News In Brief
THE US
Philadelphia was ordered to pay $1.5 million in damages in the 1985 bombing of a MOVE house. The bombing resulted in a fire that killed 11 group members and destroyed 61 houses in the area. Relatives of MOVE members who died in the fire received $1 million. The bombing occurred after a standoff with police sparked by MOVE's blaring of profane antigovernment messages over a loudspeaker. MOVE's mostly black members adopted the surname Africa, ate raw food, espoused equality with animals, and preached against technology.
Sen. Charles Grassley (R) of Iowa asked FBI director Louis Freeh for a description of IRS documents he says one of his aides saw among FBI background files the White House collected. House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on "Larry King Live" that it would be "a clear felony violation" if IRS files were provided to the White House. Also, former White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum and former associate counsel William H. Kennedy III are to testify today on what they know about a list of names sent to the FBI. Kennedy oversaw the personnel office that made the request. Also scheduled to testify: Craig Livingstone, who directed the office, and Anthony Marceca, who worked for him.
In an effort to squelch "sensational" speculation, a written statement by Hillary Rodham Clinton called her imaginary conversations with Eleanor Roosevelt an "intellectual exercise." She denied there were any psychic or religious overtones in a session with psychic Jean Houston, and stated she has no alternatives to her "deeply held Methodist faith and traditions." She then quipped: "I do wonder what Eleanor Roosevelt might think of all this."
Some 3,000 to 4,000 residents evacuated from areas around Lake Tahoe, Nev., returned home after a wildfire started by boys playing with gasoline was brought under control. Lightening-sparked fires also barred residents from homes in Utah, Alaska, Arizona, and New Mexico. Also, a tornado in suburban Washington damaged 25 homes, and storms in Pennsylvania dumped hail and record amounts of rain.
President Clinton was to declare his support for a constitutional amendment to protect the rights of crime victims at a Rose Garden ceremony. Earlier, at a fund-raiser in New York, Clinton said he doesn't think a conspiracy is behind the recent burnings of black churches. But he said it does show that intolerance is on the rise in the US.
Robert Aguilar, the first federal judge to be charged with racketeering, resigned after the government dropped the last charge against him. Among eight original charges, he was accused of influencing fellow judges to act leniently in a criminal case against former Teamsters leader Rudy Tham. His resignation ends a seven-year legal battle. Aguilar denies any criminal wrongdoing.
Theodore Kaczynski was scheduled for arraignment in a federal court in Sacramento, Calif. A grand jury indicted him last week in four Unabom-related crimes in Sacramento.
Despite rising mortgage rates, sales of previously owned homes rose 1.4 percent in May, tying a record set in December 1993. But consumer confidence in the economy fell in June to the lowest level in five months. The drop was attributed to increased pessimism over job opportunities and business conditions.
A third of youths 12 and older say the media encourages them to have sex, and more than half the girls say they learn about birth control from movies and TV, a survey by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found. Only 46 percent said their parents had talked to them about birth control.
Elwin Ward, who left the Jordan, Mont., "freemen" compound before the group surrendered, was charged as an accessory after the fact to bank fraud, mail fraud, firearms violations, and threats against individuals. If convicted, Ward could face 15 years in prison.
THE WORLD
Israel's hard-line government will resume talks with Syria and the Palestinians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US Secretary of State Warren Christopher in Jerusalem. Netanyahu warned progress depends on Israeli security needs being met. But he said he needed more time to decide whether to honor Israel's commitment to pull out of the West Bank city of Hebron. Jews have a right to settle anywhere in the Biblical land of Israel, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Netanyahu said. Christopher was to meet with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo today.
The Group of Seven industrialized nations, meeting tomorrow in Lyon, France, will seek to bolster the fragile peace in both Bosnia and the Middle East. Also, members are likely to attack new US legislation that seeks to punish foreign companies that do business with Libya, Cuba, and Iran. Clinton is not expected to back down, saying that it is not enough to condemn rogue countries, and action is necessary.
Russian President Yeltsin fired a group of generals implicated by new Security Council head Alexander Lebed in an attempt to pressure the president. The sacked generals were close to former Defense Minister Pavel Grachev, who was also fired when Lebed was named security chief. Also, Yeltsin signed a decree ordering Russian troops to begin withdrawing from the breakaway republic of Chechnya. And reindeer hunters and weathermen in the hinterlands got a head start voting in presidential runoff elections. The rest of the country votes July 3.
Wimbledon's opening day marked the end for three top US tennis players. Former champion Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, and Michael Chang were all defeated in first-round play.
Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is ready to "sacrifice his power for his people," a top aide said, indicating he may finally step down. The comment came after international mediator to Bosnia Carl Bildt gave a July 1 deadline for Karadzic to be out. If not, Bildt said both Serbia and the Bosnian Serbs face renewed international sanctions, diplomats said. Also, Bosnian elections will be held Sept. 14 - in line with the Dayton accord timetable, the Organization for Security in Europe said.
Weapons seized from an IRA guerrilla factory south of Dublin were for "early use," Irish Prime Minister John Bruton said. Police confiscated dozens of a new type of bomb when they uncovered the factory in Clonaslee June 15.
Iraq is hiding banned weapons and other contraband, some of it on trucks which are moved around the country to thwart UN arms inspectors, UN Special Commission head Rolf Ekeus said. Iraq gave the UN what it said were complete files on banned weapons Saturday.
African leaders pushed for peace in Burundi at a summit in Arusha, Tanzania. The problem of ethnic violence "holds in balance the lives and well-being of hundreds of thousands of innocent people," Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa said at the start of the conference.
Nigeria's hopes of being readmitted to the 56-nation Commonwealth were dashed in London when the Lagos delegation unexpectedly took a hard line in talks. Also, Nigeria, which was suspended from the Commonwealth last year for human rights abuses, released Fred Eno, aide to jailed presidential claimant Moshood Abiola. That raises the number of political prisoners freed recently to six.
The US is launching a war on drugs in Panama. US forces are taking part by land, sea, and air, the Pentagon said. The crackdown comes as Panama launched an investigation of the vice president and a top official, who are accused of accepting campaign funds from a drug cartel.
"Simply spending time with your family can be a dream in itself."
- President Clinton, announcing a new proposal to give workers time off instead of cash for overtime - if they want it. The measure would enable workers to spend more time with family.
ETCETERAS
Call it "Attack of the Mayflies." A power plant in Toledo, Ohio, shut down after a swarm of bugs began conducting electricity from one component to another, causing transformers to shut down. One neighborhood was so inundated, residents shoveled them off sidewalks. Efforts to clean Lake Erie have increased the mayfly population, experts say.
Black teenager Keshia Thomas of Ypsilanti, Mich., ended an anti-Klan rally by protecting one of the people she'd come to protest. She shielded a man wearing a confederate flag with her body when a mob began beating him, and yelled 'Stop!' "Once somebody breaks the cycle of mob mentality, other people begin to realize what they're doing," Thomas said.
THE DAY'S LIST
Hollywood Luminaries
Stars to be added to the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1997. The picks, selected from hundreds of nominees, will be honored with stars in the pavement.
Christopher Reeve
Penny Marshall
Patrick Swayze
Alec Baldwin
Tom Petty
Vanessa Williams
Carlos Santana
Don Cornelius
Clive Davis
The Four Tops
David Carradine
Clint Black
Patrick Stewart
Luis Miguel
- Associated Press