New gest
Protesters boycott World Bank
WASHINGTON (AF) - World
Bank critics launched a global
campaign Monday to boycott the
institution’s bonds, hoping to
deliver a potent economic punch
to force changes in the bank’s
treatment of poor nations.
Boycott organizers announced
their plans just as environmental
demonstrators blocked a street
and triggered a confrontation with
police. Seven were arrested.
Protesters, believing the
World Bank imposes crushing
austerity demands on poor coun
tries, are building up to a massive
rally Sunday when world finance
ministers are to gather in down
town Washington for the World
Bank and International Monetary
Fund spring meetings.
Protesters believe that the
bank imposes a crushing debt on
poor nations, making it impossi
ble to spend money on social pro
grams. The Agencies' afgue that
belt-tightening programs are
needed to help stabilize their
U We are leading in many of the areas
people are complaining about, such as
the fight against poverty.”
economies.
President Clinton has favored
a plan to reduce the debt of poor
countries, but not eliminate it as
the demonstrators demand.
Officials in Washington, a city
where protests are routine, quick
ly took notice of the plans.
Senate Minority Leader
Thomas Daschle, D-S.D., gave
reporters the Senate’s schedule
for the week, provided “we can
get into work through the demon
strators.”
George Washington
University, located near the World
Bank and IMF headquarters,
decided to close from Friday
James Wolfensohn
World Bank president
through Tuesday morning because
of expected disruptions.
The anti-bank groups want to
convince labor unions, churches,
brokerage houses, commercial »
banks, universities, municipali
ties and average investors not to
buy the bank’s bonds, which now
enjoy the highest rating.
“We want to chip away at their
AAA rating,” said Dr. Kevin
Danaher, director of public edu
cation for Global Exchange, a San
Francisco human rights group. He
said that while some boycott
organizers want to reform the
bank, others want it abolished.
Added Pratap Chatterjee, an
environmental commissioner of
Berkeley, Calif.: “We want to
break the bank.”
The activists said they hoped
bond rating firms such as
Moody’s Investors Service Inc.
and Standard & Poor’s Corp.
would downgrade World Bank
bonds, meaning it would cost
more for the bank to borrow
money.
Some of the organizers said
they would target Citigroup’s
heavy purchase of the bonds.
World Bank President James
Wolfensohn called the bond boy
cott “a misguided effort aimed at
the wrong target.”
“Investors ... are unlikely to be
swayed by this campaign,”
Wolfensohn said Monday.
In a message to the World
Bank staff, he said they should be
proud of the work they do. “We
are leading in many of the areas
people are complaining about,
such as the fight against poverty,”
he said.
Washington Post wins
three Pulitzer Prizes
NEW YORK (AP) - The
Washington Post won three Pulitzer
Prizes on Monday - for public serv
ice, criticism and feature photogra
phy. In journalism’s highest awards,
The Wall Street Journal took two
honors and The Associated Press
won for investigative reporting.
The Wall Street Journal won for
national reporting on U.S. defense
spending and military deployment
in the post-Cold War era and for
commentary for Paul Gigot’s
columns on politics and govern
ment. 1
Denver’s two newspapers each
won a Pulitzer for their coverage of
the massacre at Columbine High
School. The staff of The Denver Post
won for breaking news reporting
and the Denver Rocky Mountain
News photo staff won the spot news
photography award.
The Associated Press was recog
nized for its series uncovering the
alleged mass killings of South
Korean civilians by American troops
at the start of the Korean War.
The AP’s account of U.S. sol
diers shooting hundreds of South
Korean civilians at No Gun Ri had
never been reported. It was written
by AP Special Correspondent
Charles J. Hanley and reporters
Martha Mendoza and Sang-hun
Choe and was published in
September. Researcher Randy
Herschaft contributed to the project.
“We are very grateful to the
Pulitzer board and jurors for recog
nizing the significance and the pro
fessionalism of our work. We’re
proud of the No Gun Ri reporting,”
the four said in a statement. “But our
celebration is tempered by the
nature of what we confirmed.
“In fact, we feel the greater trib
utes today belong to the U.S. Army
veterans, men of conscience, who
helped us, and most of all to the
Korean survivors who would not let
their quest for truth die.”
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I ■ t _
Barak, Clinton meet,
discuss Syria talks
■ After a report of no
progress, aides unsure if
peace talks will resume.
JERUSALEM (AP) - As Prime
Minister Ehud Barak headed to
Washington for talks with
President Clinton, his aides
expressed pessimism Monday over
resuming peace talks with Syria.
Clinton and Barak meet
Tuesday to discuss efforts to revive
Syrian talks as well as negotiations
between Israel and the Palestinians
that have reported no progress
ahead of a May deadline for a
framework peace deal.
Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat, who also has been called to
Washington for talks with Clinton
on April 20, urged international
intervention in the talks and
accused Barak of adopting an
“extremist” stance in negotiations.
Before leaving Monday, Barak
said he was ready to compromise.
“We are getting closer to the
decisive moments, and we will
know how to make the tough deci
sions that are necessary on the way
to peace,” he said.
Barak stopped briefly in Cairo,
Egypt, and discussed the Syrian
and Palestinian talks with Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr
Moussa said there was still hope
for the resumption of talks between
Israel and Syria, insisting, “The
Syrian track has not closed.”
However, Israeli Cabinet min
isters were pessimistic about talks
with Syria.
“I don’t see a breakthrough
happening on this trip,” said
Shlomo Ben-Ami, the public secu
rity minister.
Foreign Minister David Levy
warned Syria would get nothing if
it did not negotiate in good faith.
“If the Syrian view of peace is
to dictate to us, and to demand a
borderline set by force, then the
Golan will remain in the hands of
Israel,” Levy told an international
conference of mayors in
Jerusalem.
Talks between Israel and Syria
broke down in January and a
Geneva summit between Clinton
and Syrian President Hafez Assad
that was hoped would revive them
M If the Syrian
view of peace is
to dictate to us,
and to demand a
borderline set by
force, then the
Golan will
remain in the
hands of Israel.”
David Levy
Israeli Foreign Minister
ended with no progress.
Israel has indicated it would be
willing to withdraw from the Golan
Heights, the plateau it captured in
1967 but would not give in to
Syrian claims on part of the shore
line of the Sea of Galilee at the
base of the Golan. The lake is
Israel’s main source of drinking
water.
Concerning the Palestinians,
Barak told his Cabinet on Sunday
that he would hand two West Bank
suburbs bordering Jerusalem to
Palestinian control in the future
and that he would give the
Palestinian entity territorial conti
guity, a key prerequisite for state
hood...
On Monday, Arafat said Israeli
and Palestinian negotiators meet
ing in Washington had made no
progress.
Arafat said outside intervention
was needed.
“We insist on an active
American, European, Canadian
and Arab role in the negotiating
process,” Arafat said after a meet
ing in Gaza City with Canadian
Prime Minister Jean Chretien.
Arafat chose much harsher lan
guage in an interview with several
Egyptian newspapers.
“Barak does not respect his
word and has given in to the
extremists and the settlers and con
siders himself the leader of the
extremists,” Arafat said in the
interview after meeting Mubarak
on Sunday.
■ Indiana
Woman remains on jury
after drawing hangman
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - A juror
who suggested a game of “hang
man” during a death penalty case
will remain on the jury while it con
siders whether the defendant should
be executed, a judge ruled Monday.
Judge Patricia Gifford rejected a
request by defense attorneys to
remove the woman after she drew a
hangman gallows during a break.
The juror also drew a picture of an
electric chair, lawyers said.
Gifford questioned the unidenti
fied juror in her chambers and ruled
that she did not do anything to war
rant her removal.
Defense attorney Robert Hill
learned of the incident Saturday,
after the jury convicted Jeremy
Gross in the 1998 killing of an
Indianapolis convenience store
clerk.
■ England
Government proposes letting
pubs stay open 24 hours
LONDON (AP) - Hoping to cut
down on binge drinking and pub
brawls, the British government pro
posed a novel idea Monday: Allow
bars to stay open 24 hours a day.
Under the government propos
als, released as a discussion paper,
any pub, licensed cafe or restaurant
can apply to stay open for 24 hours,
seven days a week. The current clos
ing time is 11 p.m.
While some U.S. cities and
towns are moving toward earlier bar
closings to combat heavy drinking,
in Britain, the bureaucrats, police
and bartenders all believe that longer
hours will reduce binge drinking and
alcohol-related crime.
i
■ Washington
Study says airline consumer i
complaints have increased
WASHINGTON (AP) - The air-i
lines spent a lot of time last year
promising things would get betten
for their customers, but a new study;
suggests just the opposite occurred:j
Consumer complaints more thanj
doubled.
Consumer complaints were up
130 percent from 1998 to 1999, said
Dean Headley of Wichita State)
University. They rose from 1.08
complaints per 100,000 passengers
in 1998 to 2.48 per 100,000 last year.
The annual report, based on data
collected by the Department of
Transportation, scores the air carri
ers on on-time performance, bag
gage handling, consumer complaints
and denied boardings.
■ Bolivia
Economic problems lead
to deadly confrontations
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) - Five
people were killed and dozens
injured in confrontations across
Bolivia as thousands of people
protested against rising water rates,
unemployment and other economic
problems.
In Achacachi, 80 miles north of
the capital La Paz, farmers blocked
roads and threw rocks at soldiers,
who responded with rubber bullets
and tear gas. Hundreds of the pro
testers then stormed government
offices, destroying furniture and
documents and setting fires.
Army units also fought with
Aymaran Indian farmers who
formed road blocks in Batallas,
another Andean town located 45
miles north of La Paz.
Three soldiers and two farmers
were killed and dozens injured in the
confrontations Sunday.