News Digest
Page 2
Daily Nebraskan Wednesday, Jar
Peace treaty
appears dim
■ As more violence erupts in the West Bank and
Gaza Strips Palestinians issue ultimatum offull
peace or nothing.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM — Despite efforts by President
Clinton to wring a partial agreement or a state
ment of principles out of the Israelis and
Palestinians before he leaves office, the chief
Palestinian negotiator said Tuesday that
Palestinians want a full peace treaty—or nothing.
The declaration by negotiator Yasser Abed
Rabbo further dimmed prospects for a diplomatic
achievement for Clinton, who finishes his term
Ian. 20, and for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak,
trailing far behind a hard-line rival as a Feb. 6 elec
tion looms.,
Meanwhile, hostilities persisted in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip. A 70-year-old man was shot
and killed on his farm near an Israeli settlement in
Gaza. Palestinian police said there were no clashes
there. The Israeli military said soldiers did not
open fire.
Israeli forces killed a 27-year-old Palestinian
during a West Bank rock-throwing clash,
Palestinians said. The shooting brought the death
toll in violence that broke out Sept. 28 to 364, most
of them Palestinians.
Also Tuesday, Israeli soldiers fired warning
shots toward a car carrying the second-ranking
Catholic prelate in the Holy Land, Bishop Boulos
Marcuzzi, his driver said. The incident took place
at a roadblock near the West Bank city of Jenin. The
car was not hit and no one was hurt. The military
said it was investigating.
The widow of a Palestinian killed by Israeli
forces on Dec. 31 asked Israel's Supreme Court to
order an end to what she called assassinations of
local leaders.
Thabet Thabet was unarmed when he was
gunned down in front of his house, according to
die action filed by Thabet’s widow, Siham. Thabet,
a dentist, was prominent in Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction. Israel claimed he
organized armed attacks.
Palestinians say that in recent weeks, Israel has
assassinated more than a dozen Palestinians sus
pected of involvement in attacks on Israelis.
Meanwhile, a new poll indicated that a majori
ty of Palestinians now favor the most extreme form
of violence against Israel. The survey, by the
Jerusalem Media and Communications Center, a
Palestinian think tank, showed that 66 percent of
respondents approve of suicide bomb attacks
inside Israel.
The poll, which questioned 1,199 Palestinians
in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, had a 3 percent
age point ihargin of error.
The militant Islamic Hamas claimed responsi-'
bility Tuesday for a Jan. 1 bombing that injured
dozens in the Israeli resort of Netanya. Hamas
identified the bomber, who later died in an Israeli
hospital, as a 24-year-old student from the West
Bank city of Nablus.
In what might be the first step toward coopera
tion to stop shooting attacks and bombings, the
two sides agreed Tuesday to resume low-level
meetings between security officials.
iuary 10,
Chavez concedes nomination
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Linda
Chavez withdrew TXiesday
as President-elect Bush’s
nominee to be secretary of
labor, saying that “search
and destroy” politics had
made her a distraction to
the incoming administra
tion over the haven she gave
an illegal immigrant from
Guatemala in the early
1990s.
While Bush praised her
and expressed disappoint
ment, Republican officials
close to the president-elect
said the news was not
unwelcome nor a surprise.
Chavez appeared with
other immigrants who said
she had helped them as she
did the Guatemalan, Marta
Mercado, in 1991 and 1992,
taking her into her home
and giving her money but
never, she said, as an
employee.
She said what happened
to her nomination is typical
of “the politics of personal
destruction” in Washington.
“I have decided that I am
becoming a distraction, and
therefore, I have asked
President Bush to withdraw
my name for secretary of
labor,” she said.
She said she thinks she
would have been a great
one.
Bush, in a statement,
called her “a good person
with a great deal of compas
sion” and said he was disap
pointed she would not be in
his Cabinet
Senior Bush advisers
said they did not explicitly
urge Chavez to withdraw,
but the message was clear:
. “The writing was on the
wall,” one aide said. “She
gets it.”
Other officials close to
Bush said aides had begun
to doubt her credibility
regarding a key question in
the case: While Chavez had
told Bush transition officials
earlier that she was not
aware Mercado was in the
United States illegally until
after the woman had left her
suburban house, she con
ceded in withdrawing that “I
think I always knew.”
There was no immediate
word on a replacement.
Other prospects who
had been on the Bush list for
the labor department
included Missouri Rep. Jim
Talent, defeated nominee
for governor of Missouri;
Rep. Jennifer Dunn of
Washington; and Rich
Bond, a former chairman of
the Republican National
Committee.
One senior Republican
said the prospects include
Elaine L. Chao, former
deputy transportation sec
retary in the first Bush
administration and wife of
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
She had been mentioned as
a transportation secretary
candidate.
“My, what a difference a
week makes,” Chavez
began, prefacing her with
drawal with a description of
the help she got from others
during a difficult childhood.
She said that she vowed
then she would always be
there for other people and
said that while "I am not
Mother Teresa... I haveTried
to do right by people who
have been in need.”
She said the
Guatemalan woman who
stayed with her was battered
and in trouble, and that she
would take her in again, “in
an instant, without hesita
tion” despite what has hap
pened as a result.
Chavez said she was try
ing “to put a human face" on
the story by appearing with
two Hispanic women, one
with two children, and a
Vietnamese man, all of
whom said she had helped
them when they needed it
She also said that her
relationship with the
Guatemalan woman was
not comparable to the situa
tion involving Zoe Baird,
who withdrew as President
Clinton's first nominee for
attorney general in 1993
because she had employed
illegal aliens as household
help and had not paid social
security taxes on their
wages.
Kevin Lee/Newsmakers
An old Chinese man walks beside the frozen moat that surrounds the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. The dty has been blanketed in snow for the last
three days, and heavy snowfalls wreaked havoc with traffic and caused delays at the airport
Commission looks to prevent
future tragedies like USS Cole
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON—The
U.S. military must break
out of a “purely defensive
mode” and take more
aggressive precautions
against terrorists, says a
special commission that
reviewed the USS Cole
bombing that killed 17
sailors.
The commission did
not assess the perform
ance of the Cole's captain
or crew or investigate why
they failed to foresee the
attack.
Instead, it sought to
draw lessons from the
incident for improving
the protection of U.S.
forces in transit around
the world, particularly
those — like the Cole —
that make brief visits to
remote ports and air
fields.
The Cole was refuel
ing in Aden harbor in
Yemen on Oct. 12 when a
small boat sidled up to
the 505-foot destroyer
and detonated a load of
explosives. The blast
ripped a hole 40 feet high
and 40 feet wide in the
hull of the $1 billion war
ship.
It was the first time
terrorists had successful
ly attacked a U.S. Navy
ship, and the Cole com
mission said the bombers
had found a “seam in the
fabric" of the Navy's sys
tem of self-protection.
The way to strengthen
that fabric lies in
improved anti-terrorism
training, better intelli
gence and a recognition
that terrorism is a perva
sive threat, the panel
said.
“We do believe that
this threat is enduring, it’s
dangerous, people are
dying from it, it is not a
transitory threat, it’s not
going away," said retired
Navy Adm. Harold
Gehman, who co-chaired
the commission with
retired Army Gen.
William Crouch.
Gehman said the
transition team of
defense secretary-desig
nate Donald Rumsfeld
has asked for a briefing on
the report, and Defense
Secretary William Cohen,
who appointed the Cole
commission, said he has
asked Gen. Henry H.
Shelton, chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, to
review the findings and to
recommend to Rumsfeld
how to act upon them.
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Smoking in movies common
despite cigarette, tobacco ban
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES —
Smoking remains preva
lent in movies even
though tobacco compa
nies agreed to stop paying
filmmakers to feature
their brands more than a
decade ago, according to a
new study.
Tobacco use was
depicted in nearly 85 per
cent of the top 25 highest
grossing movies released
each year from 1988 and
1997, Dartmouth Medical
School researchers said
Hiesday.
“I think we show that
the ban had no impact on
what is essentially ciga
rette advertising in the
movies,” said study co
author Madeline Dalton, a
professor of nutrition and
public health at the col
lege.
In 1989, tobacco com
panies voluntarily^agreed
to halt movieproduct
placement after Congress
questioned whether the
practice violated advertis
ing regulations.
Evidence had surfaced
that Philip Morris paid to
promote tobacco prod
ucts in “Superman II" and
the James Bond movie
“License to Kill,” which
later agreed to post a
tobacco warning in its
credits.
Tobacco use was fea
tured in about 92 percent
of the top-25 films
released in 1988, the year
before the ban, Dr. Jim
Sargent, lead author of the
study, said Thesday.
The percentage
plunged to 80 percent in
7 think we show that the ban had no
impact on what is essentially cigarette
advertising in the movies
Madeline Dalton
study co-author
1989 but skyrocketed to 96
percent in 1990, he said.
Despite dips to 80 per
cent in 1991 and 1995,
smoking has otherwise
wavered between 88 per
cent and 92 percent in the
top 25 movies each year,
he said.
The Dartmouth review
of a 10-year span of films
does not supply evidence
that tobacco companies
are continuing product
placement, Dalton said.
More likely, he said,
smoking in films remains
prevalent because “it's an
easy way for a director or
actor to make a quick
statement about a charac
ter."
“The smoking stereo
type can be a shorthand
for a sexy woman, a rebel
lious woman or a tough
guy,” Dalton said. "But
filmmakers are just per
petuating that stereotype
and need to know that
kids are watching and
modeling their behavior
on what they see.”
Consider Julia
Roberts, who displays
anxiety in 1997’s “My Best
Friend’s Wedding” by
hastily puffing a cigarette
before the ceremony.
Bruce Willis conveys
callous rage when he kills
a thug for knocking a ciga
rette out of his mouth in
the 1991 detective thriller
“The Last Boy Scout."
Sometimes tobacco is
even used to generate
laughs. In the 1997 extra
terrestrial comedy “Men
in Black," alien visitors
return to their home plan
et after buying a carton of
smokes.
Of the 250 movies
studied, the Dartmouth
researchers determined
that 217 featured tobacco
use and 180 featured a real
brand.
The findings are
slightly higher than, but
generally consistent with,
the American Lung
Association’s independ
ent studies, spokes
woman Harriet Charney
said.
The anti-smqking
agency has found that
tobacco is featured in
about 78 percent of
movies over the past
decade.
Charney said even a
movie like the 1991 thriller
“Dead Again,” which fea
tures Andy Garcia as a
debilitated smoker who
puffs cigarettes through a
hole in his throat, may not
effectively show the con
sequences of tobacco use.
"Young people don’t
have a good sense of
themselves growing old,
so showing the results of
smoking tends not to be
very effective." she said.
World/Nation
The Associated Press
■ Nebraska
Woman shoots herself trying
to kill family's pet rabbit
DILLER — A 58-year-old
woman trying to kill a pet rabbit
accidentally shot herself and
died Sunday, Jefferson County
Sheriff Rex Southwick said.
Ruth E. Hicok was in her
yard when she may have
slipped and fell before the .22
caliber rifle she was carrying
went off, Southwick said.
"She was tired of (the rab
bit),” Southwick said. "She had
asked her boys to do it before.”
Southwick initially ruled
Hicok’s death as a suicide, but
later decided the shooting was
accidental and released details
about the rabbit.
■ Miami
Media, research firm join
forces to inspect ballots
Several of the nation’s
largest news organizations con
tracted with a research firm
Tuesday to conduct a compre
hensive survey of disputed bal
lots from the presidential race
in Florida.
Joining the group are The
Associated Press, Cable News
Network, The New York Times,
Tribune Publishing, The Wall
Street Journal, The Washington
Post and two Florida newspa
pers, The Palm Beach Post and
the St Petersburg Times.
“Because of the unique cir
cumstances of the 2000 presi
dential election, the AP believes
that the most accurate possible
inspection of the disputed
Florida ballots is a highly worth
while effort that will be of great
interest to our members and the
public,” said Jonathan Wolman,
the AP's executive editor.
■ Houston
Business feud leads to four
deaths
A man apparently engaged
in a feud with a Houston busi
ness shot three people to death
there Tuesday before he also
died of a gunshot wound,
authorities said.
Police spokeswoman Silvia
Trevino said two women and a
man were found dead inside the
store.
An employee who was
inside the store when the shots
were fired said the owner, his
wife and their daughter were
killed.
The suspected gunman died
at Ben Taub General Hospital of
a gunshot wound to the head,
police said.
■ California
Former hospital worker
charged with six deaths
GLENDALE —A former res
piratory therapist was arrested
Tuesday and booked for investi
gation of murder in the deaths
of six hospital patients, police
said.
Officers arrested Efren
Saldivar, 31, as he was arriving
at his job as an electrician’s
apprentice, Police Chief Russell
Siver^ing said. Saldivar did not
resist.'
Saldivar allegedly told
police in 1998 that he commit
ted dozens of mercy killings at
the medical center between
1989 and 1997. He told police
that he considered himself the
Angel of Death.
Police said Saldivar told
them he was angry at seeing ter
minally ill patients kept alive <
and killed them through suffo
cation or injection of muscle
paralyzing drugs.
Saldivar was fired from the
hospital and his therapist
license was revoked by a state
board.
Weather
TODAY
Partly cloudy
high 50, low 36
TOMORROW
Cloudy
high 45, low 33
