Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

Security Council fails to forge plan on Iraq by Edith Lederer Associated Press United Nations —The five permanent members of the U.N. Secu rity Council have agreed on general principles on a policy toward Iraq, but could not foige a common stance that would lead to the resump tion of arms inspections. An agreement would mark a modest step forward in the search for ways to resume U.N. inspections of Iraq’s weapons programs after a halt of more than nine months. But the five council members, the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China, remain sharply divided on key issues. Britain and the United States had been hoping to capitalize on the presence of world leaders in New York this week for the General Assembly debate to forge agreement on a Security Council resolution. Instead, they have agreed only on the statement of principles, draft ed by France as an interim statement, which will be very general and lack specifics, a Western diplomat said late Wednesday. “It will be very weak,” the diplomat said, on condition on anonymi ty The United States has been pressing for a resumption of weapons inspections but has run into tough resistance from the Russians. France and China are holding out as well, but “it’s the Russians that are the problem,” a senior U.S. official said Tuesday. Iraq will undoubtedly be on the agenda today when foreign min isters from the five countries have lunch with Secretary-General Kofi Annan. U.N. weapons inspectors pulled out of Iraq in mid-December short ly before the United States and Britain launched airstrikes against Iraq for failing to cooperate with the inspections. Under U.N. Security Council resolutions imposed after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, sanctions against Iraq cannot be lifted until the in spectors detemiine that Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction have been eliminated. All five permanent council members agree that weapons moni toring must resume and that living conditions for the 22 million Iraqis living under U.N. sanctions must improve. But exactly what Bagh dad must do before the council will loosen sanctions, and how far those restrictions should be eased, remain in dispute. China, France and Russia, Iraq’s closest allies on the Security Coun cil, have put forward a draft resolution that would suspend all sanc tions if Iraq cooperates with a new weapons-monitoring commis sion. A rival resolution, which the United States supports, would sus pend only the oil embargo if Baghdad answers key remaining ques tions about its weapons programs. Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf repeated Wednes day that his country would not consider any plan that did not include a total lifting of sanctions. “There will be no progress except by lifting sanctions,” al-Sah haf said. In nearly three hours of talks Tuesday, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright failed to budge Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. Senior Foreign Ministry officials and U.N. ambassadors from the five countries met Monday and again Wednesday on the fringes of the General Assembly. * Minimum wage reforms to come in bipartisan legislation by David Espo Associated Press Washington — Bipartisan legislation is bubbling to the surface in the House to raise the minimum wage by $ 1.30 an hour over four years and grant several tax breaks and other sweeteners for small businesses and the self-employed. Congressional officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Wednes day that a group of moderate Republi cans and business-oriented Democrats hoped to unveil the measure formally by week’s end. The principals involved in the dis cussions, who include Republican Rick Lazio of New York and Democrat Gary Condit of California, declined to com ment on the substance of the measure. Numerous officials provided these details, while cautioning that no final decisions had been made and stressing that the prospects for passage in the nar rowly divided House were uncertain: • The current $5.15 federal minimum wage would rise by 35 cen^s an hour in each of the next two years, followed by two annual increases of 30 cents an hour. That is more than the $1 an hour increase over four years that the GOP leadership had been discussing, but less than the $1 over two years that the White House and organized labor’s allies in the House fa vor and are expected to press for be ginning in the next day or two. • The cost of health care would be made fully deductible for the self-employed. • There would be an increase in the de ductibility of the cost of business meals, a provision backed by the restaurant in dustry that would apply to small busi nesses and the self-employed. • Reduction in the unemployment tax surtax. • Extension of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, which offsets the first $6,000 in wages paid to certain workers. • Increased asset depreciation for small business. • Pension changes, which are part of House-passed legislation co-sponsored by Reps. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Ben Cardin, D-McL, and favored by the life insurance industry. These include in creased permissible contributions for 401(k) plans, and a provision allowing workers over 50 to save additional funds for retirements. Other pension changes include greater portability for pensions and faster vesting rights. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that a $1 increase in the minimum wage over two years would cost business roughly $16 billion over five years. The tax breaks are designed to more than offset that, although no for mal estimates were available. Efforts to pass a minimum wage in crease are stalled in the Senate, where Democrats want to attach the issue to a bill overhauling bankruptcy laws. The political currents are tricky in the House, as well. Many Republicans traditionally have opposed increases in the minimum wage, but the leadership is under pressure from the Democratic minority as well as a pivotal group of GOP lawmakers from swing districts who court union support. On the other hand, while many De mocrats favor a $1 minimum wage in crease over two years, conservative mem bers of the rank and file want measures to assist businesses likely to feel the ef fects of an increase. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, told reporters earlier in the week that a vote would be allowed if moderate Republicans asked for it. At a GOP leadership meeting Wednesday, Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the chief deputy whip, was assigned to oversee the issue. “There’s a general sense that if we are going to have this vote in the next couple of years, we might as well have it now,” he said. He added that business groups also have a chance to win tax re lief they would otherwise lose because of President Clinton’s pending veto of a broader GOP tax cut NASA weather satellite presumed lost in space by Matthew Fordahl AP Science Writer Pasadena, Calif; — A $125 million spacecraft meant to be NASA’s first in terplanetary weather satellite was pre sumed destroyed today after it failed tc regain contact with Earth following a crit ical engine firiiig to place it in orbit around Mars. A preliminaiy analysis shows the Mars Climate Orbiter approached Mars too closely and likely broke into pieces or burned up in the atmosphere, said oper ations project manager Richard Cook of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The problem likely stemmed from human or software error, not a me chanical problem with the spacecraft, he said. The cause is being investigated. The orbiter was believed to have come within 37 miles of Mars’ surface at about 2 a.m„ just as the probe’s main engines were firing for orbit insertion. The low est survivable close encounter is believed to be 53 miles. Cook said. “We believe the spacecraft came in at a lower altitude than we predicted,” , he said. “Depending on how low that was, it could be the tbtal loss of the mis sion.” Until final altitude numbers become available, the giant antennas of NASA’s Deep Space Network were scanning the skies in search of a signal from the probe. Officials said the loss will not hurt the space program in the long run. “We intend this to be a case of sci ence delayed.-mot science lost.” said Carl Pilcher, of NASA’s Office of Space Sci ence. The oibiter, one of two probes sched uled to arrive at Mars this year to study the weather and search for evidence of water, should have regained contact with Earth at 2:26 a.m. The probe was behind the planet and out of radio contact during most of the 17-minute engine firing that should have placed it in orbit. Contact should have been established by 2:30 a.m. at the lat est. The orbiter and its companion, the Mars Polar Lander, carried instruments designed to discover the fate of water be lieved to have once formed rivers or lakes on the planet. Mission scientists say wa ter is the key to determining whether life elver existed on Mars. The separately launched lander, due to arrive Dec. 3, was supposed to use the orbiter as a communications relay. But the lander also can communicate direct ly with Earth, and the already orbiting Mars Global Surveyor can act as a limit ed relay as well. Both probes are part of a $327.5 mil lion mission collectively known as Mars Surveyor ’98, NASA’s latest in a series of relatively inexpensive robot probes. The orbiter rocketed into space last Dec. 11 and its sibling probe was launched Jan. 3. In 1997, Mars Pathfinder and its rover, Sojourner, explored the geology of the planet and found some evidence that wa t& may once have flowed. Shoddy lower floors cause leaning towers' by Annie Huang Associated Press Taipei, Taiwan —They didn’t pancake or even topple over. Many of Taiwan’s high-rise buildings rocked by a power ful earthquake simply leaned, hanging precariously in space at improbable angles and curves. Why? Weak, shoddy construction at the bottom but enough stout support over all to prevent the total collapse mark ing many tragic earthquakes, some ex perts say. “This was built strong,” said Amer ican rescuer James V&lsh, pointing to solid, steel bars protruding from one of Taiwan’s leaning towers. The bottom four floors of the 16 story apartment building in the town of Toliu had been compressed into 10 feet of rubble, but the structure above re mained standing, dangling at a 45-degree angle. Quake experts say building designs, the enforcement of construction codes and the quality of land that buildings rest upon all likely contributed to the way the structures were damaged in the mag nitude-7.6 earthquake that struck Tai wan on Tuesday. Taiwan’s Disaster Management Cen ter said Thursday night that 2,109 peo ple had been killed, 7,800 injured and 1,844 remained unaccounted for, in cluding those buried under rubble and landslides. Prosecutors also announced the ar rest of a contractor responsible for three buildings that collapsed, burying about 100 people. The buildings had beat made with substandard steel rods, and au thorities found crumpled vegetable oil cans had been used in place of bricks. A total of 2^68 people had been res cued since the quake struck, many of them extracted from more than 6,000 totally destroyed housing units across the island, the disaster center said. Engineers and seismologists from around the world are flying to Taiwan to find out why some buildings failed while others survived. * “It appeals that in many cases in Tai wan, the ground floor of buildings was very weak structurally because there was agarage or a shop there,” said Robert Geller, a professor of geophysics at Tokyo University. A wide open ground floor without proper support leaves an entire building vulnerable to the potent, sideways mo tion generated by earthquakes, he said. Buildings in which floors collapse atop one another may not have had enough horizontal support in the columns, said John Mander of the University of Buffalo’s Multidiscipli nary Center for Earthquake Engineer ing Research. Buildings constructed on unstable land or filled-in swamps or rice pad dies may be vulnerable to “liquefac tion,” where agitated ground water ris es and mixes with the soil beneath building foundations. The ground liqui fies, partially sinking, tilting or twisting the structures above. “Liquefaction could happen in ar eas that used to be a paddy field or a pond,” said Shozo Komaki, professor of earthquake engineering at Fukui Insti tute of Technology in Tokyo. “With a rapid increase in population and an in creasing need to build facilities to cater to it, builders had to construct build ings in areas where people never lived before. Those areas tend to be not so sol id.” Taiwan’s bent buildings are not unique. During laige earthquakes in Los Angeles, Japan, Greece and TUrkey some structures were also knocked off their foundations and left tilted or-leaning against other buildings. Taiwan has suffered less damage than Kobe, Japan, which was hit by a less powerful quake in 1995, said Taiwanese architect Chen Hung-ming. Following the Kobe quake. Taiwan’s building codes were toughened to con sider not only horizontal shock effects but vertical shakes, he said “The damage could have been much greater,” he said. c ■' ■- • *>i * Special to the Gamecock Shoddy construction in the lower levels, but enough support to keep the buildings from caving in, leave these apartment buildings in Toiiu, Taiwan leaning at unusual angles. "We intend this to be a case of science delayed, not science lost.” Carl Pilcher NASA Office of Space Science Three boys arrested in alleged gang rape by Ashley H. Grant Associated Press Sr. Paul, Minn.—Three of seven boys suspected of gang raping an 8-year-old girl have been arrested. The three, ages 10,11 and 13, were being held at a juvenile detention center today on preliminary charges of first-de gree criminal sexual conduct. “We figured that enough had come together to bring them in,” said police spokesman Michael Jordan. “They are accused of a significant crime.” Because the boys are under 14, they cannot be tried as adults. If convicted, they could be confined in a juvenile in stitution until they turn 19. The other four boys accused in the rape are under 10, the minimum age for criminal prosecution in Minnesota. One of tfte four is the victim’s 9-year old brother, who police say led the at tack. According to police, four of the boys raped the girl, including her brother. Two other boys, including a 6-year old, admitted fondling the girl’s genitals, police said. A 9-year-old boy told police he on ly observed. After questioning the boys, police detemtined that the younger brother had instigated the attack in a vacant house and told her not to tell their mother what happened. But KSTP-TV on Wednesday re ported that the victim’s mother said the brother was forced to take part in the assault. . “They told my son that if my son came and told me, then they would beat up my son*'” she said in Hmong through an interpreter. World Briefs ■ Health officials blame beef for E. coli outbreak Sphngreld, III (AP)—An E coli out break that sickened more than 300 peo-. pie has been traced to beef served at a party that all the victims attended. Genetic testing revealed the same E. eoli bacteria was present in the people, the beef and the herd from which the steer was taken, state health officials said. “Absolutely, it was the beef,” Dr. John Lumpkin, head of the state Public Health Department, said Wednesday. “The most likely scenario is that the meat was not cooked completely through.” Lumpkin said E. coli from the steer’s intestines probably contaminated the meat when the animal was slaughtered and butchered. The beef was served at a party held Labor Day weekend near Petersburg, about 25 miles northwest of Springfield. Of the more than 300 people who were sickened, 22 required hospitalization. The E. coli strain can lead to intense cramps and bloody diarrhea. In severe cases, it can destroy red blood cells and interfere with kidney function. ■ Molasses leak into Michigan river Bay City, Mick (AP) — Thousands of tons of molasses began leaking from a tank at Monitor Sugar Co., oozing around the plant and dripping into the Saginaw River. An estimated 4,000 tons of the thick, gooey liquid escaped before dawn Wednes day, company spokeswoman Judy Bagley said. The cause of the spill was under investigation. Crews were dumping sawdust onto the spill Wednesday to absorb the mo lasses and make it easier to cleah up. No one was injured and the molasses poseu no public health threat, but officials said it could affect wildlife. Ken Silfven of the state Depart ment of Environmental Quality said spe cialists were trying to determine how much molasses got into a drain leading to the river. He said most'of the molasses appeared to have pooled on the ground. ■ Toddler survives 230-footfall North Vancouver, British Columbia (AP) — Rescuprs in British Columbia are marveling at a 17-month-old girl who survived a fall from a popular tourist bridge to a rocky ledge 230 feet below. The baby, bruised but with no broken limbs, was taken to B.C. Children’s Hos pital in Vancouver after falling from the Capilano Suspension bridge on Wednes day and landing on her back. Police said they are investigating how the baby fell front her mother’s arms over the bridge railing and onto the ledge of the bank of the raging Capilano River. “Right now, we are treating this as a criminal investigation,” Constable Heidi Hoffman said. Rescuers sad the baby’s survival was ■ a miracle. “1 could actually see the baby mov- l ing her arms when I looked down from the top,” said paramedic Ian Macmil- ' lan. “The baby was crying, which we love to hear. When it’s quiet, that’s what we don’t like.” 1 Staff at the popular tourist site called 911 immediately after the baby fell. Macmillan said the mother was distraught and was able to talk only briefly to de scribe where she was standing when the baby fell. Terry Abrams of North Vancouver District’s fire service, said the woman ap parently slipped, and the baby fell. “There’s some bruising on the skull, but the child survived,” Abrams said. “Wfc have our fingers crossed for a full recov ery.” Capilano Suspension bridge is a pop ular tourist destination, with 800,000 vis itors annually. ■ Kosovo refugees head home with U.S. born bundle Dallas (AP)—A couple that made head lines when their baby was the first among Kosovo refugees bom in the United States has returned home. Mrs. Karaliju gave birth to a boy af ter she and her husband had fled war-tom Kosovo. They named the child Amerikan as a token of appreciation to their adop tive home. J f