' I News Digest Bombing suspect to get charged ■ Investigators are prepared to charge two people they claim are involved in the attack of the USS Cole. THE ASSOCIATE) PRESS v ADEN, Yemen—Yemeni investigators are ready to charge at least two people in die apparent terrorist attack on the USS Cole, a source said Sunday, six weeks after an explo sion tore through the warship as it sat in Aden^s harbor. Charges are expected to be filed as soon as this week, the source said. The suspects could be sentenced to death if convicted. But any charges are unlikely to mean die end of the probe. U.S. investigators suspect an international conspiracy was behind the bombing. Seventeen U.S. sailors were killed and 39 more injured on Oct 12, when two suicide bombers steered a small boat laden with explosives alongside the Cole and detonat ed it while the destroyer was refueling. U.S. and Yemeni officials have said the attack appeared to be a carefully planned, well-financed operation, and the bomb materials were expertly prepared. The Yemeni source close to the investi gation would not identify the two men he described as main suspects. But last week, other sources said authorities had detained six Yemeni men they believe were key accomplices, including the operation’s apparent leader in Yemen. American officials have said they believe the operation was carried out by a network of small cells of two or three people, proba bly from one or more anti-American Islamic organizations, including Yemen's Islamic Jihad, Egypt’s al-Gamaa al-Islamiya and Osama bin Laden's followers. Bin Laden, an exiled Saudi millionaire, lives in Afghanistan. U.S. officials believe he ordered the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killing 224 people. Officials have suggested the Cole attack ers were from various Arab countries, including Yemen, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and that they may be operating from both Afghanistan and Yemen. A Yemeni security official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said investiga tions revealed that an Egyptian suspect whom he identified as Hamdi fled Yemen a month before the bombing along with five others. He said all six had links to Islamic jihad, but he did not elaborate further. The first Yemeni source said the charges planned against at least two suspects included carrying out the attack, threaten ing state security, forming an armed gang and possessing explosives. Conviction on all four charges would carry a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, the source said, adding that the sus pects could be executed if convicted of threatening state security or carrying out the bombings. Most executions in Yemen are by firing squad and are performed in public. The prosecution will review the case by Tuesday before filing charges, the source said. The prosecutor declined to comment Sunday. In Yemen, a court generally sets a trial date within a few days of charges being filed. That date usually is within a week. According to Yemeni law, the trial will take place in Aden, where the attack took place, die source said. In the weeks after the attack, Yemeni investigators rounded up scores of people for questioning. The suspects ranged from known Islamic fundamentalists to people who lived near any of the Aden buildings the bombers used as staging grounds. Yemeni authorities also have detained lower-level Yemeni security. Cuban exiles hold vigil for Elian Gonzalez THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MIAMI—About 100 Cuban exiles holding can dles and carnations marked the first anniversary of Elian Gonzalez’s arrival in the United States with a bayside vigil Saturday. Only Lazaro Gonzalez, the boy’s great-uncle, and a cousin were representing Elian’s Miami rela tives, who fought a seven-month legal battle to keep the 6-year-old from being returned to Cuba. “In the name of Elian, I thank everyone pro foundly for remembering his beautiful mother, who with her own life, was able to bring that boy to a country of liberty, where they cruelly stripped him of that liberty and took him to a system where everyone tries to flee,” lazaro Gonzalez said. Elian was one of only three survivors among 14 people who tried to sail a small boat from Cuba to Florida. His mother, Elisabeth Brotons, was among those who died when the boat capsized. The vigil was held along Biscayne Bay behind a Catholic church. The crowd stood facing a framed photo lit by gas-powered torches of Brotons. “We feel very sad like all of you in remembering the grave (fate) of Elisabeth, Elian’s mother,” Lazaro Gonzalez said. “We are entirety convinced that Cuba is not doing this for that woman.” He was taken in by relatives in Miami and adopted as a symbol by Cuban-Americans who oppose Fidel Castro’s communist regime. But the boy’s father insisted Elian was taken from Cuba without his permission, and after a months-long court battle, armed federal agents seized the boy from his great-uncle’s home April 22. He later returned with his father to Cuba. Saturday’s event, organized by the anti-Castro group Democracy Movement, culminated with the crowd casting hundreds of multicolored car nations into the bay, shouting “Viva Cuba Libre!” and singing the Cuban national anthem. Participants then attended an evening Mass. TODAY TOMORROW Partly cloudy Mostly cloudy high 46, low 30 high 45, low 25 C Questions? Comments? 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"^Associate News Editor Kimberly Sweet Ik Opinion Editor Samuel McKewon Sports Editor Matthew Hansen Arts Editor Dane Stickney _ _ Copy Desk Co-Chief: Lindsay Young J|4s%Copy Desk Co-Chief: Danell McCoy ft m J§ Photo Chief: Heather Glenboski Wr Art Director Melanie Falk _* Design Chief: Andrew Broer JP Web Editor Gregg Steams ft ^Mssistant Web Editor Tanner Graham m» General Manager Dan Shattil Aa Publications Board Russell Willbanks, ***"** Chairman: (402)436-7226 Adviser Don Walton, (402)473-7248 Manager Nick Partsch, - (402)472-2589 Ad Manager Nicole Woita Ad Manager Nikki Bruner Manager Imtiyaz Khan Fax Number (402) 472-1761 Wide Web: www.daiiyneb.com The Daily Nebraskan (USPS144-080) hed by the UNL Publications Board, 20 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St, Lincoln, NE 68588-0448, Monday ih Friday during the academic year, Bdy during the summer sessions. ,_lie has access to the Publications Board. * are encouraged to submit story ideas artoccinments to the Daily Nebraskan by calling (402)472-2588. V ^^Subscriptions are $60 for one year. \ „ Postmaster: Send address changes jtmkme Daily Nebraskan, 20 Nebraska Union, f^1400 R St.,Lincoln, NE 68588-0448. L Periodical postage paid at Lincoln, NE ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 2000 1 DAILY NEBRASKAN Owing Sung-Jun/Newsmakers Members of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, wearing headbands reading Tight,'shout slogans Sunday during an anti-government rally in Seoul, South Korea. About 20,000workers marched in central Seoul on Sunday to oppose a government-led restructuring plan that they fear would lead to mass layoffs. Money woes plague S. Korea Layoffs, bankruptcies afflict nation not known for its problems I Tlfc nJJWlWI w rnfcw SEOUL, South Korea — Tens of thousands of layoffs. Violent labor protests. Conglomerates facing bank ruptcy as scores of smaller firms go under Surely this isn't the same South Korea that was rebounding strongly from the Asian economic crisis, which swept across the region three years ago and triggered fears of a global financial emer gency. Think again. “Nobody knows how desperate we are,” said Koh Hyong-choon, a 38-year old father of two Mho expects to lose his job at a money-losing chemical factory here. The factory is set to close soon. South Korea, long a symbol of Asian business prowess, faces a surprising return to some familiar problems in an eerie echo of the 1997crisis. Today, South Korean corporate titans such as Hyundai and Daewoo are deep in red ink, and some 100,000 workers are expected to lose their jobs by year's end. South Korea isn’t as bad off this time around, and its plight seems unlikely to spread to other countries, economists say. But the woes are raising concerns about the durability of Asia's fragile rebound, Mtith Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand still struggling to recover from rising debt, political instability and financial mismanage ment The 1997 recession was triggered “Nobody knows how desperate we are Koh Hyongchoon South Korean factory worker when Thailand devalued its currency and set off a chain reaction across the region. Thousands of financially weak companies in South Korea collapsed. Unemployment soared in a nation where workers were accustomed to life time jobs. South Korea required big bailout loans overseen by the International Monetary Fund. South Korea, a major global exporter of autos and electronics, has since lured back foreign investors, greatly shored up its foreign currency reserves and pressed ahead with wrenching financial reforms. Now, those reforms are causing hard ship, demonstrating the fragility of the recovery and arousing the enmity of unions and thousands of uneasy work ers. Underscoring the predicament, some economists fear the South Korean economy will shrink again if the govern ment fails to speed up reforms by shut ting down heavily indebted companies. Typical is Koh’s employer, Korea Synthetic Chemical a bank-owned con cern that loses an average of $17 million a year and probably will close by year's end, stranding hundreds without jobs. South Korea’s jobless rate is expected to rise by half a percentage point to 4 per cent, or 910,000 people this year—well below the 9 percent peak in February 1999. That’s no consolation to Koh, who supports his family on his $1,000 month ly salary, which includes housing and other subsidies. Major labor unions have vowed to resist layoffs, raising the prospect of a round of labor protests similar to those during the IMF crisis, when hundreds of thousands of workers were driven out of jobs and held rallies against what they called inept corporate management This month, two large street protests in Seoul each drew up to 20,000 workers. One turned violent resulting in 100 peo ple injured in clashes with riot police. Despite problems, South Korea’s economy is expected to grow around 9 percent this year, after expanding 10.7 percent last year in a dramatic turn around. But experts warn the economic situation could deteriorate unless the government moves decisively to restruc ture bloated big businesses that subsist on large bank loans. Clinton vows to review Peltier case THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — The White House says President Clinton will review all pending requests for exec utive clemency before he leaves office in Januai^, including that of Leonard Peltier, the American Indian activist convicted of murder ing two FBI agents in South Dakota. The president "will focus on all of the clemency cases after the election and that will be one of them,” White House spokesman Daniel Cruise said Sunday. Also Sunday, the White House released the transcript of Clinton’s Nov. 7 interview with radio station WBAI-FM in New York City in which the president was asked about the Peltier case. Clinton said then he would review all clemency applications “and see what the merits dictate ... based on the evidence.” Asked specifically about Peltier, Clinton said he has “never had time actually to sit down myself and review that case.” “I know it's very important to a lot of people, maybe on both sides of the issue,” he said. “And I think I owe it to them to give it an honest look see.” On June 26, 1975, FBI agents Ronald A. Williams and Jack R. Coler pursued a robbery suspect into the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. A shootout erupted with activists from the American Indian Movement. Two suspects were acquitted and a third freed for lack of evidence. Peltier, after fleeing to Canada and being extradited to the United States, was convicted and sentenced to consecutive life terms in 1977, despite defense claims that evidence against him had been falsified. Peltier, 56, is serving the terms at the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan. He has suffered from health problems in recent years. In June, a parole examiner rec ommended that Peltier's sentences be continued until his next full parole hearing in 2008. The Associated Press ■Austria Bodies of cable car victims returned to United States VIENNA — The bodies of eight Americans killed in a cable car fire two weeks ago were flown home Saturday aboard a U.S. mil itary aircraft, local media report ed. A contingent of the Austrian army provided an honor guard, and the coffins were flown from Salzburg Airport, about 100 miles west of the capital, Vienna, air port spokesman Richard Schano told the Austria Press Agency. He did not give the destination of the flight. The Americans killed in the Nov. 11 accident - including a family of four and a newly engaged couple - were among 155 people who died when a fire engulfed a cable car traveling through a mountain tunnel at the Austrian resort of Kaprun. The Americans were all members of military-affiliated ski clubs in Germany. Other mem bers of the same group escaped the Nov. 11 accident because they chose to go shopping rather than skiing. ■New York Retailers given early holiday gift as shoppers spend New York —The first week end of the holiday shopping sea son turned out to be a pleasant surprise for worried retailers: The consumers who crowded malls and logged onto e-commerce sites spent more than expected as they snapped up the season’s must-have items. Sweaters, coats and other apparel items, bouncing back from a months-long slump, were the top sellers in stores and online. In fact, clothing turned out to be the most popular cate gory on the Internet Friday, fol lowed by consumer electronics. Scooters and robotic pets were the big standouts in toys. “Sales looked pretty decent,” said Michael P. Niemira, vice president of the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi on Sunday, estimating the weekend’s sales will be about 5 to 6 percent higher than last year. “It's a good start to the sea son. But where it goes from here remains to be seen.” The solid sales followed months of sluggish business for many retailers. ■Omaha Buffett, Gates slated to play in public bridge tournament Billionaires Warren Buffet and Bill Gates will be among the more than200 people competing this week in the “Sectional Tournament at the Clubs,” a local-level bridge tournament that runs through Dec. 4. Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., invited Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp., to play in the event, tour nament director Jim Nadi said. They will be joined by Buffett's longtime bridge partner and two-time world champion Sharon Osberg, an executive vice president for Online Financial Services Group at Wells Fargo in San Francisco. Nash said Bob Hamman of Dallas will play with Gates. Hamman has been the World Bridge Federation’s top-ranked player for 15 years. Gates is a relative newcomer to bridge, and Hamman is play ing with him to help promote the game, Nash said. Because of a reporting error, the number of Institutional Review Boards was listed incor rectly in a story about fetal tissue and stem cell research in Tuesday's Daily Nebraskan. There are four Institutional Review Boards - one at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, one at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, one at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and one at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Because of a reporting error, the minimum grade point aver age to be eligible for the Teach For America program was incor rect in Monday’s Daily Nebraskan. A 2.5 grade point average is required to be eligible for the program.