News In Brief
The US
Today's session in the House of Representatives will be devoted to tributes to the two police officers slain while on duty inside the Capitol late Friday afternoon, majority whip Tom DeLay (R) of Texas said. Russell Weston, who has a history of mental problems and also was seriously wounded in the incident, was charged with the deaths of officers Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson. The motive behind the suspect's actions remained unknown; he was listed in serious condition in a Washington hospital. Investigators searched his homes in Illinois and Montana for information related to the case.
The US Capitol will remain open to the public despite the shootings, House Speaker Newt Gingrich vowed. Except for the crime scene, visitors were admitted to the building over the weekend.
Avoiding discussion of his reported subpoena to testify before the grand jury investigating the Monica Lewinsky matter, President Clinton joined the Democratic Party's most generous donors for a weekend retreat at Aspen, Colo. The subpoena is believed to be the first for a sitting president. White House sources said ways were being considered for Clinton to give information without appearing before the panel in person.
Officials of General Motors and the United Auto Workers Union reported "extremely positive" progress in resolving issues behind the strike of more than 200,000 North American employees. After four days of negotiations with an independent arbitrator in Flint, Mich., GM agreed to return stamping machines to one of its plants, while the union said it would provide the workers to install them. But both sides said "a great deal of hard bargaining" remains. Analysts estimate the seven-week-old strike already has cost GM more than $2 billion.
Despite development costs of tens of millions of dollars, the Clinton administration has dropped secret plans to seize Bosnia's two most-wanted war crimes suspects, The New York Times reported. "Swoops" resulting in the arrests of former Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander, Gen. Ratko Mladic, were scuttled because US and French officials worried they would "galvanize the most violent elements among the Serbs," senior administration sources were quoted as saying.
A wholesale/retail joint venture between AT&T and British Telecommunications (BT) was announced in London. The two said they would invest equally in a new company with 5,000 employees and expected annual revenues of more than $10 billion. The deal follows a failed merger attempt between BT and US-owned MCI Communications.
Police in Ohio were searching for four convicted murderers ad another inmate who escaped from the state's only privately run prison. A sixth escapee from Northeast Ohio Correctional Center at Youngstown surrendered 15 miles south of the facility. The breakout occurred during a recreation period, a spokeswoman said.
Larry Doby, the first black player in baseball's American League, the league's longtime president, and three other ex-players were to be inducted into the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, N.Y. Doby joined the Cleveland Indians in 1947, 11 weeks after Jackie Robinson integrated the National League. The other inductees: pitcher Don Sutton, Negro league star Joe Rogan, turn-of-the-century shortstop George Davis, and executive Lee MacPhail.
To the cheers of tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans, their governor announced a referendum on statehood to be held in December. Pedro Rossello said the vote would be nonbinding. Analysts said his move appeared designed to increase pressure on the US Senate to act on a statehood bill, which passed by one vote in the House in March. The last such referendum in Puerto Rico, in 1993, was narrowly defeated.
The World
Japan's new prime minister-designate, Keizo Obuchi, moved to reassure the world he was serious about pulling his country out of deep recession. Obuchi, currently the foreign minister, pledged to make income and corporate tax cuts worth $42.5 billion, to inject an additional $71.4 billion into the budget, and to form a special economic task force. After choosing Obuchi as their president late last week, members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are expected to confirm him as head of government by Thursday.
Shattering the relative peace accompanying Cambodia's national elections, Khmer Rouge guerrillas attacked government troops in a northern jungle, killing at least 10, reports said. The attack was the most violent incident as Cambodians voted for a new leader to end tensions after last year's coup staged by Premier Hun Sen. Although opposition parties complained of dirty tricks, international observers described the voting process as generally smooth.
Pressure was mounting on Western powers to intervene more decisively in Kosovo, with ethnic Albanian politicians urging the US and European allies to stop a Serb military offensive against separatist rebels. Serb sources said they were making gains aimed at clearing rebel fighters from major highways. A guerrilla commander called for NATO intervention, saying it now was too late for a diplomatic solution.
Signaling the start of new chapter in North Korean politics, the entire country voted in parliamentary elections to pave the way for a new president. Analysts predicted the government would report a turnout of almost 100 percent, with all in favor of candidates supporting Kim Jong II, the de-facto leader. The parliament is expected to formally elect Kim as president Sept. 9.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright promised the US would help Asian countries strongly committed to economic reforms at a conference of the Regional Forum of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Manila. US officials said Albright planned to meet her Chinese counterpart before the forum ends today, to try to pressure the Beijing government into releasing more political dissidents.
Russia was expected to sell 5 percent of its state-owned natural gas company, the world's largest, to help pay back international loans and clear domestic debts. President Boris Yeltsin ordered his Cabinet to begin the sale. Gazprom supplies much of Europe's natural gas. Meanwhile, in a surprise move and with no apparent explanation, Yeltsin fired his security chief and replaced him with a presidential official and former spy.
Pakistan's former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, returned home to face corruption charges that she claims were fabricated by her staunch foe and successor, Nawaz Sharif. Bhutto was due to appear in a court in Lahore today after missing a previous scheduled appearance. She is charged with failing to declare some assets when filing election papers last year. A Swiss court had indicted Bhutto's husband on money-laundering charges and said it was checking details before charging her.
In a series of violent clashes injuring more than 100 people, Philippines riot police stormed a former US naval base, using tear gas and firing shots in the air to clear hundreds of protesters. Last week, the group seized the headquarters of a major free port in Subic Bay after its chairman was fired, who was known as a foe of new President Joseph Estrada.
Etceteras
"Our apologies to the nation as a whole for the trauma our son has caused. To say that we are sorry is very inadequate." - From a statement issued by Russell Weston Sr., father of the man charged with Friday's shootings in the US Capitol.
There must have been a lot of good information in the three architectural magazines that Texas A&M student Richard Colley checked out of the university library. Not long after, he founded a business in that field in Corpus Christi and nurtured it to prosperity. Colley then died, and his firm is now known as Madison R. Graham, Architect. But the successor apparently didn't find those magazines as useful. A Graham representative returned them to the library last week - 67 years after they were borrowed.
Sanitation workers Gus Montagnino and Michael O'Connor are defending their - well - sanity after word got out that they'd turned over to supervisors $2,000 in cash that spilled from their truck in the New York borough of Brooklyn. They know only that the money came from a neighborhood of immigrant working families, one of whom may have needed it "to pay their mortgage or rent." Only briefly did the men consider keeping their find. "We took some kidding back at the garage," O'Connor said. "But I think we did the right thing."
The Day's List
Rating Historical Value of Decade's News Stories
The April 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City was ranked as the "event most worthy of historical remembrance" over the past 10 years in a survey of 1,002 adult Americans. The survey was conducted in March for The History Channel by the New York-based media research firm Roper Starch Worldwide. The top events and the percentage of respondents who voted for each:
Oklahoma City bombing 80%
Persian Gulf war 76
Reunification of Germany 69
Tiananmen Square massacre 55
Death of Diana, Princess of Wales 47
Branch Davidian standoff at Waco, Texas 31
Whitewater investigation 23
O.J. Simpson murder trial 16
Paula Jones's sexual harassment lawsuit 12
- Business Wire
