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News Digest
Divers recover more bodies from Kursk
■ A mourning ceremony took
place Sunday for the118men
aboard the Russian submarine.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEVEROMORSK, Russia —
Venturing further inside the
sunken Kursk nuclear subma
rine, divers recovered more bod
ies Sunday from amid die jagged
metal and silt that fills the wreck
stuck in the Arctic depths.
The number and identity of
the bodies remained unclear,
Russian naval officials said,
apparently because the remains
were badly damaged.
All 118 men on the Kursk were
killed after it was shattered by an
explosion and crashed to the
Barents Sea floor on Aug. 12. As
the slow, solemn recovery work
continued, a mourning ceremo
ny for die Kursk submariners was
held Sunday in the closed
Russian military town of
Severomorsk.
Remains of four Kursk sailors
were recovered last week, and
four caskets, draped with the
white-and-blue flag of the
Russian Navy, were carried atop
armored personnel carriers into a
sea-front square under a cold,
dear sky.
Thking off their hats, Russian
sailors dropped to one knee in
the snow that had fallen on the
Arctic town. A long, low.hom of
farewell sounded from the war
ships bristling with antennas and
cannons in the harbor.
“This is very hard,” said Zoya
Dudko, whose 30-year-old son
Sergei was among the crew. “But I
think it is necessary. Our children
deserved this.”
The names and ranks of all
118 officers and sailors were read
out, and Dudko burst into tears
when she heard her son’s name. A
Oleg Nikishin/Newsmakers
An unidentified woman grieves Sunday during a memorial ceremony for the crew of the sunken nudear submarine Kursk at the Russian ship's home port of Severomorsk,
about 940 miles north of Moscow.
few steps away, the young widow
of Lt. Dmitry Kolesnikov, Olga,
looked out over the square, her
eyes fixed on the sun hanging low
over the horizon.
A note found in Kolesnikov’s
pocket when his body was recov
ered Wednesday told a horrifying
story of 23 survivors gathering in
the submarine's ninth compart
ment, hoping to get out through a
jammed escape hatch.
Based on that note, Russian
and Norwegian divers worked
through Saturday night to cut a
hole in the hull above the com
partment at the stem of the sub
marine. But the thick rubber and
steel would not yield, said Vadim
Serga, a Northern Fleet
spokesman in Severomorsk.
The divers were forced to
enter through a hole they had cut
earlier in the eighth compart
ment and grope their way along
narrow passages into the ninth,
he said. There, the divers found
several more bodies.
Bills hold Congress
until Election Day
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON—Congress’
final budget battle with President
Clinton resumed with a rare
Sunday session. Republicans
vowed to stay until Election Day
rather than accede to the presi
dent’s demands, but held out
hopes that a deal could be struck
in the next two days.
“There are some ideas being
exchanged,” Majority Leader
Hent Lott told reporters after con
vening the Senate. “There is a
mood-that it is time to bring this
to a conclusion.”
But the Mississippi
Republican added, “I’m resigned
to being here on Election Day if
that’s what it takes.”
Lott said earlier Sunday on
ABC’s “This Week” that Clinton
was demanding that Republicans
“cave to what his demands are.”
Clinton, calling on lawmakers
to put aside partisan demands,
also said a deal was within reach.
TODAY
Mostly cloudy
high 63, low 52
/
TOMORROW
Scattered showers
high 64, low 48
“I am not trying to provoke a
confrontation here," Clinton said
Saturday. “They’ll get some of
what they want; we’ll get some of
what we want”
Only seven of the 13 annual
spending bills have been signed
into law almost a month into the
new fiscal year. Possible vetoes
hang over at least two others.
Also drawing a veto threat is a
10-year, $240 billion tax relief
package that contains a $1 boost
in the minimum wage.
Senate Democratic leader
Tom Daschle of South Dakota also
accused Republicans of bowing to
special interest groups in blocking
Clinton’s demands for tax breaks
for school construction.
“The bill that's currently
before us gives three times as
much in tax breaks to the execu
tives getting business lunches as it
does providing for school con
struction,” Daschle said on “Fox
News Sunday”
The House and Senate met
late Sunday for die main purpose
of approving another 24-hour
extension for federal operations
while the budget negotiations
continue. Clinton has refused to
sign more than a one-day exten
sion, arguing that lawmakers
should be attending to their busi
ness rather than home campaign
ing.
Negotiators were also sched
uled to meet Sunday to continue
wading through hundreds of pro
visions lawmakers are trying to
attach to the final spending bills.
USS Cole leaves Yemen waters
■Yemenis breathe a sigh of
relief as the U.S.destroyer heads
home to the United States.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ADEN, Yemen — Sailors
aboard the USS Cole stood at
attention as the national anthem
played and the battered destroy
er glided out of Aden port
Sunday, towed by tugboats to a
Norwegian heavy-lift ship that
will take it home to repair the
gaping hole in its side.
For the sailors, the departure
meant leaving behind the harbor
where 17 shipmates were killed
and 39 were injured on Oct. 12 in
what officials believe was a sui
cide bombing attack.
“She left with some help from
her friends, but she still left very
proudly," Barbara Bodine, the
U.S. ambassador to Yemen, said
of the Cole.
The destroyer’s journey
began at 9:20 a.m. local time as
the American flag was hoisted on
a mast to a hearty cheer from the
sailors. Two yellow tugboats
steadily and slowly pulled the
destroyer out to sea while two
more pushed. Two U.S. patrol
boats led the procession, and a
helicopter made flying runs over
head.
The trip back to the U.S. was
expected to take about five
weeks.
As the Cole left the harbor, it
passed a cluster of buildings
where the two suspects in the
bombing are believed to have
lived as they planned the attack.
Visible from shore was the 40
foot-by-40-foot blackened hole
blasted into the ship’s left side.
Officials believe the
bombers, who have not yet been
positively identified, maneu
vered a small boat packed with
explosives next to die Cole and
then detonated it.
The departure of the Cole is a
relief for ordinary Yemenis. There
has been widespread anger at the
U.S. here for what many Yemenis
believe is U.S. bias toward Israel
in its confrontations with the
Palestinians. Also, dght security
in the harbor had made it diffi
cult for Yemeni fishermen to
work in the weeks since the
bombing.
“It was like a bogeyman keep
ing our fishermen away. Thank
God it has gone. The sight of an
American ship in our waters is
not a beautiful sight,” said one
resident, Ibrahim Ahmed.
At another point along the
coastal road, about 50 Yemeni
men gathered, some wearing the
traditional sarong-like Yemeni
dress with daggers tucked into
their waistbands. When the crip
pled destroyer appeared, a few
men pointed at it and laughed.
Women draped in chadors
watching from windows and bal
conies shouted that the sight
made them happy.
"We were not comfortable
with Americans on our territory.
They should have gone. This is an
Arab country. They have no busi
ness here,” Mujahed Awad said.
Bodine said the crisis support
personnel that came to Yemen
after the attack are beginning to
leave. But, she said, the probe has
not ended - the U.S. Embassy
will maintain a presence in Aden
“It was like a
bogeyman keeping
our fishermen away.
Thank God it has
gone. The sight of an
American ship in our
waters is not a
beautiful sight.”
Ibrahim Ahmed
Yemeni
to support the FBI investigation
and a group of investigators
based on Navy ships.
“This will be the second
phase,” she said. “It will not be
short. It will not be easy.”
Most of the crew, about 300,
remained aboard the Cole fol
lowing the attack. A small num
ber were to stay on the destroyer
for the trip back to the United
States; the rest will be flown
home.
The Cole was to be loaded
aboard the Norwegian ship Blue
Marlin on Monday in deep
waters far from shore.
The Blue Marlin will fill its
ballast tanks, slowly submerging
its deck, and maneuver under
the Cole. Then it will empty the
tanks, rising and lifting the Cole
out of the water. The process is
expected to take at least 24 hours,
but the timing isn’t certain
because the condition of the
damaged ship will only be clear
once it is lifted from the water.
The Navy has said it intends
to repair the Cole and return it to
service.
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Cosmonaut ritual a 'test of fate'
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAIKONUR, Kazakstan —The first
American to ride a Russian rocket into orbit
broke cosmonaut tradition - and tempted
fate - on his way to the launch pad five years
ago.
Mir-bound astronaut Norman Thagard
didn’t urinate on the back tire of the bus. He
was afraid photographers might catch him
in the act
Now, it’s astronaut Bill Shepherd’s turn.
On TUesday, Shepherd will become the
second American to be launched aboard a
Russian Soyuz rocket.
Never mind that he’ll be flying to a brand
new space station and taking charge as its
first commander. Inquiring minds want to
know; Will he or won’t he partake in this cos
monaut ritual on his way to the pad?
Shepherd isn’t sure.
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin didn’t
mean to start a tradition when he made his
bus halt for a pit stop on his way to becom
ing the first human in space on April 12,
1961. He simply wanted to go before board
ing his rocket, say Russian space officials.
On every subsequent launch from this
launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome,
all cosmonauts are believed to have fol
lowed suit, except for the female cosmo
nauts - and Thagard on March 14,1995.
Thagard just stood there as his two
Russian crewmates relieved themselves in
memory of Gagarin’s feat
Thagard, 57, now an electronics profes
sor at Florida State University in Tallahassee,
Fla., has no advice for Shepherd regarding
cosmonaut rituals and superstitions.
But he does offer this tip: Relax, the
Soyuz rocket is smoother - and safer - than
the space shuttle.
The Associated Press
■ Washington, D.C.
Charity funding increased
compared to 1998
America's leading charities
raised more than $38 billion last
year, an increase of 13 percent
over 1998, a philanthropy journal
reports in this week’s issue.
The Salvation Army led the
1999 survey of the top 400 chari
ties for the eighth straight year,
receiving $1.4 billion in cash and
donated goods, according to The
Chronicle of Philanthropy, the
weekly “Newspaper of the
Nonprofit World,” which began
compiling contribution statistics
in 1991.
The YMCA of the USA ranked
second with $693.3 million in
donations, followed by the
American Red Cross, which sawa
25 percent increase in contribu
tions to $678.3 million.
■ Missouri
Poll shows Carnahan's
wife's name raises votes
ST. LOUIS — Democrats’
chances of capturing a U.S.
Senate seat Nov. 7 despite the
death of their candidate, Gov. Mel
Carnahan, are improved when his
wife’s name is mentioned, a new
poll found.
The poll shows the name of
Carnahan, who died in a plane
crash Oct 16, with a 47 percent to
45.5 percent lead over that of
incumbent Republican Sen. John
Ashcroft - a statistical tie. Six per
cent were undecided.
But the Democrats were
apparently leading after partici
pants were asked how they would
vote if they knew Jean Carnahan
would fill in for her husband
should his name get the most
votes in the election.
The poll found that in that
case, Carnahan's name was five
percentage points ahead of
Ashcroft’s, 49-44 percent, a lead
slightly above the poll’s margin of
error of four percentage points.
Five percent were undecided.
Because Carnahan died so
close to the election, his name will
remain on the ballot. His widow
will announce Monday whether
she will accept Gov. Roger
Wilson’s offer to appoint her U.S.
senator if her husband’s name
gets the most votes.
■ Sri Lanka
Ethnic tension causes
army deploy to country
COLOMBO — Authorities
deployed army units and
appealed for calm Sunday in cen
tral Sri Lanka as ethnic tension
mounted following a mob killing
of 25 former child guerrillas.
Police fired on an unruly
crowd of Tamil minority protest
ers in Talawakele, in the Nuwara
Eliya district, killing one person
and wounding another, a police
official said. The official, who
spoke on condition of anonymity,
said the protesters had turned
violent
President Chandnka
Kumaratunga called a meeting of
security chiefs in response to the
unrest, and the government
issued a press release saying army
and police troops were deployed
to prevent more violence.
On Wednesday, nearly 3,000
villagers stormed a rehabilitation
center where former Tamil rebel
child soldiers who were inmates
had taken an ethnic Sinhalese
guard hostage. They killed 25 of
die ex-rebels.
■ Brazil
Mayor elected in biggest
election runoff in country
SAO PAULO —A psycholo-'
gist-tumed-leftist politician was
elected mayor of Sao Paulo, South
America’s economic and financial
nerve center, in the biggest of
dozens of runoff elections Sunday
throughout Brazil.
Marta Suplicy of the Workers
Party won 58.5 percent of the
votes with 98 percent of the bal
lots counted, according to official
results released by the Regional
Electoral Itibunal.
Millions of Brazilians voted in
the runoff elections, held a month
after nationwide municipal elec
tions, in 31 cities where no candi
date received enough votes to win
outright
Candidates need to capture
more than 50 percent of the vote
to win.
