Voice of America, 99-08-02

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

CONTENTS

[01] U-S - KOSOVO - MINES (L ONLY) BY DEBORAH TATE (WHITE HOUSE)

[02] RUSSIA / MONTENEGRO (L ONLY) BY PETER HEINLEIN (MOSCOW)

[03] YUGOSLAV WAR CRIMES (L ONLY) BY LAUREN COMITEAU (THE HAGUE)

[04] NY ECON WRAP (S & L) BY BRECK ARDERY (NEW YORK)

[05] MONDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

[01] U-S - KOSOVO - MINES (L ONLY) BY DEBORAH TATE (WHITE HOUSE)

[02] RUSSIA / MONTENEGRO (L ONLY) BY PETER HEINLEIN (MOSCOW)

INTRO: Montenegro's president, Milo Djukanovic, has visited Moscow seeking support for his republic's efforts to win greater autonomy from Serbia. V-O-A's Peter Heinlein in Moscow reports the visit is one of the signs Russia may be wavering in its support for Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

TEXT: The Montenegrin leader met Monday with Foreign minister Igor Ivanov, Prime minister Sergei Stepashin, and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. During a session with reporters, Mr. Djukanovic said his hosts had shown understanding for the idea of greater democracy and openness, not only in Montenegro, but in Yugoslavia in general. When he arrived in Moscow Sunday, Mr. Djukanovic told reporters Montenegro might pull out of Yugoslavia unless its demands for greater autonomy are met. Moscow media have interpreted the Montenegrin leader's visit as a sign Russia is reconsidering its support of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic after backing him during the NATO air campaign. Prime minister Stepashin openly criticized Mr. Milosevic during an international summit on Balkans reconstruction last week in Sarajevo. The Belgrade-based Beta news agency quoted officials at the Yugoslav embassy in Moscow as saying they were upset at being bypassed in arranging the Djukanovic visit. Beta reported Yugoslav diplomats had suggested the visit violated protocols. In a separate dispatch Monday, the Beta agency reported a statement by a leading Serbian opposition party as saying Mr. Djukanovic's visit implied Russia intends to sever ties with the Serbian and Yugoslav authorities. The statement, quoted by Reuters, said the Montenegrin leader's visit marks the "start of official Russian contacts with democratic forces in Yugoslavia." A Russian foreign ministry official contacted by V-O-A had no immediate comment, but said a statement on the visit would be forthcoming Tuesday. Other officials noted, however, that it was Foreign Minister Ivanov himself who issued the invitation to Mr. Djukanovic. (Signed)
NEB/PFH/JWH/KL 02-Aug-1999 11:47 AM LOC (02-Aug-1999 1547 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

[03] YUGOSLAV WAR CRIMES (L ONLY) BY LAUREN COMITEAU (THE HAGUE)

INTRO: NATO peacekeeping troops in Bosnia have arrested a Bosnian Serb who is wanted for rape. Lauren Comiteau reports the suspect, a former paramilitary leader, is on his way to the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague.

TEXT: A spokesman for NATO peacekeepers in Bosnia says the arrest of 38-year-old Radomir Kovac went smoothly. Mr. Kovac is one of eight men charged in the so- called Foca indictment, named after the town that was overrun by Bosnian Serbs in 1992 and where prosecutors say women were taken as slaves and raped. Radomir Kovac is charged with two counts of crimes against humanity for those crimes. One of his alleged victims is known in the indictment only as F-W-S-87. She was 15 years old when she was taken prisoner by Serb soldiers and paramilitaries and then raped, tortured, used as a sexual slave, and forced to cook and clean for the next eight months. Prosecutors say that for four of those months, Radomir Kovac kept the young woman prisoner in his apartment, frequently raping her and allowing other men to do the same. Prosecutors say on one occasion, he watched while forcing her to dance naked on a table. Prosecutors say the young woman became suicidal, and eventually Radomir Kovac sold her for 500 Deutchmarks (about 275 U-S dollars) to two soldiers. When Mr. Kovac arrives in The Hague, he will join the one other man in custody here who also is charged in the Foca indictment -- the tribunal's first indictment dealing specifically with sexual offenses. (Signed) NEB/LC/JWH/kl 02-Aug-1999 08:01 AM LOC (02-Aug-1999 1201 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

[04] NY ECON WRAP (S & L) BY BRECK ARDERY (NEW YORK)

INTRO: Stock prices in the United States were down Monday as a late wave of selling wiped out a daylong rally. V-O-A Business correspondent Breck Ardery reports from New York

TEXT: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 10- thousand-645, down nine-points. The Standard and Poor's 500 index closed at 13-hundred-28, down a fraction of one-point. The NASDAQ index lost about one-half-percent. Major stock averages were up strongly for most of the day but some later session profit-taking wiped out all the gains. A survey of U-S manufacturing activity helped to ease inflation fears on Wall Street. The index shows that rate-of-growth in that sector was down for the first time in three-months. But Norbett Orr, who prepares the index for the National Association of Purchasing Management, says the index shows the U-S manufacturing sector is still strong.

[05] MONDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: Monday's U-S press has comments on the drug situation in Colombia, and the U-S plane crash in that country that took seven lives. There are also comments on the new Israeli prime minister's peace efforts. One of the most popular domestic topics is the indictment, on wire tapping charges, of Linda Tripp, a key player in the presidential sex scandal. Other commentaries deal with: the tax cut debate; budget defiance at the Pentagon; President Clinton's fine for lying in the Paula Jones case and the heat wave. Now, here is ___________ with a closer look and some excerpts in today's Editorial Digest.

TEXT: The U-S involvement in Colombia's drug eradication effort is high in the editorial columns because of a plane crash July 23 that killed five U-S troops and two Colombian officers. In Ohio, [The Akron] Beacon Journal warns that "Colombia won't be helped by deeper U-S involvement.'

VOICE: The deaths are regrettable. They are not a pretext for wildly expanding the U-S military presence in Colombia. Such expansion is Barry McCaffrey's idea. President Clinton's anti-drug chief, touring Latin America, recommended more than doubling to 600-million dollar U-S aid to Colombia to fight drug trafficking. This year's 289 million dollars makes Colombia the third-largest recipient of U- S foreign aid behind Egypt and Israel. Isn't that enough?

TEXT: The Washington Post worries that House Republicans are pressing Colombia to make drugs the number one priority, while Bogota is trying to quell a decades-long insurgency that only recently linked up with the drug trade.

VOICE: There is no sure good policy for Colombia: That is what prompts impatient drug fighters in the House to reach out in this rash manner. But there is a policy that is perhaps a little better, and it is a variant of President Andres Pastrana's attempt to temper military action with political reconciliation and to move beyond crop eradication to crop substitution.

TEXT: To the Middle East now, and some upbeat thoughts from the New York Times.

VOICE: As Israel's New Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, moves toward intensified negotiations with Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians, encouraging trends in the wider Arab world may be working in his favor, helping to create a more conducive climate for regional peace. These changes include generational passages of power in several countries, a strengthening Egyptian economy and a reversal of attitudes in Algeria, whose President met last week with Mr. Barak and praised his peace efforts.

TEXT: Domestically, the major topic is the indictment last week in the state of Maryland of Linda Tripp, a former White House secretary, on wire tapping charges. She is the woman who taped Monica Lewinsky giving details of her sexual relationship with President Clinton that led to his impeachment in the House of Representatives. It is illegal to tape record a telephone conversation in Maryland without the consent of the other party. On New York's Long Island, Newsday notes:

VOICE: . some good might actually come of [Ms.] Trip's indictment, too. . a conviction would serve [Ms.] Tripp right for betraying [Ms.] Lewinsky's confidences about her affair with [President] Clinton.

TEXT: There is also comment on a related subject, the 90-thousand dollar fine levied on the president last week by a federal judge for lying in the Paula Jones harassment suit. Says his home state daily, The [Little Rock] Democrat-Gazette, wonders, sarcastically, why make such big news of it.

VOICE: What's the big story here, y'all? That our president lies, and that he gets caught? This is news? Just for decency's sake, couldn't we have got by with a small item on [page] 11A, . This fine is just another one-day story, another postscript to the defining accomplishment of this president: He beat the rap [the punishment]. He beat the system. Not even Richard Nixon could say that.

TEXT: There is a good deal of discussion of the tax cut being debated between the White House and the Republican-controlled Congress. The Republicans want a significantly larger cut than does President Clinton. In New Jersey, The Trenton Times suggests compromise, now that the president is prepared to veto the first Congressional bill.

VOICE: Some modest combination of cuts can probably be justified, but neither the House nor Senate bill fits that description. The House bill slashes 864 billion in taxes over the next 10 years; the Senate bill . puts the figure at 792-billion dollars. There's no economic justification, however, for so great a reduction. The nation is in a period of record prosperity and in no need of a stimulus.

TEXT: Still on budgetary matters, more papers are angry about the U-S military's apparent disregard of spending regulations imposed on it by Congress, as outlined in a new congressional report. Says the biggest paper in the Carolinas, The Charlotte Observer:

VOICE: The report says the Pentagon illegally spent hundreds of millions of dollars on projects lawmakers never approved, including several millions on a Star Wars' missile defense program that Congress had voted to cancel. Included were an 800-million dollar Air Force attempt to buy a communications satellite without lawful authority . The Pentagon admits what it's accused of, but says the matter is only one of honest mistake and misunderstanding. . The tenor of the exchange is illustrative, particularly on the Pentagon end. Officials there have been nabbed [caught] by . Congress . violating federal law to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, and they trot out a hired hand [slang for spokesman] to say "Oops".

TEXT: Lastly, the nation is getting slight relief from the heat wave and drought that has hit the East and Midwest with temperature-humidity readings of between 38 and 47 degrees Celsius. In Baltimore, The Sun says all Marylanders need to do their part.

VOICE: . Resist those three-hour law sprinklings; stop washing your car every three days; and turn off the gorgeous water-hogging plaster fountain that's sitting in your landscaped yard. . until we get enough rainfall to bring water volume to acceptable levels at our reservoirs, good citizens should be happy to comply with voluntary steps to save water. Conservation is needed to ensure that our water supply doesn't evaporate altogether.

TEXT: On that note we conclude this sampling of comment from Monday's daily papers.
NEB/ANG/KL 02-Aug-1999 11:30 AM LOC (02-Aug-1999 1530 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

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