News In Brief
The US
A government-formed review board filed charges against Teamsters president Ron Carey shortly after he announced a leave of absence to fight allegations of wrongdoing. The Independent Review Board alleged Carey schemed to divert $885,000 in union treasury money to his 1996 election campaign. Earlier, an independent auditor was named to oversee Teamster finances.
Gross Domestic Product, the broadest measure of national economic activity, expanded at a 3.3 percent annual rate from July through September, the Commerce Department said. Strong consumer spending and the largest business investment in equipment in nearly 14 years were cited for the healthy growth. Meanwhile, the Conference Board, a private business research group in New York, reported consumer confidence rose in November, indicating Americans aren't concerned about the effects of turmoil in Asian economies.
Five reputed members of the mafia and six Wall Street stockbrokers were indicted in New York on charges of manipulating the stock of HealthTech International Inc., federal prosecutors said. The group allegedly drove up the volume and price of the stock and then sold it at artificially high prices. The 25-count indictment names 19 people, including alleged members of the Genovese and Bonanno "crime families," plus brokers from the firm Meyers Pollock Robbins, and Gordon Hall, head of Mesa, Ariz.-based HealthTech, which operates health clubs in several states.
Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona will close major sites to private vehicles by 2000, a park spokesman announced. Instead, a six-mile electric rail system and alternative-fuel buses will transport the park's 5 million annual visitors, Rod Torrez said. A parking lot and roadways will also be removed and the land returned to its natural condition. The effort is expected to cut noise and pollution.
Mayor Bill Campbell won a second term in Atlanta after beating City Council president Marvin Arrington in a runoff election. The election received national attention when the candidates, both of whom are black, accused each other of race baiting.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service announced a federal probe into potential civil rights abuses during a controversial roundup of illegal aliens. The INS, Border Patrol, and Phoenix police arrested 432 immigrants in a joint operations in Chandler, Ariz., in July. Several US citizens of Hispanic descent were also taken into custody. Individuals were targeted because of their race, Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods said in a highly critical report. Agents barged into homes, businesses, and schools in the four-day period without probable cause or warrants, he said.
Army Secretary Togo West objected when Defense Secretary William Cohen intervened in July to help a Republican congressional aide bury his father in Arlington National Cemetery, the Associated Press reported. In a memo, West cautioned against intervening because it would be "a big deal for veterans." A qualified veteran was bumped from the future burial spot to accommodate Robert Charles's father, who wasn't a decorated-enough veteran to qualify for such a site. Charles assists a House subcommittee that oversees the Pentagon.
The news media asked an appeals court in Sacramento, Calif., to force the judge in the Unabomber trial to disclose jurors' identities. A coalition of print and broadcast organizations claimed that US District Judge Garland Burrell Jr. secretly promised anonymity before deciding the issue in court. They argued that identifying jurors is integral to the public's faith in jury trials.
Richard Jewell, the former security guard turned suspect in the Centennial Park bombing during the Atlanta Olympics, is back on the police beat. He began work in Luthersville, Ga., known as "speed trap city" because in a typical year, police wrote the equivalent of two traffic tickets for each of the 750 residents. Jewell's life was turned upside down from 88 days of scrutiny by the FBI and news media after he was named a suspect in the explosion that caused two deaths. The FBI later ruled him out as a suspect.
The World
A decision on proposed new troop withdrawals from the West Bank was delayed until Sunday by Israel's Cabinet. Hard-liners in the government vowed to bring down Prime Minister Netanyahu if he proceeded with the plan to offer Palestinians another 6 to 8 percent of the West Bank in exchange for a crackdown on terrorism. Defense Minister David Levy vowed to resign if the hard-liners blocked the plan. Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Arafat was reported to have rejected the proposal, demanding a pullback two to three times larger.
The most intensive TV campaign in South Korean history opened as campaigning officially began for the Dec. 18 presidential election. None of the leading candidates was offering specific solutions to the country's deep financial crisis in preparing for the first live TV debate. Outdoor rallies are banned to hold down campaign costs.
One day before a UN-imposed deadline for withdrawal of its investigators, the Democratic Republic of the Congo said they were free to go anywhere they liked in probing alleged massacres of Hutu refugees. Forensic scientists have been waiting since August for permission to travel to areas where forces of rebel leader (now president) Laurent Kabila are accused of atrocities against Rwandan Hutus trapped in the seven-month war to topple the late dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko.
India's powerful Congress Party appeared ready to notify Prime Minister Gujral's coalition government that it was withdrawing its support. Such a move, which has been anticipated for more than a week, would cause Gujral to seek a vote of confidence in Parliament, a confidential source said. Gujral has refused Congress's demand that he dismiss a minority party from his coalition that is linked to the 1991 assassination of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
In a surprise move, Kenya's government permitted a controversial opposition party to register for next month's national election. Safina, founded by renowned white paleontologist Richard Leakey, was told Oct. 3 that the registration it has sought since 1994 was denied. President Daniel arap Moi accuses Safina of accepting the backing of "foreign interests" and has called Leakey a racist.
With Turkey's Supreme Court considering whether to ban the Islamic Welfare Party, senior military commanders were expected to demand new laws from the government limiting Islamic broadcasts. Muslim-oriented TV and radio stations have sprouted up since a state monopoly ended in 1994, and calls for an Islamic regime are frequently heard on them. The military, which forced a curb on Muslim schooling in August, regards itself as the guardian of Turkey's secular system.
Concerns over election-day fraud flared in Honduras because thousands of voter-identification cards ordered from a private supplier still were not ready for distribution. Candidates for president in Sunday's balloting were awaiting a National Election Tribunal ruling on whether old IDs could be used. Candidate Alba Nora Gunera of the National Party vowed to withdraw if the panel ruled in favor of the old cards.
Kamazu Banda, who died in a Johannesburg hospital, was regarded as one of Africa's most repressive dictators in his 30 years as president of Malawi. His rule ended in 1994 after antigovernment riots and a freeze on aid by Western donors pressured him into allowing democratic elections. A year later, he was cleared of charges linking him to the murders of four dissidents.
"We are going to meet these guys at every turn .... They are not going to get a foothold
in the markets of this country, I guarantee you."
- New York FBI bureau chief James Kallstrom, on organized crime's influence in US stock trading.
Etceteras
Dayton, Ohio, home of the Wright brothers, has just left another mark in the annals of aviation. But this one was unintentional. Paul Sirks of that city was hand-cranking his small plane from the ground when it suddenly taxied away and took off - empty. The craft flew almost completely across the state before exhausting its fuel and crashing into a field near rural Walhonding. "It's a little peculiar, so we'll be looking into it," a Federal Aviation Administration official said of the incident.
Ever seen one of those movies in which a blizzard of paper money fills the air? Students at a San Francisco middle school did that scene one better. Robbers had ditched much of the loot from a nearby bank after a packet of red die exploded during their getaway. The students grab-bed as many bills as wind currents would allow - almost $4,500. Their principal turned it over to police.
France's meat cutters federation has asked the news media to stop calling terrorist attacks "butchery." "One must denounce these horrors," its statement says, but a butcher's role "calls to mind peace and brotherhood."
The Day's List
Cheapest, Priciest US Cities For Dining Out
On average, you'll pay more per-person for restaurant meals in New York than in any other major city, according to a new study by the widely respected Zagat Survey. At the other end of the scale: Kansas City, where the tab averages less than half that in the Big Apple. The five most expensive and five cheapest cities of the 46 surveyed:
Most expensive
New York $30.69
San Francisco 26.13
Philadelphia 24.81
Washington 24.49
Los Angeles 24.32
Least expensive
Kansas City $14.01
Houston 14.86
Columbus, Ohio 16.28
Fort Worth, Texas 16.33
St. Louis 16.71
