News Digest By The Associated Press
Reagan reluctantly agrees to debt-limit bill
WASHINGTON — President
Reagan said he will sign legislation
restoring the automatic deficit-reduc
tion provisions of the Gramm
Rudman Act, but he charged that
Congress managed to “force my
hand” by bringing government ‘‘to the
edge of default.”
In his weekly radio address to the
nation Saturday, Reagan said his deci
sion to sign the measure was an ago
nizing one. But he said that because
--I-1
the bill increases the government’s
borrowing authority to $2.8 trillion, it
was needed to protect the market sta
bility and maintain American “relia
bility and credibility.”
Reagan warned that under the
Gramm-Rudman amendment, he
eventually would be forced either to
“sign a tax bill or to accept massive
cuts in national defense — or both.
This decision is not easy. I have no
choice but to sign this bill, to guaran
tee the United States government’s
credit.”
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said
Saturday he was pleased that Reagan
had decided to sign the measure.
“The fact is that Congress, on a
bipartisan basis, won this round,”
Levin said. “The country and the
American people won this round.
“It will force the president and his
people to sit down with the leaders of
Congress and talk rationally about
how we’re going to reduce this deficit.
Hollow rhetoric like the president
uses isn’t going to do it anymore,”
Levin added. “It’s going to take some
action, some deeds, not some more
words.”
The Gramm-Rudman amendment
was attached to urgently needed legis
lation to increase the Treasury’s debt
limit so it can continue to finance the
deficit
A temporary debt bill expired at
12:01 a.m. Thursday, forcing the
Treasury to begin using up its cash
reserves. Without legislation allow
ing the Treasury to resume its borrow
ing by Oct. 1, the government could
default for the first time in its history.
Reagan requested the bill’s in
crease of the debt limit to $2.8 trillion,
the largest single boost in the statutory
debt in history, up from the current
limit of $2,111 trillion. That boost
would carry the Treasury’s borrowing
needs until May 1989, past the end of
Reagan’s term.
The debt was less than $1 trillion
when Reagan took office.
The revised Gramm-Rudman law
would bring back the threat of auto
matic, across-the-board spending cuts
if Congress and the president fail to
reduce the deficit. It would require
$23 billion in deficit reduction in fis
cal 1988, which begins Oct. 1.
I Treasury^Debt Limit j
Brian Barbar/Dally Nebraskan
Fund gives optimistic outlook
WASHINGTON — Treasury
Secretary James A. Baker III gave
an optimistic view of the world
economy Sunday after a gloomier
one from the International Mone
tary Fund.
The fund’s “World Economic
Outlook” said sluggishness early
this year roused concern that activ
ity would slow down this year and
next.
It added that this concern was
increased by large surpluses and
deficits in trade and growing fic
tion on the issue, fears of a further
decline of the dollar in Europe and
Japan, low prices for goods pro
duced in the Third World and the
decline of banldending to the area.
in me united States we expect
real growth in excess of 3 percent
for both 1987 and 1988/’ Baker
told the fund’s Interim Committee,
which makes its major decisions.
“Other countries are also put
ting into place policies to promote
global growth and a reduction of
externa) imbalances. Japan, for
example, is moving to implement a
stimulative fiscal package an tax
reform, both of which should sup
port domestic demand.”
The IMF, meanwhile, issued a
report saying the U S, budget defi
cit would shrink significantly this
year but will rise through 1990,
despite predictions to the contrary
by the Reagan administration.
Fiji may become a republic
SUVA, Fiji — Army commander
Sitiveni Rabuka met Sunday with the
man whose executive powers he
seized in a coup two days earlier to
discuss a future government for this
ethnically divided island nation, an
army spokesman said.
Col. Rabuka and Governor-Gen
eral Sir Penaia Ganilau, both ethnic
Fijians, met hours after a bomb ex
ploded in a car during the army-im
posed 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew, killing
one man and injuring two compan
ions.
It was the first known violence
since Friday’s apparently bloodless
coup, Rabuka’s second. He staged the
first coup on May 14, after the defeat
of the ethnic Fijian-dominated Alli
ance Party in parliamentary elec
tions.
Officials refused to comment on
the bomb blast. The Australian Asso
ciated Press said the explosion oc
curred late Saturday when three men,
all staff members of the University of
the South Pacific, were caught by a
security guard violating the curfew.
The explosive devise apparently
was being held by one of the men in
the car when it went off as they drove
away, AAP said.
Rabuka, 39, told the Australian
newspaper Times that he plans to
declare Fiji a republic on Oct. 10, the
17th anniversary of independence
from Britain, and make Ganilau the
nation’s first president.
He also called for a constitution
under which Fiji’s ethnic Melane
sians, who are indigenous to the
South Pacific nation, would dominate
Parliament
In an interview with Radio Austra
lia, broadcast by the British Broad
casting Corp. on Sunday, Rabuka
hinted that an interim military gov
ernment will be established.
“I intend to have a Council of
Ministers similar to the one I had after
the May 14 coup but this time leaving
out all politicians altogether,” he
said.
“I intend to do this for as short a
period as possible, to try and work out
the new constitution and get it
adopted so that we can go back to
ordinary soldiering and leave the
running of the country to the politi
cians.”
Asked if Fiji will be declared a
republic, Rabuka said: ‘‘Well, as the
Great Council of Chiefs decided in
deliberations a few weeks back, if a
republic is the only solution, well, so
be it.”
The Great Council of Chiefs repre
sents the traditional authority among
Melanesians, who comprise 47 per
cent of Fiji’s 715,000 people.
Book details Casey confessions
WASHINGTON — The late CIA
Director William Casey turned to the
Saudi Arabian government for money
and help when it became clear that his
own effort to create a secret anti
terrorist force was not going to work,
according to excerpts published Sun
day of a forthcoming book by Bob
Woodward.
The book describes Casey as an
action-oriented man who was “struck
by the overall passivity of the presi
dent.” Woodward also provides
details of what he says was Casey’s
deathbed confession of his knowledge
of the diversion of Iran arms profits to
the Nicaraguan Contra rebels.
Casey’s impatience with the CIA’s
emphasis on intelligence gathering
rather than covert action reached a
peak in 1985, when the administration
was anxious to assert itself in the
Middle East after terrorists had
bombed U.S. buildings in Beirut, the
book says.
Woodward wrote: “After four
years of frustration with his agency
and Congress, Casey had reached the
breaking point. He decided to go out
side of normal CIA channels and turn
instead to King Fand of Saudi Arabia.
... Fand pledged $3 million of Saudi
money for the operation, enabling
Casey and the Reagan administration
to circumvent both the CIA and Con
gress, which normally would provide
funds for covert operations.”
Excerpts from Woodward’s book,
“Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA,
1981-1987,” appeared in Sunday edi
tions of The Washington Post and the
newspaper’s magazine supplement
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Arms summit must be
in U.S., diplomat says
MOSCOW — President Reagan
will meet this year with Soviet leader
Mikhail S. Gorbachev only if the
summit takes place in the United
States, a senior western diplomat said
today.
The source, familiar with recent
talks in Washington between U.S.
Secretary of State George Shultz and
Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard
Shevardnadze, said the Soviets infor
mally agreed on a U.S. venue and that
no other site was under discussion.
Speaking to reporters on condition
that he not be identified, the source
said Reagan ‘‘won’t go anywhere
Hse” to meet General Secretary Gor
bachev.
“Obviously, there will not be a
summit meeting unless it’s in tht
United States,’’ the diplomat said
“The president’s made it clear that il
there is another one, it’s in the U.S.’
On Thursday, a Soviet Foreigr
Ministry spokesman told reporter?
that the site had not been determined
and was still subject to negotiation.
The issue is sensitive from the U.S
point of view because American offi
cials consider the Soviets overdue foi
a summit meeting in the United States
Of the last Five summit meetings
two were held in the Soviet Union and
none in the United Stales.
Higher oil prices lead to
activity in Nebraska's fields
Oil prices arc up again and that
means activity in Nebraska’s oil
fields, industry officials said.
“It definitely has picked up
slightly. This is no big boom, but
we’re seeing more wells,” said Sonny
Eatmon, head of Eatmon Oil Service
of Kimball and a member of the
Nebraska Oil and Gas Commission.
“It’s almost all because of the oil
prices,” he said.
Prices are at about $18 for a 42
gallon barrel of Nebraska crude oil.
Prices dipped below $10 per barrel
last year, and oil companies slowed
their exploration and production.
Rod Coubrough, a geologist with
the oil commission’s off ice in Sidney,
said there arc five drilling rigs active
in the Panhandle, two in Cheyenne
County, and one each in Morrill,
Kimball and Sioux counties.
Last year, there were times when
no one was drilling, he said.
In July and August, companies
applied for 54 drilling permits in the
state. A year ago, the state issued only
seven permits in those two months.
Coubrough said the earlier success
of relatively deep oil wells in Ne
braska, extending 7,000 to 9,000 feet
versus the 2,500 feet of less normally
drilled in Nebraska, has encouraged
drillers.
In Brief 3 j
U.N. agency appeals for Ethiopia food aid
NAIROBI, Kenya — The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization
. said that Ethiopia will experience severe food shortages in 1988 and
appealed for immediate international aid to avoid famine deaths.
In a statement released in Nairobi, the U.N. agency said “it was now
inevitable that there would be a serious failure oi main cereal harvests”
in most of Ethiopia.
Early snowfall blankets northeastern China
BEUING — An unusually early snowfall blanketed areas of north
eastern China, freezing crops and creating havoc for traffic, the Chinese
news media reported Saturday.
The region has had unusually low temperatures over the past two
days, and more than 3.2 inches of rain and snow have fallen on most of
central and eastern Heilongjiang, according to provincial weather
officials.
Report says Raisa Gorbachev was seriously ill
STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has not
been seen in public since the beginning of August because his wife Raisa
became seriously ill following an appendectomy, a Swedish newspaper
reported Saturday.
The daily Expressen newspaper said Mrs. Gorbachev, 53, had been
seriously ill for 14 days and that Gorbachev decided to prolong his
vacation to stay with her. The paper's report followed speculation in the
West that something may have happened to the Soviet leader, who has
not been seen in public since Aug. 7.
Residents bathe Tinseltown for birthday
HOLLYWOOD — Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Woo and
100 volunteers have taken it upon themselves to spruce up Tinseltown
streets in honor of Hollywood's 100th birthday.
Woo put some muscle behind a broom on Vine Street on Saturday to
kick off the “Give Hollywood a Bath’’ campaign, which will continue
over the next two weekends.
Czech rats, Soviets, to aid U.S. space research
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — American scientists who want to study
weightlessness while the space shuttle is grounded are receiving help
from the Soviets and a few Czechoslovakian rats. They will study how
weightlessness affects bones, muscles and growth hormone production
in rats flown in a Soviet satellite, said Richard Grindeland, a NASA
researcher.
