The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, September 12, 2000, Page 2, Image 2
News Digest Page 2 Daily Nebraskan Tuesday, September 12,2000 Russian, U.S. astronauts begin work on station ■They are preparing for the three-man,four-month stay by repairing and installing equipment. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Astronauts and cosmonauts float ed into the international space station late Monday after speed ing through six hours of work out side. The crew of space shuttle Atlantis opened the first of 12 hatches leading into the 140-foot long station a little early, entering the outermost vestibule and then the American module, Unity. "Welcome aboard," Mission Control radioed up. “It’s great to be here,” replied commander Terrence Wilcutt It was expected to take a few hours for the seven men to make their way through the complex. The pressure had to be equalized from one compartment to anoth er before doors could be opened. Earlier in the day, a pair of spacewalkers hooked up cables, installed a navigation tool and dis lodged a jammed piece of equip ment on the exterior of the space station. Once that was accom plished, the crewmen turned their attention to the inside. “Basically, it’s a cabin we have that we’re trying to get some furni ture into and get it ready to move into,” said mission operations director Milt Heflin. The space station is almost double the size it was the last time astronauts visited in May. Zvezda, the Russia-made control module, was added in late July. With only four days inside the station before Atlantis undocks this weekend, the astronauts and cosmonauts had to work fast One of their first chores was to unload 1300 pounds of gear from a Russian cargo ship. Atlantis contains an addition al 4,800 pounds of supplies for the three men who will move in at the beginning of November for a four month stay. NASA was cheered by the suc cess of Monday morning’s space walk by Edward Lu and Yuri Malenchenko. About 20 spacewalks are planned outside the station over the next year and a half alone. By contrast, Monday’s outing was only the 50th in almost 20 years of space shuttle flight. “We’re going to really start get ting into the assembly of the space station in very short order here, and I feel like this spacewalk set the tone for what’s about to come,” said Mike Hess, the lead spacewalk officer inside Mission Control. During their spacewalk, astro naut Lu and cosmonaut Malenchenko had to avoid pro truding antennas and docking tar gets as they clambered 110 feet up the station. The two wore American spacesuits, and mixed and matched American and Russian tools, while working on Russian compartments. They moved Zvezda’s magne tometer onto the end of a 6 1 /2 - foot pole so it can better serve as a three-dimensional compass for the space station, and ran nine power, data and TV cables between modules. They also pushed out a dock ing target on Zvezda that failed to deploy following launch. The two men were back inside Atlantis 16 minutes early. Then the shuttle gave the space station a three-mile boost in orbit. “This is the harbinger of things to come, I hope,” Hess said. A sign greets visitors as they arrive on the Los Alamos National Laboratory cam pus in Los Alamos, N.M. Wen Ho Lee, the fired Los Alamos scientist charged with espionage, agreed Monday to plead guilty to one minor charge of mis handling classi fied informa tion. Lee's hear ing was delayed. Nuclear scientist's release delayed Judge wouldn't offer explanation; lee was to plead guilty to one charge THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The expected release of Wen Ho Lee was scrapped Monday as prosecutors and Lee’s defense team haggled over a plea deal that would release the jailed Los Alamos nuclear scientist. U.S. District Judge James Parker gave no reason for putting off the scheduled court hearing until Wednesday. “I must regretfully say that we can not proceed with the hearing this after noon,” Parker said. Lee's daughter, Alberta, left the packed courtroom in tears and her mother, Sylvia, appeared dazed. The hearing had been delayed twice during the day. According to government sources, Lee had agreed to plead guilty to only one of 59 counts accusing him of vio lating national security. His sentence was to be the nine months he has already served in solitary confinement. In exchange for his freedom, Lee was expected to explain what he knows about the seven computer tapes he was accused of downloading. Lee - whose defense contended he was targeted only because he is ethnic Chinese - has insisted the tapes were destroyed at the lab. His willingness to explain in more detail what happened was described as the turning point in two-month plea discussions. “The issue here is - are we getting the tapes back, and we find out what happened to those tapes. I think that is the key,” Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn., before the postponement was announced. “The plea bargain enables us to get that information." The three-year case began as an offshoot of a Chinese espionage case and led to accusations that 60-year-old Lee had downloaded the "crown jew els” of U.S. nuclear weaponry and may be poised to hand them over to a for eign power. The government has since backed down from nearly all those charges. Government sources said Lee agreed over the weekend to plead guilty to one count of unlawful gather ing of national defense information, aid federal investigators over the next six months and drop claims that prose cutors went after him because he is “He deserves a national apology. The president of the United States should call him in and apologize on national television for the damage that’s done." • I John Vance Los Alamos safety engineer Chinese-American. Lee is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Taiwan. “He deserves a national apology,” said John Vance, a safety engineer at Los Alamos National Laboratory. “The president of the United States should call him in and apologize on national television for the damage that’s done.” The lab considers Lee, who worked for the lab for more than 21 years-, as retired. A spokesman said Monday that l Lee is getting a pension. Muslim rebels release hostages to Libyan officials THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TRIPOLI, Libya - A plane carrying four former hostages freed by Muslim rebels in the Philippines arrived Monday in Tripoli. One of the former hostages said their captors raped some of the female hostages. Risto Vahanen, a Finn who was among 21 cap tives held for as long as 140 days in the Philippine jungle, told Finnish MTV3 in an interview aired Monday that they were powerless to help the women. “Some, a few, women there were treated in an inappropriate manner,” Vahanen said. He answered “yes” when asked if the women had been raped. He said the raped women did not want their names disclosed but wanted the incidents to be made public. “They were of the opinion that it had to be made public, without names, so that the world would know what Robot had done,” Vahanen said, refer ring to rebel leader Ghalib “Robot” Andang. “It was quite surprising because otherwise we were treated in a proper way,” he said in the inter view, which was conducted before leaving the Philippines. The four former hostages’ arrival in Tripoli, which followed their release Saturday, came amid fears that fat Libyan payoffs would only encourage more hostage taking. Libya reportedly paid $1 million each to secure freedom for the former hostages, who flew Monday out of the Philippines. The German, Frenchman and two Finns, including Vahanen, had been held there for months by the Abu Sayyef, the smaller of two rebel groups fighting for an independent Muslim state in the southern part of the Philippines. First to appear at the aircraft’s door was Libyan negotiator Rajab Azzarouq, who triumphantly waved to the dozens of well-wishers and journalists waiting on the tarmac. The hostages followed, car rying bouquets of flowers. The hostages were quick to praise Libya for securing their freedom. “I think they have done a really great job,” Vahanen said. “It may be possible that they’ve saved our lives.” After showing the arrival of the aircraft, Libyan state television began broadcasting patriotic songs over footage of the former hostages and reporters inside the airport’s VIP lounge. A day after the four hostages were released Saturday, three Malaysian men were abducted from near the location Abu Sayyaf rebels kidnapped 21 people, including the four Europeans, on April 23. Questions? Comments? Ask for the appropriate section editor at (402) 472-2588 ore-mail: dn@unl.edu Editor Managing Editor Associate News Editor: Associate New Editor: Opinion Editor Sports Editor Arts Editor: Copy Desk Co-Chief: # Copy Desk Co-Chief: Photo Chief: Art Director: Design Chief: Web Editor: Assistant Web Editor General Manager: Publications Board Chairman: Professional Adviser Sarah Baker Bradley Davis Dane Stickney Kimberly Sweet Sam.yel McKewon Matthew Hansen Josh Nichols Lindsay Young Danell McCoy Heather Glenboski Melanie Falk Andrew Broer Gregg Stearns Tanner Graham Dan Shattil Russell Willbanks, (402)436-7226 Don Walton, (402)473-7248 Nick Partsch, (402) 472-2589 Nicole Woita Nikki Bruner Imtiyaz Khan Fax Number: (402) 472-1761 World Wide Web: www.dailyneb.com 0 The Daily Nebraskan (USPS 144-080) is published by the UNL Publications Board, 20 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, NE 68588-0448, Monday through Friday during the academic year; Weekly during the summer sessions. The public has access to the Publications Board. Headers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan By calling (402) 472-2588. Subscriptions are $60 for one year. Postmaster: Send address changes to e Daily Nebraskan, 20 Nebraska Union, : 1400 R St., Lincoln, NE 68588-0448. Periodical postage paid at Lincoln, NE. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 2000 DAILY NEBRASKAN ^ Advertising Manager If I Assistant Ad Manager Classified Ad Manager J . Circulation Manager FTC finds wrongdoing in entertainment marketing THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - The movie, video game and music industries aggressively market to underage youths violent products that carry adult ratings, federal regula tors say. A report released Monday by the Federal Tirade Commission says that even R-rated movies and M-rated video games are routinely targeted at younger people. An R movie rating requires an adult to accom pany children under age 17 to the theater, and an M rat ing designates video games for age 17 and over. Democratic presidential nominee A1 Gore seized the issue for his campaign. He called for a voluntary cease fire in marketing inappropri ate material to children and threatened federal action if the industry fails to respond. Gore’s opponent, Republican George W. Bush, agreed the industry needs to do a better job policing itself. But he questioned Gore's credibility on the issue, asserting that the vice presi dent had failed until now to take a strong stand on vio lence in the media. The FTC pointed to materials, which had been submitted by the industry, showing intentional plans to promote products to under age audiences. One document disclosed that a company’s primary audience for the sale of M rated video games was boys ages 12 to 17. Despite the age rating, “the younger the audi ence, the more likely they are to be influenced by TV adver tising,” it said. A marketing plan for an R-rated movie stated its pur pose was to “make sure everyone between the ages of 12 and 18 was exposed to the film.” Company names were edited out. “It’s their documents. They knew what they were doing,” said FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky. President Clinton, who commissioned the investiga tion, challenged the enter tainment industry. “The American people will give, I think, the enter tainment industry a period now to fix this, but something has to be done,” Clinton said during a campaign-style appearance in Scarsdale, N.Y., with his wife Hillary who is running for the Senate. “They say these rating systems mean something. “(The entertainment industry) can’t turn around and advertise to people that shouldn’t see this stuff." President Bill Clinton They can’t turn around and advertise to people that shouldn’t see this stuff.” The commission is not pressing for more legislation, walking a careful line not to trigger First Amendment concerns. But the FTC wants the industry to expand vol untary codes prohibiting such practices and to sanc tion companies that run afoul of these guidelines. Gore and his running mate, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, said they would propose legislation or new regulatory authority to sanc tion the entertainment industry if it doesn’t stop marketing violence to chil dren within six months. "If the industry makes a promise not to market inap propriate material to chil dren but then does so, it could be guilty of false adver tising,” they said in a state ment. Bush also said that par ents and the industry need to do more “to reduce the vio lence that our children see on the screen.” But he accused Gore of suddenly seeking to capitalize on the issue. “I think the man’s short on credibility on the issue,” Bush said, citing the millions Gore has received from the entertainment industry in political contributions. Pitofsky has asked his staff to study whether laws governing deceptive and unfair trade practices would apply and if enforcement action could be brought against companies, if the behavior continues. Of 44 R-rated movies studied by the FTC, 35 were targeted to children under age 17. Of 118 games carrying an M rating, 83 targeted chil dren under age 17. All of the 55 music recordings with explicit-content labels were targeted to children under 17. The Senate Commerce Committee plans a hearing on the report Wednesday. World/Nation The Associated Press ■Arizona Tire concerns are just the most recent of many PHOENIX - While Bridgestone/Firestone says serious safety concerns arose only this year, the tiremaker took complaints of tread sepa rations and blowouts in Arizona seriously enough as far back as 1996 to send a half-dozen engi neers on a special inspection mission and to help pay for replacing a wrecked vehicle. According to government officials interviewed by The Associated Press and state records examined by AP, the complaints by agencies that relied heavily on light trucks, such as the Department of Game and Fish, were numerous and specific in terms of point ing out problems of tread sepa ration and blowouts. Among the models Game and Fish experienced problems with were certain Firestone Firehawk ATX tires, which had blown out so often employees had their own name for them. “We called them ‘Deathhawks,’ ” a field supervi sor, Dave Conrad, said. “Almost every one of our guys had one of those tires go bad on them.” ■Washington,D.C Senator proposes alteration to Chinese trade bill Sen. Fred Thompson sought Monday to tie China’s weapons proliferation policies to the granting of permanent trade relations, while others warned that linking the two issues could kill the trade bill this year. The nonproliferation amendment offered by Thompson, R-Tenn., and Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., is seen as the last major hurdle to smooth passage of the perma nent normal trade bill, the most important trade legislation Congress is taking up this year. Congress must approve per manent normal trade status to benefit from the lower tariffs China has agreed to as part of its impending entry into die World Trade Organization. American business groups, who stand to gain billions from a more open Chinese market, have lobbied hard for passage of the legisla tion. ■Texas Convicted embezzler wins $60 million lottery jackpot AUSTIN - A former Texas insurance commissioner who went to prison in the 1970s for a pension fund scam that rocked state government stepped for ward Monday to claim a $60 million lottery jackpot. John Osorio, who is in his late 70s, and the woman he is sharing the jackpot with pre sented the ticket at the Texas Lottery Commission. The ticket must be validated before the two are declared the winners. In 1972, Osorio was convict ed of embezzling $641,000 from an insurance company’s pen sion fund. Osorio was a busi nessman at the time. He served 14 months in prison. Because of the 1971 scandal, nearly all high-ranking Democratic state officials were voted out of office in 1972. ■Australia Anti-globalists stall economic forum MELBOURNE - Screaming protesters clashed with police Monday and vandalized the cars of delegates trying to enter an international economic forum - the latest target of an anti-glob alization movement. Thousands of demonstra tors surrounded the hotel and casino complex where the three day Asia-Pacific Economic Summit is being held. They delayed the start of the event organized by the Switzerland based World Economic Forum. Weather TODAY Partly sunny high 78, low 55 TOMORROW Partly sunny high 83, low 58