News In Brief
The US
The Senate voted 84 to 16 to add $2.7 billion for education and job training to its spending bill, ceding ground to the Clinton administration. Wide differences remain, however. The Democrats want an additional $892 million for the environment.Congress plans to send the White House stopgap legislation to keep the government running through March 29. White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta says President Clinton will sign the legislation. Meanwhile, Clinton signed a bill allowing a temporary increase in the nation's $4.9-trillion debt ceiling through March 29.
''Time is running out'' for my campaign, Steve Forbes said, after Senator Dole swept all seven states on Super Tuesday. Dole is almost assured of the Republican nomination. Forbes said he'll stay in the race through next Tuesday's Midwest primaries. But Pat Buchanan insisted he'll harry Dole all the way to the August convention. (Story, Page 1; List at right.)
Cigarette-maker Liggett Group says it will settle a major class-action suit claiming nicotine levels in cigarettes are manipulated. It agreed to give part of its earnings over the next 25 years to smoking cessation programs. If the settlement is approved by the federal court, it will be the first time a tobacco company paid to settle a smoking lawsuit. (Story, Page 3.)
After years of banning cameras in court, the Judicial Conference of the US narrowly approved a proposal to let individual appeals courts decide on allowing cameras in the courtroom. But the 27-judge group, chaired by Chief Justice Rehnquist, also reaffirmed its opposition to broadcasting trials held before federal district courts.
The House passed a bill directing the State Department to spend less money overseas and ordering Clinton to eliminate at least one major foreign affairs agency. The bill goes next to the Senate. Clinton has vowed to veto the bill, calling it congressional infringement of presidential authority on foreign policy.
An internal CIA report found ''operational and management deficiencies'' in an economic intelligence operation in France. CIA director John Deutch ordered corrective action. The case exploded last February when the French interior minister told then-President Francois Mitterand the CIA tried to recruit government ministers' aides.
Members of Capitol Hill police are talking with the Teamsters union about representing officers, now that Congress has placed itself under the same labor laws governing the private sector. Custodial and maintenance workers could also be easily targeted.
While most of America's wealth is still concentrated among 10 percent's of its people, the other 90 percent of Americans saw their share of the wealth rise from 31.8 to 32.8 percent in 1989-92, according to a survey by the IRS and Federal Reserve.
Microsoft and America Online linked forces in a deal that will put AOL on Microsoft's operating system software this summer. Just a year ago, AOL was one of several firms decrying Micosoft's monopolistic practices. The move will enable Microsoft to compete better with Netscape for customers wanting Internet access. AOL will be able to boost its 5 million subscriber base.
The US is making nuclear-waste storage safer by mixing radioactive goo with molten glass to form high-strength glass rods. The rods are still toxic and need to be stored for thousands of years, but there is no chance the waste will explode or seep into the soil. Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary opened the $2.4-billion processing plant in Aiken, S.C.
The deficit in the government's single-employer pension insurance fund fell by $885 million last year to the lowest level since 1981, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp says. The improvement is attributed to a record $2 billion in investment earnings and the absence of any new pension-plan termination.
The World
''Peace and security are two sides of the same coin,'' President Clinton told world leaders at the Summit of Peacemakers in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. In a show of solidarity, the leaders pledged to work hand in hand to combat terrorism. They designated a working group to seek specific solutions such as tracking down the financial sources of terrorists and ''cutting them off.'' (Opinion, Page 19.)
Guerrillas from the Islamic militant group Hizbullah shelled 19 Israeli Army outposts with heavy weapons in southern Lebanon, sources said. Also, Lebanon's top appeals court acquitted two former guerrillas of involvement in the 1976 slaying of US Ambassador Francis Meloy. The three-man panel ruled that the case was covered by an amnesty for political crimes declared by President Elias Hrawi in 1990. (Opinion, Page 19.)
China test-fired a fourth missile, and its warplanes bombed targets near Taiwan's southwest coast. The exercises appeared to be within preset limits, the commander of a US aircraft carrier plying the region said. The exercises are meant to intimidate Taiwan before its elections.
Two US Marines appealed their conviction and sentencing in the rape of an Okinawa schoolgirl. The third convict, Navy Seaman Marcus Gill, is reportedly considering following the lead of Pfcs. Rodrico Harp and Kendrick Ledet.
Ruben Figuerosa resigned as governor of Guerrero state in Mexico. Political opponents and human rights groups welcomed the move but demanded he be prosecuted for the 1995 massacre of 17 peasants going to a protest rally. (Story, Page 7.)
Kidnappers released two European women after a 72-day ransom ordeal in Costa Rica's jungle. The kidnappers were mainly ex-guerrillas from Nicaragua, Costa Rican officials said. The women's families reportedly paid $200,000 for their release. Later, Nicola Fleuchaus (left) of Germany took a ride on the Rio San Carlos river with Regula Susanna Siegfried (right) of Switzerland and her husband.
Bosnian Serbs were robbed and intimidated in the Sarajevo suburb of Ilidza, which is now under the control of the Muslim-Croat Federation. Some 2,500 mostly-elderly Bosnian Serbs remained in Ilidza while nearly 20,000 others fled the suburb anticipating repercussions from their wartime rivals.
French Premier Alain Juppe called for the creation of a European army integrated into NATO but able to operate independent of the US. The proposed size is between 250,000 and 350,000 troops. Juppe recommended the idea be considered at the EU's Intergovernmental Conference to be held later this month in Turin, Italy.
A lone gunman opened fire in the gymnasium of a Scottish primary school in Dunblane, killing 16 children and a teacher. The gunman then killed himself. ''This is slaughter of the innocents,'' said Helen Liddell, a Scottish legislator. It was the worst shooting incident involving a lone gunman in Britain's history.
A cross-border gunfight between Kenyan policemen and Ethiopian cattle rustlers reportedly resulted in 38 people being killed. Rustlers frequently launch raids in the semiarid region where nomadic tribes rely on livestock for their livelihood.
Land reform advocate Deolinda Alves de Souza was freed from prison on orders from Brazil's highest appeals court. She still faces charges of organizing mob action. Her arrest Jan. 25 sparked countrywide protests.
The Indonesian Army took over two towns in remote Irian Jaya following riots that killed three people and caused widespread damage to property of US mining company Freeport Inc.
Etceteras
Wolves have returned to the woods and groves of Beijing's hilly suburbs, undeterred by rapidly spreading satellite towns around the Chinese capital, according to the Xinhua news agency.
Researchers in Mexico's Baja California had thought the Cochimi Indian village sites they're excavating are 2,000 years old. But a carbon dating test says they're actually 6,000 years old.
Super Tuesday Results
Here's how the candidates fared in Tuesday's contests. (See also US In Brief, and Delegate Count, Page 18.)
Florida:
Dole 57%
Buchanan 20
Forbes 18
Louisiana*:
Dole 47
Buchanan 33
Forbes 13
Mississippi:
Dole 61
Buchanan 26
Forbes 8
Oklahoma:
Dole 59
Buchanan 22
Forbes 14
Oregon:
Dole 52
Buchanan 22
Forbes 13
Tennessee:
Dole 51
Buchanan 25
Forbes 8
Texas*:
Dole 56
Buchanan 21
Forbes 13
* 98% or 99% of the vote counted. Ohers are 100%.
- Associated Press
'' How old are you? What's your life expectancy?''
- Senate majority leader Bob Dole, when asked by a reporter how long it will take Congress to pass all of this year's spending bills.
