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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 28, 1994)
News D :gest Monday, November 28,1994 Page 2 GATT opponents target World Trade Organization WASHINGTON — In the fight over a new trade agreement, no battle has been more intense than the one waged over the international body being created to govern the new rules of global commerce. To opponents, the World Trade Organization symbolizes everything that is wrong with the pact — big, global government that will trample American laws protecting the envi ronment, health and safety standards. President Clinton and other sup porters argue that fears about the trade organization are grossly exag gerated. They insist that creation of a new referee for trade disputes is in America’s best interests and will mean more victories in the fight to open overseas markets for U.S. businesses and farmers. Like the North American Free Trade Agreement last year, opponents of WTO represent odd bedfellows, ranging from Ralph Nader and Jesse Jackson on the left to Ross Perot and Patrick Buchanan on the right To liberals, the WTO is an attack on the environmental and health safe guards they have spent a lifetime building up in the United States. “One swift vote by Congress could jeopardize 30 years of progress by the American consumer in areas ranging from pesticide regulations to man dated automobile airbags and fuel efficiency,” Nader said. • Conservatives argue the WTO, where each country will have just one vote regardless of its size, represents a dangerous threat to American sov ereignty. “We ought to have an America First trade policy,” says Buchanan. “GATT and the World Trade Organi zation it creates represent a whole sale surrender of American sover eignty and states rights." The Clinton administration is pre dicting it will win when the House votes on Tuesday and the Senate on Thursday. Opponents hope an advertising blitz focusing on the WTO will sway undecided senators, but Senate Re publican Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., predicted Sunday that the pact would win easily in that chamber. Senate passage is expected to re quire 60 votes, the number needed to suspend budget rules. Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen said he believed GATT would pass, but told CBS’ “Face The Nation” on Sunday, “I don’t think it’s a slam dunk. The Clinton administration struck a deal last week with Dole, endorsing the creation of a panel of five U.S. judges who could recommend U.S. withdrawal from the WTO if the United States lost three cases in a five-year period and the panel found the decisions were arbitrary and abrupt. Some free trade supporters now worry that the U.S. threat to take its marbles and go home has undermined the WTO before it even begins oper ating “The core principal of the WTO is the impartial settlement of trade dis Cs for all nations trader the rule of says Jagdish N. Bhagwati, a Columbia University economics pro fessor. “How impartial can it be, if the United Stales is seen as ready to pull out if it loses too many disputes?” The GATTtradeaccord TIm accord ^ GATT trade accord must W be ratified by the three trade* giants, the United States, the Passing the i U A Senate ft Approval from European Union and Japan $ before being invoked on January 1,1995. It includes: tapirtwrh Overall cut of more than 33 percent on these border taxes on thousands of products including electronics, wood and metals. Should bring down prices. Phase-out over 10 year* of quotas that protect industnafized countries tom cheaper Third World imports. Tougher restrictions on exporting goods at below-cost prices. Gradual cut of 36 percent on crop tariffs and crop export subsidies. Ctampdownontheftof copyrighted goods like bootlegged films and music. louQher protection of oatents Stronger rules against counterfeit gqpds ike fake designer vnms^ -* ,/ jfr iriwmiriy majumy leader Robert Dole is key in the Senate, where support is waning. Critics of the accord say it would infringe on U.S. sovereignty while those who favor it believe it will boost the economy. Dote is standing firm on his demand for a 28 percent capital gains tax cut before he backs the bill's passage. Mhe rtfr** wants ssparats • Make It easier for the U.S. to pull out of the World Trade AP n News... _ ' in a Minute DAYTON, Ohio—A Comair flight with 47 people aboard was struck by lightning on Sunday afternoon, farcing it to nuke an emergency landing. No injuries were reported Flight 3740 from Omaha to Cincinnati was directed to the Dayton International Airport after the pilot told the control sower that lightning struck its left engine. There were 44 passengers and throe crew members aboard the twm engine plane. “They’re all OK. It landed without incident.*' airport spokeswoman Sharon Caudill said. The passengers either boarded other flights to Cincinnati or were driven there, about 50 miles. Thunderstorms passed through southwest Ohio for most of the after noon Sunday. WASHINGTON — A political whirlwind called term limits hits the Supreme Court this week when the justices hear arguments over states’ power to restrict the years lawmakers may serve in Congress Twenty-two states have taken that step, but many legal experts predict the high court will use a dispute over a 1992 term-limits measure in .Arkansas to find all such efforts unconstitutional. Justices will hear the case Tuesday. “The founders clearly did not believe limits could be placed on congressional terms by the states.” said University of Wisconsin constitu tional scholar John Kaminski. The prospect of a Supreme Court setback doesn’t faze Paid Jacob, executive director of U.S. Term Limits. He said a court ruling that says state-imposed term limits for House and Senate members are unconstitu tjonal simply would spark an effort to amend the Constitution. HOUSTON — NASA’s Joknaon Space Center Ins banned tecta with toxic chemicals because of a poisonous release that turned up a series of safety failures. An internal investigation found poor training and lack of planning were major contributors to the April accident, which scat dozens of space center workers to a hospital The Houston Post reported Sunday. The report obtained by the Post detailed a parade of mishaps, including workers’ failure to call the ^nce center’s own emergency line, a stalled ambulance and a lack of information on the deadly chemical at the space center fan-aid clinic. I Peacekeepers disappear inBosnia SARAJEVO, Bosnia Herzegovina — Rebel Serbs pounded the outskirts of Bihac in northwestern Bosnia Sunday as US. and NATO officiate said they were powerless to stop the advance. U.S. Defense Secretary Will iam Perry even suggested the Bosnian government had now lo6t the 31-month war. The Bosnia government said it would accept a UK. proposal for a Bihac cease-fire, demilitariza tion of the “safe area** and with drawal of fences, said Michael Williams, spokesman for Yasushi Akashi, the chief UK. envoy in former Yugoslavia. Bosnia Serbs have demanded a nationwide cease-fire. Their an swer to the U.N. proposal was not immediately known. Serb fighters from Bosnia and neighboring Croatia now control 30 to 40 percent of die U.N.-desig hated “safe area** at Bihac, and there was no sign their assault would stop. U.N. officials said shelling and heavy small arms and machine-gun fire rang out south west and east of Bihac town. The capture of Bihac would be the strongest indication yet that the United Nations can’t stop the war with peacekeeping troops or even NATO airstrikes on the Serbs. The government forces haven't been able to beat the Serbs on the battlefield, and the U.N. Security Council has refused to intervene on the government side. Bihac Mayor Hamdija Kabiljagic, speaking by radio with Sarajevo, vowed Bihac would never surrender and denied a U.N. report that the government army’s 5th Corps blew up its Bihac headquar ters and retreated north. The Serbs have vowed to de stroy the 5th Corps, which launched a successful offensive from Bihac last month, only to lose much of the - captured territory later. Elsewhere, Serbs again humili ated the United Nations, appar ently taking 102 Dutch and 62 British U.N. soldiers hostage as they transported supplies through eastern and central Bosnia. The Dutch peacekeepers were en route Saturday to the eastern enclave of Srebrenica. The British were headed for Gorazde, another eastern enclave, and Kiseljak, just west of Sarajevo, said U.N. spokes man Maj. Herve Gourmelon. They were last heard from in Serb territory, Gourmelon said. The Serbs now have more than 400 peacekeepers under their con trol . Rabbi killed on eve of Hanukkah «**■■■■■■ VI A A • ttf ■ a *1 _ •• !■ • mm ... dui iinvjru, not Djuik — A rabbi was shot to death and an Israeli policeman wounded in a hail of bul lets fired at their car Sunday as they drove toward a Jewish settlement. Islamic militants claimed responsi bility. The shooting, which occurred on the eve of the first day of the Jewish feast of Hanuhhah. was three miles from Hebron, where tensions have been high since the massacre of 29 It came a day before Israeli For eign Minister Shimon Feres was to I in Brunets, Belgium, and as the cycle of violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is pushing negotiators to speed up the peace process. Jewish settlers Mamed government peace policies for encouraging Is lamic militants, but members ofPrime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s Cabinet to continue talks with the "We must continue the peace pro cess and do our best so that such sad events will not occur in the future," Immigration Minister Yair Tsaban said. An anonymous caller churning to be from the radical Muslim group Laiicu israci raaio ana Claimed responsibility for Sunday’s shooting. Hamas earned out a suicide bombing that killed 23 people in Tel Aviv last month. “We will continue the attacks,** he said. The man skid the shooting marked the anniversary of the killing of a Hamas activist by Israeli forces last year. Israeli sources said the gunfire came from a passing car carrying at least two men. The rabbi’s car drove off the road and flipped over. Blood stained the muddy ground and seeped from cracks in the front windshield. Six bullet holes pierced windows, and 30 shell casings from an automatic rifle littered the ground. The victim was Rabbi Ami Olami, 35, the spiritual leader of Otniel, a nearby settlement with about 50 fami lies. A policeman riding with him was shot in the back of the bead, but managed to get out of the car and fire at the attackers, settlers said. He was hospitalized in fair condition. Seminary students at the scene were led away sobbing. One recited prayers as the rabbi’s body lay under a gray blanket nearby. " Gaza Strip “May God avenge his blood, Moshe Rabinovich of the Beit Hagai settlement said as he stood next to an ambulance. Noam Amon. a spokes man for the Jewish settlement in Hebron, blamed Rabin's peace accord for the attack