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Friday, April 15, 1994
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THE NEWS in brief
JERUSALEM
Peace talk opponents scorn Arafat's reaction, warn of more attacks
A day after claiming responsibility for a bombing that killed five people, a Palestinian group warned yesterday it was planning three more attacks and told Arabs to avoid "crowded Israeli areas."
The leaflet was circulated by the Muslim fundamentalist group Hamas, the leading opponent to the PLO-Israeli peace talks. It also scorned PLO chairman Yasser Arafat for condemning Wednesday's bombing and a similar one April 6.
Arafat phoned Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on Wednesday and rejected violent acts by Palestinian opponents of the peace talks. On Tuesday, he sent a letter to President Clinton, in which he said he strongly rejected attacks on Israeli civilians.
Rabin had said earlier that Arafat's failure to condemn terrorism had called into question his sincerity in the negotiations and was fueling Israeli opposition to the PLO-Israel accord, which provides for an Israeli withdrawal and Palestinian autonomy in Gaza and the West Bank town of Jericho.
Rabin, however, made clear he would continue the negotiations. Otherwise, "there will be an increase in the number of organizations that will be involved in terrorism, in violence and terror," he said.
Violence and disagreement over security details have delayed the withdrawal, which was supposed to have been completed by Wednesday.
Wednesday's bus bombing killed five people in the coastal town of Hadera. Seven people were killed in the April 6 bus bombing in the northern town of Afula.
The leaflets distributed yesterday said the Hadera bombing was the "second in a series of five attacks" planned by Hamas' military wing.
The group also blasted Arafat for denouncing the attacks. "Has appeasing America and Israel become more important to you than pleasing your own people and telling the word of truth?" the leaflet asked.
WASHINGTON
Midnight tonight is the deadline for federal income tax returns and the Internal Revenue Service advised those sweating out the last few hours to stay calm.
Timer runs out for taxpayers
As of a week before the deadline, the IRS had received 68 million returns. It expected another 35 million this week plus 5 million extension requests.
Many post offices are keeping late hours tonight to accommodate procrastinators, and some IRS offices are staying open for taxpayers who need to pick up forms at the last minute or ask questions.
By calling the IRS' Tele-Tax number, 1-800-829-4477, tax payers can listen to recorded information on 140 topics. You can check on the status of a refund with the same number, but you need the first Social Security number listed on your return and the exact dollar amount of the refund.
In its public pronouncements, the IRS emphasizes the importance of timely filing, but private tax experts stress the ease of getting an automatic extension. Taxpayers can get a four-month breather — until Aug. 15 — by filing Form 4868.
The penalty for not filing either a return or Form 4868 is steep — 5 percent a month of the amount owed.
However, if you file for an extension you'll be charged
only 7 percent interest on any past-due amount owed, so long as your tax payments and withholding add up to 90 percent or more of your annual tax liability.
If you've paid less than 90 percent, you will be charged 13 percent interest on the balance. The same rate applies if you file a return but don't pay the full balance due.
If you can't pay, ask the IRS for an installment plan by attaching Form 9465 to the front of your return. The IRS will let you know within 30 days if the plan is accepted and charge 13 percent interest and penalty.
However, most people don't owe taxes; they get refunds. And through last week, the IRS had processed 48 million checks averaging $1,025.
WASHINGTON
House works on crime bill
The House responded to demands for tough anti-crime legislation by authorizing the death penalty yesterday for nearly 70 additional crimes.
At the White House, President Clinton focused on other parts of the bill as he addressed a ceremony honoring police officers. The bill, he told the officers, would give them "the tools you need to do your jobs."
Working on a $15 billion crime bill, the House rejected by a 314-111 vote an amendment that would have substituted life without parole for the death penalty. Among new crimes that could result in execution: drive-by shootings, a killing committed while stealing a car and activities of bigtime drug dealers, even if they don't result in death.
"This is not a partisan issue or a sectional issue or a racial issue or an income issue," Clinton said. "If anything should truly make us a United States of America, it should be the passionate desire to restore real freedom our streets."
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jack Brooks, D-Texas, led the battle against the amendment to replace the bill's death penalty provisions with life in prison without parole.
"Plain common sense tells us that the death penalty is the only way to send an unequivocal message that some conduct simply will not be borne solely by innocent victims of heinous crimes without the highest price to be paid." Brooks said.
Rep. Michael Kopetski, D-Ore., who proposed the amendment with the support of the congressional Black and Hispanic caucuses, said, "In my view, life without any hope of release constitutes death by incarceration, a stiff penalty by any standard."
The House also rejected an amendment to eliminate the death penalty for murders committed during carjackings, drive-by shootings and federal drug and gun crimes, and another to eliminate the death penalty for drug kingpins even when no death occurred.
DETROIT
Scholarships wrongly awarded
Then came the bad news: "It was a regrettable mistake," said Fred Beautit, a dean at the university.
Wayne State University had great news for 192 applicants to its College of Engineering. They were getting full four-year scholarships.
A list of people eligible for the scholarship got confused with a list of eligible applicants to the college, said Robert Wartner, university representative on Wednesday.
"We've contacted everyone who got the letter," Beaufit said. "Most people are very understanding."
High school senior Jeffrey Bisdorf got one of the letters. He was all set to pay for a better car with his two part-time jobs when he found out the truth.
Without the scholarship, "I will have to work my butt off," he said.
It costs about $3,000 a year to attend Wayne State. Bisdorf still plans to study robotics engineering there.
Compiled from The Associated Press.
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