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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 1990)
NT PWS D TffPSt Associated Press X ^ w w L-F A W L/ w Edited by Jana Pedersen zri/j Lisa Pytlik/Daily Nebraskan Future of world s hungry may rest with lowly potato WASHINGTON - Scientists say the humble potato may offer the world a second chance to support a population that is outracing its capacity to feed itself. The first chance was the * ‘Green Revolu tion,” which started in the 1960s and kept millions alive by developing high-yield strains of rice, com and wheat, but never fully lived up to its promise. At a conference here Monday and Tues day on ‘‘Feeding the Global Village,” the potato was held up as a potential lifesaver for the halfof the world that is hungry. It was called a ‘ ‘power food,’’ packed with protein and vitamin C, potassium, iron and magne sium. V The conference was told the potato is becoming a vital source of nutrition around the world. It is grown these days in 126 countries, from the Arctic and to the tropics, atop mountains and in the desert Even in China, the world’s rice bowl, it is not uncommon to see a youngster walking along, eating a potato like an apple. China has replaced Poland as the world’s second largest grower of potatoes. The Soviet Union is still first, but this year there are fears that a breakdown in the harvesting system will deprive millionsof a crucial part of the Russian diet. A bumper crop is rotting in the fields. India is in fourth place in potato produc tion and the United States is fifth. Americans cal five billion pounds of French fries a year, said Robert Mercer, an official of the Potato Board, which repre sents the industry, and the Orient - where they’re known as “American fries” — is importing 800 million pounds of frozen raw potatoes a year. Robert E. Rhoades, a researcher in the Philippines, said farmers in the tropics can harvest potatoes within 50 days of planting, a third of the time it takes in colder climates. Wherever temperatures drop at night, pota toes can be grown, he said. “The potato yields more nutritious food quicker on less land and under harsher cli mates than any major crop,” Rhoades said. Since they grow so fast, they can be planted in fields that arc used at other limes of the year to raise rice or wheat, he said. Souter will be 105th justice Senate confirms nomination WASHINGTON - The Senate voted 90-9 Tuesday to confirm the nomination of Judge David H. Souter to the Supreme Court. The only dissenting votes came from liberals who fear he will oppose abortion rights. The New Hampshire jurist was approved less than 2 1/2 months after he was tapped as President Bush’s first nominee to the high court. It was too late put him on the court for the start of its session this week but, age 51, he’ll probably participate in its rulings well into the next century. The Supreme Court announced that Souter would be sworn in as the first item of business next Tuesday morning, before the court begins the second week of its session. At the White House, presidential spokes man Marlin Fitzwatcr said: “We’re obviously very pleased that Congress continued this nomination. We think Judge Souter will be an outstanding justice for many years.” Fitzwater said Bush hoped to attend Souter’s swearing-in. Souter watched the proceedings from a friend’s law office in Concord, N.H. ‘‘He’s just exactly the kind of person with a broad background that we need on the Supreme Court,” Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said as debate on the nomination began. “I think he showed that he is a person of fairness. He’s willing to listen. He’s a person of independ ence.” Souter would become the 105th justice of the Supreme Court, filling the seat vacated last summer by the retirement of Justice William Brennan. Hijacked airplane crashes CANTON, China - A hijacked Chinese jet liner cartwheeled into two parked jets at Can ton airport Tuesday, setting off a fiery explo sion, killing at least 127 people and seriously injuring 46 others, officials said. “The plane split the jets into pieces," said a Chinese man who witnessed the crash. “It was a horrible explosion. The whole sky went red and the airport shook like an earthquake." Money, passports, watches and clothes were scattered along the tarmac. The crash occurred at 9 a.m., but ambulances wailed late into the night. Chinese officials, Western diplomats and witnesses provided conflicting accounts of the disaster and the resulting casualties. A Western survivor said there was a struggle in the cockpit of the hijacked Boeing 737 as it landed at Baiyun International Airport, caus ing the plane to careen into an empty Boeing 707 and a Boeing 757 full of passengers bound for Shanghai. Other unconfirmed reports said two hijack ers, Chinese men who wanted to force the plane to Hong Kong or Taiwan, exploded a bomb on the jet. A CAAC spokesman, Wang Chunfu, said only one Chinese man was responsible for the hijacking. Wang told a news conference 127 people died in the crash and 46 people were seriously injured. He said 100 people, including the injured, survived. Among those killed, he said, were foreign ers and Chinese from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. He declined to release further detads. The accident was the worst publicly ac knowledged air disaster in China. China rarely < - The plane split the jets into pieces. It was a horrible explosion. The whole sky went red, the airport shook like an earthquake. Chinese witness | -1 f disclosed air disasters before the 1980s. Although it was a domestic flight from Ziamcn to Canton, at least two Americans were on the hijacked plane, U.S. Embassy spokes man Sheridan Bell said. Erin Lynne Thomas of Oklahoma City, Okla., was hospitalized in good condition with a broken limb, he said. She reported a second American woman had been sitting next to her, but Bell said the second woman was missing. Witnesses said the 737 spun out of control down the tarmac, sideswiping the empty plane before hitting the 757. E. Germany says goodbye to independence BERLIN - East Germany spent a melancholy last day as a nation Tues day before passing into history, leav ing behind 40 years of communism and one brief, dizzy fling as a free country. Bureaucrats emptied their desks and clasped hands in farewell, the first freely chosen Parliament held a wistful last meeting, and the chief government spokesman said he was looking for work. The museum devoted to the for mer nation’s history laid off some workers and began closing depart ments. West Germany shut its em bassy in a country now part of its own. East Germany’s once-sacred Communist flag, a red, gold and black banner emblazoned with a hammer and drafting compass, was spread on sidewalks and sold as souvenirs. Lawyers and bureaucrats, once among the powerf ul elite, stood in the last unemployment lines of an au tonomous East Germany. East Germany would have been 41 years old on Sunday, but instead acceded to West Germany and trans formed itself into just another five slates of the mighty Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany. Phones rang at government offices Tuesday, but there was nobody home. “1 hope for a new chance in the new Germany. I’m deeply moved by what has happened here,” said Franz Jahsnowsky, a top Foreign Ministry official. Jahsnowsky, who spoke in the ministry parking lot, was the former chief of diplomauc protocol for ousted Communist boss Ench Honcckcr. He said he is not optimistic about a role in the new German govern ment. About 220,000 government work ers nationwide automatically went into employment limbo. They will receive about 70 percent of their pay while West German officials decide how many to keep. Chief East German government spokesman Matthias Gehler would not hazard an estimate. “I know I’m out of work,” Gehler said. Some government workers may get jobs after the new East German state governments are elected on Oct. 14. But tens of thousands are ex pected to be shut out. Many East Germans said they welcomed unity, but felt sad at the imminent end of their national iden tity and the only homeland they knew. The Soviet Union carved the Ger man Democratic Republic from the rubble of World War 11 on Oct. 7, 1949. The nation was ruled by a succes sion of iron-fisted Stalinist govern ments until the protests that swept the East bloc toppled the old regime on Oct. 18,1989. On Nov. 9, the Berlin Wall was opened. A Communist caretaker govern ment tan the nation until the first free elections of March 18, when the Christian Democrats of Prime Minis ter Lothar de Maiziere were elected on die promise of quick German unity. The 400-mcmbcr Parliament held an emotional final sitting Tuesday after a rocky, six-month tenure dur ing which legislators hauled West Germany and among them selves over the terms and timing of unity. Only 144 lawmakers are to he added to the West German Parliament that convenes for the first time on Thurs day. The rest arc out of work. It was a sad time at East Berlin's Museum for German History, where 25 pensioners were laid off and about half of the 160 other workers were put on indefinite status. The museum - once a shrine to the old regime - was turned over last month to the German History Mu seum in West Berlin, which perma nently closed some sections on i ues day. It plans to empty the building by year’s end and move its artifacts to a wing of a new museum in the western side of the city. Peter Wensszlaw is a bit of a museum piece himself. He was a lawyer in an East German legal system that no longer exists because East Ger many now has West German laws. The nattily dressed Wensszlaw, 38, stood in an unemployment line. He said an employment counselor mentioned the possibility of working as a tax adviser. “From a Communist lawyer to a (West German) tax expert,” he said. “You can’t think about ideology any more.’’ “I hope for a new chance in the new Germany. I’m deeply moved by what has happened here,” said Fran/ Jahsnow'sky, a top Foreign Ministry official. MetSfaskan Editor Eric Planner Graphics Editor John Bruce 472-1766 PhotoChief Al Sc he ben Managing Editor Victoria Ayotte Night News Editors Matt Herek Assoc. News Editors Darcle Wlegert Chuck Green Diane Brayton Art Director Brian Shelllto Editorial Page Editor Lisa Donovan General Manager Dan Shattll Wire Editor Jana Pedersen Professional Adviser Don Walton Copy Desk Editor Emily Rosenbaum 473-7301 The Daily Nebraskan(USPS 144-080) is published by the UNL Publications Board, Ne braska Union 34,1400 R St, l incoln, NE, Monday through Friday during the academic year, weekly during summer sessions. _ _ „ ... . . . Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by phoning 472-1763 between 9 a m. and 5 p.m Monday through Friday The public also has yrfw to the Publications Board For information, contact Bill Vobejda, 436 9993 Subscription prioe is $45 for one year ... _. <AnnD Postmaster Sen 1 address changes to the Dally Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St .l Incoln, NE 68588-0448 Second-class postage paid at Lincoln, NE. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1990 DAILY NEBRASKAN_ USS Independence joins Gulf armada inc united Mates bolstered its forces in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday with the arrival of the aircraft carrier USS Independence, and France fired warning shots at a freighter suspected of violating the U.N. embargo on Iraa. As the Gulf crisis entered its third month, U.S. military sources in Saudi Arabia said Baghdad has strength ened its forces in southern Iraq and Kuwait and has now deployed nearly half its 1 million-man army to defend the occupied territory. In Jerusalem, jiuers over the pro tracted crisis jumped to the surface when a faulty siren signaling air at tack sent Israelis scurrying into bomb shelters. The mishap look place less than 24 hours after the government announced it would distribute gas masks to all Israeli citizens. In other developments: - The Senate passed a resolution endorsing President Bush’s efforts to ’deter Iraqi aggression” despite concern by some that the move could be seen as giving Bush broad author ity to wage war. The resolution passed by 96 to 3. The House passed a simi lar resolution Monday. - West German authorities arrested a Foreign Ministry employee suspected of delivering confidential documents to Iraqi military intelligence. - Prime MinisterToshiku Kailuol Japan began a Middle East tour alter promising the United Nations that Tokyo would contribute nonmilitary personnel and material to the intema nonal effort in the Gulf.
