News Digest Edited by Diana Johnson
Andy Manhart/Dally Nebraskan
Carnival goers pack clubs,
Samba parade on first day
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -
The first feverish day of Carnival
exploded Saturday with thousands
of revelers jamming costume
balls, bars and samba parades to
indulge in four days of drinking,
dancing and sexual abandon.
In Recife, about 1,536 miles
northeast of Rio, lavishly deco
rated trucks pumping highly am
plified samba music from their
loudspeakers inched down dancer
packed avenues.
Meanwhile, in the coastal cities
of Fortaleza and Salvador, sun
bathers packed beaches and revel
ers went wild dancing ‘‘the croco
dile,” hopping back and forth
along boulevards behind throb
bing samba bands and music
trucks that headed parade proces
sions.
But spirits were hardly high in
Belo Horizonte, the nation’s third
largest city about 288 miles north
west of Rio. After the municipal
government canceled the city’s
main Carnival festivities because
of a lack of funds, thousands
packed bus stations and airports to
enjoy the festival in other cities.
In Rio, however, little seemed
able to dampen Carnival euphoria
- not last year’s record 1,000 per
cent inflation, nor charges of cor
ruption and nepotism in the gov
ernment, nor the closing of schools
and hospitals because city employ
ees hadn’t received their Decem
ber paychecks.
After the official opening cere
monies Saturday, in which jolly
and fat King Momo, Carnival’s
symbolic sovereign, received the
keys to the city from Mayor Mar
cello Alcncar, crowds of thou
sands accompanied by bands and
parades started singing and danc
ing down the streets of downtown
Rio.
Poorer Brazilians banged out
rhythms on pots and pans and frol
icked in the falling rain, while the
city’s well-heeled donned glitter
ing beaded costumes and danced
the samba all night in luxurious
ballrooms.
On Friday night at the Sugar
Loaf Ball, the first of a number of
ornate, celebrity-studded balls at
the base of Rio’s famed Sugar Loaf
Mountain, the crowd went wild
dancing beneath statues of Mari
lyn Monroe and Lenin.
And at Rio’s famed Scala night
club, the site of some of the rowdi
est Carnival balls, party-goers ate
and drank from a stock of 1 ton of
filet mignon, 650 pounds of
shrimp, 210 cases of scotch and
2,600 gallons of draft beer.
Behind the merrymaking, au
thorities are concerned about un
controlled sex and a sharp increase
of AIDS cases. Brazil, with about
4,946 registered cases since 1980,
is third in the world in the number
of AIDS cases alter the United
States and France.
Newspapers report
Botha could retire soon
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
— Newspapers Sunday said President
P.W. Botha, who stepped down as
leader of the ruling party last week,
may retire soon.
Botha, who suffered a stroke Jan.
18, resigned Thursday as head of the
National Party and was replaced the
same day by National Education
Minister F.W. de Klerk, who is con
sidered Botha's heir apparent as
president
Botha said he will stay on as presi
dent, but he has appointed Constitu
tional Development Minister Chris
Hcunis as acting president while he
recuperates.
Doctors say the 73-year-old Botha
is making a rapid recovery but will
need at least another month before he
can consider returning to work.
Botha was not present for the
opening of Parliament in Cape Town
on Friday and has not been participat
ing in the government’s day-to-day
operations, officials have said.
The Sunday Times, the country’s
largest paper, said in a front-page
story that Botha’s decision to step
down as party chief “is a prelude to
complete withdrawal from public
life.
The newspaper, citing unidenti
fied sources within the National
Party, said Botha may retire “within
weeks.’’
Khamenei says
ties are blocked
NICOSIA, Cyprus -- Iranian
President Ali Khamenei said Sunday
that diplomatic relations with Wash
ington will not be possible until the
United States abandons its hostile
posture toward Iran, Tehran radio
said.
“There can be no change in our
stance against America, unless there
is a change in American foreign pol
icy toward Iran,” the official broad
cast, monitored in Nicosia, quoted
Khamenei as saying.
“What forces us into our present
stance against the United Stales is its
hostile and extremely conspiratorial
behavior toward the Islamic Repub
lic and the revolution ...
“What can cause change in the
present situation is surely a change in
this hostile attitude, and a change in
America's policy of domination,’*
Khamenei said.
After virtually isolating itself
from the international community
during the Iran-Iraq war, Tehran has
been opening doors to both East and
West bloc countries since the Aug. 20
cease-fire.
But anti-Americanism still is a
cornerstone of Tehran’s foreign pol
icy.
Khamenei also condemned Israeli
actions in the occupied territories and
South Africa’s policy of race segre
f;ation. He said Iran would notestab
ish ties with either of those countries.
The Sunday Star of Johannesburg
said in its front-page story that
Botha’s decision to relinquish his
party post has sown confusion, be
cause National Party members now
owe allegiance to three leaders
Botha, de Klerk and Heunis.
“Botha has to retire from the
presidency soon to solve the crisis,
the newspaper reported, also citing
unidentified sources within the Na
tional Party.
As president, Botha still has con
trol over policy-making, while de
Klerk will be responsible for the fun
damentals of partisan politics, such
as organization and fundraising.
Botha has refused to divulge his
retirement plans, and both newspa
pers said he needs to give a dear
indication of his intentions.
“He deems it unnecessary to offer
any clue as to how - or how long - he
proposes to wield power, ” The Sun
day Star said in an editorial. “Not
even (de Klerk) knows how it is all
going to work.”
The government must call an elec
tion before March 1990 and there has
been widespread speculation it could
be held as early as April this year.
Goodwill is shown
of U.S.-Soviet citizens
in recent opinion poll
NEW YORK - A U.S.-Soviet
public opinion poll has found good
will among residents of Moscow and
four American cities, despite fears
over their nations’ longstanding ri
valry.
Majorities in Moscow and in the
U.S. cities saw the superpowers as
friendly, the survey found, and more
than eight in 10 agreed the two na
tions were entering ‘‘a new era of
peace and cooperation.”
At the same time, nearly four in 10
Muscovites saw the United States as a
serious threat to their nation, and as
many or more of the Americans saw
the Soviets as a threat to the United
States, the survey found.
The poll was sponsored by
WCVB-TV in Boston, the Detroit
Free Press, the Daily News and
WCBS television and radio in New
York, and KRON-TV in San Fran
cisco. It was conducted by telephone
Dec. 15-25 among approximately
1,000 adults each in Moscow and
New York and about 600 each in
Boston, Detroit and San Francisco. It
had a three-point margin of error for
the larger samples, four for the
smaller ones. The results were pub
lished last week.
The survey measured social as
well as political views, providing for
comparisons of the beliefs and life
styles of the Soviets and Americans
in the cities where it was conducted.
Muscovites, for example, were
considerably more confident in their
government, with 37 percent saying
they always can trust it to do what's
right. Just 6 percent of the Americans
said the same of their government.
But more of the Americans had
great pride in their nationality. De
pending on the city, about seven m 10
said they were very proud to be
Americans. In Moscow, four in )0
were very proud to be Soviets.
The Americans were far more
content with the goods and services
available to them and more positive
about their economy. More than half
said their lives had improved in re
cent years, compared with 37 percent
of Muscovites.
Whatever their nations ainer
ences, at least three-quarters of the
Americans in each city said they had
a generally favorable impression of
the Soviet people. Similarly, eight in
10 Soviets thought well of Ameri
cans.
The survey was conducted in the
United States by two polling compa
nies, Market Opinion Research and
Maruila £' Kiley, and in Moscow by
the Institute for Sociology, a branch
of the Soviet Academy of Sciences,
with monitoring by the U.S. pollsters.
Human bones sold in Nigeria
LAGOS, Nigeria - R lice ar
rested three people for trading in
human skulls and other body parts in
a local market, the Sunday Concord
reported.
The newspaper said police recov
ered five human skulls, including jaw
bones, and several leg, hand and arm
bones. The arrests were made Satur
day after police were lipped about the
sales
One of those arrested told police
that most of the body parts were
bought from cemetary attendants.
Human skulls and bones have
been used in some West Africa ritu
als.
---1
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34-year leader leaves for Brazil,
but polls are to be in 3 months
ASUNCION, Paraguay - Former
President Alfredo Stroessner, who
ruled this nation 34 ye^rs until he was
ousted in a coup two days ago,
boarded a jetliner Sunday and flew
into exile in Brazil.
Virgilio Moretzsohn, a councilor
at the Brazilian Embassy, told The
Associated Press earlier that Brazil
had agreed to Paraguay's request that
it accept Stroessner.
The Roman Catholic radio station
Radio Caritas reported that Stroess
ner would go to the Atlantic coastal
resort of Guaratuba, in the Brazilian
gift if of Parana. Stroessner, 76, has
vacationed there often.
The presence of a plane sur
rounded by soldiers at President
Stroessner International Airport drew
hundreds of onlookers to see in per
son, perhaps for the last time, the man
who took power in a 1954 coud.
Stroessner had been under house
arrest near the capital since he was
captured early Friday, after a night of
fighting.
Earlier Sunday, Foreign Minister
Luis Maria Argana announced that
elections for president and Congress
will be held in three months.
“Within a few days, we will de
cree a new election law and a new
electoral system which will dissolve
both houses of Congress, and call for
elections within three months dating
from last Friday,” Argana said.
Gtn. Andres Rodriguez, who led a
coup against Slrocssner that resulted
in tne president’s ouster, was sworn
in as president later that day. It was
not immediately clear if he would run
in the elections.
The death toll from the coup has
been estimated at up to 300, but no
official figures have been given.
Rodriguez had been Stroessner’s
second-in-command in the army, and
his daughter is married to one of
Stroessner’s sons. .
