News Digest §£#&*
Reports say prime minister to resign
TOKYO — Prime Minister
Noboru Takeshita has decided to re
sign as soon as Parliament passes the
budget for fiscal 1989, the mass cir
culation Mainichi Shimbun newspa
per and the Japan Broadcasting Corp.
reported Tuesday.
The reports said Takeshita
planned to make the announcement
after a Cabinet meeting later Tues
day.
Takeshita has chosen to resign
because of low support ratings in
opinion pells due to a widening po
litical scandal and an unpopular new
i
sales tax, the reports said.
Passage of the budget for fiscal
1989, which began April 1, has been
blocked by an opposition toycott of
deliberations in Parliament, but is
expected to come late this month or
soon after several national holidays
end early in May.
The reports said Takcshita, who
became prime minister in November
1987. has also decided to cancel a trip
to five southeast Asian nations. He
was scheduled to leave Saturday for
the nine-day tour.
Masayoshi Ito, chairman of the
-—--,
party executive council and an eight
time member of the lower house, has
been cited as a possible successor to
Takeshita. However, political ana
lysts say poor health may keep Ito,
75, from accepting the post. Ito is
diabetic.
At least 17 politicians or their
aides, including those of Takeshita,
reportedly received large profits
from 1986 discount sales of stocks in
a subsidiary of Recruit Co., an infor
mation-publishing conglomerate.
The transactions generated hefty
profits when the share prices soared
after the stocks were made available
for over-the-counter trading. Takc
shita has denied wrongdoing.
Recruit also paid millions of dol
lars to influential politicians or their
aides as contributions, raising suspi
cions that it was seeking favors in
return.
In all, more than a dozen people
have been arrested on bribery and
other charges, and three Takcshita
appointcd Cabinet members have
resigned in connection with the scan
dal.
A recent poll by ihcKvodnM
Service put Takeshita's
only 3.9 percent, the lowesi al
corded by Kyodo for a prime ?
ter. M mc m«nis
Political analysts sav iha, .
with the scandal and low .tt.jN
ratings, the premier has bcKX
by dissent within the party y™^
pany members fear they win „„?£
able to win elections wah
as their leader. 'akeshna
Elections for half the seats in u*
upper house arc due later this sum
mcr. iun>
Students begin
class boycott
for reforms
BEIJING — Students marched
on campuses Monday to proclaim
the start of a class boycott, one of a
scries of protests to press demands
for democratic reform. Leaders
claimed total participation in the
1 boycott.
At Beijing Normal University,
students waved flags and paraded
around campus chanting “boycott
class.” Students said they were
, trying to contact schools nation
j wide to persuade them to join.
There are no students in my
classroom. I wonder if I will get a
rest today, a forlorn-looking pro
fessor in the Chinese language
department said.
Protest leaders claimed all stu
dents participated. The students
said the boycott would be a peace
ful, legal attempt to force commu
nist authorities to meet with them
and discuss demands for a free
press, an end to official corruption
and other reforms.
On Sunday, the students took
their appeal for democracy to the
streets, making speeches to pas
sers-by and plastering walls and
sidewalks with posters.
Many passers-by contributed to
a student fund set up to cover strike
organization costs and set up a
student-run newspaper.
School authorities made no at
tempt to interfere Sunday. No po
lice or soldiers were seen.
The protests in Beijing were
organized and generally peaceful,
in contrast to marches Saturday in
Xian and Changsa, where rampag
ing mobs looted stores, burned cars
and seized a government building.
Scores were reported hurt.
The unrest was perhaps the
most violent since demonstrations
began April 15, when the death of
reformer Hu Yaobang stirred anti
government sentiments and an
organized protest campaign by
university students.
Many students also called for
Premier Li Peng’s resignation and
hung posters on campus mocking
him.
Government says guerilla
shelling killed 4 while
return fire leaves 54 dead
KABUL, Afghanistan --Guerrilla
rocket and artillery attacks on Jalala
bad took the lives of four people, and
return fire by government soldiers
killed 54 insurgents, the government
said Monday.
Foreign Ministry spokesman
Mohammad Nabi Amani also re
ported fighting in three other prov
inces during the previous 24 hours.
He gave the casualties as 32 dead and
six wounded.
At the United Nations in New
York, Afghan Foreign Minister Ab
dul Wakil on Monday said his gov
ernment will retaliate against Paki
stan if it docs not stop supporting
Afghan rebels.
He told the Security Council in a
9()-minulc speech, “If the Security
Council fails to adopt necessary
measures for defusing the present
tense situation, and if Pakistani ag
gression and intervention agamsi our
contry is continued, we will have no
choice but the firm and patriotic de
fense of our country.”
Wakil said the Pakistani side must
understand that its territory was as
vulnerable to rocket attacks as Af
ghanistan, bombarded by rockets
transported across the Afghan-Paki
stan border.
None ol the casualty figures re
ported Monday could be verified.
Both the Marxist government and
Moslem guerrillas generally exag
geratc the other side’s losses.
Amam said guerrillas fired fronr
two directions on Jalalabad, whicl
they have besieged for seven weeks
He said four civilians wc re killed anc
12 wounded.
Soldiers returned the fire, the
spokesman said, and he gave enemy
casualties as 54 killed and 35
wounded. Amam claimed Pakistani
and Saudi advisers were among the
dead.
T wo soldiers were wounded and
three houses and a marrket destroyed
by the guerrilla shelling, he said.
Jalalabad is a provincial capital 75
miles east of Kabul and once had a
population of 64,000. It has been
under heavy rocket and artillery at
tack since the siege began March 6.
Capturing it would give the insur
gents a base lor the exile government
they lormed in Pakistan two months
ago and help them gam momentum
lor an attack on the capital. Jalalabad
is near the Afghanistan end of the
Khybcr Pass, about 45 miles from the
Pakistan frontier.
When the offensive began, guer
rilla leaders predicted Jalalabad
would fall within days, but the Af
ghan army is equipped with sophisti
cated Soviet weapons and has re
pulsed the attacks. Diplomats in
Kabul say both sides have suffered
heavy casualties.
* ' 1 * * 1 * •»»>* I >tt> * v I if • 11 #
Supreme Court refuses Nader's
plea for revival of Alar lawsuit
WASHINGTON - The Supreme
Court today refused to revive a law
suit by consumer activist Ralph
Nader, environmentalists and others
seeking a government ban on the
pesticide Alar.
The court, without comment, let
stand a ruling that threw out the suit.
Alar, sold by Umroyal Chemical
Co., is used primarily to enhance the
color and uniform ripening of apples.
Some studies have shown it can
cause cancer in animals, and may be
a serious health risk to humans, par
ticularly children
But the Hnvironmental Protection
Agency on Jan b. I‘>87. re tec led a
plea by environmentalisis and others
to ban Alar riieagencv said ,t lacked
sutI iclent evidence 10 order ihe pesti
cide off the market.
Instead. II) days later the HP A
lowered by one third ihe allowable
amounts ol the chemical that may
remain as residues in apples. I lie new
rule was designed as an interim meas
ure to permit more tunc for the
agency to studv Alar s effects.
Nader and the others whose peti
tion was denied by the HP A filed a
federal sun aimed at forcing the
agency to ban Alar.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court ol
Appeals last October threw out the
suit for procedural reasons.
The appeals court said the EPA
could be exposed to a barrage of
lawsuits if forced to go to court every
lime it denied a petition like the one
submitted for Alar.
In other action, the court:
• Turned away an appeal by de
posed Philippine President Ferdinand
Marcos and his wile. I me Ida. aimed
.it overturning a court order freezing
their assets.
• Agreed to review a iudge s order
raising property taxes to help pu\ lor
racially desegregating public schools
m Kansas (’itv, Mo.
• Let stand a ruling that a lederal
iudge may overrule lederal environ
mental officials and permit use ol an
allegedly dangerous pesticide.
• he justices, without comment,
rejected an appeal bv environmental
ists ami organized labor in a case,
involving the pesticide dmoseb ol
particular im|x>rtance to larmerN m
Idaho, Oregon and Washington state
• Fell Intacta SIOI million refund
Ihc nation’s' telephone commie I
were ordered to pay custom™ I
excessive charges in 1978 rl
• Agreed to decide whether the I
government may tax as income the!
deposits that utility companies de
mand from customers to ensure nav
mcntol future bills. w
The court said it will hear a Bush
administration appeal in a case in
volving an Indiana electric utility
• Agreed to decide whether an
Indian tribe can prosecute members
ol other tribe's lor crimes on ns reser
vation.
I he court said it will review a
ruling that gives the Salt River Pima
Maricopa ('ommumiy m \n/ona
authority to prosecute .1 ('alitomia
’n-»" accused in ihe tatal shixtiineola
14-year-old hoy.
• Agreed to judge the '.aiuiuvula I
federal law allowing the use ol ahan
lonc'd rail line rights-ot s.t\ tor na
ture trails.
he couri said it will decide in a
vase from Vermont whether the law
unconstitutionally' deposes some
property owners ol the use ol their
uind without providing ust com
pensation.
Rock ‘n roll brings Keith,
Pete, Mick, Roger together
iwrsis- i nrec months ago
The Who’s Pete Townshend, induct
ing the Rolling Stones into the Rock
and Roll Hallol Fame, took a swipe at
the mercenary side of the Stones’
upcoming reunion tour.
“It won’t be easy for the Stones
the next time around, and if it wasn’t
for the vast sums of money they can
make, they might not bother at all,”
i Townshendjibed. ”... At least, Mick
i probably wouldn’t. It’s lucky for us
fans that he has such expensive
tastes.”
Now it’s Mick Jagger’s turn.
mm
_— -——- wvwwwMwmt'wmm.
I m still very nerv
ous about how I
can work on stage
without further dam
age to my hearing. ’
”Townshend
Two generations alter “Mv Gen
eration “ Townshcnd, Roger Daltrey
and John Entwistlc announced Mon
day they were reuniting lor a 25th
• ‘heir first since
1982-83 s Farewell Tour.” The
band also appeared in a one-shot
reunion at Live Aid.
Daltrey said they had decided
against making an album to he re
leased while they re touring.
We lelt like we weren’t trying to
resurrect the band. Tliis ,s a cclehra- 1
lion ol the music we created a! ter all '
these! years, he said. “One ol the
reasons we slopped is we were on that l
alburn-tour idhum-tour rat race ol the
andkdoXh Tduslr> Toa,me back t
and do all that again we thought was .<
a mistake.”
The British band last performed
iIk rock opera lommy,” by Town
shend, in its entirely 17 years ago in
Chicago.
The lour will include two lull
lcngih performances of “lommy,”
with guest stars, in New York City
and Los Angeles. The latter will be
videotaped. Those conccr s and the
video will be benefits lor the Nor
doff-Robbins Music Therapy Foun
dation for autistic children.
Townshcnd acknowledged he has
suffered a hearing loss, saying he has
a ringing in the cars at the kind of
frequencies at which 1 play guitar. If
expose myself to loud electric gui
suffcreUCUlWly my °Wn’ my hcar,n8
I m still very nervous about how
l can work on stage without further
damage to my hearing," he said, but
then drew a laugh by adding: * ‘ We re
going to play very, very quietly ”
I he return of the Stones and The
Who to the stage highlights what
'oems to be a trend in rock ‘n’ roll
unlay. Jefferson Airplane and The
stray ( ats are reuniting In recent
months David Crosby has taken part
m a pair of reunions, with ex-band
SniiCSr‘hCiByrds a,ul w,,h Stephen
MiMs.C.raham Nash and Neil Young.
As I own she nd indicated, such
set- ogethers are lucrative: Rolling
^tonc magazine reported the Stones
m guaranteed more than SbS million
or a MJ-datc North American tour.
Kku sales lor their m\ tour hit
million.
ruMui KUy^ lhc rcasl)ns are more
!
KES: L“ - l
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