, yes, we have to go for massive trade expansionAwith Russia and the whole of East and Central Europe.  Today, in?the relationship between the European Union and countries like=Poland and Hungary, trade is growing very, very fast:  AboutAtwenty-five to thirty-five percent per annum, compound rate.  We=have given what, in fact, no other major trading country has?given to Russia yet: Tariff preferences, which virtually meansscrapping all tariffs.">   Expansion of the European Union will require reform of its4institutions, which will be considered at a kind of,constitutional convention planned for 1996.@   Professor Hoffman is the chairman of the center for Europeanstudies at Harvard university.:   According to Stanley Hoffman, there are differences inAapproach between Germany and France about how much aid should be>given to Eastern Europe, as opposed to the countries of NorthAfrica:@   "Germany is more interested in a quick extension to the eastBand France, also Spain and Italy, are very worried about the need:for providing assistance to mediterranean countries which<otherwise could be in deep political turmoil and could send;hundred of thousands of political and economic refugees to>Europe.  There is certainly tension here.  But usually in the?history of the European community and the European Union, this:sort of tension was resolved by doing both:  By finding a'compromise and moving on both fronts."B   At the Essen conference  that is precisely what the eu members=did.  They agreed to earmark $6.6 billion over the next five8years to prepare the six Eastern European countries for5membership, and $3.3 billion in aid to North Africa.<   Speaking for one of the European Union's newest members,@Finland's President Martti Ahtisaari made a pledge:  "We intend>to be an active partner," he said, "in implementation of JeanMonnet's vision."   ---------------   ---------------)   GINGRICH'S 4 MILLION DOLLAR BOOK DEAL   PAULA WOLFSON   CONGRESS>   The incoming speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives,ANewt Gingrich, has signed a multi-million dollar contract with a"New York book publishing company.A   It is not unusual for an American politician to write a book.<Many current and former members of Congress can list a side)occupation of "author" on their resumes.@   What is unusual about the contract signed by Mr. Gingrich is:the amount of money involved.  Reports say Harper Collins=publishing company agreed to pay him four million dollars in8advance to write one book on politics and edit another.?   And while it is not illegal or a violation of congressional<rules, White House spokeswoman Dee Dee Meyers says the dealwarrants scrutiny:>   "I think a four million dollar advance for a member who is&soon to be speaker raises questions."@   Just moments after Ms. Meyers spoke, the number-two Democrat:in the incoming U.S. House of Representatives went beforereporters on Capitol Hill.@   David Bonior of Michigan said Newt Gingrich is already using3his new position to increase his personal fortune:A   "This is an arrogant act for a man who is about to assume one@of the most powerful positions and offices in the land.  Before=he gets to the public business, he is taking care of his ownprivate profits."A   Mr. Bonior also noted that the publishing company involved in=the deal is part of the international media empire of RupertAMurdoch, who wants to see changes in U.S. laws regarding foreign+ownership of American television stations.9   The Michigan Democrat said such changes are now under?consideration by Congressional Republicans.  And he called the;book contract a "Christmas gift" for the incoming speaker.?   Mr. Gingrich was not in Washington to personally respond to?the Democrats.  However, in a written statement, his spokesman>said the Democrats seem to be suffering from, what he called,
"book envy".A   Tony Blankley said books on conservative politics are popular9with the American public and have been selling very wellBrecently.  He suggested the only reason why Mr. Gingrich got such>a lucrative deal was because his publisher believes his booksBwill sell millions of copies, and thus, make millions in profits.?Mr. Blankley has also indicated that the incoming speaker does;not plan to keep all the money and some will be donated to	charity.   ---------------   ---------------;   IRAQ LASHES OUT AT ARAB NATIONS SUPPORTING UN SANCTIONS   LAURIE KASSMAN	   CAIRO<   Iraqi media has lashed out at Gulf leaders who urged the>United Nations to maintain sanctions against Baghdad until itAmeets all U.N. Security Council resolutions. The U.N. inspectors?say Iraq is still hiding information about its past biologicalweapons program.@   The ruling Baath Party newspaper, Al Thawra, blasts the GulfACooperation Council for what it sees as a violation of calls forAArab reconciliation.  Al Thawra calls the Gulf summit resolution%short-sighted and politically blind.<   The six Gulf leaders ended their summit Wednesday with a<statement welcoming Iraq's official recognition of Kuwait'sAsovereignty.  But they also recommended continuing oil and trade?sanctions against Iraq until it complies with all the Gulf Warcease-fire resolutions.;   Still, there was a subtle softening of tone in the GulfAleaders' statement, which referred to Iraq for the first time as!the republic and not the regime.?   But Al Thawra sees something more sinister.  The newspaper,>which reflects official Iraqi attitudes, says the Gulf states@have shown that they have no intention of normalizing relationsAwith Iraq.  The newspaper says the Gulf states are well aware of<the pressure mounting in the U.N. Security Council to start;easing the crippling four-year-old sanctions against Iraq.:   Baghdad's diplomats have been lobbying hard to get the?sanctions lifted but the U.N. security council remains divided>over the issue.  Since Iraq's official recognition of Kuwaiti@sovereignty, Russia and France have urged a positive gesture to@encourage Iraq.  Russia's ambassador to the United Nations says<he will ask the Security Council to suspend or lift the oil;embargo if Baghdad continues to cooperate with the council	demands.>   But the latest U.N. inspectors' report still does not give@Iraq a clean record.  Although it welcomes Iraqi cooperation on@the long-term military monitoring system, it says Iraq is still3hiding information about its past weapons systems.   ---------------   ---------------@   CORPORATE DONATIONS FLOW TO POLITICAL PARTIES AGAIN IN JAPAN   KYOKO KANEKO	   TOKYO=   Corporate donations are flowing again into the coffers of=Japanese political parties. The resumption of the generosity?raises concerns that the lure of corporate money may overwhelm*efforts to reform the country's politics.B   When the one-party rule by the Liberal Democratic Party or LDPBcollapsed last year, Japan's most powerful economic organization,>Keidanren, decided to halt its 32-year practice of funnelling9money to political parties.  And Japanese businesses put2political donations on hold for more than a year.@   The decision was prompted by a series of corruption scandalsBduring the past several years that involved large amounts of cashBflowing between big businesses and politicians.  The scandals led&to the arrest of several politicians.8   During the days of the LDP's rule, the party wielded@considerable influence in drafting the country's budget, giving@the business community cause to give political donations to the;party.  The cozy relations between the LDP and businessmen@created an outrage among Japanese.  That helped bring an end to9the 38-year reign of the pro-business liberal democrats.@   The scandals also led to urgent calls for sweeping political?reforms to clean up Japan's political corruption.  Last month,<Japan's parliament enacted a package of three supplementary;political reform bills that completed the electoral reform"process begun in the late 1980's.A   The new package includes a stipulation that political parties;will receive government subsidies.  A total of 308 millionBdollars in subsidies will be provided, beginning next January, toBthe nation's political parties.  The ceiling is set at two-thirds>of each party's real income during the previous year.  So the<amount of subsidies a party will be able to receive depends<largely on how much it receives in contributions this year.A   Observers say larger parties will receive proportionally more:funds than smaller ones.  Therefore, this month, the nine:non-communist opposition parties formed a huge new party,BShinshinto.  The new party, which has has 214 parliament members,=became Japan's second largest political party after the LDP,which has 295 lawmakers.B   Moreover, the parties relying only on the government subsidies?will lag behind others in the unified local elections in April<and in parliament's upper house election in July next year.=   And a general election can be held any time after the newBelectoral system for parliament's lower house goes into effect on@December 25th.  The new electoral system combines British-style<single-seat voting districts with German-style proportional@representation.  The parties are thus compelled to try to raise)money sooner to survive these elections.B   The political parties have begun negotiations with the leaders=of the business corporations.  Many companies are finding itAincreasingly necessary to petition the government and the ruling>coalition parties for favorable treatment when the government;drafts the fiscal 1995 budget toward the end of this year.6   In recent weeks, associations of car-makers, steelAmanufacturers and banks, and construction and oil companies havedecided to resume donations.@   Observers say many corporations are expected to divide their>donations among the leading parties to cover their bets.  The@parties will be the LDP and two other parties that evolved from:the Liberal democrats, the new party Sakigake and the NewFrontier Party.>   Observers say politicians and businessmen have learned fewAethical lessons from the past corruption.  They say all Japanese;must sharpen their scrutiny to reduce the role of money in
politics.   ---------------   ---------------   DEE DEE MYERS' DEPARTURE   DAVID BORGIDA   WHITE HOUSEA   Outgoing White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers, the first;woman ever to hold the post,  says she hopes others can be@inspired by her experience and will not be deterred by what may&seem to be insurmountable challenges.?   "This has been for me an extraordinary opportunity.  I willnever forget it," said Myers.<   For thirty-three year old Dee Dee Myers, who served Bill;Clinton since the early days of his presidential campaign,4conducting her last daily briefing with White HouseBcorrespondents was a sentimental affair, laced with substance andfanfare and reflection.A   "I don't think you can ever imagine when you're going through@your life that you'll end up someplace," said Myers, "like this=and have a chance to see the things that I've been fortunate?enough to see.  And I am forever grateful, forever grateful to0Bill Clinton, and I will miss him most of all."<   As she was departing her high-profile podium for a brief<holiday rest, she offered these thoughts on her experience:@   "I think there will always be obstacles to anyone who is theAfirst anything, they are not insurmountable, you have to look atAthem as challenges, and hopefully it will make it easier for not@only women but all different kinds of people in this country to*do things that haven't been done before."8   And what of the world she leaves behind?  It's still5male-dominated, she said, and will be for some time:B   "I think it will be some time before the first time a woman isBappointed to a job, or if a woman serves in a particular job, herBgender is not mentioned.  When that happens, I think that will be a positive step for all of us.">   Her daily briefing was interrupted by a special guest, her9boss President Clinton, who refused to be drawn into the:speculation over a successor, although it has been widely:reported to be current State Department spokesman michael	McCurry.3   "No one is going to replace her", Clinton said.@   Then the president hugged her and gave her a public farewell"kiss on her cheek for all to see.B   The two had been through a lot together,  a turbulent campaignAand recent hard times.  It was reported new White House Chief ofAStaff Leon Panetta wanted to dismiss her months ago, but after aApersonal appeal to the president, she remained, with a promotion8and better access to decision-making, with one reported0condition-that she leave on her own in January.<   Always quick with a quip, Dee Dee Myers Thursday offered>reporters her own top ten list of "things she will not miss",Awhich of course included questions from some of this city's mostexperienced reporters.=   It was all in fun, and not surprisingly, she got the last6laugh, when she answered a serious question this way:2   "Oh sure, sure, I'll get back to you on that."<   Of course, that won't happen, as she leaves this job for@another, as yet undetermined one.  She says she has a number of7options and is considering lots of interesting offers.   ---------------   ---------------(   NEW MILITARY LEADERSHIP IN NICARAGUA   BILL RODGERS   SAN JOSE9   Nicaraguan President Violeta Chamorro has announced a@replacement for armed forces Chief General Humberto Ortega, whoAwill step down next February.  General Ortega's replacement will$be the current army chief of staff.<   Army Chief of Staff, General Joaquin Cuadra Lacayo, will>replace General Ortega when the armed forces chief retires on@February 21st.  In making the announcement Wednesday, President@Chamorro said it is the first time in Nicaraguan history that a8civilian president has appointed the country's militaryBcommander.  She called it a historic step in the consolidation of@democracy in Nicaragua, and urged General Cuadra to serve as an>example for future military generations.  General Cuadra willserve a five-year term.B   General Ortega has commanded Nicaragua's armed forces for moreAthan fourteen years, first as Defense Minister and then as Armed9Forces Chief.  He assumed the position after the leftist:Sandinista National Liberation Front overthrew the SomozaBdictatorship in 1979.  President Chamorro retained General OrtegaBas her Army Chief after she won the 1990 presidential election inAan effort to achieve reconciliation with the defeated SandinistaParty.>   But conservative opponents of Mrs. Chamorro criticized the>move, saying keeping General Ortega in that position gave the9Sandinistas too much power.  They accused the general of7interfering in political matters and operating an army9independent of civilian control.  However, the general's?supporters credit him with overseeing a sharp reduction of the
army's size.A   Last year, partly in response to U.S. pressure, Mrs. Chamorro?announced plans to remove General Ortega in 1994.  But after a?fiery public response from the general and his brother, former>president Daniel Ortega, Mrs. Chamorro agreed to postpone hisdeparture until 1995.B   His 43-year old successor, General Cuadra, participated in the@Sandinista uprising and later served as deputy defense minister=in the Sandinista government.  In 1990, he became the army's9chief of staff.  General Cuadra has pledged he will obeyANicaragua's civilian authorities.  As for General Ortega, he has=indicated he has political ambitions and may someday run forpresident.   ---------------   ---------------=   N. KOREA SAYS U.S. WAS WARNED ABOUT AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE   DOUGLAS ROBERTS
   GENEVA9   A North Korean diplomat says the Pyongyang governmentBrepeatedly warned the United States against aerial reconnaissance>flights over its territory prior to last week's downing of an@American helicopter north of the demilitarized zone.  At a news?conference in Geneva Thursday, North Korean envoy Han Chang-On:termed the incident regrettable, and said the fate of the9surviving pilot will depend on the outcome of a militaryinvestigation now underway.<   Mr. Han charged that the U.S. helicopter was on a spying=mission over North Korean territory.  And he said its pilots>ignored warnings from North Korean military commanders on the:ground.  We asked them to land, he said, but they did not	respond.<   U.S. officials have said the helicopter was on a routine@training mission when it strayed over the border last Saturday.?   Mr. Han said the Pyongyang government has repeatedly warned<the United States against what he termed military espionageBactivities. He charged that U.S. planes and helicopters flew more@than 200 reconnaissance missions over North Korean territory inNovember alone.B   The North Korean diplomat gave no indication of when or if the>surviving American pilot will be released.  He said that willAdepend on the outcome of the current North Korean investigation.>But Mr. Han said the Pyongyang government will do its best to:resolve the issue on what he called a humanitarian basis.B   He noted that Pyongyang has already handed over the remains ofBthe pilot who died in Saturday's incident.  And he called that an1expression of North Korea's humanitarian spirit.   ---------------   ---------------'   ROMANIA FIVE YEARS AFTER REVOLUTION
   ED WARNER   WASHINGTON?   Five years ago on Christmas, Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife@were executed, thus ending the communist regime in Romania. But=it has not really disappeared, say two scholars who recently=visited Romania.  While there have been some changes for the@better, freedom, for example, what's striking is the continuitywith the past.A   Planning to write a history of communism in Romania, VladimirATismaneanu was advised to examine the archives in Bucharest.  So?in June of this year, Mr. Tismaneanu, professor of politics at<the University of Maryland, went to Romania to have a look:A   "I was really sent from one center of power to another center=of power, ministry of defense, ministry of internal affairs,Aministry of justice, all the ministries.  Whatever was importantBwas not in the archives I had visited.  I don't even describe theBlevel of incompetence or sabotage in dealing with the individuals>there.  I think it's as easy to climb everest as to enter the&communist party archives in Romania."?   The Romanian government has no intention of opening its key9archives, says Matei Calinescu, professor of comparative"literature at Indiana University:B   "The law of silence applies, and the law of silence is the law?of the mafia.  People don't want their past to be known.  They<are still around.  So up to 1964, you can do some research.After 1964, nothing."?   The reason, says Professor Calinescu, is that basically the>same people who ran the communist regime are in charge of the=current government.  In the five years since the revolution, little has changed politically:9   "After the overthrow of Ceaucescu, Romania has had an=uninterrupted communist leadership as opposed to a communist>regime or system.  What I mean is that the former communists,7mainly from the second echelon, managed to seize power=immediately after the so-called revolution and have kept it.0It's a regime of communists without communism."A   The other Eastern European nations, says Professor Calinescu,<at least had a period of change before they returned former<communists to power.  Romania never had any relief from itsBcommunist bosses, and opposition parties are weak and fragmented.A   Professor Tismaneanu says the current government is a strangehybrid:7   "You have the attempt to combine collectivistic and?egalitarian rhetoric with very staunch nationalist viewpoints.BRomania is the only post-communist country in east Central EuropeAwhere the government is made up of the ruling presidential party?in alliance with exponents of an internationally characterized=extremist party, which is called the Romanian National UnityParty."?   There's increasing hostility to minorities in Romania, saysBProfessor Tismaneanu.  Bad economic conditions only add to socialBtensions.  Yet the government is slow in pursuing needed economic+reforms like privatizing state industries.;   He adds there is one important change for the better in=Romania; that is, freedom.  People are free to express their=opinions in the press and elsewhere.  There are no politicalprisoners.A   Both professors Tismaneanu and Calinescu say western pressureAis essential for maintaining freedom in Romania.  The governmentBdoes not want to antagonize opinion abroad.  So little by little,Bthey hope Romania will build a civil society in the west's image.   ---------------   ---------------"   HIV KEY ENZYME SECRET UNLOCKED   DAVID MCALARY   WASHINGTONB   U.S. Government researchers have unlocked the secret structure=of a key aids virus enzyme that enables the virus to bind to:human genes and copy itself.  U.S. university scientists,@meanwhile, have found a protein inside human cells that assists>this process.  The findings may lead to new drugs designed to%block the action of these chemicals.A   The aids virus HIV does it dirty work within the genes of the>cells it infects.  Like a burglar, it breaks into the geneticAmaterial DNA in the white blood cells of the human immune system1and uses that DNA to duplicate itself endlessly.=   One of the tools the virus uses is an enzyme, or protein,:called HIV integrase, so named because it helps the virusBintegrate into a person's genes.  It cuts the human genes open at@precisely the right place and splices the virus' genes into thegap.B   Researchers have long believed that blocking this enzyme mightAstop HIV from infecting human cells, but the search for drugs toAdo this has been difficult because the exact shape of the enzymehas not been known.:   The problem has now been solved by a group at the U.S.?government's National Institute of Health, including molecularbiologist Robert Craigie:A   "What we managed to do is determine the shape of that enzyme.BNow, understanding the shape, it may be possible to design things@that can bind to that structure and hence block its action.  If>it's possible to block the action of that enzyme, we can also%block replication of the HIV virus."@   To learn the enzyme's shape, Mr. Craigie's team crystallizedAits molecules, a basic step that solidifies them so the positionBof their subunits, called amino acids, can be more easily seen by6X-ray techniques.  But this was not easy.  Many other>laboratories had failed to crystallize the enzyme because theAmolecules clump together in the solution in which they are kept.A   "It makes big clumps," says Craigie, "that contain two of the@enzymes, three of the enzymes, or even hundreds of the enzymes.@Now, without having it in a nice uniform state, it's impossible?to determine the structure.  We can imagine it, perhaps, as inBorder to build, say, a wall out of bricks, we need to have bricks<that are all the same shape, not joined together in two and:threes.  To make a crystal is rather like that.  You need(building blocks that are all the same."B   Mr. Craigie and his colleagues report in the journal "Science":[Dec. 23rd issue] that they solved the problem by a novel?approach.  They were able to keep the integrase molecules fromAsticking together by replacing just a single amino acid buildingblock in the enzyme.@   In the same issue of "Science" magazine, Columbia University@microbiologist Stephen Goff and colleagues report the discovery?of a protein in human cells which appears to help integrase do
its work.@   Mr. Goff says the protein may guide the enzyme to a suitable?site in a person's genes at which to do its HIV gene splicing:;   " This may well be an important part, we don't know how>important yet, but an important part of the way the viral DNAAfinds sites to insert into the host cell. It is actually able to?activate or stimulate the integrase to carry out its insertionreaction."?   Blocking this protein with a drug might lead to yet another!way of disrupting the HIV cycle.A   So far, this cycle has been only temporarily disrupted in HIV9patients.  Current drugs like AZT and DDI and a group ofAexperimental compounds called protease ['pro-tee-ace] inhibitors>target the two other key enzymes crucial to viral replication?besides integrase.  The problem with these drugs has been that-the virus eventually mutates and foils them.@   Aids researchers have long hoped for new compounds to target8other viral enzymes, and Robert Craigie of the NationalBInstitutes of Health says the structure of integrase he has foundmay aid that development:A   "The advantage of having a third inhibitor ultimately is that=it may be possible to find drugs that are useful against all<three targets.  It's obviously much harder for the virus to@change to simultaneously become resistant to all three drugs at2the same time, or to two drugs at the same time."?   In the view of many aids researchers, a three-drug cocktail@could be just the prescription for stopping aids in its tracks.   ---------------   ---------------4   EXACTLY HOW SUNBURN CAUSE SKIN CANCER DISCOVERED   DAVID MCALARY   WASHINGTON>   U.S. researchers have discovered the biological process byBwhich sunburn causes skin cancer, one of the most common types of@cancer among fair-skinned people in sunny regions.  The findingAcould someday lead to lotions to repair the solar damage to skincells.<   The sting of a serious sunburn is more than painful.  If>repeated often enough, it can lead to skin cancer.   AlthoughBthis has been known for years, researchers at the Yale UniversityAschool of medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, now understand theBunderlying genetic mechanisms making it happen, an important step0on the way to therapies to prevent the disease.B   The type of skin cancer they studied is squamous ['skway-muss]@cell carcinoma, a cancer of the top skin layers found mainly on>exposed parts of the body.  It is most common in fair-skinned<people over age sixty, those who have had plenty of time to%accumulate sun damage to their skin.B   Yale university biophysicist Douglas brash says the first sign8of the disease is a small, scaly, pre-cancerous growth:;   "In Australia, the lifetime expectancy of getting theseBpre-cancers is almost 100 per cent.  The skin cancer frequencies,=even in parts if the United States, exceed that of all othercancers combined."A   If not removed in time, squamous cell carcinoma can spread to&other parts of the body and be fatal.>   In a previous study of rat and human skin tumors, the yaleAteam learned that a hallmark of the cancer is a defect in a gene9called p-53, a mutation induced by the sun's ultraviolet=radiation.  The gene's job when healthy is to suppress tumor=development.  Defects in P-53, by the way, are found in manyother forms of cancer.@   In their latest work published in "Nature" magazine [Dec. 22=issue], the Yale researchers found that the genetic mutation3actually appears before skin cells turn cancerous.B   Yale dermatologist David Leffell [leh-'fell] says it turned upBin more than 60 per cent of the human skin growths they examined:@   "What's important here is that we're finding the mutation atAan earlier stage in cancer development, which tells us that thisAmay very well be one of the first steps that a cell undergoes in(its march towards turning into cancer."=   Dr. Leffell says if the P-53 gene has not been injured by?solar rays, sunburn causes it to spring into action to begin aAchemical process that causes damaged skin cells to self-destructAbefore they turn cancerous.  In this way, they note, sunburn mayAactually be protective, a deliberate effort by skin to forestalltumors.B   But if prolonged sunlight over many years has mutated the P-53@in exposed skin cells, Dr. Leffell says these cells do not die:@   "The cells that survive happen to be the cells that have the@P-53 gene mutation.  So, in other words, the cells that survive>are those that are prone to develop into pre-cancers and theninto skin cancer itself."=   By knowing the biological mechanisms at the basis of skin;cancer, pharmaceutical companies may eventually be able to>produce drugs that target the genetic defect early before thedisease develops.B   Because the skin is such an accessible organ, it's easy to putAlotions and creams on that are medicated, it is conceivable that@in the not too distant future we will be able to develop agents=that can be absorbed through the skin and perhaps repair the$genetic injury that the sun causes.?   Of course, say the Yale researchers, the best treatment forAskin cancer is prevention, through protection by clothing and bysunscreen lotions.   ---------------   ---------------8   UN APPEALS FOR MORE MONEY FOR SOMALIA RELIEF MISSION   CHRIS SIMKINS   UNITED NATIONS:   The United Nations is appealing for more money to fund@emergency humanitarian relief programs in Somalia.  The requestAcomes as the U.N. prepares to end its peacekeeping operations in
the country.A   The United Nations is asking for more than 70 million dollarsAto fund relief operations in Somalia for the first six months of1995.A   The humanitarian appeal, being made by nine U.N. agencies and>non-governmental organizations, would provide money for food,Ahealth and refugee programs in Somalia.  Most of the money wouldAbe used to run food assistance programs after  U.N. peacekeepers&withdraw from the country this march.B   Last month, the U.N. Security Council expressed its commitment;for maintaining a smaller humanitarian relief operation in>Somalia even after UNOSOM, its peacekeeping force, leaves the	country.@   Peter Hansen, U.N. under-secretary for humanitarian affairs,@says with scattered fighting still continuing Somalia, securitywill be the main concern:B   "We are planning for a number of security measures that center?around how we can temporarily withdraw from a lot of places inAthe country. But then how can we foresee coming back without any?UNOSOM or without any international security?  We will have to@come back to a situation where we would have to reach agreement<with the Somalis, with local leaders and communities on the/conditions for operating there in the future."9   Mr. Hanson says relief operations in Somalia could be<suspended for several months while arrangements are made to?provide security and evacuation plans for international relief	workers.=   Mr. Hansen says despite the security risks, international:relief organizations must continue their programs because?fighting throughout Somalia has prevented farmers from gettingtheir crops to market.@   U.N. officials are also asking for nearly 11 million dollars@for refugee programs, money that will be used to help more than+one million displaced Somali's find homes.   ---------------   ---------------7   WORLD OPINION ON THE CARTER PEACE MISSION TO BOSNIA   ANDREW N. GUTHRIE   WASHINGTON=   In the world press this week, there was no more important<story than former President Jimmy Carter's negotiated peace?agreement in Bosnia-Herzegovina.  The frail agreement is beingBwidely debated in editorial columns all over the world as we hear	now fromB   Skepticism reigns throughout much of the world press regarding?former President Carter's mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina, whereAmany newspapers see him as having become a "tool" of the BosnianASerb leader Radavan Karadzic.  A few media organizations faulted<Mr. Carter for failing to pronounce the name of the Bosnian?leader correctly, suggesting that gave the impression of a man?not fully prepared for his difficult task.  A goodly number of<papers, though openly skeptical of the agreement Mr. CarterAsecured, calling for a cease fire to begin Friday, still suggest:that no opportunity to gain a peaceful solution should beoverlooked or ignored.(   In Belgrade, the daily "Borba" says:?   "Will Jimmy Carter turn into Santa, [Claus] who might bring>the most beautiful present to Bosnia, a new year without war?BMay we believe in wonders after all the frustrations repeated forso many times since 1992?";   While in neighboring Croatia,  Zagreb's "Vecernji List"commented:@   "If anything is wrong with [Mr.] Carter's mission, it is not@the fact that he came, but that he came at [Radavan] Karadzic's=request; not that he wanted peace, but that he serves as the#guarantor for the pax Serbiana..."2   However in London, "The Financial Times" says:?   "If the guns fall silent in Bosnia tomorrow [Friday], Jimmy?Carter can pat himself on the back for his mediation efforts.":   However, there was a lot more skepticism in Frankfurt,)Germany, where "The Rundschau" remarked:B   "What is being sold as a moderate success by U.S. broker Jimmy=Carter ... Is just another smart move by the leading Bosnian<serbs.  ... The Serb claims for the conquered two-thirds of@Bosnia-Herzegovina territory are as good as accepted.  ... What4did the man traveling on private business achieve?"@   And in Hungary, there is a fear in Budapest's "Nepszabadsag"2that people will misunderstand what has happened:@   "It must be strongly emphasized that no 'agreement' has been@reached by the warring sides in the former Yugoslavia.  What we;do have though is a document on the 'voluntary territorial@concessions' made by the Serbs. Former President Carter has not?been able to achieve anything in any of the vital issues to be?addressed before long-term settlement of the conflict can takeplace.">   In the Middle East, Israel's Labor Party daily "Davar" had1this reaction to the former president's mission:B   "Many have warned him that treacherousness is second nature toAthe crafty Balkanites.  .... Nonetheless, [Mr.] Carter came away6from Bosnia [yesterday] with a modest but significant@achievement.  .... He may even have scored a small victory.  AsAChristmas is approaching, a positive development may be emergingin the Balkans."?   Turning to Muslim parts of the world for their reaction, we1have this from Indonesia, in the "Berita Buana":@   "The prospects of peace are hanging on a fragile thread that8can be cut off at any time by the serbs' abundant heavyBartillery.  ... That's why we were not surprised when we saw that=the White House was very careful in assessing [Mr.] Carter's=success this time.  The chances of success are indeed slim."<   And in Pakistan, the daily "Dawn," in the commercial hubKarachi, comments:=   "The entire Serb strategy has been focused on getting theBUnited Nations and western powers to acquiesce in their war gainsAand for diverting attention from the contact group's peace plan.AIn inviting [mr.] Carter for mediation, Serb leader Karadzic was@obviously aiming at placating the Americans who were pressuringBthe serbs to accept the peace plan. ..... However, if an enduringAsettlement is to be achieved, the Carter-negotiated truce should>be accompanied by serious political and diplomatic efforts to=persuade the Serbs to be more amenable and not to reopen the#basics of just and durable peace."   ---------------   ---------------$   U.S. ECONOMY CONTINUES TO EXPAND   JOE SUMMERS   WASHINGTON>   The latest U.S. Government report on the economy shows theBexpansion continuing at a better rate than previously thought. If?this strong performance continues into the fourth quarter, the:annual growth rate could be the best in six to ten years.@   The Commerce Department says Gross Domestic Product expanded@at a four percent annual rate during the July through September=period, up one-tenth of a percentage point from last month's
estimate.>   Most of the upward revision was due to continued strength,@about one-half of the increase, in consumer spending.  Business?investment and government outlays were also strong while there<were declines in net exports and inventory investment.  The>inflation measures used in calculating gross domestic productwere not revised.A   The Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs, Everett<Ehrlich, says the administration is pleased with the latest	numbers:A   "They tell us that the economy has a lot of momentum, that we@are growing at a strong pace for creating employment and at the>same time that that growth is sustainable and it is balanced,@that we have a high level of investment, we are adding capacity?to the economy even as we grow and that prices are essentially;stable.  So we are really having the best of both worlds.";   All of this occurs, despite six increases in short-termBinterest rates by the U.S. central bank in an attempt to cool off/the expansion and ease inflationary pressures.B   At The Commerce Department, Under Secretary Ehrlich is careful>not to appear to be telling the central bank how to determineinterest rates.@   But Mr. Ehrlich points out that the consumer price index was?lower over the last six months that it was over the six monthsprevious to that:?   "So the inflation picture is stable.  The consumer is doing?very well in this quarter.  The retail sales data we have  for@the fourth quarter show that the consumer sector is strong, theBconsumer sector was strong in the third quarter.  But then again,@employment is rising and income is rising, it grew in excess of?one percent last month alone.  So the basis for sustaining the$consumer in the recovery is there.">   Analysts believe fourth quarter growth will be at least as:strong as the third quarter, which would bring the yearly@expansion in at three-point-nine percent, matching the recoveryAin 1988. Anything stronger would be the best performance since a%six-point-two percent surge in 1984.<   Ironically, The Commerce Department will issue its first?estimate of fourth quarter growth on January 27th, just before:the central bank's federal open market committee meets to%consider another interest rate hike.   ---------------   ---------------(   CARTER COMMENTS ON HIS PEACE MISSION   MIKE COOPER   ATLANTA<   Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter says the ceasefire he5mediated in Bosnia is a tentative one that will need@international support.  Mr. Carter has arrived back in his home1state of Georgia after a four-day peace mission.B   Former President Jimmy Carter concedes the ceasefire agreement@is a tentative one that will require the support of governmentsAaround the world.  He hopes his insistence Bosnian Serb military=officials sign the agreement will increase the chance of its	success.@   Mr. Carter says Serbs and Muslims have agreed to release all#prisoners from their 32 month war:B   "Both sides agreed to let the international red cross come in,Ainspect the prisons, inspect all the prison camps, and inventory=the prisoners, and it (the agreement) calls for an immediate?release, total release of all prisoners of war by both sides."B   Mr. Carter says the agreement includes a provision recommendedBby Serbs allowing every person, regardless of sex, age, or ethnic=background, to choose where they live.  He says he hopes the>agreement will end what is called ethnic cleansing and betterprotect human rights.   ---------------   ---------------   UNREST IN BAHRAIN   LAURIE KASSMAN	   CAIRO?   The New York-based monitoring group, Human Rights Watch, is:calling on the government of Bahrain to release scores ofAsuspected political activists arrested during the past two weeks8of unrest there.  Clashes between government forces and<demonstrators were sparked by the arrest of a young Shi'iteAMuslim preacher.  Fewer incidents have been reported in the lastAtwo days, but security is tight in the emirate, which is hosting5a summit of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council.?   Human Rights Watch says the round-up of political activists@violates freedom of speech.  It calls on the government to free?those detained without charges during the past two weeks. In a>letter addressed to Emir Isa Ibn Salman Al Khalifa, the human@rights group condemns any acts of violence by demonstrators but<also protests against the excessive use of force by police.?   Another human rights group, Amnesty International, has also:asked its members to send letters of concern to the emir.BDiplomats in Bahrain estimate several hundred young demonstratorsBhave been rounded up by police in the past two weeks but many arebeing released.?   Bahrain's political unrest was fueled by the December fifth?detention of a popular Shi'ite Muslim preacher, Ali Al-Salman,=after calls for demonstrations and petitions for a return toconstitutional rule.?   A group of 14 ex-deputies, university professors, religiousBscholars and businessmen has sponsored a petition calling for theBrestoration of parliament, which was dissolved in 1975. Diplomats1in Bahrain say thousands have already signed it.@   The young Shi'ite preacher was briefly detained a few months=ago after demonstrations to protest spiralling unemployment,?which has hit the country's Shi'ite majority the hardest.  His;arrest this time followed violent demonstrations against a:marathon race through shi'ite villages.  He is accused ofinciting violence.@   A series of rallies protesting Sheik Salman's arrest quickly4deteriorated into bloody clashes between police and=demonstrators, resulting in at least three confirmed deaths,Aseveral injuries and hundreds of arrests.  The interior ministry@acknowledged the violence Sunday night and said the ringleaderswould be put on trial.B   Security forces sealed off the trouble spots and used tear gas<to disperse the crowds.  Protesters stoned security forces,@burned tires and are reported to have briefly occupied a police*station and ransacked hotels in the area.?   The unrest overshadowed the opening Monday of the three-day?summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council.  Security was tight atAthe seaside hotel where the six gulf leaders were meeting behind7closed doors to talk about regional security, economicBcooperation and lingering border disputes between several council	members.   ---------------   ---------------$   THE LATEST COLLOR FAMILY TRAGEDY   ROGER WILKISON   RIO DE JANIERO?   Pedro Collor De Mello, who died Monday in New York of brainBcancer at the age of 42, is remembered in Brazil as the man whoseBallegations of corruption against his brother Fernando led to hisAdownfall as president of South America's biggest country.  PedroACollor's death is the latest episode in a star-crossed saga some7Brazilians are calling the curse of the Collor family.B   Decades ago, Fernando and Pedro Collor's father, senator ArnonBDe Mello, shot and killed a colleague on the senate floor. Though@he had aimed at an adversary, he ended up killing an ally. That<incident was the most-famous one involving the family until*Fernando Collor became president in 1990.?   The dynamic young president who said he wanted to modernizeABrazil and eliminate corruption was brought down less than three<years after he took office.  He was implicated in a scandal@involving an influence-peddling ring run by his former campaign?treasurer.  The man who blew the whistle on him was none other%than his own younger brother, Pedro.>   Pedro Collor's allegations his brother personally profited>from the influence peddling scheme led eventually to Fernando?Collor's impeachment and ouster as president.  They also splitAthe Collor De Mello family in two and caused the matriarch, Leda?Collor, to fall into a deep coma.  For the past 25 months, she=has been in a Sao Paulo hospital, kept alive only by oxygen.A   Shortly before suffering the heart attack that paralyzed her,>Leda Collor told a friend she was devastated at the discovery<that one of her sons was an alleged thief and another was asnitch.A   After a year of self-exile in Miami, Pedro Collor returned toBBrazil to promote a book in which he alleged that his brother wasAa cocaine addict and had strange sexual tastes.  Just last week,Aafter the supreme court found him innocent of corruption charges>in a criminal trial, Fernando Collor said he has forgiven his+brother for all of the harm he caused him.>   Upon learning of his brother's death, the former president*issued a brief note expressing his grief.?   It was only 25 days ago Pedro Collor learned he had several>tumors in his brain.  He thought the intense headaches he was<suffering were the results of fatigue after an unsuccessfulcampaign for Congress.;   Despite attempts to neutralize the brain cancer throughBchemotherapy and radiation, it spread rapidly. Two days ago PedroACollor was declared brain dead by his doctors.  Monday, he died.   ---------------   ---------------   CHECHNYA AND OIL
   ED WARNER   WASHINGTONB   In the opinion of many, the Russian invasion of Chechnya could<lead to dire consequences not only for the Caucasus but for<Russia itself. Then why would Moscow risk this use of armed>force? One analyst says the explanation lies in the caucasus' greatest natural resource: Oil.@   Various explanations are offered for the Russian invasion ofAChechnya: An effort to rebuild the empire perhaps or a rebuke toBTurkish interests in the region or a fear of separatist movements0spreading to Russia's many other nationalities.<   But Bulent Aliriza, a senior associate at the Center forAStrategic and International Studies in Washington, says the main"reason for the aggression is oil:@   "In terms of the timing, it is striking how the negotiations>over the transportation of ex-Soviet oil to world markets are<intensifying at precisely the moment that the Russians haveBchosen to move on Chechnya, which clearly is on the route for the@possible pipeline connecting Azeri oil to the port on the Black;Sea that the Russians want both Kazakh and Azeri oil to beexported out of."A   The alternative route is overland through Turkey, or possibly@Iran. In that case, the Russians feel they would lose out, even<though they have a ten per cent stake in the oil agreements6recently signed with western companies in Azerbaijan.B   The pipeline to a Russian Black Sea port would be more costly,1says Mr. Aliriza, and there's another objection:A   "Even if the Russians win their version in the pipeline game,?in the process they have created yet another problem, which is?that the oil will be locked in the Black sea. And that's whereATurkey's opposition to that oil going in massive amounts through@the Bosphorus is key. The Turkish government has been making it?clear that it will actually take a very tough line if and when*the oil were to end up in the Black Sea."=   Mr. Aliriza says Turkey is increasingly worried about the@number of ships passing through the narrow Bosphorus. There's a<danger of collisions and oil spills in the already polluted
waterway.<   By invading Chechnya, says Mr. Aliriza, the Russians are?sending a message that they plan to control the flow of oil in?the Caucasus. But it may well have an opposite effect. WesternAcompanies will hardly want to rely on a pipeline through an area>of seething resentment and maybe prolonged guerrilla warfare.?   Mr. Aliriza says the problem could be settled peacefully by+negotiations from which all would benefit:<   "It is an opportunity for cooperation between Moscow and>Ankara, and yet at the same time because of the disagreementsAbetween the two countries on the transportation issue as well as>other relevant issues, it is also a major bone of contention.AAnd the U.S. Has, I think, a difficult task ahead of it choosing;between the claims of an ally or the country that is now a'would-be friend of the United States.":   Bulent Aliriza of Csis says the costs to Russia of the>invasion of Chechnya clearly outweigh the potential benefits.   ---------------   ---------------%   CHINA TO ISSUE BONDS TO BUILD DAM   DAVID DYAR   BEIJINGA   Chinese officials said Tuesday they plan to raise some of theBmoney needed to build the world's largest dam in central China byissuing bonds.=   Officials say they want to raise three billion dollars in=foreign money to help pay for the three gorges dam and power?plant.  Officials say the total cost of the project will be 17billion dollars.6   Some of the bonds might be issued early next year.=   Much of the money to build the dam will come from raising;electricity prices.  Other sources of funds to pay for the@project include the actual sale of electricity generated by the4power plant and another power station on the river.B   The project is not slated to be completed until the year 2006.?Officials presided at a ground breaking ceremony last week for!the first phase of construction.?   Officials said Tuesday they did not approach the World Bank6for loans on the project because such a move would becontroversial.A   The three gorges dam has been criticized by environmentalists@because it will destroy some of the most scenic views in China,<displace hundreds of thousands of people and flood numerous?villages.  However, supporters of the project say the dam willAactually contribute to a cleaner environment by reducing China's,dependence on coal to generate electricity.=   They say it will prevent flooding along the Yangtze River5which has killed half a million people this century.B   The dam will create a lake more than 600 kilometers long.  The?lake will be so big it is expected to alter the climate in the;region by making it warmer in the winter and cooler in thesummer.A   Officials say they are in talks with American brokerage firms(about the details of issuing the bonds.   ---------------   ---------------2   CHINESE ATTEMPT TO JOIN GATT SUFFERS A SETBACK   DOUGLAS ROBERTS
   GENEVAB   China's bid to become a founding member of the new World Trade@Organization received a setback in Geneva Tuesday. Officials ofAthe General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) told a Chinese?delegation more negotiations will be needed before Beijing can?join the new international trade group, which officially comesinto being January first.?   Pierre Louis Girard, the Swiss chairman of the GATT workingAgroup on China, told reporters here Tuesday substantial progress=has been made over the past few weeks in negotiations with aBChinese delegation.  But he said the Beijing government has still9not agreed to take all the steps necessary to ensure its4membership in the nascent World Trade Organization.B   China's restrictive market access policies are seen as the keyAstumbling block.  Western nations have also criticized Beijing's=continued failure to curb a thriving industry in counterfeit?goods, including pirated copies of computer software and othercopyrighted items.>   Earlier this month, the United States suspended talks withBChina on violations of intellectual property rights.  And Beijing>could face U.S. sanctions on the issue early in the new year.?   China had insisted on completing negotiations for its entry?into the trade organization before the end of 1994.  It is now<clear that the deadline will not be met.  Chinese officials?indicated they will agree to a new round of talks in February,Bbut they stressed that Beijing's negotiating position will not be	changed.   ---------------   ---------------&   FLORIDA IMMIGRATION SUIT DISMISSED   JIM TEEPLE	   MIAMI;   In miami, a judge has dismissed efforts by the state of:Florida to get the federal government to assume the costs@resulting from illegal immigration.  Florida officials say they?will appeal t he case which has broad legal implications for anumber of other states.>   Calling the dispute political and not legal, U.S. District=Court Judge Edward Davis threw out a suit brought by FloridaBGovernor Lawton Chiles against the federal government. Florida is@seeking one and a half billion dollars in compensation from the>federal government to cover the costs associated with illegal
immigration.>   Joe Pena a special assistant to governor Chiles says state?officials are disappointed but will appeal, all the way to thesupreme court if necessary.@   Pena says Florida sued because the federal government is not@enforcing immigrations laws, and the state can no longer afford6to provide services to people who are here illegally:B   "We've been able to document close to 345-thousand illegals in?our state that we know are using services and that are costing<the  citizens of Florida close to a billion dollars a year.>These illegal  immigrants represent very real costs very real@services that the state of Florida is providing and the federal>government should be providing the adequate resources to meetthese needs."B   Mr. Pena says Florida spends almost 200-million dollars a year8for intensive English lessons, and he says the state is@prohibited from even asking whether students are legal migrants?or not.  He says Florida also provides an estimated 13-millionBdollars in health care and another 28-million dollars is spent on;law enforcement problems associated with illegal migrants.B   In his ruling judge Davis recognized the costs associated with@illegal immigration but he said there was no legal theory underAwhich the court can grant relief.  Similar cases have been filedBby the states of Arizona, California, Texas and New Jersey. Those(states might also face similar rulings.A   At a recent hearing in Texas, a federal judge indicated he is?likely to dismiss Texas's suit against the federal government,=but he gave the state more time to present further arguments"before making his final decision.   ---------------   ---------------   INDIAN POLITICAL SCANDALS   MICHAEL DRUDGE
   NEW DELHI<   The Indian government of Prime Minister PV Narasimha RaoAinsists its cabinet officers did nothing illegal in two scandals%that have rocked the administration.:   Prime Minister Rao says cabinet officers implicated in=scandals that are tainting his government have done  nothingAillegal.  But he has left open the door for a cabinet reshuffle.B   As Mr. Rao weighs his options, the opposition has criticized a=revised report to parliament about a one-point-three billion@dollar stock market scandal.  The report released Tuesday makesAno  mention of any action taken against three ministers who were(criticized by an earlier investigation.<   Among the three was finance minister Manmohan Singh, whoApresented the revised report to parliament.  The main oppositionBIndian People's Party derided the new version as, in the words of-a party leader, "a revised cover up report."@   The 1992 stock market scandal involved banks and brokers whoAare accused of illegally diverting government securities to fuel;a boom on the Bombay Stock Exchange.  Indian stock markets@crashed in April of 1992 when the scandal broke, wiping out the4life savings of millions of middle class investors.7   The stock scam report comes on the heels of anotherBcontroversy about a sugar import scandal that cost the government=millions when sugar prices shot up this year after officials*miscalculated the country's import needs.B   Prime Minister Rao told parliament Monday senior officials hadBdone nothing illegal, but he would announce measures taken withinAa week.  That has fueled speculation he will reorder his cabinet8after the current session of parliament ends on Friday.   ---------------   ---------------1   INDONESIAN STUDENTS PROTEST CHECHNYA INVASION   YENNI DJAHIDIN   JAKARTA8   In continuing reaction to the situation in Chechnya,?Indonesian students demonstrated in Jakarta Tuesday to protestRussia's military attack.<   About 100 students came from universities in Jakarta and<elsewhere in Java.  They carried banners condemning RussianBattacks in Chechnya and demanding a withdrawal of Russian troops.@   Among the slogans on the banners were:  Russia give Chechnya4rights and freedom, and Russia get out of Chechnya.>   The students also called on the Indonesian government, the?Islamic Conference Organization and the 111-member non-aligned-movement to help Chechnya gain independence.?   During a visit to Indonesia earlier this month, the Russian@parliament's deputy speaker compared the action taken by Moscow<in Chechnya with Indonesia's actions in East Timor in 1976.@Jakarta took control of the former Portuguese colony, by force.B   The demonstrators rejected that statement.  One of the bannersBin Tuesday's protest read, East Timor is integration, Chechnya is
invasion.;   The protesters also condemned Russian policy in Bosnia,>accusing Moscow of, in their words:  Helping the Serbs in the$assassination of Muslims in Bosnia.;   The demonstration outside the Russian embassy dispersed!peacefully after about one hour.>   Earlier this month, students in Jakarta and Bandung staged;demonstrations against Serb attacks on Bosnian Muslims and=demanded an immediate lifting of the arms embargo on Bosnia.B   Indonesia, the world's most-populous Muslim country, is one of;seven members of a contact group of the Islamic Conference"Organization dealing with Bosnia.   ---------------   --------------->   ISRAEL WARNS OF FUTURE ACTION AGAINST HEZBOLLAH IN LEBANON   SUSAN SAPPIR
   JERUSALEM@   One day after two Israeli soldiers and two Lebanese fightersAwere killed in a clash in Southern Lebanon, Israel is warning it.may take action against pro-Iranian HezbollahB   The fighting between Israeli troops and pro-Iranian guerrillasBthat claimed two lives on each side on Monday was just the latestin an ongoing conflict.@   Israeli cabinet minister Yossi Sarid described the situation?as a war of attrition.  The Hezbollah guerrillas have vowed toAcontinued attacking the Israelis to drive them out of the border'strip they patrol in southern Lebanon.;   Mr. Sarid hinted at possible Israeli military action inBLebanon. He said Israel would feel free to take what he called an%initiative without any restrictions.A   Deputy Defense Minister Mordechai Gur said the guerrillas may>have violated the terms of a cease-fire with Israel.  If that>were the case, he said, Israel would not be bound to the 1993agreement.   ---------------   ---------------8   PERES AND ARAFAT TO DISCUSS WEST BANK TROOP WITHDRAW   SUSAN SAPPIR
   JERUSALEM?   Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and PLO leader Yasser<Arafat are due to meet Wednesday to discuss redeployment of!Israeli troops in the West Bank.:   A new compromise proposal has been raised to break the:deadlock between Israel and the Palestinians over Israeli4withdrawal from Palestinian areas of the West Bank.@   Palestinian official Faisal al-Husseini proposes that Israel<begin by withdrawing its troops from the towns of Jenin andABethlehem.  The parties would agree on a timetable for a pulloutfrom other areas.A   Under the terms of the 15-month-old Israeli/Palestinian peace>deal, the Israeli pullout, followed by Palestinian elections,)should have been completed by July 13th.B   But following a series of attacks on Israelis, Israel has toldAthe Palestinians that it would not complete the withdrawal until&the safety of Israelis is guaranteed.A   The Palestinians are eager for this phase of the agreement toBbe completed, saying they cannot vote under the barrels of Israel?guns.  And the new Palestinian self-rule authority badly needs&the people's vote to gain legitimacy.   ---------------   ---------------   LEANER, TALLER JAPANESE   JERRY MCKINNEY	   TOKYO;   A study by the Japanese ministry of education indicatesBJapanese school children continue a trend toward being leaner andAtaller than their parents.  The study also shows the eyesight of&Japanese youngsters is deteriorating.B   On average, the Japanese have always been shorter and slighterAthan westerners.  In years past, western visitors to Japan often5stood head and shoulders above their Japanese hosts.?   The Japanese are mostly a homogeneous people and try not to=stand out in a crowd.  They have a saying that the nail that@sticks up will be pounded down.  So, the few Japanese who stood@taller than their countrymen could be seen slouching and trying*other things to appear of average height.?   But now, the taller Japanese find they fit in better with ayounger crowd.<   A study this year by the ministry of education found the=average height of a boy in the third year of high school, or@about age 17, is nearly 171 centimeters.  Thirty years ago that?average was 166-and-a-half centimeters and 60 years ago it was8162 centimeters.  In other words, the average height ofA17-year-old boys in Japan has increased nearly 10 centimeters in
six decades.B   Over the same period, the average height of a 17-year-old girl1has risen seven centimeters, to 158 centimeters.B   And, legs are getting longer.  Third-year high school studentsAof both sexes now have legs that are three point two centimeters9longer than those measured at the same age 30 years ago.B   The study found no significant increases in weight, indicating>the taller students are leaner than their parents were at the
same age.@   But there were changes in eyesight.  The study indicated theByounger generation's seeing ability was the worst on record, with9more than 62 percent needing glasses by high school age.@Education officials say this may be caused by the fact students=spend more time watching television and playing computer and<video games than they do looking at things in the distance.A   This year's study involved nearly two million school childrenAranging from kindergarten through the third year of high school.>The findings were based on physical examinations performed at	schools.B   The physical differences have been documented over a number of?years.  Officials say they are brought about by changes in the2basic diet and lifestyles of Japanese youngsters.?   More and more western-style fast food restaurants have beenAopening throughout the nation and the students often prefer such?food to fish and rice, staples of a traditional Japanese diet.=   And the changes in physique are also bringing about other	changes.A   The size of desks in schools was increased several years ago.>It is now easier to buy clothing in larger sizes.  And, newer;buses and subway cars have wider seats with more leg room.   ---------------   ---------------6   PROLIFERATION OF ARMS IN THE MIDDLE EAST CONTINUES   LAURI NEFF   WASHINGTON?   U.S. experts say proliferation of weapons continues to be a;significant problem in the Middle East despite progress inregional peace efforts.@   The United States says multi-lateral Middle East peace talks;have produced a number of confidence building arms control
measures.8   The State Department's Frederick Axelguard notes the=participants agreed to notify each other of certain militaryactivities:<   "Military activities in the field involving movements of?troops in excess of four-thousand men would be notified. (One)Ahundred and ten, (one) hundred and eleven tanks was also adopted?as a threshold figure,  what we have basically agreed is, on a7multi-lateral basis, to begin providing transparency.">   The parties have also agreed to set up a regional security@center in Jordan to allow discussion of such issues as security0and ways to ensure that agreements are honored.A   Geoffrey Kemp is a senior expert on Middle East arms control.?He says despite recent advances in diplomacy, regional weapons9sales have surged.  Mr. Kemp says this is largely due to#insecurity among gulf Arab states.A   Kemp says they are alarmed by Iranian attempts to bolster its>arsenal and worry what will happen if and when U.N. sanctionsagainst Baghdad are lifted:B   "The question is then, is what constraints, if any, will there>be on Iraq concerning the modernization and rebuilding of its=conventional forces.  And my judgment is, is that it will be9extremely difficult to prevent Iraq from modernizing andBrebuilding its conventional forces and that these, of course, areAthe primary instruments with which Saddam Hussein can intimidate
the region."B   Mr. Kemp says U.S. military strategy has also contributed to a(recent military buildup in Gulf states:=   "From a strictly military point of view it makes sense toAprovide these countries with American equipment as we saw during:the Gulf War.  And furthermore I don't need to stress theBeconomic advantages to selling U.S. equipment.  And we are by far<the largest supplier, which, of course, makes our calls for-conventional arms control extremely hollow."B   A new factor adding to concerns about Middle East arms control<is the recent proliferation of nuclear smuggling in Eastern?Europe.  Mr. Kemp says that makes it much easier for countries-such as Iran to get nuclear arms technology.?   Also significant for regional arms control is the future of?the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, up for an extension nextByear. Egypt and Iran have already begun debate against the treaty:in its current state.  And then there is Israel, which is@believed to have nuclear weapons and has not signed the accord.=Israel contends a debate on regional nuclear arms control isAmeaningless when the two states most likely to get such weapons,.Iran and Iraq, are not in on the discussions.   ---------------   ---------------8   AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CRITICIZES NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT   WILLIAM EAGLE   WASHINGTONA   Last year, Nigeria's military annulled presidential elections@designed to lead to a civilian government.  The presumed winnerBof that vote, Chief Moshood Abiola, is in detention for declaring>himself head of state last June.  Now, the human rights groupAAmnesty International is criticizing the Nigerian government forArepressing dissent.  It made the charge this week, after amnesty5representatives completed a ten-day tour of Nigeria.?   Machinery of repression.  That is how Amnesty International<spokesperson Sarah Pennington describes Nigeria's tough new?decrees.  The measures have allowed the military to close downBsome publishing houses and detain many opposition members withouttrial.=   Ms. Pennington, one of three Amnesty members to travel to7Nigeria, describes the clampdown as serious and deeplydisturbing:B   "Every time the government is unhappy with a court ruling thatBgoes against it, it brings in a decree to prevent the courts from@questioning its actions.  In particular they have abolished theBright of habeus corpus.  That's the right of a court to challenge?security detentions, to order that prisoners be brought beforeAthe court so it can see that they are alive, can see their state>of health and can question the basis of their detention. ThisBfundamental human right, which protects from arbitrary detention, has been abolished in Nigeria."@   Ms. Pennington says the Amnesty team could not get access toAdetainees, and that Nigerian officials told her the operation of:Nigeria's legal system was an internal matter, outside ofAamnesty's jurisdiction.  But Ms. Pennington disagrees.  She says?Nigeria has signed international agreements guaranteeing human0rights and is responsible for maintaining them.;   The Nigerian government says detention was necessary to7prevent anarchy following the annulment of last year'spresidential elections.A   Among those still being held are Moshood Abiola, the presumed<winner of the poll; and Petroleum Union leader Frank Kokori>[koe'-kor-ee], who led weeks of crippling strikes against the<government last summer.  Also in detention is Ken Saro-Wiwa9[sah'-roe wee'-wah].  He is a nationalist from OgonilandB(owe-go'-knee-land), an oil producing region in Southern Nigeria.:The Ogonis are pressing for greater access to oil profitsBemanating from their territory.  A special court appointed by the?government will try Mr. Saro-Wiwa on murder charges early nextyear.>   Ms. Pennington says by detaining individuals, the Nigerian@government is not only violating international law, but its owncriminal code as well:=   "Under the law, as it stands, people should be brought toBcourt between 24 and 48 hours and charged.  This has not happenedAin many cases in Nigeria.  People have simply been been detained=under a [decree] that allows absolutely indefinite detentionwithout charge or trial."<   Ms. Pennington adds that Nigerian officials told her the?burden of proof was on the detainees to prove their innocence.BShe says this also goes against Nigerian law, which says that one!is innocent until proven guilty.7   Not all Nigerians agree with Amnesty International.<   Henry Ugbolue (oog-boe'-you-lay), a correspondent on the:international desk of "The Democrat" newspaper in Kaduna,Nigeria, disagrees:;   " Amnesty has to consider one thing, this is a militaryBgovernment;  it is not a democracy.  It has to be dictatorial. ItAis like that everywhere. It is unfortunate that Nigeria is under?a military regime, but people are not being harassed or thrown@into jail for no reason.  They are being detained for a reason,1and these reasons were spelled out for Amnesty."@   Nigeria's military government says it is leaving the fate of>the detainees up to the courts.  Next year, the government is:expected to announce a timetable for new elections.  SomeAobservers hope a change in government will bring greater freedomto dissenters.<   In the meantime, Amnesty International is asking western=governments to pressure Nigeria to restore human rights now.   ---------------   ----------------   OECD REPORT SAYS RECOVERY SHOUND CONTINUE   PATRICIA BRETT	   PARIS=   The economic recovery currently underway in the 25 member9nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and>Development should continue into next year.  The figures were>published Tuesday in the OECD's semi-annual economic outlook.:However, OECD officials warn structural reforms are stillBnecessary to reduce unemployment substantially and to durably cutbudget deficits.A   Presenting the OECD's forecasts to the press, the head of theAOrganization's Economic Department, Kumiharu Shigehara, said the8recovery is getting established on a solid basis nearlyAeverywhere.  For the whole of the OECD area, growth is estimatedAat two-point-eight percent in 1994, and at three percent in both1995 and 1996.=   The increased growth should ease some of the pressures ofAunemployment and on government budgets, but Mr. Shigehara warned"the recovery alone is not enough.B   He said unemployment in the OECD area will remain high, aroundA33 million people in 1996, if no reforms are undertaken, such as'more flexible labor market conditions.=   He warned government leaders not to miss what he calls "a<golden opportunity" to address some of the serious problemsAfacing industrialized countries.  He urged governments to resistAthe temptation to reduce taxes under public pressure rather than+to consolidate deficit reduction measures.B   Shigehara had some specific advice for United States presidentBBill Clinton, who just last week announced tax cutting proposals:;   It would be better for the United States to go toward aAgreater reliance on indirect tax, some sort of environmental taxAwould be useful.  In most countries this would be controversial,@so I leave it to the U.S. administration to find the sources soAthose tax cuts will not lead to the sustained rise in the budgetdeficit farther."@   More manageable budget deficits, the OECD argues, would leadAto a drop in long term interest rates, and free up savings which<could be recycled into business investments.  It would also2reduce the interest payments on public borrowing.>   The OECD also warned that inflation, while currently under<control, still needs to be kept in check, especially in the;United States.  Mr. Shigehara warned that further hikes inBshort-term interest rates might still be needed there.  He added,@however, that rates would probably not rise as high as they hadin recent years.   ---------------   ---------------#   PANAMA INVASION 5TH ANNIVERSARY   BILL RODGERS   SAN JOSE@   The Panamanian government declared Tuesday a day of mourning>to mark the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Panama.@Much has changed in panama since the U.S. invasion, though somethings remain the same.?   U.S. forces invaded Panama on December 20th, 1989 to depose?military dictator, General Manuel Noriega.  Some 30,000 troops@took part in the operation, which led to the capture of General@Noriega who is now serving a jail sentence in the United Statesfor drug trafficking.B   Many Panamanians supported the U.S. invasion because it put an<end to 21 years of military domination of Panama.  However,Ahundreds of Panamanians were killed.  Casualties were especially?heavy in a Panama City slum called El Chorrillo, where General<Noriega's headquarters were located.  Scores of people were<killed and much of the slum was destroyed after U.S. planes9bombed the area. Although the area was rebuilt with U.S.;assistance, many residents remain bitter about the attack.B   To mark the invasion's fifth anniversary, Panamanian PresidentAErnesto Perez Balladares declared a day of mourning.  Flags flewBat half-staff on public buildings but government offices remainedBopen for business.  In a declaration published Tuesday, Mr. PerezABalladares said the anniversary is an occasion for the people of=panama and the United States to reflect on the causes of the?invasion.  He said the military action left casualties on both.sides, and damaged Panama's national dignity.A   Since the invasion, much has changed in Panama.  The military>has been abolished, the economy has boomed, and democracy hasBbeen established.  Last may, Panamanians went to the polls in the=country's first presidential elections held free of military:domination in more than 25 years.  Voters chose Mr. Perez9Balladares over six other rivals, and put his democraticArevolutionary party in power, despite its history of having been.created as the political arm of the military.A   With a healthy democracy and a strong economy growing by moreBthan six percent a year, Panama appears to be better off now than@before U.S. troops invaded.  However, some of the problems that<existed before still remain.  Almost half the population ofAtwo-point-six million people lives in poverty.  Money-launderingAof illegal drug profits continues, even though it was one of the>reasons the United States ousted general Noriega.  Government=corruption also persists.  An opinion survey taken last year@showed 79 percent of Panamanians believed corruption existed ingovernment.@   Panamanian political scientist Miguel Bernal says corruption6is one of Panama's main problems, and must be solved:?   "In my opinion the Panamanian people are against corruptionBbecause we are the principal victims of corruption because we end=up paying for this.  With our taxes, look at our educational>system, our utilities how bad they are and this is because ofAcorruption.  Its not because we don't have money or education to>solve these problems, it's because we are suffering from this7practice which we need to stop in one way or another.";   Mr. Bernal added that Panama's international image will3continue to suffer until corruption is eliminated.:   While problems remain, most Panamanians agree the U.S.<invasion marked a turning point in their country's history.@Panama is now a stable and democratic society, and is likely to0remain so now that it no longer has a military.   ---------------   ---------------)   PHILIPPINE REBELS CLASH WITH MILITARY   MARIE ORARA
   MANILA=   In the Philippines, at least 20 people have been reported@killed in a clash between Muslim rebels and the military in the@southern region of Mindanao Tuesday.  The casualties include 15Agovernment soldiers, four Muslim rebels and one civilian who was1caught in the crossfire while fleeing the scene.B   Police say army, militia and police troops attacked the rebelsBwith helicopter gunships and artillery after the rebels had firedon the troops.4   The 12-hour fire fight began early Monday near a>Japanese-funded irrigation project in Carmen town, almost one%thousand kilometers south of Manila.@   The rebels, who said they were attacked by the military, are?members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, or the MILF. TheBMILF is one of many rebel groups that have been fighting with the(government for greater Muslim autonomy.>   Local residents say hundreds of government troops and MILF<rebels were involved in the battle, which also left several=soldiers wounded.  Local journalists who witnessed the clash9surveyed the battlefield afterward and counted the dead.;   MILF rebels and government troops have been involved in<sporadic fighting for control of that area, the site of the;irrigation project.  They also held seven Korean engineers>working on the project hostage in October, but later releasedthem.:   The MILF rebels say they resent the strong presence of9government soldiers in the area, which has a high Muslimpopulation.:   To demonstrate that they are serious about driving the?military out of the area, the rebels abducted and killed threepolicemen last week.A   There are three army and police battalions currently deployed?in the area of the irrigation project to protect its engineers"and their construction equipment.@   Earlier, the military and the rebels agreed to a truce whereBboth would withdraw from the area of the irrigation project white=a 20-man police contingent took over security.  But violenceBescalated again when hostilities broke out between the police and
the Muslims.?   The MILF is a rival faction of the Moro National LiberationBFront, which is currently involved in peace negotiations with thegovernment.A   These groups of Muslim rebels have been fighting for a Muslim?autonomous region in the southern Philippines for more than 20years.   ---------------   ---------------$   REPUBLICAN FOREIGN POLICY AGENDA   MERCEDES SPROUSE   WASHINGTONA   Republicans who served in the Reagan and Bush administrations;during the 1980s are calling on the new Congress to take a'strong, active role in foreign policy.>   During a debate on how Republicans handle foreign affairs,ARepublicans asked their party to return an aura of confidence to the U.S. role in world affairs.<   Former members of the Reagan and Bush executive branchesBsuggest Republican risk-taking and decisive action led to foreign>policy successes stretching from the Persian Gulf to economicgrowth in Latin America.<   Former State Department official Robert Kagan contends aAUnited States that remains engaged in world events now can avert"potential dangers on the horizon:B   "A possibility of an authoritarian, perhaps aggressive Russia,Bthe possibility of rising Muslim fundamentalism. China can become?a danger.  The day will come, I'm sure, when Japan and GermanyAwill re-arm and they will add .. To the mix of the international/environment and we'll have to deal with that.">   Mr. Kagan believes Fidel Castro remains the only communist@leader in the western hemisphere because the United States took<an active leadership role in promoting democracy during the1980s.<   Robert Zoellick, former White House and State DepartmentAofficial, wants Republicans to pursue trade arrangements to spur=domestic economic development through international economicties:;   "Open trade is the great test of honesty for societies.@Because after all private actions and public policies are woven?together, the micro-economic efficiency of free trade forces aBsociety to face up to the plain fact of whether its rules, norms,>incentives, intervention, work ethic, are, in fact, measuringup."<   Mr. Zoellick calls on the new Republican-led Congress to?approve fast-track negotiating, expand the north American FreeBTrade Agreement (NAFTA) to Chile, and strengthen economic ties toEastern Europe and Asia.A   Paul Wolfowitz, former Undersecretary of Defense, agrees that?the new Congress should give priority consideration to regions@which can generate and maintain a political and economic power:A   "As a result, problems like Iraq or North Korea are importantBto U.S. national interests in a way that Somalia, Rwanda or Haiti
are not."?   Some Republicans don't want to cut foreign aid because they=see it as a tool to further U.S. interests through promotingdemocratic policies.=   While aid to Israel and Egypt is likely to be maintained,?Robert Zoellick thinks some regions,  like Africa, and funding6for United Nations ventures may be at risk in the newRepublican-led congress:A   "Part of the debate may focus on questions like why should we=spend as much in  Haiti as we do for Russia, and central and,Eastern Europe and the West Bank combined."@   However, many Republicans agree the bottom line (end result)@of U.S. foreign policy should be a strong defense and politicalresults, not rhetoric.   ---------------   ---------------6   RUSSIA CONCERNED ABOUT CHECHEN TERRORISM IN MOSCOW   JENNIFER GLASSE
   MOSCOW>   As fighting continues in the breakaway region of Chechnya,>authorities in Moscow are concerned the Chechens might launch*terrorist attacks in the Russian capital.>   On the outskirts of Moscow, soldiers carrying machine gunsBstand guard at checkpoints. They stop cars at random to make sureAdrivers  have the  proper documents.  They are interior ministry@troops deployed since the Russian army moved into Chechnya just?over a week ago. The checkpoints are part of an effort to keepMoscow's population safe.>   Russian television has reported that 15,000 troops are  in.Moscow to help the police patrol the streets.3   Muscovite Victor Davidenko says he has noticed:>   "There are more patrols, more police and more soldiers are#needed to keep order in the city."5   On the metro,  Moscow's subway  system, there are<announcements warning  passengers to  be on the lookout for@unaccompanied bags that could be bombs. Some muscovites say the?warning is not new.  They say they understand that authorities=are concerned that the fighting between the Chechens and the?Russians more than a thousand miles south of here could affectMoscow.@   But accountant Svetlana Vitalievna says nothing has changed:>   "The whole world knows there are problems in Chechnya, but(here in Moscow so far, life is normal."A   Ms. Vitalievna said she felt safer knowing there is increasedAsecurity here,  but one newspaper has complained that the people@of Moscow are getting too vigilant. It cited an incident on theAmetro when one passenger threw what he thought was an unattendedAbag out the train window. The owner of the bag was in the subway+car, reportedly looking at the subway map.   ---------------   ---------------*   AID WORKERS LEAVE RWANDAN REFUGEE CAMP   ALEX BELIDA   NAIROBI?   The French branch of the international medical relief group?"Doctors Without Borders" has withdrawn its health team from aBlarge Rwandan refugee camp in northwestern Tanzania. The decision;is a protest about what the group sees as a grave abuse of'humanitarian aid efforts in the camps.>   The French branch of Doctors Without Borders was among the@first relief groups to react last May when tens of thousands of?Rwandan refugees fled into northwestern Tanzania, establishing@what was at the time the world's largest refugee concentration.>   But now, Fiona Terry, the group's field coordinator, tells>reporters in Nairobi the 15-member team has pulled out of theBLumasi camp, where a quarter of the 400 thousand Rwandan refugeesin the area are sheltered.@   Terry says the aid effort there is actually being misused to@help the killers responsible for the massacres in Rwanda plot areturn to power:@   "The question really is, what is humanitarian aid supporting<here.  Can we really justify continuing a massive amount of<humanitarian aid to support a structure which is capable ofAlaunching another genocide into Rwanda and talks openly of this.AThere are many leaders in the camps who have been openly accusedBof participating in the genocide and political speeches go on all=the time, apparently with the same messages as were given inRwanda prior to the genocide.":   Ms. Terry says that in addition to political speeches,@military training is carried out openly in the camps.  She says>that because of political intimidation, ordinary refugees are=still not free to choose whether to return to their homes inRwanda.?   What's more, the aid worker charges the level of aid in theBcamps is so high that the refugees are better off, better fed and:better clothed, than the tanzanians who live around them.;   Terry says the international community must take urgent@corrective action, including the deployment of a special police&force to camps in Tanzania and Zaire:B   "We think very strongly that the international community needs@to take this much more seriously.  And also consider that these?camps in their present state could be used as a sanctuary from-which to launch another genocide in Rwanda."=   Although the French branch of Doctors Without Borders has;pulled out of the Lumasi camp in Tanzania, sections of the?medical relief organization from other countries will continue,basic health programs in neighboring camps.   ---------------   ---------------   SMALL PLANES AND WEATHER   JOHN PITMAN   WASHINGTON<   Bad weather conditions have been blamed for at least two>recent airplane crashes in the United States, one involving a:small commercial plane.   How significant a factor is theBweather,  and should smaller planes be allowed to fly at all when>conditions are less than perfect? Experts say weather-related3accidents are usually the exception, not the rule.B   Professor Frank Wencel of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical UniversityAin Florida says bad weather is as much a fact of life for flyers;as it is for everyone else.  He says pilots are trained to5recognize severe weather and avoid it when possible.<   However, there are times when violent weather, such as a>thunder storm, is unavoidable, and that, Wencel says, is when aircraft run into real trouble:B   "You've got to always be concerned about the weather; and most=of the time, you can fly very easily and very safely with no@problems.  Probably 80 percent of the time, maybe 90 percent ofAthe time, the weather is  not going to be a problem to you.  ButBit is that other 10 or 20 percent of the time when it is going tokill you."=   That percentage is too high for the International AirlineBPassengers Association.  Following the crash of an American Eagle@commuter (small commercial) plane in October, linked to a build=up of ice on the wings, the association issued the following	warning:<   "We are suggesting to our members to avoid, if they can,"aircraft with 30 or fewer seats."=   According to David Stempler is IAPA's executive director:A   "They especially should try to avoid these aircraft at night,Ain bad weather, or both, because we found that 65 percent of theAaccidents occurring in these aircraft occurred in these types of
conditions."A   Mr. Stempler says the Federal Aviation Administration has notAbeen as strict in regulating the airworthiness of smaller planesAas it has with larger jet planes.  He agrees that weather should<not necessarily be a problem for aircraft that are properly>maintained and operated, and notes that human error is a more?frequent cause of accidents than the weather.  He says the FAA?needs to create one safety standard for all planes and pilots.=   But the FAA defends its safety record, saying all planes,Aincluding commuters, are subjected to the same rigorous testing.?Charles Huttner is the acting associated administrator for air?safety at the FAA.  He says most weather conditions considered<'severe' by a person standing unprotected outside are not aproblem for modern aircraft.>   Still, Huttner concedes there are some conditions in which5even the most sophisticated aircraft should not fly:?   "The commuter planes are certified as all-weather aircraft.BWe put them through extensive tests.  There are severe conditions?like windshear and so forth that we would  not want to subject:aircraft and airmen to. But when you say 'bad weather'...9Instrument weather conditions (in which you must rely onAinstruments rather than visibility) are not unusual, and in fact>we have designed the system to operate extremely safely under/those conditions, as the record really shows."@   Mr. Huttner says commuter flights do not need to be grounded;in bad weather, a view shared by Embry-Riddle professor ofMeteorology Frank Wencel.A   Professor Wencel, however, disagrees with the notion that any?aircraft can be certified as 'all-weather.'  he says even with?technology such as windshear detectors or wing de-icers, there4are still elements of nature that it pays to avoid.   ---------------   ---------------2   THE DEBATE OVER EXPANDING THE SECURITY COUNCIL   BARBARA SCHOETZAU   NEW YORK@   The Clinton adminstration's effort to make Germany and Japan=permanent members of the United Nations Security Council has@re-opened an old debate over what nations should wield power on8the United Nations' most critical decision-making body.A   Discussion about enlarging the 15-member Security Council hasBled to several debates about the very nature of expansion. ShouldAthe discussion center on the five permanent seats? Or should the@ten rotating seats be increased? And if the number of permanentBseats is expanded, what should be the basis for determining whichnations have permanent seats?:   The US representative to the United Nations, Madeleine@Albright, argues the 5 permanent seats on the Security Council,BBritain, China, France, Russia, and the United States,  should beAexpanded to recognize the economic clout of Germany and Japan inthe "real world."A   Rosemary Righter is the author of a new book entitled "Utopia+Lost: The United Nations and World Order."@   Ms. Righter, the chief editorial writer at the London Times,Bsays more than economic power should be considered in discussions"about Security Council expansion:=   "In the real "real world", Germany and Japan are economic@giants. But they are giants that are hobbled in the exercise ofBmilitary power. After all, the purpose of the Security Council is<to maintain international peace and security and be able to?contribute to collective security. In the case of both Germany?and Japan, you not only have post-war constitutions that place>severe inhibitions on the use of their armed forces, but evenAmore important than that, their people overwhelmingly approve of>these constraints. You saw this pacifist sentiment very, very;clearly in the Gulf War. The whole tenor of their domestic?debates, their leaders pronouncements. It was quite clear that@had they been permanent members then, they would have had great<difficulty not only contributing forces to the gulf, but in=voting for any action to use force on the Security Council."A   Ms. Righter also contends that increased membership would add?to the United Nations' biggest shortcomings , its inability to.operate efficiently and take decisive action:=   "I actually think that it is difficult enough, and we are:seeing this now, to get agreement between the existing 15@members. I think we should be very cautious about expanding the@numbers simply because the larger a committee is, the harder it"is to come to a finite decision.">   Moreover, Ms. Righter says, nations other than Germany and=Japan will seek permanent seats, causing yet more debate anddissension:A   "It obviously was never going to stop with Germany and Japan.;Claims by india, Brazil, Nigeria, Egypt were absolutely anAinevitable corollary. They were bound to follow. And, of course,5as soon as India puts in a claim, Pakistan puts in a=counter-claim and Mexico thinks it is as good a case to be a?permanent member as Nigeria or Brazil and Kenya is also deeply?unwilling to see Nigeria have status that it does not have. So5the whole think is bound to be immensely complex and+time-consuming and certainly contentious.">   Allison De Cerreno (sear-ain-yo) is a program associate inBLatin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in NewYork City.:   Cerreno believes the security council must broaden its7membership, not just in numbers but also in diversity:B   "The five permanent members are still very much the big powers>after world war two. When the Soviet Union fell apart, people;looked around and said 'hey, wait a minute. It is not evenArepresentative of the big powers any more if we still leave what?is now Russia on there'. And they began asking questions as toBwhat actually constitutes a great power and why those five shouldAbe the ones that are on, particularly if we are looking at otherAtypes of issues, like economic issues, issues of culture, issues?of ethnicity, then why should those five be the only permanent
members?"B   Italy has proposed expanding the Security Council to 25 seats.?The five permanent seats would remain but the 10 non-permanent@seats would increase to 20. The Italian mission says this would8make the council more reflective of the United Nations''membership without hurting efficiency.B   Italy's representative to the United Nations,  Francesco Paolo?Fulci (fool-chee), says the Italian proposal is more equitable:than proposals to give Germany and Japan permanent seats:@   "We already have five permanent members, all of which, or at?least 4, are wealthy, industrialized developed nations. And, IAwould add, all from the northern hemisphere. How could one thinkBthat you would add two more wealthy developed countries also from=the northern hemisphere? How do you think that this could be@accepted by the general membership of the United Nations in theyear 1994?"B   Ambassador Fulci says Italy's proposal contains advantages for:all the members of the united nations, including the five=permanent member, who would retain their status. At the same9time, an increased numbers of nations, including smaller6countries, would be able to play a larger role in the>decision-making of the Security Council and, perhaps, be more?willing to shoulder greater responsibilities within the united	nations.A   The Italian proposal also calls for abolishing the veto powerBcurrently held by the five permanent members. The proposal, alongAwith many others, will be studied by a U.N. committee working onBthe topic of Security Council expansion. But chances of any rapid=action to expand the Security Council in the near future are;about as remote as the possibility that the five permanent:members will support the elimination of their veto power.   ---------------   ---------------A   U.S. TO COURT MARTIAL OFFICER INVOLVED IN HELICOPTER SHOTDOWN   VICTOR BEATTIE   WASHINGTON<   The U.S. air force has decided to pursue a court-martial<against an officer in charge of air-borne surveillance whenAAmerican warplanes shot down two U.S. helicopters over Iraq last=April.  The man charges with dereliction of duty, intends to<fight the charges insisting he acted in accordance with thetraining he received.B   Lt. General Stephen Crocker, the commander responsible for all=airborne surveillance aircraft, has decided to refer CaptainAWang's case to a court-martial on three counts of dereliction of>duty.  If convicted, Captain Wang could face imprisonment anddismissal from the Air Force.@   The incident happened over Iraq's northern no-fly zone April:14th.  Two army Blackhawk helicopters, mistaken for Iraqi>aircraft, were shot down by two American f-15 warplanes.  TheBairborne surveillance controllers were accused of failing to warn7the jet pilots that U.S. helicopters were in the zone.=   The helicopters were carrying members of an internationalBgroup that had been working with Kurds in northern Iraq since the>end of the Gulf War in 1991.  Twenty-six people, including 15&Americans, were killed in the attack.@   Captain Wang accuses what he calls systemic failures for the:tragedy.  He says the evidence will show what he calls an@absolute failure in command and suggests others superior to him$in rank should be held responsible.B   One of the two pilots who shot down the helicopters also faces626 counts negligent homicide and dereliction of duty.   ---------------   ---------------   U.S. TRADE DEFICIT   ANDREW BAIRD   WASHINGTON>   New figures show that the United States is still running a6substantial deficit on its broadest measure of trade.B   America's trade deficit jumped to more than 10 billion dollarsAin October, with a record level of imports and the worst deficit?ever with Japan. The U.S. commerce department says the OctoberAtrade gap was up eight-point-four percent over September. It was<the second highest monthly deficit in goods and services onrecord.@   Economists say the imbalance reflects an increase in imports6for a sixth consecutive month while exports were downAone-point-six percent. The Clinton administration wants Tokyo to=further open its markets to American products to correct the5trade imbalance between the United States and Japan.9   Automotive trade accounts for about two-thirds of the<60-billion-dollar annual U.S. trade deficit with Japan. The@United States is hoping to resume talks by the end of the month'on opening Japan's automotive markets.   ---------------   ---------------%   NORTHWEST AIRLINE TROUBLESHOOTERS   PAUL FRANCUCH   MINNEAPOLIS@   Weather problems, equipment malfunctions, crew shortages andBother things can all affect an airline's operations.  And any one9of these problems can result in a costly delay.  But new<technologies and better management techniques can help keepairlines flying.<   A large, open room adjacent to Northwest Airline's cargo;operations serves as what's called the "systems operationsBcontrol" center.  Around the clock, every day, the airline staffs@some 300 experts to trouble-shoot problems that may occur, when1they occur. Other airlines have similar centers.>   Northwest boasts that it has centralized its operations toimprove communications.>   Operations control vice president Sally Macut says they've>also developed new computer software which integrates various=systems from other airlines that merged in recent years intonorthwest airlines:<   "So as you bring all these groups together and all these:functions together, the protocol is different between the?computer systems.  And when we went to build this facility, we7didn't want to put three or four units, PC's (personal?computers), monitors on a desk.  We wanted it all to be on oneworkstation."?   The control room is a beehive of activity, sort of like the3"mission control" room for a Space Shuttle flight.A   Weather forecasters talk with dispatchers.  Technical experts?for various types of airplanes help solve mechanical problems.@   Systems operations control director Dave Pratt says the room-is designed to exchange information quickly:?   "They assemble all the information from all the departments>that are here in this room and try to make the best, cohesive>decision that makes sense.  Make that decision quickly.  This@room is built around facilitating communication and information5because we only make good decisions when we have theinformation."@   During our visit, the control room was busy shifting flights?around because a snowfall in minneapolis had closed one of the:airport's two main runways.  Minneapolis is the center ofAnorthwest flight operations and the snow was causing delays near the peak afternoon rush period.@   Chief dispatcher Vince Ceci was busy working with government?air traffic controllers to get landing priority for an inboundDC-9 jet running low on fuel.B   Mr. Ceci was also looking for other planes seeking priority to(land on the airport's remaining runway:<   "Right now we have a few more of them coming in so we're@trying to juggle in aircraft with fuel, have them hold and have?the other ones come straight in so we have a limited number of
diversions."9   Mr. Ceci's computer showed a map pinpointing airplane?locations. Information about aircraft, flight paths, remaining@fuel supplies and other data can be flashed on the screen.  TheBmap could also be overlaid with the latest weather information to"help divert planes around storms.@   "We can look at all other traffic," said Ceci.  "We can code@it for arrivals at a problem airport.  We can brief the crew on:whether it's a demand problem, a weather problem.  We canBre-route the aircraft.  We can select a closer alternate from his<current position which would give him more holding fuel and9increase the probability of him landing at Minneapolis."6   Spurred in part by its poor reputation for on-time;performance, northwest airlines spent about six and a half<million dollars to develop and build its systems operationscontrol center.@   Northwest vice president Sally Macut says the investment has#already more than paid for itself:@   "We thought we'd get it back in about nine million dollars aAyear worth of fuel savings, savings in delays and cancellations,Athe cost of diverting an airplane and overnighting passengers in=different cities across the world ... And when we did a post:audit after the first year we were already calculating 18Amillion.  So it doubled our expected savings on the investment."B   The improved systems control center has also enabled northwest@to boast that it now has the best on-time performance record of@major airlines in the United States.  And the system has workedBso well that northwest has begun planning a smaller complementary1center in  Tokyo to handle its far east flights.   ---------------   ---------------4   FORMER COMMUNIST PARTY REGAINS POWER IN BULGARIA   WAYNE COREY
   VIENNA=   The former communist party in Bulgaria, now the socialistBparty, has regained power in the country's parliamentary election?on Sunday. Preliminary results show the socialists have won an*absolute majority of seats in parliament.?   Official preliminary results of the Bulgarian election show>the socialist party won at least 125 of the 240 parliamentaryseats.>   The strongly anti-communist union of democratic forces wononly about 70 seats.=   The socialist party leader, Zhan Videnov, said the voters@demonstrated their discontent over falling living standards. He@said the Bulgarian people clearly favor the socialist policy of'implementing gradual economic reforms.A   The Bulgarian communist party was one of the last dominoes toAfall during the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989.?The party changed its name to the socialist party and then won<the 1990 election.  It was the first democratic election inBulgaria in 45 years.?   The union of democratic forces won the next election.  But,8the UDF was not strong enough to push through rapid andfar-reaching economic reforms.   ---------------   ---------------   CNN/NORIEGA TAPE RULING   JIM TEEPLE	   MIAMI<   CNN, the Cable News Network,  has agreed to broadcast an=apology for airing tapes of conversations between panamanian=dictator Manuel Noreiga and his lawyers. By broadcasting the=apology, CNN avoids paying a potential fine of up to 100,000	dollars.?   Earlier this year CNN was found guilty of contempt of court<for broadcasting conversations General Noriega had with his?lawyers while he was awaiting trial for helping colombian drug.cartels smuggle cocaine to the United States.9   The network obtained the tapes from a source, and theBpresiding judge in the case, William Hoeveler, ordered CNN not to;broadcast them.  But the network did so anyway, saying the$judge's order was unconstitutional.@   After it was found guilty, CNN faced a fine of up to 100,0009dollars.  However, under an agreement reached with JudgeAHoeveler, the network will avoid paying the fine by admitting it>was wrong to broadcast the tapes.  The terms of the agreement&call for CNN to only pay court costs.   ---------------   ---------------'   CHINA COUNTDOWN RETURN OF HONG KONG   DAVID DYAR   BEIJING<   Beijing officials Monday unveiled a clock near TiananmenBsquare which is to mark the countdown to Hong Kong's reversion toChinese sovereignty.?   The clock contains a display marking the number of days and>the number of seconds remaining until the date of the change.@   The unveiling of the clock comes on the tenth anniversary ofAthe signing of the agreement between China and Britain governingthe hand over.@   Chinese officials have launched a media campaign to mark the@anniversary in which China says it is dedicated to ensuring the@transfer will be smooth.  However, officials say China will not;be to blame if there are any problems with the transition.B   China has been critical of Britain for implementing democraticAreforms prior to the hand over.  Officials say Britain should do'more to ensure the transfer is smooth,B   China promised in the agreement to allow Hong Kong 50 years of?autonomy after the 1997 change to Beijing's control.  However,Bhuman rights activists and some Hong Kong politicians critical of@China say Beijing's strong opposition to the democratic reforms4indicates China might renege on the 50 year pledge.8   The dispute centers on Hong Kong's plans for holding;legislative elections prior to the transfer date.  British>officials want to ensure the legislators elected prior to theBchange in sovereignty will be able to serve out their terms whichextend beyond 1997.B   China accuses Britain of trying to use the issue of continuityAafter the hand over to perpetuate its rule over the colony after@1997.  China has vowed not to allow any elected legislators who8came to office prior to 1997 to serve beyond that date.A   The publicity campaign in Beijing's press reports Monday made>laudatory references to retired senior leader Deng Xiaoping'sBpolicy statements of several years ago to justify China's current
policies.:   The clock is erected in front of the China History and,Revolution Museum east of Tiananmen Square.   ---------------   ---------------?   TRADE EXPERT EXPECTS CHINA TO JOIN WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION   MAX RUSTON
   HONG KONGB   A former U.S. trade representative predicts China will succeed=in its goal of becoming a founding member of the World Trade:Organization when the body is established, January first.BHowever, the former official says he does not expect an agreement<on Beijing's membership conditions to be reached until just.before the closing deadline for negotiations.A   Former assistant U.S. Trade Representative Joseph Massey made@the prediction in a speech to business executives in Hong Kong.:He told the group he is familiar with many of the Chinese?officials involved in current negotiations to join the general>agreement on tariffs and trade, GATT.  It transforms into the)World Trade Organization, January first.A   Mr. Massey says he is not overly worried by the apparent lackAof progress in ongoing talks on Beijing's membership application*between Chinese and American negotiators:B   "We are in a period of posturing.  We are in a period in which4there will be threats of retaliation, there will be@counter-threat of retaliation, and which in my prediction there:will be interests secured and indeed agreements reached.":   Mr. Massey says his experiences in international tradeBnegotiations lead him to predict a compromise agreement will soonbe reached:B   "China will be in the GATT as a founding member of the GATT by<the 31st of December, having agreed to continue substantive?negotiations, not technical, through the middle of next year.";   The former negotiator says each side will need to offer.substantial concession to reach an agreement.:   He expects the Chinese side to agree to provide betterAconditions to foreign firms operating in China, similar to those@given to domestic firms.  He says Washington will probably ease@its demand China enter the organization as a developed country,<rather than a developing one.  That would relax the overallAconditions of market openness China needs to meet before gainingentry.?   The World Trade Organization is aimed at promoting free and=fair international trade, in part through the elimination of9trade barriers.  Analysts say China is eager to join theBorganization, but worried its economy is too fragile to withstandAthe pressures that would accompany more open trading conditions.   ---------------   ---------------8   CHINESE COLLEGE GRADUATES FACE POOR JOB PERSPECTIVES   DAVID DYAR   BEIJING>   Chinese reports Monday say the country's college graduatesBwill find it difficult to find productive jobs when they graduatenext year.A   Chinese officials are warning college graduates they face the@bleak prospects of having to take jobs well below their skills,when they graduate.A   Officials say China now faces a situation in which the number4of graduates is now larger than the supply of jobs.?   Traditionally, China's college graduates moved on to secure@positions at state-owned enterprises or government departments.=Most of these positions were assigned to the students by the	schools.A   That practice is now gradually ending, leaving many graduates6without positions to turn to when they finish school.@   Officials say their efforts to expand the number of colleges8over the past several years has increased the number of?graduating students.  However, they admit many of the students@were placed in inappropriate study programs for which there are
few jobs.9   The problems of college graduates finding new jobs in<state-owned enterprises is compounded by the already-severe3problem of overstaffing at most of the businesses.:   Officials admit millions of Chinese in the state-ownedAenterprises should be laid off because there is no work for themAto do.  However officials are afraid of taking that step because+it might result in anti-government unrest.B   A Chinese newspaper says there is demand for college graduates>trained in engineering, finance and economics, but not enough7students graduating next year will be trained in those
professions.A   Officials are also cutting back on the number of positions inAthe government might be taken by graduates.  Saturday, officialsBannounced they are cutting two million jobs in the government, asa cost-saving measure.   ---------------   ---------------*   CHLORINE PROVEN TO DESTROY OZONE LAYER   DAVID MCALARY   WASHINGTON<   Scientists from the U.S. space agency NASA say they have>obtained proof that chlorine compounds from human sources areBdestroying the protective ozone layer above antarctica, a conceptBonly theorized until now.  The findings emphasize the validity ofAan international agreement already reached that phases out thesedestructive chemicals.:   The proof that industrial chlorine compounds cause the?antarctic ozone hole comes from the upper atmospheric researchAsatellite, known by the acronym UARS ['yoo-arz], deployed from a@U.S. Space Shuttle in September, 1991.  Four of the satellite'sAten instruments measure the chemistry of the stratosphere, where@a layer of ozone absorbs harmful ultraviolet radiation from thesun.>   This layer has been thinning since the late 1970s, and the?resulting increase in ultraviolet rays reaching earth has been=linked to increases in skin cancer, eye cataracts, and other2harmful biological effects on plants and animals.>   Nowhere has the depletion been more dramatic than over the;antarctic.  A U.S. ozone measuring device aboard a Russian?meteor-three satellite has shown that the antarctic ozone holeAreached a record size in 1993 and was nearly as large this year,$about 24 million square kilometers.A   Aircraft observations showed convincingly in 1987 that a high@concentration of chlorine has been the culprit in the antarctic>depletion.  Scientists believe that the chlorine breaks ozoneBdown into oxygen and other compounds through a series of chemicalreactions.=   But the question has remained:  What is the source of the<chlorine?  Researchers have warned that it is released from8compounds called chlorofluorocarbons, or CFC's, used in;refrigeration, antifreeze, spray cans, foam packaging, and
electronics.?   Now, the Nasa UARS satellite has proven the theory correct.?   NASA atmospheric scientist Mark Schoeberl ['show-berl] saysAUARS has measured chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere combined9with the worldwide buildup of fluorine gases which are a byproduct of CFC decomposition:>   "These observations from UARS show from the first time the@global distribution of man-made molecules, the CFC's.  They are=in the stratosphere.  They are not just laying around on theBground as some people would. Have you believe.  UARS measurements@also confirm that the chlorine chemistry is responsible for theBozone hole.  This is what we've suspected all along, but the link>between the chlorofluorocarbons and the chlorine in the ozone2hole is really made solid by these measurements.">   The international community has not waited for this proof.@Based on the early alarms from scientists, it reached an accord>called the montreal protocol in 1987 to phase out half of CFC9production by 1999.  As ozone depletion mounted, nations?subsequently amended it to halt all CFC production by the yearAtwo-thousand.  Since then, the accord has been modified again to;eliminate the compounds and introduce substitutes by 1996.   ---------------   --------------->   COLOMBIAN CONVICTED OF COLOMBIAN PLANE BOMBING IN US COURT   CHRIS SIMKINS   NEW YORK@   A U.S. federal jury Monday convicted a Colombian national of&bombing a Colombian jetliner in 1989.;   A U.S. federal court jury, after deliberating two days,>convicted Dandeny Munoz-Mosquera on all 13 counts for murder,>conspiracy, and drug trafficking in the bombing of an AviancaAAirlines plane in 1989.  All 110 people aboard the aircraft were killed including two Americans.@   Last July, the first trial of Munoz-Mosquera ended without a>verdict when the jurors could not reach a unanimous decision.@   Government prosecutors said Munoz-Mosquera was an explosives:expert and a loyal assassin for the Medellin drug cartel.>   Prosecutors also claimed that the defendant along with theBcartel's leader, the late Pablo Escobar, masterminded the bombing<to kill two informants they believed were passengers on theAvianca jetliner.   ---------------   ---------------&   INDEPENDENT POLL OF CUBAN CITIZENS   JIM TEEPLE	   MIAMI?   The first independent poll taken in Cuba in more than three:decades has been completed.  The polling data indicates a:majority of Cubans believe the U.S. Embargo and not their=government is the cause of economic stagnation on the islandnation.@   In a poll taken by the Cid/Gallup Group based in Costa Rica,Aand sponsored by the Miami Herald newspaper, one-thousand Cubans<were asked a series of questions about everyday life in theBcommunist nation.  The poll was conducted by 14-central Americans<who despite some harassment from Cuban government officials1canvassed 75-percent of the country's territory.:   According to the results 48-percent of Cubans describeAthemselves as revolutionaries, and say the government's policies;over the past three decades have been more beneficial than	harmful.;   Terry McCoy, the director of the Latin American studiesBprogram at the University of Florida, says that's not surprising:?   "What goes on in Cuba is that the people who stay behind by@definition, tend to support the regime.  What's undersampled of?course, or not sampled at all, are those Cubans who have left.AThey would tend to have very different answers.  But my guess is@that most of the people in Cuba are basically supporters of theBrevolution certainly less so of the regime, and perhaps even lessBso of the leadership although Fidel Castro as a personality seems"to have a great deal of support.">   The pollsters however were unable to measure that support.<They were forbidden by the Cuban government from asking any;questions related to the country's leadership or its exileAfigures. Officials of Cid/Gallup defend their position by saying9the choice was between accepting the restrictions or not<conducting the poll. They say despite the restrictions they?gained rare insights into how Cubans live and what they aspireto.B   More than half surveyed say they would like to start their own>businesses.  20-percent reported attending church in the past<month.  Only three-percent say politics is the main problem<facing Cuba.  Most expressed sympathy towards exiles, and a:majority blame the U.S. Embargo on Cuba for the country'seconomic problems.A   The University of Florida's Terry McCoy says most Cubans have@rejected communist economic policies, but also blame the United)States for Cuba's economic difficulties:=   "Many Cubans are disillusioned with the Sovietizatiion ofACuba.  They feel that was a big mistake, but they also feel that>the embargo is unjustified and unfair and bears a significant%responsibility for their hardships."B   The pollsters admit they avoided asking direct questions about?the country's political system.  They say they did so to avoid=frightening people, unaccustomed to answering questions from:foreigners.  And yet nearly a quarter of those questioned;described themselves as not integrated in the system whichApolling officials say indicates a high degree of dissatisfactionAin Cuba, mainly among the urban youth. Still many Cubans express?optimism about the future. Sixty-percent say they believe 1995?will be a better year for the Cuban people.  The pollsters say8much of that optimism results from economic reforms the-government has initiated over the past year.B   According to Cid/Gallup most Cubans focus on their friends andAfamilies, and spend much of their free time watching television.>Thirty-two percent of those questioned say they spend as much>time as they can in front of the television, and according to?officials at Cid/Gallup that figure is roughly the same in theUnited States.   ---------------   ---------------<   HERITAGE FOUNDATION FOREIGN AID "ECONOMIC FREEDOM INDEX"   LINDA CASHDAN   WASHINGTON9   A new report by the Heritage Foundation, a WashingtonAconservative think tank that expects to exert more influence now:that Republicans have gained a majority in both Houses of=Congress, calls for dramatic changes in the U.S. foreign aid>program. The Heritage Foundation argues that U.S. development>assistance should only be used for countries moving away from9central control and toward toward free market economies.A   The Heritage report sets up an "index of economic freedom," a=global report card that rates more than 100 countries on the<basis of how market-oriented their policies are.  Of the 15Acountries that got the most U.S. foreign aid last year, only two=had economies the heritage foundation found "mostly free" of?central government control.  Of the 50 countries listed as the3most controlled, 40 received U.S. development aid.>   Heritage Foundation spokesperson Kim Holmes says the index<should be used in making future U.S. foreign aid decisions.A   Giving aid to centrally controlled economies, Holmes says, isa poor investment::   "Economic freedom is the engine of economic growth and?prosperity which raises the standard of living for all people.@By concentrating on population growth, health services, and the?like, it's putting the cart before the horse. These are things=that will naturally grow in an economy as the economy itselfgrows."B   The director of the U.S. Agency for International Development,?Brian Atwood, agrees free economies tend to be more prosperouseconomies.;   However, Atwood argues, other criteria, like democratic$governments, are just as important:@   "We can not produce results if the government of the countryAwith which we're working does not care as much about development@as we do, or if that government doesn't believe that its peopleAshould participate in the governing process.  They (The HeritageBFoundation) leave out population and environment as factors, they8leave out even the promotion of democracy as a factor."B   The Heritage Foundation contends, however, that without properBfree market economic principles in place, all aid is wasted.  Mr.BHolmes says Africa, for example, has received more aid per capita;than any region of the world, but because of poor economic?practices most Africans are worse off today than they were ten2years ago.  As an example, he points to tanzania.;   Foreign aid provides close to half of tanzania's entire=national budget, Holmes says, and yet tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world:?   "Economic development aid is really a form of internationalBwelfare.  It perpetuates dependence and poverty, just as domestic?welfare programs do. In this world, poverty is not the naturalAstate of affairs. It is the result of bad economic policies, and:by subsidizing those bad policies, through foreign aid or9economic development assistance, we are perpetuating the>preconditions of poverty, and we're actually hurting the verypeople we are trying to help."@   However, Agency for International Development director Brian>Atwood says experience has shown that increased education for;women lowers population growth, that foreign aid can be an3effective stimulus for developmental improvements.B   The Heritage Foundation seems to view foreign aid as a reward,,Atwood says, and it must be more than that:@   "Unfortunately, I think the Heritage Foundation report would=suggest that we only give aid to countries that have already;reformed.  Those are the countries that do not need help!"=   Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, Mozambique, Angola, Sudan and=Haiti rank at the bottom the of Heritage Foundation economicAfreedom index. Hong Kong, Singapore, Bahrain, the United States,and Taiwan are at the top.   ---------------   ---------------H   SERBIAN LEADER IN GREECE TO PROPOSE A CONFEDERATION OF BALKAN STATES   ANTHEE CARASSAVAS
   ATHENS@   Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic is visiting Athens in a@bid to muster Greek support for the creation of a confederation@of Balkan States.  The Greek government cautiously received theSerbian president's proposal.=   Mr. Milosevic presented his idea of a loose confederation?between Serbia, Greece and Macedonia to Prime Minister AndreasBPapandreou and Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias during talks inAthens Monday.=   The Serbian president said closer cooperation between theAthree Balkan states would contribute to stability in the region.B   Prime Minister Papandreou described the proposal as pioneering<and interesting but did not commit his country to the plan.A   The two officials held extensive talks on developments in the6former Yugoslavia and on the stalled peace efforts inBosnia-Herzegovina.A   Greece, like Serbia, is predominantly orthodox Christian, andAhas lent its support to Serbian efforts to bring about an end to.the international sanctions against Belgrade.   ---------------   ---------------   ITT TO BUY CAESARS   BRECK ARDERY   NEW YORKA   The ITT corporation, a diversified technology, insurance, and>hotel firm, announced Monday that it will pay one-point-seven?billion dollars for the Caesars World gambling casino company.<   The move is a way for ITT to expand the limited gamblingAoperations it already has through its Sheraton Hotel subsidiary.<Caesars world owns three hotel casinos, two in the state of;Nevada and one in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  In addition,?Caesars manages a casino in Windsor, Canada, which is owned by&the provincial government of Ontario.B   As a result of the deal, ITT says it will abandon its plans to:build a multi-million-dollar casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.A   A growing number of state and local governments in the UnitedAStates are now permitting casino gambling. Caesars is one of the;prestige names in the industry and many analysts say it isBprobably cheaper for ITT to buy Caesars than to try to expand itsown gambling operations.=   For stockholders of Caesars World, the deal is similar to@hitting a slot machine jackpot in one of the company's casinos.@ITT will pay 67 dollars for each share of caesars stock. Before@the announcement, the stock was trading at about 44 dollars pershare.   ---------------   ---------------.   3 FAMOUS KENYAN ELEPHANTS SHOT IN TANZANIA   ALEX BELIDA   NAIROBI>   Three of Kenya's oldest and best-known bull elephants haveAbeen shot and killed by hunters after straying across the border?into Tanzania.  The killings, while legal under Tanzanian law,?have stirred outrage among conservationists and prompted calls)for a ban on hunting in the border area.A   Each year tens of thousands of tourists from around the world<travel to Kenya's Amboseli National Park.  There, along theBTanzanian border, in the shadow of snow-capped mount Kilimanjaro,<they can see some of Africa's oldest and biggest elephants,Aelephants that have become accustomed to the presence of people,?elephants, that in their protected park environment, associatevehicles with safety.?   But three of those elephants, bulls about 50 years old withBtusks weighing more than 35 kilograms each, recently wandered out?of Kenya into Tanzania, where big game hunting is legal. ThereBthey were shot and killed by fee-paying hunters on safari, two of/them said to be German, the third an American.?   American author and scientist Cynthia Moss has directed theAAfrican Wildlife Foundation's Amboseli elephant research project@for more than two decades and knew the three semi-tame animals.)She acknowledges they were shot legally.:   But Moss says it would have been no sporting challenge"whatsoever to kill the big bulls:A   "It would have been about as easy as shooting your neighbor's	poodle."@   One of the bulls was called RBG, the initials of an American.lawyer and supporter of the Amboseli Project.>   Ms. Moss first photographed RBG back in the mid-1970's andAsays this elephant had been a major help to research work in thegame park:@   "This bull was a particularly gentlemanly bull.  He was very<used to  people and never became aggressive even during his?heightened sexual period, which is called musth.  Even then he.didn't become aggressive or charge vehicles."A   Ms. Moss says the killings are particularly sad since RBG and?the other two elephants had managed to survive a period during<the 1980's when heavy poaching had called into question the'future of Kenya's elephant population:B   "It just seems so sad that they managed to survive through the;1980's and then they just step across the border, hardly a:kilometer in and they get blown away by western hunters.">   Ms. Moss says that in the past there was what she calls an@unwritten agreement between Kenya and Tanzania that there would1be no hunting in the border area.  She and otherAconservationists, along with officials in the Kenyan government,<are now working for a formal accord to ensure there are  nofurther killings.B   Ms. Moss says there are sound financial reasons for preserving!the lives of elephants like RBG:>   "Elephants are worth a tremendous amount of money alive toAKenya.  One economist who did an analysis of elephant viewing inAKenya came up with a figure of 25 to 30 million dollars.  That's<what elephant viewing is worth to Kenya each year.  Now the@tanzanian government got four thousand dollars apiece for thosebulls as a hunting fee.">   Ms. Moss says she and other conservationists hope they can?persuade the tanzanian government that there is more profit in'saving elephants than in killing them.   ---------------   ---------------,   PEACE DEMONSTRATIONS CONTINUE IN LIBERIA   CLAUDIA MCELROY   MONROVIA6   In Liberia's capital, Monrovia, thousands of peaceBdemonstrators marched to the city's airport where faction leaders=were preparing to leave for Ghana for more peace talks.  The?demonstrators' message was the leaders should not come back to8Liberia until peace has been restored to their country.<   A rapidly growing crowd of at least five-thousand people=marched towards Monrovia's airport chanting "we want peace."@   They were in a menacing mood, some carrying machetes.  Their=aim was to deliver a message to faction leaders due to go to?Ghana for the reconvening of the continuing peace talks,  that>unless they reach a genuine agreement which will bring peace,they should not return here.>   A number of faction leaders were taken to the airport in a>large convoy of Ecomog peace keeping trucks.  Several hundredBpeace keepers were dispatched to the airport to bolster security.=After the airplane, with all Monrovia-based faction leaders,<finally took off, the crowds began to move towards the citycenter.<   This demonstration comes only days after the massacre of@almost 50 civilians on the outskirts of the city, thought to beAperpetrated by elements of the armed forces of Liberia.  Tension@in the city has been very high with numerous civilian vigilantegroups on the alert.A   As Liberia approaches the fifth anniversary of its civil war,Athe Liberian people say they feel deceived by their leaders, who4seem to be unwilling or unable to end the violence.   ---------------   ---------------   MOLECULAR COMPUTING   JESSICA BERMAN   WASHINGTON=   An American scientist has "married" (joined together) theBfields of mathematics and molecular biology to create the world'sfirst molecular computer.@   Computer genius and mathematician Ron Adelman ('aye-dul-mun)>of the University of Southern California got an unusual idea.?Why not use DNA sequences in a single molecule to try to solveAwhat mathematicians call a Hamiltonian path problem?  DNA is theBgenetic material packed into the nucleus of every cell that codes:for different traits.  As for a Hamiltonian path problem.>   "Imagine that you have a whole lot of cities in the United<States and there are airplanes that fly between them", says	Adelman.@   David Gifford is in the department of electrical engineeringAand computer science at Massachusetts institute of technology inCambridge:=   "Let's say you'd like to start in New York and end in Los?Angeles.  Can you fly through a given set of cities on a given>airline schedule, if the airplanes between two cities usually=only fly in a single direction and don't necessarily return?@And, so, what you'd like to do is make a complete tour and only:visit each city once.  And that is the so-called directed&Hamiltonian path problem in a graph."B   The idea is to select a route between New York and Los Angeles$that is the fewest number of miles.B   Professor Gifford says these sorts of problems can take a veryBlong time to solve because of the huge numbers of combinations or@permutations.  The more cities or points involved in a problem,(the greater the number of permutations:@   "If you view that problem, you can see that what you need toAdo is to construct a tour.  And what Adelman recognized was that>you could actually represent plane flights by one kind of DNA@fragment and cities by a second kind of DNA fragment and, then,@by adding something called DNA ligase ('lye-gaze), you can glue@them together. As a consequence, what you'll wind up with are a=whole lot of possible tours, some of which visit some citiesAtwice, some of which don't visit a given city at all and some ofAwhich visit each city you want to see exactly once.  And you are@able, because of the way that the encoding is done, to separate>these (tour sequences) based upon their size (length).  So, aBtour that doesn't visit every city you want to see is going to beAtoo short. And a tour that actually visits cities more than once>is going to be too long.  And, so, what you can do is you canBactually select, based upon (sequence) size, to get a tour of theright length."@   Ron Adelman published his work in the journal "Science," andBMIT's David Gifford wrote a comment piece. Professor Gifford says@that while the DNA molecule was able to compute the Hamiltonian;path problem, it will be awhile before molecular computersBreplace the ones that use silicon chips.  For one thing, it takes2a long time to process and analyze DNA sequences.=   Another problem, according to David Gifford, is that thisBtechnique can only be used to solve certain sorts of mathematical
problems:B   "In a sense, the computer on your desk is far more powerful in@that it can execute arbitrary branching operations (a series of>complex computations) and it is able to solve problems in theBso-called universal class. And, so, the next great hurdle to faceBin this area is figuring out how to build molecular machines that9are practical, that can solve universal (many different)problems."A   Scientists at Massachusetts institute of technology and otherBcenters are trying to harness DNA for use as computers.  It was a=graduate student of professor Adelman's at the University of=Southern California who developed the world's first computer7virus.  And professor Adelman helped develop the first@unbreakable code, which uses two different keys, one to encode,the other to decipher.   ---------------   ---------------%   MOZAMBIQUE'S 1,000,000 LAND MINES   SCOTT STEARNS   MOZAMBIQUE@   Multiparty elections brought an end to 16 years of civil warBin Mozambique.  Still, there are more than one million land minesset throughout the country.8   No one really knows how many land mines there are in;Mozambique.  They are buried along roads, they ring former:military bases and they are set to protect what were once)strategic towns and communication links.<   Most of the mines were laid by Frelimo government troops>because they had more permanent installations to protect thanBRenamo rebels.  Under the terms of their peace accord Frelimo and?Renamo agreed to work jointly with the United Nations to clear@mines from the country.  As part of their support for the peaceBprocess, the international community donated more than 30 million>dollars to clear land mines from Mozambique.  But few maps of?where mines are buried exist.  And most of those show only the*general area where mine fields were laid.B   The Norwegian people's aid group has trained and deployed over=300 Mozambicans in mine detection.  British contractors have9cleared more than two thousand kilometers of road in two?provinces.  American contractors are set to clear more than 35Ahundred kilometers of road by June of next year.  And the U.N.'s=observer mission has trained 450 Mozambican de-miners aroundmaputo.:   In a town of about 100 kilometers outside the capital,<government troops laid more than 40 thousand anti-personnel=mines.  They were protecting a military garrison on the rail@corridor to South Africa.  Now the United Nations is working to@make the area safe for civilian use.  However, it is slow work.?   Most of the mines here are less than three inches below theAsurface.  Workers cut through the underbrush in strips about one<meter wide.  Using sophisticated metal detectors and simpleBgarden spades they excavate each sounding whether it is a mine ora spent shell casing.A   When they do find a mine they do not dig it up.  They place a@charge next to it and detonate it where it lies.  Sometimes the)shockwaves detonate other mines near by.=   The British aid agency Halo Trust estimates land mines in=Mozambique have been responsible for 1,200 casualties a yearAsince the end of the conflict.  For a country newly at peace the0violence of war remains just below the surface.   ---------------   ---------------    6,000-YEAR-OLD ICEMAN UPDATE   NANCY STEINBACH   WASHINGTONA   Three years ago, mountain climbers found the frozen body of a@man in the ice of a glacier in the mountains of northern Italy.>The man had died between four-thousand and six-thousand years/ago. His body was in extremely good condition.B   Scientists said that the body was in good condition because itBhad frozen in the ice a short time after the man died.  They call:him The Iceman.  They placed the body in a freezer at the>University of Innsbruck in Austria.  An international team ofBscientists has been studying the body since then. The researchersBare permitted to work with the body only twenty to thirty minutes6at a time, to prevent any more damage to the tissues.<   The researchers reported on their work last month at the?yearly meeting of the Radiological Society of North America inHouston, Texas.@   They said The Iceman was between twenty-five and forty years?old when he died.  Their studies show he had already developedAsevere osteoarthritis, a slowly developing disease that destroys>the bones.  He suffered pain from this condition in his neck,Alower back and one hip.  Osteosarthritis found in one little toe?also suggests that he may have suffered damage from the severe;cold temperatures.  The researchers said he also had heart@disease. His arteries were getting hard.  They found calcium in@the blood vessels of his chest, hips and neck.  The researchers@said they have no way of knowing if this was unusual for men ofAhis age at that time.  They also found eight breaks in the man's@rib bones. It is not clear if the bones were broken at the sameAtime or at different times.  X-rays of the Iceman's lungs showedBevidence of disease there too.  More tests will be done to try to5discover why his lungs appear to have been diseased.A   One of the researchers said such conditions would have causedBa modern man to see many doctors.  They said The Iceman seemed toBsurvive very well with his injuries and health problems, until of9course, he died on that mountain thousands of years ago.   ---------------   ---------------   TAX BUDGET ANALYSIS   ART CHIMES   WASHINGTON@   President Clinton has announced proposed government spending@cuts totaling 24-billion dollars.  That follows a number of tax5cut proposals from the administration and elsewhere.>   It wasn't too long ago that Republicans and Democrats were@rivals in the battle to cut the budget deficit.  Last week they?switched gears, and the two parties were trying to out-do each9other in an effort to offer the American people the mostappealing tax cut.<   President Clinton's program would save taxpayers, mainly:middle-class families, 60-billion dollars.  CongressionalBDemocrats floated their own plan, and the most sweeping cuts comein a Republican proposal.B   The problem, of course, is that with the United States runningAa big deficit, every dollar in tax cuts has to be matched with aAdollar in spending cuts, or the deficit will increase even more.=So with each tax cut comes a proposal on slashing government
spending.B   President Clinton's plan leaves most of the government intact,@but calls for privatizing some programs and handing others overto the states.B   Vice President Al Gore, who has been President Clinton's point:man on the so-called "reinventing government" issue, says?government structures have been slow to change with the times:;   "For example, we don't need an agriculture [department,>(USDA)] field office within one day's horseback ride of every?farm.  So we're closing over 1,2000 USDA field offices.  We're?looking to close a lot more field offices in other agencies as6long as we can continue to improve customer service."A   The spending cuts announced by the White House amount to less=than half the amount needed to pay for Mr. Clinton's tax cut>program.  Other savings would come from extending a freeze ongovernment spending.;   The administration proposal is just that, a proposal, a>proposal that will have to go through congress, where the new@Republican majority is expected to attempt to put its own stamp=on government downsizing.  On this weekend's television talk@shows, members of Congress from both parties agreed on the need>for drastic reductions in the size of the federal government.>   Democrats and Republicans seem to be trying to outbid eachBother on how large a tax cut to hand the American people, and how2sweeping the spending cuts will be to pay for it.%   But some observers are skeptical.A   Bill Gale, research associate at the Brookings Institution, a@Washington think tank, says it all looks suspiciously too easy:7   "They all have this common feature that they eitherAconsolidate or streamline existing programs or they delegate new:authority to the states.  If these things could have been=consolidated and cut back and streamlined before, there's anBissue as to why it hasn't happened if it's apparently costless todo so."?   President Clinton has cut more than 100,000 government jobsAsince taking office two years ago and has pledged to eliminate atotal of more than 270,000.@   Despite the dueling radical proposals, some analysts cautionBthat any changes finally passed by the Congress and signed by theApresident are likely to be watered-down by political bargaining.   ---------------   ---------------   HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ON TRIAL IN TURKEY   AMBERIN ZAMAN
   ANKARAB   Six human rights activists accused of promoting separatism are,on trial in two separate Ankara courtrooms.>   The chairman of the Turkish Human Rights Foundation, Yavuz=Onen, and his assistant, Fevzi Argun, have been charged with>promoting separatism in a report they published on torture inTurkey.?   Mr. Argun said the offending sections of the 57-page report?amounted to no more than two paragraphs.  He says the sectionsAdescribed how the gulf between Turks and ethnic Kurds is growingBbecause of the 10-year Kurdish rebellion in the southeastern part:of the country.  Mr. Argun says he and Mr. Onen are beingpunished for their thoughts.@   The court is seeking up to five-year sentences for both men.@If convicted, they would join more than 100 writers, academics,<and intellectuals currently in jail for expressing opinions2deemed harmful to the unity of the Turkish state.=   In a separate case, Akin Birdal, president of the Turkish@Human Rights Association, and three of his associates are beingAtried on charges of promoting separatism.  There were brought to=court for publishing a report detailing the burning down andBforced evacuation of Kurdish villages by Turkish security forces.@   The prosecutor has recommended that one of the defendants beAacquitted.  But he wants Mr. Birdal and his deputy, Husnu Ondul,?sentenced to six months in prison.  Sedat Aslantas, who helpedAprepare the report, is facing a possible three-year prison term.:   Turkey has come under increasing pressure from western=governments and international human rights groups because of<widespread reports of human rights violations.  The bulk of:abuses are reported in the southeast, where rebels of theAKurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, are fighting government forces to set up an independent state.?   The Turkish parliament has yet to pass proposed legislation@that would lift some curbs on freedom of expression.  Mr. Argun>says even if approved, the legislation would  not ensure full*democratic rights for the Turkish people.   ---------------   ---------------;   CLINTON ADMINISTRATION BEGIN TO DEFEND U.S. FOREIGN AID   RON PEMSTEIN   STATE DEPARTMENTA   One of the challenges the Clinton administration will face in<1995 will be maintenance of its foreign assistance program.:Republicans who will control the new Congress already are;promising to make large cuts to developmental foreign aid.:Officials are starting to mount a defense of American aid
programs.7   After initially taking a conciliatory stance toward<suggestions from Congress that the whole foreign assistanceAprogram should be sharply reduced, the Clinton administration is9starting to respond to attacks on American developmentalassistance.>   Sally Shelton, the assistant administrator of the U.S. Aid>Program, told delegates to a Washington population conference5Congress is about to put foreign assistance under an6unprecedented siege. Shelton describes the opponents:?   "They are going to come from many quarters and they'll comeAfrom both parties I think, they'll come from isolationists, they=will come from budget hawks. Some want to preserve their own<piece of the pie. There are those who believe that economicBpolicy alone can cure the ills for the developing world and there*are a few, simply looking to grandstand."=   Ms. Shelton believes budgets for Israel and Egypt and the@newly independent states of the former Soviet Union will remain@relatively static. However, the aid official says developmentalBassistance will face potentially crippling reductions. Republican@Senator Mitch McConnell has threatened to eliminate all funding=for Africa and other legislators have talked of dropping the)American contribution to the World Bank.=   Ms. Shelton insists developmental aid is where the United<States can do the most good, especially in improving health?programs. The United States, once the world's only provider of=foreign, aid, now comprises only 19 percent of all aid givenAabroad. Even so, at a time of budgetary crisis, American foreign8assistance finds itself again under attack in congress.   ---------------   ---------------<   TRANSPORTATION DEPT. PLAN NEW AIRLINE SAFETY REGULATIONS   JANE BERGER   WASHINGTON>   Transportation Secretary Federico Pena says he expects newBsafety regulations to be in place by the end of next year for allU.S. commuter airlines<   Transportation Secretary Federico Pena says he is deeply?troubled by five fatal U.S. air crashes this year, despite the<fact that U.S. airlines are the world's safest form of masstransportation.@   Mr. Pena earlier this week announced a three-part program to>improve airline safety after an American eagle commuter plane@crashed last Tuesday near Raleigh, North Carolina.  The programAincludes a meeting in Washington among chief airline executives,@pilots, and government officials to discuss airline safety, and1re-inspections of all airline safety procedures.B   Finally, Mr. Pena said new regulations will be put in place to@make sure that commuter planes are as safe as larger airliners:?   "We will accelerate what we started about two years ago and>that is to make sure that the same safety standards for theseAsmaller airplanes, the commuter airlines, are the same as largerAcommercial airlines, and we want to get that done, complete thatrule-making within 100 days.">   Concern has been growing about commuter airlines in recentBmonths.  An American eagle commuter plane crashed last October in@Indiana, and officials said the problem was icing on the wings.A   Just a week ago, bad winter weather grounded two heavily used=commuter planes, different versions of the ATR, and American=Eagle has now canceled commuter flights out of Chicago while:pilots undergo more intensive training for winter weatherconditions.@   In a separate interview Federal Aviation Administrator DavidBHinson said testing of the French-made ATR planes is taking place@right now in California, and he hopes the aircraft will soon beback in service:A   "This problem we found on the ATR as a result of flight tests<in France is like finding a needle in a haystack. And we'reAreasonably optimistic that the manufacturer and the French civil@aviation authority will be able to get the airplane returned toservice very soon."?   Mr. Hinson acknowledged that the federal aviation authorityBhas sometimes been slow to react to airline safety problems.  But>he expressed confidence that the creation of a  safety officeAwithin the FAA and some new regulations will improve the overallU.S. airline safety.   ---------------   ---------------   BULGARIAN ELECTION   WAYNE COREY
   VIENNAB   The people of Bulgaria are voting in their third parliamentaryAelection since the collapse of communism in the Eastern-European>country  The former-communist party, now the socialist party,Acould win the most seats, but probably not an outright majority.@   The Bulgarian election is being held ahead of schedule in an@attempt to break a parliamentary deadlock over economic reforms@in the Balkan nation.  Despite claims of voting irregularities,Bthe Bulgarian election commission says no serious violations havebeen reported.@   The anti-communist union of democratic forces had more seatsAthan the socialists in the last parliament.  But, the UDF lackedBenough seats to push through the rapid and fundamental reforms itsays are vital for Bulgaria.@   Bulgarians are suffering from falling living standards, high@inflation, official corruption, and a big increase in organized:crime.  The socialist party favors a slow transition fromcommunism to capitalism.<   Opinion polls indicate the socialists could win the mostAparliamentary seats, but not an outright majority.  If the pollsBare accurate, the election will not end the political deadlock in
Bulgaria.   ---------------   ---------------8   NO CONFIDENCE VOTED CALLED OVER KING DAVID IN ISRAEL   SUSAN SAPPIR
   JERUSALEMB   A row over the image of the biblical King David has prompted a;call for a "no confidence" vote Monday against the Israeligovernment.=   Orthodox rabbis in Israel's parliament are threatening to<topple the government over a perceived insult to an ancient5monarch who ruled the land three thousand years ago.=   It all started when Foreign Minister Shimon Peres made an=uncomplimentary remark in parliament about the biblical KingDavid.9   When one religious legislator had made an unfavorable?comparison between Mr. Peres, the conciliatory peacemaker, and;King David, the brave conqueror, Mr. Peres said he did not>approve of everything King David did "on the ground or on therooftops."A   The old testament tells that David, upon seeing the beautifulBBathsheba bathing on a rooftop, had her brought to sleep with him3and sent her husband to a certain death in battle.?   Mr. Peres' comment sparked a shouting match after which one=rabbi member of parliament needed medical treatment for highblood pressure.<   The orthodox parties are unlikely to take Prime Minister?Rabin's government down in a "no confidence" vote Monday.  ButAthe affair will make it that much harder for Mr. Rabin to obtain*their badly-needed support in the future.   ---------------   ---------------   KARACHI GENERAL STRIKE   DOUGLAS BAKSHIAN
   ISLAMABAD?   Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, was paralyzed Sunday by a?strike that left streets virtually deserted.  A militant Sunni?Muslim group called the action to protest violence against its@followers.  This month more than 130 people have been killed inAscattered political and religious unrest.  Seven of those deaths,occurred Sunday as the strike got underway.?   Offices, banks, major shopping centers and the stock marketAwere closed.  Reports say there were delays in train service andAflights because of a shortage of personnel at airports and trainterminals.<   Most cars and buses were off Karachi's troubled streets.9Reports say many drivers stayed home because they fearedBviolence. Snipers claimed several lives Sunday morning, including?those of a truck driver and a passenger in a bus.  Reports say<two supporters of shi'ite Muslim groups were also killed in<Malir, a Shi'ite stronghold in the city's eastern district.!There were other deaths as well.=   The militant sunni-Muslim group Sipah-I-Sahaba called the<strike to protest an attack against a Sunni mosque December<seventh, in which gunmen killed eight people, including themosque leader.B   Sunni officials blame shi'ite activists for the incident.  The=Shi'ites deny this, and charge the sunnis with agitation and=involvement in other attacks on Shi'ites.  Authorities blame7extremist elements within both groups.  Some Pakistani@authorities have also accused alleged Indian agents of having arole in the violence.>   More than 130 people have been killed and hundreds woundedBthis month in scattered unrest in Karachi.  The violence has alsoAinvolved political groups, including the mohajir quami movement,@Karachi's dominant political force.  It frequently clashes with?splinter movement factions and also claims it is the target of=harassment by authorities.  The MQM is made up of people who7migrated from India when Pakistan was created in 1947.@   The army withdrew from Karachi at the end of November, after@about two-and-one-half years of trying to control the spiralingAviolence.  Tensions and killings have mounted since the pullout.   ---------------   ---------------   BURMA REBEL ANNIVERSARY   DAN ROBINSON   BANGKOK?   A key exile Burmese opposition group says there has been no@significant progress toward genuine democracy in Burma, despite<the start of a dialogue between the military in Rangoon and@detained democracy figure Aung San Suu Kyi.  The exile NationalBCoalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) is marking the@fourth anniversary (December 18th) of its founding by demanding5recognition of the results of 1990 elections and the,un-conditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi.:   The exile coalition, which calls itself the legitimateBgovernment of Burma, says four-years after the election permitted=by the junta in 1990, democracy is still far from a reality.>   It says the ruling State Law and Order Restoration CouncilB(SLORC) clings to power against the wishes of the Burmese people,Aand is continuing, what the statement calls, flagrant violationsof basic human rights.8   But, much of the coalition statement is devoted to a@condemnation of the constitutional convention the Burmese juntahas been directing in Rangoon.A   The junta says the constitution drafting process will lead toBa democratic system, albeit one under the ultimate control of the@military, which has already guaranteed itself a leading role inthe nation's political life.=   In its statement, the exile coalition says the conventionBshould be abolished and replaced by a genuine national conventionBwith complete implementation of the results of the 1990 election.@   The election was allowed by the military despite its violentB1988 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations.  The poll was won9overwhelmingly by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for@Democracy.  Many elected parliament members later fled into the@jungle to escape another junta crackdown, and formed the NCGUB.=   Maung Maung Aye is information minister of the oppositionAcoalition.  He says while cease-fires with various ethnic groups>and the start of talks with Aung San Suu Kyi are seen by many@outside observers as signs of progress, the junta has not shownit wants genuine democracy.?   The coalition statement calls for a comprehensive political>dialogue between the Rangoon junta on one side, and democracy=forces led by Aung San Suu Kyi and representatives of ethnicgroups.B   The statement also calls the military's formation in 1993 of a>mass organization called the Union Solidarity and DevelopmentBAssociation (U.S.D.A) an effort by the junta to hold on to power.>   Diplomats and analysts in Rangoon say the organization was;designed as the primary tool by which the junta intends to:maintain its grip on politics after a new constitution iscompleted.   ---------------   ---------------3   CAPTIVE BREEDING METHODS & ENDANGERED ELEPHANTS   KEMING KUO   WASHINGTON>   As the Republican Party regains the political spotlight onACapitol Hill, the G.O.P's mascot, the elephant, is the new focus@of attention at the National Zoo.  The first elephant ever born@at Washington's National Zoo celebrated her first birthday this=past week. The zoo's new attraction allows animal curators a?renewed opportunity to educate the public about the elephant'sendangered status in the wild.>   As the largest land animal on earth, the elephant normally=draws large crowds to its exhibit area at most zoos.  At theANational Zoo here in Washington, the crowds during the past yearBhave been much larger than normal because of the birth of Kumari,,the zoo's first elephant bred in captivity.A   John Lehnhardt, manager of the National Zoo elephant program,?says Kumari's strength and good health as a baby is especiallygratifying:B   "This is a wonderful celebration of the first year of Kumari's<life.  She's really important to us in a lot of ways.  One,>[she's] an important representative of an endangered species.<We're participants in a species survival plan for the Asian>elephant.  Two, it's a triumph of will, over the problems andAtribulations we had very early, the medical problems she and the?mother had in the first seven weeks.  But those are all behind=her; Kumari's doing great as you can see this morning: She's,incredibly playful, active, [and] healthy.";   Mr. Lehnhardt's assessment is shared by Marie Galloway,<elephant specialist, who probably spends the most time with9Kumari and the four other elephants at the National Zoo:A   "She's basically real sweet.  She can be obnoxious, but she'sBnot quite as bad as I expected a baby elephant to be.  I expected@300 pounds [136 kg] of completely uncontrollable energy.  She's?somewhat like that, but not as bad as I thought she'd be.  SheAhas learned quite well.  She's learned to lay down and that sort5of thing at a faster rate than I expected, as well."?   An Asian elephant, Kumari gets her name from the Sri LankanAword  for "princess."  Kumari's mother, "Shanthi" means "peace,"9so Kumari's name as "princess of peace" seems especially?appropriate, since she was born near Christmas.  Mr. Lehnhardt=says the strong appeal of Kumari and Shanthi to zoo visitorsBprovides his staff an opportunity to explain the need to continue=captive breeding research and to preserve elephant habitats.BBecause of such habitat destruction, and poaching of elephants toBsell their tusks, the number of elephants in Africa declined from@about 1.3 million a little more than a decade ago, to less than<half that amount presently.  During visits to Sri Lanka and:eastern Africa earlier this year, the National Zoo's JohnBLehnhardt got first-hand knowledge of how endangered elephants inthe wild really are.@   "It confirmed for me, especially after my trip to Sri Lanka,Athe tremendous need to maintain our drive to reproduce elephants;in captivity," said Lehnhardy.  "They are really seriously?threatened throughout their range.  Human population expansion?and differing needs for resources have really threatened them.:Even the working population of elephants is endangered insoutheast Asia."@   In addition to helping other countries improve their captiveAbreeding programs for elephants, Mr. Lehnhardt also provided hisBhosts the latest research for a program resulting in the oppositeAeffect: Contraception.  Limiting the breeding of some animals is?necessary in order to preserve the best gene pools and promote diversity of elephant families.@   With the success of the birth and raising of young Kumari atBthe national zoo, Mr. Lehnhardt says there will be future captive(breeding attempts with their elephants::   "In the next year, we're hoping to, through artificialAinsemination,  breed Shanthi again, so we don't have to send her?to another zoo.  We can keep the family group together, so the@wild female elephants and their offspring can spend their livestogether."B   John Lehnhardt, manager of the national zoo's elephant program7in Washington, is a leading expert on captive breedingtechniques.   ---------------   ---------------   HAMAS FUNDING   VICTOR BEATTIE   WASHINGTON@   A report prepared for the U.S. Congress says the Palestinian@militant group, Hamas,  is receiving funds from private sourcesAin moderate Arab states and possibly through the Iranian Embassy;in Jordan.  U.S. officials say it is an attempt to drive a9further wedge between Hamas and the Palestine liberationorganization.?   The report, prepared by the Congressional Research Service,;says the private contributors remain angry about the PLO's@support of Iraq during the 1991 Persian-Gulf War.  Hamas, which?has repeatedly launched terrorist attacks from the Palestinian>self-rule areas into Israel, opposes the PLO's recognition of$Israel and the self-rule agreement.>   The group is said to have an office in Saudi Arabia.  LastAyear, a delegation visited qatar to discuss aid to the group andthe Palestinian people.?   The amount of aid provided to Hamas from these private Arab?contributors is unclear.  But, the Congressional report quotes?unidentified western intelligence sources as saying the figure amounts to millions of dollars.9   The report says there is also circumstantial evidence:suggesting Jordan unwittingly or reluctantly is hosting a@potential Iranian conduit to Hamas.  Iran re-opened its embassy?in Jordan two-years ago.  The report says Hamas activists have*easy access to the West Bank from Jordan.=   U.S. officials are quick to add Jordan opposes terrorism.<Jordan earlier this year signed a peace treaty with Israel.=   The Clinton administration has accused Hamas of trying tosabotage the peace process.   ---------------   ---------------   HIROSHIMA BOMB DEBATE   ADAM PHILLIPS   WASHINGTON?   It has been almost fifty years since August 6th, 1945, whenAthe United States dropped an atomic bomb on Japan, an event that=led to Japan's unconditional surrender eight days later. But?commemorations marking that event, including an exhibit at theASmithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. and a special postage<stamp, have led to an intense debate over the emotional and;historical meaning of that signal moment in world history.A   The nuclear bombs the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,:Japan in August 1945 killed an estimated 200,000 civilian>Japanese. President Truman said he decided to use the bomb toAforce Japan's immediate and unconditional surrender, which wouldBprevent the human and financial cost of an allied invasion of the?Japanese home islands. Sure enough, the Japanese did surrenderafter the bombs were dropped.>   Recently, however, archival evidence suggests the Japanese>were planning to surrender soon anyway, that they were simply>holding out for allied assurances that their emperor would be>allowed to stay on after the war. According to this research,APresident Truman was well aware of this through decoded Japanese>messages and his own top level advisers. Author Kai Bird is a3Guggenheim fellow and an historian of that period.B   "There's always more to learn", says Bird, "and particularly aBdecision as secretive as Truman's decision to use this new exotic@weapon of mass destruction against two civilian cities in Japan@at the end of the war. This has been shrouded with myth. Now in>the minds of all the veterans who were out there on the front?lines, facing certainly very high casualties, they believed in>their gut and they believe it to this day that the bomb savedtheir lives. "B   But Mr. Bird and many of his historian-colleagues believe that@the desire for American troop safety and a quick end to the warAwere only part of the reason why America made two atomic strikesagainst Japan.@   "Some historians argue that there was a sort of bureaucraticAmomentum involved in the decision," says Bird, "that two billion>dollars had already been expended on it, that the head of theAManhattan Project was determined to show this bomb could be used@and that the money had been well spent. Some historians suggestAthat atomic diplomacy was involved. And again, we found archival8documents where it's clear truman regards the bomb as a>diplomatic weapon, that it will, quote 'make the Soviets more8manageable in the postwar era if we use the bomb on the
Japanese.' "=   Many of those who lived this history have no sympathy forBhistorians, peace activists or, of course, any Japanese, who call;the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki unjustified.@   Grayford Payne was captured by the Japanese early in the war<and remained their prisoner until the day they surrendered.>   "You know," says Payne, "they go back and they say 'was we?justified?' when they bombed Pearl Harbor, when the first bomb@hit, you damn right we were justified! They [the United States]=would never have laid it on them if they hadn't bombed Pearl	Harbor!"A   Mr. Payne, who witnessed countless atrocities by the Japanese9against both civilians and his fellow POW's, both in theAPhilippines and Japan, believes the bomb saved his life. To thisAday, he remembers the English signs on the walls of Japanese POW<camps that linked him and his buddies to President Truman's5decision to invade Japan or take the nuclear option.@   According to Payne, "I was a prisoners and in my camp it wasAposted orders by Hei Diki Dojo, on the first American landing on?the mainland, all prisoners will be shot' to get us out of the&way. They meant it. That was orders."?   There has been a fractious debate in the United State about=the best way to mark the anniversary of Hiroshima. A special=commemorative stamp showing a mushroom cloud was rejected as?being insensitive to Japanese survivors of the bomb. It is nowBbeing re-designed. But the greatest flap has surrounded the plans>by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum to display9"The Enola Gay" airplane that dropped the atomic bomb onAHiroshima.  The exhibit would also have included exhibits of the;bombs' effects on Japanese civilians, quotes from Truman's@advisers cautioning him about using the bomb, and the effect of+this new technology on post-war stability.B   On one side of the controversy are the historians who advocate<a coolheaded approach to the facts, where the uncomfortable@ambiguity of the bomb and its legacy are fully explored. On the@other side are veterans groups and others who think that it was?American valor during the war that should set the tone for the;anniversary. Phil Budahn (boo-dahn) is a spokesman for the7American Legion, the nation's largest veteran's group.A   "It seemed to be that the people who put the exhibit together?made a deliberate effort to be nice to the Japanese tourists,">says Budahn, "which is a good idea, and it is good that we'reBsensitive to that. But in trying to be sensitive to the Japanese,Bthey ended up being insensitive to the Americans and we were veryconcerned...."=   Secretary of the Smithsonian Michael Heyman (hay-men) hasBoverseen five reworkings of the exhibition script in an effort to2please both sides of the "Enola Gay" controversy.A   Still, Hyman admits that the historic plane may symbolize too(much for true agreement to be possible:B   "It really stands for two things, the 'Enola Gay.' one is thatAit was obviously the most instrumental airplane in ending a very>brutal war between the United States and Japan. And the otherAwas, that it ushered in the use of atomic weapons. Both of those?are extraordinary events connected with the 'Enola Gay.'. Now,Ashowing both of those, creating a context for both, proves to be6very difficult, but that's what we're seeking to do."A   Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Mr. Michael Heyman.BThe "Ground Zero" exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum is;scheduled to open in May, if the conflict around it can be
resolved.   ---------------   ----------------(   FORMER BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT ACQUITTED   ROGER WILKISON   RIO DE JANEIRO@   Former Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello has been?acquitted of corruption charges by Brazil's supreme court in a@five-to-three decision. Mr. Collor's trial on criminal charges,?which began last week, came nearly two years after he resignedthe presidency in disgrace.;   The 45-year-old Mr. Collor did not appear at the trial,?preferring to stay at his secluded residence in Brasilia untilBthe supreme court decided his fate.  The good news for the former?president came when Chief Justice Octavio Gallotti joined four>other magistrates in voting for acquittal on the grounds that0there was insufficient evidence for conviction.B   Mr. Collor resigned the presidency just as Brazil's senate wasAabout to try him in December 1992 for conduct unbecoming a chiefBof state.  He had been impeached by the chamber of deputies three@months earlier after a congressional investigation concluded heAhad benefitted from an influence-peddling ring run by his former>campaign treasurer Paulo Cesar Farias.  The senate banned himAfrom seeking public office until the end of the century.  At the6time, the supreme court upheld the senate's decision.>   Monday's decision also cleared Mr. Farias and Mr. Collor's@private secretary, Claudio Vieira, of corruption.  But they andAsix other people are also due to be tried on other charges, like=coercing witnesses.  The supreme court is expected to decide4whether to transfer their case to a lower tribunal.>   The prosecution held that Mr. Collor used four-point-sevenBmillion dollars deposited in phony bank accounts by Mr. Farias toApay for additions to his private home and to buy a car.  But theBformer president's attorney argued that the money Mr. Collor used=was left over from his successful 1989 campaign for Brazil'shighest office.>   The prosecution also charged that Mr. Collor pressured theBBrazilian subsidiary of Germany's Mercedes Benz car-manufacturing?firm into giving Mr. Farias money that he later passed on to a=pro-collor congressional candidate.  But the majority of the?justices decided that there was not enough evidence to supportthat charge either.?   The decision to acquit Mr. Collor did not go over well withAthe man on the street.  Several people interviewed by television?stations asked how a man who was found guilty of corruption byACongress could now be absolved of related charges by the supremeAcourt on technical grounds.  Mr. Collor is now expected to mount@a legal campaign aimed at overturning congress' decision to ban*him from public life until the year 2000.   ---------------   --------------->   CAMBODIAN ARMY COLONEL ARRESTED FOR MURDER OF A JOURNALIST   BILL HARRIS   PHNOM PENH>   Cambodia's information minister says Cambodian police have<arrested a suspected killer of a Cambodian journalist.  TheBmurder suspect is reported to have powerful official connections,>and human rights groups and reporters say what happens in the;case will show if Cambodia's government wants justice or a
cover-up.;   Cambodian officials say the man arrested for the recent=killing of a journalist is an army colonel.  The governor of<Kompong Cham province where the killing took place says theAmurder suspect was part of a local crime ring.  But human rights>groups and Cambodian reporters say this crime ring itself haspowerful official connections.@   The head of Cambodia's journalists association, Pin Famkhon,@says he thinks the suspected killer may have links to important@people in the administration of Kompong Cham province, which is3about 80 miles northeast of the Cambodian capital.?   Mr. Pin Famkhon said that in the last issue of the murdered>reporter's newspaper, there was a story about corrupt KompongBCham officials illegally cutting down trees in the province.  Mr.AFamkhon said the newspaper accused the forestry chief in Kompong=of illegal logging and selling the timber to nearby Vietnam.?   Mr. Famkhon said he does not know how true this story aboutBofficial corruption is, nor how well connected the murder suspect@actually is.  But he says the arrested man has now been broughtAto Cambodia's capital because if the authorities believe that if@he stays in the province, his powerful connections could either<help him escape or perhaps even kill him to keep him quiet.<   With the recent murder of the journalist in Kompong ChamBprovince, three newspapermen have now been killed in the last six9months in Cambodia.  Many more are reported to have beenthreatened.A   So far none of the killers have been brought to justice.  But@Mr. Famkhon said this recent murder may be different because it@has had so much publicity.  And he says the upcoming trial will@be a test case for Cambodia's government and will show if Phnom3Penh's administration really wants justice or not.   ---------------   ---------------@   TENSION BETWEEN NEW REPUBLICAN CONGRESS AND HOUSE MINORITIES   PAULA WOLFSON   CONGRESS=   The new U.S. Congress officially gets down to business on=January 4th, but, already, tensions are high between the newBRepublican majority, and groups representing African-American and<Hispanic lawmakers in the legislature.  It appears they are&headed for all-out political warfare.@   When the Republican members of the new Congress gathered for@their first meeting, the room was filled with white male faces.@   Of the 230 or so Republicans who will be sworn in as membersAof the 104th Congress of the United States, two are black, three)are Hispanic, and one is Asian American.<   Party leaders say they are not worried about the lack ofBdiversity, and they expect more minorities to join their ranks inthe years to come.>   But members of groups representing blacks and Hispanics inACongress are concerned the voices of their constituents will not?be heard.  And when the Republicans took steps to restrict the6activities of these organizations, they declared war.@   The Republican majority decided to cut all funding for about>30 groups that serve lawmakers with specific interests.  TheyAinclude the congressional Black Caucus, and the Hispanic Caucus.A   In the past, members of these groups were permitted to divert<money from their office budgets to pay for caucus staff andequipment.@   But, incoming speaker Newt Gingrich says such practices will"be forbidden in the new congress.>   Gingrich says the Republicans promised the American people;they would streamline the legislature and cut questionable
expenses:@   "The point of this election is simple: Less government, less@spending in Washington, this is one of what will be a number of"steps all in the same direction.":   But leaders of the black and Hispanic caucuses say the3Republicans did not act out a desire to cut costs.8   Outgoing Black Caucus chairman Kweisi Mfume says the<Republicans want to silence minorities, and are engaging in congressional ethnic cleansing:=   "In reality, this is a lame attempt, by some, to curb the<power of minorities in congress.  And while it may have the9effect of killing what little support the GOP had in our<respective communities, it will not affect the power or the,prestige of the professional Black Caucus.">   Mr. Mfume, a Democrat from the state of Maryland, says theAdecision to cut official funding has actually served to energize the congressional Black Caucus.@   He says caucus members are angry.  He likened them to attackBdogs, and intend to constantly challenge the Republican agenda inthe new Congress.;   Jose Serrano, the New York City Democrat who chairs theHispanic Caucus agrees.1   Serrano says the Republican effort will fail:A   "It won't work.  We're the conscience of the congress, and we?will continue to speak out for the working poor, the children,and those with no power."?   There will be 40 blacks and 18 Hispanic in the new House ofBRepresentatives, almost all of them Democrats.  They were often a?powerful force in the outgoing Congress, and despite their newAstatus as minorities within a minority party, they have no plansto surrender.A   Congressman Mfume says if the Republicans go ahead with theirBplans to strip the caucuses of staff and office space, as well as?official status, the groups will survive.  In his words, "TheyBcan take away our funding, but they cannot take away our spirit."   ---------------   --------------->   SEVERAL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SEEK EXPANSION OF NAFTA PARITY   JIM TEEPLE	   MIAMIB   Several key members of Congress say they will continue to work3for NAFTA's extension to nations in the Caribbean.A   At the summit of the Americas, U.S. Officials held out littleBhope for extending the north American free trade agreement, NAFTABto countries in the Caribbean.  In fact U.S. Officials said Chile<was the only country in the western hemisphere that will be>invited to join NAFTA.  However, several U.S. Congressman who<stayed in Miami for the 18th annual Miami conference on the=caribbean and Latin America say they will push for extending"NAFTA to the Caribbean community.A   Phil Crane is a Republican Congressman from Illinois, he says;he will work for parity legislation shortly after Congressreconvenens on January 4th:>   "CBI (Caribbean Basin Initiative) parity I think will be aAhigh priority issue along with the Chilean NAFTA proposal.  So I>anticipate the Congress is going to busy this year and I look>forward to those as simply launching pads for infinitely more'legislation in that area to continue."@   Mr. Crane said Caribbean NAFTA parity is a bi-partisan issueAand many Democrats support the measure.  Mr. Crane and others inBCongress wanted to attach legislation to the recently passed gatt8agreement, but the measure was defeated in the House of>Representatives. Porter Goss is a Republican Congressman from	Florida.?   Gross says while Congress is interested in extending NAFTA,Acountries in the region will have to undertake extensive reformsbefore it comes about:>   "There is a fabulous interest in Washington in taking thisBadvantage and seizing the opportunity, and I think it's not going>to be without a few problems.  Last night I had dinner with aAminister of one of the nations in the caribbean, we were talking=about how were going to phase in the trade and I asked him aBsimple question: What is your main tax base where do you get yourArevenues in the your country?...I won't identify the country and?he said basically we get it from import duty taxes, and I said8we've got a problem because we're going the other way."@   Still, Mr. Goss says he believes a commitment exists to free<trade  and he believes the target dates set at the Americas?Summit for Free Trade will be met.  Another participant at the>Miami conference on the Caribbean, Congressman Ben Gilman theBincoming chairman of the House International Relations Committee,Asays the hard work is just beginning on trade in the hemisphere,<and that he and many of his colleagues will be returning toBWashington even before Congress returns in January to work on theissue.   ---------------   ---------------    CRISIS IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS   FRANCIS RONALDS   WASHINGTONB   Military clashes have taken place in the breakaway Republic ofAChechnya (chech-nya'), a thousand miles south of Moscow, even as8peace talk were underway in Vladikavkaz, capital of theBneighboring Republic of North Ossetia.  Meanwhile, there has beenAsharp criticism of Russian President Boris Yeltsin's decision to:use troops to force Chechnya to abandon its insistence of6independence.  Even Yegor Gaidar, head of the largest?parliamentary group supporting him up until now, has denouncedAhis course, claiming that it may lead to enormous casualties and=even to terrorism. Foreign leaders, while admitting Russia'sBconstitutional right to quell the rebellion, have implored Moscowto avoid further bloodshed.B   Military action has been reported not only in Chechnya, but in<the neighboring Republics of Ingushetia and Dagestan, where+Russian soldiers have been taken prisoner.A   Jack Matlock, former U.S. Ambassador in Moscow, explains that<the many different ethnic regions lying on the north of the;caucasus mountains present Moscow with a unique challenge:@   "The north caucasus are is a particularly diverse area, bothAin terms of terrain, it is mountainous in many of the areas, and>in terms of ethnic composition of the people.  There are many@different peoples living in the north caucasus.  They come from=various language and linguistic groups.  Most of them are byAbackground Muslim.  They have resisted for decades the expansion=of the Russian empire into that area.  Many of the wars that?Russia fought in the early and middle of the 19th century were<precisely in that area.  The fact that many of them share a?Muslim heritage means that those who are north of the Causasus@Range tend to feel an affinity for each other even though their;language groups may be different.  You do have a so-called;federation of people of the north caucasus, which had been?involved in sending support to the Abkhazians, in Georgia.  So>that these peoples have taken an interest not only in getting@greater autonomy or, in the case of Chechnya, independence from;Russia, but also in developments south of the Causasus, in"Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan."?   Mr. Matlock, who was U.S. Ambassador in Moscow from 1987 toA1991, says that Chechnya has strategic importance for Russia for'economic as well as political reasons:@   "Chechnya is a significant oil producing area, although much>less significant proportionately than it was before world war?two.  Still, a significant amount of oil is produced there and?perhaps equally important, it has some major refineries on its?territory and oil pipelines that are important cross the area.?If there is exploitation of the caspian sea oil, most of which;now fall into zones which properly belong to Azerbaijan or@Kazakhstan, then the route the Russians would like them to take@for the export of that oil would be pipelines across this area.?So the area has strategic importance because it does border on@the Transcausian nations, which are important to Russia, and at8the same time the economic importance is considerable."B   Ambassador Matlock notes that Boris Yeltsin's decision to moveBtroops into Chechnya and been criticized in Moscow by a number ofAmilitary figures and also by the man who heads the largest block6supporting the president in parliament, Yegor Gaidar:;   "President Yeltsin's decision to use military force hasBobviously been controversial.  It has brought about criticism not@only from people in what has been his traditional opposition in<parliament, but also from a number of leaders of democratic@parties who have been his strongest supporters in the past.  It@was Gaidar, for example, who appealed to people to come out andAsupport Yelstin in October of last year, when the parliament wasAin rebellion.  Now, in contrast, he is demonstrating against thepresident."?   Ambassador Matlock fears that the crisis may spread furtherand spiral out of control:B   "If the introduction of tanks and the Russian troops cause the@Chechens and their neighbors, in Dagestan, in North Ossetia and?some of the other North Caucasian areas, if they cause them to?begin to resist Moscow's rule, they are going to have a bigger:problem on their hands.  So this does have a potential of!spiralling into a bigger thing."A   In Washington, United States president Bill Clinton described<the military action against Chechnya as an internal RussianBaffair, but expressed the hope that order can be restored "with a<minimum amount of bloodshed."  Similar sentiments have beenBexpressed by chiefs of state in the now independent states of the?former Soviet Union, as well as political leaders all over theworld.   ---------------   ---------------   U.S. DRUG PROBLEM GROWS
   DON HENRY   WASHINGTON9   New government surveys indicate use of illicit drugs,Bespecially marijuana, is on the rise among teenagers and abuse of:those drugs, especially heroin, is increasing among older@Americans. The survey results released Monday have prompted top9government officials to urge greater efforts at drug useprevention.A   Although most American teenagers do not use illicit drugs, anAannual survey shows there is a steady increase in the proportion>of pupils who say they tried a drug at least once in the pastyear.>   After 12 or 13 years of decline from the peak point of theBlate 1970's, teenage use of many drugs, but especially marijuana,%has been rising steadily since 1990.B   The latest survey shows 31 percent of high school seniors saidBthey tried marijuana at least once the previous year, compared to@22 percent in 1992.  That is still well below the 51 percent ofcasual users in 1979.:   For 10th graders, the annual use rate last year was 25>percent, up from 15 percent two years earlier. And for eighth;graders, the proportion of casual marijuana smokers nearlyBdoubled, to 13 per cent.  Surveys of these two younger age groupsbegan in 1990.A   Donna Shelala, Secretary of Health and Human Services, told aAWashington news conference the primary cause for the increase is7that fewer teenagers believe marijuana use is harmful:8   "Young people have to understand that there is clear=scientific evidence that marijuana is dangerous and can have9acute and hazardous effects, including the impairment of?learning, of memory, of perception, of judgment and of complex=motor skills, and that includes the skills that one needs todrive."B   The survey shows that drug use disapproval rates that exceededAthe 80 per cent range in schools a few years ago now have fallento around 70 per cent.@   While marijuana use is the most dramatic category, teenagers?have also been using LSD to a somewhat greater degree the past<few years, as well as some stimulants and inhalants.   Even?cocaine and heroin use is up, but the percentages are so small=and the increases so slight that statistical significance inthese categories is uncertain.A   Lloyd Johnston, Michigan University professor who directs the?surveys, calls it ironic that the success during the 1980's inAbringing drug use down may also have decreased general awareness@of the physical and psychological damage associated with drugs:A   "These newest waves of children entering adolescence have had>less opportunity to learn about the dangers of drugs than the@youngsters who grew up before them.  Fewer of the students that@they know are abusers, and fewer of the entertainers and othersAthat they see in the media are abusers today than was true, say,10 years ago.":   Moreover, Professor Johnston says the amount of public@attention paid to the drug problem in the 1980's has plummeted.AHe says there are dramatically fewer news reports on the subject;as well as fewer public service announcements on radio and@television warning against drug use.  At the same time, he saysAglorification of marijuana and some other drugs is creeping back.into the music popular among many youngsters.B   While teenage drug use is on the rise, so too is the number of=drug-related emergency room visits in the 500 U.S. hospitals?taking part in the so-called Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN)survey.A   Health Secretary Shelala says this in itself ought to sound a>warning to teenagers that they should not start down the drugpath:>   "If you start doing drugs early in this country, there's a>chance that it eventually will lead you to an emergency room.@What the dawn survey tells us is that there's an eight per centBoverall increase from 1992 to 1993 in drug-related emergency room;cases, including a 31 percent increase due to heroin.  The;largest increases occurred among drug users 35 and older."=   To Lee Brown, head of the Office of National Drug ControlAPolicy, the two surveys not only indicate a growing drug problem9but point to the drug war strategy the country should befollowing:A   "What the results of these surveys tell us is that preventionBand treatment programs must be increased in order to reverse this?trend and keep it from escalating into a more serious crisis."=   The Clinton administration has put increasing emphasis on>prevention and treatment programs the past two years, and Mr.ABrown is expected to call for even more prevention and treatment;funding in his annual report to the nation and Congress in
February.B   Health Secretary Shelala said her department now is developing@a marijuana use prevention campaign aimed at younger audiences.ASimilarly, education secretary Richard Riley said his department8is expanding its drug prevention efforts in schools and
communities.   ---------------   ---------------,   TRIAL OF FORMER ETHIOPIAN MARXIST RULERS   ALEX BELIDA   NAIROBIA   The long-awaited trial gets under way Tuesday in Ethiopia forBthe country's former marxist rulers who are charged with genocide#and other crimes against humanity.A   Seventy-three top officials of the ousted military governmentBhave been indicted, including former head of state Mengistu HaileMariam.A   Colonel Mengistu lives in exile in Zimbabwe and will be triedBin absentia.  But Ethiopian officials say 45 other members of the?former ruling council, known as the Dergue, are in custody and@are expected to appear in court in Addis Ababa for the start ofthe proceedings.?   Ethiopian officials say the charges, outlined in a 269-page@document, cover alleged crimes committed between 1974 and 1991.BThese include the killings of more than 18-hundred people and theAenforced disappearances of almost 200 others.  Prominent victimsBincluded former emperor Haile Selassie and all the members of his1cabinet plus several influential church leaders.A   The evidence totals about 300-thousand documents and includes9formal execution orders as well as eyewitness testimony.>   The prosecution is seeking the death penalty.  But foreign@observers say verdicts are not likely anytime soon.  Procedural:matters, including the formal reading of the charges, are3expected to dominate the first phase of the trial.A   Ethiopian authorities say this is just the first in series of=planned  prosecutions stemming from the era known as the red@terror.  They say the goal is to educate the people and to make=them aware of the offenses that were committed under the old=regime, in their words, "to prevent the recurrence of such asystem of government.">   Western human rights experts say that tens of thousands of>Ethiopians were killed during the 17-year reign of the former>marxist rulers and tens of thousands more died as a result offorced relocations.?   These experts say the trials offer a unique opportunity for>national reconciliation and remembrance that should, in theirBview, contribute to the development of democratic institutions in
the country.   ---------------   ---------------E   DELORS ANNOUNCES HE WILL NOT BE A CANDIDATE FOR FRENCH PRESIDENCY   LARRY JAMES	   PARISA   Jacques Delors says he will not be a candidate for the French?presidency next year, an announcement that has upset SocialistAparty faithful who had pinned their hopes on him. Recent opinion9polls had Mr. Delors as the favorite to succeed FrancoisMitterrand.?   The French leftwing Daily Liberation called it the end of aBmirage in its headline on Jacques Delors' decision not to be be a>candidate for the presidency.  He had been leading in opinionBpolls and his decision has left the socialist party scrambling tofind a successor.B   Deploring the political state of affairs in France, Mr. Delors@told a French television interviewer Sunday night he would  not<be a candidate because he did not want to delude the Frenchpeople.?   He said by agreeing to run he would be tacitly accepting toAwork with a government that does not share his philosophy on how>to run the country.  He said even if elected he could not put?into effect the solutions he believes are necessary to address;France's domestic problems of high unemployment and social@tensions as well as international challenges of European unity.A   Analysts viewed the decision as an act of renunciation of the9state of French politics, an unwillingness to accept theBpolitical stalemate that would hamper the changes France needs tomake.<   The Delors withdrawal would seem to virtually assure the>conservatives will win the presidency when socialist Francois=Mitterrand steps down next spring.  Such a development wouldBleave them in firm control.  The race now will likely be a matter?of the political right choosing between Prime Minister Edouard6Balladur and his fellow conservative, Jacques Chirac.>   The Delors' decision will have an impact beyond that beingAfelt in French domestic politics.  Many in Europe were hoping to8see Jacques Delors become president and to continue his@determined efforts for a closer integration within the European?Union. During his years in Brussels, Mr. Delors was frequently8pilloried by the British as the very worst kind of Euro<bureaucrat, usurping powers rightly belonging to the memberstates.B   But he also won the allegiance of others who shared his belief=in the need for a Europe that pooled its resources to better=compete with the United States and Japan.  German chancellorBhelmut kohl, in particular, had formed a close political alliance@with Mr. Delors during the latter's 10 years at the helm of theEuropean Commission.   ---------------   ---------------$   HISTORY OF THE CHECHEN CHALLENGE   PAMELA TAYLOR   WASHINGTONA   Russian President Boris Yeltsin's crackdown on the three year<old independence movement of Chechen leader General DudayevAbrings to a head a centuries-old struggle between Moscow and theAfiercely independent Muslims of the north caucasus region on the@border with Georgia. The move is an attempt by Moscow to insure>the territorial integrity of the Russian federation following?unsuccessful diplomatic efforts to secure an associated status@agreement with Chechnya [chechn-ya], similar to that negotiatedwith Tatarstan further east.?   Chechnya has been a symbol of unruly defiance of Russia forBseveral centuries.  Tolstoy's stories of the Caucasus were filled@with tales of the wild fighters of the North Caucasus mountainsBand their determination to be independent of Russia.  It took the@Russian empire more than two hundred years to conquer Chechnya,Bsending thousands of the Muslim Chechens fleeing to Turkey in the?process.  But the 1858 conquest failed to completely subjugateBthe fierce mountain people and they continued to rebel, each timeAfacing execution, deportation and wholesale destruction of theirvillages and crops.<   Under the Bolsheviks, the Chechens again rose in revolt.=During world war two, stalin deported thousands of the NorthACaucacus peoples, including Chechens, to central Asia.  In 1958,Bafter stalin's death, Nikita Khrushchev signed a decree restoring>Chechen-Ingushetia and allowing the deportees to return home.<   The present leader of Chechnya, General Dzhokhar Dudayev9[joe-khar doo-die-yev], was born in the year of Stalin's?deportation. He became the first and only Chechen to reach theBrank of general in the Soviet air force.  In an interview shortlyAafter his election as president in 1991, General Dudayev said it>was his experience in exile that determined his goal in life:A   "As long as I can remember, even as a small boy exiled to theBhungry steppes of Central Asia,  I consecrated my whole conscious@life to a single goal ,  the independence of the Chechen peoplein its historic homeland."@   His opportunity came in August 1991 shortly after the failed<coup against former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev.  In;November that year President Boris Yeltsin signed a decree>establishing a state of emergency in Chechen-Ingushetia in an?effort to bring the breakaway republic under control.  General;Dudayev defied the Russian government, dispersed the local8parliament, split Chechen-Ingushetia in two and held anBunsanctioned election.  General Dudayev was elected the presidentBof the self-proclaimed independent Chechen Republic.  To head offBthe expected Russian invasion, General Dudayev declared a generalBmobilization and threatened to turn Moscow into a "disaster zone"<if the invasion came.  Russia backed down and the emergencydecree was rescinded.<   Professor Khadzhi-Murat Igragim-Beili [khad-zhi moo-raht@ib-rah-geem bay-li], an historian from the neighboring Republic>of Dagestan explained why his and other smaller nationalitiessided with General Dudayev:B   "No nationality should 'belong' to another nationality, and no@republic should 'belong' to another republic. Why?  Because all>peoples are equal.  Therefore, I hail the actions of DzhokharADudayev.  I welcome the Chechen republic.  They were pioneers in@achieving independence. Of course, it stunned everybody when heBproclaimed the Chechen Republic, independent from both Russia and9the Soviet Union.  And when he responded to the state of@emergency by arming the people; when the crowds poured out into>the streets and squares of Grozny, I understood that DzhokharADudayev had triumphed, that the Republic of Chechnya will exist,!and that it will be recognized."?   But no one has yet recognized the Chechen Republic.  And in?the intervening years, the Chechen economy has fallen to ruin,>corruption is rampant and crime is completely out of control.;The opposition includes many of General Dudayev's original;comrades-in-arms and former members of his own government.8Ordinary Chechens are said to be tired of revolutionary>romanticism and tend to agree with the opposition that it has;become increasingly necessary to regularize relations withARussia.  Chechnya had one of the biggest oil refining centers ofAthe former Soviet Union.  But it needs assistance from Moscow to=resume processing up to 12 million tons of crude oil a year.<   Moscow on the other hand, sees the region as a vital oilApipeline route and also, because of its strategic location, as aAbuffer in the Caucasus mountains between Russia and the troubled>former Soviet Republic of Georgia. In addition, many RussiansAconsider Chechnya an integral part of the Russian Federation and<they are concerned that its rebellion might encourage other(republics to assert their independence.>   As important as it is for Moscow to make it clear to otherBrepublics that Moscow will not accept independence, many Chechens;are equally determined to be independent.  in an interviewGeneral Dudayev said:?   "The many-centuries war between us still goes on. Russia is>trying to destroy us totally, and to isolate us in any way it=can, because we set a bad example  in the Caucasus.  Chechen8insubordination has long stuck in the empire's throat."A   But Russian fears of the spread of the independence infection>may be justified.   As Russian troops headed toward Chechnya,8they met fierce resistance along the way from forces inAIngushetia.  And in a separate incident in neighboring Dagestan,?Russian troops clashed with local forces who took some Russiansoldiers as prisoners.   ---------------   ---------------=   INDIAN PRIME MINISTER PRESSURED TO CHANGE ECONOMIC POLICY   MICHAEL DRUDGE
   NEW DELHI?   Indian Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao is under pressure to?ease the austerity economic reforms have wrought following his*party's loss in state assembly elections.=   India's ruling Congress Party is reeling from its loss in@bellweather state assembly elections, and prime minister Rao is'getting a lot of advice on what to do.A   Congress has been wrenched by soul-searching over the loss of;Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, two of the biggest states in@southern India.  Mr. Rao suffered personal humiliation since heis a native of Andhra Pradesh.B   With five-more important state elections just two months away,?the business community and political class are focused on what?Mr. Rao will do to recover.  Business leaders say they are notAworried he will abandon the economic reforms he began in 1991 to*dismantle 40-years of socialist policies.B   But, they are concerned the pace of reform will slow even moreBthan it has already.  Particularly, there now seems no chance the<government will revise a labor code that makes it virtuallyimpossible to lay off workers.A   Mr. Rao is getting a lot of conflicting advice within his ownparty.B   Kerala state chief minister K. Karunakaran says Congress Party<economic polices were not a factor in the loss.  But, humanBresources minister Arjun Singh says it is time for what he calls,>liberalization with a human face, to buffer the poor from thehardships.A   The Congress Party lost in Andhra Pradesh to a populist local=party that promises to sell rice at six cents (two rupees) aBkilogram.  In Karnataka, the leftist Janata Dal won on a campaign#against Congress Party corruption.?   Some commentators say the left will be a factor to watch as.India moves toward general elections in 1996.@   As the Congress Party sorts out what went wrong, there seems?to be no serious challenge to Mr. Rao's leadership.  There are:party leaders who would like to recruit Sonia Gandhi, the@Italian-born widow whose husband Rajiv and mother-in-law Indira'both served as Indian prime ministers.B   But, Mrs. Gandhi shows no sign of moving into active politics,Band Mr. Rao has sent a not-too-subtle message to her backers.  He@had a cabinet officer brief parliament last week on a 1986 armsApurchase in which the Rajiv Gandhi government allegedly received"millions of dollars in kickbacks.   ---------------   ---------------    EU EFFORTS TO REBUILD MOSTAR   DOUGLAS ROBERTS   MOSTAR, BOSNIAA   For the past five months, a veteran German politician has led>efforts by the European Union (EU) to rebuild and reunite theBBosnian city of Mostar, devastated last year by months of vicious?street fighting between Muslim and Croat forces.  The conflict>ended after the two sides agreed to renew their alliance, and?establish a federation on Bosnian territory they control.  But?they could not agree on the status of Mostar, and the city was@placed under European Union administration last July. ContinuedBmistrust and tension between Muslim and Croat leaders is severelyhampering the European effort.?   For Hanskoshnick, life seems to have come full circle. As a@German boy scout in the wake of the second world war, he helped@rebuild his home town of Bremen, where later he served as mayorBfor nearly two decades.  Now, at age 65, he is the de facto mayorof another devastated city.?   Mr. Koshnick sees similarities in the destruction of bremenBand Mostar, but also some important differences.  We Germans lostAthe war and gave up our weapons, he says, and then the people of@bremen came together to rebuild.  But the Muslims and Croats of=Mostar, he adds, came out of the ruins with their guns stillcocked.@   Mr. Koshnick says the hatred between Muslims and Croats here@has gone, but the mistrust is still there.  And Mostar remains,*in virtually every sense, a divided city.B   The Neretva River splits the town.  But it is the boulevard ofBthe revolution a few blocks to the west that is the real dividingline.8   Row after row of apartment and office buildings wereBcompletely gutted by the warring factions, no more than 50 meters=apart in some areas.  Few parts of Mostar were spared in the;fighting, with the worst destruction evident in the Muslimeastern half of the city.A   Much of the rubble has been swept aside now, and the European<administration has begun to repair Mostar's infrastructure.BSpanish troops of the U.N. peackeeping force are helping to clear=mine fields, and restoring power and telephone lines and thecity's water supply.A   The EU is prepared to invest millions to rebuild Mostar.  ButAthe  chief concern for Mr. Koshnick and his staff now is not the@city's reconstruction, but the continued tensions and divisions between the Muslims and Croats.:   When the European administration took over in July, itBproclaimed Mostar a demilitarized zone.  A grand total of only 40Bweapons were handed in to the new authority.  Armed men are still?much in evidence in the streets, though many have added police=patches to their combat fatigues.  Cease-fire violations areBcommon.  U.N. troops recently established new check points on the:outskirts of the city, in a bid to prevent more arms fromentering Mostar.@   Mr. Koshnick has daily meetings with Mostar's co-mayors, but>Croat leaders have as yet shown no willingness to reunite the9municipal administration.  He has also encountered CroatAresistance to the idea of joint police patrols in the city, even4though both sides have formally agreed to the plan.=   The EU has deployed about 100 European police officers in>Mostar.  But they have no powers of arrest, and can do littleBmore than report cease-fire violations and other infringements toCroat and Muslim authorities.@   The Bosnian Croat leadership wanted Mostar as their capital,Ban objective they did not achieve in last spring's agreement with?the Muslims.  European officials believe this explains much of@the Croat resistance to efforts to reunite the city.  They also@point to the powerful criminal gangs in Croat west Mostar where<there is profit to be gained from the continued tension and
lawlessness.B   Last September, two rocket propelled grenades crashed into Mr.AKoshnick's living quarters at the Ero Hotel in the Croat half ofAthe city, in what European officials saw as a clear warning from3their opponents in what they call the Croat mafia.@   Mr. Koshnick emerged unscathed from the attack, declaring heAwould never bow to blackmail and vowing to continue his campaignto reunite and rebuild Mostar.;   He is a garrulous man of seemingly boundless energy andAenthusiasm, almost constantly on the move, going, as he puts it,@to drink coffee with Mostar's Muslims, wine with the Croats andRaki with the serbs.A   Mr. Koshnick has made a point of including representatives of?Mostar's small remaining Serb community in all his activities.<   And though Muslim militiamen continue to clash with Serb:forces just a few kilometers to the east of the city, Mr.@Koshnick insists that the Serbs of Mostar must have their place;in what he describes as his political vision for the city::   "And Mostar should be a model, a model to bring people>together after the civil war.  And we are hopeful that we can6arrange it.  And the last thing is (that) you must be
optimistic."B   Hans Koschnick's optimism seems to have affected others in the@European administration.  The problems are immense, says one EU=official, but he insists that the rebirth of the city can be!achieved if all sides cooperate.8   Observers outside the European administration remain=skeptical. This place is still a tinder box, says one reliefAagency representative, and it would  not take much of a spark toset the city ablaze again.   ---------------   ---------------=   NEPAL NEW PRIME MINISTER PLANS TO STOP INDIAN IMMIGRATION   MICHAEL DRUDGE
   NEW DELHI?   Nepal's new communist prime minister wants to crack down on:illegal immigration from india.  Prime Minister Man Mohan?Adhikary hopes to visit India next month to discuss his ideas.=   Prime Minister Adhikary says the time has come to tighten@migration rules along the Indo-Nepali border.  If not, he says,5Nepal is going to be swamped with Indian immigrants.B   Mr. Adhikary told the times of India newspaper in an interview;published Monday he hopes to visit New Delhi in January toAdiscuss this and other bilateral issues.  Indians currently need@no visas or passports to cross into Nepal, a Himalayan mountain>kingdom that has just elected its first communist government.>   Mr. Adhikary told the newspaper border controls could helpANepal keep out what he called, undesirable elements, who conductBanti-Indian activities from Nepal.  India has accused Pakistan of:using Nepal as a base for anti-Indian operations, but the+allegations have been denied by Islamabad.=   India recently brought an Indian-Muslim suspect back from7Nepal and charged him with detonating bombs in bombay.B   Mister Adhikary's party campaigned on a pledge to re-negotiate?a four-decade-old treaty that puts Nepal under India's defense,shield, and lets Indians buy land in Nepal.8   There are perennial complaints India ignores Nepal's?sovereignty. Nepal says Indian police conduct raids into NepalBwithout permission, and during last month's elections, there were:allegations that Indian politicians crossed into Nepal to$campaign for pro-Indian candidates.   ---------------   ---------------   NIGERIAN ECONOMY   WILLIAM EAGLE   WASHINGTON@   Help may be coming for Nigeria's beleagured economy.  A team;from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is meeting with<government officials to discuss ways of improving Nigeria'sBeconomic performance.  After taking power in Nigeria the militaryBgovernment of General Sani Abacha reversed Nigeria's adherence to7IMF policies, which generally encouraged deregulation.=   Nineteen ninety-four has not been kind to Nigeria, either<politically or economically.  The country's political shift>toward democracy was derailed last year when military leaders>annulled the results of presidential elections.  The presumed>winner of the elections, Chief Moshood Abiola, is in jail forproclaiming himself president.B   Nigeria's economy has not fared much better than its politics.@In a break with the past, the General Sani Abacha suspended the?country's economic adjustment program.  That action halted the:plan to float the country's currency, the naira, break up;government monopolies, and encourage the growth of privateAbusinesses.  Instead the military government has fixed the naira?exchange rate to 22 per dollar, less than four times the black
market rate.>   The government, which is now planning its 1995 budget, has?threatened to crack down on black market currency traders.  ItBalso says it intends to rebuild Nigeria's agricultural productionAin order to reduce Nigeria's reliance on earnings from petroleum
products.>   Ibrahim Ayagi (ee-brah-heem eye-ah-jee) is the director of?Islama Finance and Investment Trust in Kaduna.  Mr. Ayagi says?the Abacha government so far has been unable to strengthen theBnaira or make it available to domestic investors at an affordablerate.<   Mr. Ayagi says the way to promote growth and balance the2budget is to return to policies urged by the IMF:;   "[I opposed] the structural adjustment program that wasAstarted eight years ago, but since we had to have something likeBthat, [i went along with the plan.] [and] the arrangement worked,>the schedule worked for the structural adjustment program.  IAthought if we had followed it strictly we would  not be where weare today."B   The earlier plan, however, was unpopular.  And Mr. Ayagii saysit was not firmly implemented:A   "I believed it failed also.  But I believe the reason for itsBfailure is all the conditions built into the decree [establishing@structural adjustment] were violated.  The [government] did not?stick to them.  The thing was supposed to act like this: thereAwould be an open foreign exchange market;  there was supposed to?be a large number of exchange bureaus all over the country andApeople were to go to these agents for foreign exchange.  And the7agents were to go for the bidding. But as soon as [the?government] started the program in 1986, [it] began deviating.BIn fact, all the things that were put into it, they put aside and9they were inventing things to remedy the situation. They8abandoned completely decree number 25 [establishing the>structural adjustment program in 1986].  They just started on;their experimentations and it did not work. This is why itBfailed. If you want the thing to work, you have to go back to theAdecree itself and do all the things provided for in the decree.">   Mr. Ajayi is also critical of government steps to increase=Nigeria's agricultural production.  He says past policies to>improve agriculture were never followed faithfully;  also, he>says, farmers cannot afford to purchase fertilizer, seed, and7fuel, the price of which was recently increased by the;government.  To make things more confusing,  he notes that=government subsidies for these products undermine structuraladjustment prescriptions.@   On the opposite end of the economic argument is Mahmoud Jega;(jay-gah').  He's the senior deputy editor of the Sentinalnewspaper in Kaduna.=   Mr. Jega says re-regulation of the economy is popular and$deserves more time to prove itself:A   "The economy has not fared well this year,  although it would>be difficult for anyone to say if the poor performance of the@economy was due to the return to regulation.  Because this year:we had a serious political crisis in Nigeria, including a@devastating six-week strike by petroleum workers and widespread;strikes and protests in many parts of the country over the;annulment of last year's presidential election.  So in allAlikelihood, the economic problems we have had this year were due>to political problems above all.  So there was little time to=test the viability of the return to [economic] regulations."@   Mr. Jega says floating Nigeria's currency on the open market=would hurt the most important segments of Nigeria's economy:=   "Not everyone has access to hard currency at the officialAexchange rate.  There are all kinds of criteria that the centralBbank employs.  It gives priority to the manufacturing sector, forBinstance.  But there are all sorts of less essential sectors that>desire foreign exchange.  In my opinion we can still have theBofficial exchange rate which will supply [needed investment fundsAto] the critical sectors like manufacturing and agriculture, and@the less critical sectors of the economy can acquire dollars at>the higher price on the black market.  That is the feeling of>many Nigerians. But we do not want to de-regulate completely.BBecause if the manufacturing sector has to acquire dollars at 105;naira to the dollar rate, then, the effect on the price of<commodities inside the country would be horrible, I think."@   Decisions may come later this week.  The IMF team will leaveANigeria on Wednesday, and the government is expected to announce$the 1995 budget shortly thereafter.   ---------------   --------------->   U.S./NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR AGREEMENT SCRUTINIZED BY CONGRESS   RON PEMSTEIN   STATE DEPARTMENTB   The American agreement with North Korea to control its nuclearAprogram is coming under scrutiny from the U.S. congress. The manAwho negotiated the treaty is confident it can be defended to its	critics.=   Robert Gallucci has already been faced with Congressional9criticism of the nuclear agreement focussing on American?commitments to supply North Korea with alternative fuels while=North Korea awaits new light water reactors. Other criticism@focuses on suspicion that North Korea still has nuclear weapons9ambitions and will try to extract plutonium from the new
reactors.B   Speaking to a State Department forum, Ambassador Gallucci says?he has confidence the Republican dominated Congress that takesBits seat next month will support the agreement he negotiated with
North Korea:;   "For example, I have heard some negative things said by?Senator (Frank) Murkowski at times and certainly he was in the?role of critic in the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on@East Asia hearings that day but i've also heard it said that he'does not wish to undo that agreement.";   The Alaskan Republican has just visited North Korea andAconfirms he does not plan to wreck the agreement negotiated last:October. Ambassador Gallucci says he has yet to deal withconcerns expressed.=   By the new Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and the new>Senate Majority Leader, Robert Dole.  Mr. Gallucci expects to=defend the agreement at hearings to be held by Senator Jesse8Helms, the new chairman of the Senate Foreign RelationsCommittee.>   In briefing State Department employees, Ambasador Gallucci;defends the nuclear agreement as controlling North Korea's>program better than having no agreement at all. He says North>Korea must go first in freezing its nuclear program before it*receives any benefits from the agreement.?   Ambassador Gallucci insists North Korea has done everythingArequired by the nuclear agreement so far and its future behavior9is being monitored by International Atomic Energy Agencyinspectors.   ---------------   ---------------2   REPUBLICAN PROPOSE CHANGES IN U.S. FOREIGN AID   JIM MALONE
   SENATE?   The new Republican majority in the U.S. Senate is proposingBextensive changes in the way in which the United States dispenses=foreign aid around the world. The new chairman of the senate@subcommittee which controls foreign aid spending, Senator Mitch&McConnell, unveiled his plans Monday.<   Senator McConnell is the incoming chairman of the Senate=Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, the panel>which oversees foreign aid spending.  He has proposed his ownAversion of a foreign aid Bill which looks dramatically differentAfrom foreign aid bills approved by the Congress in recent years.?   The McConnell proposal marks a new approach on foreign aid.ASenator McConnell says both the world and the U.S. Congress have	changed.A   The cold war is over and Republicans now control Congress andAMcConnell says they have a mandate from voters to make a sharplyAreduced foreign aid program more relevant to American interests:?   "First, foreign aid must protect American security. Second,Aforeign aid must promote American economic interests. And third,<foreign aid must preserve political and regional stability.:Together with these broad goals, I want to adopt specific<conditions and performance criteria and if these conditionsAcannot be met, the program should not, I repeat not, be funded."A   The McConnell approach places great emphasis on assistance toBEurope and the Middle East, the two areas where Senator McConnellAsays the United States has the greatest security stake.  He willBalso seek to condition aid to Russia on a promise that Russia not=intervene in the other former Soviet republics. In addition,BSenator McConnell will once again attempt to earmark or set aside:specific amounts of aid for Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia.>   Senator McConnell estimates that outside of Europe and the?Middle East, U.S. development and economic assistance would be>cut by about 20-percent under his bill. Developing nations in7Africa would be hit especially hard since he would not@appropriate any money for the U.S. development fund for Africa,?forcing African nations to compete amongst themselves and with7countries in other regions for development assistance.B   Senator McConnell says his Bill also reflects Republican Party@priorities of encouraging change not through foreign assistance.but by promoting free trade and free markets:A   "We need to help with the cure (of poverty), not just relieve9symptoms. The only way to break the devastating cycle ofBdependency  is to end foreign aid entitlement programs and changeAour economic  aid agenda. If we are going to change welfare here;at home (in the  U.S.), we certainly ought not to be using@American tax dollars to foster that kind of dependency abroad."B   The McConnell Bill is sure to be controversial in Congress butBit is also clear there is growing support from many lawmakers for?significant changes in the foreign aid system.  In addition to>setting new aid priorities, the McConnell proposal would alsoAabolish the agency for international development and would place=the Peace Corps program directly under the State Department.=   Congress is expected to begin the debate over foreign aid=reform with committee hearings shortly after the new sessionconvenes in early January.   ---------------   ---------------?   TURKISH PROSECUTOR APPEALS VERDICT OF KURDISH TREASON TRIAL   AMBERIN ZAMAN
   ANKARA?   The chief prosecutor of a special Ankara court says he willBappeal the verdicts issued to eight Kurdish members of parliament!accused of promoting separatism.<   The chief prosecutor of the state security court, Nusret@Demiral, had sought the death sentence for the eight on charges@of treason. But those charges were dropped last Friday when theverdicts were issued.A   Instead, the court sentenced five of the deputies to 15 years@in prison for allegedly assisting and belonging to the outlawed>Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.  One other was sentenced to?seven years on similiar charges. While two other deputies were;released because they were convicted on a lesser charge of!promoting separatist propaganda.7   The sentences provoked widespread criticism abroad.@Representative Steny Hoyer, co-chairman of a U.S. Congressional?Human Rights Committee, said Congress would seek to cut futureAmilitary aid to Turkey. Turkey is the third highest recipient ofUS aid.@   Turkish officials have reacted angrily to the condemnations.5President Suleyman Demirel said Turkish courts acted>independently and that their decisions must be respected. The;chief prosecutor apparently does not agree.  Appealing the6decision  is expected to bring the case under renewedinternational scrutiny.   ---------------   ---------------@   40 YEAR-OLD DOCUMENT REVEAL U.S. CONSIDERED NUCLEAR ON CHINA   VICTOR BEATTIE   WASHINGTON>   A newly-released classified document reveals U.S. military;commanders considered a limited nuclear attack on China to<protect South Korea and French-ruled Indochina in 1954. The@document was one of millions from the World War II and cold-war=eras declassified by the National Archives in Washington, on'order of President Clinton last month.@   The document was drawn up by the Joint Chiefs of Staff after8the truce reached with North Korea and China ending the>three-year Korean conflict.  The memo, prepared for PresidentBDwight Eisenhower, said the armed forces were prepared to inflict>maximum destruction on enemy forces, should China violate theBarmistice.  The use of nuclear weapons was to be strictly limitedto military targets.@   It stated U.S. forces were also prepared to blockade Chinese?ports, seize offshore islands and help the nationalist ChineseAconduct raids on the mainland.  President Eisenhower was elected@in 1952 with a promise to bring the Korean war, which left more/than 33,000 American soldiers dead, to an end.;   James Hershberg, director of the Cold War InternationalAHistory Project, says there remains controversy over whether theAadministration-implied nuclear threat brought the conflict to anBend.  Mr. Hershberg says many historians still believe it was theAdeath of Soviet leader Josef Stalin in 1953 is what hastened thewar's conclusion.B   The declassified document also reveals officials were preparedBto use atomic weapons in the event of overt Chinese aggression on=the side of nationalist Vietminh forces in French Indochina.   ---------------   ---------------3   AUSTRALIA CONTINUES HARDLINE POLICY ON REFUGEES   ROBIN POKE   CANBERRA=   Australia is continuing its hard line on refugees, called="boat people", attempting to enter the country illegally.  ABgroup of 27 Vietnamese refugees who landed, undetected, Monday is2the third group to be deported in the past month.A   The Vietnamese, 23 men, three women and a girl, were flown to@Indonesia just 48 hours after swimming ashore from their moored?vessel at Broome, in western Australia.  They had been spotted@there by an early-morning jogger, close to a beach resort.  The=jogger notified customs authorities, who gave the Vietnamese>medical examinations and took them to the nearby Port Hedlanddetention center.B   It was from Port Hedland that they were deported to the GalangBIsland refugee camp in Indonesia.  According to the department of?immigration, the Vietnamese had already had their applications>for refugee status rejected there.  Under new Australian laws?that are a part of an international agreement, people who have>been rejected in one country cannot seek asylum in Australia.A   The continuing influx of Asian boat people, most of them from>Vietnam and China, is causing Australian authorities not only?concern, but embarrassment.  The Vietnamese just deported were?the second group to arrive, undetected, in a populated area of@northern Australia.  A group of 13 Vietnamese arrived in darwin?November 22nd.  They were picked up by a passing motorist, who>drove them to a public telephone.  There, the refugees called<police to tell them of their arrival.  They were denied the<ability to renew their refugee claims and were sent back toBGalang.  Five days earlier, 57 Vietnamese were returned to Galangfrom Port Hedland.A   The opposition spokesman for defense issues says surveillance?operations are inadequate.  She says Australia is in danger of@being ridiculed by its Asian neighbors for its apparent lack ofAsecurity.  However, a Coastwatch spokesman says his organization;has a good record in detecting vessels attempting to enter@Australia illegally.  He says, only last Saturday, a vessel was<stopped bringing 89 Chinese to darwin.  They remain at Port	Hedland.B   More than 600 Asian boat people have reached Australia, so far?this year.  Most of these were a part of what officials call a5"new wave" of asylum seekers, beginning in November.   ---------------   ---------------B   SOME FORMER SOVIET STATES MAY NOT MAKE TRANSITION TO DEMOCRACY   GARY THOMAS   WASHINGTON>   Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the newly emergentBrepublics of Central Asia have been searching to create their own@political and economic systems.  However, the search has been a>slow and painful one. One Tajik-born scholar believes some of7these states may not make the transition to democracy.9   When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, many westernBobservers expected there would be a headlong rush to democracy by>newly independent states.  However, in some states of Central=Asia, democratic governments have failed to take root.  SomeBrepublics have the old communist party apparatus in power under a
new name.?   Karim Hajibayev, a visiting scholar at the Wilson Center in<Washington, said that the four republics he considers to be8central Asia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, andBUzbekistan, have no tradition of democracy and little exposure toAdemocratic institutions.   He said that while Marxism never took@hold as a doctrine, people in the region have tended to be moreAcomfortable with authoritarian governments than democratic ones.A   Mr. Hajibayev, who is from Tajikistan, said those in power inBCentral Asia show no tendency to share it.  As a result, he said,;there tend to be civil wars, such as the one in his native@Tajikistan, or strongly authoritarian governments under one-manrule.A   Mr. Hajibayev said leaders in central Asia accept the conceptAof free economic markets, but not the other trappings of western5democratic states, such as human rights protections:>   "Most of the leadership of central Asia is happy to acceptAfree market economy system, but never democratic or human rights>protections.  Why?  Because free market economy, it's dealing8with money, it's dealing with business, and trade.  But<democracy, it means power-sharing with somebody, to come to@pluralism, and to recognize the rights of the other side to thepower.";   Mr. Hajibayev said there is active agitation by Islamicradical movements.<   But Hakibayev said it is not in the character of central2Asians to be rabid communists or zealous Muslims:?   "We've never been good communists.  And we never could stay>Islamic fundamentalists.  It's the character of Central Asia.8Everything is half, everything is half. We are going toAcommunism, and we can stop halfway.  Now we are going to Islamic@fundamentalism, and our Islamic fundamentalists, they can drink%vodka, and tomorrow read the Koran."@   Mr. Hajibayev said the civil war in his native Tajikistan is;not as much a conflict between Islamic radicals and formerAcommunists, as has been portrayed in the western media.  Rather,=he says, it is more of a power struggle between rival clans.A   He added that as ethnic Russians leave Tajikistan, many other=Russian mercenaries are coming in hoping to make some money.   ---------------   ---------------D   RIGHTS GROUPS SAY MEXICAN TROOPS GUILTY OF EXECUTIONS IN CHIAPAS   CHRIS SIMKINS   NEW YORK>   A report released Wednesday by two U.S. based human rights9organizations has accused government troops in Mexico ofAtorturing and executing civilians during last January's civilian3uprising in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.?   Two human rights organizations, Physicians for Human Rights=and Human Rights Watch/Americas, say new evidence implicates@Mexican army troops with the execution and torture of dozens of;civilians during and after the bloody uprising in Chiapas.>   Eric Stover, director of Physicians for Human Rights, says<there is enough evidence to indict Mexican soldiers for the<torture and murder of three men last January in the town of	Morelia:?   "There were witnesses that saw the torture take place. AlsoAthe men were last seen in the custody of the army. Now they have@been positively identified.  So we believe there is substantial?evidence there for the authorities to move in and identify who>was in charge of that patrol, that allowed the tortures to be?carried out, and took these men away and they were later found	killed."@   The 100-page human rights report on Chiapas is based largely;on forensic evidence and interviews with victims and their@relatives. It also claims Mexican troops murdered two men taken,into custody in the town of Las Margaritas.>   The human rights group also accuses the attorney general'sAoffice in Mexico of not conducting a proper investigation of the:alleged execution of five people in Ocosingo marketplace.<   Physicians for Human Rights says it appears the attorney8general's office engaged in a cover up by not releasingAinformation in the case.  Mexican authorities later cleared armyofficials of any wrongdoing.=   Officials at the Mexican Embassy in Washington refused to/comment on the allegations made in the report.:   Physicians for Human Rights says it wants Mexico's newApresident, Ernesto Zedillo, to appoint an independent commission@to investigate the killing in Ocosingo. It also wants the panel>to look into the role the attorney general's office played in=investigating incidents that took place during and after theuprising in Chiapas.   ---------------   ---------------*   CHINA REVEALS PLAN TO REDUCE INFLATION   DAVID DYAR   BEIJINGA   Chinese officials Wednesday unveiled a new campaign to try to(slow the country's high inflation rate.@   A set of recommendations for the anti-inflation campaign was/published in Chinese press reports, Wednesday.A   A conference on China's economic plans issued the guidelines,Athis week, for consideration in next year's state economic plan.A   The recommendations include directing more aid to farmers, to@ensure adequate production.  The rise in grain prices this year@has been one of the main contributors to the inflationary rate.=   The recommendations also call for tighter controls on the8amount of money provided to workers for consumer goods.?   Prices for consumer goods this year are rising at an annual5rate of 27 percent. In the country's largest cities.B   Still, officials are beginning to express confidence inflation'will be brought down, early next year.>   The state-controlled Xinhua news agency Wednesday issued a@report it labeled "urgent," which cited two statistics which it3said indicate price rises will soon begin to slow.?   The statistics include a report investment in buildings andAother fixed assets will be 30 percent lower than last year.  The;construction boom in China has been a major contributor toinflation.>   The other statistic cited by Xinhua involves the amount ofAcurrency circulating in the country.  The report says the growth<rate of notes in use in China this year will be about eight.percent lower than the growth rate last year.=   Officials say the overall inflation rate in China will be about 21 percent, for the year.?   They predict, with new measures, inflation will be about 15percent, next year.A   The news agency quotes a World Bank official based in Beijing;as saying China's economy is basically on the right track.A   The growth in China's gross domestic product for this year is@predicted to be 11 percent, which will mark a slight slowing ofthe overheated economy.>   For the past two years, China's gross domestic product hasbeen growing at 13 percent.   ---------------   ---------------7   UN APPROVES ADDITIONAL IRAQI COMPENSATION TO KUWAIT   DOUGLAS ROBERTS
   GENEVA@   A United Nations commission has approved additional paymentsAto victims of the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. But none of theAclaimants is likely to receive compensation as long as the Iraqi2government remains under a U.N. economic embargo.=   At its two day session here, the U.N. commission approved<payments to more than two-thousand individuals who sufferedAinjuries or lost close relatives during the Iraqi invasion.  TheAcommission also approved a number of individual property claims.9   But the U.N. body has  no  funds to actually make theApayments, and is in fact 150-million dollars behind on claims ithas already approved.<   Under the terms of U.N. Security Council resolutions, 30=percent of Iraq's earnings from oil exports are to go toward@settling the claims.  But with the U.N. continuing to bar Iraqi'oil sales, Baghdad has  no  resources.=   The evident dilemma has raised questions in some quarters=about the credibility and the usefulness of the commission'swork.@   But its chairman, Fernando Valenzuela of Spain, said that by@continuing to process and approve the claims, the commission isAdemonstrating that it will eventually bring justice to those who,suffered as a result of the Iraqi invasion:>   "I think we have proved that the will of the international?community is to accomplish this task to the very end of it; nomatter how long it takes."<   During the past three years, the commission has received:claims totalling 162-billion dollars from individuals andAcompanies in more than 90 nations.  Officials here say the final&figure could top 200-billion dollars.@   To date, only a fraction of that amount has been paid, aboutBthree-million dollars, taken from Iraqi funds that were frozen in&the west at the time of the invasion.>   Priority has been given to individual claimants, includingBabout 800,000 Egyptian workers forced out of Iraq and Kuwait as aresult of the invasion.?   Executive Secretary Carlos Alzamora told reporters here the@commission plans to process about two-million individual claimsAby the end of next year, allowing it to move on to consideration-of suits filed by companies and governments.@   He said Iraqi representatives have participated fully in the@commission's work.  And Iraq is given a quarterly report of the!claims that have been processed.B   Mr. Alzamora said Iraqi officials have objected to some of the?commission's procedures.  But Iraq, he added, has never denied6its responsibility to make the compensation payments.   ---------------   ---------------F   RABIN EXPRESS CONCERN OVER EXPORT OF N. KOREAN MISSILES TO MIDEAST   KYOKO KANEKO	   TOKYO>   Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin has expressed concern@about the possibility of North Korea's missile technology being@exported to Syria and Iran.  Mr. Rabin also said he hopes Japan<will provide economic assistance to Arab countries that areworking for peace.=   Israeli Prime Minister Rabin says North Korea may provide?technology for nuclear weapons and missiles to Iran and Syria.@   The Israeli leader told a news conference in Tokyo Wednesday>that North Korea had already exported scud missiles and other&military equipment to both countries::   "It is true North Korea has supplied by now "Disconcy">missiles from their own production.  It is a ground-to-ground?missile for 500 kilometers, to Syria and to Iran, not only the:missiles and the launchers, but also the capabilities and;facilities to produce them today in Syria and in Iran.  In@addition, Iran, is ready to spend a lot of money, to develop in4North Korea a longer range missile, the 'Nordong'."A   Mr. Rabin said Iran told North Korea it wants missiles with a=range of 13-hundred kilometers, long enough to reach Israelitargets from Iran.@   The Israeli prime minister also said an international effortBis needed to end poverty in the Middle East because poverty helps>bread terrorism.  He urged Japan to provide financial help to8Arab nations that are taking part in the peace process.@   Earlier in the day, Mr. Rabin told Japanese business leadersAhe hopes they will expand business ties with Israel without fearAof the Arab boycott.  For decades, Japan maintained only limitedAbusiness ties with Israel because of Japan's heavy dependence oncrude oil from Arab nations.?   The Israeli prime minister arrived in Japan on Monday for a>three-day visit, the first stop of his Asian tour.  Mr. Rabin left Wednesday for South Korea.   ---------------   ---------------    JAPANESE PROTECTIONISM STUDY   IMANI CROSBY   WASHINGTON, D.C.?   A new study sponsored by a private U.S. research group says6Japanese trade barriers hurt their own consumers. The:International Economic Institute Study released the studyWednesday in Washington.?   The report shows Japanese consumers paid an extra 75-to-110>billion dollars for goods five years ago due to Japan's trade
policies.<   However, the study says Japanese producers and importers@reaped between 65 and 90-billion dollars during 1989, which theAstudy's authors say is an example of the political difficulty in%eliminating trade barriers in Japan.=   The study was conducted before Japan approved the General@Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT, treaty.  GATT will cutBJapanese tariffs by one-third, but the accord will not remove all>non-tariff barriers such as import quotas and price supports.B   According to professor Yoko Sazanami, who is an advisor to the;Japanese prime minister, is one of three co-authors of thereport:A   "You can argue that this is hurting the Japanese economy veryAmuch; maybe that's part of the reason why our gross rate has notbeen high enough."=   Japanese economists Shjiro Urata of Waseda University and<Hiroki Kawai of the Japan Center for Economic Research alsocontributed to the report.B   The study says Japan's trade barriers had a significant impactAon the country's gross national product in 1989.  Trade barriers2cost Japanese consumers between two-point-six and"three-point-eight percent of GNP..   In other words, it cost Japanese consumers>six-hundred-thousand for each Japanese job saved, compared to:one-hundred-sixty-nine dollars for each U.S. job saved byprotective barriers in 1989.A   Professor Sazanami told reporters Japanese citizens back homeBare saying their country is losing its competitiveness because ofits strict trade policies:?   "There's much talk about this deregulation back home. WhichAimplies that removing the protections, there are a lot of people=that feel that this cost is raising our wage cost as well as9intermediate input cost, therefore hurting our economy."?   The study says agriculture, raw material and low-technologyBindustries were most affected by Japanese restrictions five yearsBago.  The authors say the result of protection for goods in those?and other industries was inflated prices for domestic consumer.goods, thereby hurting the Japanese consumer.   ---------------   ---------------/   LEBANON HEZBOLLAH FIGHTERS INCREASE ATTACKS   EDWARD YERANIAN
   BEIRUT>   Islamic Hezbollah fighters have picked up their attacks in;recent days against Israeli troops in the Israeli-declaredAsecurity zone in southern Lebanon.  The feeling among many young:Hezbollah supporters is that Israel must be made to leave%southern Lebanon, whatever the cost.B   They call themselves resistance fighters and Israel calls themBterrorists; but whatever their designation, a group of determined=young men vow to drive Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.=Most of those in the Islamic resistance belong to Hezbollah,-whose name in Arabic means the party of god.?   They fight Israel in the name of that god, says 19 year old:Maher, because they believe injustice has been committed:@   "The reason that people are fighting in the south is that inBIslam we have a rule that you should not be an aggressor, neither=be aggressed (against).  You should defend yourself.  As you?know, Israel has invaded the south.  It has taken a very large@part of the Lebanese south, and the people there feel oppressed;and they want to defend their land.  They are humiliated."B   A visible sense of anger grips many when they describe how the@western media recounts in detail the suffering of every IsraeliAvictim and ignores, according to 20 year old Adel, the plight of.hundreds of Lebanese kept prisoner by Israel:8   "The problem here is that the press is unjust.  TheyBconcentrate on the Israeli pilot and soldier that is kidnapped in9the field of war, whereas they do not concentrate on our&prisoners that are in Israeli jails."@   Many of the Hezbollah members fighting Israel are profoundly/devout and utterly convinced of their mission.A   Some are so consumed by what they believe to be an obligationBto god that they are willing to sacrifice their lives, says Adel:@   "Because they see god, they see him strongly and they go for&him and they are anxious to see him."?   Despite the ongoing peace talks between Israel and her Arab<neighbors, these young men are deeply pessimistic about any+negotiated settlement in southern Lebanon.@   Their only option says Adel, is to bear arms against Israel:=   "Historical experience shows this, what is taken by force%cannot be returned except by force.">   As Hezbollah fighters attack Israeli convoys more and more>boldly in southern Lebanon, Israeli troops respond by violent@outbursts of shelling.  This in turn causes growing anger among=the civilian population and makes any peaceful solution moredifficult.   ---------------   ---------------&   MANDELA RELEASES HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY   MALLORY SALESON   JOHANNESBURG?   South African President Nelson Mandela has launched his new?autobiography, "Long Walk to Freedom" at a press conference in6Johannesburg Wednesday. Mandela recounted some of theBdifficulties in producing the book that deals with his life until+his release from prison in February, 1990.@   This autobiography likely has a different history than thoseBwritten by other international leaders who have set their life inBprint.  This book by Nelson Mandela was written mostly in prison,>and had to be smuggled out.  During his many years on the nowAinfamous Robben Island, off Capetown, Mr. Mandela could not keep<a diary; and every word was written clandestinely, when the<prison guards were not looking, or when a sympathetic guardturned a blind eye.A   The book itself chronicles Mr. Mandela's life from childhood,@growing up in the royal Tembu family in the Transkei, to his 27Ayears in prison.  It takes readers through his growing political;awareness of the inequalities of apartheid and the need to;overthrow the regime that created that system.  It was Mr.BMandela's advocacy of violence against the regime that led to his?arrest and sentence to life imprisonment on charges of treasonand sabotage.B   Mr. Mandela said Wednesday that even now he is keeping a diaryBand taking notes for a possible sequel on the years following his;release from prison in February, 1990, and his presidency.=   But he added he has very little time to do what he likes:B   "In many respects, I sometimes feel like going back to prison,>because there I had enough time to read what I like; and more=important, as I have said before, I had time to sit down andBthink and plan, something which i miss now because I have to move!from one engagement to another."A   Indeed, the afternoon press conference was only the beginning;of what was likely to be a long day for the president.  As9reporters asked questions, caterers, security people and@presidential aides were busy readying the grounds of a palatialAhome belonging to a friend of the president's for a huge banquet7Wednesday night for hundreds of very important people.B   Mr. Mandela said at his book launch Wednesday he hopes as many>South Africans as possible will be able to read the book.  He@said he is negotiating with the publishers to try to reduce theBlocal price, just over 20 U.S. dollars, adding he understands theAcost is too high for millions of blacks, his own supporters, wholive in poverty.   ---------------   ---------------D   U.S. WON'T PARTICIPATE IN UN BOSNIAN PULL-OUT UNLESS LED BY NATO   JOHN FRASER   BRUSSELS?   The United States has warned it will not participate in any=operation to pull United Nations peace keeping forces out of;Bosnia unless such an operation is commanded by NATO.  The>warning was delivered by U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry6during talks with the NATO Secretary General Tuesday.=   NATO ministers are preparing for two days of talks duringAwhich they will be presented with a detailed military plan for a@withdrawal of United Nations forces from Bosnia.  However, theyBhope the situation there will improve and the withdrawal will notbe necessary.@   The U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry made it quite clear@in talks with NATO Secretary General Willie Claes that AmericanAtroops will be made available but only if the operation is underNATO command:A   "Yet for whatever reason UNPROFOR decides to leave and we did;discuss the role that NATO might play in assisting in that?withdrawal.  And I made two points: the first was that NATO in?such a withdrawal should be the command in control after there@should be a Unitary command under NATO and secondly under those7conditions the united states would be willing to fully*participate in the withdrawal operation."A   Mr. Claes welcomed the United States willingness to help with>such an operation, saying it reinforces the solidarity of the
alliance.   ---------------   ---------------8   MRS. ABIOLA SPEAKS OUT ABOUT CHIEF ABIOLA IN NIGERIA   WILLIAM EAGLE   WASHINGTON;   In Nigeria, it's been another week of ups and downs for<supporters of detained opposition Chief Moshood Abiola.  HeBapparently won the country's presidential elections last year but>the results were annulled by the armed forces.  This week theBNigeria government targeted the National Concorde newspaper groupowned by the Chief Abiola.@   The government of General Sani Abacha on Monday cracked downBon three publishing houses, and their 16 magazines and newspapers?that have been critical of his administration.  The governmentAban will apply to the National Concorde, the Guardian and Punch.A   One day after the ban a human rights group based in New DelhiBand called the commonwealth human rights initiative called for an?international response against Nigeria's military rulers.  The>group said other countries should freeze Nigerian assets, end>arms sales to Nigeria, and terminate sports ties.  Next marchANigeria is scheduled to be host for world football championships=for the under 20 age bracket.  The games are planned in four2Nigerian cities, Kaduna, Ibadan, Lagos and Enugu.=   Mrs. Abiola was reached in Nigeria by telephone and askedBabout the rapid-fire developments of the past few days, includingthe closure of her newspaper.>   "It's not a surprise at all," said Mrs. Abiola, "because I:feel that the closure, in the first place, is tied to the=political problem in the country, and since that persists, I@don't see why [they should lift the ban].  The problem is still
with us."B   When asked if she could see the political situation in Nigeria"evolving for the better she said:B   "It is at a crossroads.  It is a very difficult period for us.@On the surface things are quiet, but beneath that surface thereAis a lot of discontent going on.  The inflation rate is so high.:Nothing seems to be working. So, we are at a crossroads."   WILLIAM EAGLE:?   On Tuesday a human rights  group based in new Delhi, India,Bthe Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, urged tighter sanctionsBagainst Nigeria.  Including a ban on sporting activities.  Do yousupport their call?   MRS. ABIOLOA:=   It may look unpatriotic to ask for sanction against one'sAcountry, but you see people keep on the straight and narrow path>because of peer group comments or pressure, so if [sanctions]Bwould do the trick, that would be [the solution]....Yeah, I don't?like [sanctions] especially in the sporting arena....  I wouldBlike us to be part of the world community.  But at the same time,BI understand their frustration calling for sanctions,  we've done=everything,  nothing seems to be working.  We've appealed toBpeople  we've done everything.  This is the result: people take a;very hard line, the government has taken a very hard line.?   Mrs. Abiola said she hoped for support for her husband from8other countries in Africa and also from Muslim nations:A   "I would like to say to them that evil only thrives when good@people keep quiet.  They should make their opinion known.  They>should, whenever they feel there is something wrong going on,>they should condemn it. Because it may be our turn today, but somebody else's turn tomorrow."<   Mrs. Abiola said Islamic leaders meeting in Morocco also<should consider her husband's conflict with the government,4especially since he is ailing while he is detained::   "I think it boggles the mind.  In a civilized society,Asomebody who is not well should be taken care of, even if he has;committed a crime.  In this case, he has not committed anycrime."@   Mrs. Abiola said she hoped the Muslim community would becomeAmore involved in behalf of her husband but she added that Muslim>leaders have their own method for dealing with issues and she+believes they are doing whatever they can.   ---------------   ---------------   PAKISTAN HEROIN ARRESTS   JENNIFER GRIFFIN
   ISLAMABADB   A group of Nigerians has been arrested trying to sneak over 17Akilograms of heroin out of Pakistan. The drug bust took place at!Karachi's International aIrport.B   Pakistani customs agents caught a group of 18 Nigerians trying;to leave the country on Saturday with over 17 kilograms ofAheroin. Drug officials in Karachi said the group, which included@four women, had swallowed more than 1400 capsules of heroin and6were trying to board an airplane headed for Ethiopia.=   The Nigerians were intercepted at Karachi's internationalAairport and taken to a nearby clinic where X-rays confirmed that>they had swallowed the drug. After several days, one thousandAfour hundred and twelve plastic capsules filled with heroin wererecovered.>   Heroin trafficking has become a huge problem for Pakistan,Awhich United Nations drug control program officers have labelledBone of the world's largest heroin producers. In the past year, 75;foreigners, most of them from Nigeria and sudan, have been;arrested at the Karachi Airport for trafficking in heroin.A   The chief collector of customs in Karachi, Khalil Ahmed, said>that the people they catch smuggling heroin are often so poorAthat they will risk imprisonment in order to make the meager 500Ato 1000 dollars per trip. Most swallow plastic or rubber packets)filled with the drug to avoid detection.A   Last year a Nigerian school teacher was caught with more thanA126 kilograms of heroin. And on November 30 another Nigerian was>arrested in Karachi carrying 37-and-one-half kilograms of the?drug. More than 300 Africans are being held at Karachi central@prison on drug trafficking charges. Some are serving sentences,!while others are awaiting trial.B   Last year Pakistan extradited six of its largest drug lords to=the United States for prosecution on drug charges. Six otherBPakistanis remain jailed and are expected to be extradited to theUnited States soon.?   Small mud huts in Pakistan's lawless tribal region serve as@laboratories for the heroin, which is made from opium extracted<from poppies, and then shipped off to the United States andEurope.   ---------------   ---------------   RWANDAN WEAPONS SWEEP   SONYA LAURENCE GREEN   NAIROBI9   The U.N. Special envoy to Rwanda, Shaharyar Khan, has:confirmed the start of a major weapons sweep at camps for=displaced people inside Rwanda, following weeks of increasedBviolence there.  Speaking to reporters in Nairobi, the envoy alsoAoutlined plans for "Operation Retour," aimed at getting Rwandans>out of the dangerous camps and back home as soon as possible.A   Early Wednesday morning, U.N. troops swept into two camps for<displaced people, Kibeho and Ngabo, in southwestern Rwanda,Bfollowing a recent upsurge in grenade attacks and killings there.>   Special envoy Shaharyar Khan, speaking to reporters later,?confirmed the crackdown and said U.N. troops had already found?caches of weapons hidden in the camps.  He said the troops had<not gone in to arrest people, but that anyone known to have?committed crimes, like murder, would be handed over to Rwandan
authorities.@   Khan said the cleanup had gotten off to a good start so far:;   "Since the morning it has been calm, there has been  no?violence.  They have found some arms, some grenades, machetes,:arms.  And they have been given up without any problems.":   The weapons are thought to belong to former government<soldiers and ethnic Hutu extremists in the camps.  They areBblamed for killing several people recently, and they seem to have>singled out those who witnessed the genocide of ethnic Tutsis9this year, and relatives of Rwandans who left the camps.;   Violence and intimidation has grown and become a severeBproblem in the refugee camps outside Rwanda, and at the camps for:the displaced inside the country.   As a result, Mr. KhanAannounced the start of "Operation Retour",  a joint U.N./Rwandan?government mission to get Rwandans safely out of the camps andreturn them to their homes.<   Mr. Khan said aid agencies would open relief centers for@returning Rwandans along the roads home.  The waystations would:be equipped with transit facilities like medical centers,Ashelter, food and water.  He said villages would be earmarked in?advance to ensure that the returnee's homes and farms would be9ready to move back to.  Special escorts would ensure the5returnees are not stopped repeatedly at road blocks.6   Mr. Khan conceded the plan may not work perfectly:A   "I am very well aware that there will be problems, there will:be difficulties, things will not work.  There may even beAoccasions when there is violence and harassment.  But our object@is to point in the right direction, do our best, to ensure that@people in the camps go back home.  The camp culture, living offAhumanitarian aid, is something that should be melted down over aperiod of time."8   Mr. Khan made an effort to describe the operation as@cooperative and voluntary.  But the Rwandan government sees the@displaced camps in the country as hotbeds of militant activity,Band wants them closed down by the end of the year.  Mr. Khan said8the U.N. also wants people to leave the camps, but only?voluntarily, and only if their safety and security is ensured.   ---------------   ---------------D   SINGAPORE PROFESSOR SPEAKS OUT ABOUT GOVERNMENT PRESS CENSORSHIP   JILL GATHMANN   WASHINGTONB   A former senior fellow at the state-run National University inASingapore says the government there does not tolerate a free andBopen press.  Christopher Lingle has returned to the United States>because the government reacted to an article he wrote for theAOctober 7th issue of the International Herald Tribune newspaper.;Singapore officials say the article libels the government.>   Professor Lingle's editorial was in response to an article:written by the permanent secretary in Singapore's foreign@ministry.  The original article criticized Europe's approach to<social and economic problems, specifically the environment.A   Mr. Lingle's article responded and in it he criticized unamed?"intolerant regimes" in Asia.  Singapore officials, apparently:concluding the professor's remarks were directed at theirAgovernment, went to court to attack the professor and the paper.0   Mr. Lingle describes the sequence of events:>   "I was brought to Singapore as a senior fellow in European?studies, and as this particular piece, written by Mr. Mah BirnBBan Yee (spelling uncertain), had commented on affairs in Europe,@I felt it incumbent on me to rebut these remarks, and I felt it@quite appropriate to do so.   However, I thought I was engagingBin an intellectual debate and instead it met with police action."=   In addition to contempt charges, Singapore's former prime=minister, and now senior minister, Lee Kuan Yew, has filed aAlibel suit against professor Lingle and the paper.  Mr. Lingle ,>who returned to the United States after being interrogated byBauthorities in Singapore two months ago, says he did not refer to@any one specific person, or government, by name in the article.A   Mr. Lingle says the court cases illustrate Singapore attemptsto silence its critics.?   A hearing for the civil suit has been scheduled for January09th, but the professor says he will not attend:=   "I think people familiar with the area will understand myBdecision.  I've been advised by officials of our government here,Aofficials of other governments, lawyers in this country, lawyersAin other countries including Singapore, private citizens in this:country, private citizens in Europe who are familiar with=Singapore, and private citizens in Singapore.  They have allBencouraged me not to return.  So that's the basis of my decision.AIt's not simply an individual decision who's fearing that I will6be found guilty of some offense that i've committed."<   Last weekend, the International Herald Tribune printed a=retraction to the October 7th article.  In the clarification@statement, the paper apologized to senior minister Lee Kuan Yew9and the Singapore judiciary for any offense taken to theprofessor's commentary.8   "It surprised me on one level," said Lingle, "and it<disappointed me, but it was not a total surprise on another>level. Unfortunately, they didn't consult with me.  They made<this apology without my (consent), certainly they can do it7without my consent, but they did not consult with me."@   Christopher Lingle urges news organizations in Asia to stand?up to the repressive nature of governments like Singapore.  In;doing so, an open flow and information and free speech can	develop.?   "I think the media in Asia, certainly the western media has;got to understand that they have to face down this sort ofArepression, and at least go down fighting" said Lingle. "Because@groveling before this sort of authority is  not going to get us9anywhere.  In Singapore, there is an extensive amount of?self-censorship.  It's shocking to see the degree to which the>press can be subservient to the government in power, and in a7country that has the pretense of being free and open."B   Singapore denies that is surpresses freedom of expression, butBit also takes a dim view of anyone defaming state institutions or/personalities, especially Senior Minister Lee.   ---------------   ---------------   SLOVAK ECONOMY   BARRY WOOD
   PRAGUE:   Slovakia's new nationalist government has indefinitely=suspended the country's controversial privatization program.<   The suspension came in the form of a decree just one day;before the voucher program, involving the privatization ofAcompanies worth over one billion dollars, was to go into effect.@   It is the first action of the new government headed by prime>Minister Vladimir Meciar.  The new finance minister is openly2hostile to the privatization of strategic assets.B   Originally drafted by the Czechoslovak government in 1992, the=voucher program permits citizens to buy a voucher book for a@nominal fee, equal to about one week's wages.  The vouchers areAthen used to bid for shares in the several hundred companies put
up for sale.>   The voucher program has been popular with slovaks and over>two-thirds of all citizens had signed up to participate.  TheBfirst round of voucher privatization took place in 1993.  At that1time about 500 slovak companies were privatized.@   Prime Minister Meciar has said privatization will go forwardBbut fewer companies will be available in the voucher program.  In>addition, the new finance minister wants energy companies andbanks excluded.:   Potential foreign investors complain about the lack of)consistency in the Slovak privatization.9   Otto Storf, an economist at Deutsche Bank Research in>Frankfurt, says investor confidence in Slovakia is declining:?   "I think the confidence, local and foreign, will go down. IBthink economic growth, which had resumed at the beginning of this9year, will now descend into stagnation or even decline."?   The Slovak economy, under the previous government headed byBJozef Moravcik for most of this year, showed surprising strength,+registering growth of about three percent.A   Experts in Bratislava say the voucher program is likely to beBsuspended for at least three months.  The new government says the0voucher program had not been properly prepared.   ---------------   ---------------=   INCREASE FRICTION BETWEEN CHINA AND VIETNAM OVER SPRATLYS   DAN ROBINSON   BANGKOKA   As part of a conference in Bangkok this week, representatives@from several countries debated the issue of disputed islands in?the South China Sea. The discussion included a lively exchange<between Vietnam and China, two of the main claimants to theBSpratly Islands, and warnings by regional experts South China sea*tensions could still erupt into conflict.@   The Spratly Islands are recognized as a potential flashpoint>for military conflict between countries of East and SoutheastAsia.@   China, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei9have moved to develop oil and gas resources in the area.?Military forces of some of the claimants have occupied many ofthe small islands.B   For several years, Indonesia has acted as an informal mediator<by sponsoring five workshops aimed at reducing tensions and0encouraging joint use of South China Sea areas.A   The two major antagonists, Vietnam and China, recently agreed4to set up a joint committee on the South China Sea.@   Indonesian ambassador-at-large Hasjim Djlal has played a keyrole in talks on the Spratlys.=   Dijal says the fact rival parties are talking at all is apositive sign:8   "We have to remember that the South China Sea statesApractically did not have experience in cooperating, but did haveAplenty of experience in confronting each other. Either among the=ASEAN countries, themselves, or between ASEAN and China, and=perhaps more significantly between southeast Asia and China,	itself."@   But ambassador Djlal says tension-reduction is becoming more;difficult.  He says Spratly claimants are moving faster toBdevelop South China Sea oil resources, while increasing politicaland military posturing.;   Strong emotions were evident in a discussion in Bangkok?sponsored by SEAPOL, the Southeast Asian Program in Ocean Law,Policy and Management.A   Professor Ji Guoxing, director of the Asia-Pacific department@at the Shanghai institute for international studies, says ChinaAis committed to a peaceful solution and is ready to discuss suchissues as joint development.,   But he warned of potential for conflict::   "There exist acute disputes over the (Spratly) islandsBsovereignty and over maritime jurisdictional rights and interests:in the South China Sea.  And a jagged, interlocking armed;confrontation pattern has emerged in the Spratlys.  If theAsituation is not well-controlled, the possibility of an outbreak=of localized armed clashes is not be excluded, impairing thesecurity environment."?   Pham Hao, legal officer with the Vietnam foreign ministry'sAdepartment of international law and treaties, says the agreement=by Hanoi and Beijing to set up an experts group on the SouthChina Sea is a step forward.:   However, calling the sovereignty issue complicated, he=repeated hanoi's view that disputes over the Spratly Islands@involving many claimants should be dealt with on a multilateral.basis.  Beijing prefers a bilateral approach.A   Reflecting tensions over the awarding of contracts to foreign>oil companies for exploration in the South China Sea, Mr. Hao?notes China has pledged to protect the companies with militaryforce:@   "The more serious [problem is that] the [Chinese] government=[says it is] behind that contract, and [has] promised to useB[its] navy to protect the foreign companies.  I think that is onemost serious issue."B   For its part, China has also accused Hanoi of raising tensions?by oil prospecting in waters near the Spratlys and in disputedareas of the Gulf of Tonkin.@   In his remarks, professor Ji Guoxing said Vietnam should not<try to use its growing links with ASEAN (the Association of>Southeast Asian Nations) to gain leverage over Beijing on theSpratlys dispute.B   He says China, which is seeking to expand its cooperation with6southeast Asia and Indochina, does not seek to play a"destabilizing role in the region.   ---------------   ---------------   TAIWAN CABINET CHANGES   RUPORT HAYES
   TAIPEI@   The government in Taiwan on Wednesday went ahead with a long=expected cabinet reshuffle. The changes will put an economic2expert in charge of Taiwan's policy toward China.B   Wan Chang Hsiao, the chairman of Taiwan's Council for Economic=Planning and Development, will move to head the government's@mainland affairs council in the most important of several major(changes to the island's cabinet lineup.;   The KMT government confirmed the widely rumored cabinetAchanges on Wednesday morning after they were passed unopposed by(the party's central standing committee.>   Analysts say Mr. Hsiao's appointment to head the body that?formulates Taiwan's China policy indicates a relaxation of the<government's stance towards it's old rival in Beijing.  The;ruling KMT government here has maintained a hostile stanceAtowards China since losing a civil war to the Chinese communists&and retreating to the island in 1949.=   Mr. Hsiao will replace Huang Kun-Hui, who has been widely@criticized for being too conservative in handling the slow thaw>in Taiwan's relations with its old foe.  Mr. Hsiao on Tuesday@gave a strong indication of his priorities once he takes up his<new post.  In a speech to the cabinet's technology advisory@committee he said he favored some form of direct transportationBlinks between Taiwan and China.  A ban on direct links has been a<cornerstone of the KMT policy since it retreated to Taiwan.8   Mr. Hsiao's speech appears to indicate support for a=transportation ministry proposal last June that called for a;setting up of free trade zones on Taiwan's coast to act as=centers to handle cross-state shipping.  These special zones:would be classed as extraterritorial thereby allowing the@government here to maintain the appearance of no direct contactAwith China, while at the same time allowing the establishment ofAde facto direct transportation routes.  The government policy of;no direct links has in recent years come increasingly into7conflict with its avowed aim of turning Taiwan into an.Asia-Pacific transportation and business hub.>   Wan Chang Hsiao, in his former capacity as chairman of the@council for economic planning and development, was in charge ofAdeveloping that plan.  He has also played a high profile role in9developing closer economic ties between Taiwan and other;Asia-Pacific nations.  He acted as president Li Teng-Hui's?representative at the first APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Forum)Bleaders' summit last year in the United States, and again at thisyear's summit in Indonesia.?   Mr. Hsiao is considered to be primarily an economics expertAand is politically liberal.  He is, therefore, likely to bring aBmore pragmatic approach to Taiwan-China relations and to continue9to make the island's economic development his number one
priority.   ---------------   ---------------)   THAILAND ACTS ON ITS TRAFFIC PROBLEMS   DAVID BUTLER   BANGKOK8   Thailand's Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai has opened a;15-kilometer elevated road linking Bangkok's international9airport with the city. Other projects to solve Bangkok's:notorious traffic jams are moving ahead much more slowly.B   Prime Minister Chuan's official limousine was the first car on<the six-lane tollway, which stands fourteen meters above anexisting highway.@   The new road took more than two years to build, during whichBtraffic on the highway below it was never completely interrupted.>   A private consortium consisting of two German constructionBcompanies holding 50 percent and a French and a Thai company each'holding 25 percent built the new road.@   They will recoup their investment through tolls ranging from;40-cents to a dollar-20-cents depending on the size of the)vehicle and the length of road traveled.:   In a prepared statement, prime minister Chuan said the;contractors had overcome a host of environmental problems,@including the problem  of keeping traffic flowing below the newroad.=   On Tuesday, the cabinet agreed to award a contract for an<extension of the new tollway to the same consortium withoutcalling for new bids.B   Earlier this month, Mr. Chuan  laid the foundation stone for aA55-kilometer expressway running from Bangkok to Chon Buri on the@east coast of the gulf of Thailand, center of a burgeoning portand industrial estate complex.A    Other solutions to Bangkok's horrendous traffic problems are/much harder to implement than the expressways.@   Various government committees have been studying underground?and light-railway above ground mass transit proposals for morethen 30 years.=   The committees, the studies they produce, and the lack of0action are running sources of humor in Bangkok.>   But the traffic is not a laughing matter.  Children get up7before dawn for two-and-three-hour commutes to school.A   And a company that runs a 24-hour-a-day radio call-in program?devoted entirely to traffic also markets a plastic device with?chemicals in it for motorists and their passengers, especially:children, who need to use a toilet when they are stuck in	traffic.   ---------------   ---------------.   TO WITHDRAW OR NOT TO WITHDRAW FROM BOSNIA   PAMELA TAYLOR   WASHINGTON7   The international community appears to have done anAabout-switch on the wisdom of withdrawing U.N. peacekeepers from?Bosnia-Herzegovina.  Calls by Britain and France to pull their=troops out to prevent further hostage-taking by Bosnian SerbAforces have been replaced by pledges to strengthen their mandateBinstead. France's defense minister first signaled the change on aBvisit to Washington earlier this week.  His surprise announcement@that Paris no longer wants to withdraw French peacekeepers came?less than one week after the foreign minister asked the UnitedBNations to draw up plans for their withdrawal.  Many analysts areAwondering if the initial threat to withdraw was merely a ploy, aAwarning to the Serbs and Muslims about the consequences of their>continued fighting?  Or was it a maneuver to force the United>States to face what the French call the "logic of airstrikes"$when you have troops in harm's way?;   In the name of preserving NATO unity, the United States@abruptly decided earlier this month to abandon force as a means=of ending the Bosnian War and to go along with NATO's softer:approach. The move was widely interpreted as a signal the:international community had abandoned the former Yugoslav?republic to its own devices.  But behind the scenes, diplomatsBwere privately expressing the hope that fear of a longer and more<brutal war might bring the factions back to the negotiating;table.  At first, this appeared to be a vain hope when theABosnian Serbs refused to release 350 peacekeepers they had takenBhostage.  Then Britain and France, the strongest opponents to the:use of force because of the danger to their peacekeepers,>suddenly called for a troop pullout.  The new Republican U.S.ACongress then quickly called for air strikes on Serb targets the@moment all the peacekeepers were out.  The airstrike threat not<only got the Serbs attention, the peacekeepers were finally#released, but also that of France.?   Defense Minister Francois Leotard speaking in Washington onMonday:B   "My government does not wish to see this withdrawal take place8and this is why we see dramatic implications for such aAwithdrawal.  First of all, it would imply a massive displacementAof population.  Second it would lead to the mechanical spread of?the conflict to the north and south.  It would also change theAnature of the conflict for it would bring in Islamic forces into?this area.  And finally, it would undermine the credibility of5international organizations namely the UN and NATO."6   So the question is, did NATO scare itself when theAinternational implications of their abandonment of Bosnia became<clearer following the European security summit in Budapest??Although not an official agenda item, the inaction of NATO and?the United Nations in Bosnia dominated much of the discussion.>How, many delegates asked, could Europe hope to handle future@post-cold war conflicts with the terrible precedent facing themAof their own impotence in Bosnia?  The French are taking much of:the credit for re-focusing NATO's attention to Bosnia and>mobilizing support for a fresh peace effort.  Daniel Plesh is@executive director of the British-American Security Information:Council (BASIC), which monitors relations between the two9countries as well as their relationship with the allies.B   Plesh thinks the Russians also played a role by pressuring the?French who in turn pressured the United States to back off the(threat of airstrikes against the Serbs:<   "(French Defense Minister Francois) Leotard went to NATOAambassadors and told the U.S. flat-out (firmly) that unless theyBprovided the coverage of 25,000 troops as promised, the Americans@should basically get out of the NATO military command and allow;the Europeans to run the show.  That allegation was a very=calculated French ploy which within two hours produced (U.S.=Defense Secretary William) Perry's statement that they wouldAindeed provide 25,000 troops to cover any such withdrawal and atAthat point the French political objective, which had  more to do>with posturing vis-a-vis the United States.  That purpose was=achieved. They had forced the Americans to face the logic oftheir own position."B   Other analysts think President Clinton's pledge of 25 thousand?U.S. troops to help with an eventual evacuation, helped changeBthe atmosphere inside NATO.   The involvement of American troops,:even if offshore, the allies hope, will dampen RepublicanAcongressional calls for airstrikes.  Others think Washington mayAalso be trying to force the French, and others with peacekeepers7on the ground, to face their own logic, that of having1unprotected, lightly armed troops on the ground.B   U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry says his discussions with;Mr. Leotard have focused on how to make UNPROFOR, the U.N.$peacekeeping force, more effective:=   "Apart from more troops and more arms, UNPROFOR should beAconsidering the new rules of engagement.  They will certainly beAconsidering restructuring and redeploying, in particular in moreAdefensible positions.  These are decisions for UNPROFOR to take,	not us."@   Other proposals to make UNPROFOR more effective discussed byAMr. Perry and Mr. Leotard include establishing a secure corridor<between Sarajevo and the Adriatic, improving the protection>around Sarajevo airport and consolidating U.N. forces in more<defensible positions.  But British Defense Minister Malcolm;Rifkind has reacted less than enthusiastically, saying the=proposals need further study.  For the time being therefore,Babout the only thing the NATO allies appear to be truly united on=is the recognition that the risks of having an international=presence in Bosnia, no matter how ineffective, outweighs theconsequences of pulling out.   ---------------   ---------------@   BUSINESSMAN SAYS TECHNOLOGY IS REASON BEHIND FREE TRADE MOVE   TOM CROSBY	   MIAMIB   The leaders of the 34 nations which attended the Summit of theBAmericas are congratulating one another for reaching an agreement?on a western hemispheric free-trade zone.  However, a canadian2businessman says give technology some credit too.?   Here in Miami the talk for days now has been of free trade:;first at the summit of the America's and then at the Miami9conference on the Caribbean and Latin America.  Canadian=businessman Jean-Pierre Soupliere says it is technology, not.politicians, which makes free trade possible.=   Mr. Soupliere is the chairman of the SHL System House:  a9computer systems firm.  He has been telling business and;government officials attending the Miami conference on the<Caribbean and Latin America technology has made the world aglobal village.:   Soupliere says that is what makes free trade possible:B   "If you look at what's happened because of the improvements in<communications, the consumer has seen and perceived what is?available across the world and that consumer, he got freer andBfreer, but more demanding and, consequently, the company that had=either a monopoly or a strangle-hold on the market, all of a;sudden had to either import the products or change its top'product to answer consumers' demands."<   And, oh yes, give some credit to improved transportationBtechnology for bringing about freer trade and give some credit topolitical leaders.?   But having achieved freer trade through improved technology<and improved transportation, has his Canadian based company;benefited, for example, from the North American Free-TradeAgreement?A   "In our case," says Soupliere, "we are not really impacted by@NAFTA except from the mindset of the companies or the countries@being involved.  In other words, our business, being a services9business, has been pretty close to being in a free tradeAenvironment, but the world or most parts of the world.  But whatAthe free trade agreement is doing is opening the minds of people;in the various countries to the fact that globalization ishappening and what have you."B   As a result, says Jean-Pierre Soupliere, companies such as his=are being welcomed around the world and, for that, he thanksAtechnology such as his company is now selling to the rest of theworld.   ---------------   ---------------8   US REPORTS A 3-DAY INCIDENT WITH A CHINESE SUBMARINE   DAVID SWAN   PENTAGON@   U.S. officials have revealed that a Chinese submarine and an@American aircraft carrier had a running three-day confrontation@in the Yellow Sea in late October.  The disclosure comes as the?two sides try to improve relations, including the ties betweentheir armed forces.=   The incident took place less than two weeks after Defense<Secretary William Perry visited China in an effort to build=stronger contacts between the Pentagon and the Chinese army.BOfficials say the U.S.S "Kitty Hawk" and its escort ships were in>international waters between the Chinese coast and the Korean%Peninsula when the sub was detected.=   Though no shots were fired, the officials say the vessels=tracked and followed each other for three days.  The carrierBlaunched its anti-submarine warfare planes, as is routine in suchBcases, and at one point, Chinese jet fighters reportedly appearednearby.A   Afterward, the Chinese warned a U.S. officer in Beijing theirBforces would shoot in any future encounter.  However, an officialAin Washington downplays the seriousness of the statement, saying9the message was never conveyed through formal diplomaticexchanges.@   State Department spokesman Mike McCurry says the incident atAsea should not jeopardize the overall U.S. Chinese relationship:>   "So we have some military-to-military contact and we don't?think that this type of incident ought to pose any unnecessary4threat to the relations between our two countries."B   However, other parts of the relationship are also less cordial;than Washington would like.  China is now denying the U.S.>Transportation Secretary Federico Pena a visa for an upcoming)trip because he recently visited Taiwan.   ---------------   ---------------B   U.S. SAYS IT IS TAKING A NEUTRAL POSITION ON CHECHNYA INVASION   RON PEMSTEIN   STATE DEPARTMENT?   The United States says it is not endorsing Russian military5action against separatists in Chechenya. The fear ofAdisintegration of the Russian Federation is driving the American.position on the Russian government's actions.?   Secretary of State Warren Christopher appeared to be giving@Russian President Boris Yeltsin a free hand in dealing with the?local authorities in Chechnya when he spoke to American publictelevision.@   The Secretary of State was asked if President Yeltsin had noAother option than the use of force.  Mr. Christopher replied, "IBthink we have to leave it up to the judgment of President Yeltsin>in dealing with something within his own country. "At anotherBpoint in the interview, Mr. Christopher said, "We're dealing with?a democratic Russia. We aren't dealing with with Russia in the;old days.  He adds, "We're dealing with a place where thatAparticular republic had ways to advance their grievances through1the Russian parliament if they wished to do so.">   Mr. Christopher's spokesman, Micheal McCurry, denies these?words amount to an endorsement of any action President Yeltsin might want to take in response.:   McCurry contends the United States is taking a neutral
position:B   "The point the secretary made is that we have no interest, andBthe world has no interest in seeing a splintering or dismembering4of the Russian federation. That would be enormously@de-stabilizing and would produce the possibility of large scale8refugee flows. It would be frankly dangerous and we are;acknowledging that by saying we recognize that the RussianBgovernment is addressing this as an internal matter, taking steps>that President Yeltsin, in his own judgment, deems necessary.BThey are quite controversial even within Russia, as you know. ButAthose are matters that the Russian government must address, they;are not matters upon which we are taking a side one way or
another."<   The spokesman says he is not aware of any spillover fromBChechnya to separatism in other regions of the Russian Federation@but he says American officials are watching carefully for signs>of more trouble for President Yeltsin, especially if it takes0place outside the boundaries of the Federation.   ---------------   ---------------E   CLINTON ADMINISTRATION BLAST REPUBLICAN PROPOSED FOREIGN AID CUTS   KENT KLEIN   WASHINGTON@   The head of the government agency that administers most U.S.<foreign aid programs is criticizing a senator's proposal toabolish the agency.?   Brian Atwood, the administrator of U.S.A.I.D, or Agency forAInternational Development, says the United States could lose its=world leadership by cutting economic aid to other countries.<   Atwood says that would hurt the U.S. economy and lead to&further instability around the world:=   "We can not simply wall out the chaos beyond our borders.:Millions of refugees, the spread of drug trafficking, the?pollution of our air and water, and the disruption and loss of@markets will inevitably undermine our security and our standardof living."?   The incoming Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Foreign<Operations, Republican Mitch McConnell, has proposed a Bill?Monday to eliminate AID and the 800-million-dollar development>fund for Africa, and cut most U.S. foreign aid programs by 20Bpercent.  He says exceptions should be made for assistance to theBMiddle East, Russia and Eastern Europe.  His Bill would also deny?money to the 450-million-dollar programs designed to limit theworld's population growth.>   At a news conference Wednesday, Mr. Atwood strongly denied=some lawmakers' charges that U.S. foreign aid is wasted, and@called on Congress to take a wider view of the need for foreignaid:?   "What should we say to those who claim that we are throwing?our money down a rat hole?  We say look at the facts, they say>otherwise.  The two great political parties of our nation nowAhave an opportunity to govern together.  The people expect us to>be responsible.  The people know that their incomes and their@jobs are tied to the global economy as never before.  They know?that in the post-cold war world the United States has a uniqueAopportunity to deal directly with the international factors thatAcan advance our political and economic interests, or injure them
profoundly."=   Mr. Atwood said many former aid recipients have developed>their economies and become foreign aid donors themselves, and@that the United States' share of the world's foreign aid burden:has shrunk over the past few decades.  He said developing:countries are good customers for U.S. goods and services.   ---------------   ---------------5   U.S. TAKES NEW STEP TO REVITALIZE HAITIAN ECONOMY   DAVID BORGIDA   WHITE HOUSE@   The Clinton administration is taking new steps to revitalizethe Haitian economy.A   In an effort to stimulate private sector economic recovery in>Haiti, the Clinton administration is authorizing a 12 million>dollar project by the agency for international development toAsupport small Haitian businesses.  It is also providing training@to the  Haitian government and the private sector in areas such-as export management and customs management.@   According to a statement released here Wednesday, the united@states and  Haiti will soon create a joint business development?council to broaden and strengthen cooperation and development,Band to develop strategies for overcoming obstacles to growth. The>administration is also sending a delegation to Haiti early in51995 to identify trade and investment opportunities.?   The administration is also focusing on restoring particular:areas of the Haitian economy, taking steps to restore the!assembly and handicraft sectors.>   The United States has pledged almost 25 million dollars to4support  Haiti's effort to pay international debts.B   The administration is working hard to revitalize  Haiti as the?transition from the U.S. led multinational force to the unitednations mission approaches.   ---------------   ---------------A   U.S. EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER TURKEY'S ATTEMPT TO DEAL WITH PKK   RON PEMSTEIN   STATE DEPARTMENT>   The United States is raising concerns with Turkey over itsAattempts to deal with Kurdish terrorism in southeast Turkey. TheBrecent conviction of former members of the Turkish parliament hasmade the situation worse.B   The State Department has long been concerned that human rights?be protected as Turkey combats militant Kurdish separatists in?southeast Turkey. The United States agrees the Kurdish Workers@Party, the PKK group, is responsible for terrorism but has been>hesitant in supporting Turkish government actions such as the'forced evacuations of entire villages.@   State Department spokesman Michael McCurry says human rightsAshould be protected as the Turkish army works against terrorism:A   "That I think puts a special responsibility on the governmentBof Turkey to try to address that. What we have encouraged them to@do is to try to address that in a way that is respectful of theBhuman rights of those who are innocent and not engaged in acts of=terror under the sponsorship of organizations like the PKK."@   The State Department expressed concern last week even beforeAeight former members of the Turkish parliament were convicted on;prison terms of up to 15 years.  U.S. officials said it is=difficult for foreign observers to understand how members of@parliament could be stripped of their immunity and put on trial<for expressing their thoughts.  The parliament members were?accused in Turkey of serving as a political front for the PKK.B   The United States made its concerns known at a high level with>the Turkish government and none of the parliament members was@sentenced to death on the treason charges. The State Department;is encouraged there is increased dialogue in Turkey on the:Kurdish issue but the spokesman says the United States is?discouraged by increased restrictions on freedom of speech and'press relating to the Kurdish demands.   ---------------   ---------------.   VENEZUELA GOVERNMENT TAKES OVER MORE BANKS   ROGER WILKISON   RIO DE JANEIRO>   The Venezuelan government has taken over two more banks inAorder to guarantee their continued operation. The move means the?Venezuelan government now controls more than half of country'stroubled banking system.@   The latest target of the government's efforts to deal with a7severe financial crisis was the Latinoamerica-Progreso:Conglomerate which owns the Progreso and Republica Banks.<   The consortium run by Cuban-Venezuelan financier OrlandoBCastro controlled the two banks, two insurance companies, a radio;network and other financial firms in Colombia, Panama, the9Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.  Officials said the>conglomerate's operations will be assumed by the government'sbank deposit insurance fund.<   The takeover of the two banks Wednesday brings to 13 theAnumber of financial institutions that have come under government>control since the failure of Venezuela's second-biggest bank,Banco Latino, in January.@   Most of the institutions were either insolvent or had severe:liquidity problems.  The government has invested at least8seven-billion dollars as part of an effort to cover theAinstitutions'  obligations to their clients and save the bankingAsystem from  collapse.  The banks that have been taken over have=more than half of the number of total deposits in the entireVenezuelan banking system.@   Whereas Banco Latino is on the road to recovery, eight otherAbanks taken over by the government in June are in the process of@liquidation.  The authorities intervened in three more troubled?banks in August to maintain their operations and avoid closingthem.:   The chief officer of the Deposit Insurance Fund, NorisAAguirre, told reporters Wednesday in caracas that the government@intends to sell off the Progreso and Republica banks to private@investors as soon as it can.  She said the government's move isAaimed at calming fears of the banks' depositors and creditors byBinsuring continuity in the institutions' operations and services.   ---------------   ---------------,   TEMPORARY LIFTING OF YUGOSLAV EXPORT BAN   ELAINE JOHANSON   UNITED NATIONS?   Bowing to a request from the United Nations Children's FundB(UNICEF), the Security Council Wednesday lifted its export ban on>Yugoslavia for 30 days to allow the urgent sale of diphtheriaBanti-serum.  A fresh outbreak of the disease, which can be fatal,5has struck parts of Central Asia and Eastern Europe.<   With declining production capacity in much of the former=Soviet empire and routine suppliers of the anti-serum out of;stock, UNICEF says it has no choice but to turn to a major:pharmaceutical firm in Belgrade.  UNICEF had contacted 14>suppliers in North America, Asia and Europe, without success.>   The Security Council authorized UNICEF to proceed with itsApurchase of 12,000 vials of the diphtheria anti-serum worth over?140,000.  Belgrade will not see any of that money.  Because of=the sanctions, the council ordered that payments be put intofrozen accounts.A   An estimated 50,000 people in Central Asia and Eastern Europe=are expected to contract diphtheria next year.  The disease,@which attacks primarily throat membranes, can cause potentially'fatal damage to the heart and kidneys.;   The council eased some minor commercial restrictions on=Yugoslavia earlier this year after Belgrade announced it was'cutting supplies to the Bosnian Serbs.A   The Security Council's humanitarian gesture on the diphtheria@problem was most welcomed by the Russians, and not only because@the health crisis is taking place on territory once under their=control.  Moscow has become increasingly critical of how theASecurity Council uses the weapon of sanctions to punish renegadeBnations in general.  A recent case in point is Iraq, where Moscow?and Washington disagree sharply on when to start easing an oilexport ban.?   Russian ambassador Sergei Lavrov told reporters the council#vote Wednesday indicates progress:@   "It shows that the topic that we raised some time ago in theAcouncil about the humanitarian limits to the sanctions, not justArelated to the former Yugoslavia but in general as an instrument?of the Security Council, that this problem exists and that the@council can react to the need to take into account humanitarian#needs under the sanctions regime."=   Meanwhile, on its Balkans policy in general, the Security<Council is in so much disarray that a tentatively scheduled<summit of its 15 members in late January has been postponed<indefinitely.  The purpose of the meeting was to review theBprogress of U.N. peacekeeping over the last three years, when the@council first pledged to make the U.N. more effective after the
cold war.>   Diplomats concede there is too much disunity among Russia,ANATO and the U.N. itself on the war in Bosnia-Herzergovina for aBsummit to be anything but a further embarrassment to key national	leaders.   ---------------   ---------------=   UN ANNOUNCES SOUTHERN AFRICAN NATIONS FACE FOOD SHORTAGES   SONYA LAURENCE GREEN   NAIROBIA   The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, is?warning that several countries in southern Africa face serious@food supply problems.  In a special country profile of Somalia,-the FAO says the situation remains critical.>   The Food and Agriculture Organization said several African@countries, including Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, and Swaziland,Aare facing food shortages.  Because of dry weather, farmers have<delayed planting their crops.  If weather conditions do notBimprove in the coming weeks, the food shortfalls could get worse.?The FAO said grain stocks are already below normal, and a goodharvest is needed next year.@   Prolonged civil war in Angola has meant that few farmers are>planting crops, despite good rains in October and November in>some regions.  The report said more and more people are dying=from starvation and malnutrition-related causes.  The recentApeace pact signed by the government and UNITA rebels has sparked=hope that relief food will now be able to reach the needy inBareas previously cut off by fighting.  But the peace pact remains.fragile, and the future for Angola uncertain.=   In a special country report, the FAO said that Somalia isBhaving a particularly hard time, and the food supply situation is9critical.  Three-quarters of a million Somalis are still<displaced inside the country, or are still refugees outsideASomalia.  The FAO says these people need help to return to their<farms.  They need agricultural tools, seeds, fertilizer and@pesticides, as well as food to eat while they are growing crops?for the next harvest.  Livestock herders need veterinary drugsBand vaccines to build up their herds, which are slowly growing innumbers again.B   During Somalia's civil war, much of the irrigated farmland was?badly damaged because looters took irrigation equipment.  As a9result, canals silted up, and river embankments were not?maintained.  When heavy rains hit, parts of the lower Shabelle<region flooded, causing serious damage to sesame crops. The8U.N.'s world food program has provided food for work toArehabilitate irrigation canals.  But more still needs to be done$on the canals, dams and reservoirs.A   The FAO cautioned that when U.N. Troops withdraw from Somalia@next March, there could be a fight over control of the port and@airport in the capital Mogadishu.  That could delay relief foodAdeliveries, and cause more food shortages.  The FAO says that at:least for the months ahead, Somalis will continue to need"well-targeted emergency food aid.>   However, the FAO report did not just bring bad news.  Some?African countries, notably lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa,3had better food supplies this year than last year.   ---------------   ---------------   BALTIC ECONOMY   BARRY WOOD
   PRAGUE@   The three Baltic states have surprised most forecasters with;their impressive economic turnaround. Estonia, Latvia, and>Lithuania have received considerable economic assistance from7Sweden, the major economic power in the Baltic region.@   Carl Bildt is only 45.  From 1991 until just a couple monthsBago, he was Sweden's first conservative prime minister in several;decades.  During his term in office, Mr. Bildt launched anBoutward oriented policy that stressed economic integration withinBthe Baltic region and Nordic integration into the European Union./Sweden joins the European Union January first.>   Mr. Bildt is particularly pleased with Sweden's success in;providing aid and technical assistance to the three BalticBcountries which regained their independence only three years ago.@   In a recent interview, Mr. Bildt says the Baltic states have5done far better economically than had been expected:<   "Estonia and Latvia, especially, are conducting monetary@policies that are very good.  They have very stable currencies.9They have inflation under control. Privatization is wellAunderway.  The same in Lithuania to a large extent.  They have a;somewhat larger problem with inflation at the moment.  But@nothing to compare with other parts of the former Soviet Union.>These countries are really to be compared with Poland and the>Czech Republic, more (than) with any other part of the formersocialist world."?   Estonia, the least populated and northernmost of the Baltic@states, has experienced five percent economic growth this year.AIts currency is convertible and has a fixed rate with the German>mark.  Latvia's economy in 1994 has grown three percent.  And?lithuania, the southernmost state with the biggest population,@has registered growth of one point five percent.  Sweden, along>with Germany, has become a major trading partner of all three	nations.>   Mr. Bildt observes that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have<begun association negotiations with the European Union.  HeBexpects the Baltic states to become EU members not long after theCzech republic and Poland.=   Within the EU, says Mr. Bildt, Sweden and Finland will be'strong advocates for Baltic admission:>   "At the next European Council meeting in Cannes, France in8June of next year, I would expect there to be the three=presidents or prime ministers of the three Baltic states (inattendance)."?   Mr. Bildt says the Baltic states have registered impressive=political achievements this year including the withdrawal of<Russian troops, steps towards assuring minority rights, and=efforts to make their legal systems compatible with those ofWestern Europe.   ---------------   ---------------+   CLINTON'S MIDDLE CLASS "BILL OF RIGHTS"   DEBORAH COOPER   WASHINGTON@   President Clinton took to the public airwaves Thursday night?to outline his proposal for a middle class tax break.  ReelingBfrom the devastating defeat of his party in the November mid-termBelections, Mr. Clinton joined Republicans and some members of his<own party in offering tax relief for middle income American
families.6   In his Oval Office address, Mr. Clinton proposed a@"middle-class bills of rights" which would include a tax credit?of up to five hundred dollars for each child under 13 years ofAage in families with income up to seventy-five thousand dollars.AThe president's plan would also allow families earning up to one;hundred twenty thousand dollars a year to deduct up to ten:thousand dollars a year in educational expenses for their?children.  It would allow middle class families to borrow from@their retirement accounts, penalty free, to purchase a home, toApay for a catastrophic illness or to care for an elderly parent.A   The plan is expected to cost about 60 billion dollars a year.BBut the president said he would pay for it by making deep cuts in0five major government departments and agencies.A   President Clinton had promised a middle income tax cut during@his 1992 campaign for the presidency, but abandoned it early in=his term in favor of moving forward on deficit reduction and?other domestic initiatives like health care reform.  But facedAwith the overwhelming defeat of the Democratic Party in mid-term?elections, and with proposals coming from both Republicans and@Democrats for middle class tax breaks, Mr. Clinton may have hadAno other political choice but to come up with a plan of his own.;   However, in his speech Thursday night, he insisted that'politics had not been a consideration:=   "This is not about politics as usual.  As I have said forAyears, it is not about moving left or right, but moving forward,?not about government being bad or good, but about what kind of8government will best enable us to fulfill our god-given@potential.  And it is not about the next election, either, that>is in your hands. Meanwhile, I am going to do what I think isBright.  My rule for the next two years will be country first, andpolitics as usual dead last."9   That was not the assessment, however, of Republicans.A   In a televised response to the president's speech, Republican@Senator-elect Fred Thompson of tennessee said until a few weeks.ago the Democrats were saying no to tax cuts:@   "Yet, from what we heard tonight, the president's vision forAthe future now looks a lot like what Republicans just campaigned>for....Your vote this election apparently got the president'sAattention.  If the president's new position tonight represents a@real change of heart we say, 'welcome aboard." If, however, the@president's words are based more upon public opinion polls than;real conviction, if we're just talking about politics here@instead of fundamental change in direction, then we're going to!be very much at cross purposes."@   With tax cut proposals coming from member of both parties inACongress it seems fairly certain that American wage-earners willAsoon get some kind of tax reduction. But what will the impact beon the economy?@   Economist David jOnes says what's most important is how deep&the government spending cuts will go:<   "Will they equal or exceed the tax cuts and will they be=credible? That's the question.  In our government we can cut:taxes very easily.  If we can't follow them with credible?spending cuts we're going to throw this deficit out of control=and get into real trouble with this economy which is already6running at a very high rate at almost full capacity.";   Mr. Jones says he is skeptical about the ability of theApresident or the Congress to make the necessary spending cuts to?match the tax cuts.  And that he says will be very bad for the	economy.=   In the short term, Mr. Jones argues that tax cuts are notnecessary:=   "There's nothing wrong with tax rate cuts for longer-termAeconomic development of savings incentives to help push us along@in the future and have money for investment.  But right now the@last thing this economy needs is another tax cut.  We're movingBat a strong rate.  And furthermore, business capacity in terms ofAability to produce is already at full capacity and we are nearly(at full employment in the labor force."@   Economist David Jones adds that if the tax cuts are approvedBwithout at least matching cuts in spending, the deficit will rise'and interest rates could be forced up.+   Teresa Tritch of money magazine agrees:>   "I think there is a way this tax cut could backfire on theAmiddle class if it does overstimulate the economy and does raise>interest rates that will hurt the middle class.  I think whatAtaxpayers really have to think of is how do these tax breaks fit@into the overall economy and is it good for the country.  MaybeBit's time to ask not just is it good for me and do I get a break'+but will this work out over the long run."   ---------------   ---------------E   CLINTON ADMINISTRATION COMPARE DEMOCRATIC AND REPUBLICAN TAX CUTS   DEBORAH TATE   WHITE HOUSE=   Administration officials are trying to draw a distinction>between tax cut proposals outlined by the president and other:plans put forward by Republicans who will take control of=Congress next month.  Administration officials are trying to@persuade the public Mr. Clinton's proposals are the best optionfor middle class Americans.?   A day after President Clinton announced a 60 billion dollar@package of tax credits and deductions, administration officialsBFriday began a campaign to try to convince middle class Americans#that Mr. Clinton is on their side.?   The president's package of tax cuts faces stiff competition;from more generous tax-cut plans put forward by opposition3Republicans, who will control Congress next month.>   Mr. Clinton's plan calls for tax credits for families withBchildren under the age of 13, tax deductions up to 10,000 dollarsBfor families with children in college, and liberalized retirement7accounts to help buy first homes or pay for education.A   The plan would be funded by making sharp cuts in five federaldepartments and agencies.>   White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta says Mr. Clinton's@proposals will help the middle class and keep the deficit under:control, two things he says Republican plans will not do:<   "The Republicans, in contrast, have yet to say how their<proposals are paid for, some of them approaching almost 300;billion dollars in promises, and they provide enormous and:unneeded benefits to those in the upper income brackets."B   Administration officials denied President Clinton unveiled hisAplan in response to Republican proposals to cut taxes and reduce@federal spending.  They say he has been committed to such goals$since he ran for president in 1992.   ---------------   ---------------5   CZECH/RUSSIAN NUCLEAR POWER AGREEMENT CONTROVERSY   BARRY WOOD
   PRAGUEB   An agreement between the Russians and Czechs to reprocess fuelBfrom nuclear power plants has stimulated a controversy in Prague.;   The Greenpeace environmental action group called a news@conference in Prague to disclose the contents of a reprocessing;contract signed between the Russians and Czechs last week.?   Greenpeace calls the agreement secret and complains that it@violates the spirit of the non-proliferation treaty because the?Czech Republic will receive plutonium, which is used in makingnuclear bombs.:   But the Greenpeace allegations are being categoricallyBrejected. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna5says the December fifth agreement is legal under the>non-proliferation accord which the IAEA itself policies.  The@agency says the procedure for shipping the spent fuel to Russia<and then receiving it back for storage or burial is normal.=   The Czech Republic inherited a Soviet based nuclear powerAprogram from the communist government.  The Dukovany Power Plant:in South Moravia uses Russian nuclear fuel.  And a secondApartially built, more modern Soviet designed nuclear plant is to?be completed by the Westinghouse Company of the United States.<   The Czech government favors nuclear power over the badly<polluting coal fired power plants that it says would be the<alternative.  Austria, the Czech Republic's neighbor to the?south, opposes nuclear power and wants Dukovany as well as thenew Temelin plant closed.@   The Czech industry ministry vigorously denies the GreenpeaceBallegation.  Industry Minister Vladimir Dlouhy says the agreement=with the Russians is fully compatible with IAEA regulations,=including the non-proliferation treaty.  Mr. Dlouhy says theACzech republic has no plans to send spent uranium fuel to Russiafor several years.   ---------------   ---------------!   ETHIOPIA HUMANITY TRIALS OPEN   SCOTT STEARNS   ADDIS ABABA:   War crimes trials open in Ethiopia this week.  Several@thousand people are expected to be charged with murder, tortureBand crimes against humanity committed during the rule of MengistuHailie Miriam.@   The crimes may be old but Ethiopia is just beginning to come?to grips with the red terror of the 1970's.  In court ThursdayAmorning, eight men who once served on Mengistu's ruling council,)stood silently as the charges were read.B   Thirty-nine people shot dead in prison, their bodies scattered>in nearby fields.  Thirty people strangled in police custody.BTwenty-eight people taken from prison in the night, their corpses;dumped on the streets of Addis Ababa.  Six people detained@without charge, tortured and finally executed for not attending%weekly discussion groups on Marxism.B   In all, 211 counts of aggravated homicide, unlawful arrest andAabuse of power.  The accusers say the result of the abuses was aBsystematic elimination of those the Mengistu government felt wereAcounter-revolutionaries.  When the names of all the victims wereBread after two and a half days, the justice who finished the list said "we are through, finally."B   But the process has just begun.  About three-thousand suspects?have been detained since investigations began in 1991.  It was<not until this week that the first defendants were formally	charged.<   There is so much violence to be accounted for Ethiopia's>special prosecutor has divided the accused into three groups.=Those on trial now are 73 members of the military junta that:seized power in Mengistu's 1974 coup.  Up next are senior9military officials and civil servants who are accused ofBsupervising the killings. The trials will conclude with those whopulled the triggers.A   Observers here estimate the entire process could last as long>as six years.  Prosecuting those believed responsible for theBviolence has been a priority for the transitional government thatBdrove Mengistu from power.  But Mengistu himself has been grantedApolitical asylum in Zimbabwe, and the three remaining members of@his ruling council are living in the Italian embassy.  All fourare being tried in abstentia.A   Critics of the transitional president, Meles Zenawi, said theBtrial will only open old wounds and make it harder for EthiopiansBto overcome the past.  The transitional government says it is the=only way the country can move ahead and insure that the same%thing does not happen in the future.<   The transitional government has provided court-appointedBattorneys for defendants who don't have lawyers of their own. The;trial is being observed by human rights groups and foreign>diplomats.  With the conclusion of the reading of the charges?Thursday morning, the court heard for the first time, from thedefendants themselves.?   Former prime minister Fikre Selssie Wagderes, denounced the;charges against him.  He said the trial violated his human?rights.  "I have been in prison for more than three years," he=said  "I was not arrested by the police but by certain armed?people.  I was not brought to court within 48 hours as the law&demands.  I am a political prisoner."A   Captain Fikre said the Mengistu government stepped in to save@Ethiopia from anarchy.  He said the special prosecutor's office=has taken on the functions of the police and said charges ofAgenocide are incomplete because they do not indicate the alleged<acts or the parts played by the accused.  Defense attorneys;argued unsuccessfully to have the charges restated because@prosecutors added defendants to the list after the charges werefirst presented.=   The three-man judicial panel hearing the case, ruled thatBadding names to the charge does not alter its substance.  DefenseAattorneys are likely to face an uphill battle in this case.  The?Mengistu regime may have been brutal, but it was meticulous in@its record-keeping.  The logistics of torture appear in volumes4of documents seized by the transitional government.<   Execution orders in triplicate, films of torture and the@testimony of more than two thousand witnesses will be presented<as evidence along with forensic results from dozens of massgraves.   ---------------   ---------------7   REP. KAPTUR LAUNCHES CHILD LABOR AWARENESS CAMPAIGN   MARTIN SECREST   WASHINGTON7   In conjunction with labor and consumer groups, U.S.=Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) announced on Friday the@start of a year-long consumer awareness campaign.  At a CapitolAHill news conference, the Congresswoman said that the "Come ShopBWith Me" campaign intends to alert American consumers to products?that are being made overseas by women and children working forpoverty-level wages.B   Standing behind a table filled with well known American goods,>Congresswoman Kaptur vowed to "peel the veneer off scrooge atAChristmas" by disclosing U.S. companies that are profitting fromusing low-wage foreign labor:@   "We will show that there is a huge gap between the prices of>products that are sold in our country, and the actual cost of-making that item outside the united states."B   Representative Kaptur held aloft a pair of Nike athletic shoes:that sell for about seventy dollars in the United States:@   "Every single Nike shoe sold in this country is made abroad.@If these shoes are made in Indonesia, the cost of production is?five dollars and sixty cents.  If the shoes are made in China,Athe cost of production and transportation to our shores is eight=dollars.  Nike profits for 1993 were one and a half billion,underline billion, dollars."A   Congresswoman Kaptur said that Nike shoe workers in China andBIndonesia, many of them women and children, toil long hours under@dangerous conditions for between ten and twelve cents per hour,+making what she called "starvation wages."B   The representative from Ohio said that Nike shoe production is?similar to that of other goods no longer made in this country,;such as Dole canned pineapple, and Mattel's highly popular"Barbie" dolls:@   "Abuses of child labor are significant in both Indonesia and=in China, and it's rather ironic to think that some of theseBdolls that are being played with by our little girls here in thisBcountry are being made by little girls, with child labor, working@very, very long hours in these companies that we have no accessto offshore."A   Joining the "Come Shop With Me" campaign is the 20,000 member8Coalition of Labor Union Women, or "CLUW" [pr. "Clue"].;   The group's vice-president, Evelyn Dubrow, spoke of the
campaign:>   "I think one of the greatest disgraces that has called theBattention of 'CLUW' to women and children around the world is the>fact that they are paid so little for working on the productsAthat are sent to this country, that there's no possible way that3they can ever enjoy the fruits of their products."A   Ms. Dubrow said that during the "Come Shop With Me Campaign,"Bthe Coalition of Labor Union Women will provide information about;foreign-made products to its members and to those of other=unions.  The labor group will use other methods to show U.S.@consumers where and under what conditions American products aremade.<   Ms. Dubrow says she hopes that the campaign will help to@influence passage of legislation already introduced in Congress@to bar importation of products to the United States that can beBshown to be manufactured overseas by companies using child labor.   ---------------   ---------------4   KENYA HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION RELEASE NEW REPORT   SONYA LAURENCE GREEN   NAIROBI>   The Kenya Human Rights Commission on Friday released a new:report chronicling cases of corruption, police brutality,@harassment of the poor, and abysmal prison conditions in Kenya.=Despite the alleged misconduct, donor nations on Friday wentAahead and pledged 800 million dollars in new aid to Kenya, threeByears after suspending the money because of human rights concernsand complaints of corruption.?   The Kenya Human Rights Commission said its latest quarterly@report presented a depressing picture of human rights abuses inKenya.>   It said there has been a significant rise in the number of<people killed in so-called "mob-justice."  Between July and>September this year, angry mobs killed 23 people suspected ofAbeing thieves or witches, beating them with stones, setting them>on fire, or shooting them with bows and arrows.  At least two;were victims of mistaken identity.  The Kenya Human Rights@Commission said the fact that vigilante mobs have taken justice@into their own hands means that Kenyans are losing faith in the4criminal justice system, and especially the police.<   Many Kenyans feel there is no use taking suspects to theApolice, since criminals can often bribe their way out of troubleBif they have the money.  Those who stay in jail are often abused.BThe report listed several cases of police beating suspects for up5to six hours at a time with clubs, sticks and whips.B   The human rights group called Kenyan prisons "death chambers",?saying 24 people died within nine months this year in custody,>and 27 more fell ill.  It said prisoners were beaten, crammedBinto tiny cells, and given food described as worse than what pigseat.@   Outside of the prisons, police are also accused of harassingAthe public.  The report said over one-thousand poor Kenyans were@seriously harassed by police, with kiosks demolished, young menarrested, and homes destroyed.>   Kenya's official police spokesman, Jeremiah Matagoro, saidAFriday that he was concerned by the charges of police brutality.<He said most of the kiosks which were torn down belonged to;vendors without appropriate licenses, and that police only5intervene if kiosk owners resist and start fighting.=   Mr. Matagoro said it is against regulations for police toAassault anybody, and it is illegal for them to take bribes.   He?said the human rights group should present him with details ofBpolice abuse.  He said if there is evidence, the offending policeBofficers would be charged and punished.  But Mr. Matagoro pointed;out that it is not just some stray police officers who areBcorrupt, but there is corruption in many parts of Kenyan society.A   The human rights group also criticized widespread corruption.<It said land-grabbing and irregular allocation of plots has8become endemic in Kenya.  The report said the country's?anti-corruption squad has only nabbed low-level offenders, andAthere is no action taken against high level corruption.  It said>donor nations should be under no illusion that corruption and9human rights abuses have been corrected so far in Kenya.   ---------------   ---------------#   UN TO SEND OBSERVERS TAJIKISTAN   ELAINE JOHANSON   UNITED NATIONS@   The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously FridayAto send a 40-member observer force to the former Soviet republic8of Tajikistan to help monitor a fragile ceasefire.  The@conditions for deployment were carefully laid out, with an exit3provision should fighting resume in the civil war.@   The Security Council gave the 40 observers a mandate for six=months.  But it said it might pull them out if the ceasefire=breaks down or the Tajik parties fail to renew the ceasefire.beyond its expiration date of February sixth.=   The council called on the Tajik government and opposition;forces to conclude a comprehensive political settlement asAquickly as possible and refrain from actions that might threatennational reconciliation.@   The Tajiks are due to hold a fourth round of talks in Moscowin January.@   Several council members expressed concern about the presence?of thousands of troops in Tajikistan, mostly Russian, from the?Commonwealth of Independent States and said they hope the U.N.@observers would also monitor their activities.  The council has@watched with some trepidation Moscow's involvement, albeit as a&peacekeeper, in its former republics.   ---------------   ---------------2   TIME MAGAZINE NAMES THE POPE "MAN OF THE YEAR"   CHRIS SIMKINS   NEW YORKA   Time magazine has named pope John Paul II as its 1994 "Man ofthe Year."A   Time Magazine says the 74-year old pontiff was the person who?, for better or worse , most affected the course of history inthe past year.B   Nominations for the "Man of the Year" were submitted this year@by Time's news correspondents and bureau chiefs from around theBworld. The magazine's special "Man of the Year" edition is one of7the most popular for its 25-million readers worldwide.:   Richard Duncan, Time maGazine's executive editor, saysBchoosing the Pope as its 1994 "Man of the Year" was based on newsjudgment, not ideology:8   "We think he (the Pope) symbolizes in a way that was@particularly evident this year the clash between secular values>and eternal beliefs, if you will. The clash is not limited to@just Christianity or to the Catholic church. It is happening as7well in the Muslim religion, and in judaism. But it isBparticularly evident in the (catholic) church with the resistanceAof the Pope and the church hierarchy to all the pressures for anAexpanded role of women in the  church, many of the pressures and5indeed the practices of birth control and abortion."A   Pope John Paul is the second leader of the Catholic Church to<be named "Man of the Year," since time magazine started theDtradition in 1927.  Pope John the 23rd was "Man of the Year" in the1960's.=   But Pope John Paul II is the first religious leader to be<selected as "Man of the Year" since the magazine picked the1Ayatollah Khomeini as "Man of the Year" in 1979.<   Time editor Richard Duncan says the magazine cover story.focuses on the future of the Catholic Church:>   "The story talks about what appears to be the disparity inAmany areas between the actual practices and options of Catholics@around the world. And the pretty hard line status of the church@hierarchy and the new cardinals that have been appointed by the@Pope. We also look at the hard traditional line of beliefs thatthe church is holding."@   Mr. Duncan says some people may disagree with the magazine's?choice for "Man of the Year," especially when issues and ideas?such as war, famine, and democracy dominated the news in 1994.ABut Mr. Duncan says the editors at time magazine believe that inthe end people change history.   ---------------   ---------------%   OFFICIAL DEFENDS U.S. FOREIGN AID   ART CHIMES   WASHINGTON>   A senior American official has defended U.S. aid programs,Awhile expressing cautious optimism that foreign aid will surviveBmore-or-less intact in the new Republican-dominated congress. The<remarks came in apparent response to Republican calls for adramatic reduction of aid.=   The head of America's primary foreign aid organization is@leading the Clinton administration's defense against a possible>reduction of aid programs.  Senator Mitch McConnell, who will@head a key subcommittee, has proposed an overall 20-percent cutBin aid and the elimination of a special fund for Africa.  He alsoAsays he wants to abolish the main U.S. foreign aid organization,*the agency for international development.=   The agency's head, Brian Atwood is calling for a nationaldebate on aid programs.B   Otherwise, he says, efforts to slash government spending could?lead, almost accidentally, to major reductions in aid that may$not be in America's best interests:@   "We will move into the new session of congress, we will passAthe constitutional amendment to balance the budget, we will pass@the budget resolution, and we will so limit the funding that weAhave for our international accounts that we will wake up one day9and find that indeed our country has taken a turn towardisolationism."=   Mr. Atwood said U.S. aid payments have been cut, but in a7responsible way, based on country-by-country analysis:@   "We have cut it by moving out of countries that can graduate<from the foreign aid program, that can keep the development<process going in the right direction.  If we cut our budget@further, we will be cutting the development assistance programs?for countries that are not able to continue making progress in,development. It is a very dangerous trend."A   Israel and Egypt remain America's two largest aid recipients.=Israel in particular has been a target for many opponents ofAcurrent aid programs.  It is a largely-middle class country that<hardly seems to need three billion dollars in American aid.?   But Mr. Atwood said payments to mid-east countries that are)involved in peacemaking should continue:@   "A main purpose of foreign aid is crisis prevention.  In the=Middle East prior to the camp David accords, there were four<major wars fought.  Those major wars cost the world economy@billions of dollars.  We have have made an investment, a rather@small investment compared to the cost of war, in the last 14 orA15 years in financing the camp David accords.  We are not in any.way considering limiting that at this point."@   Budget-cutters in the new Congress are likely to take aim atAthe 13-billion dollar aid program, which is widely viewed as one?of the least popular ways the federal government spends money.7However, aid administrator Brian Atwood considers thatAshort-sighted.  He recalls the Marshall Plan, which help rebuildBEurope at the end of world war two and is today considered one ofAthe most successful programs in American foreign policy history.@He says that when it was first announced, more than four out of five Americans were against it.   ---------------   ---------------   U.S. AIR SAFETY   JOHN PITMAN   WASHINGTON>   Two deadly crashes involving small commuter airplanes have;renewed concerns about their safety.  One kind of commuter@aircraft, the ATR 42 has been grounded in cold weather, and two>commuter airlines, Kiwi International and American Eagle have<suspended some or all of their operations to conduct safety:investigations.  How safe are America's skies in general?9   The Federal Aviation Administration, the agency which?regulates all commercial air traffic inside the United States,Asays air travel is still the safest way to cover long distances.?   Charles Huttner is the FAA's acting associate administratorBfor air safety.  He says American travelers are still more likely@to be killed in automobile accidents than in an airplane crash:A   "There are over 50 million passengers moved over five billion5miles a year, and there's only one accident in about?four-point-six million.  That would compute to taking a random@flight a day, if you took a random flight a day, there'd be one accident in 14-thousand years.">   As for commuter planes, Mr. Huttner says even with the two?most recent crashes, the accident rate for aircraft with fewer>than 30 seats has actually declined by 70 percent in the lastyear.>   According to FAA statistics, safety records show a similar=downward trend for all aircraft, with 1994 standing out as a<stark exception.  The statistics show a total of 397 deaths.related to air crashes between 1989 and 1993.:   Two hundred sixty-nine people have died this year, but@statistics also show the total number of accidents is down morethan 10 percent.:   Mr. Huttner says his agency is working hard to prevent<accidents in the future.  But he adds that because very few=crashes are caused by the same problem, improvements must be3developed and implemented on a case-by-case basis.>   Huttner says this is particularly true with the last threecommuter plane crashes:?   "We've seen one accident involving windshear; one involvingBicing, perhaps, and one that's a mystery.  So this is not a trend?we're looking at.  What we're looking at is a series of events;that are tragic and that we need to get to the bottom of."8   Still, despite increased vigilance by federal safety?investigators following a fatal crash, critics say the FAA hasBnot been as strict in regulating the operation of smaller planes.A   David Stempler is the executive director of the InternationalBAirline Passenger Association.  While he commends the FAA for its>safety record involving large jet airplanes, he says commuterBplanes have never been required to meet the same tough standards:A   "The FAA has allowed for this situation to exist for about 20:years.  They have allowed the airlines that operate these>aircraft to operate under a lower set of safety and operating@standards.  And they've also allowed the manufacturers of theseBaircraft to certify the airplane under a lower set of standards."@   Experts on both sides agree that an overhaul of the commuter?industry is necessary.  On Wednesday, Transportation Secretary;Frederico Pena ordered a safety inspection of all commuter@planes, and the FAA has plans to create one safety standard for2all planes flying in the U.S. in the coming year.@   But doubts and fears remain among passengers.  A recent pollAby the "U.S.A Today" newspaper and CNN found 44 percent of thoseBquestioned have less confidence in air safety than they did a fewAyears ago.  And 41 percent said they would be less likely to flyon commuters altogether.   ---------------   ---------------<   TRANSPORTATION DEPT. PLAN NEW AIRLINE SAFETY REGULATIONS   JANE BERGER   WASHINGTON>   Transportation Secretary Federico Pena says he expects newBsafety regulations to be in place by the end of next year for allU.S. commuter airlines<   Transportation Secretary Federico Pena says he is deeply?troubled by five fatal U.S. air crashes this year, despite the<fact that U.S. airlines are the world's safest form of masstransportation.@   Mr. Pena earlier this week announced a three-part program to>improve airline safety after an American eagle commuter plane@crashed last Tuesday near Raleigh, North Carolina.  The programAincludes a meeting in Washington among chief airline executives,@pilots, and government officials to discuss airline safety, and1re-inspections of all airline safety procedures.B   Finally, Mr. Pena said new regulations will be put in place to@make sure that commuter planes are as safe as larger airliners:?   "We will accelerate what we started about two years ago and>that is to make sure that the same safety standards for theseAsmaller airplanes, the commuter airlines, are the same as largerAcommercial airlines, and we want to get that done, complete thatrule-making within 100 days.">   Concern has been growing about commuter airlines in recentBmonths.  An American eagle commuter plane crashed last October in@Indiana, and officials said the problem was icing on the wings.A   Just a week ago, bad winter weather grounded two heavily used=commuter planes, different versions of the ATR, and American=Eagle has now canceled commuter flights out of Chicago while:pilots undergo more intensive training for winter weatherconditions.@   In a separate interview Federal Aviation Administrator DavidBHinson said testing of the French-made ATR planes is taking place@right now in California, and he hopes the aircraft will soon beback in service:A   "This problem we found on the ATR as a result of flight tests<in France is like finding a needle in a haystack. And we'reAreasonably optimistic that the manufacturer and the French civil@aviation authority will be able to get the airplane returned toservice very soon."?   Mr. Hinson acknowledged that the federal aviation authorityBhas sometimes been slow to react to airline safety problems.  But>he expressed confidence that the creation of a  safety officeAwithin the FAA and some new regulations will improve the overallU.S. airline safety.   ---------------   ---------------8   NO CONFIDENCE VOTED CALLED OVER KING DAVID IN ISRAEL   SUSAN SAPPIR
   JERUSALEMB   A row over the image of the biblical King David has prompted a;call for a "no confidence" vote Monday against the Israeligovernment.=   Orthodox rabbis in Israel's parliament are threatening to<topple the government over a perceived insult to an ancient5monarch who ruled the land three thousand years ago.=   It all started when Foreign Minister Shimon Peres made an=uncomplimentary remark in parliament about the biblical KingDavid.9   When one religious legislator had made an unfavorable?comparison between Mr. Peres, the conciliatory peacemaker, and;King David, the brave conqueror, Mr. Peres said he did not>approve of everything King David did "on the ground or on therooftops."A   The old testament tells that David, upon seeing the beautifulBBathsheba bathing on a rooftop, had her brought to sleep with him3and sent her husband to a certain death in battle.?   Mr. Peres' comment sparked a shouting match after which one=rabbi member of parliament needed medical treatment for highblood pressure.<   The orthodox parties are unlikely to take Prime Minister?Rabin's government down in a "no confidence" vote Monday.  ButAthe affair will make it that much harder for Mr. Rabin to obtain*their badly-needed support in the future.   ---------------   ---------------   BURMA REBEL ANNIVERSARY   DAN ROBINSON   BANGKOK?   A key exile Burmese opposition group says there has been no@significant progress toward genuine democracy in Burma, despite<the start of a dialogue between the military in Rangoon and@detained democracy figure Aung San Suu Kyi.  The exile NationalBCoalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) is marking the@fourth anniversary (December 18th) of its founding by demanding5recognition of the results of 1990 elections and the,un-conditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi.:   The exile coalition, which calls itself the legitimateBgovernment of Burma, says four-years after the election permitted=by the junta in 1990, democracy is still far from a reality.>   It says the ruling State Law and Order Restoration CouncilB(SLORC) clings to power against the wishes of the Burmese people,Aand is continuing, what the statement calls, flagrant violationsof basic human rights.8   But, much of the coalition statement is devoted to a@condemnation of the constitutional convention the Burmese juntahas been directing in Rangoon.A   The junta says the constitution drafting process will lead toBa democratic system, albeit one under the ultimate control of the@military, which has already guaranteed itself a leading role inthe nation's political life.=   In its statement, the exile coalition says the conventionBshould be abolished and replaced by a genuine national conventionBwith complete implementation of the results of the 1990 election.@   The election was allowed by the military despite its violentB1988 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations.  The poll was won9overwhelmingly by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for@Democracy.  Many elected parliament members later fled into the@jungle to escape another junta crackdown, and formed the NCGUB.=   Maung Maung Aye is information minister of the oppositionAcoalition.  He says while cease-fires with various ethnic groups>and the start of talks with Aung San Suu Kyi are seen by many@outside observers as signs of progress, the junta has not shownit wants genuine democracy.?   The coalition statement calls for a comprehensive political>dialogue between the Rangoon junta on one side, and democracy=forces led by Aung San Suu Kyi and representatives of ethnicgroups.B   The statement also calls the military's formation in 1993 of a>mass organization called the Union Solidarity and DevelopmentBAssociation (U.S.D.A) an effort by the junta to hold on to power.>   Diplomats and analysts in Rangoon say the organization was;designed as the primary tool by which the junta intends to:maintain its grip on politics after a new constitution iscompleted.   ---------------   ---------------3   CAPTIVE BREEDING METHODS & ENDANGERED ELEPHANTS   KEMING KUO   WASHINGTON>   As the Republican Party regains the political spotlight onACapitol Hill, the G.O.P's mascot, the elephant, is the new focus@of attention at the National Zoo.  The first elephant ever born@at Washington's National Zoo celebrated her first birthday this=past week. The zoo's new attraction allows animal curators a?renewed opportunity to educate the public about the elephant'sendangered status in the wild.>   As the largest land animal on earth, the elephant normally=draws large crowds to its exhibit area at most zoos.  At theANational Zoo here in Washington, the crowds during the past yearBhave been much larger than normal because of the birth of Kumari,,the zoo's first elephant bred in captivity.A   John Lehnhardt, manager of the National Zoo elephant program,?says Kumari's strength and good health as a baby is especiallygratifying:B   "This is a wonderful celebration of the first year of Kumari's<life.  She's really important to us in a lot of ways.  One,>[she's] an important representative of an endangered species.<We're participants in a species survival plan for the Asian>elephant.  Two, it's a triumph of will, over the problems andAtribulations we had very early, the medical problems she and the?mother had in the first seven weeks.  But those are all behind=her; Kumari's doing great as you can see this morning: She's,incredibly playful, active, [and] healthy.";   Mr. Lehnhardt's assessment is shared by Marie Galloway,<elephant specialist, who probably spends the most time with9Kumari and the four other elephants at the National Zoo:A   "She's basically real sweet.  She can be obnoxious, but she'sBnot quite as bad as I expected a baby elephant to be.  I expected@300 pounds [136 kg] of completely uncontrollable energy.  She's?somewhat like that, but not as bad as I thought she'd be.  SheAhas learned quite well.  She's learned to lay down and that sort5of thing at a faster rate than I expected, as well."?   An Asian elephant, Kumari gets her name from the Sri LankanAword  for "princess."  Kumari's mother, "Shanthi" means "peace,"9so Kumari's name as "princess of peace" seems especially?appropriate, since she was born near Christmas.  Mr. Lehnhardt=says the strong appeal of Kumari and Shanthi to zoo visitorsBprovides his staff an opportunity to explain the need to continue=captive breeding research and to preserve elephant habitats.BBecause of such habitat destruction, and poaching of elephants toBsell their tusks, the number of elephants in Africa declined from@about 1.3 million a little more than a decade ago, to less than<half that amount presently.  During visits to Sri Lanka and:eastern Africa earlier this year, the National Zoo's JohnBLehnhardt got first-hand knowledge of how endangered elephants inthe wild really are.@   "It confirmed for me, especially after my trip to Sri Lanka,Athe tremendous need to maintain our drive to reproduce elephants;in captivity," said Lehnhardy.  "They are really seriously?threatened throughout their range.  Human population expansion?and differing needs for resources have really threatened them.:Even the working population of elephants is endangered insoutheast Asia."@   In addition to helping other countries improve their captiveAbreeding programs for elephants, Mr. Lehnhardt also provided hisBhosts the latest research for a program resulting in the oppositeAeffect: Contraception.  Limiting the breeding of some animals is?necessary in order to preserve the best gene pools and promote diversity of elephant families.@   With the success of the birth and raising of young Kumari atBthe national zoo, Mr. Lehnhardt says there will be future captive(breeding attempts with their elephants::   "In the next year, we're hoping to, through artificialAinsemination,  breed Shanthi again, so we don't have to send her?to another zoo.  We can keep the family group together, so the@wild female elephants and their offspring can spend their livestogether."B   John Lehnhardt, manager of the national zoo's elephant program7in Washington, is a leading expert on captive breedingtechniques.   ---------------   ---------------   HAMAS FUNDING   VICTOR BEATTIE   WASHINGTON@   A report prepared for the U.S. Congress says the Palestinian@militant group, Hamas,  is receiving funds from private sourcesAin moderate Arab states and possibly through the Iranian Embassy;in Jordan.  U.S. officials say it is an attempt to drive a9further wedge between Hamas and the Palestine liberationorganization.?   The report, prepared by the Congressional Research Service,;says the private contributors remain angry about the PLO's@support of Iraq during the 1991 Persian-Gulf War.  Hamas, which?has repeatedly launched terrorist attacks from the Palestinian>self-rule areas into Israel, opposes the PLO's recognition of$Israel and the self-rule agreement.>   The group is said to have an office in Saudi Arabia.  LastAyear, a delegation visited qatar to discuss aid to the group andthe Palestinian people.?   The amount of aid provided to Hamas from these private Arab?contributors is unclear.  But, the Congressional report quotes?unidentified western intelligence sources as saying the figure amounts to millions of dollars.9   The report says there is also circumstantial evidence:suggesting Jordan unwittingly or reluctantly is hosting a@potential Iranian conduit to Hamas.  Iran re-opened its embassy?in Jordan two-years ago.  The report says Hamas activists have*easy access to the West Bank from Jordan.=   U.S. officials are quick to add Jordan opposes terrorism.<Jordan earlier this year signed a peace treaty with Israel.=   The Clinton administration has accused Hamas of trying tosabotage the peace process.   ---------------   ---------------   HIROSHIMA BOMB DEBATE   ADAM PHILLIPS   WASHINGTON?   It has been almost fifty years since August 6th, 1945, whenAthe United States dropped an atomic bomb on Japan, an event that=led to Japan's unconditional surrender eight days later. But?commemorations marking that event, including an exhibit at theASmithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. and a special postage<stamp, have led to an intense debate over the emotional and;historical meaning of that signal moment in world history.A   The nuclear bombs the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,:Japan in August 1945 killed an estimated 200,000 civilian>Japanese. President Truman said he decided to use the bomb toAforce Japan's immediate and unconditional surrender, which wouldBprevent the human and financial cost of an allied invasion of the?Japanese home islands. Sure enough, the Japanese did surrenderafter the bombs were dropped.>   Recently, however, archival evidence suggests the Japanese>were planning to surrender soon anyway, that they were simply>holding out for allied assurances that their emperor would be>allowed to stay on after the war. According to this research,APresident Truman was well aware of this through decoded Japanese>messages and his own top level advisers. Author Kai Bird is a3Guggenheim fellow and an historian of that period.B   "There's always more to learn", says Bird, "and particularly aBdecision as secretive as Truman's decision to use this new exotic@weapon of mass destruction against two civilian cities in Japan@at the end of the war. This has been shrouded with myth. Now in>the minds of all the veterans who were out there on the front?lines, facing certainly very high casualties, they believed in>their gut and they believe it to this day that the bomb savedtheir lives. "B   But Mr. Bird and many of his historian-colleagues believe that@the desire for American troop safety and a quick end to the warAwere only part of the reason why America made two atomic strikesagainst Japan.@   "Some historians argue that there was a sort of bureaucraticAmomentum involved in the decision," says Bird, "that two billion>dollars had already been expended on it, that the head of theAManhattan Project was determined to show this bomb could be used@and that the money had been well spent. Some historians suggestAthat atomic diplomacy was involved. And again, we found archival8documents where it's clear truman regards the bomb as a>diplomatic weapon, that it will, quote 'make the Soviets more8manageable in the postwar era if we use the bomb on the
Japanese.' "=   Many of those who lived this history have no sympathy forBhistorians, peace activists or, of course, any Japanese, who call;the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki unjustified.@   Grayford Payne was captured by the Japanese early in the war<and remained their prisoner until the day they surrendered.>   "You know," says Payne, "they go back and they say 'was we?justified?' when they bombed Pearl Harbor, when the first bomb@hit, you damn right we were justified! They [the United States]=would never have laid it on them if they hadn't bombed Pearl	Harbor!"A   Mr. Payne, who witnessed countless atrocities by the Japanese9against both civilians and his fellow POW's, both in theAPhilippines and Japan, believes the bomb saved his life. To thisAday, he remembers the English signs on the walls of Japanese POW<camps that linked him and his buddies to President Truman's5decision to invade Japan or take the nuclear option.@   According to Payne, "I was a prisoners and in my camp it wasAposted orders by Hei Diki Dojo, on the first American landing on?the mainland, all prisoners will be shot' to get us out of the&way. They meant it. That was orders."?   There has been a fractious debate in the United State about=the best way to mark the anniversary of Hiroshima. A special=commemorative stamp showing a mushroom cloud was rejected as?being insensitive to Japanese survivors of the bomb. It is nowBbeing re-designed. But the greatest flap has surrounded the plans>by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum to display9"The Enola Gay" airplane that dropped the atomic bomb onAHiroshima.  The exhibit would also have included exhibits of the;bombs' effects on Japanese civilians, quotes from Truman's@advisers cautioning him about using the bomb, and the effect of+this new technology on post-war stability.B   On one side of the controversy are the historians who advocate<a coolheaded approach to the facts, where the uncomfortable@ambiguity of the bomb and its legacy are fully explored. On the@other side are veterans groups and others who think that it was?American valor during the war that should set the tone for the;anniversary. Phil Budahn (boo-dahn) is a spokesman for the7American Legion, the nation's largest veteran's group.A   "It seemed to be that the people who put the exhibit together?made a deliberate effort to be nice to the Japanese tourists,">says Budahn, "which is a good idea, and it is good that we'reBsensitive to that. But in trying to be sensitive to the Japanese,Bthey ended up being insensitive to the Americans and we were veryconcerned...."=   Secretary of the Smithsonian Michael Heyman (hay-men) hasBoverseen five reworkings of the exhibition script in an effort to2please both sides of the "Enola Gay" controversy.A   Still, Hyman admits that the historic plane may symbolize too(much for true agreement to be possible:B   "It really stands for two things, the 'Enola Gay.' one is thatAit was obviously the most instrumental airplane in ending a very>brutal war between the United States and Japan. And the otherAwas, that it ushered in the use of atomic weapons. Both of those?are extraordinary events connected with the 'Enola Gay.'. Now,Ashowing both of those, creating a context for both, proves to be6very difficult, but that's what we're seeking to do."A   Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Mr. Michael Heyman.BThe "Ground Zero" exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum is;scheduled to open in May, if the conflict around it can be
resolved.   ---------------   ---------------,   WORLD BANK REPORT ON GLOBAL MALNUTRITION
   ROB SIVAK   WASHINGTON@   A new report by the World Bank says millions of lives around:the world could be saved, and the health of billions moreBimproved, by eliminating deficiencies of three critical nutrients:in people's diets. The World Bank report says despite the?severity of this global malnutrition problem, simple, low-cost1solutions are available, and waiting to be used.A   Diets lacking sufficient quantities of vitamin a, iodine, and>iron are causing death, disease and crippling health problemsAthroughout the developing world.  Senior World Bank nutritionist>Judith Mcguire says more than two billion people today are at>risk from these micronutrient deficiencies, and more than one?billion people are actually ill or disabled by them, sufferingAmental retardation, reduced work capacity, learning difficulties=or blindness.  Ms. McGuire documents the enormous social and>economic cost of these dietary problems in her new World BankAreport entitled "enriching lives: Overcoming vitamin and mineral'malnutrition in developing countries."=   The World Bank nutritionist says deficiency of vitamin a,Acommonly found in carrots and green, leafy vegetables, is one of,the most destructive types of malnutrition:9   "If you have a severe shortage of vitamin a, there isBblindness and illness associated with that. But recently, we have@found from doing some large-scale intervention studies, that in@fact, even before you see severe signs of vitamin a deficiency,Athat the immune system is injured, and therefore people get sick?and there is a significant increased death rate, even when youAdon't have serious signs of vitamin a malnutrition. We calculateBthat about half a million children each year get severely vitaminAa deficient, and maybe half of those die. And of the other half,+many of them go blind in one eye or both.":   Ms. McGuire says deficiencies of dietary iodine are anBespecially acute problem because iodized salt, the primary sourceBof the mineral in developed countries, is not widely available inAless affluent countries. Lack of iodine is the cause of a commonAand painful thyroid gland condition known as goiter, it's blamed?for a generalized lack of energy, and in pregnant women severe<iodine shortage can lead to cretinous, or severely retardedbabies.@   Ms. McGuire notes that even moderate deficiencies of iodine,Aover time, can have devastating effects on the measurable mental(capacity, or IQ, of entire populations:A   "In fact, a recent study found a thirteen-point-five IQ point?reduction. That is a serious reduction in IQ for a population.ASome interventions in China showed that this IQ loss resulted inAeconomic loss for towns and villages that did not have access toiodized salt."=   This subtle dietary damage often remains hidden, says Ms.@McGuire, because everyone in a community is similarly affected.@   The World Bank nutritionist says iron deficiency, also knownAas anemia, affects at least one billion people worldwide, and is>the most common form of malnutrition. One of the best dietaryBsources for iron, red meat, is not widely available in low-income9nations, and the iron available in grains is not as wellAabsorbed. Ms. McGuire says the problem, usually seen as lethargyAor energy loss, can be life-threatening in pregnant women, whoseBbodies typically require extra amounts of iron. She notes that in<Africa, 30 percent of the children who enter hospitals with3severe anemia die unless given blood transfusions.>   The economic costs of these micronutrient deficiencies areBhuge.  According to the World Bank report, they can waste as muchAas 5 percent of a nation's gross domestic product in lost lives,Bdisability and worker productivity. But solutions to the problem,>the report emphasizes, are extraordinarily cheap. Globally, a@program to fortify diets with vitamin a, iodine, and iron would?cost about one billion dollars a year, or about one dollar for>each affected person.  For the typical affected nation, it is@about ten to fifteen times cheaper to solve the problem than todo nothing.9   And author Judith McGuire says the solutions are alsoremarkably simple:B   "The solutions to these problems lie in three areas. There areAsupplements, very familiar to the western world, vitamins pills,?minerals, etcetera, but in addition we can also fortify foods.?And we can educate people about the right foods to eat and the%right combinations of foods to eat."@   Of course, lack of food can be a factor in malnutrition. But@Ms. McGuire says the real problem is simply that the foods many=people do eat don't satisfy the body's needs for these threeessential micronutrients.<   The nutritionist believes real improvements are at hand,Ahowever. She notes that while the World Bank has not been activeBon the micronutrient issue during the past decade, it is stepping<up its efforts now to address these crippling deficiencies.>Judith McGuire notes in her report that the World Bank is notBonly funding a host of new food fortification and salt iodization<programs, including its first in China, but also supporting@improved rural health delivery services and nutrition education*projects throughout the developing world.   ---------------   ---------------   TRANSIT MADE FRIENDLY   PAUL FRANCUCH   MINNEAPOLIS>   A new project about to get underway in the Midwest city of@Minneapolis, Minnesota may prompt commuters to get out of their?cars and on to buses instead.  The system relies on a trackingAsystem which uses satellites and computers to give riders almost(immediate information on local transit.A   The system, called "Travlink", is  part of a broader nationalAeffort to make transportation "smarter," to use the word favored>by its sponsors.  Federal agencies, along with private firms,>have combined efforts and resources to make people more aware?and, it is hoped, more receptive to using mass transit and car-pooling, rather than driving alone in a car.=   In the greater "Twin Cities" area of Minneapolis-St. Paul@Minnesota, a year-long test along a new stretch of superhighway<will determine if easy-to-read signs and other devices thatBprovide up-to-the minute information on buses will make commuters?seriously consider that alternative.  Bob Gibbons is spokesman(for the local regional transit network.B   Gibbons says buses will be tracked by guidance satellites used?during the 1991 Persian Gulf war to pin-point bus locations atany given time::   "The reason to do that is to be able to give customers9real-time information about the status of their bus.  AtA'park-and-ride' locations where customers come in their cars and;then board a bus,  there are message boards that will will>display messages on the  status of their bus, both inside the?shelter, like you might see an  airport monitor that gives you=the status of your flight, and also  on large message boards;which will be viewable from your car as you're sitting and
waiting."B   Project coordinator Marilyn Remer ('ree-mur) says riders along=the test route will have information kiosks as well as large@outdoor signs to get updated bus information.  Others accordingBto Remer will have access to the information simply by calling itup on their home computers:8   "This allows them to tie-into the system, to ask the?information about the bus service.  They can do trip planning,Afind out various information about the buses themselves and alsocar-pooling, ride sharing."B   Project consultant, Bill Gardener, says the Minnesota Travlink?is one aspect of a new field broadly described as "intelligent;transportation systems" where sophisticated technology hasuseful, everyday applications:?   "New technology, some of which was developed in the defense<industry and other high-tech areas, is now being applied toBtransportation. And the whole intent is to make it safer, to make+the transportation system more efficient.":   Project partner Westinghouse Electronics developed the6computer-aided dispatch and tracking system.  CompanyBrepresentative  Stacy Lawson says the tracking has already proved?successful in other  test cities, such as Denver, Colorado andMilwaukee, Wisconsin.<   Ms. Lawson says the Minnesota project marks a new phase:A   "What we're using this system for is to take that information@another  step and disseminate it to the public in hopes that itBwill garner a better respect for mass transit and convince people?who are on the  border-line between 'do I drive my car or do IAget on the bus?' into choosing the mass transit as their mode of	travel."<   It is well-know that in the frigid winters of Minnesota,Bcommuters will not trade the warmth and comfort of their cars forAa bus ride, if they have to stand a long time waiting for a bus.?But commuters may take a bus if they know exactly when it willreach their stop.B   That's what promoters of Travlink hope will happen. Consultant<Bill Gardener says the year-long experiment should answer avariety of questions:@   "What's the demand for this type of information?  Might they6even be  willing to pay for it so that this becomes a;self-sufficient system and not need a government subsidy?"@   The test project costs six-and-a-half million dollars but it<involves less than 10 percent of the system's buses.  If it=proves popular, the system may be expanded with costs offset?perhaps by commercial advertisements tied to transit displays.   ---------------   ---------------*   NEW COMPUTER MOVIE: WING COMMANDER III   GREG FLAKUS   LOS ANGELES?   The convergence between hollywood and the world of computer@games was made apparent last month with the release of the game="Under A Killing mOon," but, a new movie-like computer game,?"Wing Commander III," takes the technology and artistry a step	further.=   "Wing Commander III: The Heart of The Tiger" is an actionAmovie set in outer space, but it is also an interactive computer?game that allows the player to enter the fictional setting and=determine how the story unfolds.  It was developed by Origin<Systems of Austin, Texas, with live action scenes filmed in;hollywood studios featuring such well-known actors as Mark?Hamill, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the "StarWars" film series.?   The people who put this game together also love to play it.-That includes project director Frank Savage:@   "We have a completely three-dimensional navigation map here,Bbecause we are in space.  So, if you hit one key you can actuallyAcenter the action on yourself and zoom way in.  You can see your=ship there and the little blue dot on top which is your wingman."A   "Wing Commander III" is a truly multi-dimensional game. Frank?savage notes that the dialogue, the way the dialogue is spoken=and the scenes themselves all change with the way the playerchooses to play the game:<   "Basically, what just happened in this conversation, for>example, is that you flew the mission successfully.  You cameAback and Hobbes said, 'congratulations, old friend, it certainly>felt good to be back out there again!'  Had you not flown the@mission successfully, Hobbes would have said, 'I am sorry I letAyou down, old friend, but it certainly felt good to be out there@again!' Which is essentially the same conversation, just either@beginning with a 'gee we did a good job' or 'I guess we did not7do so well.'  That way, you can actually influence the?conversations and the way things happen.  The back part of theAconversation is essentially the same, but the beginning parts of@the conversation change,  or the middle parts or the end parts,?depending on how you have interacted while you have flown, whoByou have talked to and how you approached them and things of that	nature.">   In producing the game, each scene had to be filmed several=different times with different dialogue or subtle changes intone.>   Mark Hamill says that, for an actor, this was a challenge:=   "It is one thing to memorize your lines and it is another;thing to memorize four times your lines.  And, also, it is>tricky.  You could be having a conversation and you could sayBsomething that would trigger me into column three and I would not?realize it because some of the differences were subtle.  Then,@someone would say, excuse me, Mark is on column c and Ginger ison column a.";   The main creative force behind "Wing Commander III" was?26-year old producer Chris Roberts, who began writing computerBgame programs in his native Britain before coming to Austin sevenyears ago.<   Roberts says that an important factor in game success is?opening up interactive options without losing the main thread:>   "As an interactive story-teller, you want to make sure theAplayer experiences much of the story you are trying to tell, butAfeels like he is in control of the direction of the story and it?is a fine line to walk.  Cerebrally, it is very interesting to>have ten or a hundred different endings.  But you will not be;able to tell as good a story if it has a hundred different
endings.">   Chris Roberts says this type of computer game differs from?others in that the development of characters and a story gives>the interactive battle sequences more meaning for the player:B   "Story gives the action context and meaning.  When you are outAin space fighting, you are with people you met on board the shipBand maybe you like them or do not like them, so you actually care?about what happens to them out in space and you fight for them4and it sort of elevates the whole game experience.">   "Wing Commander III: The Heart of the Tiger" comes on fourACD-ROM discs and must be played on an IBM compatible, multimedia>computer.  The production cost four million dollars, which is@unheard of for a computer game, although not very much by moviestandards.@   Mark Hamill sees this relationship between hollywood and thecomputer game world growing:?   "I can see the day when you could shoot a major, big-budget@feature and, as you shoot the picture, shoot enough material toAmake the game without going in and doing it as a separate piece.?Anything that leads to more jobs for actors, hey, I am all forit!"<   Origin media relations director David Swofford sees even1greater opportunities ahead for this new medium:@   "On down the road, we know that our industry is getting moreBinto the entertainment industry and (someday) you will be able to;play interactive movies on your television screen.  We are:certainly thinking in those terms and keeping in mind the=technology that is being developed.  That is the name of theAgame, it is just trying to keep a step ahead of everybody else."A   For the moment, origin is on top of the market with its "Wing<Commander" game and the creative team is already at work onanother production.   ---------------   ---------------2   LANI GUINIER'S PROPOSAL FOR A DIALOGUE ON RACE   WASHINGTON, D.C.   KLEINFELDTB   A prominent and controversial African-American legal professorAwould like to see a national conversation on racial relations inthe United States.<   Last year, University of Pennsylvania law professor LaniBGuinier (gwin-eer) was unsuccessful in becoming the United States@Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.  President ClintonBwithdrew her nomination following intense congressional criticism=of some of her legal theories on racial issues.  A long-time:friend of President Clinton and First Lady Hillary RodhamBClinton, Ms. Guinier was troubled by the fact that her nomination?was withdrawn before she was able to argue her case before thesenate judiciary committee.@   Today, Lani Guinier remains concerned about racial relationsBin the United States.  She has created a non-profit center calledACommonplace, an organization designed to overcome an adversarial;approach to gender and racial differences.  Ms. Guinier is>herself biracial, born to a white mother and a father who wasblack.?   Speaking recently to journalists in Washington, Ms. Guinier7says campaigns which target specific racial groups aredetrimental to all:?   "They are not like us.  They are blameworthy.  If we simply?name and then blame our problems on them, we can, we are told,@sleep well like the normal Americans we are.  But our discourseAof blame is failing Americans of all races.  We will all lose ifBwe allow negative campaigns with their racial coding about 'them',to dominate the conversation of democracy."A   Lani Guinier says some politicians play on the fear of votersin order to win elections:=   "Rather than changing the nature of the debate to justify?better, more accountable government, or to show how protecting:the interests of racial minorities and the urban poor areAintegral to our collective self-interest, instead politicians ofAall stripes have been pandering to white fears of blacks, coding@the racial subtext in the language of welfare reform and 'toughon crime' policies.">   During her nomination for the Justice Department job, LaniAGuinier was criticized for legal writings that critics said were:extremist and that favored rigid quota systems that wouldunfairly benefit minorities.=   She says her portrayal by her critics was inaccurate, andAdemonstrates the complexity about the racial debate in the U.S."B   "One of the arguments I was given for the decision to withdraw?my nomination without a hearing was that confirmation hearings<would be divisive and polarizing. But I do not believe that;talking about race invariably leads to an 'us versus them'@debate.  Talking, especially if structured to assure reasonableBrepresentation of relevant perspectives and the need, not just to?talk, but to listen, may instead reveal points of commonality.=Talking can be cathartic, not just chaotic.  It can vent andArelieve pressure and help identify positive solutions, solutions in which we all win something."<   Lani Guiner says the time to explore racial issues, both$disputes and common ground, is now:A   "We need to remove the discussion of race from the culture of6conflict deception and hypocrisy, which characterizesAcontemporary public discourse, we need to replace an 'I'm right,@you're wrong,' adversarial model of truth detection in favor ofAan approach where participants are encouraged to identify points>of agreement, understand the basis for disagreement, and then@cooperate in collective brainstorming and task-oriented problem
solving."?   The changing demographics of the United States, featuring aBgrowing minority population, and the globalization of its economyAmake such a dialogue imperative, according to Ms. Guinier.  Next@fall, her commonplace organization will host such a dialogue onracial issues in philadelphia.?   "We will have a national conversation to bring together the=media decision-makers, academics, civil rights advocates and@public policy experts," says Guinier.  "We will have a nationalAconversation that brings people of different perspectives to theAtable, provides a common set of readings, trains participants in>a less-conflict driven form of public dialogue and then seeks8their assistance and collaboration in developing a moreAinclusive, non-adversarial public discourse on race, justice andAmerica's future."   ---------------   ---------------   HOLLYWOOD INTERACTIVE   GREG FLAKUS   LOS ANGELESB   The biggest trend in the computer software industry these days7is also the biggest new trend in the entertainment and>educational publishing worlds, the development of interactiveBcomputer programs.  The convergence between Hollywood and Silicon>Valley has been dubbed "Sillywood" by some observers, but the@major players are already investing millions of dollars in what2they see as the interactive entertainment future.=   "Wing Commander III: The Heart of the Tiger" is an actionAmovie set in outer space, but it is also an interactive computer?game that allows the player to enter the fictional setting and!determine how the story unfolds.=   The detective hero of "Under a Killing Moon" is sometimes=inept and often funny, but he does not operate alone.  He is@guided in his investigation by the decisions made by whoever isplaying the game.<   Both "Wing Commander III" and "Under a Killing Moon" are:movies in the form of computer games.  They could also be<described as computer games that incorporate motion pictureBsegments into the action.  These two products, both of which wereBreleased within the past two months, represent the development of<a new medium.  Movie industry observers compare this to theBintroduction of sound films in the late 1920's, but many computer9industry leaders believe the changes happening representsomething even more profound.?   Steve Witzel, marketing director for Access Software, which?produced "Under a Killing Moon," sees this type of interactive,game emerging as a medium in its own right:A   "We see in four or five years, the interactive movie genre is@really going to capture a piece of the entertainment market. ItAcertainly is not going to replace video or film, but we think it<is going to emerge on its own as a full fledged, legitimateentertainment form."A   Hollywood has been using computer technology for some time to;create images within motion pictures.  From "Star Wars" to="Jurassic Park," computers have been used to produce digital<creations that look more real than any that could have been9produced through standard artwork.  But this is simply aAcentury-old medium being updated with computer technology.   The@new computer games are interactive experiences that owe more to8the digital processing chip than they do to the camera.A   Interactive movies have been made possible by the development<of ever faster computer chips and by the incorporation into=computers of CD-ROM drives.   A CD-ROM is a Read-Only-MemoryBCompact Disc capable of holding billions of bytes of information.AThe entire contents of a multi-volume encyclopedia can be storedAon just one such disc, and for many years, storing documents andBother written material was the main use for CD-ROMS.  In the past@few years, however, computer programmers have created an entire@new industry, producing electronic books, interactive games andeducational tools on CD-ROM.;   Using a computer with a CD-ROM drive, parents and their>children can now see and hear historic figures like president:John F. Kennedy in addition to reading about them.   SuchAproducts as Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia on CD-ROM provide?images, sound, short film clips and textual information at theclick of a button.@   The appeal of these products goes far beyond their practical=use,  they sell because they are fascinating and fun to use.@The computer technology that has transformed the business world=with word processing programs, accounting programs and otherBpractical applications has now entered what could prove to be its+most lucrative market, home entertainment.?   As the number of home-based multimedia computers grows, the?market for ever more sophisticated entertainment software will<also grow.   Worldwide, there are now more than 120 million>desktop computers.  Only about 23 million of them have CD-ROMAcapabilities, but game producers say this is sufficient critical>mass to build on.   What's more, CD-ROM drives are becoming a>standard part of many new computer packages, especially those>aimed at the domestic consumer market.  In 1994, more than 17:million CD-ROM drives were shipped all over the world and@industry officials say the coming year will see an explosion in"the sale of multimedia platforms.A   Jim Wickett, vice president of business development at Rocket<Science Games in Palo Alto, California, says there are huge@potential profits for companies that produce the games with the
most appeal:B   "I think what you have to realize is that in the United States>alone, the game software market today is a six-billion dollarBmarket.  When you add the hardware sales on top of that and it is@a ten-billion-dollar-a-year market.  In fact, it is bigger than=the feature film theatrical market, even as it stands today.BWhat we are seeing happen in game platforms is the decline of the>cartridge games, which are almost like cave man structures or<images and with the proliferation of CD-ROM, both on the PC?(personal computer) as well as new game machines incorporating=CD-ROMs, a much higher level of entertainment quality is nowAavailable because of the sheer amount of content a CD-ROM holds.6That is very exciting for us, because we are creating8environments that people want to be in, and interestingAcharacters for people to deal with,  so,  in that respect, it is#a whole new era of entertainment.";   While game producers are working feverishly to meet the;demands of the emerging market, the market itself is being>driven, to some extent, by the products that are now becoming?available, both for education and entertainment.   To be sure,?the products include no small number of pornographic offerings>and some games that appeal mainly to people willing to invest8long hours in digital battlegrounds or in mind-boggling>labyrinths.   But the titles that are truly blazing the trail;into a new media frontier are interactive experiences that?reward the player with enchanting images of so-called "VirtualAWorlds."   In Virgin Interactive's "Seventh Guest," for example,;players enter a haunted house full of surprises and try to9unravel its mysteries.   In Broderbund's "Myst," players@encounter scenes of haunting beauty as they explore the secrets?of a cyber-world that exists only within the circuits of their
computer.7   One of the best examples of how this new medium canBincorporate film techniques and interactive computer capabilitiesAis "Under a Killing Moon," which was produced by access software=in Salt Lake City, Utah. To play the game and experience the:movie, a player must guide detective Tex Murphy through a>futuristic world and decide what approach he should take with other characters he encounters.A   Depending on what Tex Murphy says and how he says it, he, and@by extension, the player, will either make progress on the case@or run into blind alleys. Professional actors were used to film=the live action sequences in "Under A Killing Moon."   Their@images were then placed digitally into scenes that were created<entirely within a computer.  For example, in one scene, TexAMurphy enters a bar and encounters a character played by actressMargot Kidder.B   "So, you are Tex Murphy.  Well, we are going to make your trip:as comfortable as possible.  Nighty-night! (Evil laugh)."?   The seedy bar where this action takes place was all createdBdigitally by computer artists in Access Software's rather spartan@headquarters operation in an industrial park near the Salt LakeBCity airport. Margot Kidder stood before a blue screen in a small=studio on site to perform her part and was inserted into theBscene later.   She and the other performers in the computer movieAhad to read several times as many lines as would be required for>most motion pictures, because "Under A Killing Moon" containsBseveral different paths that the player can follow and the action5and the lines spoken are somewhat different in each.@   Actor Mark Hamill, best-known for his role as Luke Skywalker<in the "Star Wars" films, says participating in interactive<movies is a new and sometimes bewildering experience for anactor.?   Hamil says he was working on another production with Margot?Kidder when he was recruited to play a part in "Wing CommanderIII: The Heart of the Tiger":B   "When the cast found out I was going to be gone for six weeks,Athey asked,' what are you going to be doing?' and I said, 'well,7it is a movie, well, it is not really a movie.'  is itBtelevision?  'no, it is not really tv.'  and I said, 'if you want@to know the truth, it is an interactive CD-ROM game' and MargotBsaid,  'oh, I did one of those, they are great fun!'  Having done@one allays a lot of the fears you might have.   When they askedBme to do this, I thought, 'I don't know' when they asked me to do>this.  I would hate to get out there and just stiff (do a bad?job) on these people.   It is one thing to memorize your linesBand it is another thing to memorize four times your lines.   And,@also, it is tricky.  You could be having a conversation and youBcould say something that would trigger me into column three and IBwould not realize it because some of the differences were subtle.<Then, someone would say, excuse me, Mark is on column c andGinger is on column a."A   "Wing Commander III" is a truly multi-dimensional game. Frank=Savage, who helped develop the project for Origin Systems of@Austin, Texas, notes that the dialogue, the way the dialogue is=spoken and the scenes themselves all change with the way the!player chooses to play the game:<   "Basically, what just happened in this conversation, for>example, is that you flew the mission successfully.  You cameAback and Hobbes said, "congratulations, old friend, it certainly>felt good to be back out there again!"  Had you not flown the@mission successfully, Hobbes would have said, "I am sorry I letAyou down, old friend, but it certainly felt good to be out there@again!" Which is essentially the same conversation, just either@beginning with a "gee we did a good job" or "I guess we did not7do so well."  That way, you can actually influence the?conversations and the way things happen.  The back part of theAconversation is essentially the same, but the beginning parts of@the conversation change,  or the middle parts or the end parts,?depending on how you have interacted while you have flown, whoByou have talked to and how you approached them and things of that	nature."?   All the scenery, including the fast-flying space craft, and@all of the music in "Wing Commander III" were created digitally>by Origin's programmers in Austin, and the live action scenes#were filmed in a Hollywood studio.;   The main creative force behind "Wing Commander III" was?26-year old producer Chris Roberts, who began writing computerBgame programs in his native Britain before coming to austin sevenyears ago.B   He says that an important factor in game success is opening up4interactive options without losing the main thread:>   "As an interactive story-teller, you want to make sure theAplayer experiences much of the story you are trying to tell, butAfeels like he is in control of the direction of the story and it>is a fine line to walk. Cerebrally, it is very interesting to>have ten or a hundred different endings.  But you will not be;able to tell as good a story if it has a hundred different
endings.">   While interactive movies are essentially computer games at=heart, their storytelling capability, enhanced by well-drawn<characterizations, makes them far more compelling than most?games.   The creative people working on interactive movies seeAtechnology as a tool to help tell the story, rather than as toys-to play with for their own intrinsic appeal.>   Steve Witzel of Access Software, says this approach helped@make his company's "Under A killing Moon" a successful product.@   "The story was done by two people and the words put on paper>by essentially one person, but it was done as a story without@technological restraints initially. It was laid out as, - 'thisAis a story we want to tell.'   they then went to the programmersBand said, 'this is the story that needs to be told and we need toAthis, this and this technologically,  to tell the story. And the@programmers said, 'we cannot do that.'   and they (the writers)Asaid,' we need to do this, this and this to tell the story or itBis not going to work.  So, the programmers worked and they worked>really hard for a long time.  This was not a typical computerBproduct where the programmers would say, 'this is what we can do,?now you figure out a story that will take advantage of that. '>it worked the other way.  It worked from a story and we think$that is where it has its strength."B   Access Software's co-president, Chris Jones, plays the part of9Tex Murphy in "Under A Killing Moon" and also guides theBcompany's development of future products. He sees the increase in=computing power in homes as an encouraging sign for this newmedium:@   "I think eventually will be able to seamlessly integrate theBmovie aspects into an environment where a person feels he is moreAand more involved with this.  As the computers get more powerfulAand we get more pentiums on the market, where we are not limited?by the speed of the data being transferred onto the screen, we8should be able to do close to total movie effects, with;full-screen activity and pretty soon be able to seamlessly?incorporate all the elements that we consider to be in a great;movie into an environment that people feel they are reallyBinvolved with.  Once we do that, I think,  we are going to have a@totally new level of entertainment medium for people to enjoy."@   Some industry analysts see the accelerating pace of computerBdevelopment leading to even more exotic interactive entertainment?options in the future, including  games that will be played by;many players at once, in separate locations, linked by the(information superhighway of the future.@   David Swofford, media relations director for Origin Systems,>says his company is keeping an eye on that future, even as itdevelops its current products:@   "On down the road, we know that our industry is getting moreBinto the entertainment industry and (someday) you will be able to<play interactive movies on your television screen.   We are:certainly thinking in those terms and keeping in mind the=technology that is being developed.  That is the name of theBgame,  it is just trying to keep a step ahead of everybody else."A   Keeping ahead in the interactive entertainment industry is noBeasy task.  While smaller software firms have created some of the?most innovative products, the big players are all entering the<scene now.  Every major studio in Hollywood now has its own?interactive division, including the Walt Disney Company, whichAhas entered the market with a formidable array of games based on)its popular cartoon and film characters.>   Jim Wickett of Rocket Science Games, sees a future for all:existing media as well, since they can all work together:B   "I think all entertainment products play into each other, both?the media as well as the actual content. Television, in a way,Bplayed into Hollywood because Hollywood was able to put movies onAtelevision. Similarly, when we come up with an original game, ifBthe game is a big hit, there is, all of a sudden, book publishing>rights, there are movie rights,  television series rights, et9cetera.   Our first game, "Loadstar: The Legend of Tully?Bodine,", we are currently in negotiation with one of the U.S.?television networks, and this started before the game had even?come out, on doing a Friday evening series based on that game.?Book publishers have approached us, wanting to buy book rights>and one very popular game from last year just sold their bookBrights for a million dollars. So, I think all of this is going to=feed off each other.  Just as Hollywood is now interested in>making an interactive game version out of a Hollywood feature=film.  Likewise, you are seeing products that started off as=interactive games like 'Mario Brothers' or 'Street Fighter,'>these hit video games are now being made into feature films.">   No one can say with any certainty what marvels the current@rush towards interactive entertainment will lead to ultimately,;but the smell of big money is in the air around Hollywood,@Silicon Valley and dozens of other places where programmers are@sitting before computer screens, plunking away at keyboards, in%search of the next big software hit.   ---------------   ---------------   DINOSAUR EMBRYO DISCOVERED   NANCY STEINBACH   WASHINGTON9   Scientists exploring the Gobi desert of Mongolia have>discovered the first fossilized embryo of a dinosaur that ate?meat.  The few other dinosaur embryos that have been found areplant eaters.A   The embryo is from a kind of dinosaur known as oviraptor.  It=lived about seventy-five or eighty-million years ago.  Adult@oviraptors were about two meters long.  They stood on two legs.%They had long necks and sharp claws.@   Mark Norell of the American Museum of Natural History in New?York found the egg in the summer of nineteen-ninety-three.  HeBwas exploring the western Gobi Desert with a team of American and:mongolian scientists.  The Natural History Museum and the>Mongolian Academy of Sciences supported the exploration.  The'publication Science reported the find.@   Mister Norell found a group of broken shells and fossil eggsAabout twenty centimeters long.  It appeared to be the remains of?a nest.  The top of one egg was missing.  Inside could be seen@the bones of an embryo.  The only bones not inside the egg were,pieces of the tail and the top of the head.9   Scientists say the discovery should provide importantBinformation about dinosaur reproduction and early life.  They say<it also provides support for the link between dinosaurs and@birds.  All the dinosaur bones in the nest belong to the familyBof dinosaurs from which the modern bird came.  Mister Norell saysBthe nest is different from others because it shows parent care in9the kinds of dinosaurs from which birds developed.  This>discovery changes the widely-held idea that only plant-eatingdinosaurs guarded their eggs.;   In nineteen-twenty-three, a scientist named Roy ChapmanAAndrews found the first known group of dinosaur eggs in the same?area of Mongolia.  Mister Chapman and others believed the eggs?belonged to a plant-eating dinosaur known to have lived in thearea.A   The bones of a kind of meat-eating dinosaur were lying on theBgroup of eggs.  Scientists at that time believed the dinosaur wasBeating the eggs when it died.  They named the dinosaur oviraptor.=It means "egg seizers" in Latin.  But Mister Norell's recent@discovery of the oviraptor embryo disputes that.  It shows thatBthe meat-eating dinosaur, oviraptor, was protecting its own eggs,just as birds do today.   ---------------   ---------------8   THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS, ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION   KEMING KUO   WASHINGTON>   The carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is among the mostApopular tunes during this holiday season.  But for one bank, the@song is also the basis of an interesting measure of the cost ofliving in America.8   The presents listed in the carol "The tWelve Days of=Christmas" reflect a wide variety of tastes, extravagant andAsimple, from drummers drumming on the twelfth day to a partridge=in a pear tree for the first day of Christmas.  For the pastAdecade, the PNC Bank of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has added upAthe costs of the items listed in the popular song to see what it=would cost to buy them each year.  This year's total came toA$15,944.20, an increase of about one percent from last year, butBstill lower than the consumer price inflation rate of about three@percent for 1994.  The biggest price increase was for the "fiveAgolden rings", rising to $450 from last year's $325.  The surveyBsaid livestock costs were mostly cheaper, with six geese-a-laying?a mere $150, four calling birds around $280, three French hens>just $15, two turtle doves about $50 and a partridge for $15.&And the pear tree?  Just under $20...   ---------------   ---------------(   U.S. NUCLEAR PLANT CONSTRUCTION ENDS   SAM IKER   WASHINGTONB   The Tennessee Valley Authority, one of America's biggest powerBproducers, is halting work on the last three nuclear plants underBconstruction in the United States, a decision that's being calledthe end of an era.>   There are 109 nuclear power units across the United States>which generate around 20 percent of the nation's electricity.9But no new plants have been ordered since 1978.  And theATennessee Valley Authority, or TVA,  a quasi-independent federal<agency, decided this to stop work on the only three nuclear!plants still under construction.<   TVA spokesman Frank Cason says the decision was based oneconomic factors:?   "In looking at all of the options.  TVA believes that there4are others than the nuclear option.  We've invested=four-point-six (4.6) billion dollars into Bellefonte nuclearAplant units and one-point-seven (1.7) billion dollars into watts@bar unit two reactor.  And it would appear that,  based on what@we know today,  that it would cost us as much eight-point-eightB(8.8) billion dollars to finish these three units.  We just think;that that's too much money. We believe that there are more4efficient options,  less costly options out there."<   As deregulation spreads and the utility industry becomes?increasingly competitive,  TVA officials say other less costlyAoptions include natural gas-fired generating plants,  purchasing>power from outside producers and reducing demand by fostering?energy efficiency.  The tennessee valley authority is the last.U.S. Utility to turn away from nuclear power.;   During the 1980s, investor-owned power companies either?canceled or abandoned work on scores of nuclear reactors. U.S.<electric power demand had declined in the wake of the 1970sAenergy crisis.  And at the same time, nuclear plant constructionAcosts soared, partly because of tougher safety requirements.  As:a result, nuclear energy was no longer competitive in the
marketplace.;   Nuclear opponents such as attorney Bill McGavern of theBcritical mass energy project see this week's TVA decision as long	overdue:B   "Nuclear power was promised to be safe and too cheap to meter.AIt has been neither.  It's been too expensive and too dangerous,<as we found at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.  We're also@seeing more and more that the radioactive waste produced by the/plants is the achilles heel of nuclear power."B   Some newspaper accounts described the TVA action as the end of?the nuclear era in the United States, a characterization whichAcompany spokesman Frank Cason says was shared by Craven Crowell,the big utility's chairman:A   "The TVA chairman has said he sees it that way.  There are noBmore nuclear units of this type on order.  I don't believe you'llAfind anyone that would expect to order a nuclear reactor of this
variety."A   The nuclear power industry itself agrees that it's the end of<an era for the current generation of reactors. But industry<spokesman Steve Unglesbee maintains that a new and improved=generation of nuclear power reactors could be in the offing.@   "I think the headlines about the TVA cancellations being theBend of a nuclear are very premature.  They're really the end of a@chapter.  They're really the closing of the first generation of?nuclear plants.  For about ten years now the industry has been@working on a next generation of plants, based on the experience;we've gained in operating the current 109 units.  And moreAimportantly,  the experiences that companies had in building and?licensing those plants.  The next generation of plants will be<built and licensed very differently and will avoid the longBconstruction times and high costs that some of the current plantsencountered."B   Indeed, a new generation reactor, which the industry claims is=far cheaper to build and inherently safe, is currently under@construction in Japan.  Industry spokesman Steve Unglesbee says;the project is proceeding ahead of schedule and well underbudget.   ---------------   ---------------   WOMEN AND WAGES   SARAH WILLIAMS   WASHINGTON, D.C.:   Women in the United States are making some progress in9salaries, but most women continue to earn less than men.<   The magazine "Working Woman" has done a new survey whichBindicates that American women continue to earn significantly less<than men for performing the same job. But Diane Harris, the=senior editor of "Working Woman" magazine, says it's a mixed	picture:B   "It's still absolutely true that women earn less.  The averageAwoman still takes home only 72 cents for every dollar that a manAbrings home.  But the good news is that we are starting to closeBthe wage gap, and it's professional and executive level women whoare really leading the way."@   Diane Harris says these women are actually leading the total@work force in wage growth, which has been stagnant for the past@few years.  She says in professional and executive areas, women<employees received 80 to 90 cents for every dollar that menearned in the same jobs.>   "Working Woman" magazine's senior editor Diane Harris says@there are several reasons that women in the American work force3are now seeing more opportunities for advancement:<   "I think it's a matter of women gaining more experience,@coming in with better credentials.  I think we've also gotten aBboost from laws that are now on the books that help us fight wage5discrimination on the job, things like the pregNancy@discrimination act have really given a boost to women's wages."@   The "Working Woman" editor says although most women continue<to make less money than their male counterparts, many womenAemployees have reason to be optimistic about a closing wage gap.   ---------------   ---------------&   U.S. DRAWS CLOSER TO SPACE STATION   DAVID MCALARY   WASHINGTON=   The United States drew closer to era of the international@space station in 1994.  Space Shuttle missions pursued research?that will help make the orbiting laboratory a reality later inBthis decade.  Just as important, the U.S. Congress gave its first0strong support to the program in several years.=   The U.S./Russian collaboration in the international space@station project has become the main focus of the American spaceAprogram, and it enters the new year with a congressional vote ofBconfidence behind it.  The House of Representatives voted in June=to continue station funding by a solid 278 to 155 bipartisanAmajority.  In contrast, 1993's victory margin was just one vote.?   The difference this year was the Clinton's administration's?1993 decision to reduce the scope of the space station and cut?spending for it in half. This offset opponents' chief argument<that the project was drawing money away from more important9federal programs.  Others opposed it as long as Russia's2participation took away U.S. aerospace contracts.B   NASA administrator Daniel Goldin warned lawmakers that killing#the program would be shortsighted:>   "It is less than a few hundredths of a percent of the NASABbudget.  The nation could afford it. If we don't do these things,@we won't move forward.  On top of that, we will meet a very big@problem in terms of what does the American word mean worldwide.We committed to the Russians."=   Days before the vote was held, U.S. and Russian officialsBsigned agreements formalizing Moscow's participation in the space>station project.  The accords allow Russia to sit on planning@committees with U.S., Europe, Canada and Japan, and arrange forBthe U.S. Space Shuttle to dock with the Russian Mir space stationAmore frequently starting next year than originally planned.  TheBintention is to give the two countries more experience in working<together in space before building and operating the stationbeginning in 1997.?   With this goal in mind, a Russian cosmonaut flew on a space@shuttle in February for the first time.  It was the first joint=space venture between the countries since an American apollo8orbiter docked with a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 1975.B   The cosmonaut, Sergei Krikalev, contrasted the experience withhis flights aboard Mir:;   "For me it is interesting to fly on a different vehicle@because I flew with a French astronaut, I trained with Japanese:astronauts, and I flew with British, German, and AustrianBastronauts during my flight.  They were trained for space flight,<but they were guests.  In this case, I'm the guest on a new!vehicle, I will be a foreigner."@   As Mr. Krikalev joined U.S. astronauts in orbit, two members<of the astronaut corps began training in Russia for a jointBmission of biomedical experiments aboard Mir to begin this comingMarch.=   French and Japanese astronauts also flew on shuttles this=year, while scientists from Europe, Japan, and Canada joined7their U.S. colleagues in monitoring shuttle biomedical?experiments similar to the ones to be conducted on Mir.  Using>animals and crew members, the tests provided more information<about the physical influence extended weightlessness has in'preparation for the space station era.B   But space station research was not the only purpose of shuttleBflights.  Another area of study also dominated the 1994 schedule,Athe global environment.  The orbiters were host through the yearAto an array of sophisticated instruments designed to examine the=environment.  Powerful radars built by the U.S., German, and=Italian space agencies beamed microwaves off land and sea to9return detailed images of terrain and water.  An optical@counterpart bounced laser beams off clouds and particles in theBsky for information about the health of the atmosphere. Equipment=aboard the seventh and final shuttle flight of the year last=month took readings of the state of earth's protective ozonelayer in the atmosphere.@   The work reflected the government's increasing commitment to>protect the environment, as astronaut Jeff Wisoff ['wye-sawf]<noted before his October flight on the shuttle "Endeavour":B   "I think what's going to be remembered in the history books is>that people got serious at the end of this century to look at>what's happening to the earth, what people have been doing toBthis earth, and trying to understand and get answers.  What these9missions are really about is bringing back information.";   Indeed, NASA was given more money for its environmentalBprojects for 1995, and for aviation research, even as its overallAbudget declined for the first time in two decades in response to:President Clinton's effort to cut the huge federal budget	deficit.?   NASA deputy administrator John Dailey says the increases in?environmental and aviation research came at the expense of his2agency's traditional mission, human space flight:@   "We cut back on human space flight, we increased the science@budget, and we increased the technology budget. The bottom lineB[the final result], we are a leaner, tougher Nasa and we are more@in touch with what America needs from the space program today."@   Even the heralded space station project could not escape the@budget cuts, with NASA to spend 105 million dollars less on its?development next year than originally planned.  Yet the agency<surely believes that even a smaller space station budget isbetter than no budget at all.   ---------------   ---------------*   ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE: IT'S IN THE GENES   LASZLO DOSA   WASHINGTON?   Doctor Zaven Khachaturian of the U.S. National Institute on>Aging, describes alzheimer's disease, a frequent curse of the	elderly:@   "We knew very little of this disease until a short time ago.AIt was considered a hopeless disease.  We could not diagnose it.@We had no clues about what the cause was, we had no treatment."B   "Now, within a short time, we have a major susceptibility geneAthat's being confirmed by many laboratories.  And within a year,?we have a possible biological explanation of how the different@forms of this genetic predisposition determine the onset of the=disease.  And that seems to vary by 10 to 20 years.  I thinkthat's a major breakthrough."@   It's not often that a reputable scientist would use the wordA"breakthrough." But that's exactly what Doctor Khachaturian, the?director of the U.S. Government's alzheimer's disease research5program said at the Miami meeting of the society forneuroscience.@   What is alzheimer's disease?  What makes this "breakthrough"so important?A   It was less than 100 years ago that doctor Alois Alzheimer, a>German physician, lost a patient, a 51-year old woman who had?been suffering with loss of memory, disorientation and all the@symptoms of senility.  After the patient died, Doctor Alzheimer;performed an autopsy on her brain and found it, literally,Ascrambled with disintegrated branches of nerve cells and tangled<clumps of nerve fibers.  That's how alzheimer's disease wasdiscovered.B   Old, or not so old, people tend to be forgetful or to misplace<things.  We may not remember where we put our house keys or=eyeglasses, which is normal.  But if we do not remember what@those keys or glasses are for, that is a sign that something is>wrong. We may be displaying the first symptoms of alzheimer's	disease.9   An estimated four million Americans are affected withBalzheimer's disease, and their number is expected to rise to more>than 15-million within the next 40 years. The gravity of this?problem was driven into the public consciousness by the recent@announcement that former President Reagan has been diagnosed as$suffering from alzheimer's disease:A   According to Khachaturian, "the courage that president Reagan?showed in announcing this highly personal and highly difficult@thing was important for the alzheimer's field because, for manyAyears, alzheimer's disease was hidden.  There was quite a bit of;stigma attached.  Families were ashamed to recognize it orAacknowledge it.  There was a lot of denial, hiding, which was to@their detriment.  Often they would not come out and seek help."B   Alzheimer's disease used to be called senility.  It strikes inAthe later years of life, often in the sixties or seventies, with<devastating consequences both for the victim and his or her@family. As the disease advances, forgetfulness turns into total>loss of memory.  Patients do not recognize even their closestBrelatives.  They may become aggressive, sometimes violent, making#life miserable for their families.?   In the advanced stages of alzheimer's disease patients lose?their personality.  They become strangers to their loved ones.?In a way, they die long before their physical death, which mayAlinger for many years.  It has been said with some justification@that the chief victim of alzheimer's disease is not so much thepatient as his or her family.?   There is no cure for alzheimer's disease and we do not know@what causes it.  Experimental drugs may help delay the onset ofBits worst symptoms, but not for long, and often with adverse side	effects.?   After age 65, there is a sharply increased risk for getting?alzheimer's disease and that risk is doubling every ten years.>   As Doctor Khachaturian notes, we are facing an exponentialgrowth:<   "And that's where the problem is.  Because more and more:people are surviving beyond age 75 and 85.  And it's this;demographic change that's causing the increasing number ofBindividuals to have alzheimer's.  That's what we have to address.AThat's why we have to find a way to delay that.  We have to find+a way to significantly slow that process."B   For nearly a century, scientists have been groping in the darkAas they were looking for the mechanism that triggers alzheimer'sAdisease.  The answer kept eluding them until about two years ago<when Doctor Allen Roses of Duke University in Durham, NorthACarolina, was looking over some statistics and made a surprising>discovery.  He found a link between alzheimer's and a naturalAsubstance in the body called apolipoprotein-E, commonly referred
to as apo-E.=   Apo-E plays an important role in the body's processing of;cholesterol and has been found to be associated with heart?disease.  However, no one would have suspected that apo-E also?has a role in the survival, or death, of brain cells.  And, asBdoctor alzheimer discovered almost a century ago, brain cells, or=neurons, have a lot to do with the disease bearing his name.;   The genes which produce apo-E come in several forms, or="flavors," as scientists like to call them, such as apo-E-2,apo-E-3 or apo-E-4.=   Doctor Roses says we inherit combinations of these forms:B   "Everybody inherits two (apo-E) genes.  They can be either theAtwo, three or four forms.  If you inherit the apo-E-4r form, you?increase your risk and you lower the age of onset that you getBalzheimer's disease.  If you inherit two of those genes, one from=each parent, you're apo-E-4-4.  The mean, or average, age ofAonset of the disease for those people is before 70 years of age.B   "If you inherit a form two from one parent and form three from@the other, you are apo-E-2-3.  Then your average (for the onset*of the disease) is over 90 years of age."B   In other words, doctor roses has discovered that the inherited;apo-E genes may predict whether a person is susceptible toBalzheimer's disease and the combination of those genes determines$at what age the disease may strike.=   Apo-E is involved in the repair mechanism of brain cells.ADepending on its form, or "flavor," it either protects a cell or<hastens its destruction by the alzheimer's disease process.=Researchers have found that Apo-E-3, the "good" apo-E, helps@fabricate proteins that promote the growth of specific types ofAneurons and builds strong connections between them. Apo-E-4, the@"bad" apo-E, on the other hand, interferes with the nourishment8of brain cells, which leads to their early destruction.?   Doctor Khachaturian offers an easy-to-understand analogy to<explain why the "bad" gene hastens the onset of alzheimer's	disease:9   "Suppose we have two houses that have basements.  The@basements are leaking water.  Both have pumps to take the waterBout.  One pump works better than the other. Sooner or later, bothBbasements are going to flood.  But one is going to flood 20 years)before the other one does, at any time."=   "What the finding is is that there is a difference in theBrepair mechanism, a different way in which the nervous system can=withstand the onslaught of damage that's occurring from some>other sources.  And that could account for the fact that someApeople may have the four, but never get it because they were notAexposed to this other factor.  So there is a differential in the@way in which the brain is perhaps repairing itself.  And that'sBwhat the significance of the association of the apo-E is to theseBproteins that are involved in the survival of the neuron, the waythe neuron works."=   According to Doctor Khachaturian, these findings are very9promising because they show ways in which we can develop<therapeutic strategies to mimic the effects of apo-E-3, theB"good" gene, and delay the onset of alzheimer's and perhaps otherdegenerative diseases.;   We can grasp the significance of this discovery when we@realize that in the United States, for example, an estimated 30=percent of the population, three people out of ten, carry at?least one Apo-4 gene.  As doctor roses noted earlier, a person=who inherits this gene from both parents is at risk of beingAstricken by alzheimer's disease before reaching 70 years of age.B   Does this mean that we can predict who is at risk, and at whatage?A   "You can determine what your genotype is," says Khachaturian,@"but at the present time, putting numbers on what the chance of@getting the disease in the future, at what age you are going toget it, is impossible."@   "Yes, we can look at populations of alzheimer's patients and?determine that there is an increased apo-E-4 genotype.  We canBlook at people with a variety of different kinds of dementias and=look and see what their apo-E-4 genotype is.  We can look at<people who live 100 years or more, who are not demented and,determine that many of those have apo-E-2."@   "Yes, we can measure it, but the reasons that people want to;measure it, absolute diagnosis in themselves of what theirBchances will be to get alzheimer's disease, right now that's verypremature to do.":   Many people, especially those who have a relative with@alzheimer's disease, would like to be tested to see if they areAat risk for the disease, or, preferably, to be assured that they<are not going to get alzheimer's disease.  But looking at a?person's apo-e genes will not answer that painful question.  A;test will only tell whether a person is at increased risk.?   Doctor Khachaturian points to another, what he calls, "veryBsubtle issue" that we must keep in mind when considering the riskfor alzheimer's disease.A   Recalling that 30 percent of the population carries the "bad"?apo-E-4 gene, he suggests that perhaps half of that group willactually get the disease:A   "The numbers are not going to be very large.  The reason theyAare not large is that other causes are killing people off.  They-are getting eliminated from the population."A   As we've heard, the apo-E gene has been associated with heart?disease which, along with various forms of cancer, remains theAmain killer of the population.  But doctor Khachaturian predicts<that if we were to find a cure for those diseases and, as a=result, people would live longer, the numbers of alzheimer's,cases would reach astronomical proportions.@   Actually, history would be repeating itself. After all, withAthe gradual elimination of many infectious diseases, people liveBlonger and consequently, they fall victim in much greater numbersBto cancer or the various diseases of the heart and blood vessels.=And as we learn more about prevention or curing these killer?diseases, more and more of us will survive to face alzheimer's	disease.A   Doctor Khachaturian anticipates that as the outcome of Doctor>Roses' finding about the genetic links in alzheimer's disease@becomes more apparent, medical researchers will find themselvesunder tremendous pressure:9   "That's why it is very urgent to start thinking about>treatments, to start looking at ways to prevent this disease.;Progress has been made in other areas of disease.  Look at=reports on risks of people dying from hypertension and other=cardiovascular diseases.  They are all going down.  And thisthing is going to go up."@   Doctor Roses, also notes that in the past, even a generation1or two ago, age 65 was considered to be ancient:A   "Now, all of a sudden, we have a huge growth of population inAthe 70's, 80's and the 90's, and it's expected that that's going?to increase in the next 10 to 20 years, and that's the largest?growing segment of the population.  Those people who live that;long are now going to be at increased risk for alzheimer's8disease. And they know it.  Every time somebody forgetsBsomething, they hit themselves on the head and say: 'oh, my. Thatmust be alzheimer's disease.'"<   There is a big leap between the discovery of the geneticAbackground and learning the mechanism by which the genes work to;cause alzheimer's disease.  It is not unlike looking for a?certain tree in a vast forest.  We know the tree is there, but$where do we start searching for it?A   Different scientists have different ideas about where to lookBfor the apo-e gene in action.  Doctor Roses and his colleagues at?Duke University have concentrated on what the gene does to the(internal metabolism of the nerve cells:=   "We've discovered that apo-E actually gets into the nerve8cells.  Most people thought that it doesn't.  And we've;determined that it interacts with the other molecules that=stabilize the so-called microtubule system.  The microtubule=system is the way the nerve cell communicates to the outsideworld."@   "If you think of a room being the nucleus, the center of the?cell, all the air conditioning ducts, electrical wires are theBmicrotubule system.  If you can't maintain that, you start losingAcontact.  And that's exactly the problem in alzheimer's disease.AThe loss of contacts, or synapses.  And we have evidence to show>that that is what has gone wrong in cells that have the wrong*type of apo-e.  And we're pursuing that."B   Synapse is the name of the space through which two neighboring=nerve cells communicate with each other.  If this connectionAacross the synapse is destroyed or interrupted, the cells becomeBlost, disoriented. Essentially that's what happens in alzheimer's@disease. Doctor roses discovered the role that apo-E genes playBin maintaining the connection between brain cells. This, in turn,Bdetermines whether the onset of alzheimer's disease occurs at age65 or perhaps 20 years later.=   According to Doctor Khachaturian, Doctor Roses' discovery9shows that there is a biological basis for this process:A   "Knowing that fact that there is such a possibility, the task9now is for the scientific community to find out what theAmechanisms are by which this thing is coming about, this 20 year:differential.   And I think there are many clues by which;scientists feel that they could go after understanding the;mechanism.  And that's going to lead to the development ofAcompounds that's going to (minimize) the effect of the disease."?   Scientists are looking for the mechanism by which the "bad">apo-E damages the communications between brain cells.  At the?same time, they are trying to learn how the "good" apo-E helps@maintain those communications. Once they have succeeded in thatBendeavor, they hope to develop a drug that will work the same waythe "good" apo-E does.3   That's what Doctor Roses says he is aiming for:>   "We would like that compound to be absolutely safe so that?everybody can take it and can't even overdose, like vitamin C.?We would like that compound to, by the nature of what it does,8prevent cells from losing their synapses and to preventalzheimer's disease."?   "These are the ideals.  Now, what one actually finds may be7that the compound that we can find to do that may haveBside-effects, can only be taken by some people, can only be takenBunder certain circumstances.  Those are the limitations.  But, in?fact, it is going to be a new type of compound that mimics the?effect of what apo-E-2 and apo-E-3 does, that apo-E-4 does notdo."?   Doctor Roses does not think that his discovery will lead to>the development of gene therapy for the millions of people at<risk for alzheimer's disease.  Instead, he is looking for aAchemical that would act on the central nervous system to control=the protein produced by the apo-E gene to make sure that theBtreatment does not interfere with the gene's beneficial functionselsewhere in the body.;   Our knowledge today of alzheimer's disease remains veryBlimited.  The discovery of the genetic link will probably lead toBthe development of tests to predict, or confirm, the diagnosis ofBthe disease.  The ability to treat alzheimer's disease, let alone@to prevent it, is much farther down the road.  What good, then,<is it to diagnose the disease if we cannot help its victim?+   Doctor Khachaturian offers this answer:?   "That's a critical question.  We may not be able to do muchAbut the need for such an early diagnostic test is important from>the point of view that the earlier we can detect the disease,Bwhen treatments become available we want to be able to apply them>to early cases because the likelihood is that since this is a>degenerative process and the treatments in one way or another6alter that course, then we will maximize the effect."   ---------------;   International News E-Wire Service (INEWS) is an English<language daily, covering news of the world.  INEWS provides;up-to-date and accurate world news.  It also includes many?features covering such topics as economics, science, medicine,$technology, agriculture, and music.<   Every day, INEWS gathers reports filed by correspondentsBstationed at 26 news bureaus throughout the world.  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