M P WC D iO’PCl' “dated Press
-*■ ^ ™ ^ •*• Pi4 ^ Edited by Brandon Loomis
Nebraskan
Editor Amy Edwards
472- 1766
Managing Editor Ryan Sleeves
Assoc. News Editors Lisa Donovan
Eric Planner
Editonal
Page Editor Bob Nelson
Wire Editor Brandon Loomis
Copy Desk Editor Darcie Wlegert
Sports Editor Jeff Apel
Arts & Entertain
ment Editor Michael Deeds
Diversions Editor Mick Dyer
Graphics Editor John Bruce
Photo Chief Dave Hansen
Nigh! News Editors Jana Pedersen
Diane Brayton
Art Director Brian Shelllto
Graphics Editor John Bruce
General Manager Dan Shattll
Production Manager Katherine Pollcky
Advertising Manager Jon Daehnke
Sales Manager Kerry Jeffries
Publications Board
Chairman Bill Vobejda
436-9993
Professional Adviser Don Walton
473- 7301
The Daily Nebraskan(USPS 144 080) is
published by the UNL Publications Board, Ne
braska Union 34, 1400 R St., Lincoln, NE,
Monday through Friday during the academic
year; weekly during summer sessions.
Readers are encouraged to submit story
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ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT
1990 DAILY NEBRASKAN
Lithuanian leader
at White House
to give recognition
WASHINGTON - Lithuanian
Prime Minister Kazimiera Prunskiene
appealed to President Bush on Thurs
day to formally recognize her gov
ernment’s independence from
Moscow.
‘‘1 think he’s going to see how
events unfold there and he’s going to
take decisions which arc compatible
with U.S., Soviet and Lithuanian inter
ests,” she said.
Bush said at a news conference
shortly before the 45-minute Oval
Office meeting that he secs no role for
the United States as a mediator be
tween Lithuania and Moscow.
White House spokesman Marlin
Fitzwater said Bush told Prunskiene
to take back to Lithuania this mes
sage:
‘‘I am personally, and the United
Stales government, is committed to
the self-determination of the people
of Lithuania.”
The White House has said Prun
skiene’s visit was unofficial, but
Fitzwaler said Bush was pleased to
get a first-hand account of the condi
tions in Lithuania.
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British Conservatives lose
LONDON - Prime Minister Mar
garet Thatcher’s Conservative Party
lost heavily to the socialist Labor
Party in early results in local elec
tions Thursday.
With an unpopular new local
tax — the poll tax — the key issue,
Conservative fared badly in areas
ranging from some of their heart
lands in the prosperous south to
northern industrial cities.
But initial Labor gains were less
than the massive victory predicted
by opinion polls, which give the
socialists a lead of some 20 points.
With results declared early to
day from nearly half the 201 coun
cils being contested, Labor had
gained control of seven councils,
while the Conservatives had lost
four, including the key northern
city of Bradford.
The elections were the first com
prehensive opinion lest since
Thatcher won a third successive
term in 1987.
The Conservatives bolstered their
majority in the south London bor
ough of Wandsworth, a focus of
national attention after setting the
lowest poll tax in the nation. The
tax helps fund local spending.
Wandsworth’s Labor leader,
Fiona McTaggart, said, “It’s a one
off bribe that’s worked for them.”
A tally of seals by the British
new's agency, Press Association,
after 110 councils were declared
showed the Conservatives lost 143
seats and gained 24, while Labor
gained 195 seats and lost just 14.
The centrist Social and Liberal
Democratic Party gained 50 seats
and lost 87, in a better performance
than the trouncing forecast in polls.
Some 5,000 seats were at stake.
A BBC computer prediction early
today showed a swing of 12 per
cent against the government.
BBC analyst Peter Kellner called
the Conservatives’ performance the
-44
This is something
we can learn from.
but there*s no rea
son to panic.
Biffen
Conservative Legislator
-9 9~
“worst since modem politics be
gan. The Tories really are in deep
trouble.’’
“This is something we can learn
from, but there’s no reason to
panic,’’ said Conservative legisla
tor John Biffen, the party’s former
leader in die House of Commons.
Labor’s campaign manager
Bryan Gould declared, “We’re
delighted.’’
In polls taken in the past month,
the Labor lead averaged a huge 19
points.
Conservative Party chairman
Kenneth Baker said: “We have not
seen the sort of collapse that had
been predicted.”
Tories cheered wildly when the
result was declared in Wandsworth,
where the $243 poll tax is the lowest
in the country. The average poll
tax levied by local authorities is
$580.
Problems began a year ago as
inflation started rising and the gov
ernment’s attempt to curb it by
hiking interest rates began hurting
millions of new homeowners. In
flation is now headed toward 10
percent while interest rates arc a
high 15 percent.
The new tax was imposed April
1. Thatcher hoped it would turn
voters against high-spending La
bor-controlled authorities.
But instead, most families are
paying more and blaming the gov
ernment. The tax is also perceived
as unfair because everyone in a
district pays the same, regardless
of income.
The government argues the fuss
is largely because under the old
system of property taxes, only the
17 million homeowners paid. Now
all 38 million adult Britons have to
pay, with rebates for the 9.5 mil
lion poorest
In the House of Commons on
Thursday, Labor Party leader Neil
Kinnock said losers outnumbered
gainers 3-1 under the new tax.
“If that is so, the enemy is not
the community charge. It is high
spending Labor councils,” Thatcher
retorted.
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Iran calls U.S. ‘frustrated child'
NICOSIA, Cyprus - President Hashcmi
Rafsanjani of Iran said Thursday the groups
holding hostages in Lebanon released two
Americans at Iran’s prodding, but that the
United States was still acting like a spoiled
child.
He also said Iran is not restoring diplomatic
ties with the United States.
Robert Polhill, 55, of New York, was freed
April 22 and eight days later a second U.S.
educator held hostage, Frank Reed, 57, of
Malden, Mass., was treed.
Rafsanjani said the kidnappers released the
two “at our suggestion. They could have ...
rejected our advice. But they accepted our
advice.”
In his speech to a group of teachers in
Tehran, Iran’s capital, Rafsanjani compared
the U.S. response to that of “a stubborn, frus
trated child.”
The speech was carried by Tehran Radio
and monitored in Nicosia.
President Bush told a news conference in
Washington Thursday he was cheered by the
release of Polhill and Reed, but was unwilling
to make any conciliatory gestures toward Iran
at this time.
Bush has repeatedly declared he will not
negotiate with Iran or the Lebanese Shiite
Moslem kidnappers for the release of hostages.
But he did promise to help Iran get details on
the fate of four Iranian diplomats kidnapped in
Lebanon in 1982, calling it a goodwill gesture
and not an attempt to bargain for U.S. hostages.
‘This is something they feel very strongly
about,” Bush said. “They’ve mentioned it to
us several different times.”
Sixteen Westerners, including six Ameri
cans, are missing in Lebanon. Most arc be
lieved held by groups controlled by Hezbollah,
the Iranian-financed Party of God. Longest
held is Terry Anderson, chief Middle East
correspondent of The Associated Press, kid
napped March 16, 1985.
In London, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
on Thursday welcomed Syria’s and Iran’s role
in gaining freedom for Polhill and Reed, but
said Britain will not deal with hostage-takers.
She is under pressure to secure the release of
British hostages in Lebanon. Three Britons and
an Irishman with dual British and Irish citizen
ship arc held, including Terry Waite, special
envoy of Archbishop of Canterbury Robert
Runcie.
Rafsanjani said Thursday that “an angry,
revolutionary, enraged group, after it released
one hostage without pre-conditions, and was
confronted with America’s irresponsible reac
tion, should reasonably have taken revenge.
“But they still showed decency and showed
their extreme goodwill” by freeing Reed as
well.
“American bullies, instead of being im
pressed by the move, reiterated their previous
stance.”
Rafsanjani acknowledged that Bush expressed
appreciation publicly to Iran and Syria for their
role, but said his administration “on the other
hand . . . started a vile propaganda move,
stating ‘We will not normalize lies until Iran
releases all hostages.”’
Rafsanjani said Iran was not interested in
restoring relations and denied Western press
reports that Tehran helped secure the two re
cent releases because it needs to resume diplo
matic lies with the United States.
“Iran does not want relations with the United
States, and we welcomed severing lies,” he
said. “We arc not prepared to talk to Amer
ica.”
A dispatch Thursday from Iran’s official
Islamic Republic News Agency said arbitra
tion talks between America and Iran in the
Netherlands were focusing only on legal is
sues.
The two sides have been working for nine
years to settle financial disputes stemming
from the 1979 Islamic revolution. IRNA saida
statement from the delegation stressed that
“no other topics, either political or economic,
have been or will be discussed.”
Rafsanjani’s comments Thursday appeared
to rule out a possible dialogue with the United
States to end 11 years of hostility.
But they also indicated that Rafsanjani, leader
ol those seeking broader contacts for Iran, was
under mounting pressure from anti-Wcstcrners
angered at Iran’s role in the release of the two
Americans.
Rafsanjani praised the groups in Lebanon
for taking the initiative on the releases and
castigated Washington, saying, “Instead of
giving -tn appropriate reward for this initiative,
the U.S. reacted by saying it will not negotiate
with kidnappers, as if Israel and the (Lebanese)
Phalangists are not kidnappers.”
He was referring to Arabs held by Israel,
including Hezbollah leader Sheik Abdul-Kanm
Obeid, who was seized in Lebanon on July 28.
Lebanese Christian militiamen, the armed wing
of the Phalangist Party, seized the four missing
Iranians in July 1982.