Nation/World
University Daily Kansan / Thursday, October 5, 1989
7
East Germans scramble West
The Associated Press
PRAGUE, Czechoslovakia — East Germans jammed Western embassies, swam rivers and lined railroad tracks in at least four Soviet bocs nationdays in a desperate bid to catch what could be the last freedom trains to the West.
The flood of would-be East German emigres in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria and East Germany came as the beleaguered government in East Berlin said it would allow one more exodus of disillusioned citizens.
The agreement covered an estimated 11,000 weary refugees who had converged on the West German Embassy in Prague, but there were reports that thousands of others throughout the East bloc were hoping
to take part.
In Prague, the first of 15 trains began carrying East Germans to the West late yesterday. Cheering and waving, whistling diversify, ecstatic refugees hurled their now-worthless East German money from the windows.
Two East Germans who boarded the first train said that they had arrived in Prague after illegally crossing the heavily guarded East German-Czechoslovakian border.
A crowd of Czechs applauded as the first group left the embassy area to board buses to the train station. Helmoted riot police arrived and pushed the onlookers back, stifling the cheers.
They said that they were part of a group of six people who managed to
sneak across but were spotted by Czechoslovakian guards who opened fire. In the confusion, the two escaped. The other four have not been heard from since.
"We knew it was our last chance," one East German refugee said about fleeing to Prague. "We were right, now the border is closed."
East Germany, hoping to end the embarrassing exodus of its young, skilled citizens before the Communist nation celebrates its 40th anniversary this weekend, on Tuesday closed its border with ally Czechoslovakia to keep its people home.
Because Czechoslovakia was the only nation where East Germans could travel without receiving special permission, thousands had streamed here to seek asylum.
Budget bill balloons with benefits
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — It began as a simple little bill to reduce the budget deficit by $5 3 billion.
But as Tuesday night faded into yesterday morning, the bill ballooned into a multibillion-dollar package of bonuses for a parade of special interests.
It was tax time at the Senate Finance Committee and there were a lot of winners: lower-income parents, some of the nation's wealthiest retirees, oil producers, owners of tuxedo rental companies, timber growers, banana farmers, rural hospitals, first-time homebuyers, the self-employed and parents who adopt handicapped children.
Another winner was the worker who wants to use Individual Retirement Accounts to shelter income from the tax collector. In the biggest fight of the day, liberalized IRAs,
favored by most Democrats, won out against a cut in capital-gains taxes, which Republicans preferred.
That issue will be fought another day on the floor of the Senate, perhaps as early as tomorrow.
When the deficit-reduction bill and all its attached amendments is debated by the Senate, Republicans will try to strike the IRA provision and substitute a capital-gains cut for individuals and corporations. They failed to do that by a 10-10 tie vote in committee.
The GOP plan provides that the longer an individual holds a piece of property, stock or other investment, less the profit can be taxed when sold.
That plan is patterned after President Bush's proposal but is considerably different from the one that the committee is endorsement, adopted last week.
gains and IRAs is decided — and the final bill could contain parts of both plans — most of the direct tax savings would go to people with incomes greater than $50,000 a year.
While those issues will command the attention of the Senate, many other parts of the big deficit-reduction bill will not even be mentioned in public debate.
However the fight for capital
New assistance to rural hospitals, many of which are financially stressed because federal Medicare reimbursements favor urban hospitals.
Here are some of the many provisions that were tacked onto the bill by the committee:
> A liberalized package of tax-related aid to lower-income families with children, including a new credit for health insurance and supplements for families with children younger than 4 years old.
FLAG BILL DEBATED: The Senate yesterday moved toward approval of a statute to ban desecration of the U.S. flag, after a debate pitting patriotic rhetoric against warnings that the bill would encroach on freedom of speech.
"Why should we protect the flag? The U.S. people revere the flag as a symbol of the constitutional freedom we enjoy as Americans," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Uthan, before the vote.
"Patriotism is not the issue," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass. "Free speech is."
The bill is a response to the uprora that followed a decision by the Supreme Court that overrode Texas flag-burning ban last June.
Lawmakers also acknowledged that the bill represented a move to head off a proposed constitutional amendment against flag-burning, scheduled to come before the Senate in mid-October.
KC RANK HIGH: Dallas, Atlanta and Kansas City, Mo., are the best metropolitan areas in the United States for businesses, according to rankings in a Fortune magazine survey released Tuesday.
A number of senators, mainly Democrats, say amending the Constitution is not the proper way to deal with the issue, but many other lawmakers say it is the only way to get around the court decision. Some supporters of the bill hope their stance will help insulate them against campaign-trail criticism next year.
The business biweekly said that it ranked the top 10 of the nation's largest metro areas based on such factors as labor force, cost of doing business, economic base, infrastructure and quality of life.
Kansas City scored for its fountains, museums, Frank Lloyd Wright屋 and midtown Country Club Plaza shopping area, as
well as good center city housing and an ample supply of technical and professional labor.
World Briefs
The survey results appear in the Oct. 23 issue of the magazine, which will reach newstands next week.
The ratings were based on the magazine's opinions and a statistical profile compiled by the corporate location consultants Moran, Stahl & Boyer, Fortune said. It noted that chief executives big business compiled by business real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield.
MEXICO REQUESTS ACCESS:
Mexico President Carlos Salinas
de Gortari told a joint meeting of
Congress yesterday that his nation
intended "to eradicate drug trafficking
at its very roots."
But Salinas, who is on a state visit to the United States, warned that "at the world level, we are losing. He said that we was unaccomplished and would require cooperation between governments to turn the tide.
Salinas described this as an "inequitable paradox" and said that Mexico must have "greater and more secure access to the world's greatest market, the United States" to obtain the economic growth needed to improve the lot of its people.
The Mexican president also used the speech to renew his appeal for greater Mexican access to U.S. markets, saying that while Mexico has eliminated most non-tarrif barriers to U.S. products, "we continue confronting them in the United States."
EDUCATION SUMMIT Gov. Mike Hayden's office yesterday announces plans for a statewide education summit, similar to the
Specifically, he said Mexico wanted greater access to U.S. textile and steel markets.
national summit Hayden attended last week in Charlottesville, Va.
The governor is convening the two-day meeting next month to focus statewide attention on education issues.
"The major responsibility of addressing a multitude of educational issues lies at the state and local level," Hayden said in a release. "This Kansas education summit will lay the groundwork for our state to become more aggressive in identifying the various options available to strengthen our education system."
The conference, called "Changes, Choices and Challenges in Education," will be Nov. 1-2 at the Airport Inflight Hutchinson.
"We have asked Kansans concerned with education, including leaders from the business, agricultural and education community, to participate in the summit," Hayden said. "They all will play a key role in helping us meet our educational challenges."
SEARCH FOR SURVIVORS: More than 100 Coast Guard personnel were joined by park rangers yesterday in the search for eight people missing after a fishing boat struck a gas pipeline and exploded in the Gulf of Mexico near Sabine Pass. Texas.
Three people were killed and three others injured in the accident, which happened just before dark Tuesday. The 20-square-mile search was hampered by the suspected presence of hazardous chemicals.
"If they were presumed dead, we wouldn't be searching," Coast Guard Lt. Scott LaRochelle said. "The probability is high but there is still a possibility. There's always a hope."
Mike Benson, spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington, said the agency was sending a team to investigate.
KU IN LONDON
STUDY HUMANILES THIS SPRING
PRESENTS STYLE ANSWER
The program includes many cultural and social activities, including plays, day excursion and membership in the University of London Union. An on-site director will be present for the duration of the program.
An INFORMATIONAL MEETING with London program director, Professor John Lehman of Emporia State, is scheduled for: Thursday, October 5, 3:00, Pine Room of the Kansas Union Professor Lehman will show slides of London and discuss the program with interested students and faculty. Applications will be distributed to qualified students.
Courses offered for 15 hours of upper
Courses offered for 15 hours or up level KU resident credit are: British Life and Culture Theatre Appreciation History of England British Art History Comparative Politics
Seniors, juniors, and second-semester sophomores with a cumulative G.P.A. of 2.75 may apply. Financial aid is available to qualified participants. The application deadline is October 16.
More information contact the University of Kansas Office of Study Abroad 203 Lippincott Hall
For more information, contact the University of Kansas Office of Study Abroad, 203 Lippincott Hall.
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