News Digest Edited by Diana Johnson
Bush administration lauds Soviet changes
WASHINGTON - The Bush
administration came down Wednes
day on the side of the changes Soviet
President Mikhail S. Gorbachev has
engineered in the Communist Party
leadership and said it hoped the result
would be a strengthening of democ
ratization and openness.
In a statement, the administration
described Gorbachev’s purge of 74
Central Committee full voting mem
bers and the promotion of several of
ihc Soviet leader’s proteges as dra
matic and stressed they were a matter
of internal Soviet policy.
But the administration then went
on to express hope that “whatever
r
changes occur, their effect is to
strengthen and promote the reform
process in the Soviet Union toward
greater democratization and open
ness.”
The statement was read by Marga
ret Tutwiler, the State Department
spokeswoman, in response to ques
tions at the department's daily press
briefing. Secretary of Stale James A.
Baker III will hold talks in Moscow
May 10-11 with Gorbachev and For
eign Minister Eduard A. Shevard
nadze.
They arc expected to set a date for
a resumption of U.S.-Soviet negotia
tions to reduce long-range nuclear
missiles and to discuss prospects for
Arab-Isracli negotiations. Baker also
may make preliminary preparations
with Gorbachev and Shevardnadze
for a summit meeting between Presi
dent Bush and the Soviet leader.
Baker last week praised the eco
nomic reform program Gorbachev
has undertaken but said the Soviet
leader could be in trouble unless
"there arc consumer goods on the
table and in the markets."
Baker told the American Society
of Newspaper Editors that the risk to
the Soviet leader could come from
opponents of change, entrenched
elements ol the bureaucracy and from
“sources of nationalistic discon
tent.”
He said Gorbachev’s economic
program, known in Russian as per
estroika, was in the best interest of the
United Suites and the world because
it would lead to a more secure and
stable Soviet Union.
“We very much want perestroika
to succeed,” Baker said in response
to a question after a speech. “We
veiy much want the general sccreuiry
to succeed.”
But, Baker said, political reform
in the Soviet Union was proceeding
faster than economic reform. “That
might trigger something,” he said
“These things generally have to nro
cced apace.” J
The purged 74 party officials and
another 35 non-voting members who
also were jettisoned represented a
potential source of opposition to
Gorbachev’s reforms.
“The situation has changed con
siderably, comrades,” Gorbachev
said after the removal of nearly one
fourth of the Central Committee
membership. "Vast changes have
taken place over this period also in
state bodies, and this required person
nel changes.”
Queen of TV comedy Lucille Ball dies
LOS ANGELES - Lucille Ball,
the zany, wide-mouthed redhead
who reigned for more than 20 years
as the queen of television comedy,
died today, a week after undergo
ing emergency heart surgery. She
was 77.
The excitable star of “I Love
, Lucy” and similar situation come
' dies that continue in syndication
around the world died of cardiac
arrest at Cedars-Smai Medical
Center, said hospital spokesman
Ronald Wise.
Ball, who had a heart attack and
throat surgery in 1988, underwent
1 surgery at Cedars-Sinai to replace
her aorta and aortic valve April 18
and had been getting out of bed,
eating and even walking around
1 the room in recent days.
“You’re talking about the
\ greatest comedian who ever lived
and the nicest lady, the nicest lady,
just the nicest lady I ever met,”
comedian Joey Bishop said Wed
nesday.
“We’ve lost one of the greatest
stars of Hollywood and of the
world. There will never be another
Lucy,’’ said June Haver Mac Mur
ray, speaking for her husband, ac
tor Fred MacMurray.
Actress Betty White, a close
friend, said she last saw Ball with
her husband, Gary Morton, a few
weeks back. “Gary could still
make her laugh, that big, gut
bucket laugh,’’ White said.
“That’s how I’ll remember her,
with that silliness we had that night
_Let’s hold her tight
Ball and her late former hus
band, Cuban bandleader Desi Ar
naz, starred from 1951 to 1957 as
Lucy and Ricky Ricardo in “I
Love Lucy.” The late Vivian
Vance and William Frawley
played their neighbors, Fred and
Ethel Mertz.
Her singularity as a comedian
was matched by her talent as a
show-business entrepreneur. She
and Arnaz established one of TV's A
first major independent studios. J
‘ ‘ Her red hair, her antics on the M
screen, her timing and her zest for H
life made her an American institu- ■
tion,” former President Ronald W
Reagan and Nancy Reagan said in ^
a statement. “Just the mention of
her name brings a smile.... We
love Lucy and will miss her
deeply.”
“Oh, what a blow. What a
shame,” said fellow TV clown
Dick Van Dyke. “She didn’t deal
in jokes, she dealt in human behav
ior. She was a great physical mime
with all the instincts of aChaplin.”
Court asked to overturn Roe vs. Wade
WASHINGTON - Abortion op
ponents led by the Bush administra
tion urged the Supreme Court
Wednesday to overturn its landmark
1973 ruling that women have a con
stitutional right to end their pregnan
cies.
Outside, police arrested 27 abor
tion-rights activists among a noisy
crowd of people demonstraung on
both sides of one of the nation’s most
divisive issues. Those arrested were
charged with crossing a police line.
In sharp contrast, the hour-long
argument session look place in a
packed but hushed courtroom.
“The United States asks this court
to reconsider and overrule its deci
sion in Roc vs. Wade,” said Harvard
law professor Charles Fried, referring
to the ruling that legalized abortion.
; But Frank Susman, a St. Louis
lawyer representing those who suc
cessfully challenged an abortion
limiting Missouri law in lower courts,
argued, “There can be no ordered
liberty for women without control
over their ... childbearing."
Missouri Attorney General Wil
liam Webster urged the court to re
store the state’s abortion regulations
even if it does not reverse the broader
1973 decision, which was based on
women’s privacy rights.
Fried, a former Justice Depart
ment official called back to govern
ment duly for Wednesday’s session,
argued, "We arc not asking the court
to unravel the fabric of . . . privacy
rights which this court has woven.
We arc asking the court to pull this
one string."
Susman responded, ’ Tt has always
been my personal experience that
when 1 pull a thread my sleeve falls
off. There is no stopping. It is not a
thread he is alter."
Questioning by the justices was
brisk but not as aggressive as it has
been in many argument sessions of
recent years.
Seven of the nine court members
probed the positions of the three
lawyers in front of them. Only Jus
tices Thurgood Marshall, a strong
supporter of abortion rights, and
Harry A. Blackmun, author of the
1973 decision, remained silent.
The justices, who do not ncccssar
ily have to reconsider Roc vs. Wade
in resolving the Missouri dispute,
gave little indication as to how broad
their decision will be. They are ex
pected to announce their ruling by
July.
At one point, Justice Antonin
Scalia - a potential “swing vote”
along with Justices Sandra Day
O’Connor and Anthony M. Kennedy
- asked whether the court must con
sider the nature of a fetus.
“Can you derive (a fundamental
right to abortion) without making a
determination as to whether the fetus
is human life or not?” Scalia asked.
“It is very hard to say ... it must
be a fundamental right unless you
make a determination that the organ
ism that is destroyed is not a human
life,” Scalia suggested.
S usman said an assertion that
“life begins at conception,” as stated
in the Missouri regulations, is not a
verifiable fact. It is a question verifi
able only by reliance upon faith.
Fried said the Bush administration
was not asking the court to end all
protections for women whose lives
might be endangered by childbirth.
“We arc not here suggesting that
the court allow bloodthirsty regula
tions,” he said.
When asked by O’Connor
whether he thinks there is “a funda
mental right to decide v'helhcr to
have a child or not,” Fried said, “I
would hesitate to formulate the right
in such abstract terms.”
Even if the court rules on the
Missouri abortion regulations nar
• rowly, the decision will be viewed as
a barometer of the current justices’
commitment to the 16-year-old rul
ing in Roc vs. Wade.
The three justices appointed by
i--—
former President Reagan - O’Connor,
Scalia and Kennedy - arc conserva
tives generally considered skeptical
about the legitimacy of the earlier
decision.
The justices will take their initial
vole in the Missouri ease Friday in a
closed-door meeting only they at
tend. They will discuss their views,
beginning a process that will include
drafting and redrafting opinions.
In Rex; vs. Wade, the court said a
woman’s decision to have an abor
tion during the first three months of
pregnancy must be left to her and her
doctor.
The court said states may interfere
in the abortion decision during the
second trimester only to protect the
woman’s health, and may take steps
to protect feta! life only in the third
trimester - 24 to 28 weeks into the
pregnancy when the fetus can survive
outside the womb. Recent scientific
advances have called into question
some of the cutoff points in the deci
sion.
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rakeshita searches for his successor
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TOKYO -- Prime Minister
Noboru Takeshita, shattered politi
cally and shaken by the suicide of his
longtime aide, worked Wednesday to
find a successor untouched by the
money scandal that ruined his career.
An aide to former Prime Minister
Takeo Miki sakl senior politician
Masayoshi lto was “certain” to be
chosen by Takeshita and other gov
erning party leaders. Ito, 75, has a
dean reputation and served briefly in
1980 as acting prime minister.
Takeshita met with Shintaro Abe,
secretary general of the governing
Liberal Democrats, and agreed to
choose a new party leader and prime
minister after Japan’s April 29-May 6
“Golden Week5’ holidays end.
The normally unflappable prime
minister appeared shaken following
the suicide Wednesday of Ihei Aoki,
58, an aide since 1958 and the man
who handled Takcshita’s scandal
tainted political donations.
”1 strongly regret (his action),”
Takeshita told reporters. “We
walked side by side for over 30
years.”
Aoki, who had served Takeshita
since 1958, was found dead Wednes
day in his Tokyo apartment. Police
said he had slashed a wrist and an
ankle with a razor and hanged him
self after leaving notes to his wife and
several other people, including Take
shita. Police declined to reveal the
notes’ contents.
Takeshita said he had not seen
Aoki’s note, but thought it was pos
sible the suicide was linked to the
stock-profiteering and bribery scan
dal.
Aoki’s name, not Takcshita’s,
appeared on loans and share dealings
with the Recruit Co. that are under
suspicion both for political ethics and
bribery. The company, an informa
tion services conglomerate, is ac
cused of trying to buy influence with
politicians, bureaucrats, business
leaders and media executives.
Takeshita announced Tuesday he
would step down to take responsibil
ity for the scandal.
Author Yotaro Konaka, a govern
ment critic, said, “Mr. Aoki had used
all his might to protect Prime Minis
ter Takeshita by putting all blame on
himself, and he probably made his
choice (to die) after losing the object
to protect when the prime minister
resigned.”
Takeshita announced his resigna
tion plan after disclosures over the
weekend that Aoki had accepted a
$384,000 loan from Recruit