Section A · Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Friday, October 15, 1999
Nation/World
Hurricane Irene threatens Cuba, Florida
Miami, Havana bracing for heavy rain, gusty winds
The Associated Press
Hurricane Irene moved across the Caribbean yesterday, sweeping bands of heavy rain across Cuba and into Florida as it drifted with top sustained winds of nearly 75 mph.
Hurricane warnings were posted for much of Cuba, and a hurricane watch was issued for parts of the Florida Keys. At 8 a.m. EDT, Irene was centered about 125 miles southwest of the Cuban capital of Havana. It was barely moving
but was expected to resume a slow northward track later in the day.
In Cuba, the hurricane warning covered the Pinar del Río, Havana, Matanzas and the Isle of Youth. It was expected to bring a foot of rain to many areas.
In Florida, a hurricane watch was issued for the Lower and Middle Keys, including the Dry Tortugas islands, extending up to Craig Key. Heavy rain already was falling in the Miami area, causing a rash of traffic accidents during this morning's commute.
Irene could make landfall within 72 hours just north of Tampa, said John Guiney, hurricane forecaster at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
"But we don't want people focusing on that track because this storm will have
Jason Williams/KANSAN
effects felt in a wide area," he said. "We still need all the folks in Florida to still
be vigilant here, because this system will affect a great portion of the peninsula.
Winds across south Florida were expected to rise, and Florida's southern coastal areas could experience winds of more than 39 mph, with higher gusts, which were expected to increase through the night.
A full evacuation of the Keys is not anticipated, said Billy Wagner, Monroe County Emergency Management director, but officials Wednesday began asking visitors in the lower Keys to leave just in case.
Several public storm shelters were to open in the Keys for people with special needs, those living in mobile homes and others at special risk.
A coastal flood watch was in effect for Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
No end in sight for JonBenet case as grand jury receives dismissal
The Associated Press
Boulder, Colo.— It is an ending few seem happy with.
The JonBenet Ramsey grand jury was dismissed after 13 months of work Wednesday, and prosecutors said there wasn't enough evidence to charge anyone in the 6-year-old's strangulation nearly three years ago.
The girl's family responded by asking that the investigation go on until the killer is caught. Gov. Bill Owens said he might appoint a special prosecutor.
But the puzzling case that drew worldwide attention as much for its fingerpointing and charges of bungling as for JonBenet's death may be finished.
"I don't know where to go from here," said Mimi Wesson, a law professor at the University of Colorado. "Barring some very important and convincing new evidence, it is unlikely anyone will be charged with this crime."
Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter, who has said that John and Patsy Ramsey were under suspicion in their daughter's death, announced Wednesday that prosecutors did not have sufficient evidence to warrant the filing of charges against anyone who had been investigated with the crime.
He reminded the grand jurors that state law forbids them from discussing their work. Owens, meanwhile, promised to review the case and decide whether to appoint a special prosecutor.
"While I am not presently in a position to comment on the work of this grand jury, I do know one fact — a little girl was brutally murdered in Boulder, Colorado, and the killer or killers remain free today," he says.
Adams County District Attorney Bob Grant, one of four area prosecutors who advised Hunter, told the NBC Today show yesterday that the governor could appoint the state attorney general's office to the case. But, he said, experienced prosecutors have reviewed all of the evidence and have concluded that there is insufficient evidence for a conviction.
The death in this university town northwest of Denver led to a case of extraordinary interest. It created friction between police and prosecutors, led to accusations that the district attorney's office was too timid and invited scrutiny of the child beauty pageant circuit.
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON—President Clinton demanded yesterday that congressional Republicans work with him to shape a federal budget both can accept.
"We can work for a season of promise, not a winter of politics." Clinton said during a White House news conference.
He complained that with only a week to go before the expiration of the stopgap spending resolution that is financing much of the government, Congress was not close to finishing its work.
Clinton said he wanted a responsible budget that would save Social Security, strengthen Medicare, pay down the national debt and provide adequate funds for education, crime control, the environment and his other priorities.
He said he would proceed according to the terms of the treaty despite the Senate action. "I have no intention of
Clinton began with a statement denouncing Senate Republicans for voting down the nuclear test ban treaty on Wednesday, accusing them of partisan politics and a
new isolationism.
doing anything other than sticking with the obligations imposed by the treaty on the United States," he said.
The questioning turned repeatedly to the nuclear test ban rejection and its impact abroad.
Clinton: Urges Republicans to work with him
"The Chinese should have
should every assurance that as long as this administration is here, we support the ban on nuclear tests," Clinton said. "Now, if we ever get a president that's against the test ban treaty, which we may get — I mean there are plenty of people out there who say they are against it — then I think you might as well get ready for it."
General says he is ruler of Pakistan; parliament to attempt to meet today
The Associated Press
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—The head of Pakistan's military declared himself the country's leader earlier today, in defiance of calls for the return of democratic rule after the army toppled the civilian government.
Fighter planes could be heard scrambling overhead within minutes after the state-run news agency, announced that Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf had called a state of emergency and dissolved parliament.
Since his forces ousted the elected prime minister Tuesday night and reportedly jailed his top supporters, Musharraf has been holed up meeting with leading politicians, including President Rafq Tarar.
Irfan Siddiqi, a spokesman for the president, said yesterday that the general wanted to restore civilian rule.
The troops cleared out staffers and the few legislators who had shown up, then locked the gates. One worker said the troops told them to leave without explanation.
A day that the general wanted to restore civilian rule. However, soldiers then moved into parliament, which had reopened only hours before and was scheduled to meet today for the first time since the military takeover.
The military ruled Pakistan for 25 years of its 52 year existence, but it handed over power to a democratically elected government in 1985.
World governments — worried at the prospect of military rule in a nuclear-armed nation — have been urging Musharraf to reinstitute democracy, even if he does not bring back ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
In Washington, senior officials said President Clinton was sending his ambassador in Islamabad to meet Musharraf, urge a quick return to civilian rule and hear his intentions.
In Pakistan, legislators from Sharif's party planned to try to enter parliament today to hold the scheduled session in defiance of the army closure, said acting House Speaker Chaudhry Jaffer Iqbal.
Streets in Pakistan's main cities were quiet, with few soldiers seen. Consumers went about normal shopping without hoarding — another sign that Pakistanis largely accepted the coup.
Sharif, who was elected two years ago by a wide majority, quickly antagonized the public in repeated confrontations with other institutions of government.
Since taking office, he forced the resignations of the nation's president, the head of its supreme court and several top military commanders.
The coup was prompted when Sharif dismissed Musharraf — with whom he had been in constant conflict — while the general was on a visit to Sri Lanka and ordered that the plane bringing him home not be allowed to land in Pakistan.
Army troops swung into action, seizing the control tower, then moving swiftly to surround Sharif's residence and key public buildings.
BEDS • DESKS • CHEST OF DRAWERS • BOOK CASES unclaimed freight & damaged merchandise 936 Mass.
This spring break join other KU students and do something Alternative at one of 14 different sites around the country.
Alternative Spring Break
If you have any questions about ASB come to the information session on Monday, October 18 at 7:00 PM in the Jayhawk Room of
the Kansas Union.
Alternative Spring Break 400 Kansas Union (785) 864-4317 www.ukans.edu/~asb
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