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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 15, 1992)
* . ..- _- _.... News Digest U.N.’s sanctions start against Libya UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday rejected a last-minute appeal and prepared to cancel all arms salesand airline travel to Libya because of its refusal to turn over suspects in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Following an earlier World Court rejection of Libya’s effort to bar U.N. sanctions, the Security Council said sanctions would go into effect at midnight to day. White House Spokesman Marlin Fitzwater earlier said the sanctions would take effect at midnight Thurs day, but U.N. officials denied that statement. After the deadline passes, the offi cials said, there should be no flights to or from Libya, nor sales of any military equipment. The Security Council’s first discussions on enforc ing the sanctions were to begin today. The Security Council has demanded the surrender of two men indicted for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. The attack killed 270 people. The council also says Libya mu provide proof it has renounced terror ism and must cooperate with France in the investigation of four other Libyans suspected in the bombing of a French airliner that killed 171 people in 1989. Col. MoammarGadhafi’s govern ment appealed to the World Court, the U.N. judicial arm, in an indirect attack on the U.N. sanctions. The court hears only cases be tween sovereign stales, so Libya sought orders barring the United Stales and Britain from taking any military or economic action to force Tripoli to give the two men up for trial. - Brian snelllto/DN Although the court’s panel of inter national judges refused by an 11-5 vote to block military attacks, there was no indication cither nation planned such actions. “We’ve been working for a politi cal solution all along and we’re very pleased that there’s no interference with that,” Edwin Williamson, legal adviser to the U.S. State Department, said. The World Court’s decision was delivered by its acting president, Shigeru Oda of Japan. Speaking to a standing-room-only crowd of diplo mats, dignitaries and reporters, he said Libya could not be protected from sanctions by the 1971 Montreal Convention, which governs interna tional air travel. Oda said Libya, the United States and Britain all arc obliged to carry out the decisions of the U.N. Security Council, so “the obligations of the parties in that respect prevail over their obligations under any other inter national agreement, including the Montreal Convention.” The court has never conflicted with the Security Council. _ ..:—_— Michelle Paulman/DN Firestarter Lincoln Parks and Recreation employee Dave Allder burns a field of grass at Pioneers Park. District Supervisor Jerry Shorney said burning kept weeds and stray trees from growing and helped the soil.____ Russian reforms to continue MOSCOW — Russia’s Commu nist-dommated parliament backed down Tuesday from a week-long clash with President Boris Yeltsin and passed a declaration that will allow him to continue his frec-market reforms. The declaration preserves YelLsin’s power to rule by decree and directs the government to continue the pain ful reforms that the lawmakers op pose. It apparently averted one of Rus sia’s most serious political crises since the collapse of the Soviet Union last December. On Monday, Yeltsin’s Cabinet threatened to resign, claiming parlia ment’s attempts to trim the presi dent’s powers would cripple reforms, raise inflation and block Russia’s entry into the world marketplace. After the 530-236 vote by the Congress of People’s Deputies, Yeltsin’s ministers happily clapped each other’s shoulders and his parlia mentary supporters burst into applause. Yeltsin was not present for the vote. “This eliminates the need lor our resignation,” Yeltsin’s right-hand man, State Secretary Gennady Burbulis, told reporters. Lawmakers will have a chance to change their minds and amend the document Wednesday. Yeltsin had been at an impasse with the Congress since the legisla tive body opened April 6 in the Grand Kremlin Palace. The declaration was approved without debate at the climax of a second day of raucous cheering, bit ter name-calling and sudden walk outs in the Kremlin. Mayor fires official blamed for flood CHICAGO — Mayor Richard M. Daley on Tuesday fired an official he said failed lo heed a warning that probably could have prevented the flooding that has paraly/cd much of Chicago’s business district. “This morning I have requested and received the resignation ol acting transportation commissioner John LaPlantc,” Daley said at a news con ference at City Hall. LaPlantc ignored a memo April 2 that warned him lo immediately re pair a crack in a tunnel under the Chicago River, Daley said. “The memo said the wall should be immediately repaired, citing the danger of flood ing the entire freight tunnel system,” Daley said. On Monday, the tunnel burst send ing water through the tum-of-lhc ccntury freight tunnel network and flooding basements under the city’s Loop district with millions of gallons of water. Phones went unanswered at LaP lante’s office Tuesday afternoon. Daley said that after the memo came in, LaPlante’s department be gan getting cost estimates from a couple of construction companies, decided they were too high and was weighing further action when the collapse oc curred. Much of the Loop remained closed Tuesday, as city workers struggled to plug the leak and drain the water that stood more than 40 feel deep in the bowels of some high-rises. Hotel queen headed for federal prison NEW YORK — Former hotel queen Leona Hclmslcy said Tuesday she was prepared to serve the four-year prison term she received for lax eva sion now that it has been upheld by an appeals court. Hclmslcy had been ordered to report Wednesday to a federal prison hospi tal in Kentucky. “I accept the judgment and I’m prepared to abide by the law,” Hclmslcy said through publicist Howard Ruben stein. Earlier Tuesday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected arguments from Hclmslcy’s lawyers that the sentence should be reversed. They said the sentence may have been fair when imposed in 1989, but the “dramatic change" in her health since then has turned it into a virtual life sentence. "We’re arguing not that the origi nal sentence was wrong, but that circumstances have changed," said defense attorney Alan Dershowitz. Prosecutors argued that the 71 year-old hotel queen remains an ac tive woman and allowing her to avoid prison would “make a mockery of the law.” Hclmsley was convicted in 1989 of evading SI.7 million in taxes by billing personal expenses to compa nies the Hclmslcys owned. She has remained free on S25 million bail, but the appeals of her conviction ran out in February when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the ease. _ Saddam shuffles leaders to prevent military coup NICOSIA, Cyprus — Saddam Hussein has moved several trusted generals into key positions in a command shuffle that reflects his constant efforts to forestall a coup, informed travelers from Iraq say. The sources, who include Baghdad-based western diplomats and knowledgeable Iraqis, say there is no sign that Saddam’s regime is in any immediate danger. But the feeling is that these changes in the hierarchy, the latest in a long line of shuffles over the past 18 months, reflect Saddam’s insecurity more than a year after his Gulf War defeat. The sources spoke to The Asso ciated Press in Nicosia and Am man, Jordan, on condition of ano nymity. They said the Iraqi leader has ringed Baghdad with three of his five elite Republican Guard divi sions to ensure his regime’s secu rity amid the continuing threat of Kurdish and Shiiic Muslim unrest. They said Saddam has named Gen. Hussein Rashid, a former chief of staff and hero of the 1980-88 war against Iran, the commander of the Republican Guard Corps, a pillar of the regime. Rashid, who was chief of staff throughout Gulf crisis, commanded the Republican Guard in 1984-85 and oversaw its expansion from a brigade-size formation into an army within-an-army of seven divisions with 120,000 men. Saddam’s command shuffle is the seventh major reorganization he’s made in his military and po litical hierarchy since he invaded Kuwait Aug.2, 1990. Rashid is the Guards’ fourth commander in that period. Kamel Yassin, a member of the ruling Baalh Party’s command, has been appointed to oversee party branches and security in the mili tary, the sources reported. Nebraskan Editor Jana Pedersen, 472-1766 Publication* Board Chairman Bill Vobejda, 472-2588 Professional Adviser Don Walton, 473-7301 FAX NUMBER 472-1761 The Daily Nebraskan(USPS 144-080) is published by the UNL Publications Board. Nebraska 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 Daily Nebraskan by phoning 472-1763 between 9 am. and 5 p.m Monday through Friday The public a(so has access to the Publications Board. For information, contact Bill Vobejda, 472-2588 Subscription price is $50 for one year Postmaster; Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St.,Lincoln, NE 68588-0448 Second-class postage paid at Lincoln, NE ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1992 DAILY NEBRASKAN Arrests solve stereo-theft cases rrom &ian nepons I ---— A joint effort between the UNLand Lincoln police departments has cleared up 38 eases of stolen car stereos on campus and in surround ing areas, a university police official said. Ll Mylo Bushing of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Police Department said $4,000 worth of stolen stereo equipment had been recovered and returned to owners. The arrests of three individuals solved 18 auto larceny cases reported to the UNL Police Department, Bushing said. Li. Albert Maxey of the Lincoln Police Department said 20 cases in the department were solved by the arrests. The investigation, which lasted about one month, has solved cases as far back as Feb. 3 and as recent as March 19, Bushing said. The arrests cleared up 12 percent of the total campus cases reported since August of 1991. The individuals arrested are minors and will be tried in juvenile court.
