Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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©he (Bamecodt Schools from page 7 ulated everything front on-campus sod machines, company logos on athleti scoreboards, television ads on Channe One or commercial stations shown i classrooms, to corporate gifts an grants such as McDonald’s poster con tests and Pizza Hut’s Book-It program Currents laws were weak, varied tin offered little guidance to schools boards superintendents and principals, the re port said. Company representative^ have de fended their contracts and sponsor ships, saying they provide valuable re sources and a high-profile commitmen to an embattled public education system Channel One, a daily news broadcas that offers free television sets and satel lite dishes to schools reserving reserve time for students to watch the show, earns high ratings from teachers, says Eileen _ Murphy, spokeswoman for Primedia, Channel One’s parent company. 1 She said ads on the show are approved : by a committee of educators. “We have 1 never had a complaint, ” she said. 1 Critics of these commercial arrange 1 ments wonder about the role and influ ence of private entities on public educa tion. 1 “Even though predatory commer > cial advertising has been growing for years, ' few state legislatures and school boards have done their job to protect children,” said Gary Ruskin, director of Commer cial Alert, a Washington consumer watch ' dog group started two years ago by Green 1 Party presidential hopeful Ralph Nader. t Protests from page 7 Some truckers brought their protest almost to the doorstep of Buckingham Palace. Scores of trucks were stopped by police on a central London street that passes near the palace gardens, as the drivers tried to mass their trucks close to the Parliament. Blair insisted he would not be pres sured into lowering fuel taxes, saying that would shatter his government’s credibility. “Whatever the protesters do ... it cannot be right to try to force a change in policy by these means,” he told a nationally televised news conference, his second in as many days. “We will not be intimidated. We will not give in to violence, to block ades, to threats.” In Germany, where fuel taxes are slated to rise at the start of the year, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was tar geted by angry protesters when he vis ited the northern city of Schwerin. They blockaded the city center with trucks and tractors as the chan cellor arrived by helicopter. Schroeder warned that the protests would only hurt Germany’s economy. “Drop this dangerous game, be cause it could threaten the growth and employment prospects we currently have,” he said. But Germany’s national truckers association called for new protests lat er this month to slow traffic on the au tobahn. Belgian Prime Minister Guy Ver hofsladt also refused demands Wednes day for a fuel-tax rebate for the truck ing industry, even as protests expand ed in Belgium to major freeways anc border points. In Britain, the Petrol Retailers’As sociation reported that 9,000 filling stations were without fuel, with little relief in sight. On Wednesday, police escorted dozens of fuel tankers pasi protesters’ barricades, but progress or restoring deliveries was uneven. Some tanker drivers refused to cross protest lines, and there were two re ports of bricks being thrown through the windshields of tanker trucks. “Our decision is we are fighting a battle which is going well. If we leave now then everything we have done will be for nothing,” said Mark Williams, a spokesman for the protesters. Blair has been granted emeigency powers to cope with the crisis, but has made it clear he expects the oil com panies to take steps of their own to re store fuel supplies. The prime minister met Wednes day with Malcolm Brinder, chief ex ecutive of Shell, and John Manzoni, head of British Petroleum. Despite the widespread problems caused by the protests, a poll com missioned by the British Broadcasting Corp. suggested that nearly 80 percent of those surveyed supported the ac tions, and 90 percent wanted cuts in the fuel tax. But the survey of 514 adults — conducted by telephone Tuesday evening, with a margin of error of 4 percentage points — also suggested that public backing for protests would drop dramatically if essential services were hit. Clinton to aid poor nations by Anne Gearan Associated Press WASHINGTON— President Clinton said Thurs day the United States has a moral responsibility to help well-meaning poor nations get out from un der crushing debt, and asked religious leaders to help him lobby Congress for more money. “If you want people to oiganize themselves well, run themselves well, and build a future, we’ve got to do this,” Clinton said at his annual White House breakfast gathering for leaders from all faiths. Clinton listed Latin American and African coun tries where he said responsible-governments are making good-faith efforts to improve lives but face a debt burden laigely incurred by previous, corrupt regimes. The debt payments rob those countries of cap ital that could be invested in education, health care and other improvements, Clinton said, echoing an argument made by leaders of many poor nations along with Pope John Paul II. “I think it is a moral issue,” Clinton said. “How can we sit here on the biggest mountain of wealth we have ever accumulated, that any nation in all of human history has ever accumulated, and not” share that wealth? he continued. “We’re not just throwing money away. We’re only giving this money to people who not only promise to, but prove they are able to, take all the savings and invest it in the human needs of their people.” Congres^ largely approved Clinton’s request for money to forgive some debts directly owed to the United States. Congress balked at underwriting loans funded by several countries through the In ternational Monetary Fund or other international lenders. In May, Uganda became the first poor coun try to qualify for millions of dollars in debt relief under a program called the “highly indebted poor countries” initiative. Clinton and leaders of other rich nations sup port the debt relief program for 40 of the world’s poorest nations while critics say the program is slow and doesn’t provide enough relief. Rich nations’ response to international debt was a theme of protests during last year’s World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle and at this year’s International Monetary Fund and World Bank gath ering in Washington. Clinton noted such dissent and said he “does n’t buy it.” “I think that it is very much in the interest of America to have big, large-scale debt relief,” Clin ton said, “if the countries that get the relief are com mitted to, and held accountable to, good governance and using the money not to build up military power, but to invest in the human needs of their people.” In the past two years, Clinton has used the re ligious leaders’ forum to apologize for his conduct in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, to which he ap parently made an oblique reference Thursday. He greeted the crowd on behalf of his wife, New York Senate candidate Hillary Rodham Clin ton, “who called me early this morning to ask what I was going to say.” He also sent tidings from Vice President A1 Gore, the Democratic nominee for president, and Gore’s wife, Tipper. “As you know, the three of them are otherwise occupied, but they need your prayers maybe even more than I do,” Clinton said to laughter. Gore from page 1 going to approach it with respect to any body concerned, based on the evidence and the law.” One of the call sheets to Fowler sug gested language he could use in a call to the lawyer. “Sorry you missed the vice presi dent,” states the call sheet. Prior to the preparation of the Dec. 13, 1995 call sheet, another document shows Gore, was asked to call Umphrey and solicit a donation. “Republicans and others tave had this material for more than 1,000 days and no one thought this was interest ing until 1,000 hours before the elec tion,” said Gore spokesman Jim Kennedy. A Gore aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the vice president did not make the call. The aide dismissed the notion of any improper connec tion between the vice president and Umphrey’s donations. Umphrey is one of five trial lawyers at the center of a legal dispute be tween the Republican Texas attorney general and attorneys who represented the state in litigation to recover mon ey from tobacco companies for health care costs. The trial lawyers are receiving $3.3 billion for the tobacco case. Texas At torney General John Cornyn is chal lenging them and seeking to question five lawyers, including Umphrey, who negotiated the state’s tobacco settle ment. A message left at Umphrey’s law firm in Beaumont, Texas, was not re turned. Bill Gates gives time, money to help fight disease BY NEELESH MlSRA Associated Press NEW DELHI, India - Bill Gates, on a 24-hour trip to India, gave polio vaccine to squealing children at a clinic Thursday and said he was using more of his wealth to fight disease in developing counties. After arriving in a Mercedes at the polio clinic, which was ringed with dozens of security guards, the Microsoft chairman and world’s richest man squeezed drops from a small bottle into the mouths of 30 children and held their heads as they shook and yanked at their mothers. “They don’t like the taste, I don’t think. Does it taste funny?” Gates said as he fed the medicine and an infant squirmed in his mother’s arms. He sat on an old, wood en bench in a doctor’s room, wearing blue trousers and a light blue shirt with small checks. “ Very cute, ” he said of some children. “They really got dressed up for this. You all look very nice this morning. ” A volunteer translated the sentences to the women and children, all front poor families. India has been home to almost half the polio cases in the world, but health offi cials say the disease is now set to be wiped out in the country. Most of the mothers at the clinic had never heard of Gates, who is on a day long visit to India to join celebrations marking 10 years of his company’s opera tions in the country. Later Thursday, Gates announced an alliance with India’s emerging information technology giant, Infosys Technologies, for developing and delivering a portfolio of Infosys business solutions on the Microsoft .Net platform. At the clinic. Gates joined his hands in a traditional Indian greeting and bowed. He inquired about the red mark that married Indian women apply on their foreheads, and asked whether most of the women present in the huge room wore veils in then homes. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has provided a $750 million gift to start a fund to fight diseases, Gates told The Associated Press in an interview. “Of all the money that I am giving away toward health, a lot of it is focused on developing countries.... India features in a lot of the things that we think about do ing,” Gates said. “People probably expect me to focus mostly on giving away computers and stuff, and I do quite a bit of that, but I have decided that what is most important is people having healthy children,” Gates said in the interview. West Nile virus claims eighth victim in Israel by Jack Katzhnell Associated Press JERUSALEM — Anxiety in Israel was growing Thurs day after the West Nile virus killed an eighth victim this summer, and hospital emeigency rooms were crowded with people who feared they had contracted the mosquito-bome disease. In two dozen towns in Israel’s hardest hit coastal plain, residents closed their windows this week as machines belched forth clouds of insecticide mixed with diesel oil to wipe out the mosquitoes. In southern Israel, 3,300 geese were destroyed at a farm after some of the birds died of the disease. There were mi nor outbreaks among geese at other farms but no whole sale slaughter. Most flocks have been vaccinated against the virus, said Dr. Oded Nir, chief veterinarian at the Ministry of Agri culture. “This is not like last year’s outbreak of the virus in New York where they had crows falling out of the sky, ” Nir said. There was little chance the outbreaks in New York and Israel were connected, officials said. The virus was proba bly brought to Israel by wild birds migrating from Europe to Africa, said Dr. Alex Leventhal, the Health Ministry’s director of public health. Concerned by the cases in Israel, neighboring Jordan asked hospitals and clinics throughout the kingdom to no tify the Health Ministry if any cases were detected. Eight people in Israel have died tliis summer, and 120 more have contracted the disease. The latest victim was Nurit Gurwitz, 54, from Rishon Lezion, south of Tel Aviv, who was hospitalized two weeks ago and died Wednes day. Gurwitz’ family was only informed a few hours before her death that she had contracted the illness, said her hus band, Shlonio, suggesting that his wife did not received the proper treatment from the start. The hospital denied the al legations. In a sign of growing anxiety, hospital emeigency rooms were crowded with people with mild influenza who thought they had the West Nile virus, which can be deadly for pa tients with a weak immune system. “We calm them down and send them home, but more keep coming,” said Dr. Motte Ravid, director of internal medicine at a hospiutl in Kfar Sava. Most cases were diagnosed in Israel’s coastal plain, where many migratory birds rest after long flights. None were in Jerusalem, which is in the hills. “The birds don't stop in Jerusalem and there are fewer mosquitoes there,” Leventhal said. He said the number of cases does not in itself consti tute tm epidemic, but that nobody could tell how many mild or undetected cases there were. “It could be the tip of the icebeig,”he said. The virus has been known in Israel for decades. Out breaks were recorded among Israeli soldiers in the 1950s and 1980s. Fifteen percent of Israelis have antibodies against the virus, indicating they had it in the past. All the wild birds tested in Israel’s national parks cany the antibodies, Lev enthal said. west Nile virus was nrst laenunea in me west Nile Dis trict of Uganda in 1937 and is present in Eist Africa, south west Asia and Europe. In humans, it can cause fatal en cephalitis — an inflammation of the spinal cord and brain. Last year, the first U.S. case of West Nile virus was re ported in late August, and a total of seven people in the New York City area died and 62 were infected There have been no deaths in the United States this year. The Israeli Health Ministry has urged local authori ties to spray stagnant water, drains and sewers with insec ticide and asked the public to use insect repellent. The government has been accused of not reacting quick ly enough to the outbreak. The Association of Local Au thorities demanded a free hand to use the dusting machines in every city, but the Environment Ministry refused and dusting could only be used in areas where people or ani mals had contracted the disease. “We have no objection to its being used in orchards or citnis groves, but it can cause distress to asthma suffer ers and irritation to the skin,” said Yiftali Kramer, spokesman of the Environment Ministry. “Therefore we have strict criteria for its use in residential areas.” Violence from page 7 FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky said he had asked his staff to look at whether the agency could sue entertainment companies for child-targeted market ing of material that industry rating sys tems say may be unsuitable for kids. “We’re not going to sit around for ever and wait for self-regulation, but given a period of time, let’s see if we can find some progress there,” Pitof sky said. “If we don’t, then I think we ought to go to law enforcement and possibly legislation.” Valenti and other entertainment ex ecutives said any government crack down would be unwelcome and un constitutional. While Valenti Dlecbed that Hollywood would stop targeting kids with ads for violent, R-rated movies, he balked at suggestions that the 32 year-old movie rating system should be changed or enhanced. “I’d be reluctant to get rid of some thing that works for some mystical, one size-fits-all proposal,” Valenti said. The focus on media and the chil dren was to continue Thursday, when federal regulators were scheduled to devise new rules covering the obliga tions of TV networks to youths. Broad casters currently are required to de liver three hours of educational children’s shows each week and must abide by certain advertising safeguards, in exchange for free use of the nation’s The Federal Communications Com mission was expected to expand that requirement, since broadcasters have been given additional digital channels worth tens of billions of dollars. The FCC also plans October hearings to ex amine the amount of sex and violence on television networks. Music industry representatives at Wednesday’s Senate hearing strongly rejected suggestions that they should go beyond their current rating system, which warns parents of “explicit lyrics” but does not include any more infor mation. “We don’t have pictures. We don’t have nudity. We don’t have blood,” Goldbeig said. “All we have is words, and all we can do is label the curse words. ” Sen. John Breaux, D-La., suggest ed that companies should lose their tax exemption for marketing that taigets an audience younger than that recom mended by voluntary industry rating systems. But Hilary Rosen, president of the Recording Industry Association, said that would just cause the industry to drop till of its rating systems rather than risk being penalized. Russia calls for tighter media laws VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW — In language reminis cent of Soviet times, a policy document signed by President Vladimir Putin warns of “information weapons” al legedly used against Russia by foreign powers and calls for tighter controls over media. The document, called the Infor mation Security Doctrine of the Russ ian Federation, immediately came under criticism from journalists and me dia rights advocates. “Putin is being driven by his KGB instincts,” Ruslan Gorevoi, an activist with the Glasnost Defense Foundation, said in reference to Putin s 16-year ca reer in the Soviet secret police. “Now he wants to apply his KGB colonel’s skills to the president’s job.” The document, signed by Putin on Monday and posted on the govern ment’s Web site, outlines a long list of threats to the government and public in the sphere of media and information. Subversive activity by foreigners ranks high. It accuses unidentified foreign pow ers of plotting to “infringe on Russia’s interests in the global information space” and even working out concepts of “in formation wars” with the aim of “ham pering the normal operation of the in formation and telecommunication systems.” The document claims that foreign media oiganizations are trying to squeeze Russians out of the news market and suggests that their activities in Russia be checked more carefully. The document was vaguely word ed and doesn’t have legal force, but was regarded by press freedom advocates as a disturbing sign of the thinking preva lent in the government and its bu reaucracies, whose actions can be more important than legislation. Gorevoi and others voiced fear that the document may signal the start of a broad attack on media freedom, in volving tighter licensing and tax rules for the independent media. “Putin wants to feed people with good news to make them feel happy — a new edition of the Soviet infomiation cocoon, which isolated the nation from the rest of the world,” Gorevoi said. “As for the non-government me dia, we may only offer them infomia tion and wait for their interpretation,” he was quoted as saying. Two high-profile cases this year have raised concerns about media free dom in Russia. Radio Liberty corre spondent Andrei Babitsky was detained in what was widely seen as retribu tion for critical reporting on Chechnya, while media magnate Vladimir Gusinsky was jailed for several days on corruption chaiges.