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Thursday, September 23,1999 , Page 2
U.N. struggles to keep peace
DILI, East Timor (AP) - Struggling
to keep the situation in East Timor
under control, peacekeepers stopped
crowds of hungry refugees from loot
ing Wednesday, collected weapons
from pro-Indonesian militias and sent
an advance team into the territory’s sec
ond-largest city.
But in the first show of defiance
toward the international force, armed
men killed one Western journalist and
attacked two others, raising fears that
the peacekeepers themselves could
come under attack as they deploy into
more areas outside Dili.
Many Indonesians accuse the for
eign media of stirring up problems in
East Timor and conspiring with the
United Nations to rig the outcome of an
Aug. 30 referendum, in which East
Timorese voted overwhelmingly to
become independent from Indonesia.
“It would appear that the militia
have attempted to step up some activi
ties as a show that all is not yet secure.
Well, I would agree with that,” said
Australian Maj. Gen. Peter Cosgrove,
commander of the peacekeeping force.
Cosgrove said he did not have
enough soldiers to protect all of the res
idential areas in East Timor’s ravaged
capital, Dili.
Thousands of East Timorese
descended from the hills Wednesday
morning and stormed a government
warehouse, looting 110-pound sacks of
rice, sugar and tins of cooking oil.
Indonesian guards were overwhelmed,
but peacekeepers soon arrived and
brought the crowd under control.
Relief efforts, which began again
Wednesday, were expected to pick up
Thursday. Food drops had been sus
pended since Monday in favor of airlift
ing peacekeepers and supplies for the
multinational force.
Less than half the force, expected to
number 7,500, was in the territory by
Wednesday. Despite the paucity of
troops, 150 peacekeepers flew in
Blackhawk helicopters to East Timor’s
second-largest city, Baucau, to secure
the airport, said Brig. Mark Evans, land
forces commander.
u
We have lost count of the number of weapons”
Mark Evans
land forces commander
The militia violence has waned
since the peacekeepers’ arrival
Monday, but in the Dili suburb of
Becora, Dutch journalist Sander
Thoenes was killed, officials said
Wednesday. Thoenes, a 30-year-old
reporter for London’s Financial Times
newspaper, had disappeared after being
attacked Tuesday.
In a separate attack, two other jour
nalists were ambushed and managed to
escape. Their driver was severely
wounded.
At the United Nations in New York,
Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas
said he deeply regretted Thoenes’
death.
“It shows that we have always to be
very, very careful,” he said.
In Dili, peacekeepers drove
armored personnel carriers down the
devastated streets, searching for anyone
who looked suspicious. Within 24
hours, the soldiers had rounded up
dozens of suspected militants and con
fiscated hundreds of guns, knives and
machetes.
“We have lost count of the number
of weapons,” Evans said.
Indonesia’s army chief, Gen.
Wiranto, claimed the situation was
improving.
“Of course there’s always a criminal
element, one or two people are still
fighting and looting - this is always
going to happen. But in general, our
indications are that things are OK,” he
said.
Gore races to add
to campaign funds
WASHINGTON (AP) - With
nine fund-raising events in 10 days,
Vice President A1 Gore sprinted
toward month’s end and the next
official tally of candidate cash. His
pitch Wednesday sounded like a
battle cry and was aimed at
Democratic rival Bill Bradley.
“Let’s fight for the way this
country should be,” Gore told
women at a fund-raising luncheon.
Wednesday’s take alone was
$700,000, and President Clinton,
his voice hoarse from allergies and
strain, once again chipped in to
woo the Democratic Party’s biggest
cash-rakers.
Gore’s fund-raising is on track
but won’t yield blockbuster sur
prises in the third-quarter Federal
Election Commission reports, said
his chief finance official, Peter
Knight.
“Eye-popping is what George
W. does,” said Knight, referring to
Republican rival George W. Bush’s
record-setting $52 million tally to
date.
As of June 30 and the last quar
terly FEC report, Gore had raised
$17.5 million to Bradley’s $11.7
million.
Bradley is Gore’s only chal
lenger for the Democratic presi
dential nomination.
Where once Gore shadow
boxed with Bush, the vice president
now aimed punches at Bradley and
the former New Jersey senator’s
campaign for “big ideas.”
America’s problems will not be
solved with “pie-in-the-sky
rhetoric that’s not matched with
practical, good, hard-nosed com
mon sense,” Gore told a
Washington luncheon of some
1,200 working women who con
tributed at least $125 apiece to
Gore’s campaign.
Gore’s schedule for the last two
weeks of September suggested
more of a frenzied dash. The vice
president had fund-raisers this
week in Boston, New York and
Washington. On Sunday, he mines
Connecticut and then trolls
Chicago and New York again next
week.
M
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THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Government sues
tobacco industry
■ Justice Department
wants manufacturers to
pay for healthcare.
WASHINGTON (AP) -The Justice
Department sued the tobacco industry
Wednesday to recover billions of dollars
taxpayers have spent on smoking-relat
ed health care, accusing cigarette-mak
ers of a “coordinated campaign of fraud
and deceit.”
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District
Court alleges the cigarette companies
conspired since the 1950s to defraud
and mislead the American public and to
conceal information about the effects of
smoking.
“Smoking is the nation’s largest pre
ventable cause of death and disease, and
American taxpayers should not have to
bear the responsibility for the stagger
ing costs,” Attorney General Janet Reno
said. “For more than 45 years, the ciga
rette companies conducted their busi
ness without regard to the truth, the law,
or the health of the American people.”
The suit names Philip Morris Inc.;
Philip Morris Companies; R.J.
Reynolds Tobacco Co.; American
Tobacco Co.; Brown & Williamson
Tobacco Co. Inc.; Liggett and Myers
Inc.; The Council for Tobacco Research
U.S.A. Inc.; and the Tobacco Institute
Inc.
In the complaint, the U.S. govern
ment alleges that “for the past 43 years,
the companies that manufacture and
sell tobacco have waged an intentional,
coordinated campaign of fraud and
deceit.” The long-anticipated lawsuit
alleges the companies engaged in a con
spiracy in violation of the federal law
against civil racketeering.
Reno announced the department is
formally closing, without charges, a
nearly 5-year-old criminal investigation
of whether tobacco companies lied to
Congress or regulatory agencies about
the addictive nature of tobacco.
“We are moving forward,” Reno,
joined by acting Assistant Attorney
General David Ogden, told a news con
ference today.
Reno said the aim of the lawsuit is to
“require the tobacco companies to
restore the funds that they acquired
through their unlawful conduct. ... I
pledge today that we will work tireless
ly to see that justice is done.”
Russians pay respects
to Raisa Gorbachev
MOSCOW (AP) - Several thou
sand Russians paid their last respects
Wednesday to Raisa Gorbachev - and
some also asked forgiveness for a nation
that reviled her while she lived for being
the antithesis of the typical Soviet
leader’s wife.
Raisa Gorbachev’s death Monday,
after a battle with acute leukemia, has
prompted an outpouring of veneration
from ordinary Russians.
“That’s a peculiarity of our nation -
they know how to bury, but they can’t
honor the living,” said one mourner,
Yelena Bondarenko.
A solemn procession for the wife of
former Soviet President Mikhail
Gorbachev lined up outside the Russian
Culture Fund, which she founded.
Mourners waited more than an hour to
lay flowers at the foot of her coffin,
which was heaped with blossoms.
The mourners were mostly women,
and mostly middle-aged or elderly -
about the same age as Raisa Gorbachev,
who died at 67. They also were mem
bers of a generation that had bitterly
resented her for being stylish, sophisti
cated and outspoken - unlike the wives
of previous Soviet leaders.
World leaders including President
Clinton, French President Jacques
Chirac and German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder sent condolences to
the Gorbachev family.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin and President Boris Yeltsin’s wife,
Naina, along with several other govern
ment and parliamentary leaders, came to
pay tribute at Raisa Gorbachev’s coffin.
■ London
Diana Ross arrested
after alleged assault
LONDON (AP) - Singer Diana
Ross was arrested Wednesday at
Heathrow Airport after allegedly
assaulting a security officer. She was
released in the afternoon, walking
out of the Heathrow police station
through a throng of reporters.
She was given a warning but not
charged with an offense, Scotland
Yard said.
Ross, 55, was detained after a
female security officer, who had
attempted to search the singer, com
plained of being assaulted. Ross was
at Heathrow to board a flight to the
United States, according to Press
Association, the British news
agency, and Air News, a news agency
based at Heathrow.
■ Massachusetts
Dole stresses restored
order in classrooms
MELROSE, Mass. (AP) -
Reminiscing about her student
teaching days while addressing harsh
concerns of today, Elizabeth Dole
said Wednesday that order must be
restored to classrooms - even if it
means parent-approved locker and
backpack searches and drug-testing
of students.
For drugs and weapons, I say:
there will be no place to hide,” Dole
said.
The Republican presidential can
didate detailed her education plat
form at Melrose High School outside
Boston where she was a student
teacher in the 1959-60 academic
year.
■Washington
FBI broadens investigation
of alleged espionage
WASHINGTON (AP) -The fed
eral investigation of alleged Chinese
espionage is being broadened fol
lowing criticism that for more than
three years it has focused too narrow
ly on the Los Alamos nuclear
weapons lab, a government official
said Wednesday.
The official emphasized that a
former Los Alamos computer scien
tist, fired in March for violating
security rules, remains a subject of
the FBI’s attention in the alleged
1980s theft of secrets about a sophis
ticated, miniaturized nuclear war
head called the W-88.
■Washington
Frank Gifford defends wife
on sweatshop allegations
WASHINGTON (AP) - Former
football star Frank Gifford defended
his wife, Kathie Lee Gifford, during
a heated Capitol Hill news confer
ence Wednesday where labor
activists said her clothing line is still
produced in foreign sweatshops.
Gifford told members of the
National Labor Committee that his
wife was working hard to improve
conditions at the factories and said he
was unhappy the group released its
findings before discussing them with
her.
Charles Kemaghan, head of the
National Labor Committee, said he
told Gifford he was sorry Mrs.
Gifford had become the brunt of talk
show jokes and other criticism. But
that discomfort cannot be likened to
the plight of the sweatshop workers
who earn as little as 50 cents an hour,
he said.
