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Voice of America, 00-04-26Voice of America: Selected Articles Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Voice of America <gopher://gopher.voa.gov>CONTENTS
[01] BELGRADE -SHOOTING (L-ONLY) BY IRENA GUZELOVA (BELGRADE)DATE=4/25/2000TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-261725 INTERNET=YES CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: The director of the Yugoslav state owned airline company, Zika Petrovic was shot dead by an unknown gunman in Belgrade. Irena Guzelova Reports from Belgrade. TEXT: Mr. Petrovic was shot while walking his dog
outside his home in central Belgrade. Passer-by say
he was ambushed by two or three assailants who shot
several bullets in his head leaving him lying in a
pool of blood.
He was a close associate of the ruling family and the
member of the political party ruled by President
Slobodan Milosevic's wife.
The murder has all the hallmarks of a professional
shooting and is the latest in a series of
assassinations of high ranking business and political
figures. It comes several months after the shootings
of notorious Serb parliamentary leader, Zeljko "Arkan"
Raznatovic and federal Defense Minister Pavle
Bulatovic.
None of the assailants have been caught. Observers
say most of the murders are gangland inspired, but the
minority are political.
Analysts say the latest shooting might heighten the
sense of insecurity amongst Serbia's elite. (Signed)
[02] U-N COUNCIL MISSION TO KOSOVO (L-ONLY) BY BRECK ARDERY (UNITED NATIONS)DATE=4/26/2000TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-261752 CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: An eight-member mission from the United Nations Security Council arrives in Kosovo tomorrow (Thursday) to start a three-day fact-finding tour. V- O-A Correspondent Breck Ardery reports from the United Nations. TEXT: The delegation, led by Bangladesh's U-N ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, has a full schedule of meetings including talks with U-N Interim Administrator for Kosovo Bernard Kouchner and visits with police and justice administrators. On Friday, they will visit the town of Mitrovica, the scene of recent ethnic violence. Robert Fowler of Canada, this month's President of the U-N Security Council, says the delegation will also get a first-hand understanding of disputes involving the U-N administration, the NATO troops - or KFOR - and representatives of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. /// FOWLER ACT ////// END ACT ///NNNN Source: Voice of America [03] EDITORIAL: HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN KOSOVODATE=4/27/2000TYPE=EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-08747 CONTENT= THIS IS THE SECOND OF TWO EDITORIALS BEING
RELEASED FOR BROADCAST 04/27/2000.
Anncr: The Voice of America presents differing
points of view on a wide variety of issues. Next,
an editorial expressing the policies of the United
States Government:
Voice: In Eastern Europe, trafficking in women has
become one of the major criminal enterprises of
the post-Communist era. This slave-trade has now
developed into a serious problem in the Serbian
province of Kosovo, which has yet to recover from
the ethnic conflicts stoked by Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic.
In the past six months, United Nations police have
rescued fifty women - Moldovan, Ukrainian,
Bulgarian, and Romanian - from brothels throughout
Kosovo. According to police and aid workers,
hundreds more, lured away from their homelands,
may also be living in sexual servitude.
Some of the women, as young as fifteen, had been
transported from their homes in Eastern Europe to
Macedonia. There they were held in motels and
sold at auction to pimps. The women were held in
unheated rooms where they were forced to engage in
unprotected sex. International organizations have
set up a safe house for women who have escaped or
been rescued until they can return home.
Unfortunately, Kosovo is not unique in this
regard. Trafficking in women is rampant in Eastern
Europe and the former Soviet Union. And the
problem is bigger even that that. Worldwide, it
is estimated that over one-million women are
forced into servitude each year that includes
prostitution, bonded sweatshop labor, or domestic
slavery. The problem is particularly serious in
the South Asian countries of India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, and Nepal. Girls from poverty-
stricken families are often sold to traffickers by
parents or relatives who are under economic
pressure. Many become infected with H-I-V, the
virus that causes AIDS. While criminal laws
against such trafficking exist, they are often not
enforced.
Under U-N auspices, most countries are now
negotiating a transnational organized crime
convention. Signatories would be required to pass
laws criminalizing trafficking in women and other
persons. Victims would be given legal protection
and returned to their homes, where they could
receive rehabilitation.
It is critical that such trafficking not only be
made illegal in every country but also be
vigorously prosecuted. Otherwise, this scourge
will continue to grow.
Anncr: That was an editorial expressing the
policies of the United States Government. If you
have a comment, please write to Editorials, V-O-A,
Washington, D-C, 20237, U-S-A. You may also
comment at www-dot-ibb-dot-gov-slash-editorials,
or fax us at (202) 619-1043.
26-Apr-2000 11:39 AM EDT (26-Apr-2000 1539 UTC)
[04] E-U / TELECOMS (L-ONLY) BY RON PEMSTEIN (BRUSSELS)DATE=4/26/2000TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-261738 CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: The European Commission is recommending to the 15 member states of the European Union (E-U) that that they order their state telephone companies to allow access to the local network that connects homes to the Internet. Ron Pemstein reports from Brussels, the Commission is threatening to use anti-trust laws to break up the monopolies. TEXT: For the European consumer who wants to connect a computer to the Internet, the local telephone line does not come cheap. For every moment this European consumer stays connected to the Internet, the local state monopoly is collecting per minute access telephone charges above the bills the Internet service provider is already paid. This lack of competition for the state monopoly is one reason there is not much business done on the Internet in Europe compared to the United States. In the U-S, local access is covered by one monthly charge and unlimited computer use is possible at no extra charge. European leaders have already set goals of passing legislation to reduce these local access costs by the end of the year. To do that, the E-U executive, the European Commission, is recommending that incumbent telecommunications operators allow competitors to have access to the local network - or loop - connecting the homes of Europeans. European Enterprise Commissioner Erkki Liikanen tells reporters there are already signs that more competition is taking place. /// LIIKANEN ACT ////// END ACT ////// MONTI ACT ////// END OPT ////// END ACT ///NEB/RP/GE/KL 26-Apr-2000 11:05 AM EDT (26-Apr-2000 1505 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America [05] NY ECON WRAP (S & L) BY ELAINE JOHANSON (NEW YORK)DATE=4/26/2000TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-261750 CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: U-S stocks drifted lower today (Wednesday), as inflation and interest rate concerns hit Wall Street. VOA correspondent Elaine Johanson reports from New York: TEXT: The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 179 points, one-point-six percent, to 10-thousand-945. The Standard and Poor's 500 index lost 16 points - one percent. And the technology-weighted Nasdaq composite gave back two percent, after its more than six percent gain Tuesday. Good corporate earnings reports failed to keep stocks from falling, as investors worried about another possible credit tightening by the U-S central bank. The latest on the U-S economy shows orders to factories for costly items, like automobiles and electronic equipment, rose more than expected in March. The data made Wall Street nervous ahead of Thursday's release of first-quarter employment-cost data and Gross Domestic Product - a key measure of overall economic growth. /// REST OPT ////// YINGST ACT ////// END ACT ///NNNN Source: Voice of America [06] WEDNESDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ERIKA EVANS (WASHINGTON)DATE=4/26/2000TYPE=U-S EDITORIAL DIGEST NUMBER=6-11791 EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS TELEPHONE=619-2702 CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Midweek in the United States, editorial writers are outraged over a Monday shooting outside the National Zoo. Several opinions are being given on the incident, in which seven young people were injured, that occurred in the nation's capital. Some other topics being discussed include power struggles in Iran and ongoing religious persecution in China. Comments on the Cuban boy custody battle continue to hold a strong presence on the editorial pages of American newspapers, as well. Now with a closer look and some excerpts is _______________ with Wednesday's U-S Editorial Digest. TEXT: There is a sense of lost innocence in the nation's capital this week, as a fight between a group of young people at the National Zoo escalated into a violent attack that left an 11-year old boy critically injured and six other youths wounded. The shooting occurred as a large crowd was at the Zoo to take part in an annual African-American family celebration traditionally held on Easter Monday. Although police have arrested a suspect in the shooting, the motive for the incident at one of Washington's most popular tourist sites remains unclear. Many U-S newspapers are condemning the shooting and standing up against gun violence. The Washington Post is among them. VOICE: That bullets could fly at the national Zoo on Easter Monday was horrifying, but in a country that lets its handguns do the talking, sadly unsurprising. Youths have always scuffled; but today, scuffles too often turn into tragedies that could not happen were guns not so accessible. ...We do not pretend for a minute that any new law will bring an immediate end to school shootings or church shootings or zoo shootings. Nor do we dismiss efforts to get at the root causes of extreme violence in youth. But Congress does not hear gunfire unless it is in a school or maybe at a tourist attraction like the zoo. Then speeches are made and proposals are introduced, diluted and abandoned. The most sensible proposal, to ban handguns and assualt-style weapons, gets no hearing. Will public concern bring more pressure to bear at election time this fall? Or will the country simply stand by for the next tragedy? TEXT: That was the view of the Washington Post. The Baltimore Sun in Maryland has a similar concern, as the title of its editorial reads, "Shots ring out again, but when will we act?" But the Sun calls for more. VOICE: You have heard it all before. A mass shooting spurs debate over our love affair with the gun. But when will we have seen our fill? When will we have heard enough to do something? ...Do we need better controls on the unbridled flow of firearms through our streets and neighborhoods? Absolutely. But even more important, should not we change the way in which we deal with young people, the way we teach them right from wrong or instill cultural values in them? Should not we be asking what role we play in contributing to the violence in our society, or what role we refuse to play in bringing an end to it? We have seen and heard it all before. More of the same is what we will get until we take personal responsibility for making things better. TEXT: In other news, The New York Times is offering opinion on tensions in Iran. Iranian reform forces allied with President Mohammed Khatami are struggling with religious conservatives. The paper says the outcome will be crucial to realizing the hopes of most Iranians for greater tolerance and more openness to the outside world. VOICE: In about five-weeks, a newly elected Parliament is scheduled to take office, dominated by the reform elements that won a decisive victory in elections two-months ago. But conservative clerics are now striking back to dilute the scope of the reformer's victory and weaken the new Parliament's authority. Such shortsighted manipulations will only make the repressive religious authorities even more unpopular. The conservatives have used their control of the electoral machinery and the outgoing Parliament to overturn some election results, tighten censorship and shield the clerically controlled judiciary from legislative scrutiny. ...but they cannot prevail for long against the millions of young Iranians who increasingly demand a better, freer life. Eventually, Iranians will have to choose between two dramatically different visions of their nation's future, one based on democracy and the rule of law, the other premised on arbitrary religious authority. If the conservative clerics were wise, they would bow to the reform movement instead of forcing events toward a confrontation. TEXT: The Wall Street Journal is giving some attention to ongoing religious persecution in China. More than 100 followers of the Dafa School of meditation gathered yesterday in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to peacefully protest the suppression of their faith, and the newspaper is calling them heroes. VOICE: They (the protestors) may receive long sentences of hard labor for the "crime" of asking for the freedom to follow their religious beliefs, a freedom that is guaranteed in the Chinese constitution but has never been honored. ...Falun Dafa practitioners, ...Christians and Buddhists and all manners of other believers in China are today forced to suffer to remain true to their faiths. But even the best efforts of the Beijing regime cannot stamp out spirituality. Chinese society is changing quickly, and odds are that more people will follow the example of the Falun Dafa practitioners and demand their rights. That deeply disturbs a party that was never able to build a strong ideological basis for its claims to legitimacy. But the best way for party leaders to deal with their fears is to liberalize and accept ideological pluralism and the reality that totalitarian pluralism and modernization are antithetical. TEXT: Lastly, the controversial custody battle over Cuban boy, Elian Gonzales is drawing more comment from Nevada's Las Vegas Sun. After the U-S government's criticized seizure of Elian from his Miami family, the paper says the boy's reunion with his father was long overdue. VOICE: What should have been a simple matter
got mixed up in international politics and the
outdated way society treats fathers. If Elian
had been from any other nation, and his mother
had died in an attempt to reach the U-S, he
would have been returned immediately. Or, if it
was his father who had died in the crossing and
his mother was left behind in Cuba, there would
have been no question that he should be returned
to his homeland. While the Republican
congressional leadership wants to hold a hearing
on Elian, they should give this a rest. The boy
is back with his father, which is the way this
should have been handled from the start. What
is needed now is for the boy and his father to
have some time together - away from the glare of
the media circus in Miami that his relatives
helped foster, a situation which has done
nothing but harm the child.
VOCIE: On that note, we conclude this sampling of
comment from the editorial pages of Wednesday's U-S
press.
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