Thursday, August 24, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
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Section A·Page 9
Nation/World
or comments, contact Lori O'Toole at 864-4810 or e-mail editor@kansan.com
Russians mourn deaths of sailors
The Associated Press
MOSCOW — As the nation grieved for 118 sailors killed in a submarine disaster, Russia's defense minister and navy chief submitted letters of resignation, which were promptly rejected yesterday by President Vladimir Putin.
Putin said no changes would be made until there was a full understanding of what happened and whether there were guilty parties.
Putin and the government have come under heavy criticism for their slow, contradictory reaction to the Aug. 12 disaster and the botched rescue operation. Many observers expected Putin to respond by firing top brass.
The loss of the Kursk, which suffered a devastating explosion during naval exercises in the Barents Sea, has left
many Russians in shock, wondering if their crisis-ridden nation will ever return to stability.
Putin returned to Moscow early yesterday after a long and emotional meeting with sailors' relatives, who complained about the botched Russian rescue operation and the generally dismal conditions in the Russian navy.
"The grief is immeasurable, there are not enough words of comfort," Putin told them. "My heart hurts, but yours hurt even more." Russians assailed Putin for taking so long after the Aug. 12 accident to show concern for the crew and criticized the government for initially resisting international help.
The Russian navy is negotiating with the Norwegians for help lifting the submarine — which weighs about 25,000 tons in its flooded state — and retriev-
"Until the bodies of our husbands are retrieved, until we see them with our own eyes, we will not mourn."
Oksana Dudko
wife of deputy commander, Sergei
ing the bodies. Such an operation could take months and be extremely expensive.
There also is concern about the ship's two nuclear reactors, though the Norwegians recorded normal radiation levels around the Kursk and double-checked its readings with Nordic and Russian sensors.
It remained unclear what caused the explosion that crumpled the ship. Government and military officials, stung by public anger, suggested Cold War enemies were to blame.
Norwegian officials said there was no sign of a collision. A likely scenario was an internal malfunction and explosion in the Kursk's torpedo compartment.
The Russian high command said the most likely reason was a collision with a Western submarine, probably U.S. or British, that survived and escaped. The U.S. and British navies reject the accusations, and no concrete evidence has been provided.
Putin was reluctant to assign immediate blame
"We could only punish someone from the fleet command if guilt is specifically proven," he told the relatives.
New rules set for cell research grants
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Clinton today touted new federal guidelines allowing scientists to conduct federally funded research on cells taken from human embryos, saying they offer "potentially staggering benefits."
The guidelines for the research are vehemently opposed by anti-abortion groups. They set out the criteria the National Institutes of Health will use to consider applications for federal grants to study embryonic stem cells, said an advocate who was briefed on the standards and the schedule for issuing them.
At an impromptu news conference, Clinton acknowledged the controversy surrounding this new scientific initiative.
Experts believe the cells could be invaluable in treating many serious diseases, such as diabetes and Alzheimer's. But some oppose the research on grounds that to get the cells, scientists must destroy human embryos.
But he said: "I think that if the public will look at first of all the potentially
staggering benefits of this research, everything from birth defects to Parkinson's, certain kinds of cancer, diabetes, spinal cord injuries ... it's a potential change for the future."
Clinton also said it would deal only
"with those embryos that are collected in-in vitro fertilization."
"I think we cannot walk away from the potential to save lives and improve lives," he said, "to help people get up and walk ... as long as we meet rigorous ethical standards, and I am convinced and (Health and Human Services) Secretary (Donna)
Shalala is convinced that has been done."
Clinton:
announced new research guidelines
The research involves what are called pluripotent stem cells, the foundation cells that give rise to all of the other cells, tissues and organs in the body.
Scientists believe it may be possible to
use these cells to grow new organs to replace ailing hearts, treat brain disorders, to restore severed nerves in spinal injuries, and perhaps even cure diabetes by growing new insulin-producing cells.
Under the guidelines, federal research may be conducted only on cells taken from frozen embryos from fertility clinics — already destined to be discarded. Also, federal funds could not be used to destroy the embryos to obtain the cells
— privately funded researchers will have to pass them on to federally supported scientists. Opponents criticize this separation as meaningless.
They outlaw payments to embryo donors and keep donors from specifying who should receive their embryo's stem cells. These provisions aim to discourage a market for stem cells and block a woman from creating embryos just to provide treatment for a sick relative.
Patient support groups applauded the
Patient support groups applauded the new rules.
Daniel Perry, chairman of the Patients' Coalition for Urgent Research, told the Associated Press that the federal rules were the safest way to have to conduct research, "rather than being
ON THE NET:
National Institutes of Health: http://www.nih.gov.
driven solely by commercial interests outside of public purview."
Opponents have threatened to stop the effort.
But scientists say the retrieval is conducted when an embryo is only a week old and is still a microscopic ball of identical cells.
Under the new rules, applications for research would have to pass a committee of scientists and ethicists before being forwarded to an NIH scientific review committee, said the advocate.
That review committee is scheduled to have its next meeting in January, so the first awards would not be awarded until late in 2001.
Perry said that there was bipartisan support for pursuing the benefits of the research, while addressing the legal, ethical and moral issues.
"It would be bad public policy to wall off by congressional action any avenue that science might find cure the patient's needs," Perry said.
New report calls for U.N. changes defense ministry
The Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations will face more peacekeeping failures in the 21st century without a major overhaul, said an international panel that called yesterday for the equivalent of a U.N. ministry of defense to bolster the world body.
The panel of experts was appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to look at U.N. peacekeeping operations after highly critical reports on the U.N. performance in the 1994 Rwanda genocide and the 1995 fall of the U.N.-protected enclave of Srebrenica, which led to the massacre of thousands of Bosnian Muslims.
The 10-member panel did not endorse a United Nations army, but it did encourage the 188 U.N. member states to form several brigade-size forces of 5,000 troops each that could deploy in 30 to 90 days, depending on the complexity of the U.N. peacekeeping operation.
The United Nations must be able to address any conflict situation — from prevention to actual enforcement — and at the moment it doesn't have the headquarters staff, the troops, money or the information to properly analyze and plan strategically, said former Algerian Foreign Minister Lakhdar Brahimi, who chaired the panel.
The 58-page report called for a substantially larger, modernized, high-tech U.N. peacekeeping department in New York staffed by well-trained military professionals who use information technology and plan operations with a U.N. team including political, human rights, development and election experts. It did not give a price tag.
At the moment, the panel said, just 32 officers at U.N. headquarters were responsible for 27,000 U.N. troops from 20 countries scattered across the globe in 14 peacekeeping operations — a staff that no national government would tolerate. Similarly, it said, more than 8,600 civilian police were deployed in U.N. missions with a headquarters staff of only nine civilian police.
The report said the need for changes in U.N. peace operations has become even more urgent following the hostage-taking of 500 U.N. peacekeepers by rebels in Sierra Leone in May, and the prospect of expanded U.N. peacekeeping operations in Congo.
Annan asked the panel to make recommendations to improve prospects for peace in the 21st century, which he wants world leaders to consider at the Millennium Summit at U.N. headquarters in New York from Sept. 6 to 8.
COME JOIN US!
T.G.I.F.
The Graduate Student Inter-Faith Fellowship
The Graduate Student Inter-Faith Fellowship An opportunity to meet other students and serve your community! Consider the possibilities:
Habitat for Humanity work day
Link kitchen
Jubilee Café
CROP walk
Toys for Tots
- Jewish Christian Dialogue
- CROP walk
Faith-Base communities
Faith-Base communities
Cookout at Lone Star Lake
Wetlands Excursion
Share a movie and dinner
Contribute your own idea!
Come Join Us! Sunday, August 27th from 5-7pm at the Java Dive! Wonderful appetizers provided by Milton's
Interested? Contact: Jessica Roberts or Sharon Sears @ ECM 843-4933
Sponsored by: Ecumenical Christian Ministries (Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, Quaker, Church of the Bretheren), Hillel Foundation (Jewish), Canturbury House (Episcopal), Lutheran Campus Ministry (E.L.C.A.), United Methodist Campus Ministry, University Christian Fellowship (Southern Baptist Ministry), Baha'i.
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