By The
Associated Press
Edited by Jeff Singer
NEWS DIGEST
Net)raskan
Thursday, August 26,1993
Aid allowed to Muslims
MEDJUGORJE, Bosnia
Herzegovina—Bosnian Croats have
agreed to allow food aid for the living
and an exchange of the dead in the
besieged city of Mostar, which re
ceived its first airdrop ofU.S. military
rations on Wednesday.
Cedric Thomberry, the United
Nations civil affairs chief in former
Yugoslavia, said that the convoy would
bring200 tons of food few some 55,000
Muslims trapped in the southern city’s
Muslim sector.
That would be the first substantial
amount of aid to reach the Muslims
since the Croat siege of the city began
two months ago. Another 50 tons is
earmarked for the Croat sector, across
the river from the Muslims.
Early Wednesday, the U.S. Air
Force made its first airdrop of food
into Mostar, an expansion of its six
month-old program of airdropping
food and supplies into Bosnian areas
under attack.
Two Air Force C-130 cargo planes
flew from Rhein-Main Air Base in
Germany to drop more than 13,400
military rations — known as meals
ready-to-eat — into the city, U.S.
military officials said in a statement.
Thomberry said the Croats also
agreed to an exchange of bodies and
to a truce. There were no reports of
Muslim-Croat clashes after the cease
fire took effect around midday Tues
day, but dozens of cease-fire accords
have been violated in the 17-month
long war that has left up to 200,000
missing or dead.
Gen. Slobodan Praljak, deputy
head of the Bosnian Croat army, told
the AP’s bureau in Zagreb, Croatia,
by telephone that he “had informa
tion” the Muslims had rejected the
cease-fire. But there was no such in
dication from the Muslims.
Despite a Bosnian cease-fire signed
Aug. 11 and last week’s peace talks in
Geneva, sporadic fighting was report
ed across Bosnia on Tuesday, and the
Muslim-led government ordered all
conscripts to report for military duty.
The Croats had backtracked for
days on promises to let the convoy
into Mostar. It was stuck in this
Bosnian Croat stronghold, 12 miles
south of Mostar.
Slobodan Lovrenovic, a spokes
man for Bosnian Croat leader Mate
Boban, confirmed the convoy agree
ment and said the Croats believed
“everything must be done to speed up
the humanitarian aid.”
U.N. peacekeepers who reached
Mostar’s Muslim sector on Saturday
said residents were on the verge of
starvation and hospital conditions were
desperate.
Some operations were being per
formed without anesthesia, more than
two-thirds of the residents were dis
placed, and 60 percent of the build
ings were uninhabitable, they said.
Croats and Muslims saw their anti
Serb alliance disintegrate a few
months ago as plans for an ethnic
division of Bosnia emerged.
The plan proposed by mediators
Lord Owen of tire European Commu
nity and Thorvald Stoltenberg of the
United Nations would give Muslims
about 31 percent of Bosnia, Croats
about 17 percent and the Serbs some
52 percent.
AP
Muslims, who comprised about 43
percent of the population before the
war started in April 1992, have de
manded at least 40 percent of the
territory. They now control about 10
percent of Bosnia while Serbs hold
some 70 percent.
Hope for ozone layer could come soon
NEW YORK—Worldwide emis
sions of the two worst ozone-destroy
ing chemicals are slowing sooner than
researchers had expected, and the
gradual repair of Earth’s battered
ozone layer could begin by 2000, a
study says.
A 1987 treaty banning the chemi
cals — and aggressive efforts by in
dustry to find replacements — will
lead to a decline in emissions of the
two chlorofluorocarbons by the end
of the decade, researchers predicted.
“It’s a beautiful case study of envi
ronmental action," said the study’s
principal author, James W. Elkins of
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. “Industry has moved
more quickly than scientists or gov
ernment thought.”
It will still be a century, however,
before the ozone layer returns to nor
mal, researchers said.
Elkins and his colleagues found
that emissions of two chlorofluoro
carbons — CFC-11 and CFC-12 —
had slowed to a growth rate of about
1 percent per year, down from a peak
of 5 percent per year in the 1980s,
Elkins said. The findings will appear
Thursday in Nature, a British scientif
ic journal.
CFC-11 and CFC-12 are used
mostly in aerosol cans and air condi
tioners, especially auto air condition
ers, and to produce plastic foam,
Elkins said.
The good news comes as NASA
satellite data is indicating that the
stratospheric ozone layer that shields
the Earth from cancer-causing ultra
violet radiation has dropped to its
lowest levels ever.
“The ozone levels are at or below
what they were last year, and last year
Decline in ozone-destroying chemicals seen
Worldwide emissions of the two most dangerous ozone-destroying
chemicals are slowing sooner than expected. The gradual repair of the
Earth s battered ozone layer could begin by 2000. Ozone molecules
absorb some of the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation before it reaches
the Earth's surface, making life on Earth possible.
Chlorofluorocarbon emissions (parts per trillion) .
Observed concentrations (NOAA)
—- Calculated concentrations (DuPont)
Source: NQAA, DuPont
was a record low level," said Janies
Gleason of NASA’s Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
He said that even with the peak in
emissions of chlorofluorocarbons by
2000, it will take about a century for
the ozone layer to recover to what it
was before ozone-destroying chemi
cals began to be widely used in the
1960s and 1970s.
That’s because chlorine persists
for a long time in the atmosphere, he
AP
said “The ozone depletion from the
chlorine will continue until the chlo
rine is removed from the atmosphere”
Gleason said.
“All we’ve done is slowed down
the destruction. We are still going to
have Antarctic ozone holes until the
next century ” Elkins said.
Ozone molecules absorb some of
the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radia
tion before it reaches the Earth’s sur
face, making life on Earth possible.
--SPORTS WIRE
Denver’s Niile High Stadium bans smoking within confines
DENVER—The Denver Bron
cos and the Colorado Rockies hailed
the city council's decision to ban
smoking in the seats of Mile High
Stadium as long overdue.
After a lengthy public hearing
Monday, the city council narrowly
approved a tough anti-smoking law
backed by Mayor Wellington
Webb. The ordinance, which will
require employers to provide
smoke-free working areas and bans
smoking in most public areas, goes
into effect in 60 days.
The smoking ban at Mile High
Stadium takes effect in February
after the upcoming Broncos sea
son.
Spokesmen for the Broncos and
the Rockies say the move to protect
fans from secondhand smoke is
appropriate.
It seems to be a trend around the
league," said Porter Wharton, the
Broncos’ governmental relations
consultant.
For good reason, apparently.
MIn informal exit interviews with
people who give up their season
tickets, smoking in the stadium
comes out as the No. 1 reason,"
Wharton said. “We feel pretty con
fident it is a major concern to our
fans.”
Smoking will also be prohibited
in concession areas, restrodms and
tunnels leading to seats, but smok
ing areas will be set aside in the
stadium.
Coors Field will be subject to
the same restrictions when it opens
in 1995.
Group charged in
‘urban terrorism’
NEW YORK—A radical Muslim
cleric was charged Wednesday with
:ommanding a “war of urban terror
ism” that included the World Trade
Center bombing and foiled plots to
5low up New York landmarks and kill
Egypt’s president.
The federal indictment marks the
first time that prosecutors have tied
together those conspiracies and other
alleged terrorist acts as part of a broad
scheme to terrorize the United States.
It also was the first time Sheik
Dmar Abdel-Rahman was charged in
the Trade Center attack and bomb
spree plot. The sheik has denounced
and denied any involvement in those
conspiracies.
One of the 15 defendants is El
Sayyid A. Nosair, who was acquitted
on state murder charges in the Rabbi
Meir Kahane killing, but is in a New
York state prison on a related weap
ons conviction.
This time, Nosair was indicted on
federal racketeering charges in the
shooting death of Kahane in a New
York City hotel.
Nosair, Abdel-Rahman and two
others among the 15 were accused of
conspiring to murder Egyptian Presi
dent Hosni Mubarak.
Many of those charged earlier in
the Trade Center bombing and sum
mertime bomb-spree plot were known
to have supported Nosair during his
trial and visited him in prison.
The Feb. 26 Trade Center bomb
ing killed six people and injured 1,000.
In June, authorities broke up an al
leged plot to bomb tire United Na
tions, the Lincoln and Holland Tun
nels, the George Washington Bridge
linking New York City and New Jer
sey, and a federal building that houses
the FBI in Manhattan.
The indictment issued Wednesday
spoke of an organization that from at
least 1989 carried out acts of terror
ism against various governments and
officials in the United States and
abroad. The indictment gave few spe
cifics.
The indictment had been promised
a month ago by prosecutors who were
transcribing hundreds of hours of tape
recordings captured by a government
informant who had become a confi
dant of Abdel-Rahman.
It alleged the conspirators targeted
government officials, law enforce
ment officials and judicial officers for
kidnap and assassination. It said the
conspirators also planned to obstruct
justice by conspiring to kidnap and
take hostages to attempt to gain re
lease of imprisoned colleagues.
The defendants, the indictment
said, “unlawfully, willfully and know
ingly combined, conspired, confeder
ated and agreed together and with
each other to levy a war of urban
terrorism against the United States.”
The indictment accused Abdel
Rahman of leading the organization,
and said he was “consulted in pursu
ing and planning bombings, murders
and other acts of terrorism.”
It said he also “provided instruc
tion regarding whether particular acts
of terrorism were permissible or for
bidden, served as a mediator of dis
putes among members of the organi
zation and undertook to protect the
organization from infiltration by law
enforcement authorities.”
The four new defendants are Abdel
Rahman; Nosair; Mohammed
Abouhalima, the brother of a defen
dant in the Trade Center bombing;
and Abdo Mohammed Haggag, who
was charged last month with conspir
ing to kill Mubarak.
Jackson was banned from boy
LOS ANGELES — The 13
year-old who reportedly triggered
the Michael Jackson child abuse
investigation was forbidden by a
judge to have any contact with the
pop star as part of a bitter custody
battle between the boy’s parents.
Superior Court Judge Kenneth
A. Black said in an Aug. 17 order
obtained Wednesday by The Asso
ciated Press that the boy’s mother
wasn’t allowed to let the child even
tel ne Jackson.
document didn’t say why
the boy was barred from contacting
Jackson or explain their relation
ship, though the order was dated
the same day police opened the
investigation into the entertainer.
The boy reportedly traveled with
Jackson, including a trip to Mona
co in May on which the boy’s moth
er and sister also went along, news
papers reported at the time.
Jackson denies wrongdoing. His
security consultant said the investi
gation was based on false allega
tions made by an extortionist seek
ing $20 million from the entertain
er.
Jackson, who turns 33 on Sun
day, fell ill in Thailand from dehy
dration and postponed a Bangkok
concert on his world tour.
Police searched Jackson’s Los
Angeles condominium and
Ncverland ranch over the weekend
and reportedly seized photographs
and videotapes. Authorities pro
vided no further details on the in
vestigation by the police depart
ments Sexually Exploited Child
Unit.
A source who saw confidential
police documents and spoke on
condition of anonymity told the AP
on Tuesday that the investigation
began after the boy told a therapist
he was sexually abused by Jackson.
Jackson’s attorney, Howard
Weitzman, didn’t return a report
er’s telephone calls on Wednes
day.
Attorney Barry Rothman, who
represents the boy’s father,
wouldn’t comment but said he
planned a statement soon.
Under the Aug. 17 order, the
father was granted primary custo
dy and the mother visitation rights.
But the judge forbade the mother to
let her son “have any contact or
communication in any form, di
rectly or indirectly, including, but
not limited to, telephone commu
nication” with Jackson.
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