Russia speaks against NATO strikes
Milosevic says Serbian situation is ‘improving daily’
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -
Sharply opposed to NATO airstrikes on
Yugoslavia, Russia sent its foreign and
defense ministers Sunday to call on
President Slobodan Milosevic, whose
generals were preparing to defend die
country against an assault
NATO is threatening attacks to end
seven months of bloodshed in Kosovo -
despite signs Serbs may be ready for a
compromise on how the rebellious Serb
province should be governed.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor
Ivanov and Defense Minister Igor
Sergeyev met with Milosevic, Serbian
President Milan Milutinovic and
Yugoslavia’s top defense officials.
Kosovo is in southern Serbia, the
dominant of two republics remaining in
Yugoslavia.
A statement from Milosevic’s office
issued after the meeting said any NATO
strike would be an “act of aggression”
and asserted that in Kosovo die overall
situation is “improving daily”
Russia is the Serbs’ main ally, shar
ing bonds of religion and joint Slavic
roots.
Serbian police and the Yugoslav
army have routed separatist Kosovo
Albanian rebels during the seven-month
crackdown. The conflict has killed hun
dreds - most of them ethnic Albanian
civilians - and driven hundreds of thou
sands of villagers from their homes.
A Yugoslav statement said the lead
ership wanted the Kosovo dispute
solved peacefully, “but in case we are
attacked, we shall defend our country
with all means.”
Preparing for an attack, Yugoslav
generals put the nation’s air defense on
high alert, even as Serbs indicated they
were ready for compromise by
installing an interim government
Saturday in Kosovo. x.
Speaking in Denmark, German
Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel said
Friday the NATO intervention clock “is
at one minute to 12.” Although Kinkel
stressed that “no ultimatum, no date has
been set,” he added, “Mr. Milosevic
must know that we are serious.”
London’s Sunday Telegraph report
ed that Britain is preparing ground
troops and armored units for Kosovo to
be deployed as peacekeepers after a pos
sible airstrike. The defense ministry
refused to confirm the report
The Yugoslav government said
Friday the fighting had ended and
blamed continuing violence on ethnic
Albanian rebels. The Serb side reported
no fighting Sunday, besides two minor
attacks on civilian cars by Albanian
“terrorists” about 25 miles south of
Pristina, Kosovo’s capital.
But the Kosovo Information Cento,
which reports for die Albanian side, said
there was heavy fighting between gov
ernment forces and the guerrillas, 25
miles southwest of Pristina.
Ethnic Albanian political leaders
have rejected the new interim govern
ment, which was drawn up without their
participation. The council is composed
of seven Serbs, five ethnic Albanians
and the rest Turks and Muslims. It was
part of a last-ditch effort to show that
Sobs intend to end die conflict
'Hyde says majority for impeachment not met
WASHINGTON(AP)-On the eve
of House Judiciary hearings into possi
ble impeachment proceedings against
President Clinton, chairman Henry
Hyde said Sunday the Senate so far
*#o«m«teha*e the twe-thirdma^ority
* necessary to president from
>■ office.
Hyde also said he hopes to finish
his impeachment inquiry by year’s end
but won’t accept Democratic demands
for limits on the investigation.
“You know how New Year’s resolu
tions sometimes get broken, but it’s my
hope and prayer that we could finish by
New Year’s,” the Illinois Republican
said.
Hyde’s committee will meet today
s toitaK&iq) a GOR resolution recom
Spjeqding. an open-ended inquiry into
7 whether Clinton’s behavior merits
impeachment. The Democrats will
66
You know how New Year's resolutions
sometimes get broken, but it's my hope and
prayer that we could finish by New Years?
HenryHyde
- House Judiciary chainnan
offer a separate version that would put a
deadline on the inquiry and limit it to
the Monica Lewinsky affair, but it is
likely to be defeated.
On Sunday Hyde again rejected the
Democratic demands. He even said he
might if necessary be willing to expand
the inquiry beyond Independent
Counsel Kenneth Starr’s report to
Congress on the president’s relation
ship with Lewinsky, a White House
intern.
The Judiciary Committee antici
pates no more material from Starr,
Hyde said, and “we are not seeking that.
We’re not out trolling for additional
issues. But if they come to our attention
we will deal with them.”
Hyde mentioned as possible exten
sions Whitewater, Filegate, Travelgate
and Clinton’s relationship with former
White House volunteer Kathleen
Willey and said his committee will look
at a report being put out this week by a
different House committee on alleged
White House campaign fund-raising
violations. “We don’t want to shut our
eyes or use tunnel vision,” he said.
At the same time, Hyde admitted
that if the House votes to impeach, or
indict, the president, the 67 votes
required in die Senate to remove him
from office are not there. “They won’t
do that until die American people
move, and they have to move from
where they apparentiy are if the polls
are true,” Hyde said.
The ranking Democrat on the
Judiciary Committee, John Conyers of
Michigan, said on NBC the Democrats
want a Thanksgiving deadline on the
probe, but he was receptive to Hyde’s
year-end proposal. “We may be able to
work that out,” Conyers said
Democrats generally were skepti
cal the inquiry could end this year so
long as Republicans can introduce
additional issues damaging to the pres
ident
House Democratic leader Dick
Gephardt of Missouri indicated he will
vote against the GOP inquiry resolu
tion when it gets to the floor this week.
“I don’t want to authorize a two-year,
open-ended fishing expedition into
everything under the sun,” Gephardt
said
Questions? Comments?
Ask for the appropriate section editor at
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or e-mail dn@unllnfo.unl.edu.
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IMF spars over plans for crisis
WASHINGTON (AP) - Bickering
broke out Sunday between the United
States and its rich allies even before the
ink was dry on their action plan for
combating a widening economic crisis
that has already pushed one-third of the
world into recession.
The disagreements underscored that
despite a major Clinton administration
effort to project unity and calm turbulent
markets, the world’s economic powers
:? still disagree strongly over just what they
should be doing to restore stability.
The administration still played
down the disagreements and pushed
ahead to demonstrate U.S. leadership by
assembling a multibillion-do liar bailout
plan for Brazil, the latest country threat
ened by panicked investors seeking to
pull their money out
Brazilian Finance Minister Pedro
Malan expressed satisfaction over
progress of the loan negotiations
Sunday, saying, “I take heart in the
words of support” expressed by the
United States and other countries.
It was expected that perhaps a $30
billion emergency credit line for Brazil
could be announced soon after results
of Sunday’s presidential elections are
known.
More than $100 billion in IMF
bailout packages have been put together
since the start of the Asian crisis. They
provided help only after a country’s
economy was decimated and its
u
“The global economy cannot continue
to thrive with the kinds of vast
and systemic disruptions that have
occurred over the last year f
Robert Rubin
Treasury secretary
resources depleted by investors seeking
to flee.
rThe currency crises started in
Thailand 15 months ago, then struck
Indonesia and South Korea. In August,
similar conditions triggered a disastrous
free fall of the Russian economy, and
that, in turn, raised anxieties that Latin
America will be next
But several nations said Sunday the
U.S. proposal would be dead on arrival
unless the United States provides $18
billion to replenish depleted IMF
resources before Congress’ scheduled
adjournment this week.
British Chancellor of die Exchequer
Gordon Brown told reporters the Group
of Seven nations had agreed only to
explore the Americans’ quick-response
proposal. He said a new “IMF facility is
dependent on the IMF having the funds,
and that is dependent on House
approval” of the $18 billion. -
All the wrangling was over a five
page communique the world’s seven
richest countries - the United States,
Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy
and Japan - issued Saturday night The
aim for the document is to serve as a
blueprint for discussions in the next five
days at the annual meetings of the 182
nation IMF and its sister lending
agency, the World Bank.
Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin
told his colleagues Sunday that contin
ued support in developing countries for
the free market system, which has
meant so much to the growth of the
world economy in recent decades, could
hang in the balance.
“The global economy cannot con
tinue to thrive with die kinds of vast and
systemic disruptions that have occurred
over the last year,” Rubin said in
remarks to the IMF’s policy-setting
interim committee.
Pope calls for help
in Kosovo, Croatia
SPLIT, Croatia (AP) - On a sea
side beach packed with pilgrims, Pope
John Paul II sought Sunday to heal the
wounds left by war and totalitarian
rule in Croatia, and urged die interna
tional community to provide “timely
help” to end the Kosovo conflict
An estimated 500,000 Roman
Catholics jammed a beach outside this
Adriatic coastal city for the final Mass
of John Paul’s three-day trip to
Croatia.
“Croats are today called to give a
new face to their country, above all by
committing themselves to die renewal
in society of the ethical and moral val
ues undermined by past totalitarian
ism and by the recent violence of
war,” the pope said.
“It is an urgent task, for without
values there can be no true freedom or
democracy.”
Reconciliation and the renewal of
values were high on the pope’s agenda
during his stay. The breakup of
Yugoslavia sparked a civil war in 1991
that left over 10,000 dead and thou
sands missing'before the 1995 Dayton
Accords ended die fighting.
The pope made no mention of
threats by NATO to stage airstrikes if
the Serbs continue their aggression
against the ethnic Albanians.
Gay candidate runs
for legislature in Utah
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - To
Jackie Biskupski, her run for the Utah
Legislature is about taxes, crime and
growth in the sprawling suburban dis
trict she wants to represent.
For almost everyone else, it’s
about her sexuality.
Biskupski, 32, is the first openly
gay candidate to run for Utah’s
staunchly conservative, overwhelm
ingly Mormon Legislature. Her candi
dacy has drawn fire hum both die far
right, which accuses her of living an
“immoral and illegal lifestyle,” and
some homosexual activists who feel
she’s turned her back on her own.
“I want to talk about the issues and
everybody else wants to talk about
this,” said Biskupski, a Democrat and
insurance adjuster who once wanted
to be a police officer. “I’m not trying
to hide anything. I just want people to
see me as something other than a gay
candidate.”
That’s unlikely.
Her Republican opponent talks
about “hidden agendas.” The conser
vative Utah Eagle Forum, which
helped “out” Biskupski during her
unsuccessful race for a seat on the
Salt Lake City Council last year,
plans a similar campaign in coming
weeks.
“Once we found out about it, we
helped get the word out she was living
a homosexual lifestyle,” said Eagle
Forum president Gayle Ruzicka.
“Why wouldn’t we? It is certainly our
business when a candidate is commit
ting sodomy and living a blatantly
immoral lifestyle.”
But Biskupski faces an additional
burden. She’s being criticized from
within the homosexual community,
which fractured when Biskupski
defeated lesbian activist Claudia
O’Grady in a 1997 city council prima
ry. For O’Grady’s supporters,
Biskupski seemed reluctant to address
the issue in public and simply wasn’t
“gay enough.”
