lVT OTA7 C F) | Q" ^ C|* Associated Press
1 lVTV^ JL^ JL ClVljl Edited by Eric Pfanner
Middle East parties fail to RSVP on talks
WASHINGTON — The Bush administra
tion’s Mideast strategy was put to a test Mon
day as the three key parties — Israel, Syria and
the Palestinians Arabs — let the deadline de
scend without accepting invitations for a re
sumption of peace talks.
Secretary of State James Baker found him
self in an uncomfortable disagreement with
Israeli officials on the way the invitations were
issued to hold the talks in Washington begin
ning Dec. 4.
Only Jordan and Lebanon have notified the
State Department they intend to participate in
the negotiations.
Department spokeswoman Margaret Tut
wiler signaled Baker’s willingness to postpone
the Monday deadline. “What I think we’re all
losing sight of,” she said, “is what really should
be the real issue. It should not, in my personal
opinion, be a haggle over a site or timing.
“What is so important to these parties, to the
process, is to get these bilateral talks going.
And that is what is somehow getting lost here in
some of this traffic,” she said.
The negotiations, cosponsored by the United
States and the Soviet Union, have been in
recess for three weeks amid disagreement be
tween Israel and the Arabs on where and when
to proceed.
Baker, after meeting Thursday with Israeli
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, instructed U.S.
embassies in the Middle East to inform govern
ment leaders the negotiations should be re
sumed in Washington on Dec. 4.
Jordan instantly agreed, and Lebanon fol
lowed suit, but persistent U.S. efforts to get the
others to go along did not succeed.
Even as Baker sent instructions to U.S.
embassies, Shamir was still insisting on hold
ing the negotiations in the Middle East. He
took his appeal Friday to President Bush at the
White House, but by then the invitations had
gone out and the deadline for accepting had
been set.
Israeli officials, speaking mostly in private,
suggested that the prime minister had been
treated rudely, though Shamir tried to play
down the dispute.
“There is no crisis of confidence, not per
sonal and not any kind,” he said upon his return
to Israel on Sunday.
Syria held back its reply amid reports it
would insist as a precondition that Israel agree
to consider in the negotiations a withdrawal
from the Golan Heights, the disputed territory
Israeli forces occupied in the 1967 Six-Day
War.
Spokeswoman Tulwiler said “myself and
others here are puzzled” by accusations of
mistreatment from Israeli officials.
She said that while Washington was not the
first choice of any of the parties, holding the
talks in the capital had been discussed over
several months with Israeli officials.
Tutwiler said Baker waited a week longer
than originally planned in selecting a time and
place after the Arabs and Israel were.unable to
decide on their own.
Nuclear
aid OK’d
for Soviets
$500 million approved
to dismantle arsenal
WASHINGTON — The Senate
voted Monday to spend up to S500
million to help the Soviet Union
dismantle its nuclear arsenal rather
than risk letting it fall into the
hands of terrorists or Third World
dictators.
The 86 to 8 vote came after
several Democratic senators de
clared a political truce on the issue,
promising not to criticize Presi
dent Bush if he goes ahead with the
aid.
The Senate also voted, 90 to 4,
to approve a treaty setting strict
ceilings on conventional weapons
in Europe.
Despite claims that it is out
dated, Majority Leader George
Mitchell said the Conventional
Forces in Europe Treaty “remains
an important benchmark and build
ing block for ensuring the future
security of the European continent.”
As Congress hurried to adjourn
by Thanksgiving:
• House Democrats were poised
to seek a floor vote on a compro
mise crime bill that President Bush
said was “simply not acceptable.”
Republicans threatened to filibus
ter the legislation in the Senate,
saying the bill was too soft on
crime.
• House and Senate negotiators
completed work on major sections
of a S151 billion highway measure
hailed as capable of putting some 2
million Americans to work. The
tax-writing committees had yet to
approve a four-year extension of a
2.5 cent-a-gallon gasoline tax,
necessary to pay for much of the
bill.
Crime bill
Major provisions of the
anti-crime package
approved by House and
Senate negotiators.
DEATH PENALTY
Capital punishment for
murder of federal
officials ranging from
egg and poultry inspectors to the
president. It would also apply to
espionage, treason and terrorist
acts resulting in death. Drug
kingpins could also be executed.
GUN CONTROL
Five-day waiting period
for handgun purchases
It also sets up a
program so that "instant checks"
can eventually be conducted by
gun dealers hooked up to
centralized computers.
HABEAS CORPUS
Restricts appeals that
state prisoners can file
in federal court.
Inmates allowed one habeas
corpus petition, successive filings
limited to claims that a sentence
was invalid, or when there is new
evidence, it would repeal a 1989
Supreme Court decision that
generally bars state prisoners frorr
benefiting from high court rulings
on criminal law that were issued
after their convictions.
■ EXCLUSIONARY
RULE
Would allow introduction
ot improperly seized
evidence in federal court cases if
police acted in good faith while
executing a search warrant.
DRUG TREATMENT
Earmarks money for
states to provide
residential drug
treatment for prisoners. Requires
drug testing and treatment of
federal prison inmates. Sets up 10
regional drug prisons that would be
run by the federal government for
both state and federal offenders.
TOUGHER
PENALTIES
Triples the penalty for
drug crimes that involve
minors. It also provides tougher
penalties for selling drugs in public
housing, near truck stops and in
other drug-free zones. The
measure increases sentences for
crimes with assault weapons,
explosives, stealing firearms and
smuggling arms.
ENFORCEMENT AID
The bill provides aid to
states and cities to put
more police on street
patrols, improve police training and
juvenile offender programs. It desig
i nates drug emergency areas that
can qualify for increased federal aid
and law enforcement assistance to
combat drug trafficking.
• Congressional tax commit
tees attempted a last-ditch effort to
extend 12 targeted tax breaks sched
uled to expire Dec. 31. There is
strong support among lawmakers
of both parties for extending the
provisions in a time of economic
AP
slump.
On Soviet aid, debate revolved
around whether helping dismantle
the former adversary’s nuclear
weapons was urgent enough , to
warrant U.S. taxpayers picking up
part of the tab.
Gorbachev set back
in bid to save union
Republics send treaty to legislatures
MOSCOW -T- President Mikhail
Gorbachev on Monday suffered a
serious setback in his bid to hold the
nation together when the leaders of
seven republics refused to endorse a
treaty to create a new political union.
Instead of initialing the Union
Treaty as planned, the leaders de
cided to send it to the legislatures of
their republics for consideration, a
weary Gorbachev said after a four
I hour meeting.
He warned again that fame was
running out for holding the nation
together as a looser confederation,
with most powers moving from the
Kremlin to the republics. He said
economic, ethnic and other problems
cannot be addressed until the union
question is settled.
The powerful Ukraine stayed away
from Monday’s meeting. The leader
of Azerbaijan also did not attend
because of escalating tensions with
neighboring Armenia, and Gorbachev
said Armenia and Azerbaijan were
verging on war in their ethnic dispute.
Members of the State Council
reportedly clashed sharply over the
Union Treaty’s wording during a closed
session at a government villa outside
Moscow.
During a live, nationally televised
news conference, the normally confi
dent Gorbachev appeared nervous and
hesitant as he tried to put the failure in
a positive light.
He said the decision to send the
document to the legislatures without
endorsement of the leaders represented
a sort of “collective initialing” and
predicted it would be signed “around
Dec. 20.”
The pact now will be debated by
local legislatures, where it almost
certainly will face further revision,
delay and potential opposition. Origi
nal plans called for republic leaders
to sign it, then have the legislatures
ratify it.
“The country and society are in
such a state that the process should
move ahead, as reforms will not w ork,
nor the economic treaty, nor anything |
else, unless we untangle this main }
knot of statehood,” Gorbachev said.
He also failed to win endorsement
before a critical referendum on inde
pendence Sunday in the Ukraine, the
strongest of the five Soviet republics
that refused to attend Monday’s ses
sion. The Ukraine has balked at sign
ing the treaty although it has agreed
to join in an economic grouping with
eight other republics.
Russia, the largest republic, is the
most important participant in the new
union, but the Ukraine’s absence would
severely weaken the confederation.
The Ukraine is an agricultural and
industrial power, and Gorbachev has
said a union without it is “unthink
able.”
Several changes are to be made in
the Union Treaty before it is sent to
the legislatures, Gorbachev said. He
did not spell out the revisions.
The treaty would limit the Krem
lin’s role to foreign affairs, strategic
nuclear arms and coordination of
economic policy. It also would estab
lish a five-year, directly elected na
tional presidency and an independent
judiciary and would let the republics
introduce their own currencies.
. ■ .. —-—i
State Department says U.S. can increase condom use
WASHINGTON — America’s
AIDS fight could benefit from les
sons learned in developing countries
where condoms are vigorously pro
moted, with U.S. help, on television
and in drug stores, the State Depart
ment says.
Dr. Jeff Harris, director of the AIDS
program for the U.S. Agency for Inter
national Development, said that
modem marketing techniques based
on research about target populations
has increased condom use substan
tially in countries where the hetero
sexual spread of AIDS poses a serious
threat.
The lesson for the United States,
he said, is “that we can increase con
dom use” with programs based on a
thorough understanding of what would
motivate sexually active adults to use
condoms and practice “safe sex.”
AIDS, or acquired immune defl
ciency syndrome, is caused by the
human immunodeficiency virus, or
HIV. It is spread principally through
sexual activity or the sharing of con
taminated drug injection needles.
Latex condoms have proved ef
fective in decreasing the spread of
AIDS through sexual intercourse.
Harris said efforts should be made
m the United Slates to “portray con
doms positively” and to work at a
community or neighborhood level to
promote their use.
He said research on sexual prac
tices and attitudes “is essential” to
accomplish these goals. Harris de
clined to comment about the admini
stration's consistent opposition to such
research within the United States.
The National Institutes of Health
have recommended that the federal
government sponsor research among
sexually active adults to learn how
best to promote changes in sexual
behavior and safe sex practices such
as the use of condoms.
Such research proposals have been
turned down in the face of opposition
from the White House and from some
members of Congress.
Harris said that USAID programs
have promoted both sexual abstinence
and safe sex practices. Abstinence, he
admits, has not been a widely ac
cepted message and leaders of some
countries recognize this.
“In Uganda, the president and first
lady say they would like a return to
traditional values (of no sexual prom
iscuity) but they also recognize that
condoms have a role,” he said. Con
doms are widely promoted now in
Uganda with advertising and grass
roots distribution programs.
Television ads, based on market
research, have suc9essfully promoted
condom use in such areas as Turkey,
Ecuador, the Caribbean and south
central Africa. In other areas, con
doms are promoted with store posters
and even bus-stop billboards.
Harris said that in each country,
the program has to be based on a key
concept that makes condoms accept
able.
In Mexico, he said, prostitutes were
not insisting on condom use until a
survey found that most of them were
mothers. The campaign shifted to
encourage condom use to protect the
children and was successful.
X
A condom program in the Domini
can Republic faltered until research
showed that people didn’t know how
to use the devices. Condoms became
more accepted after a comic strip
brochure was printed and counselors
began explaining how to use con
doms in person-to-person interviews.
Netfra&kan
Editor Jana Pedersen
472- 1766
Managing Editor Diane Bravton
Assoc. News Editors Stacey McKenzie
Kara Wells
Opinion Page Editor
& Wire Editor Eric Planner
Copy Desk Editor Paul Domeler
Sports Editor Nick Hytrek
Assistant Sports Editor Chuck Green
Publications Board
Chairman Bill Vobe|da
476-2855
Prolessional Adviser Don Walton
473- 7301
FAX NUMBER 472-1761
The Dally 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
ideas and comments to the Dally Nebraskan
by phoning 472-1763 between 9 a m. and 5
pm. Monday through Friday. The public also
has access to the Publications Board For
information, contact Bill Vobejda, 436-9993
Subscription price is $50 for one year
Postmaster: Send address changes to the
Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R
St..Lincoln, NE 66566-0448 Second class
postage paid at Lincoln, NE.
AIL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT
1991 DAILY NEBRASKAN
