6 The Daily Collegian rAlliaTglnto A brief look at our world Jl~Jtii~ High court rules TMI suits can go forward HARRISBURG (AP) People who say they were harmed by radiation released during the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear accident will be able to pursue claims in court, the U.S. Supreme Court decided yester day. The court turned down without comment the argument by the plant's owners that even though the radiation release was above federal limits, no one actually was exposed to excessive radia tion. A partial meltdown at the plant in March 1979 remains the nation's worst commercial nuclear accident. It took almost $1 billion and more than a decade to remove the damaged nuclear fuel. The first 11 of more than 2,000 cases filed are scheduled to go to trial starting in June at U.S. Dis trict Court in Harrisburg. i I ~.. ~` #:~ , .. Deadbeat-dad ends standoff with agents COUSHATTA, La. (AP) A doctor wanted on deadbeat-dad charges surrendered yesterday after a six-day standoff. Lynn Truman Crawford, 42, was taken to Shreveport for a hearing on charges of failing to pay $70,000 in child support since 1985 in Missouri. The standoff began Feb. 21 when federal agents and sher iff's deputies went to arrest Crawford at his mother's rural house. Crawford was seen with a long weapon, possibly a rifle or a shotgun, the FBI said. Yesterday, several media organizations were contacted by militia groups that said their members had come to Coushatta to observe the standoff. Crawford said that he is not affiliated with any militia but that he contacted militia mem bers out of fear he would be exe cuted by FBI and state agents. "I want officers, agents, offi cials, employees and instrumen talities of the federal govern ment to obey their own laws," he said. \Do I.d Freight train wreck kills 12 in Hungary BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) Twelve people were killed and 14 injured when a freight train slammed into a bus at a crossing in southwestern Hungary yester day, state railway officials said. The engineer, the sole person riding the train, leapt to the ground when he saw the crash was inevitable, said Laszlo Beznoszka, the state railway chief dispatcher. All the dead and injured were aboard the bus. After visiting the accident site about 100 miles southwest of Budapest, Transport Minister Karoly Lotz told the state news agency MTI that he thought the accident "was caused by human error." The crossing had a barrier, but officials didn't know whether it was lowered at the time of the collision. Hungary's parliament ob served a minute of silence in tribute to the dead as it opened yesterday. Burma spending less on health, education BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) Burma's government is ignoring health and education in its push for economic development, pro democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi charged yesterday. Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner, said a declining portion of Burma's national bud get is spent on social needs resulting in high death rates among mothers and children and a weakened education system. Her comments were published yesterday in her weekly column in Japan's Mainichi Daily News. Burma's generals, who seized power after crushing a pro democracy uprising in 1988, released Suu Kyi from' six years of house arrest in July 1995. Clinton By RON FOURNIER Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON, D.C. President Clinton moved to punish Fidel Castro yesterday by stepping up economic sanctions on Cuba as the "price for outrageous behavior," the destruction by Cuban MiGs of two unarmed U.S. aircraft. The series of economic, diplomatic and political steps outlined yesterday was intended to isolate Castro's government and inoculate Clinton against soft-on-Castro broadsides from his Republican rivals. The president approved measures target ing Cuban aviation, including restrictions on U.S. air travel to the island nation, said a senior administration official. The president also planned to demand reparations from Cuba for survivors of the victims. The two Cessnas carried four Cuban-Americans who worked with a Miami- Peres promises to destroy terrorists By HILARY APPELMAN Associated Press Writer JERUSALEM With Israelis' nerves stretched tight following two suicide bombings, Prime Min ister Shimon Peres promised yes terday that Israel would destroy the militant Palestinian group Hamas, which claimed responsibil ity for the attacks. Despite his assurances, Israelis were obviously jittery a day after the bombings killed 27 people the highest toll in one day since 1978. The charged atmosphere brought a new casualty: An Arab-American was shot and killed yesterday by Israeli civilians who feared he was a terrorist when his rented car crashed into a crowded Jerusalem bus stop. Hundreds of police officers, con vinced they were facing a new ter ror attack, rushed to the scene. But police later said the driver, Ahmed Abdel Hamida of California, appar ently lost control of the car. An Israeli woman was killed in the crash and 22 people were injured. It was not known whether the bystanders who opened fire faced criminal charges. A reporter for Israel television said Abdel Hamida "paid the price for the hysteria that has overcome all of us." Hundreds of Israelis gathered at the scene of the Jerusalem bomb ing yesterday, arranging memorial candles on the sidewalk to spell the word "maspik" Hebrew for "enough." Military funerals were held at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl Ceme tery for five young soldiers killed in the blast. Hundreds of people stood in the rain at services for 20-year-old Pleading may get By AMY WESTFELDT Associated Press Writer PHILADELPHIA Legislators yesterday proposed passing one of the nation's toughest insanity defense laws that would only con sider people criminally insane if they don't know they've committed a crime. "The classic example is the defendant who genuinely thought he was cracking open a coconut, but was actually striking some one's skull," Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham said at a news conference with prosecutors and lawmakers. Two bills introduced in the state House and Senate would force attorneys to prove their clients never intended to commit a crime in order to get the insanity defense. The House Judiciary Committee voted 8-5 yesterday to hold hear ings on the bill sponsored by Rep. Michael McGeehan, D-Philadel phia. State Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, said he will intro duce his version of the bill this week. Greenleaf said the murder case against millionaire John E. du Pont, who is widely rumored to be plan ning an insanity defense in the Jan. 26 shooting of Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz, should give the bill "some momentum." Du Pont attorney William Lamb criticized the bill, saying: "My sense is that it is . . . to some extent directed towards our case as well. I think legislation sometimes becomes a reaction to something that's going on. I think that that's a mistake." Du Pont's attorneys have not said Datelin moves to punish Cuba based anti-Castro exile organization, and all remain unaccounted for. The official said Clinton was expected to withdraw, with some qualifications, his objections to a bill in Congress that would punish companies doing business with Cuba. Press secretary Mike McCurry, briefing reporters before the president's announce ment, said Clinton "approved a series of steps that the United States will pursue with the international community and unilaterally that we believe will make it clear that there's a price for outrageous behavior." Clinton's decision followed a 75-minute meeting with his top foreign policy advisers. His political team invited Cuban-Americans to the White House for high-level meetings, hoping to avoid political backlash just two weeks before the Florida primary. Echoing comments from his fellow GOP presidential hopefuls, Steve Forbes accused President Clinton of accepting "the illusion . "(He) paid the price for the hysteria that has overcome all of us." unidentified Israeli television reporter Yonathan Barnea, an army sergeant who was the son of well known newspaper columnist Nahum Barnea. "You had no hatred, you had no hatred because I think that you grew up in a place where hatred was not a way of life," his father said in a eulogy. A young American couple was among those killed in the Jerusalem bombing Matthew Eisenfeld, 25, of West Hartford, Conn., and Sara Duker, 22, of Tea neck, N.J. After separate funerals, they were to be buried later this week in adjoining plots in Avon, Conn., a Connecticut funeral home said. Twenty-five people were killed when a bomb exploded on a crowd ed Jerusalem city bus during the Sunday morning rush hour. Less than an hour later, another bomb exploded near the coastal town of Ashkelon, killing two people. The bombers were apparently among the dead in both blasts. Peres said the bomber in the Jerusalem attack came from Hebron, the only Palestinian town in the West Bank still under Israeli control. Peres said the bomber was known by security forces but his identity was not made public. Both bombers apparently dis guised themselves in Israeli army uniforms, Peres said, adding that the Ashkelon bomber even wore an earring. Traditional Palestinian insanity tougher they will pursue the insanity defense in the shooting of Schultz, witnessed by Schultz' wife and a bodyguard. Abraham and other prosecutors said they drafted the legislation in response to the October insanity acquittal of Jeffrey Howorth, a 17- year-old suburban Allentown boy who fatally shot his parents, George and Susan. "We have seen the effects of this kind of defense. I'm living with it," said Lehigh County District Attor ney Robert Steinberg. "I realistically expect that Jef frey Howorth will be out in a year." Howorth may be able to inherit half of his parents' estate when he is freed. Pennsylvanians acquitted by rea son of insanity are committed to a mental institution and reevaluated each year. Prosecutors say the new bill would force juries to more often return verdicts of guilty but men tally ill a ruling in which the defendants receive treatment, then begin serving prison sentences as soon as they recover from mental illness. Guilty but mentally ill verdicts should be delivered to criminals who say they were ordered by the devil, Martians or the fillings in their teeth to commit crimes, Abra ham said. Insanity defenses are rarely attempted, and less frequently suc cessful, experts say. Steinberg said he has seen two insanity acquittals in 1.0 years in Lehigh County. Idaho, Montana and Utah have eliminated the insanity defense altogether. . that you could make a deal with Castro." "I hope that Bill Clinton has finally recov ered from it," Forbes said. The White House, knowing Florida could be vital to Clinton's re-election chances, bristled. "The president was swiftly responding to these events before any Republican opened his ... mouth," McCurry said. Jorge Mas Canosa, president of the Cuban American National Foundation, welcomed Clinton's decision. "We think that he has taken steps in the right direction and we hope that he will con tinue in that direction," he told reporters on Capitol Hill. But Canosa called the incident "an act of war" and said a military response should not be ruled out. White House offi cials discounted that possibility. Republicans seized on the downings as fresh reason to pass the Cuban Democracy Act, which would punish countries that do As Israeli police officer hiding behind his car keeps watch on the body of an Arab-American man who was dragged from his car yesterday and shot after the car he was driving ran into a group of Israelis at a Jerusalem bus stop. Bystanders killed the man, identified as U.S. citizen Ahmed Abdel Hamida, when they mistook him for a terrorist. Police later denied that claim. society frowns on men wearing earrings. Peres criticized Yasser Arafat's self-rule government for allowing Hamas, which opposes the peace process and has claimed several other deadly bombings, to operate openly in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. "The Palestinian Authority must Hafer sued by Treasurer Knoll accused Auditor General Barbara Hafer of misusing public funds in a suit filed yesterday By JIM STRADER Associated Press Writer HARRISBURG Treasurer Catherine Baker Knoll sued Auditor General Barbara Hafer yester day, asking the Commonwealth Court to force Hafer to turn over information about office expenses. Knoll said her staff conducted a preliminary investigation of Hafer's spending practices and found "numerous instances of misuse of public funds by Hafer and several senior aides." Knoll cited items charged to an advancement account such as personal transactions on state credit cards, "no-interest loans" to employees and "lavish business dinners" including alcohol and tips. The lawsuit has political overtones. Hafer, a Republican, is seeking to succeed Knoll as treasur er; Knoll's daughter, Mina Baker Knoll, is a candi date for the post in the Democratic primary. "The filing of this suit and the timing of the fil- NASA shuttle experiment lost in space By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Like a child watching a helium balloon slip from his hand, scientists looked on in distress as a half-ton satellite being towed by space shut tle Columbia broke loose and float ed off into the black void, dangling 12 miles of frayed and curled cord. For those who had devoted years and even a decade to the electrici ty-generating project, it was a cruel blow, all the more so because everything was going so well up until the accident. "A lot of things were disappear- decide whether there is room in the Gaza Strip for paramilitary organi zations that want to harm peace," he said. "The Palestinian Authority must decide to disarm the terror ists or risk endangering its author ity." About 35 Hamas members were rounded up yesterday in the PLO ruled Gaza Strip, but none of them state treasurer ing of this suit are both highly suspect," said Hafer spokesman Robert Gentzel, noting the coming elec tion and a soon-to-be-released audit of the treasury. Gentzel said officials of both agencies discussed the disputed expenses in May, prior to an "exit interview" at the conclusion of the audit. He said reimbursements were made in instances where charges were mistakenly made to state credit cards or otherwise paid by the state in error. "There are no expenditures there that are in vio lation of policy," he said. Among the charges Knoll said were improper were several hundred dollars worth of alcohol with business meals, the use of a state credit card for personal expenses such as children's clothing, and salary advances to employees that were repaid months later without interest. Gentzel acknowledged that several meal bills included alcohol that should have been paid for with personal rather than state funds. He said the state has been reimbursed. He also said an employee who used a state cred it card for personal expenses, Deputy Auditor Gen eral Patricia Jardine, did so by mistake. In August 1994, she charged $l,lOO in children's clothing. "It was a mistake. It shouldn't have happened," Gentzel said. ing there," astronaut Jeffrey Hoff man, a Harvard-educated Ph.D. in astrophysics, said yesterday. "We got about halfway there in terms of being able to deploy the satellite and to just whet people's appetites . . . Scientists have lost a lot, and I deeply feel for them," he said. In a split second Sunday night, the cord and the instrument packed satellite were gone forever, a $4OO million-plus experiment now just space junk. NASA flight director Chuck Shaw said it would be too danger ous to send the shuttle after the Italian satellite the spaghetti thin cord could wrap itself com- Tuesday, Feb. 27, 1996 business with Cuba under certain circum stances and seeks to internationalize the U.S. embargo against Cuba. "I think that our country's got to go beyond a statement that either we are going to cut off phone calls or stop flights back and forth," said Sen. Connie Mack, R-Fla. Officials said Clinton was warming to the measure, though it was unclear what qualifi cations he would place on his support. MiG-29 fighter jets tried to blow the Cess nas from the sky Saturday; just one of the planes returned safely to the United States. U.S. intelligence officials said the air traf fic control tower in Havana warned the pilots they were in danger. The officials said at least one plane and perhaps all three ventured into Cuban airspace. The administration argued the shooting violated international law because the Cuban aircraft made no effort to warn the pilots or escort them from the area. were leading figures or belonged to Hamas' military wing, Izzedine al Qassam Peres said he had asked the gov ernments of countries from which Hamas receives money to block the flow of funds, adding Israel would focus its own efforts on eradicating the militant group. He did not name the countries contacted. pletely around the spaceship. The junk poses no hazard to Columbia and its crew for the remaining 1 1 h weeks of their mis sion, and it will re-enter the atmos phere and burn up within a month, officials said. NASA officials refused to specu late what went wrong. But Hoff man reported that the frayed end of the cord remaining aboard Columbia looked as though it had been charred and melted. The cord made of braided cop per, nylon and Teflon broke off inside a tower that was being used like a fishing rod to cast the satel lite into space.
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