News In Brief
THE US
President Clinton embarked on a three-day tour of seven states after taking a break from the campaign trail to celebrate Hillary Rodham Clinton's birthday. He also outlined a proposal that states earmark $44 million from a federal crime fund to help pay the costs for victims of gang violence. He said children aged 12 to 15 are the most likely victims, and suggested some money go to organizations that help gang victims, many disabled, speak to youngsters about the dangers of gang life.
GOP nominee Bob Dole's 10-bus "Rally the Valley" motorcade rolled through California in an effort to win votes in a state where polls put Clinton as many as 20 points ahead. He pressed hot issues such as illegal immigration and affirmative action.
Richard Jewell planned to answer questions at a news conference today after federal prosecutors cleared him of being a suspect in Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park bombing. The Justice Department issued him a letter saying he was no longer being targeted by the FBI, and the government hopes he will cooperate with the investigation as a witness. The letter didn't include a formal apology. Jewell claims the three-month investigation has ruined his chances of finding another job.
New Yorkers are expected to turn out in droves tomorrow for a ticker tape parade down Broadway to celebrate the New York Yankees' 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves. It's the Yankees' first World Series victory since 1978.
A winter front that blocked the return of Santa Ana winds in southern California brought relief to residents of Ventura, where rains doused a threatening wildfire. The shift in weather also helped firefighters to contain and mop up blazes in Malibu and San Diego counties. But firefighters are battling a new blaze in San Bernardino. And officials closed a wilderness area in the Los Padres National Forest because of a wildfire. Nearby homeowners prepared for possible evacuations from the area about 150 miles south of San Francisco.
The National Guard departed St. Petersburg, Fla., but the city remains under a state of emergency after rioting sparked by the death of a black motorist by a white policeman. At least 11 people were injured, and damage was estimated at $5 million. The city plans to lift restrictions on gun and gasoline sales today.
The Pentagon reportedly is preparing a plan that would keep at least 5,000 US troops in Bosnia through 1997, according to The New York Times. The troops would be part of a NATO peacekeeping force of 15,000 to 30,000 soldiers who would remain in Bosnia to enforce the Dayton peace accords. Aides say Clinton wouldn't formally OK such participation until the US and NATO agree on the mission's scope, which would happen after the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Negotiations resumed between GM and the United Auto Workers Union in Detroit in efforts to avert a midnight strike. The union is demanding that GM follow job-security standards set by national contracts signed by Ford and Chrysler. Those companies have agreed to keep at least 95 percent of their union jobs over the next three years.
US marshalls plan to try again today to issue a subpoena to a Democratic Party fundraiser, John Huang, after several earlier attempts. Huang has been unavailable. A conservative group, Judicial Watch, wants to question Huang about political contributions made to Democrats. The group is trying to determine whether his former employer, the Department of Commerce, used government-sponsored missions to raise money for the Democrats.
Oklahoma bombing suspects Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were granted separate trials in a decision by Denver's US District Judge Richard Matsch. A joint trial would pose an "unacceptable risk of prejudice," he ruled.
THE WORLD
US Middle East peace envoy Dennis Ross shuttled between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, trying to seal an agreement on redeploying Israeli troops from the West Bank city of Hebron. Ross said an impending trip to Europe by Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat would only complicate mediation efforts. Meanwhile, at the European Union meetings in Luxembourg, foreign ministers were expected to appoint a special envoy to the Middle East.
Hundreds of thousands of Hutu refugees fled one of eastern Zaire's largest refugee camps after it was reported to have been shelled from neighboring Rwanda. The Zairean government temporarily closed, then reopened the airport at Goma, the largest in the region, because of heavy fighting between its troops and Tutsi rebels. Eighteen foreign relief workers then flew to safety in Kenya.
Anti-Taliban warplanes pounded Afghanistan's capital in the first air raids since the religious army took over Kabul in late September. Witnesses said bombs fell on the airport, where the Taliban keeps its own Russian-made fighter jets. Unconfirmed reports said other attacks on the ground against Taliban troops were taking place 10 miles north of the capital.
Voters in Russia went to the polls in regional elections that could cost President Boris Yeltsin some of his support in the upper house of parliament. The new governors in 52 districts automatically become members of parliament's Federation Council. Meanwhile, Yeltsin's new security chief headed to Chechnya to try to reassure rebel leaders worried about the firing of his predecessor, Alexander Lebed. Ivan Rybkin was expected to tell the Chechens that the Kremlin wants no return to violence.
Riot police in Islamabad, Pakistan, fired hundreds of rounds of tear gas at Islamic militants demonstrating against alleged corruption in the government of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Dozens of people were hurt, and there were other casualties in nearby Rawalpindi and other cities as additional demonstrators on their way to the capital were met by security forces. Key government buildings were guarded by troops armed with machine guns.
Burmese political activist Aung San Suu Kyi was back out in public and meeting with supporters, sources in her National League for Democracy said. All roads leading to the democracy leader's residence in Rangoon remain blocked, but the government denied that she was once again under house arrest. It did say she had been urged not to leave home during student protests last week.
Denmark was poised to veto an EU proposal today that would combat US anti-Cuba trade laws. EU foreign ministers are meeting in Luxembourg to try to block the controversial Helms/Burton law. It allows naturalized Americans to sue foreign individuals or firms that profit from investments in Cuba confiscated from US owners. The law is widely unpopular with European governments, but Denmark said national security concerns prevent it from voting for the anti-Helms/Burton effort. The Danish government is battling a citizens' group that accuses it of ceding too much sovereignty to the EU.
Backers of the world's first voluntary euthanasia law say they expect to lose when Australia's parliament takes up a bid to overturn it. Debate on the effort is scheduled for today. The controversial law, in effect in the Northern Territory since July, allows persons diagnosed as terminally ill to end their own lives under strict medical conditions. Prime Minister John Howard and the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches all oppose the measure.
ETCETERAS
"It would have been more appropriate for them to clear Richard
in the same public fashion that they fingered Richard.
-- Wayne Grant, Richard Jewell's attorney, on federal prosecutors declaring him no longer a suspect in the Atlanta bombing.
A Seattle-based radio network started 24-hour programming for the least sought-after listeners in America - young children. Kidstar Network features Top 40 music; comedy bits; news, weather, and sports - some of it presented by kid reporters; and regular features such as the "Cool Show," in which kids do their own thing.
Volunteers, unite! An Internet site scheduled to debut on-line tomorrow is designed to connect potential volunteers - especially young adults - with more than 10,000 local public service opportunities. The Youth Service America site is at www.SERVEnet.org.
Move over, fossils. DNA testing is preempting previous fossil estimates of when animals now living may have shared a common ancestor. A new gene study reported in the journal Science traces the beginning of such animals back about 1.2 billion years. Fossils first appeared in the geologic record about 500 million years ago.
A Sudanese human rights activist is to be honored Nov. 20 by the Center for Human Rights in Washington. But the recipient is considered to be in such danger at the hands of Sudan's rigid Islamic government that the center will not even announce his or her gender. Sudan has been accused of permitting slavery and persecuting religious and ethnic minorities.
THE DAY'S LIST
Where the Readers Are
The world's top 10 book markets for 1995, according to an annual survey conducted by the London-based firm Euromonitor. Global retail sales topped $80.1 billion last year, up 8 percent over 1994.
1. US $25.49 billion
2. Japan $10.47
3. Germany $9.96
4. Great Britain $3.6
5. France $3.38
6. Spain $2.99
7. South Korea $2.80
8. Brazil $2.53
9. Italy $2.25
10. China $1.76