Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 1999)
% Wednesday, October 6,1999 _____ Page 2 Trains collide in London ■ At least 26 passengers have died; search of wreckage continues today. LONDON (AP) - Two London commuter trains smashed into each other during rush hour Tuesday, killing 26 passengers and injuring 160 on the same rail line as another fatal crash two years ago. Ambulance and fire crews, police and rail workers swarmed around the overturned, mangled rail cars for hours, locating and freeing injured sur vivors in the wreckage near the Ladbroke Grove residential area in west London. Many passengers sobbed as they described frantically crawling out bro ken windows after Britain’s worst train accident in more than a decade. “I was thinking, ‘God, please don’t let me die,”’ Stuart Allen said. “You’ve got flames. You’ve got smoke. You’ve got a big bang. You’ve just got to think the worst.” Police said one badly damaged car could contain more bodies but called off the search until daylight today. The cause of the collision was not immediately known, but health and safety officials began an investigation. Great Western, one of the train companies involved in Tuesday’s dis aster, had been fined $2.47 million for “dereliction of duty” in connection with the crash in 1997 that killed seven people and injured 150 others. “I felt an almighty bang,” passen ger David Taylor said of Tuesday’s crash, which occurred at 8:11 a.m. “I looked up, and I could see the front of the coach was on fire. There were balls of flames coming down both sides.” Emergency crews said 18 people were seriously injured and 124 trans ported to area hospitals. “The injuries are among the worst I have seen in my professional career,” said Robin Touquet, an accident and emergency consultant at St. Mary’s Hospital. Others were haunted by the cries of those trapped in the wreckage. “I could see people with blood pouring down their faces,” said Joe Bannerman, who was working nearby. « I could see people with blood pouring down their faces.” Joe Bannerman London worker “Someone was running with their clothes on fire. I could see lots of peo ple were burned badly on their faces and hands.” Authorities could not immediately determine the total number of passen gers aboard the trains. Great Western said as many as 500 people might have been on board its train. Thames Trains’ cars may have carried 150 passengers. While safety officials were cau tious about speculating the cause of the collision, many said it was possible that the investigation would study the 1997 Southall crash in its search for answers. The immediate cause of the Southall accident was that the driver had bent down to pack a bag and went through two amber warning lights and a red signal. But an inquiry said a con tributing factor was that two automatic safety devices were not fully operative as the train traveled at speeds of up to 125 mph. Great Western pleaded guilty to the charge that it exposed passengers to risks to their safety in that crash. “To have two very serious fatal accidents is a great tragedy and obvi ously a great disappointment,” said Victor Coleman, Britain’s chief inspec tor of railways. “What we need to do is to learn the lesson and prevent this sort of thing from happening again.” Tuesday’s accident was Britain’s , worst rail crash since December 1988, when three trains collided outside London’s Clapham Junction, killing 35 people. Stocks fluctuate after rate decision ■ Interest rates were left - alone for now, but the central bank warns increase could be pending. WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged Tuesday, passing up a chance to boost rates a third time since June. But the central bank warned that further increases could still be needed to cool the booming economy and keep inflation under control. The Fed’s warning sent stock prices on a wild roller-coaster ride dur ing the final two hours of trading, swinging from a gain of 106 points to a 124-point loss. The Dow then rebounded to finish down by 0.64 point at 10,400.59. Interest rate jitters also pounded the bond market, where a sharp drop in demand pushed the yield on 30-year Treasury bonds up to 6.17 percent, the highest level since early August Stocks had posted a 128-point gain on Monday in hopes that the Fed would not raise rates and would also keep its policy directive, meant to sig nal possible foture moves, at neutral. The Fed raised its target for the fed eral funds rate, for the first time June 30, then followed that action with another quarter-point raise on Aug. 24, pushing the funds rate to 5.25 percent. Commercial banks matched those increases with similar quarter-point increases in their prime lending rate, the benchmark for millions of con sumer and business loans. The prime rate now stands at 8.25 percent. After the August increase, the Fed left its policy directive at neutral, say ing it believed its two quarter-point rate hikes “should markedly diminish the risk of rising inflation going forward.” However, since that time, various economic statistics have shown that the economy has continued to grow strongly, powered by strong consumer spending and the lowest unemploy ment rate in almost three decades. In its statement, the Fed said “the growth of demand has continued to outpace that of supply, evidenced by a decreasing pool of available workers. Editor: Managing Editor: Associate News Editor: Associate News Editor: Opinion Editor: Sports Editor: A&E Editor: Copy Desk Chief: Photo Chief: Design Chief: Art Director: Web Editor: Asst Web Editor: Josh Funk Sarah Baker Lindsay Young Jessica Fargen MarkBaldridge Dave Wilson Liza Holtmeier Diane Broderick Matt Miller Melanie Falk Matt Haney Gregg Steams Jennifer Walker Questions? Comments? Ask for the appropriate section editor at (402)472-2588 or e-mail dn@unl.edu. General Manager: Publications Board Chairwoman: Professional Adviser: Advertising Manager: Asst Ad Manager: Classified Ad Manager: Daniel Shattil Jessica Hofmann, (402)477-0527 Don Walton, (402)473-7248 Nick Partsch, (402)472-2589 Jamie Yeager Mary Johnson Fax number: (402) 472-1761 World Wide Web: www.dailyneb.com The Daily Nebraskan (USPS144-080) is published by the UNL Publications Board, Nebraska Union 20,1400 R St., Lincoln, NE 68588-0448, Monday through Friday during the academic year; weekly during the summer sessions.The public has access to the Publications Board. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by calling (402)472-2588. Subscriptions are $60 for one year. Postmaster: Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 20,1400 R St., Lincoln NE 68588-0448. Periodical postage paid at Lincoln, NE. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1999 THE DAILY NEBRASKAN Clinton says nuclear test ban fight still on ■ Senate’s top Democrat says that the support isn’t there to ratify the measure. WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate’s top Democrat on foreign affairs issues told President Clinton Tuesday the votes aren’t there to ratify an international ban on nuclear test ing. The immediate White House reac tion was that Clinton would continue to fight. “The vote’s still scheduled for Tuesday, and the president is going to continue to make the case,” National Security Council spokesman David Leavy said. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., said that while all 45 Senate Democrats are prepared to support the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty next Tuesday when a vote is scheduled, any Republican support that might have existed appears to be disappearing. “Republicans have evaporated into the ether” on the treaty, he said. At least 22 Republican senators would have to join the 45 Democrats for the pact to be ratified. Biden said his instinct was that Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R Miss., would withdraw the treaty from the Senate calendar. Lott said he would consider that. “If they would indicate some will ingness to let the next administration and the next Congress consider this and vote on it, we’d entertain that,” Lott told reporters. On Tuesday, the Senate is sched uled to vote on the treaty, a troubled Clinton administration initiative signed by 154 nations but ratified by only two of the seven acknowledged nuclear powers, Britain and France. The Senate Armed Services Committee opened three days of hear ings Tuesday on the treaty. The first session, a closed one, explored a cen tral question: Can the United States maintain the integrity of its nuclear arsenal without occasional testing? “If there were some feeling of weakness about that stockpile, it could induce a leader of another nation or some terrorist to challenge the United States,” said the committee chairman, Sen. John Warner, R-Va. Senate critics say the treaty, which would ban all nuclear testing and set up a seismic monitoring network to gauge compliance, is seriously flawed - and unverifiable because there are ways to muffle atomic blasts. They contend it would not prevent U.S. ene mies or terrorist elements from devel oping nuclear weapons. Russian forces advance GROZNY, Russia (AP) - The dis tant echo of crashing artillery rounds signaled the approach of the Russian military Tuesday - now only 15 miles outside Chechnya’s gloomy capital. Russian forces have seized the northern third of Chechnya, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in Moscow. Russian troops battled Chechen forces near Chervlyonnaya, on the Terek River 15 miles northeast of Grozny, the Chechen capital. The Interfax news agency said the Russians had taken the bridge across the river, though the report could not be confirmed. The sound of the Russian artillery could be heard in Grozny. Russia took military action after Muslim militants based in Chechnya invaded neighboring Dagestan in August and September, seeking to cre ate an Islamic state in southern Russia. The mood in Grozny was bleak. Markets were open and food was dis played in the stalls, but business was poor. Gas, water and telephone services have been cut, and there is electricity for only a few hours a day. Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov on Tuesday night declared martial law, Interfax reported. Many Chechen civilians are critical of both the Russian government and their own leaders, saying there was no need for a new war. Most denounced the Chechen warlords who helped trigger the fighting by raiding Dagestan. ■ New York Regulators question benefits of buyout NEW YORK (AP) - MCI WorldCom Inc.’s bold $115 bil lion plan to take over Sprint Corp. and unite the nation’s second- and third-largest long-distance com panies met immediate resistance from a top federal regulator who asked “How can this be good for consumers?” MCI WorldCom and Sprint, however, insist their deal, the rich est corporate buyout ever, would strengthen competition across the board. WorldCom, as the combined company will be known, could offer customers local and long distance service, as well as mobile phone, paging and Internet prod ucts, all for one, flat-rate monthly fee. Regulators, however, point to WorldCom’s control of 36 percent of the $110 billion U.S. long-dis tance market, second only to AT&T Corp.’s 43 percent. ■South Korea Leak exposes 22 workers to radioactive water SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -Radioactive water leaked inside a South Korean nuclear power plant during repair work, expos ing 22 workers to small amounts of radiation, the government said Tuesday. About 12 gallons of so-called “heavy water” was leaked during the accident Monday evening at a nuclear plant in Wolsung, 190 miles southeast of the capital Seoul, the Science and Technology Ministry said in a statement. It said the radioactive water was contained inside the plant and did not escape into the environ ment. The mishap followed neigh boring Japan’s worst nuclear acci dent, in which at least 49 people were exposed to radiation last week. The town or Tokaimura was temporarily closed down amid heightened fears about the safety of Japan’s nuclear plants. ■ NewYoric College tuition rise is smallest in four years NEW YORK (AP) - College tuition and fees rose an average of less than 5 percent this year - the smallest increase in four years - thanks in part to the booming economy. But the increase was still more than twice the rate of inflation. The average tuition at a four year private college in 1999-2000 is $15,380, a 4.6 percent increase over last year, according to a sur vey released Tuesday by The College Board. That doesn’t include the aver age room-and-board cost of $5,959, up 3.6 percent from last year. In-state tuition at public four year schools averages $3,356, a 3.4 percent increase, while out-of state tuition is $8,706, a rise of 3 percent. Room and board at those schools average $4,730, a 4.6 per cent rise.