News Digest
Susana Gonzalez/Newsmakers
SMOKEY ALERT: Smoke billows from the Popocatepetl volcano Monday behind the town of Puebla, Mexico.
The increased vokank activity caused the Popocatepetl volcanic center to raise a yellow flag to indicate the
IcvH of alert reganfing the volcano, if the aieit is upgradedagain,the village wWbe evacuated.
Ginton makes move
to political sidelines
■As the end of his term nears,the
president prepares to vote today, works
toward finishing bills and continues to
lend support to the First Lady and Gore.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - With the campaign
for the White House speeding toward the
finish around him, President Clinton
spent Monday quietly signing bills and,
for the first time in years, preparing to
vote for a presidential candidate other
than himself.
The president was traveling Monday
night to his home in Chappaqua, N.Y., so
he could rise bright and early on Election
Day to cast a ballot for his wife, Hillary, in
the New York Senate race, and for the
Democratic presidential ticket of A1 Gore
and Joe Lieberman.
But beyond that, the president’s
schedule was vague, indicating - for him
- a clear shift to the political sidelines. “I
expect he’ll spend the rest of the day
secluded away from the press, hiding
from all of you,” White House spokesman
Jake Siewert said of Clinton’s Election Day
plans.
Clinton did not mention the election
during his lone public appearance
Monday at a ceremony for the signing of
debt relief legislation.
Instead, Clinton heaped praises on
Irish rock star Bono for his commitment
to lowering the debt burden of poor
nations.
"And next year, when I’m just Joe
Citizen, 111 do my part, too,” Clinton said.
Siewert said the president "felt like
he’s played a valuable role this year” rais
ing money for Democrats and stirring up
the party’s base, even though his on-the
road campaigning was severely restricted
and his relationship with Gore obviously
bore the strain of those restrictions.
"He’s said he has thought for a long
time now, for two years, that A1 Gore
would win this election, and he continues
to believe that. And he certainly expects
and hopes that his wife
will win,” Siewert said.
“But these are deci
sions that are in the vot
ers’ hands. And, frankly,
what we expect here
doesn't have much to
do with what happens
on the ground (today),
but we’re hopeful.”
The president spent
the weekend stumping
for Democrats in
California, New York
and Arkansas, then
returned to Washington
and a desk piled with
work.
Besides the debt
relief bill, Clinton
signed a stack of
“innocuous” bills, such
as one involving OSHA standards for
workplace injuries from needles and
other sharp objects.
Clinton was keeping up with develop
ments in his wife’s and Gore’s campaigns
Monday, Siewert said.
There were also tentative plans for
Clinton to make more get-out-the-vote
telephone calls on Tuesday, “just to
remind people of the importance of vot
ing,” Siewert said, but final arrangements
had yet to be made.
"The reality is that this might be a
long night. We’ll make an assessment
tomorrow and see where we are,” Siewert
said.
“And he
certainly
expects
and
hopes
that his
wife will
win.”
Jake Siewart
White House
spokesman
FDA finds cold, diet-pill ingredient unsafe
■The agency prepares to ban
PM in some medications; the
substance may cause strokes,
especially in young women.
THE ASSOCIATED PBESS
WASHINGTON -Hie govern
ment warned Americans on
Monday to quit using dozens of
over-the-counter cold remedies
and diet pills that contain an
ingredient that could cause hem
orrhagic strokes, especially in
young women.
The Food and Drug
Administration is preparing to
ban phenylpropanolamine, or
PPA, which is found in products
from Dexatrim to Triaminic, but
legal steps needed for a ban will
take a few months, so the FDA
asked manufacturers Monday to
voluntarily stop selling PPA-con
taining drugs immediately - and
replace the ingredient with a safer
alternative.
For consumers, the FDA's
unusually strong health warning
says: “We suggest you stop taking
die drug immediately and use an
alternative.”
Consumers should look for
PPA in the ingredient list of all
nonprescription cold relievers -
brand names and generic or store
brands - and choose deconges
tant pills containing the safe alter
native pseudoephedrine or use
nasal sprays instead, said FDA
nonprescription drugs chief Dr.
Charles Ganley.
There are no over-the-counter
alternatives for diet pills, however,
so dieters will have to consult a
doctor about prescription-only
alternatives, Ganley said.
Some retailers and manufac
turers moved Monday to take
products off drugstore shelves.
Don’t use PPA-containing
Contac 12-hour Cold Capsules,
but five other Contac versions
contain the safe pseu
doephedrine, so check the label,
said manufacturer SmithKline
Beecham Consumer Healthcare.
Whitehall-Robins Healthcare
quit shipping PPA-containing
Dimetapp on Monday. New liquid
Dimetapp formulas that don’t
contain PPA will head for store
shelves next week, with pill ver
sions to follow later. Also, check
Robitussin-CF - some stores are
selling PPA-containing versions,
and some are selling a new non
PPA formula, in boxes flagged with
a yellow band
Even though manufacturers
learned three weeks ago that the
FDA’s move was coming - when
the agency’s scientific advisers
declared PPA unsafe - many spent
Monday scrambling to decide
what to do.
About 6 billion doses of PPA
are sold in this country each year,
the vast majority without a pre
scription. However, there are a few
PPA-containing prescription
decongestants, and the FDA asked
their makers also to stop selling
them while it moves to ban pre
scription use as welL
The risk of a hemorrhagic
stroke, or bleeding in the brain, is
very small to an individual user.
These are often deadly strokes,
and survivors can be left disabled.
With millions of Americans swal
lowing PPA daily, the FDA estimat
ed it could be to blame for 200 to
500 strokes just in people under
age 50.
The FDA’s records show 44
cases of hemorrhagic stroke
among PPA users in the past 30
years. Most were women; the
median age was 35 - including a
few who died while using diet pills
even though medical records
showed they weren’t overweight.
But the drug industry called
the concern overblown and suc
cessfully argued more research
was necessary.
So the industry’s Consumer
Healthcare Products Association
funded a five-year Yale University
study comparing PPA use among
stroke survivors with healthy peo
ple.
Report: Promo
THE ASSOCtATH) PRESS
WASHINGTON - Breast milk is con
sidered babies’ perfect food, yet despite a
decade of encouraging more American
mothers to breast-feed their infants, not
enough do. And among black women,
breast-feeding is “alarmingly low,” in the
surgeon general’s words.
So concludes a major new govern
ment report that calls for a cultural shift in
how die nation regards breast-feeding -
with policies to ensure that parents are
told routinely why it’s so healthy, that hos
pitals improve the teaching of mothers in
how to do it and that workplaces make
breast-feeding easier for employees.
“The culture of breast-feeding has
been lost, especially in the low-income,
African-American community,” said Dr.
te breast milk
Yvonne Bronner of Morgan State
University, who is working to counter the
racial disparity with education and peer
counseling.
Add shortened hospital stays, and
there’s little time to ensure that new moth
ers aren’t finding breast-feeding difficult or
painfuL So access to lactation consultants
often proves key to not giving up.
Only 64 percent of American women
breast-feed during their infants’ first
weeks to month of life. That’s better than
the 50 percent of a decade ago, but the
nation missed the government’s goal of
having 75 percent of mothers breast-feed
ing newborns by this year.
But only 29 percent of all moms, and
19 percent of black mothers, breast-feed
until their babies are 6-months-old - a
crucial time period.
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Clinton ahead in polls;
Lazio continues to fight
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALBANY, N.Y.-The
most-watched Senate race
in the country roared
through its final hours
Monday, with Hillary
Rodham Clinton planning
rallies in cities from one
end of the state to the
other, and Rick Lazio hus
tling for votes in the sub
urbs.
Meanwhile, three new
polls were released
Monday, with one showing
the first lady opening up a
double-digit lead over her
Republican rival. The two
others had the race
remaining very close.
"I’ve felt like the under
dog throughout the entire
race,” Lazio told reporters
while campaigning in the
Hudson Valley town of
Chester. "We were up
against a lot, but you know
what I have faith in? The
fighting forces of New
York.”
Clinton and her sup
porters, meanwhile, were
predicting victory.
"I’ll fight for you, I'll
stick with you, I’ll go to the
U.S. Senate and work my
heart out for you!” a jubi
lant Clinton told 1,200
cheering supporters in
Albany.
Earlier, Clinton
stumped at the State
University of New York at
Buffalo, where she was
joined by comedian Bill
Cosby and Buffalo Bills
quarterback Doug Flutie.
The first lady appeared
energized despite a gruel
ing endgame schedule that
included a 15-hour day
Sunday and five events
Monday. In addition to the
Buffalo and Albany stops,
events were planned for
Jamestown and Rochester,
ending with a union rally in
Manhattan featuring Sen.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan,
who is retiring.
Lazio looked tired but
hustled throughout the
day, with stops in and
around New York City,
including a Monroe diner,
a Warwick senior center, a
Brooklyn neighborhood,
Weather
ELECTION DAY TOMORROW
Mostly cloudy Mostly cloudy
high 35, low 26 high 36, low 28
We were up
against a lot, but
you know what I
have faith in? The
fighting forces of
New York”
Rick Lazio
GOP Senate candidate
two train stations and a
rally on Long Island. At
some of the stops, he was
joined by two of his most
prominent Republican
supporters, Gov. George
Pataki and New York City
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
Among the new polls,
the Quinnipiac University
Polling Institute had the
first lady leading the Long
Island congressman 51
percent to 39 percent, with
a margin of error of plus or
minus 3 points.
Advertising executive
Jema Russo planned to
vote for Lazio.
"One, he’s from New
York. Two, he has experi
ence. Three, I’m from Long
Island. Four, he’s a family
man,” Russo said at a sub
way station in New York
City.
World/Nation
The Associated Press
■Pakistan
Woman blows up
daily newspaper office
KARACHI - A powerful
bomb ripped through a news
paper office in the restive port
city of Karachi on Monday,
killing at least three people and
wounding five others, police
said.
The explosion severely
damaged the building of the
Urdu-language daily Nawa-e
Waqat, shattering doors and
windowpanes, blowing out
walls and parts of the roof, wit
nesses said. Fire and smoke bil
lowed from the building as fire
fighters and rescue workers
rushed the victims out
Rescue workers said they
had taken out all the victims
and two unidentified charred
bodies. The injured people suf
fered severe bums, they said.
An unidentified woman
who died in the explosion car
ried the bomb inside the office,
said Mohammed Moeenuddin,
chief of the bomb-disposal
squad.
No group has taken respon
sibility.
■Belgium
Lawsuit Cigarette smuggling
may have cost the EU billions
BRUSSELS - The European
Union has filed a civil suit
against U.S. tobacco companies
Philip Morris and R. J. Reynolds
Tobacco alleging they are
involved in smuggling ciga
rettes into the 15-nation EU.
The lawsuit accuses the
companies of breaching the
U.S. Racketeering Influenced
and Corrupt Organization Act,
EU Budget Commissioner
Michaele Schreyer said
Monday.
She said the European
Commission, the executive
body of the European Union,
was seeking compensation for
financial losses suffered by the
EU and an injunction to prevent
further smuggling.
EU officials declined to say
how much compensation the
Commission is seeking, but
officials have alleged the EU’s
revenue losses through ciga
rette smuggling run into of bil
lions of dollars.
Officials at the Brussels
offices of Philip Morris, based in
New York, and R.J. Reynolds,
based in Winston-Salem, N.C.,
declined to comment
■Great Britain
Queen Motherfalts at home,
breaks collarbone
LONDON - The Queen
Mother Elizabeth broke her left
collarbone in a fall at her home,
her office said Monday.
The hugely popular 100
year-old mother of Queen
Elizabeth II was treated by doc
tors at Clarence House, her
home near Buckingham Palace,
and was not hospitalized after
the fall Friday afternoon, her
office said.
Her eldest grandson, Prince
Charles, said he would visit her
Monday evening but had spo
ken with her on the telephone
and found her “in remarkably
good form.”
She’s “very chirpy,” said her
private secretary Sir Alastair
Aird.
The Queen Mother, who had
two hip replacements in her
90s, gets around quite well with
the aid of two sticks, to the
admiration of her legions of
fans.
■Yemen
USS Cole bombers
had help from officials
ADEN - The men who
bombed the USS Cole got help
from Yemeni officials who fought
with them in Afghanistan in die
1980s, sources close to the case
said Monday as the crippled Cole
began a five-week trip home.
The destroyer was getting a
piggyback ride back to the
United States aboard the
Norwegian ship Blue Marlin,
which was carrying the 8,600-ton
destroyer.
The Cole should reach its
port of Norfolk, Va., by Dec. 10,
said Frederik Steenbuch, manag
er of the Oslo, Norway-based
ship company.