News Digest
Page2 Daily Nebraskan Thursday, August 31,2000___
Suit to be filed in death of Princess Di
THE AsanruTEn press
WASHINGTON - The father
of Dodi Fayed said Wednesday
he will file suit in federal court
to gain access to U.S. intelli
gence information about the
deaths of Princess Diana and
his son in a Paris automobile
accident.
A1 Fayed, who owns Harrods
department store in London,
repeated his claim that the Aug.
31,1997, deaths were a murder
conspiracy plotted by people
who disapproved of Diana’s
relationship with his son.
He said he was seeking doc
uments from the CIA, the
Justice Department and the
National Security Agency,
which he said monitored
Diana’s telephone conversa
tions.
“The United States’ intelli
gence gathering network, which
through the most sophisticated
-TK*» AoervniataH Pmu
I ne assoc i area rress
I San Francisco
Judge may order read
otz million roraveniaes
SAN FRANCISCO - A judge
said he may order a recall of as
many as 2 million Ford Motor Ca
vehicles over concerns that they
are prone to stalling, and accused
the company of deceiving federal
safety investigators and con
sumers.
Ford denied the allegations.
The lawsuit was filed in the
Alameda County Superior Court
and die judge’s preliminary deci
sion was issued late Hiesday
The lawsuit was filed in 1996
on behalf of 3.5 million current
and forma California owners of
Ford vehicles in model years
1983-95. They say the vehicles
stall because an ignition device
was mounted in the wrong place.
Ford denies any ignition
defects.
satellite systems, allowed the
NSA to spy on Diana,” A1 Fayed
said. He charged that the
agency gave files on the moni
tored conversations to British
intelligence and still has over a
thousand pages of documents
concerning the crash.
Neither Justice Department
spokesman Charles Miller nor
NSA spokeswoman Judi Emmel
would comment, citing the
pending litigation.
NSA officials acknowledged
in 1998 that the agency had
picked up mentions of Diana in
its international electronic
monitoring, but said those ref
erences were casual and inci
dental, and she was never a tar
get of U.S. intelligence efforts.
In April, an appeals court
rejected A1 Fayed's request for
the information, upholding the
decision of a lower court judge
who said A1 Fayed had tried "to
make an end run around" the
Freedom of Information Act.
A1 Fayed’s lawyer, Mark Zaid,
said the new Freedom of
Information Act lawsuit would
be filed in U.S. District Court in
Washington today, the third
anniversary of the crash. The
lawsuit seeks information about
more than 20 individuals and
events related to the deaths, he
said.
The lawsuit also seeks CIA
and Justice Department docu
ments concerning Oswald
LeWinter, who attempted to sell
A1 Fayed phony information
about a murder plot against
Diana and Dodi Fayed.
LeWinter was convicted of
attempted criminal fraud and
sentenced to four years in an
Austrian prison in 1998.
Doubts already have been
cast on a number of A1 Fayed’s
allegations concerning Diana’s
death, including that a mysteri
ous nurse heard last words from
The United State’s intelligence gathering net
work, which through the most sophisticated
satellite systems, allowed the NSA to spy on
Diana.”
A1Fayed
father of man killed with Princess Diana
the princess and that Diana and
Dodi Fayed planned to marry.
At the news conference,
Zaid and John Macnamara,
director of security for Harrods,
showed security camera footage
of Diana, Dodi Fayed and their
driver Henri Paul before the
accident, to dispute allegations
that Paul was drunk. Paul also
died in the crash and was found
to have high levels of alcohol in
his blood.
Diana and Dodi Fayed died
after they left the Ritz Hotel and
set off at high speed in their
chauffeured car, trying to elude
photographers. Mohamed A1
Fayed owns the Ritz and was
Paul's employer.
Last September, Paris Judge
Herve Stephan dismissed
charges against nine photogra
phers and a press motorcyclist
implicated in the accident The
judge’s terse conclusion came in
a one-page statement Alcohol,
drugs and excessive speed
caused the crash that ended the
life of the “people’s princess.”
A French court is expected
to rule Sept. 15 on an appeal by
A1 Fayed and Paul’s family to
reopen the crash investigation.
Saudi Arabia
looks to steady
crude oil prices
THE ASSOCIATED PBESS
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia wants to
work with other members of the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries on increasing out
put by an amount that will stabilize oil prices and
balance the oil market, the kingdom's Supreme
Petroleum Council announced Wednesday.
The decision was made at a meeting of the
council chaired by King Fahd, the official Saudi
Press Agency said.
Saudi Arabia wants a market which suits oil
exporters’ interests and doesn't jeopardize contin
uing world economic growth, die agency quoted a
statement issued by the council as saying.
The agency said Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi
“was asked to work for realization of these goals
through collaboration with OPEC member states
for making a suitable increase in production in a
manner that restores balance to the oil market and
stabilization of prices."
Wednesday’s statement is the first public dec
laration on the issue by Saudi Arabia since the
kingdom pledged on July 3 to unilaterally boost
output by 500,000 barrels a day if prices didn’t
come down soon. At the time, the OPEC basket
was trading at $30.49 a barrel.
The Supreme Petroleum Council said it wants
to take prices to levels agreed to at the OPEC meet
ing in June, and it wants to review the priceband
mechanism to ensure stability in prices, according
to die agency.
At its meeting in June, OPEC agreed to a mech
anism requiring a rise in output of500,000 barrels
a day if the OPEC basket price stays above $28 a
barrel for 20 consecutive days and a decrease in
output by the same amount if it stays below $22 a
barrel for 10 consecutive trading days.
The value of the OPEC basket of seven crude
oils averaged $31.37 per barrel Tuesday, up from
$31.22 per barrel Monday, OPEC said Wednesday.
OPEC ministers are scheduled to meet in
Vienna on Sept. 10 to decide whether to increase
production. Soaring crude oil prices this month
have increased pressure on the group to increase
output for the third time this year. OPEC increased
output in March and in June by a total of 2.4 mil
lion barrels a day.
According to market estimates, only Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have
the excess production capacity.
Questions? Comments?
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ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 2000
A DAILY NEBRASKAN
a slurry bomber
drops fire retar
dant near the
top of a ridge
Aug.29,2000,
near Red Lodge,
Mont Windy
weather contin
ues to threaten
wildfires across
Montana.
David Grabbs/Newsmatas
Group warns of global warming
Effects could cause plants and animals to become extinct
THE ASSOCIATED RBESS
LONDON - Global warming could
fundamentally transform a third of the
world’s plant and animal habitats by
the end of this century, threatening
many species with rapid extinction, an
international conservation organiza
tion warned Wednesday.
In a new report, researchers for the
Worldwide Fund for Nature - known
as the World Wildlife Fund in the
United States and Canada - singled
out the Arctic and northern latitudes
as die most vulnerable to the changing
climate. They estimated 20 percent of
the species there could die out due to
shrinking habitat.
The report raises the specter of a
tundra denuded of its walrus and
polar bear populations and a New
England stripped of its spruce and fir
forests if the amount of carbon dioxide
pumped into the atmosphere is not
reduced.
Many scientists believe that high
concentrations of carbon dioxide and
other so-called greenhouse gases trap
the sun's heat in the atmosphere, driv
ing up temperatures and changing
weather patterns.
“As global warming accelerates,
plants and animals will come under
increasing pressure to migrate to find
suitable habitat,” said the report's co
author, Adam Markham, executive
director of the U.S.-based group Clean
Air-Cool Planet.
“Some will just not be able to move
fast enough,” Markham said.
The northern latitudes of Canada,
Russia and Scandinavia, where cli
mate change is expected to occur
fastest, could lose 70 percent of their
habitat - a level that rises to 82 percent
for Iceland.
In several countries - including
Russia, Sweden, Finland, Estonia,
Latvia, Iceland, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
and Georgia - and in seven Canadian
provinces and territories, more than
half the existing habitat is at risk, the
report said.
More than a third of habitat is in
danger in the U.S. states of Maine,
New Hampshire, Oregon, Colorado,
Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Arizona,
Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, it said.
The projected habitat changes and
species extinctions would not be lim
ited to northern latitudes, however.
Coastal and island areas would be at
risk from warming oceans and rising
waters, the report said.
The exact nature and rate of global
climate change remains contentious.
According to a study published in the
July issue of the Dutch journal Climate
Change, Arctic temperatures in the
late 20th century were the warmest in
four centuries.
Researchers evaluated data from
100 separate studies of environmental
factors in North America, Europe and
Asia, including air temperature meas
urements, air circulation, precipita
tion, sea ice, glaciers and plant growth.
They said parts of Alaska and
Eurasia had warmed “alarmingly” - by
as much as 11 degrees - during winter
months in the last 30 years.
“This compilation of research
results make it undeniable that a
major warming is affecting the Arctic
environment,* said Michael T.
Ledbetter of the National Science
Foundation in Washington, which
funded the study, co-authored by 11
climatologists from five universities in
the United States.
Wednesday’s report - written by
Markham and University of Toronto
professor Jay Malcolm - used comput
er models to simulate global climate
and vegetation change under a variety
of conditions. Its projections are
based on the concentration of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere doubling
from pre-industrial levels by the year
2100.
And even that estimate is opti
mistic, the report indicated. Current
concentrations of carbon dioxide - the
gas primarily responsible for global
warming - are about 30 percent higher
than pre-industrial levels, and could
hit double the pre-industrial level by
2050, the researchers said.
■
«»*•■ ■» » ■ rmr*r
WIKmre TlQnunQ costs
expected to exceed 51 DMon
WASHINGTON -Hie federal
cost of fighting wildfires across
the West soon will exceed $1 bil
lion with Congress likely to dip
into the treasury again this year to
pay the final tab, federal officials
said Wednesday.
So far, the federal government *
has tallied at least $626 million in
costs to battle scores of fires from
Montana to New Mexico, spend
ing as much as $18 million a day,
according to the National
Interagency Fire Center; which is
coordinating the fire fighting
effort
Just before leaving for its sum
mer recess, Congress came up
with an additional $350 million
for fighting the wildfires, bringing
the total amount budgeted to
$836million this year
■tatnfa
Earthquake rattles Australia,
no significant damage
MELBOURNE, Australia-An
earthquake shook southeastern
Australia late Tuesday night, caus
ing no significant damage but
prompting hundreds of calls to
authorities, police said
The quake struck at 11:06 pan.
and was centered in the
Gippsland region, about 100
miles southeast of Melbourne,
said IbnyCorke of Ore Seismology
Research Center. ,
Rattling windows were
reported as far away as
Melbourne
■Washington
Number of diikhen with
incarcerated parents rises
WASHINGTON - Nearly 1.5
million American children have a
mother or father in federal or state
prison -a figure that has grown in
step with the swelling of the
nation’s prison population, the
Justice Department reported
Wednesday.
That was a 60 percent
increase since 1991 - up 562,300
from the 936,500 children in that
category then. During the same
interval, the nation!!; prison popu
lation grew by an almost identical
62 percent, to 1,284394 prisoners
in 1999.
Among federal inmates, 44
percent of fathers and 42 percent
of mothers reported no visits with
children after incarceration.
Imprisoned parents were
overwhelmingly male and pre
dominantly held in state prisons.
■ N6WY0TK
Judge executive testimony to
be irreievantto MP3.com case
NEW YORK-Seagram chief
executive Edgar Bronfrnan Jr. tes
tified Wednesday that he believes
MP3.com purposely violated the
copyrights of record companies
to build an online catalogue of
80,000 compact discs.
Bronfman’s testimony in a
civil trial in federal court was brief
because Judge led Rakoff deckled
that the executive^ opinions were
not relevant to deciding whether
MP3.com intentionally infringed
on copyrights.
Before the reluctant witness
finished his testimony, he said he
doubted MP3.com “accidentally
bought 80,000 CDs” to load into a
service that allows customers to
access favorite music from any
where once they prove they own
the CD.
Andy
Fairbaim, the
concert
booker at
Duffy's
Tavern, 1412
O St., was
misidentified
in Wednes
day's issue of
the Daily
Nebraskan.
Koreas work to reconcile differences
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEOUL, South Korea - South and North Korea
agreed in principle Wednesday to allow more
reunions of long-separated families and take other
steps toward burying decades of animosity on
their divided peninsula, reports indicated.
In a new round of Cabinet-level talks that
opened in Pyongyang, South Korea made a series
of proposals aimed at easing tension between the
sides.
The two were still trying to narrow differences
over a South Korean proposal to open a military
hot line and a regular channel of dialogue between
military leaders, according to pool reports from
South Korean media.
But the nations agreed in principle to allow two
or three more rounds of reunions of family mem
bers separated by the 1950-53 Korean War by the
end of die year.
Earlier this month, South and North Korea sent
100 people to each other’s capitals to have four-day
reunions with relatives for the first time in half a
century.
The reunions were one of the most concrete
signs yet that the two Koreas were ready for recon
ciliation.
South and North Korea will also start talks to
sign accords to guarantee investment and avoid
double taxation, the reports said.
The pool reports said no formal agreements
were likely to be signed until today. South Korean
officials are expected to meet North Korean leader
Kim Jong II and hold another session with their
"... the two top leaders agreed to
arrange a channel of dialogue to
prevent accidental armed clash
_ _ n
es.
Park Jae-kyn
South Korean Unification Minister
North Korean counterparts that day.
A 30-member South Korean delegation and 10
journalists flew to the North Korean capital
Tuesday for the meetings.
Foreign media were not allowed to attend.
The talks are aimed at following up on a his
toric June summit where leaders of foe two Koreas
agreed to work together for reconciliation and
reunification.
“I would like to remind you that at foe summit,
foe two top leaders agreed to arrange a channel of
dialogue to prevent accidental armed clashes,n foe
pool reports quoted South Korean Unification
Minister Park Jae-kyu as saying.
Park also proposed foe formation of economic
and other North-South committees to discuss
ways of implementing foe summit agreement, foe
reports said.
The chief North Korean negotiator, Jon Kum
Jin, did not respond directly to foe South Korean
proposals but said later there was considerable
common ground between the two sides, the
reports indicated.