i
Thursday, October 29,1998 page 2
economists concerned
i despite budget surplus
WASHINGTON (AP) - Even as
President Clinton triumphantly con
firmed die first budget surplus in 29
years on Wednesday, economists
began warning the ever-better news
will fade along with the economy
and the stock market
“Today we learn, after decades
of deficit that this past year we had
a surplus»of exactly $70 billion,”
Clinton said at die White House.
It’s the first surplus since 1969
and represents a remarkable turn
around from die record $290 billion
deficit in 1992 and even from
1997’s $22 billion in red ink.
A booming stock market flood
ed the government with a 12 percent
increase in income-tax receipts,
which caused the greater-than-pre
dicted surplus.
And strong job growth incr
eased payroll-tax revenue and
reduced the government’s spending
on welfare and unemployment ben
efits.
But now world financial turmoil
is expected to cut in half the rate of
U.S. economic growth to a lacklus
ter 2 percent most of this year and
next. And the stock market, after
^dunging from midsmmnerJiighs,
doesn’t appear likely to return to
double-digit percentage gains any
time soon.
Britain, Argentina at peace
over disputed Falklands
LONDON (AP) - With a hand
shake symbolizing reconciliation
and the simple laying of a wreath,
\ Britain and Argentina began
Wednesday to heal the wounds left
f by their 1982 war over the still-dis
■ puted Falkland Islands.
Carlos Menem, the first
Argentine president to visit Britain
officially since the war, placed the
wreath of blue and white flowers —
the color of the Argentine flag -
before a plaque at St. Paul’s
Cathedral listing the 255 British
soldiers slain in the 74-day conflict
He then clasped hands on the
cathedral’s steps with Prince
Andrew, the son of Queen Elizabeth
II Who flew combat missions as a
helicopter pilot during the war over
m
me windswept soum Atlantic arcru
pelago.
Menem’s six-day visit has been
billed by both governments as one
for reconciliation, not recrimina
tions, with the focus on booming
trade and generally good relations
with Argentina’s democratically
elected government
“We can agree to disagree,”
Argentine Foreign Minister Guido
Di Telia said before the wreath-lay
ing ceremony, referring to the
Falklands, which Argentina calls the
Malvinas. “This idea of agreeing to
disagree is a very British idea.”
The ceremony was intended to
deflect from the dispute over the
Falklands, whose 2,200 populace is
of British descent.
The Argentine president had
lunch with the queen Wednesday
and was scheduled to meet
Thursday with Prime Minister Tony
Blair.
Hurricane Mitch lingers
in Honduras, killing 32
LA CEIBA, Honduras (AP) -
TT-? ___I • li._1
iilAllviUlv 1TUIVU 111 11D wmil
through the western Caribbean on
Wednesday to punish Honduras
with 120 mph winds, sweeping
away bridges ^-flooding neighbor- *
hoods and killing at least 32 people,
p Mitch was drifting west at only 2
mph over the Bay Islands, a
Honduras tourist area popular with
American scuba divers and beach
combers.
The storm was only 30 miles off
the coast, and hurricane-force
winds stretched 105 miles from the
storm’s center. That meant the
Honduran coast and a good portion
of the interior was under hurricane
conditions for more than a day.
“The hurricane has destroyed
almost everything,” said Mike
Brown, a resident of Guanaja Island
who was within miles of the eye of
the hurricane. “Few houses have
remained standing.’*
At its peak Tuesday, Mitch was
classified as the fourth-strongest
Caribbean hurricane this century
with 180 mph winds. By Wednes
day afternoon, the 350-mife-wide
storm still packed a punch-Jjutits
sustained winds were down to 120
mph.
uQuestions? Comments?
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LONDON (AP) - The High Court
ruled Wednesday that Augusto Pinochet
is immune from prosecution in British
courts and ordered die British govern
ment to pay the forma: Chilean dicta
tor^ legal costs of $560,000.
The court threw out two Spanish
arrest warrants, acted upon by British
authorities. The warrants sought
Pinochet’s extradition to face charges of
murder; kidnapping and torturing polit
ical opponents during his 17-year dicta
torship.
In his ruling, Lord Chief Justice
Thomas Bingham said it was “of course
a matter for acute public concern that
those who abuse sovereign power to
commit crimes against humanity
should not escape trial and appropriate
punishment”
But nothing, including the charter
that established the International War
Crimes Tribunal at Nuremberg in 1945,
invalidated the principle “that one sov
ereign state will not impugn another in
relation to its sovereign acts,” Bingham
said
In Madrid, lawyers trying to extra
dite Pinochet to Spain criticized the
British court but said they remained
hopeful that an appeals court would
eventually overturn the ruling.
Virginia Diaz, an attorney who has
worked closely on the case, argues that
international law clearly rules out
immunity in cases of crimes against
humanity.
«-—
We are not talking about a little bit of
corruption, but the killing, torture and
disappearance of thousands of people ” •
Virginia Diaz
attorney
“We are nottaflang about a little bit
of corruption, but the killing, torture
and disappearance of thousands of peo-*
pie,” Diaz said.
To the joy of Chilean exiles, howev
er, the court ordered that Pinochet
remain in custody until an appeal by
British prosecutors to the House of
Lords.
The Crown Prosecution Service
said it will file an urgent appeal on the
immunity question Monday, the dead
line given by the court
. Bingham said he was giving British
prosecutors die opportunity to appeal
because of the “obvious public impor
tance and international interest... as to
the outcome” of the case.
Pinochet’s lawyers immediately
applied for the release on bail of the 82
year-old former leader, who has been
held under arrest since Oct 16 and is
recuperating from spinal surgery per
formed Oct 9. A hearing was scheduled
for Friday
Lawyers for the Spanish magistrate
had alleged that Pinochet was responsi
ble for up to4,000murders, including at
least one in the United States, and had
sent agents to Spain to kill opponents
there.
Pinochet, who came to power in
1973, stepped down in 1990, but
remained commander-in-chief of the
army until Match.
hi Washington, D.C., human rights
groups called on the U.S. government
Wednesday to give Spanish investiga
tors any materials it has that link
Pinochet directly to act§ of international
terrorism
The, U.S. administration has taken
no position on die Pinochet case. Many
months ago, the Justice Department
began providing documents to the
Spanish government
The British government, which has
defended its hatidling of the case,
refused comment because the matter is
still before the courts.
Glenn readies for orbit
,
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP)
- The stakes are higher than ever for
NASA as it counts down the final ~
hours to John Glenn’s heralded
return to orbit today, and the man in
charge of space flight knows it
“As a person responsible for this
mission, I feel an awesome responsi
bility and apprehension that every
thing goes well. This is special,” said
Joe Rothenberg, director of NASA’s
Goddard Space Flight Center.
As always, Rothenberg said,
NASA has done everything possible
to ensure the safety of space shuttle
Discovery and its seven-member ,
crew. But the fact that one of them is
the 77-year-old Glenn, the first
American to orbit the Earth and a
senator for the past *14 years, has
upped the ante if anything goes
wrong. v*.
*5 i; “Wouldit beany different from
any mission? Sure/’ Rothenberg
said. “Because like having a teacher
on board, it really has got very high
^ visibility and an awful lot of people
would look at it as something hap
pening to an American hero ami we
were part of the process. There’s no
question about that.”
Glenn was sb beloved by
America after his 1962 flight, in fact,
that President Kennedy reportedly
instructed NASA not to fly him again _
- he didn’t want to risk the astro
naut's life. Glenn never got to ask
Kennedy if this was true; the presi
dent was dead by the time Glenn
heard about it
Schoolchildren around the coun
try will be watching Glenn’s return to
space, just as youngsters watched on
Jan. 28, 1986, when schoolteacher
Christa McAuliffe was aboard
Challenger. She and the six others on
board were killed when the shuttle
blew up 73 seconds into flight
Up to a quarter-million people
are expected to converge on the area
for a glimpse of the launch. That
doesn’t count the 3,800 reporters
expected for liftoff, or the 70 mem
bers of Congress, or JPresid.ent
Clinton and hiamitqpra^e.
Everything seemed.to jbe in
NASA’s favor heading into die final
hours - the countdown was hum
ming along and perfect launch
weather was forecast
Glenn spent Wednesday, his last
day on Earth for the next VA weeks,
reviewing flight plans and greeting
well-wishers.
Global population expected to nse
uminu jnaiiuins (Ar; - ine
world’s population is expected to
increase nearly everywhere on the
globe next year- even in Africa, where
AIDS is crating life expectancies dra
matically, according to U.N. figures
released Wednesday.
Even though fertility continues to
decline as the 21 ^ century approaches,
the number of people on Earth is
expected to hit 6 billion in 1999, the
UN. Population Division said.
Last year; AIDS killed 2.SmiUkm
people worldwide, while 30 million
were left infected by HIM the virus that
causes the disease. According to the
U.N. figures, 91 percent of AIDS
deaths occurred in 34 countries, 29 of
them in sub-Saharan Africa.
But in tnezvAmcan countnes mt
iardest by AIDS, die population will
remain die same or keep climbing
Pecause fertility in these countries is
ligh, according to the UN: estimates.
The spread of AIDS is hawing pop
ulation repercussions: Children bom
today in those 29 African countries
will have an average life expectancy of
\1 years rather than 54 years, the
United Nations said.
The estimates are prepared every
two years by die Population Division
if the United Nations Department of
Economic and Social Affairs.
According to the estimates, world
population was 5.9 billion in mid-1998
md was growing by 1.33 percent per
year, an average of 78 million people.
Deodorant
kills British
16-year-old
MANCHESTER, England (AP)
- A 16-year-old boy obsessed with
smelling nice died after months of
repeatedly spraying his entire body
'with deodorant, a coroner ruled
Wednesday.
Jonathan Capewell had 10 times
the lethal dosage of propane and
butane in his blood when he suffered
a heart attack and died July 29, coro
ner Barrie Williams said.
Risbelievetithe fumes built up in
his body following months of “high”
“His personal hygiene led him to
use mofe than was formal in a con
fined space, which limits ventila
tion,” said the coroner, who recorded
Jonathan’s father, Keith
Cdpewell, said hi$. son would cover
hi# efitire body With deodorant at
least twice a day.
“When we told him he was using
toer much, he said he just wanted to
smellgood;” Capewell said.
4:“Eyen when we were in a room
^dfwnstairs we couldn’t just smell it,
.jjapcoultLiaste it,” the father said,
“ifdu wouldn’t have thought that
chuld haws been the cause for some
one to die. What a price to pay for
smelling nice.”
^ Sue Rogers of the British Aerosol
Manufacturing Association said she
had never heard of a similar incident.
“It is extraordinarily unusual and
terribly tragic,” she said. “The
aerosols have warnings about spray
ing in confined areas and well-venti
lated places, but these are for flam
mability risks, not about accidental
inhalation.”
The boy’s mother, Louise, called
for better warnings on deodorant
cans.
“You just get up in the morning
and spray it on, but who expects it to
kill you?” she said.
