Voice of America, 99-11-11

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From: The Voice of America <gopher://gopher.voa.gov>

CONTENTS

[01] CLINTON - KOSOVO (L) BY DEBORAH TATE (WHITE HOUSE)

[02] CLINTON - KOSOVO (L-UPDATE) BY DEBORAH TATE (WHITE HOUSE)

[03] NATO / KOSOVO (L ONLY) BY STEFAN BOS (BUDAPEST)

[04] TURKEY'S VIRTUE PARTY BY YONCA POYRAZ DOGAN (WASHINGTON)

[05] YUGO WAR CRIMES (L ONLY) BY LAUREN COMITEAU (THE HAGUE)

[06] ITALY / BUILDING COLLAPSE (L ONLY) BY SABINA CASTELFRANCO (ROME)

[07] NY ECON WRAP (S & L) BY LARRY FREUND (NEW YORK)

[08] THURSDAY'S EDITORIALS BY RALPH ECKHARDT (WASHINGTON)

[01] CLINTON - KOSOVO (L) BY DEBORAH TATE (WHITE HOUSE)

INTRO: President Clinton will travel to Kosovo during his upcoming trip to Europe. Correspondent Deborah Tate reports from the White House. Text: Mr. Clinton is expected to make a brief visit to Kosovo at the end of his 10-day European tour. Administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say the president will use the stop - expected to last just a matter of hours - to praise the work of U-S peacekeepers there and to address tensions between Serbs and Kosovar Albanians. It is a visit the president has been eager to make following the U-S - led NATO bombing campaign over Yugoslavia earlier this year, which helped force Serb troops out of Kosovo, In a speech commemorating Veteran's Day Thursday at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, Mr. Clinton paid tribute to the US forces that took part in the mission.

[02] CLINTON - KOSOVO (L-UPDATE) BY DEBORAH TATE (WHITE HOUSE)

INTRO: President Clinton has announced that he will travel to Kosovo during his trip to Europe, which begins next week. Correspondent Deborah Tate reports from the White House.

TEXT: Five months after the U-S - led Nato bombing campaign forced Serb troops from Kosovo, President Clinton will make his first trip to the Yugoslav province to assess how peace is taking hold. Administration officials say Mr. Clinton will make a brief visit to a U-S military facility in Kosovo at the end of his 10-day European tour. The President, confirming the trip in an appearance before reporters, says he wants to thank U-S peacekeeping troops, and assess the progress toward peace and humanitarian needs -- particularly the need for warm shelter for Kosovars who returned home after the conflict and are now living in tents.

[03] NATO / KOSOVO (L ONLY) BY STEFAN BOS (BUDAPEST)

INTRO: NATO Secretary-General George Robertson has acknowledged that the number of Albanians killed in Kosovo by Serbian forces may be lower than previously reported. Stefan Bos reports Mr. Robertson made the comment to reporters after talks in Budapest with Hungarian officials.

TEXT: Mr. Robertson said he realizes that the number of people killed in Kosovo by Serbs may be much lower than previously thought. The NATO leader cited a United Nations report showing that investigators so far have discovered just over 21-hundred bodies in mass graves scattered across the province. During the air campaign against Serb targets in Yugoslavia, NATO and U-N officials spoke about at least 10-thousand deaths. But Mr. Robertson said that despite the lower number, NATO military action against Serb forces was justified.

[04] TURKEY'S VIRTUE PARTY BY YONCA POYRAZ DOGAN (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: Nearly two years ago, Turkey imposed a ban on its Welfare Party, an Islamist group that held the largest bloc of seats in parliament. The Turkish Supreme Court said the Welfare Party's support for Islamic teachings in the formation of laws violated the constitution, which mandates a secular political system in Turkey. Welfare was reborn in the name of the Virtue Party [Fazilet in Turkish], and the new group now faces a similar challenge to its existence. In advance of a court decision (due in January) that could shut down the party, members of the Virtue Party visited the United States recently [Oct. 30-Nov. 7] to stress their moderate policies. V-O-A's Yonca Poyraz Dogan [pron: `YUN-dzha `POY-rahz doe-`AHN] talked to members of the Virtue group and analysts of Turkish affairs, and has this report.

TEXT: Recai Kutan, the leader of the Virtue Party, said his group came to the United States to explain clearly what they stand for. He said the party has been misrepresented. During his week-long trip, Mr. Kutan emphasized the party's commitment to democracy and Western-style secularism in Turkey. The founding director of the Center for Muslim- Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, John Esposito, met with the Virtue Party delegation in Washington. Professor Esposito says the party appears to be committed to democratic principles.

[05] YUGO WAR CRIMES (L ONLY) BY LAUREN COMITEAU (THE HAGUE)

INTRO: Judges at the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal have sentenced a Bosnian Serb to 25 years in prison. Former cafe owner Dusko Tadic had already been handed a 20-year sentence for persecuting and beating non- Serbs in northwestern Bosnia seven years ago. But as Lauren Comiteau reports from The Hague, his sentenced was increased by five years after he was found guilty of additional murders.

TEXT: Dusko Tadic's defense lawyer says he has never seen his client so close to tears in the courtroom where he has been in and out of legal proceedings for more than three years. The 25-year sentence Tadic was handed Thursday is for five additional killings of which he was originally acquitted. In determining his sentence, Presiding Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald says it was held against him that he knew the crimes he was committing were part of a systematic attack against non-Serbs. But in his favor, said Judge McDonald, was the report on his behavior in prison.

[06] ITALY / BUILDING COLLAPSE (L ONLY) BY SABINA CASTELFRANCO (ROME)

INTRO: In Italy, emergency workers are searching frantically for survivors in the ruins of a six-story apartment building that collapsed at dawn in the southern city of Foggia. Sabina Castelfranco in Rome reports the mayor of Foggia suspects bad construction caused the disaster, which has killed at least 11 people.

TEXT: Many of the residents of the collapsed building are still trapped under the rubble. Ambulances are at the scene of the disaster and rescue workers are working as fast as they can to try to dig out survivors from under the mountain of rubble. More than 70 people are estimated to have been in their apartments when the tragedy occurred and authorities fear the death toll could rise significantly. Residents had little warning. It was very early in the morning when one family heard strange creaking noises, then saw a hole open up in their kitchen floor, and ran for their lives. They attempted to warn their neighbors by ringing their doorbells but in vain. There was no time to explain. The building collapsed in a few minutes. Authorities say people are still alive under the ruins. Rescuers are in contact with one boy stuck under the rubble and are fighting against time in the hope of bringing him out alive. The Italian prime minister and interior minister immediately traveled to the site of the disaster. They then visited the injured in hospitals, including two young children. Pope John Paul sent his condolences to the families of the victims. It is still not clear what caused the tragedy. The building was relatively new, dating to 1971. The city's mayor has said he suspects the building collapsed due to structural problems. And he said he is planning the evacuation of a neighboring apartment block constructed around the same time. This type of tragedy is not new to Italy. Less than one year ago, a similar incident occurred in Rome, where a building collapsed because of structural failure, killing 27 people. (Signed)
NEB/SC/JWH/KL 11-Nov-1999 11:30 AM EDT (11-Nov-1999 1630 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

[07] NY ECON WRAP (S & L) BY LARRY FREUND (NEW YORK)

INTRO: Stock prices in the United States were mixed today (Thursday), as the Nasdaq index continued to make impressive gains, in heavy trading. V-O-A correspondent Larry Freund reports from New York.

TEXT: The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down almost three points, closing at 10-thousand-595. The Standard and Poor's 500 index was up eight points. And the Nasdaq composite index was up more than one percent, the ninth record high set by the technology- heavy index in the past 10 sessions. The bond market was closed because of the Federal Veterans Day holiday. Analysts say traders continue to be apprehensive in advance of the meeting next week by the policy-setting committee of the Federal Reserve Board, the U-S central bank. There is concern that the Federal Reserve - the Fed - will raise interest rates to slow the U-S economy and control inflation. The experts are divided over the likelihood of a rate increase.

[08] THURSDAY'S EDITORIALS BY RALPH ECKHARDT (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: With the World Trade Organization summit in Seattle approaching, U-S newspapers continue to look at trade issues and the world economy in their editorial pages. Also drawing comment are an Israeli arms sale to China and Cuba's status in the war on drugs. This is also the Veterans Day holiday in the United States, the anniversary of the armistice that ended World War One, and editorial-page editors want to remember those who have served their country. Now, here is ______________ with a closer look and some excerpts in today's editorial digest.

TEXT: China has been working to be admitted to the World Trade Organization in time for the summit later this month. The Washington Post says the issue is not whether China belongs in the organization, it is whether China's communist, and what it calls corrupt, system will reshape the W-T-O.

VOICE: The World Trade Organization ... both sets rules and adjudicates disputes. China is one of the world's largest trading economies... To have it on the outside weakens the W-T-O. Bringing it inside the organization could influence China to more often follow rules, honor contracts, and in other ways speed the transition from an arbitrary, party-run economy to a system of laws and openness. ... What is to lose? The answer is potentially the W-T-O itself. ... The trade organization ... is young and still fragile. ... Many rules remain to be written, such as in areas where trade intersects with antitrust law, government subsidies or labor and environmental protection. What would be the effect of adding an influential new member to help draft these rules, one whose economy operates according to principles inimical to those of the W-T-O?

TEXT: The New York Times marks a decade of economic transition for former Communist countries in Europe. The newspaper says in the 10 years since the Berlin Wall fell, the world has learned some important lessons about reform, including why it works in some places and not in others.

VOICE: ... However remarkable the march of democracy has been across Eastern and Central Europe, economic progress has been uneven and often disappointing. // OPT // Poland's economy is 20-percent larger than it was a decade ago. The economies of Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary are about as large today as they were in 1989. But some of the former Soviet republics continue to shrink, leaving many of their people desperately poor. Ukraine's output is 60 percent below its 1989 level; Russia's economy has been cut in about half. Incomes in Kazakhstan and Moldova are falling from already low levels. // END OPT // These disparities can be traced to a handful of important factors. ... Roughly speaking, the closer a country is to Western Europe, the faster it has grown. ... Many countries that have adopted text-book versions of liberalization and stabilization are growing, even if only modestly. ... Countries like Hungary and Estonia that have created safe havens for foreign and domestic companies are growing. Countries like Russia that have imposed confiscatory taxes or tolerated organized crime are fighting to keep their economies afloat.

TEXT: In a view of another issue involving China, the Boston Globe says Israel's sale of advanced AWACS [pron: `AY-wax] radar technology to China may upset the delicate balance of military power in Asia.

VOICE: ... The principal effect will be to diminish the considerable superiority that Taiwan's air force has enjoyed over its mainland counterpart. ... [and] may enhance the mainland's ability to conduct offensive operations against Taiwan. The first ... plane ... with AWACS technology will be delivered before the end of this year, and three more ... when Beijing is better able to pay for them. The cost is 250-million dollars per plane. ... Beijing's inability or unwillingness to spend the money required for a high-tech modernization of its military remains the best guarantee against a projection of main-land China's power across the Taiwan Straits or elsewhere in Asia.

TEXT: In an issue closer to U-S shores, the Washington Times newspaper criticizes the Clinton administration for not keeping a closer eye on alleged illegal drug activity in Cuba.

VOICE: The White House has decided to keep Cuba off the list of major drug transit countries. The countries included on the "majors" list are subject to a yearly review of their drug- fighting efforts -- a process known as certification. By not being included, Cuba's counter-narcotics efforts will not come under that level of close scrutiny. As the Clinton administration well knows, including Cuba on the "majors" list does not mean that Cuba has been tried and convicted. It would merely put the Castro regime under close review, which White House officials, keen to normalize relations, are trying to avoid.

TEXT: Finally, the Houston Chronicle wants its readers to observe today's U-S Veterans Day holiday by giving heartfelt thanks to the men and women who have served in the armed forces.

VOICE: Some were professionals, but most were citizen soldiers or sailors or airmen. Few had any interest in or intention of making the military a career. But when their nation called, they served, and with honor. ... Historian Stephen E. Ambrose observed ... the American citizen soldiers knew the difference between right and wrong, and they did not want to live in a world in which wrong prevailed. So they fought, and won, and we all of us, living and yet to be born, must be forever profoundly grateful.

TEXT: That concludes a small sample of U-S newspaper editorial comment for Thursday, November 11th, 1999.
NEB/RAE/WTW 11-Nov-1999 12:04 PM EDT (11-Nov-1999 1704 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

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