■ Northern Ireland
New Northern Ireland
government created
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP)
- On a day many thought would never
come, Protestant and Catholic adver
saries on Monday formed an extraor
dinary Northern Ireland government
that attempts to bring together every
branch of opinion within this bitterly
divided society.
The unprecedented four-party
administration - due to receive pow
ers Thursday from the British govern
ment - includes Catholics who long
vowed'never to accept Northern
, Ireland’s right to exist, and
Protestants just as unwilling to accept
Catholics as political equals
" Triggering an exercise envisioned
in the Good Friday peace accord but
delayed for more than a year, the four
biggest parties within Northern
Ireland’s legislature took turns
unveiling their choices for a 12-mem
ber Cabinet, an exercise akin to a pro
sports draft pick.
■ Seattle
World Trade Organization
talks slowed by bomb scare
SEATTLE (AP) - The World
Trade Organization stumbled at the
starting gate of its week of global
talks Monday when authorities were
forced to delay opening activities
four hours for a bomb search.
And while the Clinton adminis
tration hopes the WTO sessions will
showcase the benefits of free trade,
demonstrators tried to use the meet
r.; ’ • ;T. • X
ing to highlight a long list of griev
ances against the 135-nation organi
zation that sets the rules for world
trade.
Critics contend the Geneva-based
WTO puts trade promotion goals
above other legitimate interests such
as human and worker rights and envi
ronmental protection.
■ Washington
Pollsters: Many unaware
retirement age rising
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
Social Security retirement age is
going up - from 65 to 67 - and
Americans will begin to feel the
effects next year.
The changes have been in the
works for 16 years, but pollsters say
most people have no idea they’re
imminent.
- Now 65, the normal Social
Security eligibility age eventually
will reach 67 for those bom in 1960
or later. Also, taking early retirement
at age 62 is becoming less of a good
deal.
The changes initially affect peo
ple bom in 1938, who will turn 62 in
2000 and become eligible for Social
Security’s early retirement option.
Those people can still choose to
collect reduced Social Security bene
fits next year.
If they do, however, their early
retirement benefits will be slightly
less than in the past.
■Russia
Officials urge civilians
to leave Chechen capital
GROZNY, Russia (AP) - Russian
officials on Monday urged civilians
hiding in basements beneath ruined
homes in Grozny to flee the Chechen
capital - a risky endeavor with
Russian rockets screaming relent
lessly into the city. *
Federal forces showed no signs of
easing up raids on the breakaway
republic of Chechnya even as a top
international mediator held talks in
Moscow to arrange a visit to the
republic.
The Kremlin has dismissed inter
national criticism of its campaign in
Chechnya as meddling in Russia’s
internal affairs.
The Russians have intensified
their bombardment of Grozny in the
past week, leaving hundreds dead or
wounded and destroying scores of
buildings and homes.
Russian officials estimate 50,000
civilians remain in the city, many of
whom are old, infirm or lack trans
portation to leave.
■Washington
Clinton signs $390 billion
spending plan
WASHINGTON (AP) - President
Clinton, after a year of quarreling
with Congress, got the last word on
the budget Monday as he signed a
mammoth $390 billion spending
plan.
He said it represents progress but
“leaves some challenges unmet.”
The measure earmarked $1.3 bil
lion for a seven-year plan to hire
100,000 teachers to reduce class size
in early grades.
It also included $595 million for
the first installment of a program to
hire 50,000 community police by
2005. Further, it provided $926 mil
lion for unpaid U.N. dues and $1.8
billion to implement the Middle East
peace accord reached at Wye River,
Md.
But the year ended with a long list
of disappointments for Clinton. He
failed to win any increase in the min
imum wage, was denied an increase
in cigarette taxes and lost battles for
tougher gun controls and stronger
rights for patients in managed care
programs.
Congress also rejected his pro
posals to extend the solvency of
Social Security or Medicare pro
grams or to add a prescription drug
benefit to Medicare.
■ Colorado
Picasso etchings, tile
missing from restaurant
EDWARDS, Colo. (AP) - The
Picasso restaurant is missing three
artworks by its namesake.
Three original Pablo Picasso
works valued at $41,500 were stolen
from the Picasso restaurant at the
Cordillera Resort & Spa on Saturday
afternoon, Eagle County Sheriff’s
Investigator Doug Winters said. The
resort is about 10 miles west of Vail in
central Colorado.
As of late Monday, there were no
suspects in the theft of the two etch
ings and a tile, which were taken from
the walls of the restaurant. The sher
iff’s office said the restaurant was
open but had no customers at the time
of the theft.
The tile is a 1968 self portrait
titled “Visage d’hote.”
Both etchings were done in 1933.
They are titled “Dues Models Vetus
Plate 42 from the Vollard Suite” and
“Le Pepos de Sculpteur devant une
Breehanale au Tyaureau Plate 56
from the Vollard Suite,” the sheriff’s
office said.
Radio host
suspended
for Jackson
comments
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - A radio
talk show host began a weeklong sus
pension Monday for telling his listen
ers the Rev. Jesse Jackson wanted to
get assassinated.
“There is a limit to what we will
allow on the public airwaves,” said
Andy Stuart, vice president and mar
ket manager for Clear Channel
Communications Inc., which sus
pended WSPD-AM radio host Scott
Sloan without pay.
Sloan’s number was unlisted, and
he could not be reached to comment.
During his three-hour show on
Nov. 17, Sloan said Jackson inter
vened in a Decatur, 111., dispute to be
a martyr like the Rev. Martin Luther
King Jr., who died April 4,1968, after
he was shot while standing on the bal
cony of the Lorraine Motel in
Memphis, Tenn.
Man gets sentence for killing
_*5 ; -*5T ~2f" ^ jT" * ;- r ” * 5 i t ,
By Jake Bleed
Senior staff writer
A Lancaster County District Court
judge sentenced Kenneth Choma to 15
to 20 years in prison on Monday for the
April 8 shooting death of a 42-year-old
Lincoln man. v
-! Choma, 21, shot David Higgins in
the stomach while the two wrestled
over a pistol in front of Choma’s home,
i Higgins was hospitalized in critical
- condition but died three days later.
The shooting came after Choma
threatened his girlfriend's mother, who
lived with Higgins, with a gun. .
; Chema pleaded no contest to a
manslaughter charge Oct 21. In
return, die state dropped the charges of
third-dfegree assault, two counts of
making terroristic threats~and two
counts of use of a firearm to commit a
felony.
Choma’s attorney, Robert Hays,
asked Judge Karen Flowers on Friday
to place the 21-year-old on intensive
supervised probation, the most struc
i tured form of probation available.
m—n-—
When I look at it, Mr. Choma, I am struck by
- the fact that not only did you invite the
altercation, but you brought a gun to it.”
Karen Flowers
judge
“This is not a case where Mr.
Choma actually shot Mr. Higgins but
was the resultof a struggle,” Hays said.
“He is a person who has the potential
to succeed and lead a law-abiding life.”
Hays also said Choma had previ
ously been convicted of disturbing die
peace and driving while intoxicated.
' - Deputy County Attorney Jeff
Mathers responded to Hays’ argu
ments by saying Choma showed no
remorse for killing Higgins and that
the 21-year-old should go to prison for
the crime.
“Your honor,” Mathers told
Flowers, “this is not an appropriate
case for probation; it is an appropriate
case for a prison sentence.”
When asked if he had anything to
say, Choma simply said he was sorry
for the shooting.
Before handing down the sentence,
Flowers told Choma that, because he
expected Higgins to come to his home
and had a guir with him at the time, the
crime was premeditated and therefore
first-degree murder.
“When I look at it, Mr. Choma, I
am struck by the fact that not only did
you invite the altercation, but you
brought a gun to it,” Flowers said.
Flowers then sentenced Choma for
the crime, adding that parole was pos
sible after IV2 years.
Debate nses from NU cell research
FETUS from page 1
“It’s very disturbing to think that
people are harvesting organs of
unborn children for medical
research,” he said. “We’ve wondered
aloud if this were going on in
Nebraska, and it deeply troubles us
to know that it is.”
Chris Funk, executive director of
Planned Parenthood of Lincoln and
pro-abortion rights supporter, said
her organization approves of die uni
versity’s actions. ~ —
“We support the right of women
to donate fetal tissue, and we support
medical research to help fight debili
tating diseases,” she said. “As long as
the tissue is not sold, there is no
incentive to have abortions. It's just
like any other organ donation.”
Parsons said the research could
fuel incentive for doctors to create a
black market for fetal tissue.
“It would not surprise me at all if
someone who aborts babies for a liv
ing would try to sell baby parts,” he
said.
“Some organizations have been
known to lease office space or pro
vide overhead payments in return for
fetal tissue.”
Funk said Parson’s comments
were, frivolous.
“People are getting the impres
sion that fetal tissue is being sold,
and it is not,” she said. “We’re totally
against the sale of human body parts
for any reason.
“Women must present informa
tion and written consent to donate
tissue. It’s completely up to the
woman.”
Funk said she was appalled that
radical anti-abortion rights activists
were using the research issue as a
means for further debates on abor
tion.
“It is really outrageous that anti
abortion extremists are trying to
intertwine abortion with medical
research,” she said. “It’s outrageous
that they look.for any place to make a
scene. This is a scene that doesn’t
need to be a platform for them to
stomp around on.”
Parsons said the research issue is
more than another abortion debate -
it is a public policy question that
must be answered.
“Science is encouraging abor
tions,” he said. “Anyone who has any
sense of what is right or wrong
'should see that this is something that
our culture shouldn’t be doing.
“Where will we draw the line?”
you have no
idea how deep
the conspiracy
goes.
find out on
> \
dailyneb.com
826PS*r—t « (801) *77-2277 j
