Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Rep. Brown used ‘poor judgment’ ■ Lawmaker broke no law's, committee says BY LARRY MARGASAK Associated Press WASHINGTON — The House ethics committee said Thursday that Rep. Cor rine Brown exercised “poor judgment” and created “substantial concerns” in her connections to an African busi nessman. But, the panel said its inabil ity to reach key witnesses led it to con elude that no rules or laws were bro ken. African businessman Foutanga Dit Babani Sissoko had provided lodging to the Florida Democrat in his luxury Mi ami condominium and his chief finan cial officer had given a $50,000 Lexus sedan to Brown’s daughter. “Although the evidence... raised concerns as to whether Rep. Brown may have violated standards of conduct... the subcommittee did pot obtain suffi cient evidence” to “adopt or to prove a statement of alleged violation,” said the panel, whose official name is the Committee on Standards of Official Con duct. “This was due in large part to the fact that key witnesses who had actual knowledge of the events within the sub committee ’s-jurisdiction were beyond the reach of the committee’s subpoe na power and could not be compelled to give testimony.” Despite the lack of proof, the sub committee “does believe that Rep. Brown’s actions and associations in con nection with Sissoko demonstrated, at the least, poor judgment and created substantial concerns regarding both the appearance of impropriety and the rep utation of the House of Representatives,” the committee said. Brown said in a statement, “For more than a year I have looked forward to the day when this matter would be put to rest and I am grateful that this day has finally come. The people of the Third District of Florida have sent me to Wash ington to serve them and I do so proud ly.” Brown, of Jacksonville, is serving her fourth term, winning in 1998 with 55.4 percent of the vote despite the ques tions about her conduct. The ethics probe was formally launched June 9, 1999. Sissoko was famous for giving away cash, jewelry and expensive cars to friends, lawyers and needy strangers. In 1997, he pleaded guilty to paying an il legal gratuity to a U.S. Customs Service officer to allow helicopters to be shipped to Africa. He was sentenced to four months of house arrest and four months in prison and required to pay a $250,000 fine. In the summer of 1997, Brown sought help from other members of Con gress and wrote to Attorney General Janet Reno, urging her to release Sis soko under a law that lets nonviolent criminals be deported before their sentence is completed. The effort failed and Sissoko went to prison. Her daughter, Shantrel, accepted the car a few weeks later. Brown gave her side in a deposition earlier this year — in a lawsuit brought by a Dubai bank that accused the busi nessman of stealing more than $240 mil lion. Racism in American society enduring, new report says Vfc . . by Sonya Ross Associated Press WASHINGTON —The laws of the United States meet the requirements of an international treaty on eliminat ing racism, but American society itself has not achieved that goal, according to a new federal report. In its first-ever analysis of U.S. com pliance with the United Nations Con vention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the U.S. gov ernment admitted that racism remains a stubborn problem despite an ongoing “vigorous” debate about it and efforts over the past 30 years to stamp it out through laws. Researchers cited several incidents over the past decade that have served as sharp reminders of the need to elim inate racism: the 1991 police beating of black motorist Rodney King, the shooting death of African immigrant Amadou Diallo by police in New York, the burning of synagogues, mosques and black churches, the dragging death of James Byrd Jr. in Texas, the shootings at a Jewish cultural center in Los An geles and the discriminatory practices revealed in lawsuits against Denny’s restaurants and the Adams Mark hotel rhain A decided shift in the racial and eth nic composition of the country also is an exacerbating factor, the report said While whites make up a majority of Americans —196.1 million — they are a shrinking percentage of the pop ulation, falling from 75.7 percent in 1991 to 71.9 percent today. During the same period the coun try’s Asian population increased by 46 percent, to 10.9 million; the Hispanic population increased by 40 percent, to 31.4 million; American Indians increased by 16 percent to 2.4 million and the number of blacks rose by 14 percent, to 34.9 million. “The true extent of contemporary racism remains clouded by ignorance as well as differences of perception,” the report said “While most whites do not believe there is much discrimina tion today in American society, most minorities see the opposite in their life experiences.” Civil rights and social advocacy groups said the United States is out of compliance with the U.N. treaty in cer tain areas, such as affirmative action, racial profiling by police and adminis tration of the death penalty. They urged the United Nations to consider Amer ican-style racism a human rights problem. “There have been increasing de mands, especially by developing coun tries, that while the U.S. must contin ue to focus attention on human rights violations abroad, we need to do more to recognize and address situa tions of human rights non-compliance in our own country,” said the report, _ compiled by the World Organization Against Torture USA. The State Department report stopped short of declaring racism in America a human rights concern, say ing the problem is not unique to the United States. “No country or society is com pletely free of racism, discrimination or ethnocentrism,” the report said. “None c;ui claim to have acltieved com plete success in the protection and pro motion of human rights, and, therefore, all should welcome open dialogue and constructive criticism.” The report to the United Nations was compiled by the State Department, with assistance from other federal agen cies, for the U.N. World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, which will be held in South Africa next fall. The United States ratified the dis crimination treaty in October 1994, and was originally to have delivered Thurs day’s report in 1995. The report did not address the de lay in delivering the report, but said the federal government had been engaged in a major review of racial issues since June 1997, when President Clinton launched his national dialogue on race. Clinton promised to write his own re port on racial issues two years ago, but it has not materialized. “As a vibrant, multicultural democ racy, the United States — at all levels of government and civil society — con tinually re-examines and re-evaluates its successes and failures, having the elimination of racism and racial dis crimination as its ultimate goal,” the report said. “The United States looks forward to discussing its experiences and tnis report witn tne committee. State Department researchers said racist practices today are “more subtle and elusive” than those at the height of the civil rights movement, and threat en to undermine the “significant progress” made in race relations since the 1960s. “Therefore, even though U.S. law is in conformity with the obliga tions assumed by the United States un der the treaty, American society has not yet fully achieved the convention’s goals,” the report said. “Additional steps must be taken to promote the impor tant principles embodied in its text.” The report attributed the endurance of racism to several causes: • Persistent attitudes of Americans that are steeped in “a legacy of segre gation, ignorance, stereotyping, dis crimination” toward minorities. • Poor enforcement of anti-dis crimination laws due to lack of re sources. • Rollbacks in affirmative action. “Too many persons do not believe that racial discrimination is a common or active form of mistreatment and are therefore less supportive of race-con scious remedial actions,” the report said. • Economic disadvantage that dis proportionately lumps minorities “at the bottom of the income distribution curve.” • Discrimination against minorities in employment practices, from hiring and salaries to tenure, training, pro motion and general work environments. • Practices that maintain segrega tion in housing despite laws that pro hibit it. • Lack of equal access to business capital and credit markets, technolo gy and technology skills. • Unequal educational opportuni ties due to residential segregation mid “white flight from the public school systems in many huger urban areas.” • Police brutality, racial profiling, “startlingly high incarceration rales” and general discrimination in the crim inal justice system that affect minori ties, particularly toward blacks mid His panics, disproportionately. • Erosion in voting rights because of a tendency by the federal courts to restrict creation of minority voting dis tricts. Rocket launcher might have been used in attack on M16 by Jill Lawless Associated Press LONDON —Attackers who blast ed the headquarters of Britain’s in telligence service MI6 might have used a type of rocket launcher read ily available to the Irish Republican Anny and the hard-line splinter groups which reject a cease-fire, police said Thursday. No one was injured and damage was minimal when the M16 building was struck by what police called a “small missile” Wednesday night. But the attack put Londoners on guard against a renewed spate of terrorist attacks and dealt a furtlier blow to the security of the secretive spy agency. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Alan Fry, head of Scotland Yard’s an ti-terrorist branch, told reporters the missile might have been fired by a rocket launcher from a range of 200 to 500 yards. Similar devices had been found in republican arms caches in North ern Ireland and the Irish Republic and may have been used in attacks in Britain, he said, adding that such weapons devices are freely available from Russia and the former Yugoslavia. Police are keeping an open mind, but “clearly the sort of weapon we believe was used in this attack is known to be in the hands of certain groups,” Fry said. “They will be up permost in our minds.” There had been no warning of the attack, wliich shattered a window and two wall panels on the eighth floor, Fry said. No one had yet claimed re sponsibility. Earlier, as police began searching for evidence on the streets, river and railway lines around the mod ernist building on the Thames in cen tral London, Fry uiged vigilance against “a genuine tlireat of terrorism in Lon don.” Police said attackers struck around 9:45 p.m. at the MI6 building, hitting the exterior of the eighth floor, near the top of the building. They would not speculate on whether the missile had been launched from the river or from land. Fiy said the projectile did not appear to have been a mortar shell because he would have expected more substantial dam age. “I heard two large bangs,” said Sridharan Baiakrishnan, an employ ee at a gas station behind the MI6. “It was very loud and hurt my ears. Then I saw smoke coming from the MI6 building.” James Trott, who was crossing Vauxhall Bridge in a minibus when he heard the noise, reported seeing shattered glass littering the ground on the Thames side of the building. “You’re terrified when that sort of tiling happens because you think there might be something else,” he said. Police sealed off roads around the area, and early train service to and from nearby Waterloo station, in cluding the Eurostar service to Paris and Brussels, were also canceled Thursday, causing delays for thou sands of commuters. Rail operators said at lunchtime that services were gradually being reinstated. The IRA has observed a cease-fire since 1997. but dissidents within the ranks are believed to be responsible for a number of explosions in North ern Ireland and England in recent months. The distinctive cream and green MI6 headquarters was featured in the Latest James Bond movie, “The World Is Not Enough,” and in one scene was shown being blown up by a terrorist bomb. The high-tech building bristles with security features, including an extensive closed-circuit television system and bomb- and bulletproof walls and windows. Red Cross increases aid to Southeast Asia flood victims BY CHRIS DECHERD Associated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia —1The death toll from floods in Southeast Asia reached 235 on Thursday as the Red Cross issued a fresh appeal for emer gency aid in Cambodia, saying the sit uation was worse than originally thought. The agency has nearly doubled its estimate of immediate relief needs to $2.23 million to provide kits of basic household items for the 10,000 most vulnerable families in Cambodia and hygiene kits to 100,000 other fami lies — about one-third of those affect ed. “With many weeks remaining be fore the traditional flooding season conies to an end, the current floods may well prove to be the most devas tating for 30 years,” the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a report to aid donors. A huge swathe of Southeast Asia has suffered as the Mekong river and its tributaries that wind through Thai land, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam have turned to torrents by persistent heavy rains. “The floods this year arc not nor mal. The destruction ... has ruined the progress of the government in our fight against poverty,” Prime Minister Hun Sen said. Relief agencies and governments have reported that 4.5 million people have lost their homes, belongings, land, livestock or relatives. The death toll Flooding seepages Philippines find site where American hostages were held, spokesman says by Jim Gomez Associated Press JOLO, Philippines — Philippine troops located the area on a remote island where Muslim rebels were be lieved to be holding an American hostage and moved in on the site Thursday, a presidential spokesman said. The jungle assault on the sepa ratist Abu Sayyaf rebels on the south ern island of Jolo began in the after noon, and Ricardo Puno said military officials believe “there are hopeful and promising signs that they may be able to get something accomplished in the very, very near future.” Jeffrey Schilling, from Oakland, Gtlif., was among 19 hostages the Abu Sayyaf held on the run across Jolo last weekend after the military began a major mission to rescue the captives. On Thursday, a radio station broadcast the first interview with Schilling since the rescue assault began Saturday. In the interview, con ducted by satellite telephone, he appealed to the Philippine govern ment to halt the mission and resume negotiations. “I’m still alive,” Jeffrey Schilling said. “I’m fine.” The interview, conducted by the Radio Mindanao Network, was the first confirmation that Schilling was alive. In it, he said many civilians were being hurt by the assault, creating more support for the rebels. “I am appealing to negotiators to talk to the U.S. government and have the operations immediately ceased, the negotiations continue,” he said. Government officials believed Schilling was being controlled. “I think Mr. Sabaya was telling hint what to say and Mr. Sabaya was using him for his own propaganda ef forts,” said Puno, the presidential spokesman. In California, Schilling’s mother, Carol, said she was relieved he was alive. “I am very worried about his safe ty right now,” she said. “I hope that he is released soon.” A faction of the Abu Sayyaf grabbed Schilling, a Muslim convert, three weeks ago when he visited a rebel camp with his Filipino wife and reportedly angered rebel leaders dur ing an argument about religion and politics. A separate faction led by Ghalib “Robot” Andang is believed to be Hostages seepages News Briefs ■ Moi i evidence: Proble?ns with tires detected years ago WASHING ON (AP) — Officials from Bridge tone/Firestone Inc. and Ford Motor Co. faced questions from lawmakers over new evidence that problems were detected four years ago with tires now linked to 103 U.S. traf fic deaths. Congressional investigators say they have uncovered results from tests conducted by Bridgestone/Firestone in 1996 that indicated there were prob lems with the tires at a plant in De catur, 111., long before last month’s massive tire recall. Bridgestone/Firestone officials an nounced at a hearing last week they had narrowed the source of a problem down to some unspecified manufactur ing process at the Decatur plant. But a spokesman for the lead House investigator, Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., said Wednesday there is data suggesting the company should have known four years ago. ■ Bush outspends Gore WASHINGTON (AP) — As he has done throughout the election season, Geoige W. Bush spent almost twice as much as A1 Gore last month. The difference this time is that both Bush and Gore have the same amount of money to spend for the fall campaign. Bush spent $21.5 million, Federal Election Commission records show, while Gore spent $11.3 million. Both candidates spent more than half of their funds on television com mercials— Bush $12.1 million to Gore’s $9 million. The two major party presidential candidates each received $67.6 million in taxpayer funds to take from the nominating conventions to Election Day and cannot raise any private funds except for certain legal and accounting expenses. ■ U.S. basketball team wins in closest Olympic game ever SYDNEY,Australia (AP)—What once seemed impossible nearly happened In what was by far the closest basketball game a U.S. team has played using NBA players, the Americans led by on ly five points in the final minute before defeating Lithuania 85-76 Thursday. In Barcelona, no one came witliin 32 points of them; in Atlanta, no one got closer than 22. On this day, they could have lost. It was that close. “If it was going to happen, it would have been tonight,” Lithuania assistant coach Donn Nelson said “The stars were all lined up tonight. We had it right where we wanted it.” Instead, Lithuania will have to settle for being the first team ever to hold a second-half lead against one of the so called “Dream Teams.” ■ Kin vauey i-ever kills 78 people in Yemen SAN‘A, Yemen (AP) — Yemen ap pealed for outside help Wednesday to fight an outbreak of die Rift V<Uley Fever, a mosquito-borne virus that hits killed 78 people so far this week. A Yemeni official said 50 people died in Wiili Mour. a valley in northern Yemen that runs to the Saudi border, while 28 others died in the northern province of Hajjah. The virus is transmitted from live stock to humans by mosquitoes and caus es diarrhea, nausea, and internal bleed ing that can result in death.