News Digest k*-^
^ V* »» ifcVU* Edited by Eric Wanner
Thomas expected to cast swing vote in cigarette case
WASHINGTON — A Supreme
Court apparently deadlocked in a high
stakes dispute over health warnings
for cigarette smokers Monday ordered
the case reheard, presumably so Clar
ence Thomas can cast a tie-breaking
vote.
In a brief order, the justices said
they will hear new arguments in the
case to help them decide whether
cigarette manufacturers may be sued
for allegedly misrepresenting the
dangers smokers face. The new argu
ments will be held in January on a
date yet to be determined, court offi
cials said.
The court gave no indication that
it wished to expand the scope of its
inquiry or focus on a particular ques
tion that may have been left unan
swered when the case was first ar
gued Oct. 8.
That strongly suggests that a 4-4
deadlock prompted the need for rear
gumcnt, and Thomas could cast the
decisive vote after he is sworn in Nov.
1 as the court’s ninth member.
Some justices expressed doubts
during the Oct. 8 argument that Con
gress intended to let smokers sue
tobacco companies in state courts.
The case, stemming from a New
Jersey family’s eight-year battle with
the cigarette industry, is likely to be
decided by July.
“It sounds like they’re deadlocked
on some issues. But it doesn’t tell us
anything,” said Cynthia Walters, a
lawyer for the family of Rose Cipol
lone.
Cipollonc, from Liule Ferry, N.J.,
died in 1984 of lung cancer at age 58!
She had smoked cigarettes for 42
years.
The central issue is whether feder
ally required warnings on cigarette
packs shield manufacturers from suits
alleging that their advertising con
ceals the hazards of smoking.
Details
loom
for talks
WASHINGTON — Frustrated in
his efforts to arrange an Arab-Israeli
settlement, former U.S. Secretary of
State George Shultz used to say with
a sigh: “The devil is in the details."
And it’s the details that could de
rail the Oct. 30 Middle East peace
conference Secretary of State James
Baker labored for eight months to
arrange.
The reason: Details also go to the
heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and
in dealing with them the Bush ad
ministration is conscious of the po
tentially explosive fallout.
U.S. diplomats arc being assigned
as liaisons to each ofthc Arab delega
tions and to the Israelis. They arc
available to give advice if asked and
to try to snuff out procedural prob
lems before they erupt.
“My sense is that the conference
will last, assuming it occurs,” a wary
senior U.S. official said Friday night
in Jerusalem even as the invitations
were on their way.
The scaling arrangements, the
configuration of the negotiating table,
even the titles printed on the plaques
in front of the delegations still must j
be decided.
The conference will start Oct. 30
in Madrid under the cosponsorship of
the United States and the Soviet Un
ion. There will be 12 speakers over .
two to three days.
President Bush and Soviet Presi
dent Mikhail Gorbachev will make
speeches. So will Baker and Soviet
Foreign Minister Boris Pankin.
Teheran
IRAN
Cairo •
OMAN
EGYPT
1949: After the 1948 war of independence, at talks on the Mediterranean island of
Rhodes, agreements signed creating armistice lines between Israel and
neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
1949: Negotiations aimed at permanent peace held under U.N. auspices in
Lausanne, Switzerland; talks fail largely on issue of Palestinian refugees.
1973: UN-sponsored Geneva Conference following the 1973 Yom Kippur war.
Syria refuses to attend, but Egypt, Jordan and Israel present opening statements;
the conference adjourns and never resumes.
1974: Secretary of State Henry Kissinger works out agreements disengaging
Israel's forces from those of Egypt and Syria. Israel withdraws from part of the
Golan Heights and the Sinai, and sets up buffer zones.
1977*79: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's trip to Jerusalem in 1977 leads to
Camp David talks mediated by President Carter the following year and Israel s
peace treaty with Egypt, signed in March 1979. Israel gives up Sinai Peninsula,
which it captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
1981: U S. special envoy works out cease-fire on the Lebanese-lsraeli frontier
between Israel and the PLO, whose guerrillas were firing rockets into Israel It
breaks down in renewed shelling by both sides and an assassination attempt on
an Israeli diplomat in London by a renegade PLO faction, leading to Israel’s 1982
invasion of Lebanon
1983: In May. unofficial Israeli-Lebanese peace agreement reached under U S.
auspices; falls apart when Syria refuses to accept it.
1985-86: Secret contacts between Israel and Jordan's King Hussein aimed at
talks between Israel and a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation; effort collapses.
AP
Hostage-release
reports conflict
American’s whereabouts uncertain
BEIRUT, Lebanon — There were
reports that an American hostage was
freed Monday, but his whereabouts
were unknown and a senior Syrian
official cast doubt on whether the
release had taken place.
In Washington, the White House
said it had no evidence of a hostage
release. “We have to assume at this
point he has not been released,” said
spokesman Marlin Fitzwatcr.
Another official in Washington,
who spoke on condition of anonym
ity, said the United Stales had been
told a hostage had been freed but was
not sure where he was.
He said the situation was not alarm
ing and that it was only a question of
determ in i ng the release arrangements
made by the United Nations, which
has taken the lead role in the negotia
tions.
Numerous events in Lebanon could
have delayed the process, including
fierce fighting around the headquar
ters of the Muslim Shiite Hezbollah
group in the Bekaa Valley city of
Baalbek, where many of the hostages
are believed held. Eight people were
killed and 15 wounded in the fight
ing.
An editor in the Beirut office of
Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency
said Turner was set free at 1 p.m. The
editor, who refused to be identified,
said he had no further details.
He did not know where the 44
ycar-old computer science professor
had been let go.
Nine Westerners, including Turner,
arc being held in Lebanon.
Earlier Monday, Israel freed 15
Lebanese prisoners. The releases began
eight hours after the Islamic Jihad lor
the Liberation of Palestine said it
would release a hostage within 24
hours, or by 5 p.m. Monday.
The group also holds American
Alan Steen. It did not mention either
captive by name, but its statement
was accompanied by a picture of
Turner.
The prisoners’ release occurred
despite the ongoing battle between
Israel and Shiite Muslim guerrillas in
southern Lebanon.
The other group holding Western
ers, Islamic Jihad, issued a statement
later saying the Israeli raids into south
ern Lebanon on Monday threatened
the delicate process.
Israeli warplanes blasted a guer
rilla base of the pro-Iranian Hezbol
lah, or Parly of God, wounding three
civilians. The raid came a day after a i
Hezbollah bomb attack in the same
region killed three Israeli soldiers.
Hezbollah is believed to be the
parent group for Shiite factions hold
ing most of the eight Westerners
missing in Lebanon.
The Arab prisoners released in
cluded 12 Shiites and two Greek
Orthodox Christians. They were re
leased from the Khiam Prison in the
zone Israel controls in southern Leba
non, according to the International
Committee for the Red Cross. The
Shiites included two women.
Israel also released Hezbollah
activist Ali Fawaz from its jail in
Ramlch, in central Israel.
Firefighters contain Oakland fire after at least 10 die
OAKLAND, Calif. — An armada of fire
trucks swarmed over the hills above Oakland
on Monday as firefighters contained a deadly
SI.5 billion blaze that left at least 400 hillside
homes in smoldering ruins.
The massive brush fire raced through afflu
ent districts overlooking San Francisco Bay on
Sunday and burned through the night. It killed
at least 10 people, injured nearly 150 and
chased 5,000 out of their homes, according to
city and state officials.
Ten people were reported missing, and at
least 200 non-residential buildings were de
stroyed.
Dawn brought an eerie sight: banks of gray
smoke swirling above blackened neighborhoods,
soft winds sighing through streets as quiet as a
ghost town.
“You could sec terrible devastation,” Gov.
-44 ---
You could see terrible devastation. What showed up_as burn
ing hot spots in that black of night, this morning were clearly the
charred ruins of hundreds of homes.
Pete Wilson
California governor
Pete Wilson said after surveying the area by
helicopter. “What showed up... as burning hot
spots in that black of night, this morning were
clearly the charred ruins of hundreds of homes.”
Wilson on Sunday declared an emergency
and said he was asking President Bush to make
the declaration on a national level.
Fires also raged in several Western states,
including Colorado, Oregon and Washington.
If
The largest I ires were in Montana, where wind
of up to 70 mph was expected to fan flames that
had already consumed 2(X),()00 acres.
In Oakland, Fire Chief Ph i I lip Lamont Ewcl I
said the fire was contained at dawn and fire
fighters hoped to have it under control bv
nightfall. y
Morning commuter traffic was a disaster.
The fire forced closure of two highways that
connect suouroan contra costa county to
Oakland. Bay Area Rapid Transit trains also
shut down.
The ravenous blaze roared out of the tinder
dry hills above Oakland and Berkeley at about
midday Sunday, racing through fashionable
neighborhoods lucked between woods and
canyons, many commanding sweeping views
of the bay.
Early damage estimates stood at $1.5 bil
lion, according to figures handed out by city
officials. The fire burned over about 1,700
acres.
Among the victims was a family of five who
died trying to escape a burning home. A fire
battalion chief and a police officer also were
killed, said Alameda County Supervisor Don
Perata.
Lawmakers starting to pick
sides in debate over tax cuts
WASHINGTON — Congressional
Democrats and Republicans lined up
behind competing tax-cut plans
Monday amid indications that any
action likely will be delayed until the
1992 election year.
At the White House, the Bush
administration withheld its endorse
ment from the newest plan, a middle
income lax cut proposed by Sen. Lloyd
Bentsen, D-Texas, and a spokesman
said the president may offer his own
middle-class bill this week.
“It’s not a sure thing that it will
happen but we arc working on it this
week,” said White House spokesman
Marlin Fitzwatcr.
Although Rep. Dan Rostenkow
ski, D-lll., chairman of the House
Ways and Means Committee, has
insisted for months that he wants no
tax bill this year, a spokesman said
Monday that he probably will offer
his own version later this month.
Members of Congress draw two
conclusions from the new flurry of
tax-cut talks:
• Any plan that wins Republican
backing will have to include a cut in
taxes on capital gains.
• Democrats will insist that the
bulk of any tax cut go to those with in
comes of less than about $80,000.
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