The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, February 18, 2000, Page 2, Image 2
U.S. Israeli support BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Police fired tear gas at 2,000 students demonstrating out side the U.S. Embassy on Thursday to protest what they perceived as U.S. support for last week’s Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon. At least three students fainted from the gas, witnesses said. The university students staged a similar protest that spread to the streets Wednesday at the American University of Beirut campus. There, they called for the expulsion of the U.S. ambas sador. Lebanese troops and police had surrounded the fortified U.S. Embassy compound in Aukar, a Christian suburb north of Beirut. They tried to disperse the demonstrators, who chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” The students hurled rocks and tomatoes at the troops and police, witnesses said. No injuries were reported among police or troops. Earlier this month, Israeli warplanes destroyed three power stations and a Hezbollah base in Lebanon, wounding at least 15 civilians. The airstrikes retaliated for a series of deadly guerrilla operations against Israeli occupation forces in southern Lebanon. The Hezbollah attacks have killed seven Israeli troops in recent weeks. Prime Minister Salim Hoss criticized Israel’s decision to appoint a three-person Cabinet committee with the power to order immediate retaliatory strikes on Lebanon. He said formation of the committee “demonstrates the unlimited arrogance of Israel’s power.” He urged the United States and France to condemn the move. Hoss also contacted the foreign ministers of Syria, Egypt, Kuwait and Jordan, as well as Arab League Secretary General Esmat Abdel-Meguid, urging action against Israel. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah group is leading a guerrilla war to oust Israeli troops from the southern Lebanon zone that Israel set up in 1985 as a buffer against cross-border attacks. Hoss’ comments came amid mounting anger in Lebanon over the American stance during the latest flare up, perceived to be supportive of Israel. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has accused Hezbollah of being enemies of peace. U.S. Ambassador David Satterfield, meanwhile, said his country was trying to secure a meeting of an interna tional committee that monitors compliance with a 1996 under standing to spare civilians from the conflict. Israel walked out of a meeting last week when guerrillas killed an Israeli soldier in south Lebanon. The Israeli airstrikes have provoked anger across the Arab world. Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said Thursday that Egypt will not accept the continuation of Israel’s “aggression on Lebanese civil ians and civilian installations,” according to Egypt’s Middle East News Agency. In protest of the airstrikes, Egyptian Parliament Speaker Ahmed Fathi Sorour canceled a meeting scheduled for March 5 that was to be attended by heads of parliaments of Israel, Jordan and Italy In Kuwait, children bran dishing toy machine guns joined flag-waving adults today in front of the Lebanese Embassy in a show of support for Hezbollah. Groups: Chechens tortured MALGOBEK, Russia (AP) - Chechens trying to leave their war ravaged republic are being tortured in Russian detention camps and subject ed to severe beatings, rapes and other brutality, refugees and human rights groups say. The allegations come on the heels of other complaints of human rights abuses in the Russian offensive in Chechnya, including reports of sum mary executions of civilians in Grozny, the Chechen capital. Russian officials deny the allega tions, but Chechens who have fled into neighboring republics tell similar, grisly accounts of their detention in _ camps that Russia says it set up to fil ter out rebels who are trying to escape disguised as civilians. A 21 -year-old Chechen, lying in pain in a bed in Malgobek in neigh boring North Ossetia, said his ordeal began Jan. 22 when police dragged him off a bus of refugees and took him to a camp in the Chechen village of Chemokozovo. The man, who asked that he be identified only by his first name, Ruslan, said he was forced to run a gantlet of masked policemen swing ing truncheons, had his clothes torn off and was forced to stand naked in a cold storage room. “I asked what they were detaining me for, but they didn’t answer,” he said. He was released only after his mother paid a bribe to the camp direc tors, he said. At least three such camps are oper ating, according to Peter Bouckaert, a researcher for the Human Rights Watch group in the region. “Russia appears to have declared any Chechen male to be a suspected rebel, subject to arbitrary arrest and Tamps Hill/Npwsmakprs A CHECHEN WOMAN returns to Grozny on Monday after fighting in the city ended. She carries with her the only possessions she salvaged from her apartment: a carpet and a portrait of her father. brutal treatment,” he said. The allegations were echoed by the World Organization Against Torture, which issued a statement in Geneva on Thursday saying: “We can not ignore that the filtration camps are indeed concentration camps where Russian soldiers are committing the worst atrocities, in all impijnity, against their prisoners.” In Washington, State Department spokesman James R Rubin said Thursday that “Russia has a clear obligation to investigate the numerous credible reports of civilian killings and alleged misconduct by its soldiers promptly.” Sergei Yastrzhembsky, who is act ing President Vladimir Putin’s aide for Chechnya information, on Thursday reiterated denials of torture at * * f c~ ^ *****m i f** rvyhAs HhK ——n Snow showers Partly cloudy high 34, low 20 high 45, low 18 Chemokozovo. The allegations are “the number one topic in the information war the Western mass media have unleashed,” he said on Russia’s ORT television. “Routine work like in any other deten tion center is going on there.” He said that European Union observers would be allowed into the camp to see the situation for them selves but gave no date of a possible visit. The Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner, Alvaro Gil Robles, is due to arrive in Moscow on Feb. 24, but his office could give no details of the trip. Ruslan, the refugee, told of a rou tine of torment, in which detainees were often beaten in a hallway in the early morning, their cries awakening others in their cells. Ruslan said guards hit him in the spine with a hammer. He says he has not been able to stand erect since. An investigator accused him of fighting on the side of the Islamic rebel groups that have battled Russian soldiers during the six-month war and demanded names and addresses of rebels, Ruslan said. Nel3raskan Questions? Comments? Ask for the appropriate section editor at (402) 472-2588 or e-mail dnOunl.edu. Fax. (CMfetionsftwJ, during the academic year; weekly' di _rd. and comments to the Daily Nebraskan pr one year. MebrasRan, Nebraska Union 20,1400 I postage paid atuncoln, NE. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 2000 THE DAILY NEBRASKAN Editor: Josh Funk Managing Editor: Lindsay Young Associate News Editor: Diane Broderick Associate News Editor: Dane Stickney Opinion Editor: JJ. Harder Sports Editor: Sam McKewon A&E Editor: Sarah Baker Copy Desk Co-Chief: Jen Walker Copy Desk Co-Chief: Josh Krauter Photo Chief: Mike Warren Design Co-Chief: Tim Karstens Design Co-Chief: Diane Broderick Art Director: Melanie Falk Web Editor: Gregg Steams Asst. Web Editor: Jewel Mlnarik General Manager: Daniel Shattil Publications Board Jessica Hofmann, Chairwoman: (402) 477-0527 Professional Adviser: Don Walton, (402) 473-7248 Advertising Manager: Nick Partsch, (402)472-2589 AssL Ad Manager: Jamie Yeager Classified Ad Manager: Nichole Lake Plane crashes in junkyard RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. (AP) - Moments before his DC-8 cargo plane crashed into an auction yard of junked cars, the pilot reported problems with the balance of the aircraft, investigators said Thursday. Emery Worldwide Flight 17 plunged into the yard Wednesday night, killing its three crew mem bers and setting dozens of cars ablaze. • The pilot described a “center of gravity” problem shortly after leaving Mather Field in suburban Sacramento, investigators said. That could mean, among other possible causes, a shift in load, incorrect cargo weight or mechani cal problems, Preston Hicks of the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday. Investigators were trying to locate the plane’s flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder in the smoking wreckage, Hicks said. nit jJiaut, cat lying a iuau ui transmission fluid, clothing and a small packet of detonators for auto air bags, was at 800 feet when it tried to return for an emergency landing. It crashed in a fireball about a mile east of the field short ly before 8 p.m. One witness said the plane hit the ground belly first and was immediately engulfed in flames. Those aboard were dead by the time fire crews arrived at the site, said Capt. Dan Haverty of the American River Fire Department. Firefighters were hampered by intense flames, which burned for several hours after the crash. Smoke was visible in the moonlit night several miles away. “There was no chance of res cue,” Haverty said. The victims were identified as Capt. Kevin Stables, 43, of Berlin, N. Y., who had been with Emery for five years; First Officer George Land, 35, of Placerville, Calif., three years; and Second Officer Russell Hicks, 38, Sparks, Nev., 1 Zi years. Company spokesman James Allen Said the crash was the first fatal accident in the company’s 50 year history. Nobody on the ground was injured. x The crash at the Insurance Auto Auctions salvage yard set as many as 200 cars on fire, many with gas . in their tanks, causing several explosions. ■ Washington, D.C. Pentagon rejects call to halt anthrax vaccine WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon on Thursday rejected a House panel’s call to halt troop inoculations against anthrax, insisting that the vaccine is safe and that the threat of biological warfare is real. A spokeswoman said the Defense Department intends to continue toward its goal of immu nizing all 2.4 million members of the active and reserve military against anthrax, which is a natural ly occurring bacteria that, when inhaled, can cause death within a few days. In a report released Thursday, the House Government Reform national security subcommittee said the anthrax vaccine does pro vide a degree of protection to those who receive it. ■ Washington, D.C. Fed may continue raising interest rates WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan called the economy’s record-breaking performance the best in a half century, but he warned Thursday that inflation remains a threat to the economic good times that many Americans are enjoying. Wall Street viewed Greenspan’s remarks to the House Banking Committee as confirma tion that the Fed will continue to rachet up interest rates this year until the economy slows to a more sustainable pace. ■ France Prime minister promises aid to fishing industries PARIS (AP) — In a country where gourmet food is a way of life, many diners have slashed oys ters from their menus after fierce storms and a Dec. 12 oil spill dealt a double blow to the Atlantic shell fish industry. Shellfish farmers highlighted their plight at a Paris news confer ence Thursday, seeking more pub lic funding to cushion die financial blow in the hardest-hit areas. Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin already has pledged $45 million to help the fishing and shellfish industries recover from the storms and the spill. On Dec. 12, a Maltese-regis tered tanker, the Erika, split in two and sank, spilling 3 million gallons of oil into the sea. Later that month, fierce galjes battered shell fish farms along the coast. ■ Romania EU questions cyanide conta mination in Romania BAIA MARE, Romania (AP) - The European Union’s top envi ronmental official demanded to know Thursday how tons of cyanide contaminated two major rivers, killing masses of plant and fish life in its path. The cyanide poured into streams from a containment dam at the gold mine in Baia Mare, passing through Hungary and Yugoslavia in the Szamos and Tisza rivers before returning to Romania on the Danube. EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstroem called the spill a “major environ mental accident, and to the people living by the rivers, this is a cata strophe.”