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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 28, 1993)
nfws Digest Nds&kan Edited by Todd Cooper J_ iJL^ YY U JL^AV_JJ—/K-J X wednMdey, April as, leas Clinton tries to move past criticism from budget chief —SooffTBBufefTDF Costa Rican justices taken hostage by armed terrorist group SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Four funmcn barged into the Cosla Rican upreme Court on Monday and took 19 of the 22 justices hostage, officials said. The gunmen, who called them selves members of “The Commando of Death,’’entered the four-story build ing through a basement entrance, said Jose Gerardo Gonzalez, an Interior Ministry spokesman. Rafael Brcncs, deputy director of the judicial police, told reporters there were four gunmen, and he didn’t know their nationality. He said one of the judges held hostage was a woman. He didn’t say how the government knew the attackers called themselves ♦^Thc Commando- of Death,” nor if officials had had any contact with them. “The situation is very critical. We believe it involvcdkidnapping,” Gonzalez said. He said he had no immediate de tails concerning the group or its de mands. The number of gunmen in volved was not known. WASHINGTON — President Clinton struggled Tuesday to revive his stalled legislative agenda and over come problems made embarrassingly clear in a candid assessment by his budget director. Leon Panctta said Monday that his boss’ economic program and proposed aid to Russia are facing uphill battles in Congress, and that support is lack ing to approve the free-trade agree ment with Canada and Mexico. Panctta also suggested lhalCl inlon delay releasing his health care plan because of problems the president’s separate budget package is having in Congress. His remarks were published in sev eral national newspapers, including The Washington Post, where a front page headline read, “Panetta: Presi In San Jose, four gunmen hold 19 of the 22 Supreme Court justices, demanding $20 million and the release of an unspecified number of prisoners. .—..., A, j, , , in hi . ..rwrwrri’^rrrrrri President Rafael Angel Calderon called an emergency meeting of his Cabinet to determine what to do. Dozens of police armed with as sault rifles surrounded the building, while people caught inside were seen leaving the building. Gonzalez said the judges were being held on the second floor. -, Italian old guard takes yet another political hit ROME — Italy’s political old guard took another hitTucsday when a Senate committee recommended lifting the parliamentary immunity of Giulio Andreotti so that pros ecutors can pursue suspicions he had secret lies to the Mafia. A full Senate vote on Andreotti, senator for life and a seven-time former premier, was scheduled for May 6. Italy was set on its car when three Mafia turncoats in the United States talked of meetings between mob bosses and Andreotti. In one purported encounter in the late 1980s, Sicily's “boss of bosses,” Salvatore “Toto” Riina, was said to have greeted Andreotli with a “kiss of respect.” Former mobsters say the Mafia counted on Andreotli to influence appeals courts to reverse mob convictions. Tuesday’s decision was one more sign of crumbling support for a scandal-ridden ruling class. Premier-designate Carlo Ciam pi sounded out political leaders in Rome to see if he could forge a government strong enough to guar antee reforms. If he succeeds, the 72-year-old governor of the Bank of Italy would be Italy's first premier to come from outside politics. dent in Trouble on Hill.” Administration officials scrambled to move past the story, insisting Cl inton still expels to secure aid to Russia, a modified free-trade pact and a timely health care plan. Clinton was askedduringhis morn ing jog if he was mad at his budget chief. “What for?” he said. Communications director George Stcphanopoulos said Panclta had not talked to Clinton but was greeted warmly at the senior staff meeting Tuesday afternoon. “No boos, Stcphanopoulos quipped. According to the spokesman, Panclta told his colleagues, “Listen, I don’t think that was the right charac terization of the way I was talking. I’m sorry for the way it turned out. A senior administration official, Halleluiah. The truth has been told. —Kerrey Senator _.___ - commenting on condition of anonym ity, said Clinton was “hot at first,” but accepted Panclta’s explanation. There were comments that the White House was finally owning up to its problems. “Hallelujah. The truth has been told,” Sen. Bob Kerrey, D Ncb., said. Officials publicly and pri vately denied theories that Panetta was try ing to get a message to Clinton or that the administration was using Panetta to lower the nation’s expecta tions of Clinton’s presidency. ^ w Clinlon told the National Realtors Association that “the changes we have to make won’t be easy. It hasn’t been easy so far. It’s not going to be easy in the future.” He met with Democratic leaders of Congress to plot strategy for his cco nom ic package and to d i scuss progress on health care changes. Clinton lold the real estate group that he had spent his first 100 days trying “to overcome inertia, ideology and indifference.” Serbs ignore sanctions; challenge Muslims, U.N. SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Rebel Serbs thumbed their noses Tuesday at new sanctions meant to break their resolve, pounding one .. (Bosnian Muslim enclave with gun fire and challeng ing U.N. peace keepers in another. U.N. officials said the Bihac rc -gion in northwest ern Bosnia was under Serb artillery attack and an infantry company backed by 10 tanks had moved into the area from a Serb-held sector of Croatia to the west. The offensive and the defiance of U.N. authority in Srebrenica were the latest signs of Serb refusal to bend to tougher sanctions against Serb-domi nated Yugoslavia that went into effect Tuesday. Threats of foreign military inter vention against the Bosnian Serbs heated upTucsday when Russia joined in. — II— The time has come for decisive measures to stifle the conflict i —Yeltsin Russian president -----•• - Russian President Boris Yeltsin issued a warning to Serbs and pledged unity with the West. “The time has come for decisive measures to stifle the conflict,” Yellsin said in Moscow. At the Pentagon, Adm. David Jeremiah, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke of difficulties of using force to end the conflict. “Hilling tanks spread out against the desert is one thing. . . .Hilling artillery pieces hidden near bams. . .schools and civic centers is another," he told reporters. The Bihac fighting appeared more a show of defiance than die beginning of another land grab before the West and the United Nations can decide on anti-Serb military action. “The force (of 100-150 troops backed by tanks). . .is certainly not one that would be expected to lake the Bihac pocket," said Gen. Lars Eric Wahlgren, commander of U.N.peacc keepcrs in Yugoslavia and its former republics. “The action is a mystery,” said Cedric Thomberry, the chief civilian U.N. official in Yugoslavia, adding it was possibly a “local and crazy initia tive. The Bosnian Serb army later is sued a statement dissociating itself from “provocative attacks” by “an unorganized group of people.” Yeltsin renews pro-Western policy MOSCOW — Bolstered by a na tionwide vote of confidence. Presi dent Boris Yeltsin revived his. pro Western foreign policy Tuesday and top aides began pushing for a new constitution to strengthen the presi dency. The first official rcsullsof Sunday’s referendum showed that 58 percent of the voters expressed confidence in Yeltsin and 52.9 percent endorsed his economic reforms. Hard-line lawmakers had expected Yeltsin to lose on the economic ques tion. Intead, the results appear to have emboldened the62-year-old president and his team of reformers. Yeltsin on Tuesday revived two foreign policy initiatives that had angcreu Russian nationalists and were pul on hold be fore the referendum. First, he issued a sharp warning to militant Serbs in the former Yugosla via, despite howls of protest from lawmakers who consider the Serbs to be ethnic and religious brethren. Conan O’Brien a surprise NBC choice NEW YORK — Did NBC choose unknown comic Conan O'Brien to take “Late Night" in bold, new direc tions? Or did a panicked network merely cast him into the void that David Lcttcrman created and Garry Shandling refused to fill? • Shandling’s manager, Brad Grey, says the “Late Night" job was Shandling’s if he wanittl it. NBC says negotiations never got that far. Those and other matters were still hanging after NBC’s West Coast brass announced their unexpected choice in an unexpected way: On Monday’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Lcno.” What viewers saw was a gangly, fair-haired, 30-year-old who told Leno he had been “eating a big sandwich” when he got word of his selection earlier in the day. NBC’s prime-time lineup sits in third place in the ratings. Its news division has suffered numerous em barrassments, including the “Date line NBC"-GM pickup truck scandal that led to the April resignation of NBC News President Michael Gartner. And after the network gave Johnny Carson’s crown to Jay Leno, an angry David Letterman defected to CBS, where he goes head-to-head against ‘Tonight” starting Aug. 23. “I would have expected them to try aim harder to keep David Lettcrmap,” said Betsy Frank, media analyst for the Saatchi & Saatchi advertising agency. “And I really thought they would sign someone who had a back ground in performing.” The network insists that O'Brien, a writer-producer for the Fox Broad casting Co. animated sitcom “The Simpsons,” was the network’s only choice to replace Lcttcrman. O’Brien had recently been men tioned as leading several young co medians vying for the prize. “Saturday Night Live” creator Lome Michaels was said to be push ing for O’Brien to be host. Russia “will not protect those who stand in the way of peaceful accord,” Yeltsin said. “The U.N. will stand against Serbian nationalists and any other warring parlies who arc gam bling on force. Yeltsin also pushed ahead with filans to visit Japan, ignoring hard iners who fear he may agree to give back four islands that the Soviet Union seized from Japan at the end of World War II. Yeltsin had planned to visit Japan last fall, but the trip was canceled because of the dispute over the Kuril Islands, which Japan calls its North ern Territories. Two of Yeltsin’s legal advisers [ also cal led Tuesday for the convcn ing s of a “constituent assembly” to adopt ( the proposed constitution that Yeltsin rclcascdonihccvcoflhcrcfcrcndum. t Deputy Prime Minister Sergei l Shakhrai said the draft version would c make Russia a presidential republic, s making the president Russia’s “su- j Brian SheWto/DN •feme authority” with power to dis olvc parliament under certain cir umstanccs. Shakhrai and the other adviser, ivil rights lawyer Sergei Alcxcycv, old a news conference that the new onstilution also would provide a trong legislature and independent udiciary. Nebraskan Editor Chris Hoplensperger Night News Editors Stephanie Purdy 472-1736 Mtke Lewis Managing Editor Aian Pheipe Steve Smith Assoc. News Editors Wendy Mott Left Stone* cowSISS Safes* aMSXSffiSS BK*BK* Editor John Adiusson Publications Board Chairman DougWadler uiverstons t dil°» Kim Spurlock 43*7062 Photo Unei KUay Tlmpertey Protessionai Adviser Don Walton 473-7301 bralto Un^^i^^<«,Sf^Ji4^^J^2(ie£d151tha UNL Publications Board. Ne 222? ssssl'orls00^"' ' M°"day ,hrouflh Frk^ dur,n0 •» hcademic year; j° 8ubmt* ‘twy ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by anoB^flin th«9 * mr.and 5 P m Monday through Friday. 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