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x . V : ■ ... -r ~ '•*’ i Israel-Svria short of agreement JERUSALEM (AP) - An official close to Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday promised jittery Palestinians that Israel will sign a framework agreement for a final peace treaty with them before con cluding talks with Syria. Israel’s chief negotiator offered Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat simi lar assurances, trying to assuage Palestinian concerns that Israel would favor talks with Syria, which started last month. The affirmations came as negoti ations between Barak and Syria’s for eign minister in a U.S.-mediated peace summit in Shepherdstown, W. Va., appeared to be drawing to a close without even a tentative agreement. Barak, describing the weeklong talks over territory, peace terms, water and security as con|plex and difficult, planned to return home today. Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa was likely to follow on Tuesday, diplomatic sources said. Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh told Ahmed Qureia, speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, that Israel will meet a Feb. 13 deadline for the broad outlines of a final treaty, according to Sneh’s spokesman, Hillel Sertouk. “The Israeli government doesn’t intend to neglect the Palejtinian track, and its intention is to sign a framework agieement before the end of the negotiations with the Syrians,” Sertouk said. The final peace accord, due by Sept. 13, is to resolve issues like bor ders, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees. Israel will also carry out a sched uled withdrawal from 6.1 percent of the West Bank by the Jan. 20 dead line, Sneh told Qureia. Sneh and a delegation of Israeli security officials visited the homes of Qureia and other top Palestinian offi cials on Sunday to congratulate them on the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting. Sneh offered Qureia a goodwill gesture, allowing 1,000 more Palestinians to enter Israel to work, said Shlomo Dror, a spokesman for the Israeli army’s coordinator of •• The Israeli government doesn’t intend to neglect the Palestinian track, and its intention is to sign a framework agreement before the end of the negotiations with the Syrians.” Hillel Sertouk Israeli spokesman activities in the territories. Israel will lower the eligibility age for Palestinian work permits from 23 to 21, and drop the requirement that applicants be married, Dror said. Israel had imposed the age restrictions for security reasons. Past suicide bombings have been carried out by young, single men. Some 60,000 Palestinians are cur rently allowed to enter Israel for work, Dror said. In another holiday call, Israeli negotiator Oded Eran visited Arafat in Gaza on Sunday and discussed their “joint desire to advance the peace process on the Palestinian track,” Barak spokeswoman Merav Parsi-Tsadok said. Parsi-Tsadok said that during the 40-minute meeting, Arafat expressed satisfaction with a weekend phone call from Barak offering similar assurances. Chechen rebels put up stiff opposition Russia avoids bombing central Grozny but continues attacks on capital MOZDOK, Russia (AP) - Russian helicopter gunships rocketed rebel positions in Chechnya’s capital on Sunday as heavy street fighting resumed after a brief lull during Orthodox Christmas. Russian troops were cotKinuing their push to take Grozny, the capital. But in yet another sign that Russia is still far from victory, rebel forces launched new attacks outside Grozny, assaulting federal troops in three towns and ambushing a Russian troop column. After steadily retreating over the last few months, the rebels have gone on the offensive in the past week in Grozny and other parts of the break away republic. • The Defense Ministry said its forces encountered stiff resistance from well-armed Chechen fighters in — Grozny but insisted the rebels were suffering high casualties. Helicopter gunships supported ground attacks by rocketing reb^l positions in the north western Staropromyslovsky district. The fighting came a day after a relatively quiet Saturday, when the holiday and heavy fog kept hostilities to a minimum. The military said Sunday that it was still refraining .from bombard ment of central Grozny, where many civilians are hiding - and where fed eral troops are trying to overrun rebel positions. But artillery continued to support ground units trying to advance deep into Grozny, and the ban on air bombardment did not appear to extend beyond the center of the city. Commanders announced a pause in bombing in Grozny’s center on Friday, saying it was meant to mark the Orthodox Christmas holiday and to allow the thousands of civilians trapped in Grozny to flee. Only about 400 people left the capital on Friday and Saturday, the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted the Ministry for Emergency Situations as saying. About 20,000 people are believed to still.be in the city, die min istry said. Acting Russian President Vladimir Putin ill allow interna tional aid into Chechnya to help civil ians weathering the conflict, Finland’s prime minister said Sunday. Russia’s drive to occupy Chechnya has stalled in the face of bitter rebel resistance in Grozny and the southern mountains. The top two Russian combat commanders were removed last week after repeated pie dictions that Grozny was about to fall did notprove accurate. As federal forces have intensified their assault on Grozny and the south ern mountains, the rebels have promised to wage a guerrilla war in areas already controlled by Russian troops. Over the past several days, they have launched several attacks around Gudermes, the largest Russian-con trolled city in Chechnya. Russia launched the ground offensive against Chechnya-based Islamic militants in September after weeks of airstrikes. The campaign began after militants invaded the neighboring republic of Dagestan. Russia also blamed them for a series of apartment bombings last year that killed about 3Q0 people in Russian cities. x WEATHER MBKEET _ Partly cloudy, Partly cloudy, high 49, low 30 high 49, low 20 _ _ . Fun£ - Questions? Comments? - tJSSSSSZ LT4Ef Ask (or the imnfhtovxton editor at Associate News Editor: Diane Broderick Opinion Editor: JJ. Harder or e-mail dn@unl.edu. Sports Editor: Sam McKewon A&E Editor: Sarah Baker General Manager: Daniel Shattil Copy Desk Co-Chief: Jen Walker Publications Board Jessica Hofmann, Copy Desk Co-Chief: Josh Krauter Chairwoman: (402) 477-0527 Photo Chief: Mike Warren Professional Adviser: Don Walton, Design Co-Chief: Diane Broderick (402)473-7248 Design Co-Chief: Tim Karstens Advertising Manager: Nick Partsch, Art Director: Melanie Falk (402)472-2589 Web Editor: Gregg Stearns Asst Ad Manager: Jamie Yeager Asst. Web Editor: Jewel Minarik Classified Ad Manager: Nichole Lake Fax number: (402) 472-1761 i World Wide Web: www.daHyneb.com The Daily Nebraskan (USPS144-080) is published by me UNL Publications Board, Nebraska Union 20,1400 R St, Lincoln, NE 68588-0448, Monday throu$i 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 caltinq (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 COPYRIGHT1999 THE DAILY NEBRASKAN , ‘Millionaire’game show craze may help ABC network ratings PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Let the sniping begin. A top NBC executive on Sunday compared ABC’s hit game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” to crack - for its euphoric yet ultimately corrosive effect on a network’s sched ule. Still, he admitted he watches “Millionaire” and enjoys it “Millionaire” returned Sunday for an eight-day run before settling down to air regularly, three nights a week. NBC, meanwhile, jumped into the quiz craze With its own premiere Sunday of the revived 1950s game show “21.” NBC Entertainment President Garth Ancier called “Millionaire” die most significant development in prime-time television in several years and said he knows how exciting the high ratings are for people at ABC. “It’s like crack,” Ancier said Sunday at a news conference with television writers. “Once you’re on it, it’s wonderful because you get these giant ratings. But nobody believes it’s going to weak forever.” Ancier and his colleague, NBC West Coast President Scott Sassa, both noted that ABC has set comedies and dramas aside to make room for “Millionaire.” In the long term, they believe ABC will pay for its preoccu pation with the game show. ' “When this thing ends, you’re going to have a heck of a lot of devel opment to do,” Sassa said. “That’s going to be a tough duty.” Ancier compared it to Fox and the attention that network gave to colorful reality shows over the past two years. Now the reality genre has cooled and Fox, which struck out with its new fall shows, is struggling. ABC is currently in third place in the ratings, following CBS and NBC. But with ABC airing the Super Bowl and Academy Awards, plus a steady diet of “Millionaire,” it has a shot at scoring-a lucrative upset win for the year. Veteran television executive Fred Silverman, who is producing “21” for NBC, said the success of “Millionaire” was the audience’s way of telling the people who run the net works they wanted something differ ent. “In die last five or 10 years, we’ve gone overboard with a diet of half hour comedies,” he said. —WORLD/NATION — ■ California Gasoline prices fall half-cent per gallon in past three weeks LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gasoline pump prices fell more than a half-cent per gallon in the past three weeks as crude oil prices dipped and Y2K panic failed to materialize, an industry analyst said Sunday. Prices nationwide fell .68 cents to a weighted average of $ 1.3344 per gallon on Friday, according to the Lundberg Survey of 10,000 stations. - The price was about 30 cents per gallon higher than the average for the same period last year. Some analysts believed gas prices might rise with the new year on the strength of hoarding by people nervous about Y2K, but that did not happen, Lundberg said. ■ Washington, D.C. Stamp prices may rise A in coming year WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — The Postal Service is getting ready to kick off the complex process of rais ing rates, a step that could mean higher stamp prices early next year. Major mailers have been on edge in recent months, anticipating the action many expect to be announced Tuesday at the monthly meeting of the Postal Service’s board of gover nors. N Postal officials were not dis cussing how much of an increase would be sought - or even if a request would be filed - stressing that the ‘ decision is up to the governing board. Two of the post office’s main ' competitors -Federal Express and United Parcel Service - recently announced rate increases to take effect in February, citing rising costs. ■ Washington Grandmother, 54, gives birth to healthy fraternal triplets YAKIMA, Wash. (AP)—Amelia Garcia was already a mother of eight and grandmother to more than a dozen when she was wheeled into the maternity ward Saturday. At one minute to 5 p.m., she gave birth to a baby girl. By 5:02, doctors were holding fraternal triplets. All three girls and their 54-year old mother were doing well Sunday and breathing without assistance, said Linda Kraft, a spokeswoman for Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital. It’s extremely rare for a woman in her 50s to bear triplets, especially without the aid of fertility drugs, said Tom Easterling, a maternal and fetal * medicine specialist at the University of Washington Medical Center. ■ England ERA to destroy weapons, make 'symbolic’ move toward peace LONDON (AP) — The Irish Republican Army has invited the head of a disarmament commission to watch it blow'tip weapons, a British newspaper said Sunday, reporting what would be the first practical move on the arms issue overshadowing peace in Northern Ireland. The Sunday Telegraph said IRA commanders have offered to destroy a small number of rifles and machine guns as a “symbolic gesture” this month. The IRA also offered to seal its remaining arsenal in underground bunkers in the Republic of Ireland, to be monitored by the Belfast-based commission, die paper reported.