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/// Merry act ///

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[05] RUSSIA / CHECHNYA (S) BY EVE CONANT (MOSCOW)

INTRO: Russian troops continue to battle for control of Chechnya as federal casualty figures rise. Moscow officials say they may reconsider recent measures that called for all Chechen males between the ages of ten and 60 years to be blocked from travelling to and from the breakaway republic. V-O-A Moscow correspondent Eve Conant reports.

TEXT: Russian forces are on high alert, digging trenches outside Russian-controlled towns to fend off possible counterattacks. But Moscow officials say they will re-examine the order blocking Chechen civilian males from entering or leaving the war zone. More than thirty federal soldiers were reported killed in recent clashes. Russia's military later denied the high figures. Russian news agencies quote General Anatoly Kvashnin, as saying the capital, Grozny, would soon be "liberated" from Chechen fighters. He said troops were advancing step-by-step to limit casualties because, in his words, "it would be madness to rush in." Russian news agencies say troops are shelling Grozny and even fighting rebels from trenches in some neighborhoods. Clashes were also reported on the outskirts of Russian-controlled Gudermes. (Signed)
NEB/EC/GE 14-Jan-2000 05:26 AM EDT (14-Jan-2000 1026 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

[06] UNHCR / CHECHNYA (L ONLY) BY LISA SCHLEIN (GENEVA)

INTRO: The United Nations Refugee Agency, U-N-H- C-R, reports a sharp drop in the number of refugees returning to Russian-controlled safe areas in Chechnya from the neighboring Republic of Ingushetia. Lisa Schlein in Geneva has more.

TEXT: The U-N Refugee Agency reports 300 refugees returned from Ingushetia to Chechnya on Thursday. This is a significant drop from previous days when daily returns reached more than one-thousand-500.

U-N-H-C-R spokesman, Ron Redmond attributes the decline to the resumption of fighting and artillery bombardment around Gudermes and Shali. He says both of these Chechen towns had previously been regarded as relatively quiet and safe. Mr. Redmond says another reason for the decline is that Chechen men considered to be of fighting age had not been allowed to cross the border for several days. And he says the agency is concerned by recent statements by Russian military commanders that men going in and out of Chechnya will not be considered refugees.

[07] NY ECON WRAP (S&L) BY ELAINE JOHANSON (NEW YORK)

INTRO: Stock prices in the United States were up strongly today (Friday). Good corporate earnings reports and some benign inflation news gave Wall Street a rally before its three-day weekend. The U-S stock market is closed Monday for the Martin Luther King holiday. VOA correspondent Elaine Johanson has more from New York:

TEXT: The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 140 points, just over one percent, closing at a record 11- thousand-722. The Industrials gained 200 points for the week. The Standard and Poor's 500 index rose 15 points. And the technology-weighted Nasdaq composite gained two and three-quarters percent. Stocks rose on the strength of a strong earnings report from leading computer-chip maker Intel, which beat analysts' expectations for the first time in four quarters. Also, softer-than-expected inflation numbers on consumer prices eased concerns that the U-S central bank will adopt an aggressive policy on interest rates.

[08] FRIDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: The conflict between the federal government and Florida's anti-Castro Cuban community over the fate of a Cuban refugee boy continues to attract the attention of many editorial writers in the U-S press. Other commentaries deal with the fate of former Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet; others focus on the latest development in the case of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. There are also comment on the Russian military assault on Chechnya; a new U-S aid plan to help Colombia combat narco trafficking; and U-S domestic politics. Now, here is ___________ with a closer look and some excerpts in today's Editorial Digest.

TEXT: The six year old Cuban boy, Elian Gonzalez, pulled from the sea off Florida, after his mother and other shipmates drowned while trying to flee Cuba, is still drawing editorial comment. The U-S government has told a Florida State court judge she does not have jurisdiction over the case, and plans to send him back to his father in Cuba proceed. In New Jersey's capital, The [Trenton] Times says, "Let the law prevail."

VOICE: Attorney General Janet Reno is right. The controversial case . is an immigration matter that must be settled in federal court. The Immigration and Naturalization Service has ordered that he be returned to his father . who wants him back and is, from all evidence, a suitable parent. Elian's U-S relatives have a right to challenge that decision, but not in Florida's state courts.

TEXT: USA Today, the national daily published in Arlington, Virginia, outside Washington, is upset at what it says is the "exploiting" of the boy's plight by everyone from Fidel Castro to U-S politicians.

VOICE: The key element in determining the future of six-year-old Elian Gonzalez ought not to be political. It ought to be what is best for the child. . [However] as it stands, [Fidel] Castro is the sure winner. If Elian stays, [Mr.] Castro can call it a kidnapping. If the child is returned, he can call it a victory for the "glorious revolution." Either way, south Florida's anti-Castro activists have succeeded in making his point.

TEXT: Still with Latin American affairs, the fate of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who is under house arrest in Britain and was recently ruled too ill to stand trial for alleged crimes during his rule, elicits this from today's San Francisco Chronicle.

VOICE: The decision . sounds like a victory for the former strongman and his bloody regime. But despots who prey on their people and then hide in foreign countries should hardly celebrate. . The 84-year-old caudillo [Latin American slang for a "strongman" leader] will likely be sent back to Chile where several dozen lawsuits await, charging him with directing a campaign of torture, death and disappearance that began in 1973. . [Mr.] Pinochet lost an important court case last year when British judges said that as head of state, past or present, he was not immune from human rights charges. A major message was sounded: There is no safe harbor . afforded to a leader facing human rights charges.

TEXT: To Turkey next, where the fate of another, sometimes ruthless leader, Abdullah Ocalan, head of Turkey's feared P-K-K guerrillas, is facing a death sentence for terrorism. Word of its postponement, suggests today's Chicago Tribune, is the right move for the Ankara government.

VOICE: Despite the dissent and division it engendered, Turkey's decision to delay the execution . was the right one. The move will certainly boost Turkey's chances of being accepted, eventually, into the European Union, a club in which Turkey has long craved membership. It also could lead to reconciliation with Turkey's separatist Kurds and perhaps even an end to that war. . The decision delays an execution for at least a year, while [a]. review proceeds.

TEXT: The New York Times, recognizing that Turkish resentment against the Kurdish guerrillas is strong, points out that other former "terrorist" leaders have made a transition to political leaders, seeking peace.

VOICE: Others . like Yasser Arafat of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Gerry Adams of the Irish Republican Army' political wing, Sinn Fein, have swapped violence for political bargaining and contributed to peacemaking. [Ankara] should give Mr. Ocalan a chance to do the same.

TEXT: Turning to events in this hemisphere, several papers, including the Miami Herald, are pleased with the latest U-S offer of additional aid to Colombia, to counter narcotics trafficking.

VOICE: . it is heartening to see the Clinton administration's substantive bet for Colombia: a proposed one-point three billion dollar increase in U- S aid over two years. Critics may quibble with the finer points of the . plan . But there is no doubting the benefit: Aid of this magnitude finally raises Colombia to a well-merited priority. . The . proposal would be better balanced if it gave more assistance to Colombia's rural poor and war refugees. . Even so . the stakes are too high to do less.

TEXT: On that note, we conclude this sampling of comment from the Friday editorial pages of the U-S press.
NEB/ANG/KL 14-Jan-2000 11:57 AM EDT (14-Jan-2000 1657 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

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