Voice of America, 00-08-24

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

CONTENTS

[01] U-N-KOSOVO DEBATE (L ONLY) BY BRECK ARDERY (UNITED NATIONS)

[02] NEW YORK ECON WRAP (S&L) BY BARBARA SCHOETZAU (NEW YORK)

[03] THURSDAY'S EDITORIALS BY PETER HEINLEIN (WASHINGTON)

[01] U-N-KOSOVO DEBATE (L ONLY) BY BRECK ARDERY (UNITED NATIONS)

INTRO: Plans for municipal elections in Kosovo sparked controversy today (Thursday) as the United Nations Security Council debated the latest developments in the province. V-O-A Correspondent Breck Ardery reports from the United Nations.

TEXT: Council members heard a report from U-N official Hedi Annabi who discussed plans for municipal elections in Kosovo that are scheduled for late October. He blamed intimidation from radical Serb elements for the fact that few Serbs in Kosovo have registered to vote in those elections. More than one- million people are registered to vote, nearly all of them Kosovar Albanians. Mr. Annabi also repeated the explanation for the recent closing by the United Nations Mission in Kosovo UNMIK -- of a Serbian owned and operated smelter in Kosovo. He said the only reason the plant was shut down was because it was emitting dangerous pollution. He said the workers will be paid while repairs are underway and will be back at work once repairs are complete. But Russian ambassador Sergey Lavrov questioned the explanation for the closing of the smelter. Speaking through an English translator, Mr. Lavrov said it appears to be part of a plan to seize Serbian property in Kosovo.

[02] NEW YORK ECON WRAP (S&L) BY BARBARA SCHOETZAU (NEW YORK)

INTRO: Stocks rallied across the board on Wall Street today (Thursday) amid signs that the U-S economy is cooling without the need for more interest rate hikes. Correspondent Barbara Schoetzau reports from New York.

TEXT: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 38 points at 11-thousand-182 -- the highest level in four months. The broader Standard and Poor's 500 Index gained two points. Biotech shares helped the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rise for the ninth time in 10 days, finishing up fractionally more than one percent. After riding high on news of oil shortages, energy stocks declined, which helped move up airline shares. The Commerce Department reported that orders for durable goods placed with U-S manufacturers in July fell more than 12 percent - the largest drop ever recorded. And the Labor Department reported an increase in new claims for unemployment for the fourth straight week. Both reports signal a slowdown in the U-S economy.

[03] THURSDAY'S EDITORIALS BY PETER HEINLEIN (WASHINGTON)

INTRO: Corruption in China, peace agreements in Africa, and the race for the U-S presidency were among the subjects covered Thursday by editorial writers in U-S newspapers. _________________has this summary of Thursday's editorials.

TEXT: The New York Times and Washington Post examined different aspects of the U-S presidential campaign. The Post applauded Attorney General Janet Reno's decision not to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Vice President Al Gore's political fundraising in 1996.

VOICE: Ms. Reno concluded that nothing in the record would support a conceivable prosecution and that, therefore, there is no basis for continued investigation. . .This seems right at a political as well as legal level-though Ms. Reno insists that politics plays no role in her law enforcement decisions. The allegations. . .have been hanging around for four years. To wait this long and then-in the midst of an election campaign-loose an independent counsel on such an improbable charge would constitute an unwarranted interference in the (current) presidential campaign.

TEXT: The New York Times takes up the question of the retirement package Republican vice-presidential nominee Dick Cheney received as head of a Texas-based oil services company. Mr. Cheney served as chief executive of the Halliburton Company over the past five years, after serving as Secretary of Defense under President Bush.

VOICE: At today's stock price, the value of his shares. . .and vested stock options granted him during his tenure adds up to more than 30-million dollars. That is compensation awarded to Mr. Cheney for his past service, and is perfectly appropriate, provided he sells those assets if elected and puts the proceeds in a blind trust to eliminate any potential conflicts of interest. But Americans should wonder why the. . .company went further and allowed Mr. Cheney to keep 400-thousand more stock options that he would ordinarily have had to work additional years to acquire. That special favor, worth at least six million dollars at today's prices and potentially a lot more, would tie Mr. Cheney's financial fortunes to those of the company-and therefore to the price of oil-well into a potential Bush-Cheney administration. Mr. Cheney should have turned the favor down.

TEXT: The Wall Street Journal criticizes what it headlines as "China's Charade". The editorial notes that the Military Museum in Beijing is displaying an exhibit aimed at showing how the government is cracking down on corruption.

VOICE: China's leaders portray the fight against corruption as a noble battle the Communist Party is waging for the people. But relying on the idealism of party members is not a viable strategy. As Dai Qing, a prominent critic of the government has said, "Corruption is the result of dictatorship". By refusing to allow any checks on its authority while meddling deep in the economy, the party virtually guarantees that officials will turn power into illicit wealth.

TEXT: The Los Angeles Times takes up what it describes as President Clinton's "uneven record on Africa".

VOICE: The administration has a decidedly mixed record in trying to broker peace agreements to settle civil wars on the continent. Clinton is now repeating his past mistakes, this time by prevailing on Burundi's Hutu rebels and its Tutsi-dominated army to sign a peace accord during his visit. As Angola, Congo and Sierra Leone in recent history clearly show, peace agreements before their time only raise false hopes and legitimize anti-government insurgencies. It is, regrettably, on the political front that the administration has shown the same mixture of expediency and naivete that marked its Cold War predecessors.

TEXT: An editorial in the Washington Post notes that all charges have been dropped against the Philippines man who launched the dreaded "I love you" computer virus. The virus caused an estimated 10-billion dollars in damages worldwide. The Post editorial laments that charges could not be filed because the Philippines had no law against computer crimes.

VOICE: The trouble is that many countries connected to the Internet even now lack such laws, and attacks can be launched from many places. Plugging one hole among the many in the global patchwork of legal regimes that governs the Internet doesn't much improve the overall system's integrity. The case should convince other developing nations that they too need legal tools to prosecute computer attacks.

TEXT: A Washington Times editorial crows about the decision by McDonald's to insist on more humane treatment of chickens destined for the deep fryer or the McNugget bin. The editorial writer chides animal rights activists who have likened poultry farming in the United States to the Nazi holocaust.

VOICE: McDonald's new attitude toward its fine feathered friends is the most significant change in policy of its kind pursued by a major U-S food supplier. McDonald's is acting both to placate environmental and animal fringe groups-and ostensibly to deal with concerns that current animal-raising techniques may lead to diseases, such as salmonella, that can be transmitted to humans. But the strongest push comes not from science or concern for human well-being but from political agitation by (animal rights groups), which have made the Nazi-holocaust comparison over the years.

TEXT: That comment from the Washington Times brings to a close this Thursday summary of U-S newspaper editorials.
NEB/PFH/FC 24-Aug-2000 12:42 PM EDT (24-Aug-2000 1642 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America

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