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561686_4 | dig into the mystery of dark matter, the invisible material that presumably accounts for at least 90 percent of the mass of the universe. A17 NEW DATA ON AIDS A new report suggests that nonvirulent strains of H.I.V. continue to be nonvirulent after being transmitted from person to person. A19 REPORT ON ALZHEIMER'S RESEARCH Researchers say they have the first evidence that two primary abnormalities seen with Alzheimer's disease, low levels of a chemical that carries signals between nerve cells and the formation of hard plaques in the brain, may be directly related to the disorder. A19 Alaska Highway Journal: A long road indeed. A14 Law Page D16 A judge who is often in the ring with the Government. New attention to a little-known form of child abuse. At the Bar Weekend C1-33 DEREK WALCOTT WINS NOBEL Derek Walcott, the West Indian poet whose luminous writings evoke the cultural diversity and richness of the Caribbean, won the Nobel Prize in Literature. A1 Getaways with murder. C1 Old world of maps. C1 Theater: On Stage, and Off C2 Simon Gray's "Holy Terror." C3 "The Dolphin Position." C3 Film: "A River Runs Through It." C1 Restaurants C24 Art: Photo show on blacks. C21 Fairfield Porter in the light. C28 Word and Image: "The Orient Express," a novel. C31 Metro Digest B1 Business Digest D1 Sports B8-14 Baseball: Playoff Notebook B10 Basketball: Knicks' Ewing has one goal: a championship. B9 Columns: Anderson on Ray Handley. B9 TV Sports B10 Lipsyte on the Rangers. B13 Football: Giants' Simms may face surgery. B9 Giants close ranks behind Handley. B12 Hockey: Penguins defeat Islanders. B13 Bruins win in overtime. B13 Rangers' Neilson adept at keeping a secret. B13 Obituaries A23-25 WILLY BRANDT DIES AT 78 Willy Brandt, whose life spanned the defeat of his German fatherland in two world wars and who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to overcome the cold-war division of Europe died. He was 78 years old. A23 Ed Blackwell, jazz drummer. A24 Rev. Joseph M. Kitagawa, theologian. A24 Zoltan L. Bay, physicist. A24 Louis Smadbeck, real-estate executive. A25 Editorials/Op-Ed A32-33 Editorials First, fight the slump. Halfway responses to all-out war. Bush's campaign mode: nasty. Double standard on refugees. Letters A. M. Rosenthal: Here we go again. Anthony Lewis: Death at Bush's door. Robert L. Park: A cosmology of your very own. John Ralston Saul: Paper games and monetary chaos. | NEWS SUMMARY |
566773_0 | To the Editor: Big dams, once presumed the essence of conservation, are no longer in good repute in the United States, but are still much admired by Japan's Ministry of Construction. Japan is driving stubbornly toward the abyss in an ecologically disastrous and hydrologically ruinous river-spoiling scheme, 60 percent complete, on the Nagara, its last free river. The Nagara River, on Japan's main island, flows 100 miles to the Pacific Ocean and supports more than 70 recorded species of fish and a wide variety of shellfish and aquatic insects -- the greatest species diversity in Japan. The estuary dam under construction is opposed by 80 percent of the local residents, many of whom depend on the river for their livelihood, and by 60 Japanese citizen groups, whose pleas are ignored. On a recent visit to Japan, I was joined by an international delegation of river and dam experts. Robert Herbst of the Washington office of the Tennessee Valley Authority and I were denied the opportunity to see the Construction Minister, Taku Yamasaki, or the environmental minister. We were urging a full, open and independent review of the project, with a halt in construction until the conclusions were made known. On Oct. 1 construction got an early start, while Mr. Yamasaki's promised meeting with opposition representatives never materialized. Reiko Amano, chairwoman of the Society Against the Nagara River Estuary Dam Construction, led a 20-day hunger strike. My 54-year experience in the conservation movement has included successful opposition to many large dams, all of which were ill considered and have been proved unnecessary. The justification for the Nagara barrier keeps shifting. The unconsidered alternative is simply not to build it. Last June in Rio, Japan proclaimed its intention to lead in global environmental issues. This is not happening. Japan should be urged to invest in the global restoration needed everywhere. DAVID R. BROWER President, Earth Island Action Group San Francisco, Oct. 28, 1992 | West and East, Dams Threaten Environments; Meanwhile in Japan |
566772_1 | also the Government of Hungary and the stability of the whole region. The Slovak Government of Vladimir Meciar, by seizing the border river and rerouting it onto its own territory, is following in the footsteps of the Milosevic Government of Serbia. It proves by yet another example that aggression and lawlessness pay. I have just returned from the dam, where environmentalists from all over the world continue to protest this outrage. Three times last week the Austrian, Czech, Hungarian and Slovak demonstrators have marched on the Danube diversion construction site, and once succeeded in penetrating the police lines, dogs and military equipment that guard the site. The devastation of this millennia-old wetland is staggering. "Greater Slovakia" is being built by 1,650 pieces of earth-moving equipment. This richest environmental treasure of Europe is beginning to look like the surface of the moon. The protest by the European Community, by members of the United States Congress and 81 mayors of the immediate area have been disregarded by the former Communist, separatist Prime Minister Meciar and his financial supporter from Austria, Hannes Androsh. If the Meciar Government does not stop this environmental holocaust, the protesters will demand the freezing of all loans to Slovakia and the boycott of all companies that do business with Mr. Androsh. If the Meciar Government agrees to the restoration of this wetland region and its conversion into a nature protection park, the protesters will ask the World Bank for a debt for nature swap based on financing the restoration. The river diversion would turn the rich farmlands into a desert and destroy the drinking water supply of millions. While only days, possibly weeks, remain until the diversion becomes irreversible, the protesters are still hopeful, because a delay of only a few weeks would extend the projects into the rainy season, and once the flow in the Danube exceeds 1,500 cubic meters per second, it can no longer be blocked. Today the flow is 1,100 cubic meters per second. The Meciar Government has chosen a time when the American people are preoccupied with the elections to carry out this outrage. I ask all three Presidential candidates to warn the Meciar Government that, if elected, they will not allow aggression to pay and that Slovakia will be forced to live up to international standards of behavior. BELA LIPTAK Director, Foundation to Protect the Hungarian Environment Stamford, Conn., Oct. 28, 1992 | West and East, Dams Threaten Environments |
560574_5 | you can count on seeing more projects go to owner-occupied housing. This will be particularly true of Mitchell-Lama housing in areas where property values have gone up." There is a benefit to leaving the system after 20 years, Mr. Aponte said, even for owners with no plans to covert to co-op or condominiums. "If a building is in an area that has appreciated," he said, "the equity over time has been building up. The owner can refinance the mortgage and pay back the Mitchell-Lama debt. With today's interest rates nearly as low as they were when some of these projects were built, the owner can take the cash out and then convert sometime in the future." Rueben Glick, a principal of the Glick Organization, a leading development company that has participated in the Mitchell-Lama program, rejects the notion that there is any windfall for buyers or landlords in the conversions of these properties. "In the plan," said Mr. Glick, whose Brightwater Towers complex was recently converted to a condominium, "the advantage to builders was that there would be limited profit of 6 percent returned on our equity. But that usually did not happen because rents were kept so low and expenses were high so that profits did not have to be limited because they did not reach 6 percent in most cases." Mr. Glick said that the original expectation was that after 20 years in the program the owners would be able to take their buildings private and charge market-rate rents. "But rent stabilization was introduced," he said, adding that converting the buildings to co-ops or condominiums gives owners a way to get a return on their investments. When former Mitchell-Lama rental buildings are converted to co-ops or condominiums, owners are free to ask whatever tenants will agree to and what the market allows. There have been some small victories for D.H.C.R. in the effort to stem the flow of projects from the system. In July the New York Court of Appeals upheld the agency's efforts to delay a buy-out petition from two Bronx Mitchell-Lama complexes, Bronx Park East and Columbus Park. The court said that the owners were bound by a clause in their deeds from New York City restricting the use of the land they occupied for 40 years, which took precedence over the 20-year Mitchell-Lama restriction. Housing officials say they do not beleive that these sorts of | Mitchell-Lamas Going on Sale |
560800_0 | As remotely monitored electronic security systems have proliferated, so have false alarms, which waste police officers' time and erode confidence in the systems. Now a British company has developed a digital "camera on a chip" that can be integrated into these systems to provide an instant visual verification when an alarm is sounded. The system, called TVX, was developed by Edinburgh University and is produced by Automated Security Holdings P.L.C. It combines a camera and lens on one chip the size of a postage stamp. As many as 24 chips can be retrofitted onto an existing alarm system, providing coverage of a broad area. An infrared strobe light allows the cameras to function in darkness without alerting intruders. When an alarm is tripped, the TVX camera produces four digital video images of the area in rapid succession. Within seconds, these images are processed by a video data compression device, which allows them to be sent to the monitoring station over ordinary telephone lines. Before the last picture is received, the compressor is automatically calling the station using its built-in modem. At the monitoring station, the images are received on an ordinary personal computer, where they can be evaluated in sequence or stored on disk. "The application is a niche that basically has never been developed or even looked at by the Japanese," said Tom Buffet, Automated Security's chairman and chief executive. This is because Japanese digital camera development stems from video camcorders, which require color and a level of definition far too costly to build into a tiny camera on a chip suitable for alarm systems, he said. Visual verification allows security personnel to determine whether an alarm was tripped by a wandering cat or an intruder. Since the images can be stored, they can provide evidence to aid prosecutors. The cameras can also provide verification of fire alarms at remote sites and could be used for other verification tasks, like identifying employees at magnetic card entries. The unit is small enough to be mounted on a police officer's badge as a mobile camera. Automated Security has delivered more than 50 TVX systems in Europe, with another 300 on order, and the company is setting up subsidiaries to distribute it in the United States. Adding TVX cameras to an existing remote security system costs from $1,500 to $2,000, or they can be incorporated into new systems. The company expects to | Tech Notes; The Ultimate in Tiny Cameras |
560765_4 | breakdown or flat on the road because their vulnerability multiplies if they get out of the car. The Automobile Association recommends these steps: * Signal and pull off the road onto the shoulder. * Turn on the emergency flashers. * If you feel safe opening the window, tie a cloth onto the driver's door handle or antenna, or use some other object to signal for help. In a rental car, you are not going to have a windshield shade with "call the police" printed on the other side. Anyway, I have my doubts about the value of these things because I only see them in empty cars at malls. * Keep doors locked, windows up. * If someone other than a police officer stops, roll down the window only enough to ask that a call be placed to the police, the auto club or a service station. The A.A.A. says a citizens' band radio or a car phone is a good investment if you drive alone frequently, and either can be used to summon help in the event of an emergency. One evidence of the value of this advice is that the car rental companies are increasingly offering cellular phones as extras with their rentals. The charge for portables is usually about $5 a day; built-in phones come with the car at no extra charge; in either case, there is a fee of around $1.50 or more for a minute of calling time. All provide free 911 calls. Hertz offers car phones in 40 of the 60 major cities it serves, including Miami, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Detroit. Some of the phones are built into Hertz's midsize to luxury autos. "It's growing," Joe Russo, a spokesman, said. "By the end of the year we will have 20,000 cellular phones in the fleet, and our contract with GTE calls for a total of 50,000." Budget Rent a Car offers car phones at 29 airports, including those at Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Miami. According to Tim Hermeling, a spokesman, the franchise holder for the downtown Los Angeles sites also offers installed phones. Avis has built-in cellular phones in its cars at airports in the San Francisco Bay area as well as at O'Hare in Chicago and the Los Angeles area airports. In addition, portable phones are being tested at airports in Seattle, Portland, Ore., and Denver. National offers | Staying Safe On the Road |
560589_4 | steady increase in the diversity of species since evolution began, an increase that has accelerated over the last 100 million years. Some of this acceleration is the result of the continents having split into separate landmasses; with the formation of new, smaller continents, the number of sites where species could form multiplied. Equally important has been the proliferation of tropical forests, places that contain many isolated habitats whose boundaries are created by differences in climate and altitude. This womb of biodiversity at present houses about half the species on earth. But now the trend has reversed; the number of species is decreasing. Mr. Wilson suggests that at the current rates, 20 percent of existing species will become extinct in the next 30 years. The last comparable evolutionary disaster was the disappearance of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Many paleontologists now think this was caused by a meteorite six miles in diameter colliding with the earth and sending up a huge cloud of dust and smoke that blocked the sunlight. It took 20 million years -- more than 2,000 times the span of recorded human history -- for species levels to recover. The imminent collapse, caused by overpopulation, overgrazing and deforestation, won't be quite as sudden, but its effects will last just as long. What is to be done, then? How can we stop the destruction that is already under way? Mr. Wilson suggests that we make a complete survey of the world's fauna and flora in order to identify the "hot spots" for conservation. He also hopes to persuade deforesters that they are acting against their own economic interests and that there are alternatives. For instance, he suggests that "extraction farming" -- harvesting the natural products of the forest without harming it -- is feasible in many tropical areas. He cites as a model the half-million traditional rubber tappers of Brazil, who make their living from forest latex and other wild products. Mr. Wilson suggests that this kind of farming will spread as the world develops a taste for tropical fruit, and perhaps even for river turtle and iguana. ECONOMIC arguments, however, only stretch so far. Some tropical regions may well be economically suited to extraction farming, and in those cases the opportunity should be taken. But other regions can increase their profits only by cutting down trees and creating pasture instead. While it is true that short-term profits | In the Footsteps of The Dodo |
560445_1 | been selling for years have five-meter resolution. The best commercial images taken by the French SPOT satellites have a resolution of 10 meters and the ones of the American Landsat satellite have 30-meter resolution. The new Russian photographs, said Dr. Peter D. Zimmerman, a reconnaissance expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, "are enormously better than anything that any nation has made public to date." A Federal official versed in satellite reconnaissance, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the photographs were surprising and unquestionably taken by Moscow's most powerful spy craft. The new photos are being marketed by Central Trading Systems of Arlington, Tex., an import-export concern. Velon H. Minshew, general manager of the company's satellite imagery division, said in a telephone interview that the pictures on sale had been made from even sharper photographs that were purposely degraded. Coverage Nearly Global Both East and West have generally tried to keep the exact power of their space cameras secret so military rivals are less likely to be able to evade espionage. The best American spy satellites are said to be able to see objects as small as a baseball, although such claims have been disputed. Mr. Minshew said his company, which already markets the five-meter Russian imagery, reached an accord with Moscow in July to sell the sharper photographs. The coverage is nearly global, meaning that in theory almost every city and military base in the world is in the archive ready to be sold. Most of the photographs were taken in the last three years, Mr. Minshew said, but he added that new ones could be collected as well. "If we do not have the coverage, we can get it, weather permitting," he said. "We can do new acquisitions in 45 days after the go-ahead." Mr. Minshew said the new images sell for $3,180 apiece, including shipping and handling. The photographs are sent from Moscow via Federal Express. In comparison, images from the French SPOT satellites cost $700 to $3,000. Those from the American Landsat system cost $200 to $4,400. "We've already sold material," Mr. Minshew said, "and we have significant orders pending." He declined to identify his customers. C.I.A. Opens Up a Bit Dr. Zimmerman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said Moscow's new initiative would "put political pressure on the U.S. to declassify imagery that might be socially useful" for | Russia Is Now Selling Spy Photos From Space |
560453_2 | to the state." Martin Anderson, another senior fellow and a former adviser to President Ronald Reagan, noted that Mr. Stockdale would avoid most of the minefields of politics because Mr. Perot showed no inclination to run a conventional campaign. "I would be very surprised if they got a fleet of 727's and tried to hit a half-dozen states a day," Mr. Anderson said. Rather Be Reading Philosophy Stacked in Mr. Stockdale's office were books by all three Presidential candidates. He had read Mr. Perot's 117-page book, "United We Stand" (Hyperion Press, 1992), 10 times, Mr. Stockdale said, and he was prepared to study the others, although disinclined. "I'm not ridiculing it; I'll get to it," he said. "But I doubt very much that's the real challenge of being Vice President." Mr. Stockdale looked longingly toward another stack of books, the ear-marked volumes of Epictetus, the Greek Stoic philosopher, whom he discovered as a student at Stanford in the early 1960's, turned to for intellectual solace while a prisoner and is now the subject of a book being written by Mr. Stockdale. Would he rather be reading those, the retired vice rear admiral was asked? "You've got my number," he replied. Mr. Stockdale's lack of interest in the gears of government was apparent in those early days as a Stanford student. The Navy was paying his way, in the expectation that he would one day hold a policy position at the Pentagon, and he was supposed to be studying international relations. But he found it dull, he said. Thoughts on Captivity "I couldn't get excited about how people organized themselves," he said. And he kept asking questions that his professors mocked as "philosophical." So he decided to cross the campus and audit classes in the philosophy department, where he became a protege of the late Philip Rhinelander, a professor emeritus of philosophy. Despite the peculiarities of his resume, Mr. Stockdale displays a certainty, forged during four years of solitary confinement and two years in leg irons, that he would be up to the task of the Vice Presidency. He recalls with great vividness the thoughts that went through his mind as he parachuted toward enemy territory after his A-4 jet was shot down in 1965: As wing commander, he would be the highest-ranking prisoner in North Vietnam, and thus responsible for the survival and comportment of all the others. "I knew | THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: James B. Stockdale; Scholar Follows Perot Into Heat of Campaign |
565503_1 | seen in "Arkady Meets Moscow's New Mafia" (Op-Ed, Oct. 7), your excerpt from the new Martin Cruz Smith novel. The Red Mafia is taking over many state enterprises, which the state is auctioning to privatize. In some cases the workers may try to get together and buy the enterprise, but they do not have enough money or they are kept from the auction. New businesses not taken over have become targets from which the Red Mafia demands protection money. It is also picking up the vouchers given the public for a share in state enterprises turning private. Until last year foreign trade was carried out exclusively by a state ministry. Now there are joint ventures, of which 60 percent are estimated to be phony, set up to get an import-export license and ruble account. The banking laws are so unsophisticated that the mafia transferred billions out of Russian banks to Switzerland. There are more than 5,000 gangs in the country; many have European and American subsidiaries. While United States businesses want less regulation, Russians want laws to protect business. The Iron Curtain kept out the bad as well as the good. Well-guarded borders protected the Soviet Union from criminals from the West and the West from Soviet criminals. Currency control was another impediment. Criminals from the former Soviet Union run drug trafficking, prostitution, car thefts and contract killings. Precious metals, gems, antiquities and new materials are taken out of the country. More young women are turning to prostitution and plying their trade in and out of the country. Guns and stolen cars come into the country in huge numbers. According to Interpol, half the cars stolen in Germany and Italy arrive in Poland and are driven or shipped to former Soviet republics. Very soon, Kazakhstan will be a major supplier in the world's drug trade. The Soviet-Polish mafia is the third largest drug trader and manufacturer in Europe, in influence and turnover. A big merchant fleet is used for smuggling by sea. Already, the Russian mafia is notorious for kidnapping business executives in the West and for contract killings. Relaxation of travel restrictions makes movement easy. Today in the former Soviet Union there are some 50 synonyms for stealing. Common actions are most developed in any language. The Eskimos, for instance, have many words describing snow. RALPH SLOVENKO Professor of Law & Psychiatry, Wayne State University Detroit, Oct. 8, 1992 | In Ex-Soviet Lands, Gangs Fill Vacuum |
565390_1 | of our economy." One disappointed passenger was Eileen Pogo, who lives a 10-minute drive away in Hamilton Square. "I don't understand why they are leaving," she said. She ticked off the advantages of Mercer over a big airport like Newark International, including free long-term parking and the speedy arrival of luggage after a plane lands. Gloria Burke, a Trenton resident, echoed Ms. Pogo's concern. "It's a mess going to Newark or Philadelphia," she said. Passengers to the Pittsburgh USAir hub could fly on from there to other parts of the country. Need for 'Tough Choices' Susan Young, a spokeswoman for USAir, explained the removal of jet service in these terms: "All the carriers have lost a lot of money over the last year, and we have to make some tough choices. This service was simply not economically feasible." The flights, using 110-seat DC-9 aircraft, were often less than half full, she said, and the jet equipment could be used more profitably on another route. Airport and county officials criticized the company's decision to drop the Pittsburgh route after 11 months as premature. "We feel they didn't give the service enough time," said Edward Meara, president of the Mercer County Chamber of Commerce. He and other officials pointed to boarding figures showing that traffic had been steadily building each month as more local residents learned of the service. Total jet passengers grew from 2,867 in January to 4,101 in May and 5,029 in June, most of them business travelers. In all, 22,313 people used the USAir jet service during the six months ending in June; an additional 7,249 passengers flew on USAir's commuter flights in the same period. In July, however, passenger jet traffic at Mercer dipped to 3,851. Mercer officials also said that USAir had failed to give the service enough advertising support. "You can't get people on the planes unless they know about it," said John Maier, whose final day as manager of the airport happened to coincide with the end of the jet service. The industry's cash crunch, however, has left airlines with fewer dollars to spend on the sort of promotional efforts that can build up a following for a new service like Mercer's. Advertising Drops USAir at first backed its jet service with various promotions, offering travelers out of Mercer double miles in its frequent flier program through last April. But since then, local officials said, | USAir Pulling Out of Mercer |
565426_2 | nearly completed plant has been operating on an experimental basis for seven weeks. The county-owned plant, operated by Liberty Waste Management, shares a site adjacent to the Gov. Thomas E. Dewey Thruway in Yonkers with the transfer station for the Charles Point Resource Recovery Facility in Peekskill. Outside the huge gray building with its blue stripes, a line of trucks from Eastchester, Greenburgh, Hastings-on-Hudson and Irvington were waiting for their turn to dump loads of plastic milk containers, newspapers, soda cans and beer bottles into the 69-foot-high bays. Inside, front-end loaders dug into the mounds of empty cola cans and bleach containers and plastic yogurt cups, loading them onto conveyer belts for separating, sorting, crushing and repacking with the help of bailers, magnetic dividers and hand inspection by the plant's 40 employees. The workers are on the lookout for rejects, especially wire hangers, which can mangle machinery, and plastics that cannot be recycled. Four years ago, the Plastic Bottle Institute developed a voluntary coding system to identify plastic containers for recycling. The plant handles products from Categories 1 and 2, which include soft-drink bottles and milk jugs but not flexible food container covers, detergent bottle caps or food trays. At the other end of the plant, empty trucks waited to pick up packs of crushed glass and bales of glittering crushed aluminum, newsprint and plastic to carry to waiting vendors who have paid prices of $1 to $850 a ton. Markets for recycled products continue to be unstable, county officials conceded, but the plant provides the quantity of material and the quality control that makes recycled material attractive to potential purchasers. Vendors seem to agree. Noel Prins, executive vice president of Prins Recycling Corporation in Fort Lee, N.J., buys much of the newsprint and corrugated cardboard produced at the recycling center. "I feel comfortable buying from Westchester and selling to my markets," Mr. Prins said. "They have enough labor to make a quality product." Top Prices for Bales of Cans Noting the various grades of paper available in the recycled-paper business, Mr. Prins said: "Most of it is contaminated when it is picked up at the curb. Someone must pull out the brown bags and the plastic, but Westchester has the system and enough people to do it. A cleaner product gets more money." Some recycled material is more easily disposed of than others, with top prices paid for bales | Yonkers Plant About to Begin Its Recycling Job |
565497_1 | now so commonplace, we may not realize how artificial it is." Nevertheless, the popularity of compact disks for home listening means the format is here to stay. After all, for the majority of consumers, who gave up old, misaligned turntables and scratchy records for the silver disks, the new medium is a sonic improvement. Proposals abound for improving digital recording to please more critical listeners, but all have suffered from the drawback that they would not work on existing players. As its name implies, High Definition Compatible Digital, or HDCD, offers improved sound while remaining compatible with existing compact disk or digital tape players. The process is meant to be used during both recording and playback. Pacific Microsonics designed most of the system's "intelligence" into an "encoder" used during recording, so much of its benefit can be realized on existing CD players. For optimum results, though, recordings encoded this way should be heard on players incorporating the decoding circuitry. Early reviews have been favorable. "I thought it was stunning," said John Atkinson, editor of Stereophile, a magazine for audio enthusiasts. "The time is right. The standard is restricted by what was possible technically in the late 1970's." Keith Johnson, a recording engineer and audio equipment designer, co-invented HDCD with Michael Pflaumer, a digital electronics engineer best known for developing the Tops system, which allows computers with different operating systems to communicate on a network. Mr. Johnson began with the thesis that existing measurements for distortion were not adequate. "A lot of this came about just through pure disgust and frustration," Mr. Johnson said. Digital "was a case of the emperor's new clothes. You measured it and the measurements came out perfect, but the measurements were only adequate for vacuum tubes" -- the standards being applied were relevant only to an outdated technology. Early on, he identified several distortions unique to the digital process. These were caused by the inadequacy of the digital recording standard, which samples sound 44,100 times a second and stores it in digital "words" 16 bits in length. In high frequencies, music extends to about 22,000 cycles a second. But a digital sample must be taken at least twice as often as the highest frequency to be captured, to avoid cycles occurring during gaps between samples. So while 44,100 sounds high, it is in fact the minimum, and, many engineers say, barely adequate. And to avoid confusing | Technology; Yes, CD Sound Is 'Perfect.' And Yes, It's Getting Even Better. |
565806_0 | Infrequent travelers don't know any better. They think checking luggage is the convenience it was meant to be. But frequent travelers know otherwise. That's why they stand at the airline check-in counter begging to drag on board the suitcase they could barely dead lift out of their cab. Defeated, they nervously wave goodbye to the conveyored bag as if it were a child heading off to sleep-away camp. After deplaning, they wait at baggage claim anticipating tragedy. Considering the current turmoil in the airline industry, the mystery of airline food, the four-hour "routine-check" delays and the odds in favor of catching "My Cousin Vinny" in flight for the fourth time this month, why not try some anxiety reduction in at least one department: 1. If you love the feel, smell and look of good luggage, buy a great piece of carry-on. That way, you never have to let it out of your sight. 2. It's foolish to spend more for check-in luggage than you do for carry-on, even though it's twice the size. Whether checked in first class or economy, a few of your favorite things are very likely to get tossed around like beach balls in July. If you insist on spending a fortune for that monogrammed mini-steamer, at least have a packet of tissues handy at baggage claim. 3. Really cheap luggage has obvious advantages, which make it perfect for transporting gym gear and diapers in the back of a Saab. If you plan to pack bulk, however, check your potential purchase for strength of seam, zipper and frame construction. 4. Pouches promote balance. The bag with the biggest pouch isn't always the wisest purchase. 5. Always pack jewelry, documentation, photos of the kids, medication and one change of clothes in the carry-on. 6. Remember, regardless of seating, time of check-in or promises from flight attendants, there is no system to the way luggage comes off the conveyor. Be brave. Some people even pack masking tape and safety pins, just in case. | Men's Style; A Wing and a Prayer |
563544_2 | by the fact that recalculation of July's deficit brought it down to $7.3 billion compared with the $7.8 billion originally reported. Still, August's $9 billion merchandise deficit -- services, tourism and the like are excluded -- was the highest since November 1990, which had been the last of five straight months to register $9 billion or more. The dive in exports was particularly evident in a $900 million drop for industrial supplies and materials and a $700 million drop in capital goods. But automotive products, consumer goods and foods and beverages also fell by $200 million each. Among imports, the biggest change was a $300 million decline in industrial supplies and materials, the report also showed. By specific product, exports of raw tobacco fell $160 million, but this was largely offset by a $125 million increase in foreign sales of manufactured tobacco products. When frequently recurring seasonal factors are excluded, the deficit widened far less -- to $9.9 billion from July's revised $9.6 billion. This is the basis on which geographic breakdowns are reported, and a vast improvement was shown in trade with Western Europe, as a $1.1 billion July deficit shriveled to less than $100 million in August. Still, Patrick J. Moriarty, chief investment officer at Bank Julius Baer in New York, noted there was fresh evidence this week of faltering demand in Japan and Germany. "I don't see where the improvement's going to come from," he said. A Mixed Picture The deficit with Japan narrowed $200 million, to $3.7 billion, but it more than doubled with Canada, to $825 million, and expanded by $400 million with the newly industrialized Asian countries of Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong. The nation's bill for imported crude oil eased $300 million in August, to $3.5 billion, as volume fell 17 million barrels and the price per barrel fell 22 cents, to $17.96. The American surplus in advanced technology products slumped to $1.6 billion, from $2.1 billion in July and $2.3 billion in August 1991. The industrial production data, compiled by the Federal Reserve, showed declines of four-tenths of 1 percent for factories and 1.2 percent at mines. Those drops were not fully offset by a 2.6 percent surge in output by the nation's utilities. The overall output decline of two-tenths of 1 percent was only half as large as those of June and August, but analysts have become disheartened, especially | Trade Gap Widens on Export Fall |
563495_0 | To the Editor: It is comforting to learn that a federally appointed panel says dioxin in the tissues of Americans is declining, and what's there may be less toxic than previously assumed (news article, Sept. 26). However, the speculation by the panel about the reasons for this (eating less meat) and the sources of dioxin (factories and incinerators) misses the most probable source -- the cars we drive. Measurements of dioxin have been found higher near heavily trafficked roads in cities in several countries, especially where leaded gasoline is used. Swedish tailpipe tests found a significant difference between dioxin in the exhaust of autos using leaded and unleaded gasoline. In the United States, the effect of the growing use of leaded gasoline from the 1920's to the 70's, and the subsequent phaseout of lead additives in the 80's is corroborated by measurements of sediments at a lake on an island within the Great Lakes that could only have been affected by airborne emissions. The measurements show a rise and fall of dioxin between 1920 and 1982 that exactly parallels lead levels in the air for the same period in the same area. In the same years leaded gasoline has been phased out in the United States, dioxin in the tissues of Americans has declined dramatically. Preliminary tailpipe test data from the California Air Resources Board suggest that, nationally, even autos with unleaded gasoline emit about 7,500 times more dioxin than all the projected, modern, waste-to-energy plants in the United States would emit in the year 2000. Moreover, the board's data seem to show the mix of dioxins from autos about 10 times more toxic than the mix from incinerators. CAROLYN S. KONHEIM Brooklyn, Oct. 1, 1992 The writer is an environmental consultant. | Environmentally, U.S. Leads the World; Dioxin From Autos |
558913_1 | the panelists said exposure to high concentrations of dioxin, or TCDD, seemed to increase the risk of developing two types of lethal cancers, lung cancer and particularly soft tissue sarcoma, a cancer of connective tissue. The risks, several panelists said, are largely confined to chemical workers and people exposed to high levels of dioxin from industrial accidents. They said the levels of dioxin ordinarily found in the environment had not been shown to be dangerous to people. The findings are the clearest statements ever made by a Government-sponsored panel about the potential risks from dioxin, a byproduct of industrial processes in which compounds containing chlorine are burned. But panelists said a final statement about the risks of dioxin was not likely to be finished for several more months. A 20-Year-Old Debate The findings will not settle the debate that began 20 years ago over whether dioxin is the "most toxic compound known to man," as environmentalists say, or that the United States has overstated the risk from dioxin, a position taken by some scientists and many industrial executives. Even before the panel reached its conclusion, the Environmental Defense Fund, a national environmental group based in New York, issued a statement on Wednesday that said the panel's deliberations this week confirmed that dioxin was "far more toxic than previously believed." Stewart E. Holm, the manager of science policy for the Georgia-Pacific Corporation, which produces dioxin as a byproduct of bleaching paper, responded that the panel appeared to find that dioxin was "not as dangerous as commonly thought." The scientific panel's work is part of an official reassessment of the potential hazards of dioxin that William K. Reilly, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, began in May 1991. Risk to Chemical Workers Mr. Reilly opened the investigation after members of his staff, a prominent scientist with the Federal Centers for Disease Control and scientists with the paper and chlorine processing industries suggested that new scientific evidence indicated that the Government was exaggerating the risks to ordinary people from day-to-day exposure to dioxin. The panel's findings today, according to several members, suggest that the risk to chemical workers handling compounds containing dioxin are higher than once thought. At the same time, panel members said, the risk to average Americans exposed to dioxin, principally by eating beef, dairy products, chicken and fish, is lower than previously believed. Asked whether ordinary Americans should be | Panel of Scientists Finds Dioxin Does Not Pose Widespread Cancer Threat |
556342_0 | World Economies | |
556439_1 | the three states have 25 percent of the electoral votes needed to win -- show the President trailing Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas by 13 to 22 points. Washington and Oregon were the only states in the West to vote against Mr. Bush in 1988, and California went Republican by the narrowest of margins. Even timber workers, who would seem to be at odds with Mr. Clinton for the environmental leanings of his running mate, Senator Al Gore, instead are angry at Mr. Bush. In his book, "Earth in the Balance," Mr. Gore lamented the cutting of ancient forests in the Northwest and called for protection of more land. The Administration has advocated amending the Endangered Species Act, which has been used to curtail logging to protect the spotted owl. "George Bush has done absolutely nothing for our workers," said Bill Hubbell, president of the International Woodworkers of America, based in Oregon. "We've had reams of rhetoric from the Administration, but they have never tried to take the bull by the horns." In a pre-emptive strike, Mr. Clinton last week won the support of the major unions representing 125,000 timber workers by promising to tackle the stalemate between loggers and environmentalists. "This crisis represents yet another example of a White House long on the politics of blame and short on leadership," Mr. Clinton said in a letter to the timber unions. Mr. Clinton also is planning to be in Oregon on Monday, speaking in Portland and then visiting an out-of-work timber family in Springfield. The major problem for the President, union leaders said, is that the timber crisis happened on his watch. In the last decade, thousands of timber workers lost their jobs because of the recession, foreign competition and automation. In the last four years, environmental restrictions on Federal forests have hastened the decline. While the Bush Administration has had Cabinet-level committees studying the issue, most logging on Federal lands in the Northwest has been halted because of lawsuits. The judge who has been most responsible for shutting down logging to protect the spotted owl -- Judge William L. Dwyer of United States District Court in Seattle -- was an appointee of President Reagan. In a ruling last year that blocked Forest Service plans to resume its tree-cutting policy in the Northwest, Judge Dwyer wrote that the Administration had shown a "deliberate and systematic refusal" to follow Federal laws | THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: Issues: The Environment; In Timber Country, Bush Will Join Logging War |
555011_0 | Three Roman Catholic American nuns in conflict with their church are the heroines of "Faith Even to the Fire," tonight's offering from "P.O.V.," the PBS series of independent productions. In their stories one can detect the influence of Vatican II and Pope John XXIII, of the liberation theology movement in Latin America, the civil rights movement in the United States and the women's movement around the world. Sister Judith Vaughan, a Chicago woman who says nuns run in her family, found herself in trouble after signing a "Catholic Statement on Pluralism and Abortion" that took exception to the Vatican's edicts against abortion. She now heads the National Assembly of Religious Women, a Catholic feminist organization. Sister Marie de Pores Taylor says that after years of serving with the Black Pastoral Center in Oakland, Calif., she felt her efforts were insufficiently valued by the diocesan hierarchy. Now she works as a community activist, a broadly defined and popular job description these days. Sister Rosa Marta Zarate, an immigrant from Mexico, is suing the San Bernardino, Calif., diocese for dismissing her from its Department of Evangelization and Catechesis for Hispanics. She says she was too radical for the United States church: "Men were deciding my destiny as a sister and as a woman." The experiences of these nuns exemplify what sympathetic theologians on the program describe as a change in the church's "power equation." As Sister Judith, the Chicago nun, puts it, the institutional church, dominated by white men, has not been listening to the voices of women and minorities. She champions the primacy of individual conscience. The tension between conscience and authority is nothing new in the history of religion, and Sylvester Ryan, the Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles and the only church official heard from here, cautions, "Conscience is not revelation." He says, "We need to be part of a process in which the experience and the teachings of theologians and scholars and even the authority of the church are part of the formation of what's conscience." More analysis of that ancient dispute and of the way political commitments can strain or enhance religious faith might have deepened this hour. But in the tradition of P.O.V., the goal here is less to inquire into the nature of religious obedience than to celebrate dissent. That it does, quite effectively. P.O.V. Faith Even to the Fire PBS, 10 P.M. Channel 13 in | Review/Television; Amid the Fathers, Dissenting Sisters |
554934_2 | the reactor going. For the people, it had become a symbol of Cuba's entry into the modern era." In his speech, monitored in Miami, Mr. Castro described other ways the Cuban economy had been damaged by the end of Communist aid, saying that the island's imports had fallen 70 percent and that key industries like sugar and nickel were hurt by falling prices and reduced investment. In the lone positive note, he said the country's sugar harvest had totaled seven million tons this year, well below record levels but far more than many had predicted. Even this good news was blunted, however, by the fact that the harvest had to be extended by two months to compensate for the use of manual labor where machines once worked, and by an end to Soviet subsidies, meaning that the country will earn far less from its crop than in the past. Senior Officials Dismissed As Cuba's economy has come increasingly unraveled in recent months, Mr. Castro, vowing to defend Communism to the death, has begun dismissing senior officials, fueling speculation that major rifts in the leadership are emerging between reform-oriented officials and hard-liners. In June, Mr. Castro dismissed his son, Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, as head of the nuclear energy program, citing "inefficiency." That was followed by the removal of Julio A. Garcia Olveras, the head of Cuba's Chamber of Commerce, who had enthusiastically recruited foreign investors for the country's limited program of economic liberalization. There have also been persistent rumors of a fall from favor by two of Mr. Castro's senior lieutenants -- Carlos Aldana, the Communist Party's chief of ideology, who has dropped out of sight in recent weeks, and Roberto Robaina, leader of Cuba's Union of Young Communists. "The basic economic assumptions have been so challenged that there is a real question of being able to hold things together politically," said Andrew Zimbalist, an expert on the Cuban economy at Smith College in Massachusetts. "What you may have in the case of Aldana and with others is people who think the situation has to change more quickly, and Fidel is worried that that kind of change could threaten him." In his speech, Mr. Castro denied that there were divisions in the leadership, but added: "There are those who become discouraged, who become cowardly. There are those who are traitors, those who desert. This happens in all eras, in all revolutions." | Cuba Cancels Atom Plant, Blaming Costs and Russians |
555045_0 | To the Editor: In "Twins Study Shows School Is Sound Investment" (Education page, Aug. 19), you report that Orly Ashenfelter and Alan Kreuger found a 16 percent rise in earnings for each additional year of schooling. Readers should not too quickly conclude that keeping this country's youth in school for ever lengthier periods will bring us out of our economic morass. There are reasons to question that 16 percent figure. The researchers, despite controlling shared genes and family background, apparently do not hold constant measures of cognitive ability, which may directly influence both length of schooling and eventual earnings. Omitting such measures, even in a sample of twins, can result in a spuriously large association between education and earnings. Studies suggest that the value added by each additional year of education varies by both the level of schooling (secondary versus college), and by whether or not a diploma or degree is conferred. More important, however, is the question of why individuals with more schooling earn more. Robert Reich and John Bishop, whom you quote, share the belief, widespread among economists, that earnings differences among individuals whose educational attainment differs arise from differences in productivity attributable to schooling. If this were true, raising average educational attainment would increase both individual earnings and gross national product. But if education serves primarily to screen potentially more productive workers from potentially less productive workers, then increasing average education only weakens the value of the screen and makes the costs of using schooling to identify more productive workers more expensive. Worse, if educational credentials are, as many sociologists suspect, used to some extent to satisfy the irrational tastes and preferences of employers and society for traits that are not necessarily related to productivity, then, from a strictly economic point of view, increasing levels of schooling simply wastes society's resources, though it may distribute credentials more equally. No doubt each of these propositions is to some extent true. Studies suggest that lengthier schooling raises academic achievement, and that academic achievement is associated with increased earnings. Nevertheless, while the relevance of more and better schooling to economic growth should not be entirely discounted, we should not expect education to prove to be a great panacea for business and governmental misdirection and folly. MICHAEL R. OLNECK Prof. of Educational Policy Studies and Sociology University of Wisconsin Madison, Wis., Aug. 24, 1992 | Now About Job Training for the Other Workers; Schooling and Earnings |
556085_6 | Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and goes to the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco on Nov. 19. One remarkable thing about Diebenkorn's Ocean Park series and his recent abstractions is that even the small works on paper can suggest vast scale, deep space and wide open spaces, and this impression, combined with the soft, bleached colors that the artist favors, gives the sense that they echo the light and landscape of California. Diebenkorn acknowledges this impression but says it is nothing he consciously strove to evoke. "I arrive at the light only after painting in it, not by aiming for it." The Ocean Park works are numbered, not titled; typically, he could not abide the artificiality of imposing titles on them, even though it leaves him as much at sea as anyone when discussion turns to "Ocean Park No. 107" or "Ocean Park No. 139." Many of the images in the series blend the same compositional elements: a scaffolding of horizontal, diagonal and vertical lines and bands, overlapping planes and atmospheric veils of paint that reveal layers of activity beneath them. The effect is a kind of architecture of forms in which the beauty rests as much in the joinery as in the overall design. The sheer number of Ocean Park pictures guarantees a wide range in quality. After so many years, a formula to making an Ocean Park picture has developed, and Diebenkorn tries, not always successfully, to resist it. "I don't think there's anything wrong with a formula as something to obliterate," he says. "I can make a phony Ocean Park and then do away with it. If that's what it takes to get started, why not?" He is forever looking for ways to "create trouble" for himself, he says, to struggle against his innate fluency and avoid the easy solutions that occasionally turn a work into something facile and pretty. "As soon as I have a plan, the process becomes false, phony," he says. When he moved to Healdsburg, he began experimenting with a crisscrossing pattern of lines that became the basis for one of the more intriguing works on paper in the Knoedler show. A couple more of these works, uncompleted, are tacked to the wall of the studio. "I just wanted to cross myself up with some unfamiliar problem," he explained. What determines when the problems are solved and a work | A Life Outside |
556084_0 | A man slips on a Dolce & Gabbana sweater and immediately drowns in a cascade of wool. "My God! What do I do with all this?" he cries to any sales help within reach, as he slowly sinks into Yarn Lake. Another man steps into a pair of Henry Duarte's trousers and discovers they have no pleats and almost skintight legs. "They're going to look pretty stupid with wing tips, huh?" he asks the salesman. The salesman smiles. "Can I get away with penny loafers?" The salesman is silent. "Well, then, what do I buy?" A businessman fixates on an Armani leather parka as if witness to the miracle at Guadalupe -- until he tries it on. "My suit jacket's longer than this coat," he says, stating the obvious. "How can I wear this?" Informed that the silhouette is deliberate, he remains unyielding. "When I wore my baseball jacket over my good clothes, my mother always said it looked terrible. All of a sudden, it's okay?" Welcome to men's wear for fall, 1992. Attention, men who've taken the time to learn their sizes and make room for the future. Boy, are you going to have a good time. There's some great stuff out there. As for the rest of you, no one said life was going to be easy, and, until recently, fashion's let you off the hook. But how many two-button blue suits can you buy? Your stack of impenetrably starched white shirts is leaning toward Pisa. You own enough now-on-reserve-power neckwear to stitch a quilt. Sure, it's scarier to make radical changes at this time, not only because of finances, but because men are conditioned to greet fall with uniformity. Note that no woman ever announces her departure with the phrase, "Gotta go. It's a school night." Only men say that. That's because, for all their bull sessions about their fondly misspent youths, come September, only men miss school. It's where they solidified their musical taste, their present haircut and their frat-house sweatshirt style of unobtrusively fitting in. But the rules for membership in real life have changed. People now want to be noticed, singled out. Sometimes they even want to show off. Happily, men's wear has never been as ready to offer such flattering assistance. Each piece shown on the following pages reflects a fresh attitude that is more emphatic, yet indisputably more masculine. And since times | Points of Departure |
555987_0 | THE campaign for next Sunday's French referendum on a treaty on European union has become a grim affair. Supporters of the treaty say a French "no" will threaten the survival of the European Community, while opponents contend ratification will strip France of its very identity as a nation. Who should French voters believe? Polls suggest they are now evenly split between "oui" and "non" -- and Europe is holding its breath. That both camps should be resorting to the tactics of fear illustrates how much Western Europe's mood has soured since the treaty was approved at a community summit in the Dutch city of Maastricht last December. The region is sliding into recession, rising xenophobia in Germany has sent shudders through its neighbors, the war in Yugoslavia constantly reminds that history is not over, confidence in the future has evaporated. Supporters of the treaty, which commits the 12-nation community to adopt common foreign and security policies and to create a single currency by 1999, have tried to argue that things will be better with the treaty, but they have fallen back on the argument that things will be much worse without it. And the opponents, who never were able to promise that happiness would follow rejection of Maastricht, as the treaty is known, have focused on the apocalyptic consequences of ratification. That France should suddenly be in a position to decide the immediate future of the community is itself something of an accident. To take effect, the treaty must be ratified by all 12 member states, but only Denmark and Ireland were required by their national laws to do so through a referendum. When Danish voters narrowly rejected the treaty June 2, however, President Francois Mitterrand called his own referendum, seeing strong French approval as an appropriate antidote. At the time, polls predicted a 70 percent approval. A Changed Mood Since then, France has proven what many people suspected: that community governments have done a poor job in explaining the benefits of the treaty. And while the French Government sat back complacently in the summer, the "no" campaign was free to argue the threats posed by the treaty to the French economy, to French sovereignty, even to the French way of life. Saying no to the treaty was even sold as a good way of saying no to Mr. Mitterrand. By late last month, the "non" had drawn even and | Europe's Future Hangs on the French Voter's Whim |
556098_0 | When a hungry young black bear scrambled up a frontyard holly tree in this affluent community recently, the tree's horrified owner wasted no time calling for help. It was one of many bear alerts that the State Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife has fielded this year. The calls came in at a rate of several each week through May and June and tapered off to about one a week by the Labor Day weekend. "We had, this spring and summer, for whatever reason, about the highest year for calls on bears," said Pat McConnell, bear project manager at the wildlife division's northern district office in Hunterdon County. One theory about the increase in bear activity links it to unusual weather. "We had very mild temperatures and a lot of those males have been out trying to find food since midwinter," Ms. McConnell said. "They seem to have wandered pretty far since then." Looking for Dinner On average, an adult male bear will wander up to 50 miles for food. That puts much of the most densely populated suburbs in the nation's most urbanized state well within range for dinner. "It seems like every year there's less and less damage reports from farmers and more and more complaints from the suburbs," said Kim Tinness, a wildlife control representative on one of two full-time emergency bear response teams based in Clinton. The response teams are part of the state's bear management project, begun 10 years ago and headed by Ms. McConnell, which also includes research and education projects. On one of the more widely publicized bear forays this year, an animal wandered through through Paramus last May before being tranquilized and removed by game officials. The same bear wandered back down the Palisades Parkway later in the summer, where it was struck and killed by a car. "Unfortunately, that's inevitable," Ms. McConnell said. "There are more bears in contact with more humans and that's one of the things we're going to see more often." 'They're Quite Prolific' This year officials expect the number of bears killed by cars to exceed the record of 12 set in 1987. By contrast, in 1976, the total number of bears sighted statewide was only 10. It was then that the state closed its bear hunt and presumed it had seen the last of the animals here. But since then, bolstered by a thriving population in | Hungary, Mobile Bears Are Visiting Suburbs |
556050_2 | Protests Throughout France "No to Maastricht," some signs read, referring to the Dutch city where the treaty was signed last December. Others echo fears of foreign competition: "Japanese cars, Taiwanese electronics, American wheat, French unemployment." And similar protests can now be found throughout France. In Mantes-la-Jolie, where three people died in clashes between police and children of Arab immigrants last year, confidence in the future is equally hard to find, not only because of racial tensions, but also because unemployment is still rising. "The local Renault and Peugeot car factories that used to employ 30,000 people each now only have jobs for 8,000 or 9,000," said Jean-Pierre, the manager of a local cars parts who declined to give his full name. "Is this going to change with Europe? Things will get worse, I'm sure." Certainly, with the French economy sliding into recession and many businessmen blaming high German interest rates for the high price of borrowing money, few people here expect ratification of the European union treaty to bring a surge of new investment and fresh job opportunities. Nationwide, unemployment is 10 percent. 'Too Fast and Too Soon' Didier Simond, the president of the region's Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said a poll of his members showed that they were evenly split on the treaty, but his own view was that France was not ready for it. "It is too fast and too soon," Mr. Simond said of the European Community's new blueprint. His particular concern, though not an issue in the referendum, relates to plans to eliminate France's borders with its community neighbors when a single regional market goes into effect next January. "In a town like Mantes-la-Jolie, which is a victim of immigration, it's worrying to have no police controls at borders," he said. Fear of new immigration, not only from North Africa but also from Eastern Europe, is expected to result in many no votes in other towns and cities that account for many of France's 3 million immigrants in a population of 55 million. Yet probably no town in France has a concentration of immigrants comparable to the neighborhood of Val-Fourre here. Less than two miles from the town center, 20,000 people of immigrant origin -- some born in France, others now French citizens -- live in crowded public housing. And because most youths leave school at 16 with no hope of finding work, drug peddling | In French Town, Unity Is Secondary |
556018_0 | Something to Crow About | |
557971_1 | accusing the bank of negligence toward the environment and the indigenous people affected by bank projects. The bank, which provides more than $20 billion a year in aid to poor countries, said it would give borrowing nations advice on poverty reduction as well as help them set environmental priorities and goals. The Global Environmental Facility, a joint enterprise of the United Nations and the bank, will also be used to finance conferences on global environmental concerns. "We are in a transition now from phase one to phase two," Mohammed al-Ashry, director of the bank's environment department, said at a news conference today. "The first phase was to stop doing the bad things. The second involves policies and procedures which help our borrowers with their struggle in sustainable development." Environment Funds Fall Despite this, bank lending for environmental projects was $1.2 billion for the 1992 fiscal year, down from $1.6 billion the previous year. When asked about this, Mr. Ashry said, "I wouldn't look at it in that context, because the number of projects with environmental components is up, so it is difficult to put a dollar amount on it." He also said more loans were approved after June 30, when the fiscal year ended. The bank has drawn criticism for instances of what Mr. Ashry called "bad things," particularly its huge dam project in the Narmada River Valley in India. The bank became involved with the Government irrigation and hydroelectric project in 1985. Critics said the project would dislocate 1.5 million Indians and do irreversible harm to land and wildlife. Environmental and human rights groups also charged that protesters against the project had often been physically intimidated by the police. So loud was the criticism of the project that the bank ordered an independent review and will make a decision regarding its future on Oct. 1. "Overall I feel that the bank is not reformable in terms of the environment," said Lori Udall, the staff attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund in Washington. "They have co-opted environmental language, but if you look at the gap between what they say they are doing and what is really happening on the ground, there is a huge gap. True, the assessment process has been improved, but the problem is that is never implemented, and the people living in an area never have enough information or freedom to challenge these projects." TURMOIL IN EUROPE | World Bank Vows to Weigh Environmental Effect of Projects |
557944_5 | debate in France indicates that the countries have done a poor job of informing their populations of the merits of the Maastricht treaty and reassuring them that it poses no threat to national sovereignty and identity. In France, where 45 million copies of the treaty were distributed in recent weeks, 70 percent of the 38 million people eligible voted today, but recent polls showed that more than 40 percent of those surveyed in Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium had little understanding of the treaty's aims. As a result, although no further referendums are required, both the community's commission and member Governments can now be expected to launch intense publicity campaigns aimed at stirring greater enthusiasm for the whole notion of European union. In a sense, after today's narrow vote, the French Government also faces this challenge. "One Frenchman out of two listened to us and voted 'no'," said Charles Pasqua, a Gaullist Senator who was one of the leaders of opposition to the treaty. "They rejected a Europe which does not take people into account." The extreme rightist leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who had urged French voters to say "No to Maastricht" as a way of saying "No to Mitterrand," said supporters of the treaty had won a Pyrrhic victory. "France has lost a battle, but it has not lost the war," he said. Michel Rocard, who served as Mr. Mitterrand's Prime Minister between 1988 and 1991, said he was "a bit disappointed" by the result and added: "The narrow margin demonstrates how much work must be done, starting tomorrow, to alleviate the problems of those French who said 'no'." The Interior Ministry said the final count of "yes" ballots today was 50.95 percent. This did not yet take into account ballots cast in French territory overseas, however. For former President Valery Giscard d'Estaing and former Prime Minister Jacques Chirac, two conservative opposition leaders who strongly backed the treaty, the result was critically important. Both faced rebellions within their parties and a "no" victory would have undermined their leadership. For President Mitterrand, however, the vote today may bring only short-term relief from domestic problems. With his popularity at a near all-time low, his Socialist Party is still widely expected to suffer a major defeat in parliamentary elections next March. Had the "no" vote won, though, he would also have faced demands for an early resignation. TURMOIL IN EUROPE | FRENCH APPROVE UNITY TREATY, BUT SLIM MARGIN LEAVES DOUBTS |
557880_0 | World Economies | |
558839_0 | To the Editor: While there is much of merit in Elizabeth M. Whelan's criticism of the print media's coverage of the hazards of cigarette smoking, there is also a good deal of misrepresentation ("Alarm Clocks Can Kill You. Have a Smoke," Op-Ed, Sept. 8). Self magazine has produced major pieces on women and AIDS, women and heart disease, osteoporosis and breast cancer. Three hundred thousand copies of Self's 1991 report on breast cancer were distributed by the American Cancer Society, and the organization has requested more copies. There have been reports on human papillomavirus, hepatitis B, interstitial cystitis and on nutrition -- fat and cancer, contamination in the poultry industry, pesticides, and much more. I'm not sure why Dr. Whelan needed to misrepresent the good that women's magazines do in order to criticize their coverage of the dangers of smoking. NANCY F. SMITH Executive Editor, Self New York, Sept. 8, 1992 | On Matters of Health, Women's Magazines Give Solid Advice |
558821_2 | other." The report issued today by the Defense Department's Deputy Inspector General, Derek J. Vander Schaaf, lays out in blunt, often profane language a withering attack on outdated attitudes toward women that critics say permeate Navy culture. In one incident, the report says, Admiral Williams met with a female Naval Investigative Service agent to discuss the statement of Lieut. Paula Coughlin, an admiral's aide who was the first assault victim to come forward. Commenting on Lieutenant Coughlin's use of profanity in her statement, in her description of what she had said to her attackers, the agent says Admiral Williams said that any woman who would speak like that "on a regular basis would welcome this kind of activity." 'Hamstrung' and 'Trapped' The report also chronicles Mr. Howard's ineffective attempts to halt internecine warfare between the two investigating agencies, which often refused to share information on a timely basis. "I felt hamstrung, trapped, blocked in every place that I tried to exert any influence at all," the report quotes Mr. Howard as telling investigators. "I was very dissatisfied, very frustrated." The Navy's top lawyer, Admiral Gordon, was of little use in settling the disputes, the report says. "The Navy JAG played no role in insuring that the Navy investigations were adequate in addressing all relevant issues including individual accountability for misconduct." Even when they were investigating, Admiral Williams and Admiral Davis shied away from interrogating their fellow admirals, the report concludes. Admiral Davis told investigators that a "witch hunt" for senior officers who ignored lewd behavior would not solve the Navy's cultural problem. "Frankly, I think a Navy captain who had seen that over four or five years, had seen the Rhino room with a dildo hanging on the wall, is not going to walk in there in 1991 and change anything," the report quotes Admiral Davis telling Pentagon investigators. The reference is to a hospitality suite at last year's convention where women were goaded to drink from a dispenser shaped like a rhinocerous penis. Pentagon investigators concluded that Admiral Davis shielded senior officers by failing to hold them individually responsible for misconduct at the convention. The report quoted Admiral Williams as saying that his agency did not have a chance of solving the investigation, and should end the inquiry as quickly as possible. It concluded that the admiral's "overriding goal, and the motivations for his actions, was to keep the | Senior Navy Officers Suppressed Sex Investigation, Pentagon Says |
556961_0 | Hoping to head off a confrontation with Congress, the Federal Communications Commission will propose rules Thursday that would gradually free a wide range of radio frequencies for new pocket-telephone services. The proposal is an attempt to placate electric utilities, railroads and other groups that now use these frequencies for microwave communications and have waged an intense political battle to keep them. The F.C.C. wants to reallocate the spectrum for a new generation of "personal communication services," which range from a new generation of lightweight portable telephones to advanced pagers and hand-held computers that send and receive data over the air. But the utilities and railroads argue that the move would force them to spend millions of dollars on new equipment and could imperil the reliability of their communication networks. A House-Senate Conflict In the wake of a heavy lobbying effort, Senator Ernest F. Hollings, Democrat of South Carolina, inserted a provision in the F.C.C.'s budget for next year that would prohibit the agency from forcing the existing users to give up their licenses for at least eight years. The appropriations bill has already cleared the Senate, but House lawmakers support the F.C.C. and have passed a bill that contains no restriction. The legislation is headed to a House-Senate conference committee within the next few days, and agency officials said they hoped the new proposal would allow the House version to prevail. F.C.C. officials said the compromise plan would allow providers of the new services to buy out the licenses of utilities and railroads as soon as it becomes effective, but would not force them to give up their licenses for at least three years. After that, companies seeking to provide the new pocket-telephone services would have to locate other frequencies for the existing users, and they would have to pay the costs of new equipment. The new rule is expected to ask for comment on how long the transition period should be, and offer options ranging from 3 to 10 years. But agency officials said they were strongly inclined to give priority to the new services as early as possible. The plan is significantly softer than the F.C.C.'s original proposal last January. Under that plan, new companies would have been allowed to buy out existing users for a transition period, but existing users would simply be forced to move to different radio frequencies after 10 or 15 years. | F.C.C. Plans New Rules For Pocket Telephones |
557015_0 | Two years ago, more than 70 heads of state came together on behalf of the world's children. They wisely pledged to make the next generation stronger and smarter. Now the United States is wavering in its financial commitment to the cause. With an additional $100 million, Congress could set things right. The plight of many of the world's children is heart-rending. An estimated 40,000 die each day from preventable diseases like measles, pneumonia, whooping cough and diarrheal dehydration. Countless others also suffer from a lack of education and dangerous working conditions. At the World Summit for Children, held at the United Nations in September 1990, delegates unanimously adopted a declaration and plan of action to meet seven major goals by the year 2000. They agreed to reduce the infant mortality rate by one-third and the child malnutrition rate by 50 percent. They also pledged to insure at least a basic education for 80 percent of all children. The more prosperous nations were expected to contribute about one-third of the estimated $20 billion annual cost. For 1993 the requested share from the U.S. is $510 million -- $335 million for child survival programs and $175 million for education programs. In June, the House of Representatives sensibly shifted more of its foreign aid money to child survival programs and reduced funding for military and security assistance abroad. While that was a reasonable reflection of changing world priorities, the total allocation for children's summit goals fell $100 million short. Only $275 million was voted for child survival programs and $135 million for education programs. That shortfall could be remedied when the Senate takes up the foreign aid appropriation, perhaps this week. During this election season, Americans may be looking inward. But with a little leadership and generosity, the U.S. could help the world's children see a brighter future. | Shortchanging the World's Children |
556945_2 | the way for widespread acceptance of the tomato with a daring display in July 1820. "It was widely and well known that Colonel Johnson was a little eccentric," said Dr. Steve Reiners, a vegetable specialist with Rutgers Cooperative Extension. "So one day when he took a basket of tomatoes and marched through town to the steps of the Salem County Courthouse, people soon gathered around. "Then, to the shock and horror of some in the crowd and in full view of everyone, he proceeded to eat the whole basket of tomatoes with no ill effects," Dr. Reiners said. As a precaution, Colonel Johnson's personal physician stood by prepared to rescue his patient from the violent convulsions he was certain would follow. For the last five years, Colonel Johnson's supposed daring has been re-enacted in late summer during a tomato festival in Salem City. Tomatoes and bell peppers are rivals for the top vegetable crop in New Jersey, which ranks in the top 10 among tomato-growing states. At least 20 varieties of tomatoes are sold as New Jersey tomatoes, each the genetic kin of tomatoes grown elsewhere in the United States. Fresh, Tasty and Always Red "What makes a New Jersey tomato a New Jersey tomato isn't genetics," said Dr. Stephen A. Garrison, another vegetable specialist at Rutgers University. "They start to ripen before they are picked; most of the tomatoes elsewhere are picked and sold green. "If we were to pick them green, we would probably be in competition in other high-market states. But this way we have a reputation for higher quality and flavor." With New York City and Philadelphia helping create the most densely populated market in the nation, New Jersey farmers have the advantage of shipping a more flavorful and eye-appealing tomato to market under a familiar "Jersey Fresh" label. The disadvantage is that a ripe tomato has a much shorter shelf life and is easily damaged if it is shipped beyond a short distance. Those disadvantages, and years of trying to develop a tomato variety that is unique to New Jersey, led to the joint venture with Volcani. Their goal is to develop a tomato that can still be picked and shipped ripe, but is firmer and lasts longer on the shelf. The cost of the research will be shared by the State Agricultural Experiment Station, the New Jersey Vegetable Growers Association and four supermarket chains. | New New Jersey Tomato (Fresh From Tel Aviv) |
556960_2 | than persistent" deficits. During a news conference today in Washington, committee members said President Bush and Gov. Bill Clinton, the Democratic nominee, had not addressed deficit reduction seriously. The committee includes Harold A. Poling, chairman of Ford Motor; Richard D. Wood, chairman of Eli Lilly; Robert C. Winters, chairman of Prudential Insurance; James J. Renier, chairman of Honeywell; Owen B. Butler, retired chairman of Procter & Gamble; Donna E. Shalala, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Arnold R. Weber, president of Northwestern University. Calling for a consumption tax, Mr. Clausen said taxes that discouraged investment would be unwise. 'We need government policies that provide a more appropriate environment for investing in the future," he said. "The U.S. consumes far more of what it creates than other major industrial countries and reinvests less than 5 percent in our future. Other countries -- Germany and Japan -- are consuming far less of what they create and investing a lot more in their future." Role of World Leader Urging the nation not to shirk its international responsibilities in this time of economic troubles, the business group said the United States was the only nation that could play the role of world leader to foster international cooperation to promote growth and security. "We need to become a rallier of nations, a catalyst helping to define international priorities and motivating cooperative action," Mr. Clausen said. "In this new world, only the United States has the unique mix of attributes -- economic power, military might, political dexterity and moral stature -- necessary to lead." To strengthen America's position as world leader, the report said Washington should increase foreign aid outlays, continue pushing to eliminate trade barriers and honor its monetary commitments to the United Nations and other international organizations. The report urged Washington to move the issue of family planning back onto the international agenda because fast population growth slows per-capita income growth in many developing nations. The report made numerous proposals to improve America's competitiveness, calling for education reform, increased Federal support for business investment in training, and removing regulations that discourage joint research. Leonard Silk, a former economics columnist for The New York Times, was the chief author of the report. Correction: September 18, 1992, Friday An article in Business Day yesterday about a group that called for cuts in the budget deficit misidentified the group. It is the Committee for Economic Development. | Executives Urge Focus On Deficit |
556886_3 | Governor of neighboring Georgia at the time. The Bush campaign attaches so much importance to keeping Florida in the Republican column that the President's son, Jeb Bush, is chairman of the statewide campaign. "Intuitively, I think we are ahead and in a close race," Jeb Bush said today when asked to comment on the poll results. "That's my own feeling, but how does one really know? The good news for us is that our Republican base is back and we're doing well in conservative Democratic areas, and that is enough to win in this state." "It doesn't matter what Bill Clinton does," the younger Mr. Bush added, because "we are going to use phones, mail and door-to-door to turn people out." It appears, however, that the President will face a race down to the wire, requiring a substantial commitment of time, money and campaign workers to a state he won by nearly a million votes in 1988. Nationwide, according to the Times/ CBS News poll, Mr. Clinton has the backing of 49 percent of the voters, compared with 37 percent who say they support Mr. Bush. The President's support appears firmer in Florida than nationwide. Only 35 percent of his supporters here say they harbor reservations about Mr. Bush, compared with 44 percent of those in the national sample. "Clinton refused to go to war," said Adelfa Braker, 58, "and he doesn't know what it means to fire a shot, so I could never vote for him." "President Bush has done so much for this country, even though his hands are tied by Congress," added Ms. Braker, who operates a small apparel business from her home, "but many people simply refuse to see this." But in a state where questions of foreign policy, particularly toward Cuba, Israel and Haiti, are often indistinguishable from local affairs, Mr. Bush has derived no extra benefit from his tough stance against President Fidel Castro of Cuba and Haitian boat people. Approval of his handling of foreign affairs is virtually the same here, 58 percent, as in the nation as a whole. In some other respects, Florida residents have a more favorable image of Mr. Bush than is the case elsewhere in the country, and that gives the Bush campaign a base upon which to build. Nationwide, 44 percent of registered voters polled said they thought the President "cares about the needs and problems of | THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: Florida Poll; Florida Emerges As Crucial State In the Campaign |
554345_4 | said, with the armed Somali guards whom the relief agencies feel compelled to hire to protect their food convoys from looters. Often, Mr. Togane and relief officials said, the looting is done by the guards themselves, in league with relief truck drivers. When a convoy of trucks moves from a humanitarian agency's warehouse to a distribution point for the needy, for example, the armed guards shoot into the air and in part of the organized confusion, the drivers turn the trucks around and take them to a merchant's warehouse, Mr. Togane said. On other occasions, the looting shows how food is a weapon in the continuing clan warfare that has overwhelmed the nation since the overthrow of the Somali dictator of 21 years, Mohammed Siad Barre, in 1991. The fighting has split this capital city into two parts -- the north, controlled by a militia led by Mohammed Ali Mahdi, and the south, controlled by the fighters loyal to Mohammed Farah Aidid. Gunfights on the Dock Last week, as the United Nations was unloading a ship at Mogadishu's port and putting hundreds of tons of food onto trucks destined for the northern part of the city, the convoy was hijacked by tanks operated by clansmen from the south. In the battle, two unarmed United Nations cease-fire observers were wounded. The dock is the site of daily gun battles, and its surface is littered with spent shells. The selling of looted relief food at outrageous prices is especially alarming to Somalis who are not so destitute that they must rely on free food but who have only a little money. "We would wish what was stolen would be sold at a reasonable rate," Mr. Togane said. "But they sell the food at ridiculous prices." There are no ordinary commercial shipments arriving at the port, largely because Mr. Mahdi, who rules the city's north, does not want Mr. Aidid -- in whose sector the port is situated -- to have an advantage. Thus, stolen food is the only food available to buy. Despite the difficulties of fighting this rampant theft, relief officials here say there are some answers: guarding the food carefully is one, and another is the method of the Red Cross, which has setting up 600 kitchens in the capital and in rural areas where cooked food is served to the starving. The cooked food is less appealing to looters. | Theft of Food Aid Is a Business in Starving Somalia |
555368_0 | Baby Foods With Meat Baby foods made from organically grown ingredients by Earth's Best in Middlebury, Vt., are now available in meat and vegetable combinations. Vegetable turkey, vegetable beef and sweet potato with chicken have been added to the company's line of fruits and vegetables for babies. Organic yogurt-based baby foods, including blueberry, apple and tropical fruit flavors, have also been introduced. A 4.5-ounce jar costs about 60 cents. Most supermarkets and health-food stores carry the foods. Names of retailers can be obtained by calling (800) 442-4221. A New Goat Cheese Goat cheeses, first produced in this country about a decade ago, are now made in dozens of states in what seem to be hundreds of flavors. Herb and black-pepper varieties are the most common. Goat cheeses with sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, curry and even chocolate are now being made, so no taste is left unturned. There is now a new goat cheese, fairly firm-textured and mild, layered with herbs and edible flower petals in tones of lavender and orange, giving it a pleasantly aromatic and grassy flavor. This novelty is called Monet, after the painter, and is made in Santa Cruz, Calif., by the Sea Stars Goat Cheese Company. A disk weighing about an ounce and a half is $3.95 at Ideal Cheese, 1205 Second Avenue (63d Street). Tastes of a Greenmarket The Union Square Greenmarket is offering cooking demonstrations and tastings with some celebrated New York chefs and several food writers who have recently published books. Michael Romano, the chef at the Union Square Cafe, begins the series today at noon. Like the other chefs, he will show how to use the produce, fish and meats sold in the market. After the demonstration, the food may be sampled. The demonstration is free but a donation of $1, to help cover costs, is suggested for each sample serving. Other chefs in the series include David Bouley of Bouley, Gray Kunz of Lespinasse, Maury Rubin of City Bakery, Waldy Malouf of the Hudson River Club and Alan Harding of Nosmo King. The demonstrations will be each Wednesday in September, every Saturday but Oct. 17 through Oct. 24, this Friday and Friday, Oct. 2. Some of the authors are Betty Fussell, who wrote "The Story of Corn"; Amal Naj, the author of "Peppers," and Ed Levine, who wrote "New York Eats." They will be on hand to sell and autograph their books | Food Notes |
555203_0 | To The Living Section: In the Eating Well column of Aug. 5, Densie Webb presents the results of a recent study showing that preadolescent children who consumed about twice the recommended daily allowance of calcium developed denser bones than those who consumed just the recommended amount. She suggested that such a regimen be followed "if osteoporosis is to be held at bay later in life." Whereas doubling one's intake of calcium early in life might strengthen the body's bone structure at that point in time, there is no experimental evidence linking such an ingestion to a diminished risk for developing osteoporosis later in life, especially among the group at greatest risk, namely postmenopausal women. Designing an experimental protocol and supervising such a study would likely be a logistical nightmare in view of the decades-long time span that would necessarily be involved. At the present time the most effective therapy for ameliorating osteoporosis is estrogen treatment, which carries with it some serious health risks. Although calcium supplementation might help, it also might make no difference at all. It is important that an article such as this one not overstate something that is merely a theoretical possibility and whose probability of success in unknown. JERRY RAPP, PH.D Professor Department of Biological Sciences State College of Optometry New York | Calcium and Health |
554065_0 | International A3-15 THREAT TO DIAMOND CARTEL De Beers of South Africa may be losing its tight grip on the world diamond trade, partly because of a flood of Angolan diamonds that have begun to pour onto the normally orderly world market. A1 PRESSING AHEAD ON IRAQ AID Despite Baghdad's attempts to end an international relief program, the United Nations Security Council ordered aid agencies to continue supply efforts intended to help victims of the economic embargo. A10 MORE TROUBLE FOR NICARAGUA Death and destruction from huge waves caused by an earthquake have added to the pressures facing President Chamorro, who is struggling to deal with demands from Washington that she rid her Government of influence of the leftist Sandinista Front. A3 Managua's ties with Washington have badly deteriorated. A3 THE TOLL OF CHERNOBYL Researchers reported children exposed to radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster are developing thyroid cancer sooner and in larger numbers than expected. A9 YELTSIN BALKS ON JAPAN ISSUE The Russian President, two weeks before a visit to Japan, said that politics made it untimely for him to hand over disputed Pacific islands to the Japanese. He also said that Tokyo was putting inappropriate pressure on him. A8 SERBIAN LEADERS BACK OFF Serbia's governing party abandoned an effort to remove Yugoslavia's Prime Minister, who is seen as more willing to make concessions than the hard-line Serbian leadership. A14 BRITAIN WAITS FOR FRANCE A senior British official said Britain would consider the treaty on European union dead if France rejects it in a referendum this month. The comment showed growing apprehension over the French vote. A14 BEHIND GERMAN ATTACKS Long before the first firebomb exploded in anti-refugee attacks in Rostock, economic and social trauma wrought by the transition from Communism to capitalism had made the city a powder keg. A14 The Prime Minister of Poland talks tough on strikers. A15 Israel's Prime Minister criticizes Palestinian negotiators. A5 U.S. admits three Haitians with the virus that causes AIDS. A6 Indonesia's leader still has things firmly in hand. A12 A plea for peace in Cambodia with or without the Khmer Rouge. A13 Jerusalem Journal: Should yeshiva students be drafted? A4 National A16-20, B10 FROM BUSH, NEW LARGESS Using his sway over foreign policy to good political advantage, the President helped arms workers by approving the sale of F-16's to Taiwan and lent farmers a hand by pledging $1.7 billion in wheat-sale | NEWS SUMMARY |
554222_0 | Indonesian politics are often compared to the ancient shadow puppetry known as wayang, with the role of the mysterious, all-controlling puppeteer assigned to the nation's leader for more than 25 years, President Suharto. President Suharto's performance, which even his critics concede has been that of a masterful political tactician gifted with the common touch, seems likely to go on. Although there had been speculation and some wishful thinking that he would step down, every scrap of evidence now suggests that the 71-year-old President will seek, and receive, another five-year term next year. "It's taken for granted that Suharto will run again," said Jusuf Wanandi of Jakarta's Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Everyone knows he will run. It's not a question." This week, President Suharto assumes the chairmanship of the 108-nation Non-Aligned Movement, which is holding a summit meeting in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital. Aides to Mr. Suharto suggest that he would not have accepted the Non-Aligned post if he intended to step down as Indonesian President next year, when a constituent assembly made up almost entirely of Suharto supporters selects the President. President Suharto's re-election would mean continuity in a nation that was very near collapse when he came to power in 1965 as the general who put down a botched coup against Sukarno that was blamed on the Communists. President Suharto is credited with progressive economic programs that, bolstered by Indonesia's multibillion-dollar annual revenues from oil production, have without doubt improved the lives of most Indonesians. While the average income is still only about $600 a year, the economy is growing at an annual rate of more than 6 percent, and international financial organizations credit Indonesia with having done more to assist its poorest citizens than most other developing countries. Once the world's largest rice importer, Indonesia is now self-sufficient in rice, the dietary staple, and its population growth has been curbed sharply. At the same time, another Suharto term could mean further delays in making significant progress toward improving Indonesia's checkered human rights record or in opening up an authoritarian political system now dominated by one man. Business leaders are also concerned that the President's re-election will permit his six children to tighten their control over large segments of the Indonesian economy. And diplomats worry that President Suharto's return to office would only prolong the debate over what is to become of Indonesia when the Suharto era | Indonesia's Puppeteer May Seek a New Term |
558250_3 | conservation efforts. Beyond this assessment, Dr. Wilson and Dr. Raven propose an intermediate effort aimed at a more systematic exploration of threatened areas that are especially rich in species, like tropical rain forests. More complete inventories would be made, taking in smaller, more prevalent creatures like ants, beetles and fungi, along with close studies of environmental factors like rainfall and temperature. Insects and other arthropods are so vital to the overall functioning of life, Dr. Wilson writes, that "humanity probably could not last more than a few months" if they were to disappear. Finally, a global biodiversity survey would combine the first two studies with more conventional long-term explorations. The survey would be broadened to include the tiniest creatures like protozoa and bacteria. This growing encyclopedia of life would provide, over decades and even centuries, a description of the living world that gradually coalesced "to create a fine-grained image of global biodiversity." Eventually, national biodiversity centers would be established as bases for exploration and repositories of accumulated knowledge. Dr. Wilson cites the example of Costa Rica's three-year-old National Institute of Biodiversity, whose aim is "nothing less than to account for all the plants and animals of this small Central American country." Some biologists and conservationists welcome the Wilson proposal in principle while not necessarily agreeing with all the details. "It's a framework institutions like ours can buy into," said Dr. Adrian Forsyth, director of conservation biology of Conservation International, which has pioneered emergency assessment of biodiversity in the tropics. "Until someone lays out the agenda, we'll continue to work in a scattered, haphazard way. Wilson lays out an agenda." The recommendation "is not going to be a panacea," said Dr. Gary Hartshorn, a tropical forest ecologist and vice president of the World Wildlife Fund, but he added: "He's at least pointing us in the right direction. The fact that he's taken this on and proposed it will mean a lot to the biological, ecological and conservation communities both here and elsewhere." Galvanizing Federal support for a concept of this magnitude will not be easy, said Dr. Forsyth, a former student of Dr. Wilson's, even though other scientific areas greatly outstrip biodiversity in getting funds. "The amount of money that goes into recombinant DNA work, for example, just vastly dwarfs the whole 40 years of funding that's gone into understanding biodiversity," he said. If the exploration of the biological world lags | A Strategy to Survey The Vast Unknowns Of Life on the Earth |
558245_2 | irrigating their dying civilization. Two Viking spacecraft, launched in 1975, reached Mars a year later for the first successful landings and automated experiments examining Martian soil for signs of biological activity -- and finding none. The most recent probes to Mars were two Russian spacecraft launched in 1988; one failed en route, the other shortly after reaching Mars. Scientists hope that at the least Mars Observer will photograph the entire planet in finer detail than ever before and will be able to report on seasonal changes through an entire Martian year, which lasts 687 Earth days. The spacecraft is equipped with cameras and remote-sensing instruments to conduct the most thorough survey yet of the planet's topography, magnetism, mineral wealth, global wind storms and generally frigid weather and of the role water played in its past and could play in its future. Even if those canals were figments of human imagination, one of the most intriguing questions about Mars -- was there ever life there? -- hinges on the matter of water in the planet's past. The question is raised because of clear evidence of widespread dry river valleys and other scars of erosion indicating global flooding on Mars in its early years. So scientists think it is possible that in those wetter times, when the climate of Mars was probably more like Earth's, life could have evolved briefly and left some fossil traces that future explorers might search for. The other question is, where did the water go? Much of it undoubtedly evaporated into space, but previous spacecraft have detected large amounts of frozen water in the polar ice caps and have hinted at the existence of even more water trapped underground as a thick layer of permafrost extending over much of the higher latitudes. These residues of water, scientists reason, are the most promising places to search for pockets of existing microbial life or fossils of extinct organisms from the Martian past. Potential for Major Discoveries Dr. Michael H. Carr, a planetary geologists with the United States Geological Survey who is a member of the Mars Observer science team, said: "We know that life started on Earth. We don't know what happened on Mars, and so we want to go back in time and look at, particularly, water-associated deposits." The spacecraft's seven scientific instruments give the mission the potential for a wide range of discoveries beyond the water question. | After 17 Years, NASA Prepares for a Return Trip to Mars |
558155_0 | Senior officials of Ireland, Britain and the British province of Northern Ireland met here today in talks aimed at ending 23 years of violence that has killed more than 3,000 in the six counties of Northern Ireland. This round of talks was the first in which a leader of one of the main Protestant parties demanding continued British rule in the province came to predominantly Roman Catholic Ireland to discuss political change since the island was divided in 1922, with the 26 southern counties forming an independent state and the north remaining part of Britain. But the officials are nowhere near agreement on the basic concerns of the talks, which began last year. The Protestant unionists of the north want to remain part of Britain and to weaken or abolish the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985, which gives Dublin a consultative role in the province. The northern Catholics want immediate power-sharing in the provincial government, which has been run directly from London since 1974. Eventually, the Catholic nationalists want a politically united Ireland. What Each Side Wants "We never anticipated that the talks would be easy," the Irish Prime Minister, Albert Reynolds, said in a recent interview. The immediate issue is Ireland's claim to power in the north, as set forth in the republic's Constitution. The policy of the Reynolds Government is identical to that of Britain, and is explicit in the 1985 agreement: no political change without the consent of the governed. Saying that the problem will not be realistically discussed, the Rev. Ian Paisley, the leader of the hardline Democratic Unionist Party, has refused to come to Dublin. But the other major Protestant party, the Ulster Unionists, who won nearly three times more votes than the Paisley party in the British parliamentary election in April, is here to talk; the delegation is led by James Molyneaux. Mr. Reynolds has said repeatedly that the constitutional claims are negotiable, as long as the British law that incorporated the northern counties is also discussed. But unilateral action would be a political risk for Mr. Reynolds' Government, which will probably have to run in a national election next year. Both Sides Push, but Not Hard This is one reason that the Dublin Government does not appear to be pressing particularly hard for major change. Another is the long-range view of what a united Ireland would mean in economic terms. The unemployment rate in | Talks Are Resumed on Ending Violence in Ulster |
558166_1 | rebellious liberals, eager to curb the vast power of the Catholic Church, severed the country's ties to the Holy See. While some powers were reinstated by the dictator Porfirio Diaz before his overthrow by the revolutionaries, Mexican leaders and the Pope continued to exchange only temporary or lower-level envoys. Mr. Salinas's program, which was approved by Congress in July, gave churches a defined legal status, the right to own property, and the right to conduct religious education. Nearly all those rights had long since been accorded in practice. Despite legal prohibitions, priests and nuns went out in public in their clerical garb, and Government officials sent their children to parochial schools. To the vast majority of Mexicans, 90 percent of whom call themselves Catholics, the illegality of some religious observances was inconsequential. Long after the revolution, however, many Mexicans remained mistrustful of church power and rather than tamper with the Constitution and risk being seen as pro-clerical, political leaders chose to ignore the discrepancy between law and practice. Until today, Mexico was the only major Latin American country that did not have full relations with the church. A Vatican spokesman, Joaquin Navarro Valls, described the restoration of ties as the "overcoming of an anachronism." And the secretary general of the Mexican Bishops' Conference, Msgr. Ramon Godinez Flores, called it "a very important step." But he said it fell short of cementing a new relationship with the Government that was satisfactory to the church. Since the legal changes in July, the bishops have continued to press the Government to allow it to operate radio and television stations, own property more easily, and conduct religious education in public schools. About 95 percent of Mexican schools are public. Monsignor Godinez also referred to church complaints about the Government's AIDS education program and its distribution of contraceptive devices, calling them "abuses of power." Roberto J. Blancarte, president of the Center for the Study of Religions in Mexico, said a papal nuncio would probably involve himself only indirectly in the lobbying and the church's growing competition with Protestant groups. "Really what the Nuncio has to do is concentrate on improving relations with the state," he said. Mr. Salinas sent a personal envoy to the Vatican in February 1990 and a papal envoy took up residence in Mexico City. Diplomats expect an exchange of a Mexican ambassador and a papal nuncio in the next few weeks. | Mexico and the Catholic Church Restore Full Diplomatic Ties |
559521_0 | World Economies | |
555875_2 | luggage in airports or raw materials in factories, to track their progress. Olivetti officials say active badges were initially developed about four years ago as a means of making telephone communication more effective. Scientists at the laboratory found that with a badge emitting an identification code every 15 seconds -- in the form of an infrared beam --to a network of wall-mounted sensors around a building, information about the location of the person wearing it could be constantly updated. The badge functions the same way that a remote control device does in transmitting a code to a television set. The second generation of active badges is now being tested, with researchers in England and the United States wearing them for the purpose. This version, called the authenticated badge, is designed to assure that the signal is authentic, to prevent tampering with the system. Currently, the information provided by active badges worn at a particular site is shown on a central computer screen in the form of five columns in a table: the badge wearer's name, the telephone extension nearest the present position, the room where the person is, the number of other badge-wearing people in the room and the approximate length of time the badge wearer has been at that location. The data from the badges can also be displayed on a screen showing a model of an entire office floor, thus visually indicating where each badge-wearer is in relation to everyone else. Anyone with access to the computer screen can then quickly get in touch with the badge wearer by telephone or electronically. "In the environment in which we work, people are not always in their offices," said Veronica G. Falcao, who helped to develop active badge software while employed by Olivetti in the United States. "Active badges are the most useful thing to round people up for a meeting, to go out to lunch or celebrate someone's birthday." Murray Mazer, a member of the research staff at the Digital Equipment Corporation, which helps to finance the Olivetti laboratory in England, said: "I view this technology as interesting in itself. It allows the acquisition of dynamic location information." Other computer experts see active badges in a far different light, however. "We're saying that they are a form of computer monitoring," said Gary Chapman, director of the Cambridge, Mass., office of the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, an organization that | Orwellian Dream Come True: A Badge That Pinpoints You |
555878_2 | local and long-distance networks. It searches for the best-sounding channel among 10 channels. The user is charged regular calling fees, say, 25 cents for an unlimited local call and more for long-distance calls. A cellular phone also broadcasts a radio signal, but at a different wavelength and to dozens of huge base stations around a city or rural area, allowing a consumer to walk or drive within a wide territory and use the phone. A cellular phone also searches among different channels but in a more complex way. The cellular carrier charges the user 20 cents to 65 cents a minute, depending on pricing plans, plus long-distance charges, if any. The typical local-phone bill is about $30 a month; a cellular-phone bill is often double or triple that. The Wavelength Is the Difference The difference between old and new cordless telephones lies in the wavelength of the radio signal. Imagine a cowboy flicking a rope in a sideways "S" shape. The wavelength, from peak to peak, of the signal from the old cordless phone is about 18 feet, corresponding to the 46- to 49-megahertz range, which broadcasts a strong signal for short distances. The signal breaks up at 1,000 feet or so, even under ideal conditions, like being in an open field with no electromagnetic interference. The wavelength for the new cordless phones is only about 12 inches and corresponds to the 902- to 928-megahertz range. That wavelength does not penetrate walls as well as the 46-megahertz signal does, but it goes farther, does not break up as readily and is bouncier, much like a tennis ball. The result is less static and far fewer gaps in coverage. Since antenna length is proportional to wavelength, the new cordless telephones can use shorter antennae. For a 46-megahertz phone, an antenna should be about 8 or 9 feet long for optimal efficiency. The 900-megahertz phones use stubby six-inch rubber-covered antennae that do not need to be extended. Vtech Communications, based in Beaverton, Ore., and a subsidiary of Vidicraft Inc. of Hong Kong, uses digital technology and has 20 channels in its Vtech Tropez Digital 900DX. Instead of using analog transmissions (electronic signals, used by the first phones, in which sounds correspond proportionally to voltage), it broadcasts a digital computer code. The Vtech digital technology, much like that used for a compact disk, nearly eliminates static and makes possible conversations that are hard | More Range, Less Static in New Cordless Phones |
557133_2 | he heads, to conduct its own investigation. Ron Carey, international teamsters' president, is sending an auditor to examine the union's books, a spokesman said. Longstanding Practices The labor leader and his lawyers portrayed the charges as misrepresentations of longstanding union practices that had been approved by the local's executive board and were reviewed over the years in routine audits without questions being raised. In a letter to the 18,000 members of his local -- most of whom work for the city, the Housing Authority and the Health and Hospitals Corporation in such jobs as groundskeepers, cooks and X-ray technicians -- Mr. Feinstein contended that the charges, brought by Mr. Carberry, were a product of vindictiveness. Mr. Carberry's investigative position was established under a consent decree worked out three years ago in the settlement of a sweeping Federal racketeering suit against the teamsters. Mr. Feinstein, who opposed the acceptance of the decree, wrote his members that "I championed the fight against it and I am now paying the price." Although Mr. Carberry refused to comment, others familiar with the case said it hinged on his ability to prove that Mr. Feinstein took the perquisites and money for his personal benefit rather than predominantly to help him perform his union duties. Some also said the prosecution would portray the union's executive board as a "handpicked rubber stamp" body that met rarely and only on Mr. Feinstein's orders, making its authorization meaningless. Mr. Feinstein responded last night that the characterization of the seven-member board as a rubber stamp was "preposterous," saying that the board was elected by the union's members and "meets regularly to conduct union business." Some observers also said the issue of his taking cash in place of accrued vacation would likely be presented as more complicated than portrayed by Mr. Feinstein, who contends it is a right that all his union members have under their contracts. Hearing on Nov. 6 According to Mr. Feinstein, Frederick M. Lacey, a former Federal judge who was appointed union administrator under the consent decree, will conduct a hearing on the charges Nov. 6. Since the consent decree was signed in 1989, more than 100 teamsters' officials have been forced out of office under the hearing procedure which Mr. Lacey administers. Although more than half a dozen officials of Local 237 voiced strong support for Mr. Feinstein during his meeting yesterday, others were critical. Ken | Charges Could Hurt Him, Teamsters Head Concedes |
557068_0 | To the Editor: "Faced with complaints of veiled racism, the National Institutes of Health," you report (front page, Sept. 5), "withdrew financing of an academic conference on the search for a genetic basis for criminal behavior, forcing its indefinite postponement." However, you overlook the main thrust and context of the criticism of the "Genetic Factors in Crime" conference, which was scheduled for October at the University of Maryland. The conference was the tip of a much larger and more dangerous iceberg, the Federal "violence initiative," which remains largely untouched. The violence initiative was announced by Frederick Goodwin, psychiatrist director of the National Institute of Mental Health, addressing the National Mental Health Advisory Council last Feb. 11. Dr. Goodwin's remarks drew public criticism, as you reported March 8. Dr. Goodwin had compared the "high-impact inner city" to a jungle and its youth to rhesus monkeys who only want to kill one another, have sex and reproduce. A transcript of Dr. Goodwin's remarks, subsequently obtained by my organization, disclosed something yet more ominous -- his announcement and description of a giant new Federal program to identify potentially violent inner-city children based on biological and genetic "markers." Specifically rejecting psychosocial explanations for inner-city crime, the violence initiative focuses on allegedly biologically "vulnerable" children and youth for psychiatric diagnosis and preventive treatment. Dr. Goodwin estimates that 100,000 children, as young as 5, will be identified for psychiatric interventions. He called the violence initiative the No. 1 funding priority for the Federal mental health establishment in 1994. My organization has since obtained documentation that millions of dollars of Federal funds are being spent on violence initiative research and planning, including studies of both rhesus monkeys and inner-city children. Newly developed psychiatric drugs are being tested for violence prevention in monkey studies, and some psychiatrists are claiming they can be used in humans for the same purpose. It seems inevitable that the violence initiative will involve administering the same drugs to inner-city children. The widespread use of Ritalin to control aggressive children, frequently supported or initiated by public schools, has set a precedent for pharmacological intervention. As I describe in "Beyond Conflict" (New York, 1992), the violence initiative scapegoats black children and excuses society from facing racism, poverty, unemployment and other problems that cause crime and violence in the inner city. Working closely with members of the black community in New York City, Baltimore and Washington, | U.S. Hasn't Given Up Linking Genes to Crime |
557178_1 | goddess of medicine) near San Ignacio, Belize. Public Discussion Both Ms. Robinson and Dr. Arvigo will be at the conservatory tomorrow and Sunday afternoon, from 1:30 to 4 P.M., discussing the medicinal uses of many of the plants that can be seen at the "Green Treasures" exhibition, which features more than 100 plants from the tropical rain forest valued for their medicinal properties as well as for food and fuel. At 1, 2 and 3 P.M., Dr. Scott Mori, a tropical botanist from the garden, will show how scientists work in the field, identifying and collecting samples from plants. Visitors can also sample fruit juices from the tropics, and listen to a Caribbean steel-drum band outside the conservatory. The exhibition, which runs through Oct. 25, focuses on the importance of tropical species, many of them unidentified, as the world's tropical rain forests continue to dwindle at an alarming rate: every year, an area the size of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut combined is destroyed. Rain forests occupy only 2 percent of the earth's surface -- but are home to half of all plant and animal species. About 120 prescription medicines come from plants, the show points out, and more than one-third of these come from the rain forest. Yet fewer than 1 percent of rain-forest plants have been studied for their useful properties. Many of the old folk remedies, handed down by word of mouth, are dying out with the healers. "We are trying to save and record that information," Dr. Arvigo said, "and serve as a bridge between the often disparate world of science and experience. The health of human beings has always been the special charge of plants, and we are their ambassadors." Dr. Arvigo works closely with Dr. Michael Balick, director of the New York Botanical Garden's Institute of Economic Botany, who is also a co-founder of the Ix Chel Tropical Research Center. Her husband, Dr. Gregory Shropshire, a homeopathic physician, is the third co-founder. For five years, the three have been working with herbal healers in Belize to inventory 750 local plant species that have long been used for medicine, food and fiber. "The Belize Ethnobotany Project," as it is called, is sponsored by the United States Agency for International Aid, with support from the National Cancer Institute, Metropolitan Life Foundation and the Belize Government. Dr. Balick is a principal investigator for the National Cancer | Herbal Ambassadors Discuss Natural Medicine |
557571_0 | Most employers of foreign migrant farmworkers figure they have about as much chance of winning kudos from representatives of the impoverished laborers as they do of seeing the crops harvest themselves, but J. Nelson Fairbanks, president of the United States Sugar Company, did not take poor relations with the workers' advocates for granted. The result was an extraordinary joint announcement Sept. 11 of "labor peace" by the privately held company, which is based in Clewiston, Fla., and three persistent critics -- the Farmworkers Justice Fund Inc., the Migrant Legal Action Program and Florida Rural Legal Services. "Each side had misconceptions about the other," said the 56-year-old Mr. Fairbanks, recalling the beginnings of the dialogue that led to the agreement. Among the peace provisions are a wage increase expected to average more than 11 percent, better disclosure to the foreign workers of their rights and a grievance procedure for settling disputes without litigation. Thanks to improved relations, some problems that led to major disputes in the past are now being solved with telephone calls, Mr. Fairbanks said. Mr. Fairbanks hopes the reforms will make it possible to continue to use the foreign migrant workers, most of whom come north from Jamaica for the five-month harvest, rather than switching completely to mechanized harvesters. Experienced cane cutters do a better job of harvesting only the valuable parts of the cane and do less damage to the soil. U.S. Sugar employs just over 2,000 seasonal workers, about 40 percent of the industry total. The peacemaking effort has been part of a larger campaign to establish U.S. Sugar as a progressive voice on a variety of legal and environmental issues affecting Florida growers. Many longtime critics are impressed. "There are still people in U.S. Sugar that don't like the change but that's not who Fairbanks sided with," said Robert Williams, an attorney with Florida Rural Legal Services in Tallahassee. "It's obvious that none of this would have happened without his support and leadership." | Making a Difference; 'Labor Peace' In Florida's Sugar Fields |
557804_0 | Americans with roots in Asian countries and the Pacific Islands continue to stand out in educational achievement, but this advantage does not translate into higher per capita income, according to newly released Census Bureau data. The latest data from a periodic survey of American families reveal that Asian-Americans complete more years of school than whites, on average, and are as likely as whites to be in professional occupations, but are still underrepresented in skilled crafts and in executive suites. As a result, median salaries of Asian-American workers lag behind those of whites. And the report highlighted one other nuance: Because Asian-American families tend to have more wage earners than white families, their median household incomes surpass those of white households. Slightly more than seven million residents of the United States trace their ancestry to Asian countries like China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and India or to Pacific Island nations like the Philippines. They now represent about 3 percent of the total American population. The survey, taken in March 1991, showed that 4.1 million Asians, or about 60 percent of the total Asian-American population, lived in the West -- the vast majority of them in California. Educational Success The report tracks earlier accounts of the relative educational successes of Asians 25 years of age and older, 82 percent of whom have completed high school (compared with 80 percent of whites), 39 percent of whom have completed four years of college (compared with 22 percent of whites) and 16 percent of whom have had at least one year of graduate study (as opposed to 9 percent of whites.) But it also indicates that the overall educational success of Asians does not always translate into overall economic advantage. For instance, according to the report, written by a Census Bureau demographer, Claudette E. Bennett, Asian high school graduates earned 79 percent of what their white counterparts made, $21,060 compared with $26,530, while the median salary of Asian male college graduates, $37,550, was about 90 percent of the median salary of white men, $41,660. But earnings of Asian-American women equaled or slightly exceeded those of their white counterparts. Among college graduates, the median salary for Asian-American women was $29,150, compared with $29,110 for white women. All the median income calculations are based on a sampling of adults 25 years old or older who were working full-time. No comparisons were made with other racial or | A CENSUS DISPARITY FOR ASIANS IN U.S. |
557500_5 | which my Jewish friends cannot be Germans or by which the Swiss and the Dutch, Erasmus and Spinoza and Rembrandt and Burckhardt, are not Germans." In 1959 he still wanted to claim Arendt as a German who happened to be a Jew. He appointed her the executor of all translations of his work into English. The circle of scholars, intellectuals, artists and writers surrounding Arendt and Jaspers embraces two centuries and some legendary personalities. Jaspers was himself a student of Max Weber, one of the founders of modern sociology. He dined at Weber's house. He was present at the funeral of Weber's sister. Through this volume of letters one has a glimpse of the personal side of a network of teachers, friends and associates that extends from Weber to such contemporary figures as Randall Jarrell, Robert Lowell, Alfred Kazin, Eric Hoffer, Mary McCarthy, Leon Botstein, the president of Bard College, and Gerhard Casper, the president of Stanford University. Arendt and Jaspers seemed to know and develop similar opinions about almost every major German and French intellectual of the century: Martin Heidegger, Edmund Husserl, Thomas Mann, Karl Mannheim, Theodor Adorno, Paul Tillich, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus. Their opinions are not always flattering. Heidegger is the bete noire of the correspondence. Intellectuals are not supposed to be bureaucrats, and Arendt seemed to judge them by a different standard. She held it against Heidegger that, as rector of the University of Freiburg, he dutifully followed superior orders from the National Socialist Government and forbade the philosopher Edmund Husserl, a Jew, from entering the philosophy building. In 1933 Heidegger, who believed that philosophy was a sacramental activity and that true philosophizing could only be done in German or in Greek, broke off his friendship with Jaspers, and there was suspicion it was because Jaspers was married to a Jew. Here is one snippet, Jaspers on Heidegger in 1949: "Two and a half years ago he was experimenting with 'existence' and distorted everything thoroughly. Now he's experimenting more seriously, and, again, that doesn't leave me unconcerned." The philosopher and sociologist Theodor Adorno, another dark figure in these letters, is described by Arendt as a "repulsive" human being who tried unsuccessfully to go along with the Nazis (he later wrote a book called "The Authoritarian Personality"). Nineteen thirty-three was a moment of truth, and some very fancy people did not pass the test. Arendt and Jaspers | Dialogue Amid the Deluge |
557773_0 | What do children want when they fly? That question was asked in an informal survey of passengers under age 12 who frequently travel by air unaccompanied by adults. Uniglobe Travel International, a franchise network of travel agencies that is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, commissioned the survey -- it said the term "focus group study" might be more accurate -- in July, when it interviewed 30 children from 5 to 11 years old who fly at least five times a year. Ninety-four percent of the children said they considered flying, even without their parents, a "positive experience." Sixty-six percent said they were treated well by the airlines. Sixty-three percent said they wanted the airlines to provide more childrens' games, expecially hand-held video games and crayon sets. Forty-eight percent said they preferred window seats. And 26 percent said they preferred -- in the absence of their parents -- to be seated with other children. TRAVEL ADVISORY | Frequent Fliers, 12 and Younger |
557686_3 | the treaty. At the time, it seemed like a riskless gamble. Polls indicated that over 60 percent of French backed the treaty. A strong French "yes" would bolster Mr. Mitterrand's flagging popularity at home and increase his prestige in Europe. And France's political leadership in the community would be confirmed. Since then, Ireland, Greece and Luxembourg have ratified the treaty and Belgium and Italy are close to doing so. But other governments decided to await the French vote. The French campaign itself has added to the confusion, not only because the treaty has not divided the country along traditional left-right political lines, but also because many issues unrelated to the treaty -- from the community's unpopular farming policy to Mr. Mitterrand's own political future -- have become part of the debate. In the "no" camp, for example, there are both the Communist Party and the extreme rightist National Front as well as large sectors of the country's two main conservative parties and some dissidents from the Mr. Mitterrand's own Socialist Party. In the "yes" camp stand the Government and most leaders of the main conservative opposition as well as much of the intellectual elite. Further, the same arguments have often been used for and against the treaty: this week's currency crisis, for example, is proof of the need for a single currency, or proof that it could not work; the Yugoslav war is evidence of the need for a common European foreign policy, or evidence that a united Europe is a pipe dream; immigration will be better controlled under the treaty, or new waves of immigrants will follow its approval. Both sides have also resorted brazenly to fear tactics, each warning of the disasters -- including domination by Germany -- that will befall France and Europe if the "yes" or the "no" wins on Sunday. When they go to the polls, French voters will face a simple question: "Do you approve the draft law submitted to the people of France by the President of the Republic authorizing ratification of the treaty on European union?" The result should be known as soon as polling booths close in major cities at 8 P.M. Paris time. Since it will be based on projections from results in provincial areas where polling ends two hours earlier, however, a close race could bring a delay. And if the outcome depends on results in France's foreign territories, | EUROPE IN TURMOIL: Europe Awaits Verdict on Treaty by French Voters; At Stake: Stable Money, Economic Recovery and Social Peace |
553776_2 | would be to stay out of the pro-treaty campaign. More significant, while few French have studied the treaty, it is already being blamed for an assortment of problems. The Communist Party, for example, says it will raise unemployment, the extreme rightist National Front says the country will be flooded by immigrants, and other critics say France will be ruled by Brussels. Outraged over community plans to reduce agricultural subsidies, French farmers have also become vocally anti-European of late. In reality, the treaty makes no mention of agriculture, but many farmers nonetheless plan to vote no on Sept. 20 as a protest. Unrest elsewhere in Europe has fed nervousness about the future. Violent attacks on foreigners in the German port of Rostock last week were seen as a warning against eliminating French border controls. The European Community's failure to halt civil war in the former republics of Yugoslavia is offered by critics of the treaty as proof that Europe is a white elephant. Explain and Convince The challenge for the Government, and for the main opposition leaders, is both to focus the debate on what the treaty will in fact do and to address the broader fear of "Europe" suddenly awakened among many ordinary French. The task is, Mr. Mitterrand says, "to explain, explain and explain and to convince, convince and convince." More specifically, the "yes" message will argue that the treaty will insure French prosperity, enable the community to deal with future Yugoslav-like crises and subject the technocrats of Brussels to tighter political control. But there are signs that it too will involve scare tactics. Appealing to French distrust of the United States, Japan and Germany, Jack Lang, the Minister of Education, warned Thursday that a no vote would mean "that Washington and Tokyo would rub their hands, that the yen and the dollar would triumph and that the D-mark would become Europe's definitive single currency." The French vote is taking place amid wide fears that a French no to Europe would set in motion a general rethinking of what sort of economic and political union is possible in Europe. "We cannot wake up on Sept. 21 and say, let's start again," France's Prime Minister, Pierre Beregovoy, warned. "There will be no second chance." France's two main opposition leaders, Jacques Chirac, a former Prime Minister, and Valery Giscard d'Estaing, a former President, have also called for approval of the treaty. | France Is Stepping Up Campaign To Build Support for Unity Vote |
553814_9 | newborn mammal. The combination of exposure to testosterone and their mature weaponry is often deadly, and though hyenas are generally born as pairs, one often ends up killing the other, particularly if the two cubs are the same sex. Among other mammals, such sibling murder is extremely rare. "Most neonates root around for their mother's teat," Dr. Glickman said. "Hyena newborns root around for the back of their sibling's neck." The scientists attribute that infantile hostility almost solely to the action of testosterone, but afterward, the hormonal profile grows more complex. As cubs, males and females still carry high doses of androgen in the blood, but the females, in becoming socialized among their peers, engage in far more exuberant and rough play than do males. The scientists suspect that hormones other than testosterone are at work in assuring the female's dominance, possibly the precursor hormone, androstenedione, which could influence behavior by linking up with the appropriate hormone receptors in the female's brain. They believe that they are on track to understanding these other hormonal pathways, work that could overturn traditional and simplistic dogma about the centrality of testosterone in fostering aggression. And since other female mammals, particularly primates like humans, possess significant levels of androstenedione, the results could at least partly explain the relationship between biochemistry and aggression in some women. They believe that many aspects of hyena physiology evolved to assure aggressiveness in the female. While feeding on a fresh kill, hyenas spiral toward a frenzy, hardly stopping to take a breath between bloody mouthfuls. There is no cooperative feeding or sharing. Scientists suggest that such violent feeding behavior fostered the evolution of aggressiveness among the females, who had to fight to assure their cubs had a chance of getting their share. What is more, the females form the social backbone of any hyena clan; aunts, sisters, mothers and daughters all live together, with only a limited number of males permitted to loiter about to father their offspring. Males born into the clan must disperse upon reaching adolescence, and females guard their territory against unwanted, interloping bachelors. Hence, the structure of hyena society must have favored hormonal conditions giving rise to a race of animal Amazons. "There seems to be a genuine advantage to female aggressiveness," said Dr. Licht. "So the real question may be, if it's such a good idea for hyenas, why didn't it happen more often?" | Hyenas' Hormone Flow Puts Females in Charge |
553773_3 | New Vision for the City In the last few months, the streets have filled with private motorcycles that function illegally as taxis. If the driver has an extra helmet, that means he is probably looking for a fare. "There's nothing that the police can do," a local businessman said. "If they interfere, then both the driver and the passenger insist that they are old friends. So the police have pretty much given up." Shanghai is trying to reduce its dependence on manufacturing and remold itself as a financial center, a strategy that has been boosted by the growth of the city's stock exchange over the last year. The stock exchange is frantically adding new listings, and already some 600,000 investors have bought shares. In addition, China's first national futures market, a metals exchange, opened in Shanghai in May. Shortly afterward the Shanghai foreign exchange market began experimenting with currency futures. The central Government is trying to focus development efforts on the Pudong area of Shanghai, which is relatively backward and in local terms is on the wrong side of the Huangpu River that bisects the city. Investment seems to be growing after a slow start. The Pace Is Stepped Up Zhang Puxian, a spokesman for the Pudong area, said that 222 foreign investment projects for the area were approved in the first seven months of the year, several times the pace of last year. A joint venture with Du Pont Agricultural Chemicals Company is now beginning production in Pudong, and Singer Company this month signed a joint venture agreement to manufacture 400,000 sewing machines a year in another part of the city. The city may be hurt by the departure of a highly regarded Mayor, Zhu Rongji, who initiated much of the city's regeneration but was promoted last year to Deputy Prime Minister. Neither the new Mayor, Huang Ju, nor the new Communist Party Secretary, Wu Bangguo, has inspired much popular enthusiasm since taking office. Mr. Huang and Mr. Wu both refused to be interviewed. Zhang Weiguo, a dissident journalist who is not permitted to leave the city because of his outspokenness, said that Shanghai had made progress lately, but he noted that the city still faced enormous problems. He said these included the burden of a huge population, crumbling buildings, antiquated pipes and sewers, and an outdated infrastructure. "Over all," Mr. Zhang said, "I'm not so optimistic about Shanghai." | Shanghai Journal; Chinese Are on Notice: The Giant's on the Move |
554761_0 | As chairman of the fiction panel of the 1990 National Book Award, I must amend the account of our work in your article about Terry McMillan, one of our five panelists ("McMillan's Millions," by Daniel Max, Aug. 9). Like most panels that award prizes, we had our disagreements, and they received a portion of publicity. However, each of us read all the submissions for the prize and made our judgments carefully, according to our particular sense of literary value. "Middle Passage," a novel by Charles Johnson, won because it was good, not because any single juror made a whistle-stop tour on its behalf. CATHARINE R. STIMPSON University Professor, Rutgers University New Brunswick, N.J. ILS>Photo: Terry McMillan (Photograph by Paul Kitagaki Jr.) | MCMILLAN'S MILLIONS |
554737_4 | women. Later drafts expanded the statement of the church's prohibition, and in place of the request for more dialogue, they suggested that more female participation in programs on sexual morality would render the current teaching more convincing. ORDINATION. All the drafts have acknowledged, though with diminishing emphasis, that the restriction of the priesthood to men is, for many women, a crucial test of the church's commitment to women's equality. The first draft repeated the Vatican view that the male priesthood was "an unbroken tradition" in Catholicism, but it then said that "continuing reflection, dialogue and even controversy" on the topic would be valuable. It also called for a swift examination of whether women could be ordained as deacons and said that opening other liturgical roles to women was "even more compelling." The second draft dropped the call for further discussion of ordination to the priesthood; the third draft dropped the call for quick examination of ordination as deacons. The latest draft sets out at greater length the arguments against ordination to the priesthood and is careful to state that even reflection on whether girls can be altar servers, as well as fill other liturgical roles, should "proceed with an objectivity and serenity" that comes from respect for the church's official teaching. WOMEN'S VIEWS. Comments from Catholic women participating in the nationwide hearings filled roughly one-third of the first draft, an unprecedented structure for a pastoral letter. The second draft retained a smattering of sometimes candid quotations. In the third and fourth drafts, the quotations are entirely dropped, and the document exchanged a down-to-earth tone for a more Olympian exposition of general principles. Stand on 'Radical Feminism' Already at the June meeting, Bishop Imesch was saying that it would take "a miracle" to pass this letter when the bishops meet in November. Of course, the latest draft could gain new support from conservatives who have previously insisted that the pastoral letter was addressing only the concerns of a discontented elite in the church and that the real problem needing criticism was "radical feminism." But the latest draft contains only one reference to "radical feminism," linking it to the sexual revolution, and several other paragraphs of sweeping criticism apparently aimed at feminism. Helen Hull Hitchcock, director of Women for Faith and Family, an organization of traditionalist women, said, "The analysis of this, as it applies to both church and society, remains woefully | Bishops' Struggle on Role of Women Yields Little |
554668_0 | Anyone who has suffered through the wearisome chore of changing a flat tire on a highway in the late hours of the night will be heartened by the introduction of a tire that, when depleted of air, will hold up for at least another 50 miles traveling at a speed of 55 miles an hour. The Bridgestone Corporation of Japan and the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio, have worked separately to design the tires, which are about 50 percent thicker than the standard passenger tire. The Bridgestone tire requires a specially made wheel; Goodyear says that its tire will fit on any standard wheel. While tire industry analysts say the new product has a great deal of potential, drivers should not throw away their car jacks just yet. The tires will debut on specialty models of Corvettes in the next few years but will not be available for widespread use on other models for another 5 or 10 years, analysts say. AUG. 30 - SEPT. 5 | Got a Flat? Keep on Rolling |
554893_1 | among the few automakers to build a pilot "auto disassembly" plant to study ways to increase the amount of salvageable material. In this country, the company offers $500 toward the purchase of a new model to anyone bringing a junked BMW to its salvage centers in the Bronx, Los Angeles or Orlando, Fla. About 80 percent, by weight, of BMW's 1992 325i is recyclable, compared with about 75 percent for other vehicles. The company is pressing parts designers to avoid mixing two types of plastic or metal and plastic in a single part. The Big Three automakers believe the same laws and attitudes that have created bottle laws and closed landfills eventually will force more recycling. They are trying to slow legislation, but see it as inevitable: many consumers, especially the young, are insisting that vehicles embody environmental attributes that go beyond clean emissions. "By the end of the century we think people will be buying cars based on how 'green' they are," said David Millerick, manager of vehicle recyclability at the Ford Motor Company. For the past 20 years, makers of steel and aluminum have been building more furnaces that use scrap metal. With shredders, magnets and other techniques, it is reasonably easy to sort out the baseball-sized chunks of metal left of the hulks after the engines, transmissions, radios, batteries, exhaust systems and other reusable parts have been removed. The hard part is figuring out what to do with the rest, a hodgepodge of glass, foam, vinyl, dirt and several kinds of plastics, collectively called "fluff." Millions of tons of it must be thrown away or burned. The tipping fees at American landfills average $20 to $30 a ton, while German and Japanese recyclers must pay 10 times as much or more and thus have incentives to reuse as much of the car as possible. The volume of fluff, automakers have concluded, can be shrunk by removing most of a car's plastic parts and sorting them for recycling. But it isn't easy. Disassembly alone might take five people an hour. Tools must be invented, like the one BMW invented for safely puncturing and removing fuel tanks with gasoline in them. Bumpers to Park Benches By finding more uses for recycled plastic, automakers could make disassembly feasible. Each new design for an automotive part is being analyzed to discover whether it can be made from a recycled material. "Once | Imperatives Of Recycling Are Gaining On Detroit |
554894_1 | among the few automakers to build a pilot "auto disassembly" plant to study ways to increase the amount of salvageable material. In this country, the company offers $500 toward the purchase of a new model to anyone bringing a junked BMW to its salvage centers in the Bronx, Los Angeles or Orlando, Fla. About 80 percent, by weight, of BMW's 1992 325i is recyclable, compared with about 75 percent for other vehicles. The company is pressing parts designers to avoid mixing two types of plastic or metal and plastic in a single part. The Big Three automakers believe the same laws and attitudes that have created bottle laws and closed landfills eventually will force more recycling. They are trying to slow legislation, but see it as inevitable: many consumers, especially the young, are insisting that vehicles embody environmental attributes that go beyond clean emissions. "By the end of the century we think people will be buying cars based on how 'green' they are," said David Millerick, manager of vehicle recyclability at the Ford Motor Company. For the past 20 years, makers of steel and aluminum have been building more furnaces that use scrap metal. With shredders, magnets and other techniques, it is reasonably easy to sort out the baseball-sized chunks of metal left of the hulks after the engines, transmissions, radios, batteries, exhaust systems and other reusable parts have been removed. The hard part is figuring out what to do with the rest, a hodgepodge of glass, foam, vinyl, dirt and several kinds of plastics, collectively called "fluff." Millions of tons of it must be thrown away or burned. The tipping fees at American landfills average $20 to $30 a ton, while German and Japanese recyclers must pay 10 times as much or more and thus have incentives to reuse as much of the car as possible. The volume of fluff, automakers have concluded, can be shrunk by removing most of a car's plastic parts and sorting them for recycling. But it isn't easy. Disassembly alone might take five people an hour. Tools must be invented, like the one BMW invented for safely puncturing and removing fuel tanks with gasoline in them. Bumpers to Park Benches By finding more uses for recycled plastic, automakers could make disassembly feasible. Each new design for an automotive part is being analyzed to discover whether it can be made from a recycled material. "Once | Imperatives Of Recycling Are Gaining On Detroit |
554631_4 | they are most excited about is its promise to be able to "clean up" their vine material to insure it is free from latent viruses. It is envisioned that a vineyard would deliver its scions to Agritope, which would test them for viruses and bacteria and then reproduce nodes of plants that are certified as healthy. The company is not yet able to deliver this service commercially. "One of the biggest problems facing the industry is when a grower has a private clone that may have viruses in it, and he wants to clean it up before he repropagates his vineyard," said Richard Kunde, president of Sonoma Grapevines Inc., a nursery in Santa Rosa, Calif. Agritope could help by cleaning up material, but "I have sent customers to them and the customers have called me back saying they're not offering it yet," he said. MR. STAMP concedes that the company's ability to perform this service is limited so far. Also in the future are true genetically engineered vines, which could be bred to resist pests or to contain natural pesticides or antiviral proteins. "Down the road we will be applying biotechnology to grapevines to make them phylloxera resistant and virus resistant, much the way tomatoes and soybeans are being bioengineered right now," Mr. Stamp said. He said field trials of genetically engineered grapevines could begin within three years. Some of the doubts about Agritope may stem from its parent company, Epitope Inc., which has had a much publicized device for diagnosing the AIDS virus in saliva awaiting Food and Drug Administration approval. Epitope "has done a grotesque job of exaggeration and overoptimism" in promoting its AIDS test, said James McCamant, publisher of the Medical Technology Stock Letter and the Agbiotech Stock Letter. "My suspicion is what they are doing in rootstock is in the same category." Adolph J. Ferro, Epitope's president and chief executive, said skepticism about the AIDS test device stemmed from the unauthorized publication of an F.D.A. letter requesting additional data. He said short sellers had used the letter to spread doubts about the company and contended that he had never offered projections about the possible market for the device. Some vineyard owners who have dealt with Agritope say they believe the company is ready to stop talking and start delivering. "They have had their difficulties getting up and running," said Forrest Tancer, a partner and winemaker at | Technology; A Lab to Renew the Vineyards |
554709_0 | To defuse tension over the 500th anniversary of Spain's arrival in the Americas, Ecuador's Government is preparing a present for its Indian minority: stewardship over a swath of Amazon rain forest nearly the size of Connecticut. Land titles are the fruit of a two-week, 160-mile march that brought 2,500 Indians out of the tropical Amazon and into this chilly mountain capital, 9,400 feet high in the Andes. After camping in a city park for three weeks, the Indians won promises in May of formal title to traditional homelands covering 4,305 square miles in Pastaza Province in eastern Ecuador. Ecuador's move is part of a wider trend in the Amazon basin. In the last three years, the Governments of Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela have restricted most of their Amazon areas as national parks or as Indian reserves, as have Brazil and Bolivia, and France has made plans to protect a third of French Guiana. The action has drawn opposition in Ecuador, South America's most densely populated nation. "The Indians got too much land," said Andres Borja, president of the Association of Highland and Eastern Ranchers here. "It is completely out of proportion for a group that barely adds up to 20,000 people." Indeed, the 20,000 Achuar, Shiwiar and Quechua Indians will soon administer an area where population densities average five people a square mile. Ecuador's remaining 10 million people live in a Colorado-sized area with an average of 100 people a square mile. "The Amazon region has a very fragile ecology, and to continue colonization would destroy it," said Cesar Verduga, Ecuador's Minister of Government, who helped negotiate the land titles. Tensions are expected to peak this year around the Oct. 12 anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the Americas. "In October, we are going to have a national mobilization," including a mass rally in Quito, said Jose Maria Cabascango, a leader of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, which says it represents the nation's estimated two million Indians. The increased militancy of Ecuador's long-quiet Indian minority is becoming a major economic factor here. Last year, a coalition of Amazon Indians and foreign and local environmentalists helped force oil companies to abandon plans for producing oil in Ecuador's Amazon. Today, a another coalition is waging a similar campaign against another oil project. But if new oilfields are not developed soon, Ecuador will stop exporting oil by the end of the decade. | Ecuador Gives Indians Title to Big Amazon Area |
554718_2 | itself in Government. It had little choice given the new constitution's injunctions separating church and state and declaring all religions equal. "What we are trying to do is reform the treaty to adjust it to the new constitution," Foreign Minister Noemi Sanin said in an interview. The adjustment also fits another Colombian reality: An estimated 45 percent of Catholic marriages break up whether the state recognizes it or not. Attorney General Arrieta said, "About half of the couples in Colombia don't even bother to get married." Until now millions of people who had separated from their spouses and found new partners were unable to legalize their status. They were forced either to remarry abroad or simply live together. Only the wealthy could afford the costly and time-consuming process of obtaining Catholic annulments. The new Papal treaty will also end obligatory Catholic education in public schools and cancel the rights of priests not to be tried in state courts when charged with crimes. Despite the changes, the clergy emphatically announced that new civil laws do not change Catholic morality for the 90 percent of Colombians who call themselves Catholic. The Archbishop of Cali, Msgr. Pedro Rubiano, said in a recent interview that second marriages outside the church constitute "bigamy and adultery." Despite Colombia's reputation as a bastion of conservative Catholicism, a surge in conversions to non-Catholic religions in recent years is redrawing the religious landscape in this country of about 32 million people. Evangelical Christians, now an estimated 7 percent of the population, are exerting their political rights. Two of their members were represented in the Constitutional Assembly last year, and three of them now serve in Congress. They say they want officials to scrap the Papal Treaty, not to renegotiate it. "They have held the reins of power for centuries, and the results are evident: A nation with fewer moral values and more out of control every day," said the Rev. Hector Pardo, of the evangelicals' Christian Union Movement. Even before the rise of the evangelism in Colombia, some traditional church positions, especially on birth control, were already widely ignored. According to the United States-based Population Crisis Committee, Colombia has reduced its birth rate from seven children per woman of child-bearing age in 1965 to 2.9 today. The Government has also disregarded clerical protests against its aggressive anti-AIDS campaign. But several Catholic positions, such as keeping abortion illegal, remain secure. | Colombia Moves to End Vatican's Special Role |
554850_0 | Wheelchair users who enjoy the beach may find it more accessible with the Surf Chair, a balloon-tired conveyance that allows them to ride across the sands. Provisions of the Americans With Disabilities Act encourage shore resorts to provide wheelchair access to beaches, and ramps and walkways are going up in many seaside towns. But users of conventional wheelchairs, once they have traveled from the sidewalk through the dunes to the beach, often find that a long and arduous trip over the sand to the water remains. The Surf Chair is the invention of Mike Hensler, a Daytona Beach, Fla., lifeguard. Mr. Hensler, 42 years old, built five prototypes before coming up with his final design, a four-wheeled chair with an aluminum body. The 70-pound chair, which sells for $800, uses puncture-resistant tires developed by a Norfolk, Va., company for small-boat transporters. The tires have low air pressure that distributes the load so effectively, according to Mr. Hensler, that a 200-pound disabled passenger scarcely makes an imprint in negotiating heavy sand. The chair's inventor says it functions equally well in mud or on woodland paths, but it does require someone to push it. Some 75 Surf Chairs have been bought and are being used by municipalities and private individuals in places from the East Coast to the Lake Michigan beaches of Chicago. Long Beach Township on Long Beach Island in New Jersey has one Surf Chair, which can be reserved for up to a week without charge. Information: (609) 361-1200 or 494-4220. At Ocean City, N.J., there is a Surf Chair at the 34th Street Beach Patrol Station, (609) 399-6111. It may be used to ferry the disabled across the beach. There is no fee. The chairs have a vinyl seat and backrest, folding sun umbrella and storage rack, and can be taken into the water. The large tires enable the chair to float in depths of six inches or more, but Mr. Hensler advises that a companion should always be at hand when someone uses the chair anywhere near the water. Information: (904) 253-3801. TRAVEL ADVISORY | Wheeled Beach Chair for Disabled |
554646_1 | agents here and in New York. I can also send a message from my car phone via voice mail that the computer will distribute to any group of agents I designate across the network." Last year, when John Ptak, a Morris agent, joined Creative Artists, Hollywood's top agency, he told Mr. Simpson with some horror that runners were still delivering written paper messages in the office. One Creative Artists agent, who admits to being "a phone guy," insists the agency uses E-mail. "It's fast information, replaces telephone calls, is environmentally correct and allows more people to know things at the same time," he said. However, he added, "when it becomes a substitute for human contact, that I don't like." E-mail is a great way to avoid having to deal with certain people in person, admits a Disney executive, one of the studio's elite cadre of about 20 who are plugged in to chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg's Macintosh E-mail network, the Executive Information Service, which exists separately from the studio's overall E-mail system. An ardent E-mail champion, Mr. Katzenberg is famed not only for his memo-writing but for his information gathering. He's known within the industry as the "golden retriever." During a recent two-day in-house telephone blackout, telecommunication occurred only via fax and cellular phone and Mr. Katzenberg's linked computers. "We had to love E-mail because Jeffrey loves it," said Terry Press, vice president of feature publicity at Disney. "You communicate by computer instead of by phone." One Disney home video executive realized that he had a new job with "team Disney" when a serviceman came into his office and hooked his Macintosh to Mr. Katzenberg's E-mail network. E-mail does change executive interaction, offering easier access to higher-ups and more typing for the sender, if they happen to be handling their own memos. Many, however, rely on their more computer-literate secretaries to deal with their computer memos. Sending an E-mail message, says one assistant to a prominent entertainment attorney, "is a heck of a lot easier than writing a memo, copying it and faxing it or walking it. You can do it all in one step." While most companies use E-mail strictly in-house, the production company InterScope Communications, which made "The Hand That Rocked the Cradle," has been communicating with its law firm, Ziffren, Brittenham & Branca, via E-mail for the past year. "Anything we need to know we ask through E-mail," | The Executive Life; Forget Doing Lunch -- Hollywood's on E-mail |
559298_0 | If France had rejected a treaty on European union in a referendum last Sunday, President Francois Mitterrand would have faced loud demands for his resignation. Now, with the treaty narrowly approved, he is instead hearing calls to retire. It was not how he had planned things. He had argued that defeat would not force him out of office since the vote on Europe was not a plebiscite on his Government. He had also gambled that a solid victory would lift his sagging popularity after 15 months of setbacks. Yet exit polls showed that 20 percent of voters said "no" as a protest against his Government, while the "yes" victory was too close to help him much. On television Sunday, the 75-year-old President resembled an aging boxer who had won a bruising split-decision and now looked ready to hang up his gloves. Reflecting strong French doubts about both themselves and Europe, the tight vote -- 51.05 percent "yes" against 48.95 percent "no" -- set off speculation against the franc and a new crisis in Europe's drive toward economic and political union. Gains Little Respite Yet, in France, attention turned quickly to Mr. Mitterrand. In political terms, the "yes" had brought him little respite, with Conservative opposition leaders claiming credit for the victory and his own Socialist Party still seemingly headed for defeat in next March's parliamentary elections. Further, with the referendum over, the country for the first time began to digest last week's disclosure that he was suffering from prostate cancer. His doctors have said that it is not life-threatening and that he will soon resume normal activities, but a new question appeared over his future. "And now, Mr. President, thank you and goodbye!" the weekly, l'Evenement du Jeudi, proclaimed in a special post-referendum edition. Its editor, Jean-Francois Kahn, said that Sunday's "yes" and Mr. Mitterrand's illness now gave the President an opportunity to leave office gracefully. In a front-page article in Le Monde, Jean-Marie Colombini offered the same advice, noting that he should step down "while he is on top." Liberation's editor, Serge July, said Mr. Mitterrand could consider his work accomplished with France's ratification of the union treaty. Time for a Change? At the heart of calls for his retirement before his second seven-year term ends in 1995 is the widespread belief that France is ready for a political change, evidenced not only by the deep split provoked by | Calls for Mitterrand to Go, Gracefully |
559404_1 | the Judson choreographers of the 60's -- among them, Yvonne Rainer, Lucinda Childs, Trisha Brown and Steve Paxton -- revolutionized dance. A few of their productions even included nudity, which was shocking at the time. Today, when strait-laced pastors denounce unconventional art, it is heartening to recall that crusading clergy across the country have sometimes encouraged innovation. Among the first to do so was the Rev. William Rounseville Alger, a 19th-century Boston Unitarian minister who promoted the teachings of Francois Delsarte, the French theorist who combined rigorous observations of movement with the Christian concept of the Trinity. Just as God is viewed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Delsarte envisioned the human body -- God's creation -- as divided into three parts: the head (the zone of the intellect), the torso (of the emotions) and the lower limbs (of physicality). Shortly after Delsarte's death in 1871, Steele Mackaye, one of his American disciples, introduced Delsartian theories to Boston. They seized the imagination of William Alger, a cousin of Horatio Alger. Although Unitarians questioned Trinitarian dogma, Alger was a devout Delsartian who believed that gymnastics based on Delsarte's principles could be the foundation of a new type of religious education uniting body and soul. Delsarte offered ways of studying movement that had nothing to do with either the vacuousness of much late-19th-century ballet or the commercialism of the era's musical theater. In the process, he helped make new serious dance forms possible by inspiring such choreographic pioneers as Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, all of whom were influenced by his theories. Moreover, the fact that his theories received clerical approval helped silence prudes who considered bodily expression suspect. Shawn was also influenced by the Rev. Dr. Christian F. Reisner, a Methodist minister in Kansas City, where Shawn was born in 1891. Later, Shawn moved to Denver, where Reisner was a pastor before heading a Manhattan congregation. Shawn's phenomenally successful career as a performer, choreographer and teacher made him an evangelist for dance. And it was Reisner who helped convince the young Shawn that the theater was not inherently sinful. Indeed, Reisner was a showman. His services resembled vaudeville bills and combined prayers and Bible readings with performances by magicians, acrobats and birdcall imitators. He was especially famous for what he called his "snow sermon," preached every July atop a mountain of ice that had been placed in the | Crusading Clergy Shape the Course of Dance |
559388_2 | will discuss treatment trends in developmental disabilities. All the sessions will take place at the Jewish Community Center of White Plains at 252 Soundview Avenue. Each of the three sessions runs from 9 to 11:30 A.M., with a question--and-answer period after each speaker's presentation. The Latest Information "There will be information on new medications in all these areas and the latest information on the scientific basis of what we do," Commissioner Friedman said. "We are gaining more and more understanding of the brain and the physiological reasons for behavior." Recent years have also seen changes in treatment methods. New approaches have emphasized community-based treatment programs over traditional in-patient and hospital methods. For example, in treating people with alcohol or drug problems, the new emphasis is on family-centered treatment programs. Those with developmental disabilities have been successfully treated through supported work programs in the community. "There is a greater stress now on the community as the locus of treatment," Commissioner Friedman said. "For example, with group homes of 10 to 12 residents, the question is whether that number is a desirable size or if it can be lessened as clients are ready for movement and independent living. Many people in group homes are ready for the next step, and that is independent living." The county is planning to use the information generated at the sessions as a basis for forming public mental-health policy. Commissioner Friedman will appoint a committee of 30 people to spend more time with the speaker after each session in order to learn how and if their message applies to the needs of Westchester. The committee then meets on its own and prepares a report. That report, along with the speaker's remarks, are incorporated into a monograph or booklet about the forum's topic. Eight Booklets Produced So far, eight booklets have been produced from past forums. They deal with topics like patients' rights, mental health and aging, prevention strategies for mental health and mental-health aspects of long-term illnesses. "The forum is a wonderful opportunity for us," Commissioner Friedman said, "to hear from consumers, family members and practitioners in the field about what the next generation of needs are and then work on planning and development to meet those needs." Reservations for the sessions are not required but those interested in attending are urged to call Janice Towers, coordinator of community education for the Mental Health Department, at 285-5238 | Mental Health Forum To Address New Trends |
559405_1 | the Judson choreographers of the 60's -- among them, Yvonne Rainer, Lucinda Childs, Trisha Brown and Steve Paxton -- revolutionized dance. A few of their productions even included nudity, which was shocking at the time. Today, when strait-laced pastors denounce unconventional art, it is heartening to recall that crusading clergy across the country have sometimes encouraged innovation. Among the first to do so was the Rev. William Rounseville Alger, a 19th-century Boston Unitarian minister who promoted the teachings of Francois Delsarte, the French theorist who combined rigorous observations of movement with the Christian concept of the Trinity. Just as God is viewed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Delsarte envisioned the human body -- God's creation -- as divided into three parts: the head (the zone of the intellect), the torso (of the emotions) and the lower limbs (of physicality). Shortly after Delsarte's death in 1871, Steele Mackaye, one of his American disciples, introduced Delsartian theories to Boston. They seized the imagination of William Alger, a cousin of Horatio Alger. Although Unitarians questioned Trinitarian dogma, Alger was a devout Delsartian who believed that gymnastics based on Delsarte's principles could be the foundation of a new type of religious education uniting body and soul. Delsarte offered ways of studying movement that had nothing to do with either the vacuousness of much late-19th-century ballet or the commercialism of the era's musical theater. In the process, he helped make new serious dance forms possible by inspiring such choreographic pioneers as Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, all of whom were influenced by his theories. Moreover, the fact that his theories received clerical approval helped silence prudes who considered bodily expression suspect. Shawn was also influenced by the Rev. Dr. Christian F. Reisner, a Methodist minister in Kansas City, where Shawn was born in 1891. Later, Shawn moved to Denver, where Reisner was a pastor before heading a Manhattan congregation. Shawn's phenomenally successful career as a performer, choreographer and teacher made him an evangelist for dance. And it was Reisner who helped convince the young Shawn that the theater was not inherently sinful. Indeed, Reisner was a showman. His services resembled vaudeville bills and combined prayers and Bible readings with performances by magicians, acrobats and birdcall imitators. He was especially famous for what he called his "snow sermon," preached every July atop a mountain of ice that had been placed in the | Crusading Clergy Shape the Course of Dance |
559221_1 | the Judson choreographers of the 60's -- among them, Yvonne Rainer, Lucinda Childs, Trisha Brown and Steve Paxton -- revolutionized dance. A few of their productions even included nudity, which was shocking at the time. Today, when strait-laced pastors denounce unconventional art, it is heartening to recall that crusading clergy across the country have sometimes encouraged innovation. Among the first to do so was the Rev. William Rounseville Alger, a 19th-century Boston Unitarian minister who promoted the teachings of Francois Delsarte, the French theorist who combined rigorous observations of movement with the Christian concept of the Trinity. Just as God is viewed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Delsarte envisioned the human body -- God's creation -- as divided into three parts: the head (the zone of the intellect), the torso (of the emotions) and the lower limbs (of physicality). Shortly after Delsarte's death in 1871, Steele Mackaye, one of his American disciples, introduced Delsartian theories to Boston. They seized the imagination of William Alger, a cousin of Horatio Alger. Although Unitarians questioned Trinitarian dogma, Alger was a devout Delsartian who believed that gymnastics based on Delsarte's principles could be the foundation of a new type of religious education uniting body and soul. Delsarte offered ways of studying movement that had nothing to do with either the vacuousness of much late-19th-century ballet or the commercialism of the era's musical theater. In the process, he helped make new serious dance forms possible by inspiring such choreographic pioneers as Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, all of whom were influenced by his theories. Moreover, the fact that his theories received clerical approval helped silence prudes who considered bodily expression suspect. Shawn was also influenced by the Rev. Dr. Christian F. Reisner, a Methodist minister in Kansas City, where Shawn was born in 1891. Later, Shawn moved to Denver, where Reisner was a pastor before heading a Manhattan congregation. Shawn's phenomenally successful career as a performer, choreographer and teacher made him an evangelist for dance. And it was Reisner who helped convince the young Shawn that the theater was not inherently sinful. Indeed, Reisner was a showman. His services resembled vaudeville bills and combined prayers and Bible readings with performances by magicians, acrobats and birdcall imitators. He was especially famous for what he called his "snow sermon," preached every July atop a mountain of ice that had been placed in the | Crusading Clergy Shape the Course of Dance |
559005_0 | As fuel economy and recycling become increasingly important, more and more lightweight -- and different -- materials will find their way into the cars of the future, according to a recent survey by the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute. The study, based on responses from domestic auto manufacturers and suppliers, as well as scholars and consultants, showed that to achieve a corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) of 35 miles per gallon by the year 2000, nearly 200 pounds would need to be shaved from today's cars. To do that, according to David E. Cole, director of the university's office for the study of automotive transportation, car makers will need to use more expensive and exotic materials such as ceramics, magnesium, powdered metals and composites, although steel will remain dominant. "Although the value of CAFE regulation is intensely debated," Cole said, "its influence will steer product strategies, engineering direction and sourcing decisions." Further, he said, recycling of old cars has emerged as a significant issue for the international auto industry in recent years and is expected to have a much heavier impact on design over the next decade. Exterior body parts in particular will use more nontraditional materials, with about 35 percent of the doors and fenders of domestic cars made of plastics and polymers. The report concludes that "although material trends appear to be reasonably stable, they still represent a significant change from the composition of components today. This suggests rather strongly that we are on the threshold of a revolution in automotive materials." ABOUT CARS | . . .And a Forecast for the Future |
559026_3 | making those things happen in the first place. The way medical technique has made dying even more alarming than it used to be is a case in point; we have become very clever at keeping the dying body alive a little longer, but have forgotten how to care for the patient. We have lost the sense of the meaning of life and death that might -- to use Mr. Taylor's rather unlovely term -- "enframe" technique. The last charge is political. We suffer under something that Herbert Marcuse was not the first observer to describe as the despotism of the system. A hundred years before, de Tocqueville feared that Americans might become "enclosed in their own hearts," that they would retreat to the security of their homes, abandon politics and therefore lose political control over their destiny. They would not suffer the terror of the police state; they might even live comfortable lives, but it would be the "pitiable comfort" threatened by Nie tzsche that they enjoyed, and existence would lack human dignity. Put the three charges together and we face "a loss of meaning . . . the eclipse of ends . . . [ and ] a loss of freedom." Mr. Taylor's formidable skills of allusion and exegesis allow him to pack in an astonishing number of reference points -- to "The Closing of the American Mind," by Allan Bloom, and its obsession with relativism and subjectivism; to "The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism," by Daniel Bell, and its fear that capitalist affluence promotes hedonism, selfishness and amoralism; and beyond these to Heidegger's fears about technology, Max Weber's fears about the "iron cage" of the modern bureaucratic state, and a great deal more. Still, even Mr. Taylor has to concentrate his forces; the reconstruction of the modern moral consciousness is hardly to be achieved in 142 pages. Wisely, he concentrates on the first charge, the complaint that individualism rots moral commitment, that when we think for ourselves we turn the world into a meaningless desert. This is wise because it is the fundamental issue. If there are forms of moral individualism that give the world meaning, that sustain community rather than eroding it, the other complaints are easier to deal with. If, to take one of Mr. Taylor's own examples, we learn to understand the natural world as having its own voice and its own meaning -- if not | Don't Think for Yourself Unless You Can |
556507_4 | save lives. Hurricane forecasting relies heavily on the comparison of a number of different satellite images taken over time, which disclose the storm's pace and suggest its future route. That information is tempered by whatever data can be gleaned about prevailing winds and nearby weather patterns. Weather airplanes can pierce the heart of hurricanes, but the data they collect are useful mainly for gauging the storm's structure and strength. Only satellites fly high enough to gather information about the vast and often relatively quiescent area that surrounds a hurricane, disclosing the winds that determine much of a hurricane's movement. Visual images relayed from space disclose little about the weather surrounding a storm, since it is often free of clouds. So scientists eager to study this area have developed specialized tools that probe invisible parts of the electromagnetic spectrum in the search for weather clues. Sounders on weather satellites measure infrared energy radiating from the Earth's atmosphere, giving a series of temperature and humidity readings from the ground up to about 20 miles. They work best in cloud-free areas. The first such sensor flew on a high-flying weather satellite in 1980, and since then all such American craft have carried sounders. Mapping Global Wind Flow In GOES-7, the last of these older American weather craft, the sounder and the visual imager share one telescope; in 30-minute cycles, the imager is usually on 20 minutes and the sounder 10 minutes. As scientists poured over sounder data in the early 1980's, it became clear that global temperature readings could generate other vital data as well, like wind speeds. "It's obvious to anybody who knows meteorology," said Dr. Christopher M. Hayden, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist at the University of Wisconsin who helped develop the technique. Different temperatures make different atmospheric densities, "and these translate into wind motion, because nature always tries to get to equilibrium," Dr. Hayden said. With this insight, scientists in the early 1980's learned how to use sounder readings to draw up gradient maps of global wind flow. By 1983 and 1984, as plans took shape for GOES-NEXT, the new generation of national weather satellites, the sounder had emerged as such an important tool that it was designated to become more advanced and to have its own telescope. When eventually lofted, it will be able to operate around the clock. Starting in 1988, the atmospheric agency began routinely | Satellite Woes Undercut U.S. Hurricane Forecasts |
559615_1 | Carnegie-Mellon University said a lot had been done to regulate pollution and waste but not enough had been done to prevent it. "We have addressed the waste problem after it occurs," Dr. Nair said at a hearing Friday on environmental technology held by Mr. Brown's committee. "Waste prevention is a relatively new concept." Despite fear in industry that environmental regulations undermine the economic competitiveness of companies, the report says that such design changes offered these economic benefits: *Manufacturing costs can be reduced by lowering the quantity of materials used in products. *The rising costs of pollution control and waste disposal can be cut by lowering the amount of hazardous materials used in products. *Growing public concern about the environment can benefit companies that improve the environmental soundness of their products. The manufacturing industry takes issue with the report. Mary Pigott, director of environmental quality at the National Association of Manufacturers, said: "We haven't seen their report, but N.A.M. believes that regulatory programs tend to stifle innovation. We do not support the promulgation of regulations because we believe that a new regulatory program won't give the same benefits of companies' efforts on their own." Seventy percent of the cost to develop and manufacture a product is determined at the design stage, the report says. New design could reduce the weight of packaging by 10 percent a year, the report said. Households in the United States produce about four pounds of trash per person each day. Greg Eyring, director of the project that produced the report, cites the General Motors Corporation as one of the companies that had reduced its use of chemicals by turning to a single supplier whose profits depend on those from the plant's product, not on the amount of chemicals sold. So the supplier is concerned with the most efficient use of as few chemicals as possible, Mr. Eyring said. In 1991, Germany passed a law that makes manufacturers and retailers responsible for taking back and recycling parts when a car is discarded. As a result, car companies like BMW and Volkswagen are producing cars whose plastic parts can be dismantled into parts that are recyclable. Traditionally, companies remove batteries and fuel tanks from a car and then shred what remains. The metals are removed from the shredded material and the plastics go into landfills. But these plastics are "semi-hazardous" waste, contaminated with oil, automotive fluids and lead. | Manufacturers Urged to Make Environmentalism a Goal |
559560_0 | Reconstruction of three blocks of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive that hang partly over the East River on a platform had to be halted two months ago after workers found that more than half of an old, 400-foot timber retaining wall under the roadway was missing, state transportation officials said yesterday. Because the wall keeps soil under part of the highway platform from being eroded into the river, a new retainer of steel and concrete is to be built over the next two months, and work on the highway between 15th and 18th Streets will not be resumed until that job is finished, the officials said. But the four-month delay is not expected to add to the inconvenience of the 130,000 motorists who use the six-lane highway daily. They will still face one lane closed in each direction for the duration of the project, and officials said they hoped the original completion date of next August could still be met. "We believe we can make up this time," M. Michael Francese, the New York City regional director of the state's Department of Transportation, said in an interview. He said construction of the wall would add only $100,000 to the $5.9 million cost of the state project, which is 80 percent federally financed. Where Did It Go? Mr. Francese said reconstruction of the highway section and an adjoining riverside esplanade for pedestrians began last spring, but was halted on July 6 after excavating crews found that a 250-foot segment of the retaining wall -- part of it below the mean high water mark -- was mysteriously missing and that design drawings of the 1938 highway and its underpinnings, which contractors were using on the job, did not account for it. The problem was first reported yesterday in The New York Post. It was unclear why the wall segment had vanished, though Mr. Francese said it apparently was removed by workers decades ago in some forgotten repair job. And there was no explanation why city design drawings -- archival records of New York's infrastructure that are supposed to be updated with every change on a bridge, a road or an underground pipe -- did not reflect the wall's removal. While half the highway and all the esplanade at the site stand on a platform supported by pilings sunk into the riverbed, half the roadway rests on ground retained by the wall. Discovering | Missing Archival Records Set Back Highway Repairs |
559628_2 | the unknown causes of mental retardation and learning disorders. But some experts criticize the methods used at U.C.L.A. "They do a spectacular job with surgery and helping families," said Dr. John Freeman, director of the pediatric epilepsy center at Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore. But the radioactive imaging technique -- positron emission tomography, or PET -- is not the only way to make a diagnosis, he said. Children can be assessed for surgery without exposing the rapidly dividing brain cells to radioactive substances, he said. Defending Use of PET Five medical centers have large pediatric epilepsy programs: Hopkins, U.C.L.A., Miami Children's Hospital, MINCEP Epilepsy Care in Minneapolis and the Montreal Neurological Institute. U.C.L.A. uses PET scanning more than the others. "We would not have operated on many children if it were not for PET scanning," said Dr. Warrick Peacock, a U.C.L.A. pediatric neurosurgeon who has removed brain tissue from 140 children. Dr. W. Donald Shields, a neurologist who heads U.C.L.A.'s pediatric epilepsy program, called PET a critically important tool that is revolutionizing the diagnosis of epilepsy in children. Epileptic seizures arise when large amounts of cells in the brain's cortex produce electrical storms that spread and damage neighboring tissue. They occur only in the cortex, where higher functions like thinking, vision, language and planning take place. Like Jacob Stark, some children have generalized seizures, Dr. Shields said. "The whole brain seems to be sick" even though "the tissue looks normal on M.R.I. and CAT scans," he said. "Ninety-five percent of the kids become mentally retarded or die." There are 2,000 to 2,500 new cases each year. Children with these devastating infantile spasms were not considered surgical candidates until PET, Dr. Shields said. Unlike other imaging techniques, the radioactive tracers show which areas of the brain's cortex are metabolically unhealthy. A large region at the back of Jacob Stark's left brain was abnormal, Dr. Shields said. It was removed so that the corresponding region on the right side of his brain could take over. The seizures disappeared. When an entire cortical hemisphere is built wrong, Dr. Shields said, "it is appropriate to take it out." When the healthy side is not bombarded by abnormal electrical activity from the sick side, he said, it has a chance to develop normally. The earlier it is removed, the better. But if both sides of the brain are abnormal, he added, surgery cannot help. | Radical Brain Surgery, The Earlier the Better, Offers Epileptics Hope |
558325_4 | and it was defeated. Even without that, more blacks and women have been appointed to state boards, commissions and government departments under Mr. Clinton than under any of his predecessors. And as Mr. Clinton's campaign likes to point out, Mr. Bush's record on this issues has long been a subject of criticism. As an unsuccessful Senate candidate from Texas in 1964, Mr. Bush campaigned against the Civil Rights Act of that year, saying it was "bad legislation in that it transcends the Constitution." Not That Simple As Mr. Bush pointed out, Mr. Clinton raised taxes "that hurt poor and working families the most." At the Governor's urging, Arkansas's Legislature raised the sales tax and extended it to some items, like used cars, that are most often purchased by people with low incomes. But Mr. Clinton did that only after the Legislature refused to raise the state income tax, the least regressive state tax. Under Arkansas's Constitution, the income tax can be raised only if three-quarters of the Legislature approves -- a nearly impossible political burden. As a result, the income tax has been raised only once since 1928. But even with the other tax increases during Mr. Clinton's time in office, 41 states impose higher tax burdens on their citizens. Since 1979, as Mr. Bush said, the cumulative test scores of Arkansas students have fallen from 20th to 25th among the 28 states that administer one popular college-admission exam. But that may be because far more students, taking advantage of new state aid programs, are applying to college now -- meaning that the pool of test-takers no longer includes just the cream of each year's senior class. At the same time, at Mr. Clinton's urging, the state's schools have increased expenditures, broadened curriculums, set new academic standards, required comptency tests for teachers and slowed the drop-out rate. Over all, state officials note, Arkansas now devotes a larger percentage of its budget to education than all but two other states -- a striking increase over the last decade. Mr. Clinton's aides argue that the real effects of this increased commitment to education will not be felt until the generation of students that entered the schools in the mid- to late-1980's begins to graduate. "We've laid a foundation," Bill Bowen, Mr. Clinton's chief of staff, said last spring. Now, he said, "It's a matter of waiting for things to come to fruition." | THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: Truth's Several Sides; Bush's Attack on the Clinton Record Is Accurate, at Least as Far as It Goes |
553890_1 | calls were then conveyed by satellite to Cuba. A.T.& T. said that it was told on Monday by Cuba that only calls routed through Italy would be accepted, effectively reducing by two-thirds or more the number of calls received in Cuba; Italy is negotiating with Cuba to provide satellite links for telephones. Telex communications and other printed communications over electronic lines were banned entirely. The decision reduces Cuba's telephone links worldwide, but the greatest effect is on the United States, which is by far the largest source of calls to Cuba. On a typical day, close to 1,400 calls are completed from the United States to Cuba, but more than 164,000 calls are tried. With the new restrictions, it is likely that fewer than 500 calls daily will get through. Cuba has for more than 30 years been subject to economic sanctions by the United States, and Cuban officials may be using the hurricane situation as a bargaining chip to help ease the sanctions, the State Department and Cubans opposed to the Castro Government say. Some $75 million in disputed telephone fees may also be at issue. The money, known as settlement fees, has accumulated since 1966; it ordinarily would have been paid to Cuba as payment for calls that used the Cuban telephone network. In addition, only collect calls can be made by Cubans to residents of the United States, adding to the fees. Because of the embargo, the $75 million is in American banks instead of Cuba. The Cuban Government is insisting on release of the money before a new undersea cable, installed by A.T.& T. three years ago as a replacement for a damaged cable, can start operating, A.T.& T. said. "We haven't received official word on why Cuba is restricting calls," a State Department spokesman said yesterday. He added, "But we believe it is a way of getting Cubans in Miami agitated over the lack of communications and pressuring the American Government to help restore communications on Cuban terms." Jose Cardenas, a spokesman for the Cuban-American National Foundation in Miami, which supports strengthening the embargo against Cuba, said the telephone cutback is "a typically cynical move by Castro." The Cuban interest section in Washington, Cuba's only formal diplomatic presence in the United States, had no immediate comment yesterday. Alicia M. Torres, executive director of the Cuban American Committee Research and Education Fund in Washington, which supports | Cuba Sharply Reduces Its Overseas Phone Links |
553892_4 | making the system much less expensive, although it will not disclose the likely price. Donald L. Knight, director of devlopment for original-equipment tires at Goodyear, said, "Our tire has been designed to maintain itself to the wheel at zero-inflation pressure." He said the wide design of the tire and the modified design of a mold ring -- used in the process of "curing" it when it was made -- prevented the tire from coming off the wheel when it was flat. Indeed, because of the construction of the tire and the stiffness of the sidewalls, it is never truly "flat," even when depleted of air. Vague About the Details "It's a tighter, more secure fit," Mr. Knight said, declining to be more specific. "The exact details on how that happens is the part that's patented," he said. Goodyear has been noticeably vague in outlining the details of its new tire, saying that it will be "available on an upcoming American performance car," but not providing a hint about which one. The company also declined to say when the tire would be available, although many analysts predicted it would be on some 1994-model sports cars. Mr. Knight of Goodyear said that the technology could fit on lightweight vehicles that have tires with shorter sidewalls, as opposed to large family and luxury cars. "The smaller the distance between the wheel and the road, the more apt this type of tire could be used," he said. "The taller it is, the more difficult the design would be." Unlikely to Spread Fast Harry W. Millis, an independent tire-company analyst in Cleveland, says the Goodyear tire has a good chance of being accepted by car makers because it requires no change in the design of the wheel. "If the technology is not too expensive, the Goodyear tire has a good chance," Mr. Millis said. But, he added, it is unlikely that the Goodyear run-flat tire "will move out of the sports car area any time soon." Although he expects wider applications eventually, "the car makers don't move very quickly." He added, "I expect it will be five to 10 years before it finds wide usage." Mr. Millis considers the prospects for the Bridgestone to be less bright. "Obviously, a $5,000 set of tires and wheels are not going to find a major market," he said. "It may be more difficult than they expect." BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY | No Pressure? No Problem. New Tires Run Flat. |
555160_0 | World Economies | |
555084_1 | majority of voters would also say no, although more recent surveys have shown a slim majority in favor of the treaty, which commits the European Community to adopt common foreign and security policies and to create a single regional currency by 1999. The referendum is crucial because the treaty, which was negotiated in the Dutch city of Maastricht last December, can only enter into force after all 12 community nations ratify it. Already rebuffed by voters in Denmark in June, it will have to be abandoned -- or, at best, renegotiated -- if France also rejects it. Grass-Roots Resistance While President Francois Mitterrand and the leaders of France's two main opposition parties are calling for ratification and have been cheered by the latest swing in their favor, the outcome remains uncertain because of the sudden backlash against the treaty evident in France's grass roots. The Communist Party and the extreme rightist National Front as well as dissidents from all major parties are backing the "no" campaign, whose unexpected strength lies in the strange mixture of fears and resentments awakened by "Europe" among millions of ordinary French. "I don't see why I should say yes," said Marie-Jose Bonnome, a 40-year-old widow who was sitting at a table outside the Bar Moderne here. "France is already too open. We already have too much unemployment. We're going to get the unemployed from everywhere else. What will happen to our children?" At a nearby table, where four young men sipped beer, two said they would abstain and two announced they would oppose the treaty. Bernard, who only volunteered his first name, remarked, "Once in my lifetime they have asked my opinion, so once in my lifetime I can say no." Worried that President Mitterrand's unpopularity could hurt the treaty, its supporters have urged the electorate to distinguish between France's internal problems and the opportunities offered by a united Europe. Yet the reasons given for opposing the treaty go far beyond anger at the Government. In fact many people plan to vote no on Sept. 20 for reasons that are related to Europe in general but have little to do with the treaty. Little Effort to Explain For this, the Government must take responsibility. Counting on France's presumed pro-European sentiments, it made little or no effort until two weeks ago to explain the enormously complex treaty and why its ratification would be good for France. | European Treaty Evokes Fear and Suspicion at Grass-Roots Level in France |
555140_0 | A forest once grew here in the bend of the Delaware River. Now a multibillion-dollar plant where the Du Pont Company manufactures 750 different chemicals sprawls under the span of the Delaware Memorial Bridge. After 75 years of manufacturing toxic materials like tetraethyl lead, an anti-knock gasoline additive, at the Chambers Works, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is trying to cleanse some of the contaminants from this now-barren land. Dr. Scott Cunningham, a Du Pont researcher, has an idea for reclaiming it with plants. But Dr. Cunningham does not envision establishing another forest here. In order to remove substantial concentrations of lead from the ground, he is planting ragweed. Dr. Cunningham is one of a handful of researchers around the world who are trying to use plants to clean contaminated soil. They are attempting to plant crops that will absorb metals, then harvest the plants and, it is hoped, process them to recycle the metals that are reclaimed. The process, they say, offers cheaper, more environmentally sound possibilities for cleaning contaminated sites. Absorbing High Concentrations "No one has successfully remediated a site with plants yet," Dr. Cunningham said. "But it just makes sense." The researchers use varieties of plants, called "hyperaccumulators," that can build up in their cells higher concentrations of metal than exist in the soil where they are planted. They can be found thriving in areas that most plants, animals and humans would find uninhabitable. Dr. Cunningham, for instance, tested the levels of lead in plants growing around a basin that used to contain the swill washed from water used in the tetraethyl lead manufacturing plants at the Chambers Works. Two types had large quantities of lead in their upper shoots, hemp dogbane and common ragweed. Now Dr. Cunningham and his associates have planted a small plot in the defunct tetraethyl lead plant. Amid the exposed brick, pipes, railroad tracks and hard-packed gravel paths, the "garden" grows inside a fence marked with bright yellow tape. Although they are trying many varieties of plants, the researchers say the ragweed and hemp dogbane are accumulating the most lead. Samples of the ragweed after four months have shown a concentration of 8,000 parts per million lead, although the plot's soil has only 1,000 parts per million. Cleaning Superfund Site Another field project, the Woburn Market Garden Experiment at Rothamsted Experimental Station in Hartfordshire, England, has produced plants that | Scientists Using Plants to Clean Up Metals In Contaminated Soil |
555135_6 | he said. "This is something that they could and should do." Dr. Salonen said his team had been bleeding 14 Finnish men with high iron levels to determine the effects of such purging on their lipids and metabolism. The one-year study is due to be completed in December. The most crucial studies will be those that measure the effect of lowering iron on the development of heart attacks, Dr. Salonen said, adding that it would take about a decade to complete them. 'Challenge' to Develop Drug As a first step, iron could be lowered by bloodletting or drugs; the effect on formation and disappearance of plaque in coronary arteries could be measured by techniques like special X-rays known as angiograms or by ultrasonograms. Eventually, larger studies would be needed to measure how many lives would be saved by reducing iron levels. "Our data are a challenge for industry to develop a good, safe drug to remove iron," Dr. Salonen said. Dr. Salonen said he began the iron study because he was puzzled by the large disparity in heart attack rates between men and women, particularly in eastern Finland, where the 6 to 1 ratio is the widest in the world. But he said women were not included in the study because relatively few had heart attacks. As a result, it would have required a much larger number of participants to demonstrate an effect and he did not have enough money to carry out a larger study. Dr. Sullivan said iron was not included among 246 proposed risk factors for heart attacks when he published his theory in The Lancet in 1981 after The New England Journal of Medicine and The Journal of the American Medical Association rejected the manuscript. In other writings, he has said that it might turn out that people with high iron levels who donate blood might be benefiting themselves as well as performing a community service. Donating blood three times a year would be enough to reduce iron levels of a healthy man or a postmenopausal woman to those of a menstruating woman. The iron hypothesis also challenges the theory that says that the female hormone, estrogen, protects premenstrual women against heart attacks. "Even if iron is confirmed as a strong risk factor," Dr. Salonen said, "it will not negate the established risk factors such as cigarette smoking, high blood pressure and high LDL cholesterol levels." | HIGH LEVEL OF IRON TIED TO HEART RISK |
559849_2 | the Pure Food Campaign. Mrs. Child says genetic engineering is good. Rick Moonen, the chef at the Water Club in Manhattan, was the first to organize his fellow chefs against genetically engineered foods. He has joined forces with Jeremy Rifkin, an environmental advocate who has been fighting certain aspects of biotechnology for years. The campaign is demanding that the recent Federal regulations governing genetically engineered food be strengthened to require such foods to be tested for safety before marketing, then labeled as genetically engineered. Genetic engineering is the insertion of genes from one species -- animal or vegetable -- into another, permanently altering its genetic code. Even with testing and labeling, the chefs who have joined the campaign say they will not use genetically engineered food. The alliance of these chefs with Mr. Rifkin has caused consternation throughout the food industry and among some other chefs because of Mr. Rifkin's opposition to the production and consumption of beef in this country. The Grocery Manufacturers of America calls the Pure Food Campaign "nutritional neurotics." But Mr. Puck has a different perspective. When he tried to get clearance to market the pizzas he made famous at Spago in Los Angeles, the Federal Department of Agriculture told him he would have to call his product by a different name because it did not meet Government standards for pizza: it contained no tomatoes. After years of bureaucratic battles, Mr. Puck gave up: he added a little tomato. "If they want me to label my pizza and say it has to have tomato sauce to be called pizza," he said, "and if they want me to say what's in my pizza, then genetically engineered foods should be tested and labeled. We should know what's in fruits and vegetables." Larry Forgione, chef and owner of An American Place in New York, has more deep-seated reservations about bioengineered foods. "We've been working for years to re-establish a relationship among chefs, farmers and consumers," he said. "After 10 to 15 years, things are turning around. Now, they are going to genetically engineer food." But Robert del Grande, owner and chef of Cafe Annie in Houston, finds the Pure Food Campaign troubling. "Certain issues like genetic engineering are very broadly misconstrued by environmental terrorist groups," Mr. del Grande said. A reference to some of his fellow chefs? No, he replied, but he added: "Some people get involved because it's | Environmental Politics Is Making the Kitchen Hotter |
559847_2 | least three people with strong suicidal feelings who required immediate hospitalization. In addition, more than half the people screened, who, of course, were self-selected, were found to score positive for depression. Size of the Problem The magnitude of depressive illness in this country dwarfs many other major health problems that receive far more public and professional attention. Each year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, depression strikes 15 million Americans. At any one time, according to experts at the University of Michigan Medical Center, 6 percent to 10 percent of the population is clinically depressed, with women twice as likely as men to be suffering from this debilitating problem. The cost to society is staggering, but it is usually poorly measured and underappreciated. In 1986 the economic burden of depression was estimated by psychiatric and public health experts at Duke University to be $16.3 billion a year for major depression alone. Lesser degrees of depression are far more common and, as a result, even more costly. People who suffer from depression miss more days of work than those with heart disease. While they are at work, their productivity commonly suffers, and at home their family and other personal relationships often become severely strained. Depressed people are also more likely to seek medical care, frequently ending up on a medical merry-go-round, moving from one doctor to another in search of a cause for physical symptoms that are commonly the guise of depression. Disguises In its most classic forms, depression results in feelings of sadness, loneliness, apathy, worthlessness, guilt, pessimism or hopelessness. Normal drives are severely diminished, resulting in a loss of appetite and sex drive, sleep disturbances and emotional withdrawal. Memory may be impaired and mental functions and body movements may be slowed. But instead of telling doctors that they feel sad or hopeless, at least half of depressed patients complain of a physical problem: headache, constipation, chronic fatigue, weight loss, insomnia, backache or indigestion, prompting a battery of tests that reveal nothing about the real cause and may result in mistreatment. Some patients, unaware that they are depressed, instead admit to feeling extremely irritable, angry or hostile. Or they may complain of an overwhelming listlessness, apathy and a loss of interest in things they once enjoyed. As if depression in adults was not hard enough to detect, in children and adolescents the symptoms may be even more obscure. | Personal Health |
554515_1 | a suit against the General Electric Company and Hitachi Ltd. The suit accused the companies of infringing not only the basic patent on the use of magnetic resonance to detect cancer but also three more recent patents covering the design of his iron-core magnets. He is being represented by the Minneapolis law firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, which represented Honeywell Inc. in its successful suit against the Minolta Camera Company over patents on auto-focus cameras. In the last year, that case has yielded more than $200 million in back royalties to Honeywell from Minolta and other companies. It has also prompted Dr. Damadian to shake off his pessimism about patent suits. "The Minolta case had a big impact on us," he said. "It showed us that the courts are now aware that there is a hidden asset in America, which is the patent." Magnetic resonance imaging is based on analyzing the minute radio-frequency signals given off by hydrogen atoms in the body. An M.R.I. system employs a huge magnet, which surrounds a patient with a magnetic field in one direction. The machine then applies a burst of radio frequency energy at right angles, which causes the nuclei to line up in the opposite orientation to the magnetic field. After the radio pulse, the nuclei "flip" back and give off distinctive signals that can be plotted by a high-speed computer to form an image. The First Case Dr. Damadian's problem in the first lawsuit was that his original patent claim did not quite describe the way the systems actually evolved. The trial judge and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit concluded that the patent envisioned a machine able to spot cancer cells by identifying "standard" signals for such cells. What M.R.I. systems actually do is plot the various signals to make a picture of the body that physicians then interpret, similar to what they do with an X-ray. Prospects for the new lawsuit are difficult to gauge. General Electric has obtained nearly 250 patents in the field of M.R.I. technology, and will almost certainly put up a tough fight. But Dr. Damadian said that his lawyers had conducted a six-month review before deciding to take his case and that at least part of their fees would be contingent on winning. Officials at both G.E. and Hitachi refused to comment, saying they had not yet seen the suit. | Patents; New Lawsuit On Magnetic Resonance |
558624_3 | distraction with her calls for direct negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization and her readiness to accept an independent Palestinian state. Today, she declared that under international law the Golan Heights belonged to Syria. Some Israelis react almost reflexively to her as many American conservatives still do to Jane Fonda: mere mention of the name sends faces scrunching up in distaste. In the left-wing Meretz coalition that she leads, supporters view Mrs. Aloni as the victim of prejudice against a woman who speaks her mind. But even admirers wish sometimes that she would lower the verbal thermostat. A Good Word for the Greeks Few Israelis are more wary than the religious, who were probably not reassured by a recent magazine interview in which she complained that "man has already gone to the moon, while here we still tell our children the world was created in six days." In the endless war between religious and secular for Israel's Jewish soul, the Education Ministry is a crucial battlefield. For years, it was dominated by the National Religious Party, and was used to promote Orthodox beliefs and to create a network of state-run religious schools that commands 30 percent of the education budget even though it has only 19 percent of the students. Now, religious Jews want to make sure they do not lose what they built. But money aside, they wring their hands over what will happen to their children under a committed secularist who made a career of fighting what she regarded as state-sponsored religious coercion. The worriers are overwrought, Mrs. Aloni insists. Yes, she says, religious schools may get less money, but "if they're afraid that I'm going to upset Orthodox ways of thinking, they are making a mistake." "The ultra-Orthodox are afraid of the search for new ways to adopt tradition to modern life," she said. "There are those who feel we have to live with ways decided hundreds of years ago, including the status of women. Why haven't we the right to write new prayers, new literature?" "Why, when we teach about Job, should we not also study Aeschylus?" she said. "We can then see how universal pain is. You have to accept truth no matter who says it, and, instead of saying how unique we are as a people, to show how everyone, with his own uniqueness, deals with the basic problems of being a human being." | Jerusalem Journal; Write 100 Times: The Schools Need Shaking Up |
558560_0 | To the Editor: Your Sept. 4 Metro Section news article reporting that New York City will add the chemical calcium orthophosphate, a relative of baking soda, to the city's water supply to lower lead contamination in older buildings states that this is advantageous because water tainted with lead can pose an added risk for city dwellers, who are already exposed to high levels of lead from other sources, "like auto emissions." Reducing the levels of lead ingestion from any source is obviously advantageous, but auto emissions are no longer a significant source of lead pollution. The octane enhancer tetraethyl lead has been phased out of almost all gasoline sold in the United States as a result of regulations promulgated by the Federal Government. Refiners have been forced to reformulate gasoline using methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, and other nonlead compounds at considerable expense. Indeed, the virtual elimination of lead bromide emissions from auto exhaust has been a major victory for environmentalists in the United States. Other industrialized countries are just beginning to move in this direction. In this area of environmental policy at least, the United States can stand tall. RICHARD B. THOMAS Brooklyn, Sept. 6, 1992 | Auto Emissions Aren't Lead Pollution Source |
556808_0 | Serious flaws in family-planning programs in China and India make it unlikely that the world's two most populous nations will be able to stabilize growth until well into the next century, by which time they may have added more than 1.5 billion people to the world's population, according to findings published this week by the independent Population Crisis Committee. The problem is especially acute in India, the research group says. India, with a population of about 882 million that is growing 2.1 percent a year, is likely to overtake China as the most populous country by 2035, the committee says; India's population may reach 2 billion before leveling off. China, with about 1.165 billion people, is likely to stabilize at about 1.5 billion, the group says. The world's population is estimated at 5.4 billion. Burdens on the Environment The continued growth in India and China contributes to an intensifying crisis in ecological and human resources in large areas of Asia, where land is being rapidly degraded by overuse, water supplies are under strain and agriculture must struggle to stay ahead of soil and water depletion. Throughout Asia, there is no longer time to let economic development lead to smaller family size, as happened in industrial nations. Some Asian nations, led by South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia, have made significant reductions in population growth through effective family planning. "For people who are concerned about problems like global warming, ozone-layer depletion or world poverty, we just have to be vitally interested in the success or failure of the Chinese and Indian programs," said Sharon L. Camp, senior vice president of the Population Crisis Committee. Copies of the reports are available for $5 each, including postage, from the Population Crisis Committee, 1120 19th Street, Washington, D.C. 20036. India 'Most Critical' The studies of China and India conclude that the success of China's much-publicized population-control efforts have been "exaggerated," and that most couples have not one, but two or three children. The situation in India is more dire. "From a demographic perspective, India may be the world's most critical country," the Population Crisis Committee says. Nearly half the illiterate people in the world live in India, where a third of the people suffer from malnutrition. The studies -- "India's Family Planning Challenge: From Rhetoric to Action" and "China's Family Planning Program: Challenging the Myths" -- call for more international assistance to the two countries, | POPULATION POLICY IN ASIA IS FAULTED |
556852_0 | To the Editor: Re "Clean, Courageous Politics" (editorial, Aug. 28): The New York City Council vote on the city's solid-waste-management plan was neither clean nor courageous. Overwhelming and honest constituent opposition to incineration marked the process. Only political horse-trading and middle-of-the-night arm-twisting resulted in a plan out of line with the public's view. Many Council members were willing to have an incinerator in somebody else's backyard only when they believed there wouldn't be one in their own district -- hardly an example of courage. The plan undermines recycling. The Council failed to obtain a commitment that the Department of Sanitation would even meet the tonnage goals required by Local Law 19 of 1989 (a law the Mayor is trying to weaken in court). Yard waste, recycling of batteries and tires were also delayed by at least four to five years. The city's plan contains no commitment to citywide food and organic waste composting (two of the largest segments of the waste stream). Five years ago, the state solid-waste plan called for 50 percent recycling and reduction by 1997. The city's new plan doesn't even promise to meet this goal until 2000. And breaking promises on recycling is a chronic problem in this city. The plan is not a welcome development for a city that is in severe violation of Federal ozone-smog standards. The Brooklyn Navy Yard incinerator would emit as much nitrogen oxides (a precursor to ozone-smog) as 442,000 model-year 1994 cars traveling 25 miles every day. A July 10 editorial argued that incineration is necessary because the city may lose its option to send waste to out-of-city landfills. Landfills, you stated, "are filling up, and while a few others are opening, most are intended only for local use." The plan you now support relies on export as the sole means of disposing of millions of tons of incinerator ash. The real courage was shown by the 15 Council members who, resisting extreme pressure, saw the plan for what it is: a half-hearted recycling proposal and an open door to poisoned air. ARTHUR S. KELL Coordinator, N.Y.C. Toxics Project N.Y. Public Interest Research Group New York, Sept. 4, 1992 | Vote for Incinerator Let All New Yorkers Down |
556792_0 | It was not long ago that Margaret Thatcher, when she was British Prime Minister, was being dismissed by her European partners as an eccentric nationalist for her fierce attacks on the unelected bureaucrats who run the European Community's executive commission here. Yet suddenly her message has struck home in France. And as France prepares to vote on a treaty on European union in a referendum on Sunday, many French have been persuaded that the independent power exercised by those Eurocrats, as they are known, also poses a grave threat to French sovereignty. In fact, perhaps more than any other argument, opponents of the treaty have found voters responding indignantly to the notion that European technocracy will soon replace French democracy -- and they have been driving home the point that a "no" to the treaty is a "no" to a European superstate. Power-Crazed Meddlers? "We're opposed to a regional central bank," said Philippe Seguin, a leading French critic, referring to one of the treaty's main objectives, "because it will be run by appointed technocrats from a dozen nations and France will have no say over its own monetary policy." Yet Mr. Seguin and his colleagues have stirred even greater outrage by noting more trivial examples of the commission's interference -- its efforts to define the color of French sausages or the purity of German beer or the contents of British shrimp-flavored potato chips. "What next?" Mr. Seguin said. The power of the commission is not the only reason for unexpected French doubts about the treaty. For example, some voters plan to rebuff the treaty just to protest against President Francois Mitterrand's Government. Yet fear of the infamous "faceless" men of Brussels has now emerged as a crucial variable in the campaign. At the European Commission's headquarters here, the mood is understandably glum. Most Eurocrats see themselves as international civil servants working loyally for a united Europe. Instead they hear themselves described as power-crazed meddlers intent on taking over Europe. And with the outcome of the referendum too close to call, they may yet be blamed for a French "no." Fodder for Criticism "The word is out to keep our heads down until the referendum is over," a senior commission official said. "All potentially controversial decisions, particularly those involving France, are being postponed. We want to be noticed as little as possible." But aware that years of hard bargaining are in | French Vote Puts Eurocrats on Trial |
539912_0 | Chlorinated drinking water has been linked to small increases in the rates of rectal and bladder cancer in a new analysis by researchers at Harvard University and the Medical College of Wisconsin. The findings, reported today in The American Journal of Public Health, are drawn from a combination of 10 previous studies. Using statistical methods, the researchers found that the slightly higher rates of the two cancers seemed to correlate with the amount of byproducts produced by chlorinated water. Previous studies had offered contradictory findings, but many of them, taken by themselves, were not statistically significant. About three-fourths of the water supply in the United States, including that of New York City, is chlorinated. The degree varies widely, depending largely on the source of the water and the contaminants in it. Also, the studies the researchers analyzed were done in the 1970's, when much more chlorine was allowed than now. One Peril Is Greater The authors and other experts stressed that the new study should not lead to stopping chlorination. "The potential health risks of microbial contamination of drinking water greatly exceed the risks" of cancer, the authors said. But the new study is likely to push government and industry harder to find more effective alternatives for chlorination to disinfect water supplies, epidemiologists and experts in water safety said in interviews. Scientists are handicapped in evaluating the benefits and hazards of chlorination because they do not know how many cases of serious infection would occur without it. Although the study found the risk of cancer from chlorinated water to be small, the authors calculated that it accounted for 6,500 cases of rectal cancer and 4,200 cases of bladder cancer in the United States each year. Each year, 47,000 cases of bladder cancer and 44,000 cases of rectal cancer are diagnosed in the United States. Federal Standards Change The study team was headed by Dr. Robert D. Morris of the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. It comes at a time when previously-reported studies have suggested that existing American chlorination levels are too low to prevent many cases of gastro-intestinal illness. The 10 studies that Dr. Morris evaluated were carried out in the 1970's. Because Federal standards for the amounts of chlorinated byproducts allowed in water were tightened in 1979, the risk of the two cancers may now be lower than indicated in the figures found by Dr. Morris. Experts have | Tiny Cancer Risk in Chlorinated Water |
539820_0 | The Patent and Trademark Office will re-examine the patent process undertaken by Calgene Inc. and ICI Seeds, an American unit of Imperial Chemical Industries P.L.C.,in their pursuit of protection for a genetically altered tomato, ICI said. The news brought a drop in Calgene's stock, which fell $1.125, to $11.50, on a busy trading day. By the end of the day, more than 1.5 million shares had traded in the over-the-counter market. Calgene said it did not expect the patent dispute to interfere with its plan to begin selling a genetically engineered tomato by 1993. COMPANY NEWS | PATENT OFFICE TO REVIEW GENETICALLY ALTERED TOMATO |
539873_0 | Leaders of the two parties supported by most of Northern Ireland's Protestant majority met here today with officials of the Irish Republic. It was the first such meeting in more than 18 years. The purpose of the talks, which included British officials and other Northern Ireland leaders, was to try to breathe life into stagnating talks on setting up a regional government backed by both Protestants and the minority Roman Catholics in the province. At today's session, Irish officials reassured the Protestants that Dublin was willing to reconsider its constitutional claims to Northern Ireland and the 1985 British-Irish pact that gave Dublin a consultative role in running the province, Irish and British officials said. Openness but No Breakthrough "We reiterated a willingness to discuss everything," an Irish official said. The two Protestant parties, the Democratic Unionists and the Ulster Unionists, insist that Northern Ireland remain part of Britain. Irish and British officials said that there had been no breakthrough at the two-hour meeting, but that a better sense of the unionists' reaction would probably come on Wednesday, when Britain's Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Sir Patrick Mayhew, plans to meet with leaders of the four Northern Ireland parties participating. The Protestant politicians attending today included the Rev. Ian Paisley and Peter Robinson, the leader and deputy leader of the Democratic Unionists. James Molyneaux, the head of the Ulster Unionists, did not attend but sent a delegation that included two senior party officials, David Trimble and Reginald Empey. Also attending were leaders of the Alliance Party, a small moderate unionist party with both Protestant and Catholic supporters, and the Social Democratic and Labor Party, which has the backing of most of the province's Catholics and seeks unification with Ireland through peaceful means. No to the I.R.A. Sinn Fein, the political arm of the Irish Republican Army, has been excluded from the process because it refuses to renounce violence in its quest for political unification of the island. Besides Mr. Andrews, the Irish delegation included Justice Minister Padraig Flynn. Sir Patrick headed Britain's delegation. Besides the political talks on a regional government to replace direct rule from London, the process calls for a "Strand 2," involving talks between Northern Ireland and Ireland on their relationship, and a "Strand 3," on relations between Britain and Ireland. | Northern Ireland Protestants Hold First Talks With Dublin Since '75 |
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