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Voice of America, 00-07-25Voice of America: Selected Articles Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Voice of America <gopher://gopher.voa.gov>CONTENTS
[01] TURKEY / LEGAL SYSTEM (L ONLY) BY LISA SCHLEIN (GENEVA)DATE=7/25/2000TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-264781 CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: An international lawyer's group says Turkey's legal system falls short of international human rights standards and encourages torture. Lisa Schlein reports the study was conducted in November by the Geneva-based Center for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers. TEXT: The report is especially critical of what it calls the near total failure of Turkey's judicial system to investigate, prosecute, and punish police officers who commit acts of torture. It says police officers get away with torture because they are rarely prosecuted. And it says those who are, receive extremely light sentences. The director of the Center for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Mona Rishmawi, says there is what she calls a "blanket of impunity" because cases are not adequately investigated. /// RISHMAWI ACT ONE ////// END ACT ////// RISHMAWI ACT TWO ////// END ACT ///NNNN Source: Voice of America [02] NY ECON WRAP (S&L) BY ELAINE JOHANSON (NEW YORK)DATE=7/25/2000TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-264795 CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: U-S stock prices were moderately higher today (Tuesday) as investors turned cautious over the outlook for interest rates. In a return visit to Capitol Hill, Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan told Congress it would be premature to consider the credit-tightening process over, despite signs the U-S economy is slowing. VOA correspondent Elaine Johanson reports from New York. TEXT: The Dow Jones Industrial Average went up a modest 14 points to 10-thousand-699 - a fractional gain for the "blue-chips." The Standard and Poor's 500 index closed 10 points higher - less than one percent. The technology-weighted Nasdaq composite gained about 48 points - over one percent. The U-S economy may be slowing, but the latest data shows it is still vibrant. U-S consumer confidence bounced back this month. And sales of existing homes in June rose a surprising two-point-eight percent - a stronger-than-expected jump. Analysts say uncertainty over interest rates has investors a bit off-balance. Some experts anticipate the stock market will move mostly sideways for a while, until the August 22nd meeting of the U-S central bank. /// REST OPT ////// FREEMAN ACT ////// END ACT ///NNNN Source: Voice of America [03] TUESDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)DATE=7/25/2000TYPE=U-S EDITORIAL DIGEST NUMBER=6-11938 EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS TELEPHONE=619-3335 INTERNET=YES CONTENT= INTRO: A preliminary report that clears the federal government of wrongdoing in the Waco, Texas standoff that ended in the deaths of members of a religious cult, and praise from every corner of the nation for a pair of U-S sports heroes, leads the editorial columns this Tuesday. There are other editorials on an attempt in the U-S congress to moderate the Cuban economic embargo; and efforts by officials in Philadelphia and Los Angeles to limit protestors at the Republican and Democratic party national conventions. The G-8 summit also draws comment; as does dealing with Saddam Hussein; and Russian rockets for North Korea. Now, here with a closer look and some excerpts is ___________ and today's Editorial Digest. TEXT: An interim report by former Missouri Senator John Danforth about the deaths of about 80 people from a religious cult outside Waco, Texas, in 1993 is drawing a lot of commentary. Most of the deaths occurred when a fire broke out after a 51-day standoff by federal law enforcement agents outside the compound, and there were accusations that the agents started the fire. The Milwaukee [Wisconsin] Journal Sentinel says: VOICE: ...[the] report ... may help dispel the cloud of doubt and ignorance hovering over that once-hellish site near Waco ... The report probably will not silence those who want to believe ... the government murdered those 80 people, despite all evidence to the contrary. TEXT: Fort Worth's [Texas] Star-Telegram hopes: VOICE: The latest Branch Davidian report should give us the resolve to accept it and move on. ...[However] The report properly takes the government to task for being less than forthright on some important questions ... TEXT: In Ohio, the Akron Beacon Journal says the conclusion... "provides needed credibility." While California's San Jose Mercury News says the "report should lay the government conspiracy theories to rest." The New York Times suggests the report did not examine whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation used poor judgement during the final assault on the compound, only whether it did anything illegal. The Times concludes: VOICE: The agents should have been ordered to starve the cult out and hold [Editors: refrain from using] the tanks and tear gas. Mr. [David, the cult leader] Koresh might still have orchestrated the same suicidal endgame, but the country would have been spared years of doubts about the wisdom and integrity of its government. ///OPT ///TEXT: The Chicago Tribune feels the majority of Americans will accept the Danforth report's findings, but not all. VOICE: For those confirmed in the belief that the federal government is the root of all evil, nothing short of a message from on high [Editors: "heaven"] ... would be convincing. But for the rest of us, for the sane, silent majority, the judgments of former Senator Danforth ... will be- -and should be - - decisive. /// END OPT ///TEXT: A pair of exceptional sports triumphs by two young American athletes over the weekend is being hailed in literally hundreds of editorials. Tiger Woods sensational victory in the British Open and Lance Armstrong's heroic second, consecutive victory in the grueling Tour de France bicycle race are on the minds of many. The Wall Street Journal is glad that pictures of sports glory and individual triumph dominated the weekend news. VOICE: It is hard to look at what Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong did and not merely gape. Winning professional golf's grand slam at 24 [years of age] or the Tour de France two years running seems superhuman. ... Ladies and gentlemen, this is transcendence... TEXT: Among the many editorialists searching for the right superlatives, is this writer at Missouri's St. Louis Post-Dispatch who says in part: VOICE: There is now no denying Mr. Woods the rarest compliment: He has risen above the entirety of his craft. As Mr. Woods was crowned king of the sport of kings in golf's hallowed cradle, his portrait - - a stark contrast to Scottish royalty - - shined as an inspiration to Americans. Mr. Woods is praised for breaking golf's color barrier. But it should be noted: He is n o t black. He is not Native American or Asian. He is not Caucasian. He is all of these. He is all of us. Mr. Woods is the consummate American... /// OPT ///TEXT: Chattanooga's Free Press reminds all that "... Tiger Woods is no "paper tiger." He's "for real." While The Detroit [Michigan] News says a comment Bobby Jones, another great golfer once made about the young, emerging superstar, Jack Nicklaus, now applies to Tiger even more so. VOICE: "He is playing a game with which I am not familiar." TEXT: The Houston Chronicle says it is totally fitting that these two men, and their incredible performances dominated not only the sports pages of Monday's papers, but also the front pages which, Chief Justice Earl Warren once said, "usually records nothing but man's failures." VOICE: Armstrong, whose well-documented recovery from testicular cancer made his victory in last year's Tour de France ... an inspirational story, took the feat to new heights with a repeat victory Sunday ... Woods, for his part, was in what the sports writers might tell us was a league of his own as he won the 129th British Open ... at Saint Andrews, Scotland, blowing away the best golfers in the world by eight shorts or more. ///END OPT ///TEXT: The U-S congress is moving to moderate the nation's four decades-long economic embargo against Cuba and the St. Louis [Missouri] Post-Dispatch is one of several papers encouraging passage. VOICE: Put simply, the embargo hasn't worked. In nearly four decades, it hasn't dislodged [President Fidel] Castro or prodded political or economic reform. It has inhibited the interchanges and contacts that might expose Cubans to a broader world. TEXT: While in Hawaii, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin agrees, suggesting: "Those [Cuban trade] restrictions belong to another period in history and should be abolished." TEXT: In domestic politics, a federal judge has overturned plans by the city of Los Angeles to unfairly restrict protestors at the forthcoming Democratic National Convention there, to the relief of The Los Angeles Times. VOICE: Allowing protesters closer to the action may indeed push up the cost of security for the convention and place a greater personnel burden on the Police Department. Balancing security needs with the right to free speech is one of the costs of hosting such an event. TEXT: As regards the just-completed G-8 summit conference on Okinawa, today's Chicago Tribune is somewhat skeptical of the new call to attack world poverty, suggesting: VOICE: .. a declaration that might mean more if they hadn't done the same thing a year ago at their summit meeting in Cologne. This is not to belittle the efforts of the Group of 8. ... But the gulf between words and action is still broad, /// OPT /// illustrating the substantial political and economic roadblocks that remain. /// END OPT ///TEXT: In Charleston, South Carolina, The Post and Courier is still concerned about Saddam Hussein's arms buildup in Iraq and the so-far futile United Nations efforts to re-establish an effective arms-monitoring agency there. VOICE: It is more important than ever to ensure that the U-N Security Council does not lift sanctions imposed on Saddam Hussein. The United States and Britain must block any attempt to remove safeguards preventing the Iraqi dictator from rearming. ... Richard Butler, the tough Australian diplomat who headed ... UNSCOM [the now disbanded U-N arms monitoring agency in Iraq]... reveals that Saddam has already begun to rearm and is preparing to deploy weapons he managed to keep hidden. TEXT: And on a somewhat related topic, the Chicago Tribune worries about the latest proposed from Moscow, that North Korea give up its long-range missile program if the existing missile powers agrees to launch North Korean space satellites. VOICE: The Clinton administration has been rightly skeptical so far, because this offer does, indeed, raise more questions than it answers. TEXT: That concludes this sampling of editorial
comment from Tuesday's U-S press.
[04] PROFILE: DICK CHENEY (UPDATE) BY DAVID SWAN (WASHINGTON)DATE=7/25/2000TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT NUMBER=5-46716 CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Former U-S Defense Secretary Richard Cheney, who served in the cabinet under President Bush, is now his son's vice-presidential running mate. Texas Governor George W. Bush picked Mr. Cheney to join the Republican ticket in this year's battle for the White House. Unlike the governor, Mr. Cheney has already had a long Washington career. V-O-A's David Swan reports. TEXT: At age 59, Dick Cheney is older than Governor Bush -- and he says he did not expect to run for office again. After leaving the Pentagon in 1993, Mr. Cheney became chief of a large energy and construction company (Halliburton) in Texas. But a few months ago, he agreed to help the governor choose a running mate - and that experience changed his mind. /// CHENEY ACT ////// END ACT ////// CHENEY ACT ////// END ACT ////// McCAIN ACT ////// END ACT ////// DASCHLE ACT ////// END ACT ///NEB/DS/TVM/JP 25-Jul-2000 16:34 PM LOC (25-Jul-2000 2034 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America Voice of America: Selected Articles Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |