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University Daily Kansan
Nation/World
Thursday, Oct. 10, 1985
News Briefs
Actor Yule Brynner, 65, is dead of cancer
Municipal Court Judge Elva Soper permitted Ramirez, charged with 15 of the 20 "Night Stalker" slayings, to relieve deputy public defenders Allen Adashek and Henry Hall and retain criminal defense attorney Joseph Gallegos of Oxnard.
NEW YORK — Yul Brynner, who made a career playing the bald, autocratic monarch of Siam in "The King and I," including a 14.625 performances on stage, did more than a few spoken messages, said he was 68.
Josh Ellis, the spokesman, said Mr. Brynner had died of complications from cancer. With him when he died at 1 a.m. at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center was his wife, Kathy Lee and his four children.
LOS ANGELES — "Night Stalker" suspect Richard Ramirez fired his public defenders yesterday and hired a private defense attorney who once was convicted of attempted murder.
New lawers hired
UNITED NATIONS — Nonaligned countries yesterday asked the U.N. General Assembly to invite Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat to address the world body during this month's 40th anniversary commemorative session.
Gallegos was convicted by a Ventura County jury of attempted murder after Oxnard police arrested him in December 1976 on suspicion of firing a gun at a prostitute in a parked car. The trial judge later reduced Gallegos' conviction to assault with a deadly weapon and placed him on probation.
Arafat may give talk
They also asked that a similar invitation be extended to Sam Nujoma, president of the South West Africa Peoples' Organization.
The request was contained in a draft resolution sponsored by Iraq, Iraq, Kuwait, Nigeria, Senegal and Yemen.
From staff and wire reports.
May be available in 2 years AIDS drug to undergo test
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Government scientists are organizing a large-scale test on humans of an anti-viral drug that shows promise against the AIDS virus, a scientist said yesterday.
See related story p. 15.
Preliminary testing of the drug suramin in 10 patients indicates that side effects are not serious enough to outweigh its possible benefits, but more extensive testing is needed, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Fauci's agency and the National Cancer Institute are organizing a test which will include 50 acquired immune deficiency syndrome patients and 400 people with pre-AIDS symp-
tons, known as AIDS-related complex, to test the drug's effectiveness.
Fauci said the trial would begin in the spring if no more serious side effects that would warrant a halt to testing were noted. The test would be done only if they are good enough, the drug could be available to the public a year later.
However, scientists must be absolutely certain the drug is effective and will not seriously harm patients, said Dr. James Mason, acting assistant secretary for health.
"We could send out snake oil and nostrums, but that isn't what this nation wants," Mason said at a Health and Human Services Department briefing on potential AIDS treatments.
One problem with the drug is that, like other anti-viral agents being tested, it has only arrested reproduc
tion of the AIDS virus, HTLV-3; patients' conditions seem neither to improve nor worsen under treatment.
For that reason, scientists are also experimenting with ways to boost or restore patients' immune systems. The immune system is gradually destroyed in AIDS patients.
Three other antiviral drugs are also in early stages of human testing at several institutions: HPA-23, ribavirin and azidothymidine, previously known as Compound S. Suramina is also being tested at other medical centers.
Another big problem with developing treatments for the disease, which has struck more than 13,000 people, is that it is caused by a virus. Most viral diseases can be fought only by each patient's immune system, Mason said.
Committees approve rebel aid
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The CIA has been given the go-ahead by key congressional committees to funnel millions in military aid to rebels fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan, a congressional source confirmed yesterday.
The intelligence committees in both houses of Congress approved the aid — thought to be more than a previously reported $200 million — after several weeks of clandestine sessions. In approving the money, the committees, the source said, agreed to an administration request that the funds be dispensed by the CIA.
The aid is part of long-term efforts to provide stable financing for the covert program and ensure more reliable supplies for the Afghan rebels, who have been battling Soviet troops and the troops fielded by the Moscow-backed Kabul regime since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in late 1979.
Congress, in sharp contrast to its reluctance at times to provide covert military assistance to rebels fighting Nicaragua's Sandinista government, has shown a willingness to provide aid for the Afghan rebels.
The military aid is intended to bolster the rebels in the wake of Soviet offensives this summer, the source said. A "significant" portion of the aid can be used to purchase a sophisticated British-made anti-aircraft missile system, according to the source.
Anti-aircraft weaponry could be critical to the rebels because the Soviets rely heavily on their airpower, especially armored helicopter gunships and MiG jets.
The administration has declined to discuss the possible supply of military aid to the rebels through the CIA, but it is understood that military aid has been passed on to the rebels through CIA contacts and through the Pakistan military.
TMI unit generates power again
United Press International
HARISBURG, Pa. — The Unit No. 1 nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island began producing electricity yesterday for the first time in $6\frac{1}{2}$ years, supplying enough power for 50,000 homes, plant operator GPU Nuclear Corp. said.
"This is a proud day for the staff of TMI Unit 1, GPU Nuclear and the entire GPU system," said Phil Clark.
president and chief executive officer of GPU Nuclear.
"Unit 1 has returned to its vital role of producing lower-cost electricity for GPU's customers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey," Clark said. "We are meeting that obligation with a strong commitment to Unit 1's safe operation."
Ending the longest shutdown of a U. S. reactor, GPU Nuclear on Oct. 3 restartered Unit 1, in mothballs since its twin was wrecked March 28, 1979.
The 800-megawatt reactor at nearby TMI had been in operation for more than four years before the nearmelldown but was down for refueling at the time of the accident.
in the nation's worst commercial atomic-power accident.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on May 29 voted 4-1 to permit the restart of Unit 1, saying there was now "reasonable assurance" that GPU Nuclear could operate Unit 1 safely.
House panel OKs toxic cleanup plan
United Press International
WASHINGTON — A House Public Works and Transportation subcommittee yesterday approved a $10.1 billion Superfund expansion plan that includes a strict schedule for the disposal of new formula to finance the effort.
The proposal, approved on an unrecorded voice vote after an hour of discussion, would extend the Superfund program for five more years and direct the Environmental Protection Agency to speed up work at sites on the Superfund priority list.
Technically, Superfund expired Sept. 30, but essential work is continuing at toxic waste sites until a reauthorization law is in place.
The legislation drafted by the water resources subcommittee is an alternative to a proposal passed last summer by the Energy and Commerce Committee, which enlisted critics criticized as inadequate.
A separate $7.5 billion Superfund expansion plan already has been approved by the Senate. Once the House passes its version, the two branches must agree on a final plan to send to President Reagan for his signature.
Under the subcommittee's bill, the EPA would be required to expand its list of priority cleanup sites to at least 1,600 by Jan. 1, 1988. The list now includes 850 final and proposed sites.
It also would require preliminary site reviews to be completed within 24 months at all locations already on the list. Cleanups would begin on at least 150 sites a year starting Oct. 1, 1986, with work at all sites now on the list to be completed within five years.
The subcommittee proposed financing Superfund in part through a new tax on certain chemical imports. The tax would generate about $1.5 billion over five years.
The rest of the cleanup costs would be paid with $1.25 billion in general revenues and $7.25 billion to be raised through a variety of taxes on industry.
Other sections of the bill would require the EPA to return sites it considers "clean" to the list for more cleanup attention if significant amounts of hazardous materials were released from the sites.
Isabel nears Florida
United Press International
MIAMI — Tropical storm Isabel, claiming up to 509 victims in Puerto Rico, swirled its 65-mph winds toward north Florida yesterday — and forecasters predicted that it would be the sixth tropical twister to make landfall this season.
Neil Frank, director of the National Hurricane Center, said gale warnings would be required over porous of the Georgia and Florida coast.
Frank said that on its current path, the center of isabel should reach the northeast Florida coast sometime this morning.
The storm, which triggered mudslides that took as many as 500 lives Sunday and Monday in Puerto Rico while it was just a tropical
wave, was not expected to intensify before reaching land.
"There has been no significant change in strength, and highest winds are near 65 mph — mainly in the north and east of the center." Frank. said
Forecasters said it was difficult to predict where on the Florida coast Isabel would reach land, but the highest probabilities were between Fort Pierce and Jacksonville.
At 5 p.m. CDT yesterday, the center of Isabel was 225 miles southeast of Daytona Beach. The storm was moving in a generally westerly direction at 15 mph.
Forecasters warned that strong northeasterly winds between the storm and a large high pressure system to the north could produce coastal flooding and beach erosion along the northeast Florida coast.
UP IN THE AIR
ABOUT WHAT TO DO?
WE PROMISE NOT TO LEAVE YOU HANGING IN MID-AIR. IT WON'T COST A DIME TO WALK THROUGH THE DOOR TO SEE THE EXCITEMENT THAT THURSDAY NIGHTS HAVE BEEN GENERATING. YOU THURSDAY NIGHT PEOPLE SIMPLY LOOK MAHVELOUS.
$1.25 DRINKS ALL NIGHT LONG