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News Digest Carnahan adapts to life on Capitol Hill THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - Children and schools were the last topics Jean Carnahan discussed with her hus band die day die Missouri governor died in a plane crash. They will be among the first issues she pursues as a senator in the seat he won posthumously. In an interview Thursday, Carnahan said she spoke to her husband Mel by cell phone Oct 16 just before he left for a Senate campaign stop. Thad been visiting schools on the day ofthe acci dent,” she said, sitting in a basement office on Capitol Hill where incoming senators were working while waiting for permanent office assignments. “And I was talking to him-he was in the airplane just before he took off - and so I told him about having been to the schools, and he said, ‘Oh, you can tell me about it when I get home.’ So I thought it was kind of interesting that the last conversation we had was about schools,” Carnahan said. The twin-engine Cessna335 cradled a short time after takeoff south of St Louis, killing the governor, the Carnahans’ eldest son, Randy, and a dose aide The Democratic governor’s name remained on the ballot because a deadline for changes had passed, and Carnahan agreed to replace him if he outpolled the incumbent, Republican Sen. John Ashcroft. Carnahan won, 50 percent to 48 percent His widow was appointed officially Monday, and Carnahan spent Tliesday and Wednesday with 10 Other incoming freshman in orientation sessions on Capital HilL Children and education are the issues, along with Missouri history and lore, that absorbed her as the state’s first lady. Carnahan said she would make them her priority after she was sworn in Jan. 3, although she doesn't yet have a specific agenda mapped out Her new colleagues Laughed and joked during the week’s public appearances, while Carnahan has appeared somber. *1 still have times that I fed very alone,” she said. "And I realize how dependent I am on my faith and on my family and that I cant get through this process by mysett” Daughter Robin is considering a move to Washington, she said, while her son Tom “has got Potomac fever” but still must tend to his St Louis law practice. Both traveled with her this week; her other son, Russ, won the Nov. 7 election to the Missouri House. Besides opening offices and hiring a staff - three of her husband’s closest aides will head her team in the Senate - Carnahan also must find a home in Washington. The transition from loyal political spouse to U.S. senator is physically and mentally demanding, she said, affecting her life in every way. "And I keep wanting to speed that process up, because I’m trying to seek some sort of equilibrium in my life, but it doesn’t seem like that’s going to hap pen,” she said. “It’s just trying to live within die chaos that’s all around me and to find some sort of peace in that is sort of the goal of the Christmas season.” Weather TODAY Partly cloudy high 32, low 21 TOMORROW Mostly cloudy high 40, low 27 SUNDAY Mostly cloudy high 34, low 23 c Mam ■*r - (/> Questions? Comments? Ask for the appropriate section editor at (402)472-2588 or e-mail: dn@uni.edu Editor Managing Editor: News Editor: Opinion Editor Sports Editor Arts Editor Copy Desk Co-Chief: Copy Desk Co-Chief: Photo Chief: Art Director. Design Chief: Web Editor Web Editor General Manager Publications Board Chairman: ^ |Hi| Professional Adviser Advertising Manager Ad Manager Ad Manager Manager jgm Assistant Ad Classified Ad wdljparculation Sarah Baker Bradley Davis Kimberly Sweet Samuel McKewon Matthew Hansen Dane Stickney Lindsay Young Danell McCoy Heather Glenboski Melanie Falk Andrew Broer Gregg Steams Tanner Graham Dan Shattil Russell Willbanks, (402)436-7226 Don Walton, (402)473-7248 Nick Partsch, (402)472-2589 Nicole Woita Nikki Bruner Imtiyaz Khan Fax Number: (402) 472-1761 I Wide Web: www.dailyneb.com Tlte Daily Nebraskan (USPS144-080) lished by the UNL Publications Board, 20 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, NE 68588-0448, Monday i Friday during the academic year; '' during the summer sessions, lie has access to the Publications Board. ' Algiers are encouraged to submit story ideas arraccfhments to the Daily Nebraskan by calling (402)472-2588. jbscriptions are $60 for one year. jster Send address changes i Daily Nebraskan, 20 Nebraska Union, t1400R St,Lincoln, NE 68588-0448. Jkal postage paid at Lincoln, NE [ ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 2000 DAILY NEBRASKAN Putin takes time out for Cuba ■ The trip will mark the first bya Russian leader since the collapse of the Soviet Union. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin will visit Cuba and Canada next week, the presidential press service said Thursday, in what would be the first trip by a Russian leader to Cuba since the collapse of the Soviet Union. An official of the press service said few details of the trip were available, but the Dec. 13-19 trip would begin in Cuba. There has been no official announcement by the Cuban or Canadian governments about the trip. But Cuban authorities have said pri vately that Putin’s visit to the commu nist island will be from Wednesday to Friday. During the height of the Cold War, the Soviet military and economic presence in Cuba was immense, with U.S. officials estimating that Soviet aid accounted for at least 20 percent of the island’s gross national product After the Soviet breakup a decade ago, Cuba was plunged into an eco nomic crisis that it is still trying to recover from. Although the former subsidies and preferential terms are long gone, a sig nificant amount of trade continues between the two nations, mostly petroleum and sugar. Putin's predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, who became Russia's president after the Soviet collapse, never visited the island during his tenure. Trade is expected to be discussed during Putin’s Cuba trip, as well as ways to help wipe out Cuba's lingering debt with Russia, left over from the Soviet era. David Sfiveman/Newsmakers fifteen-month^ Palestinian Christian TaleenAwad trawls over the slver14-pointed star,whkh by traditwnmarics the place where Jesus was bom, in the grotto of the Chwch ofthe NativityThursday in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. With the current Isiaefi-Palestinian conflict in its third month, more Palestinians are feeing the economic backlash horn the lade of tourists in what would have normally have been the high season ahead of Christmas. Violence interrupts talk of peace ■ Even as Yasser Arafat calls fora restoration of peace, outbreaks of fighting injure five Israelis. THE ASSOCIATE) PRESS JERUSALEM - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat told the parents of Israeli victims of the latest Mideast conflict on Thursday that “we have to restore and build peace on this land,” but renewed fighting wounded five Israelis. Also Thursday a Palestinian court sentenced a 25-year-old Palestinian laborer to death by hanging for helping Israel assassinate a Hamas bomb maker who died Nov. 23 when a car he bor rowed exploded. Israeli officials have denied involvement in the death of Ibrahim Bani Odeh, and they had no immediate comment on the sentence. The Palestinian court’s conviction of Alan Bani Odeh, a relative of the victim, marked the first time a collaborator was sentenced to death. In the past, collabo rators have been summarily executed by Palestinian activists without trial. During his three-hour trial, Odeh said the Israelis blackmailed him into helping, but he denied planting explosives in the car he lent his cousin. As Arafat talked about peace with his Israeli guests, one of his top lieutenants in the West Bank called for demonstra tions today and Saturday to mark the 13th anniversary of the original Palestinian uprising, which lasted from 1987 until Israel and the Palestinians signed their first interim peace accord in 1993. Coinciding with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, often a period of increased Israeli-Palestinian tension, the two “days of rage” declared by Marwan Barghouti, the grass-roots Palestinian leader in the West Bank, had the poten tial to rekindle large-scale riots and con frontations, which have waned in recent days. There were two serious incidents Thursday. In a West Bank ambush, three Israelis were wounded, one critically, when Palestinians opened fire on their car on the main north-south road through the territory. The shooting took place near the Jewish settlement of Shavei Shomron, northwest of Nablus. Two of the wounded were soldiers, the army said Also, a Palestinian worker stabbed his employer and another Israeli at an industrial park near the Erez crossing point between the Gaza Strip and Israel, police said The employer was seriously wounded. The other Israeli shot the attacker, who died later in an Israeli hos pital Referring to the violence, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said the mili tary is undertaking operations away from the public eye. “We will continue intense activity to apprehend those who attack us,” he said Nearly 300 people, most of them Palestinians, have been killed since riot ing erupted on Sept 28. Despite the violence, Arafat expressed hopes for peace in his meeting with the 12 Israeli peace activists - rela tives of people killed in Palestinian terror attacks - in his Gaza City office. “We have to talk more frankly to reach solutions for the remaining issues,” he said. Gore tries to salvage presidency hopes THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Desperately short on time, A1 Gore's lawyer plead ed with the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday to order vote recounts and revive his faltering presidential quest. Republican attorneys called George W. Bush the certified, rightful victor and said “not a single shred of evidence” suggested any body was denied their vote. Even as the seven jus tices mulled the vice presi dent's fate, fellow Democrats said they were running low on patience. “This is coming to an end,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. He said a Bush presi dency “looks more and more" likely. One month after a mad deningly inconclusive Election Day, the question of who will serve as America's 43rd president still echoes throughout the nation’s leg islative and judicial cham bers. On Thursday alone, two state judges and one federal court considered complaints about absentee ballots, and GOP lawmakers in Florida braced for a spe cial session Friday to give Bush the state's 25 electoral votes - in case the courts won’t All this amid the pressure of a TUesday deadline set out in the U.S. Constitution for states to appoint electors. If Florida's legislative and judi cial branches can’t agree on a presidential slate by the Electoral College meeting Dec. 18, a divided Congress could inherit the morass. "Time is getting very short,” Gore lawyer David Boies told Florida’s high court The seven justices, all with Democratic ties, aggressively quizzed both sides but seemed skeptical about their own authority to intervene. The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this week set aside a Florida high court ruling allowing some late hand recounts of ballots, sending the case back for clarifica tion. Chastened justices wondered out loud whether the U.S. Constitution gives the Florida Legislature - rather than the court - power to settle the presiden tial dispute. Even before Boies had a chance to begin his opening remarks, Chief Justice Charles T. Wells interrupted to ask, “Where do we get our right to resolve this kind of presidential impasse?” ‘This is nothing more than a garden variety appeal.” Barry Richard George W. Bush lawyer “I don’t think the Constitution of the United States in anyway means that the legislature has to sit both as a legislative body and a judicial body just because an election of presidential elec tors is involved,” Boies replied. A half-hour later, Wells asked the same question of Bush lawyer Barry Richard, who said the high court could review the case in a “very limited fashion." “This is nothing more than a garden variety appeal," Richard said. From a political stand point, the remark was a breathtaking display of understatement. Gore wants the judges to do nothing less than over turn the official results of Florida’s election, which show Bush the victor by 537 votes out of 6 million cast A trial court judge has already refused to order recounts in Democratic-leaning coun ties, prompting the appeal. Gore narrowly won the national popular vote, but the White House goes to whomever earns Florida’s dividends and tops 270 state electoral votes. Gore invited running mate Joseph Lieberman to the vice president’s mansion in Washington to watch the historic arguments on TV. Campaign chairman William Daley flew to Florida to thank Gore’s lawyers, their job nearly done. In Austin, Texas, Bush arrived for work at his gover nor’s office just as the argu ments began. He didn’t watch the proceedings, though he was briefed after ward by James A. Baker III, his point man in Florida. "We’ll see what hap pens,” Bush told reporters. His advisers were keep ing an eye on the Florida Legislature, but denied any involvement in the special session. World/Nation The Associated Press ■ Washington, D.C. Battered women may find future refuge in United States Women around the world who are victims of domestic violence would have an easier time getting asylum in the United States under a rule pro posed Thursday. Immigration and women's advocates who have sought the change applauded the Justice Department proposal as a groundbreaking move to recog nize that women can face per secution because of their gen der. “It is a long-overdue and a great thing," immigration lawyer Michael Maggio said. Added Bernadette Cisse, adviser on women’s issues at the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, “This is definitely encouraging ... it’s a step for ward." The change would bring the United States more in line with the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, which have recognized the issue of battered women as a gender issue. The public can comment on the proposal for 45 days before a final rule is published. ■ Washington, D.C Earlier threats could lead to Albright's protection Security protection for Secretary of State Madeleine Albright would be extended for up to six months after she leaves office under legislation pending in Congress. David Carpenter, former head of President Clinton’s Secret Service detail who is now in charge of diplomatic security at the State Department, initiat ed the idea early this year. It was included in Clinton’s appropri ations request for the Commerce, Justice and State Departments. “At the time, we knew we had threat against her, and we didn't think they would dissi pate right after she left office," Carpenter said in an interview. Albright did not originate the proposal, he said. In fact, he said, “it could be a burden. It’s no luxury to have armed securi ty accompany you on your job." Former presidents, their spouses and minor children are protected for 10 years and for mer vice presidents for 180 days, the same time frame sought for Albright’s security detail. ■Australia Australia, Indonesia aim to repair relationship CANBERRA - Senior Australian and Indonesian offi cials met Thursday to try to improve relations hurt last year after an Australian-led military force entered East Timor. After months of delays, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Indonesian coun terpart Alwi Shihab led other ministers in the first of two days of meetings on issues from agri culture to investment. Relations soured after Australia led a U.N.-sanctioned military force into East Timor to stop violence by Indonesian troops and their militia allies against pro-independence East Timorese. The violence broke out after East Timor voted overwhelm ingly in a U.N.-organized refer endum to end a quarter-centu ry of Indonesian occupation. “The big point here is that Australia and Indonesia live side by side,” Downer said. “We have had our differences in recent times, but we under stand the strategic importance of having a constructive work ing relationship.” Correction Because of an editing error, a caption accompanying ice diagrams in Wednesday’s edi tion was incorrect. The top dia gram showed a typical ice mole cule. The bottom diagram was a model of “Nebraska” ice in its amorphous state as discovered by UNL chemistry professor Xiao Cheng Zeng and Japanese chemists Kenichiro Koga and Hideki Tanaka. j