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News Digest Wednesday, March 13,1996 Page 2 War games put Taiwan on edge TAIPEI, Taiwan—As Chipa test fired another missile early Wednesday near Taiwan, reports came of the first suicide related to rising fears ignited by the Chinese war games just off Taiwan’s coast. The streets of Taipei were filled with rush-hour traffic and businesses opened as usual, but news reports said jittery foreign workers were consider ing giving up well-paid jobs and flee ing the island. Taiwan authorities, trying to keep fears from running out of control, have denied reports that Chinese warplanes have approached Taiwan’s coast and that atest missile fired last week crossed the island’s northern tip. In the town of Taitung, on the island’s southeastern coast, a teen-age girl killed herself by drinking pesti cide, leaving a note blaming despair at the Chinese moves, newspapers said. “What’s the use of studying geog raphy or history? The Chinese com munists have already fired missiles to our doorstep,” 15-year-old Nicn Ting chih reportedly wrote. Newspapers said a cousin drank pesticide with her, but was saved. China is trying to intimidate Tai wan, which it regards as a renegade province, into dropping what it sees as a campaign to declare independence and discard their shared doctrine that the two are one country. Taiwan is run by the Nationalists, who fled the mainland after losing a civil war in 1949. Although initially a military dictatorship, they have intro duced democratic reforms that are to lead to the island’s first direct presi dential election, scheduled for March 23. Campaigning for the election has intensified Chinese fears that Presi dent Lee Teng-hui, widely expected to win re-election, will use his mandate to declare independence! The war games, which began Mon day, have pushed tensions to their worst —i point since the late 1950s, when China and Taiwan traded artillery barrages almost daily on islands near the main land coast. Taiwan’s400,000-member military is on heightened alert and the United States has moved two aircraft carriers and other warships closer to Taiwan. The missile fired shortly after dawn Wednesday splashed down in waters southwest of Taiwan, an area previ ously declared as a test zone by China’s military, according to U.S. and Tai wan officials; It was the first missile fired in four days by the Chinese force, but unlike at least one of three missiles fired Friday, this one didn’t cross Taiwan’s territorial waters, according to a Pen tagon official in Washington. The USS Bunker Hill, an Aegis class guided missile cruiser,electroni cally monitored the firing of the M-9 missile, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The test zone declared by China lies 32 miles west of Taiwan’s south ern port of Kaohsiung. Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said 10 ships of various types were seen con ducting formation drills on Tuesday, and about 10 warplanes practicing air cover, surveillance and bombing runs near Dongshan and Nan Ao, on China’s southeastern coast. The Liberty Times newspaper quoted unidentified Taiwan military officials as saying there were indica tions Chinese naval submarines had participated in the drills and will per form a mock blockade of Taiwan’s ports. The war games are being held in a 6,600-square-mile rectangle that stretches to the mid-point of the Tai wan Straits. The area is 30 to 70 miles from Taiwanese islands. Taiwan’s military says it expects the exercise to include anti-submarine measures, anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles, artillery and bombing runs. News r— in a - | Min Bums laid to rest with wife GLENDALE, Calif.—Bums and Allen are together again, and this time Gracie gets top billing. Her gold-leaf epitaph will be put above George’s on the crypt they now share. Relatives and close friends of George Bums, who died Saturday at 100, mourned the cigar-chomping comic and actor during a starless, invitation-only funeral Tuesday. “He often said he knew entrances and exits,” manager and longtime friend Irving Fein told mourners at Wee Kirk O’ the Heather church at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. “Last Saturday he knew it was time to go.” The 70 or so mourners included Ronald J. Bums and Sandra Jean Burns, the entertainer’s son and daughter, plus seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. The half-hour service for the show-biz legend had a Hollywood ending: As if on cue, the skies darkened and rain began to fall. Bums had been unable to work since falling at his home in 1994. “He was here for 100 great years. We may have wished for more, but no one in this room could have wanted him to hang on, unable to hear the laughter and applause or take his bows,” Fein said. “So, George, we’ll miss you. I know you took your music with you, so wherever you are, I hope they’re playing it in your key.” Residents pay homage to volcano SANTIAGO XALITZINTLA, Mexico — Residents of this village on the slope of the smoking Popocatepetl volcano trudged up its barren sides Tuesday, canning offerings of fruit and spicy mole sauce. Placing the fruit and chocolate-based chili sauce in caves, they paid homage to the mountain’s patron saint, San Gregorio Chino, in a rite blending Roman Catholic and Indian traditions. The volcano, 55 miles southeast of Mexico City, belched steam and ash Monday after a week of lesser activity that ended several months of calm. Experts say there is no immediate threat, but 28 emergency shelters have been prepared in nearby towns and cities. The 17,887-loot mountain has not had a major eruption since 1664. The name Popocatepetl (pronounced po-po-kah-TEH-petl) means “smok ing mountain” in the Aztec language. A steady plume of smoke rose from the volcano Tuesday and snaked across the sky. Television footage showed one emission coming from near the crater and the other from a fissure near the eastern side. Some villagers were evacuated briefly during a scare in December 1994, when Popocatepetl spewed ash. Coca-Cola to test curvy cans ATLANTA — You loved the bottle. How about the can? Hoping to build on the boost it got from bringing back its distinctive hourglass bottle two years ago, Coca-Cola Co. plans to test market a contoured can, probably by the end of the year. The can has sides that curve slightly inward, subtly resembling the Coke bottle. “The issue is differentiation, and making sure we’re constantly di fferentiating our products and packages,” M. Douglas Ivester, Coke’s president, said Tuesday. A steel version was a hit during tests in Germany, said Roberto C. Goizucta, Coca-Cola chairman and chief executive. But the company is less sure an aluminum version will stand up to the pressures of the production line, hold carbonation and stack on delivery trucks and grocery shelves. Coke would not specify when or where it will tested. A plastic version of the Coke bottle, brought out in 1994, has been credited with helping Coke widen its lead in the $50 billion soft drink market. world leaders convene I for anti-terrorism summit SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt — World leaders came to this Egyptian resort, begun by Israel during its occu pation of the Sinai peninsula, for an anti-terrorism summit that President Clinton said Tuesday would find “ways to combat those who seek to kill peace with violence.” The conference Wednesday is in tended to spark new momentum for peace in the region after suicide-bomb ings in Israel over the past three weeks left 62 people dead. Yet problems that have fostered violence seemed likely to haunt the meeting. The three-hour forum includes lead ers from 11 Arab nations and Israel, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Presi dent Jacques Chirac of France and British Prime Minister John Major, all hastily assembled by the Clinton ad ministration to underscore its commit ment in the Mideast. Clinton said before leaving the White House that “the wi 11 of the people for peace is clearly greater than the forces of division.... This summit of the peacemakers can be an important step in the process for peace in the Middle East.” The leaders attending the summit arc determined to come up with “ways to combat those who seek to kill peace with violence,” Clinton said. After the summit, Clinton said, he will travel to Israel “to stand with the people there in their time of grief.” Syria and Lebanon chose not to come. Syria, accused of fostering ter rorists, said it won’t attend because the meeting is merely “propaganda.” Aboard Air Force One with Jordan’s King Hussein, Clinton said he wished Syria were represented at the meeting. “But 1 believe that in terms of continu ing the peace process and keeping com mitments, that President Assad will do that,” he said. “And that’s very impor tant.” Clinton said he hoped the summit would produce “a strong, united stand for keeping the peace process going and standing against the terror.” Differences in Israeli and Arab hopes for Wednesday’s meeting arose even as workmen were painting the slogan “Summit of the Peacemakers” in Arabic and English on the confer ence headquarters. While Israeli Foreign Minister Ehud Barak urged efforts to achieve “con crete results” in the war on terrorism, PLO leaders criticized Israel’s 17-day closure of Palestinian, territories as a hardship that would only provoke more violence. “Hungry people do not fight terror ism,” said Nabil Shaath, a longtime supporter of PLO chief Yasser Arafat and one of the Palestinians’ main peace negotiators. Abandoned girl to receive imprisoned father’s kidney SAN FRANCISCO — Hoping to become “the daddy I should have teen a long time ago,” David Patterson left his jail cell and donated a lifesaving kidney Tuesday to the daughter he deserted before she was born. Patterson, a convicted burglar, met with Renada Daniel-Patterson briefly before the transplant operation. They had met only twice before, once when Renada was too young to remember and a second time when she was 8. “Thank you very much for giving me a chance. I love you,” Renada, now 13, said through tears. The two were operated on for about three hours at the University of Cali fornia at San Francisco Medical Cen ter. Renada later was listed in stable condition and her father was doing well, said Dr. Anthony Portalc, a pedi atric kidney specialist. “The surgery went very well both for her and the donor,” Portale said. He added that it will take weeks and possibly months before it is known whether Renada’s body accepts the kidney. Renada was bom with one kidney that failed when she was 5. She got a new kidney that year, but her body rejected it a year later. Her mother couldn’t donate one of hers because she is diabetic, and no suitable matches were found. Renada was on dialysis three times a week but had been getting sicker in recent months. Patterson, 34, had known for years that his daughter needed a new organ, but he was never asked to donate. In November, he wrote to offer one of his kidneys: “If you can forgive me, I will do my best to be the daddy I should have been a long time ago.” Renada’s mother, Vickie Daniel, 35, said, “He’s definitely been a nonpresence, no-help kind of person.” She added, however* that by donating the kidney “he’ll make a difference.” Blue-collar voters voice frustrations As a blue-collar worker, Jeff Harper knows about shrinking paychecks and shuttered facto ries. Pat Buchanan is trying to woo him on these very issues, but Harper isn’t impressed. “American jobs for Ameri can workers - it’s easy for him to say. He’s never had to vote on anything,” says the pipe fitter from Joliet, 111. “Coming from a man who drove a Mercedes Benz, it doesn’t hold any weight for me. He has no idea what the blue-collar people of America do.” But Buchanan’s message hits home with David Ross, an autoworker at Chrysler’s nearly 100-year-old Jeep plant in To ledo, Ohio, who worries about American jobs moving overseas or to Mexico. “Who’s to say it won’t hap pen here and that I won’t lose my job?” Ross asks. “Buchanan is the only candidate... with enough guts to say'Enough is enough.’” As the Republican presiden tial campaign shifts to the indus trial Midwest with March 19 primaries in Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio, the debate turns to blue-collar concerns: trade, plant closings, wages and unions. President Clinton courted blue-collar workers in 1992, winning all lour Midwest states voting next week. Though some supporters in this heavily union ized area feel betrayed by his support ofN AFTA, many aren’t willing to abandon him for a GOP candidate. Iwouidn t vote fora Repub lican if he paid me,” huffed Jim Kraus, a 51-year-old United Auto Workers member em ployed by Caterpillar Inc., the heavy equipment giant in Peo ria, 111. “The middle class doesn’t stand a chance.” Len Epson, a 28-year veteran of the General Motors Tech Cen ter in Warren, Mich., echoes the sentiment. “The Republican Party is for the rich man. Always has been. Always will be,” he added, not ing he will support Clinton as he did in 1992. Recent polls in Illinois and Ohio have shown Sen. Bob Dole, a Midwest native who often cites his Kansas farm roots, with com manding leads in Tuesday’s GOP primaries. Net>raskan Editor J. Christopher Hain 472-1766 Managing Editor Doug Kouma Assoc. News Editors Matt Waite Sarah Scalet Opinion Page Editor Doug Peters Wire Editor Michelle Gamer Copy Desk Editor Tim Pearson Sports Editor Mitch Sherman Arts & Entertainment Editor Jeff Randall Photo Director Staci McKee http://www.unl.edu/DailyNeb/ 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 68588-0448, 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 also has access to the Publications Board. For information, contact Tim Hedegaard, 436 9253,9am.-11 p.m. 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 1996 DAILY NEBRASKAN