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Thursday, 15 August 2024
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Voice of America, 99-10-08Voice of America: Selected Articles Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Voice of America <gopher://gopher.voa.gov>CONTENTS
[01] K-FOR HANDOVER (L-ONLY) BY LAURIE KASSMAN (PRISTINA)DATE=10/8/1999TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-254820 CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: NATO's British commander of the K-FOR peacekeeping force in Kosovo, Mike Jackson, has handed over his duties to a German general, Klaus Reinhardt. V-O-A Correspondent Laurie Kassman watched the ceremonies in Pristina. TEXT: /// MUSIC - FADE UNDER ////// CLARK ACT ////// END ACT ////// JACKSON ACT ////// END ACT ////// REINHARDT ACT ////// END ACT ///NNNN Source: Voice of America [02] CAUCASUS REFUGEES (L-ONLY) BY EVE CONANT (NAZRAN, INGUSHETIA)DATE=10/8/1999TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-254826 INTERNET=YES CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Russian forces are carrying out more air strikes against what they describe as terrorist bases inside the breakaway republic of Chechnya. But as correspondent Eve Conant reports, refugees fleeing from Chechnya to the neighboring Russian republic of Ingushetia tell another story -- that the air strikes are targeting civilians, not Chechen fighters. More details from Nazran, in Ingushetia. TEXT: /// SFX: CHOPPING WOOD IN REFUGEE CAMP ////// ACT 1: WOMAN SHOUTING IN RUSSIAN ////// GILYAEVA ACT IN RUSSIAN; ESTABLISH, FADE UNDER ////// ZYGBARAEV ACT IN RUSSIAN, IN AND UNDER ///NNNN Source: Voice of America [03] E-U - YUGOSLAVIA (L-ONLY) BY RON PEMSTEIN (SZEGED, HUNGARY)DATE=10/8/1999TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-254813 CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: The European Union says it is ready to provide assistance to Serbian cities run by opposition politicians. V-O-A Correspondent Ron Pemstein reports from Szeged, Hungary, about a conference organized by the Balkan Stability Pact. TEXT: The Balkans Stability Pact combines the European Union with other countries interested in helping southeastern Europe. For the first time, it is trying to come up with practical ways to help opposition mayors of Serbian cities, such as Stevan Vrbaski fo Novi Sad and Velimir Ilic of Cacak. Their needs are clear. They want energy supplies to help them through the winter. And they need reconstruction from the NATO bombing. The mayor of Lopovo, a town in central Serbia midway between Belgrade and Nis, says he is skeptical of these kind of conferences because they deal with complicated political issues instead of how to deal practically with the humanitarian needs of tens of thousands of Serbian refugees. Hungary's foreign minister, Jonos Martonyi, speaking through an interpreter, says practical help is what these democratic politicians from Serbia need. /// MARTONYI TRANSLATOR ACT ////// END ACT ////// ORBAN TRANSLATOR ACT ////// END ACT ///NNNN Source: Voice of America [04] N-Y ECON WRAP (S&L) BY BRECK ARDERY (NEW YORK)DATE=10/8/1999TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-254830 CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Stock prices in the United States were up today (Friday) as traders brushed aside a suggestion of wage inflation. V-O-A Business Correspondent Breck Ardery reports from New York. TEXT: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 10- thousand-649, up 112 points or one percent. For the week, the Industrial Average gained 376 points or close to four percent. The Standard and Poor's 500 index closed Friday at 13-hundred-36, up 18 points. The NASDAQ index gained almost one percent. The latest U-S employment report offered a mixed picture on inflationary pressures. The number of new jobs created in September actually fell for the first time in more than three years. But, average hourly wages shot up by seven cents, the largest one-month gain in 16 years. Stock traders apparently decided that, on balance, the employment report was not bad. Some analysts say they expect strong corporate earnings to lift stock prices in the coming weeks. /// REST OPT ////// McKenney act ////// END ACT ///NNNN Source: Voice of America [05] FRIDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)DATE=10/8/1999TYPE=U-S EDITORIAL DIGEST NUMBER=6-11507 EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS TELEPHONE=619-3335 CONTENT= INTRO: As the work week draws to a close in the United States, with a Senate vote just days away on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, editorial columns continue to focus on the pact. India's election results also come in for a good deal of comment, and there are more thoughts on the assault against Chechnya by Russia. A new program to inform Americans about their Social Security status draws a reaction; and the potential lessons to be learned in the British train wreck are also discussed. Now, here is ___________ with a closer look and a few samples, in today's Editorial Digest. TEXT: The Senate is still scheduled to vote on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban treaty next Tuesday, and three divergent positions have emerged. Those "in favor" and those "against" have been joined by those favoring postponement of the vote until after next year's presidential elections. In today's press, that last option, delay, appears to be gaining support. However, The Miami Herald is calling on the President both to push for a vote, and for the treaty's ratification. VOICE: President Clinton must stand firm in insisting that the Senate vote next week on the ... treaty. Let the onus fall on the Senate's Republican majority if it refuses to ratify the world's best hope for freezing further development of nuclear weapons. Ratification of this treaty ... is simply too important for this and future generations to be sacrificed on the altar of political brinkmanship in the U-S Senate. The New York Times is now casting its vote and voice, for a postponement. VOICE: If the nuclear test-ban treaty fails to win ratification next week, as it probably will, Senate Republicans will deserve much of the blame. The Republican leadership has behaved in a narrowly partisan fashion that paid little heed to America's International interests. ... But the White House failed to put together a coherent strategy for assembling the needed two- thirds Senate majority, and then allowed itself to be outmaneuvered into a compressed timetable that left too little time for an intensive lobbying campaign. ... The goal now should be to try to [keep] ... open the possibility that the Senate can be persuaded to ratify the treaty in the months to come. TEXT: Today's Philadelphia Inquirer says "...the wiser course -- no matter how one assesses the treaty's merits -- is to postpone any form action." However, The Washington Times, which opposes the treaty on grounds it is unverifiable, welcomes next week's vote. VOICE: // OPT // The Senate should proceed with its three days of debate and its vote on Tuesday. There has been plenty of time to study the subject of nuclear testing. // END OPT // After due consideration, the nuclear test ban has been concluded by many experts to be, on the one hand, detrimental to the U-S nuclear stockpile, while, on the other, insufficiently verifiable to be a real safeguard against the nuclear tests of others. ... So, let's have the vote on C-T-B-T -- and let it be "No." TEXT: Lastly, in the Pacific Northwest, The Oregonian, in Portland, says: "World security and [the] test ban treaty would be better served by delaying a Senate vote on ratification," // OPT // adding: VOICE: Sadly, with much of the opposition entrenched, it doesn't appear that the treaty has a chance of getting the needed 67 votes for ratification any time soon. While a ratified treaty would make a better platform for dealing with emerging nuclear powers such as India and Pakistan, a defeat could make diplomacy a lot dicier. Under the circumstances, no vote is better than one that has more to do with partisan politics than security policy. // END OPT // TEXT: Turning to the sub-continent, and the results of India's parliamentary election, Boston's Christian Science Monitor, after marveling at India's diversity of climate, culture and language, comments: VOICE: ... Now, a national election has given majority rule to a newly formed, grand coalition known as the National Democratic Alliance (N-D- A). This could signal a historic break with the past. India could be returning to its pre- British roots, offering a more stable future for itself. ... This coalition, including new partners from India's south and east, can serve to suppress the militancy of the B-J-P, led by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. ... And as India opens to the world and sheds its British- influenced past, let's hope this diverse coalition can unleash the country's natural dynamism. TEXT: The New York Times, in a lead editorial, surveys the winners and losers: VOICE: Prime Minister ... Vajpayee ... has won an impressive election victory that gives his coalition a chance to survive longer than recent governments in New Delhi. Stability would be a welcome development after a succession of inconclusive elections. ... Meanwhile, the election dealt a significant defeat to the Congress Party, which had turned to Sonia Gandhi, the daughter-in-law of Indira and widow of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi ... [who] had been drafted to help save the party, but after stirring up some initial excitement ... stumbled. // OPT // India's rich diversity sometimes looks like an obstacle to unity. But the latest election has proved that a commitment to resolving differences peacefully and democratically can transform diversity into a source of strength. // END OPT // TEXT: Moving on to the war in Chechnya, with Russian forces on the attack, and The Washington Post finding the Russian position hypocritical. VOICE: During NATO's war against Serbia last spring, Russian officials bitterly condemned U-S bombardments and urged negotiations as an alternative. "Sometimes you have to speak to [Slobodan Milosevic] two, three, five, 10 or 20 times," President Boris Yeltsin said. ... And [he] added ... "Morally, we are above America." Now it is Mr. Yeltsin who bombs and refuses to talk. The president of Chechnya has appealed repeatedly for negotiation; he has turned to Georgian leader Eduard Shevardnadze, who has agreed to act as intermediary. But Mr. Yeltsin instead has sent his bombers into action against the villages and cities of Chechnya, many ... still in ruins from Russia's failed war in 1994- 96. ... It is mostly civilians who are being hurt, killed and turned into refugees. TEXT: Domestically, the Social Security administration has launched a new program to mail financial statements about retirement accounts to millions of Americans, instead of waiting for them to request such a tally. Boston's Christian Science Monitor calls it... VOICE: Good news, because it may alert younger adults to the need to begin immediately to save and plan for retirement. Social Security is not a pension plan; it's not nearly enough to live on comfortably. Bad news, because much of the information that working taxpayers receive will be just an estimate that may prove way high or way low. ... [However] if the newly available benefit statements awaken Americans to the need to reform Social Security now ... when it will be less painful, that would be the best news of all. TEXT: Today's Sun, in Baltimore, is hoping the terrible commuter train wreck in London this week will provide valuable lessons for this country in improved rail safety. VOICE: Britain depends more on rail transport than does the United States. So as [the Maryland Area Rail Corporation] tries to increase commuting in the Baltimore-Washington corridor, and Amtrak plans faster inter-city service, examining British problems might prevent the worst here. // OPT // ... The latest British crash happened on a stretch of line where another Great Western express crashed in September 1997, with seven deaths and 147 injuries. The railroad, whose driver ignored a red light, was fined. This time, Great Western appears blameless. // END OPT // ... Railroad privatization was an achievement of the former Conservative government. Its safety and punctuality record is a liability for the current Labor government. Whatever lessons may be learned in London should be heeded in Washington. TEXT: Lastly, commenting on a proposed multi-billion- dollar merger of telephone companies, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette muses: VOICE: The nation's largest corporate merger ever -- the planned acquisition of sprint by M- C-I WorldCom -- is another step in the long transition of the nation's telecommunications industry from an era of monopoly to one of across-the-board competition. And the deal's eye-popping 100-billion-dollar price tag constitutes an impressive vote of confidence by financial markets in the vitality and future of one of the nation's most critical industries. TEXT: On that note, we conclude this sampling of
editorial comment from Friday's U-S press.
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