Nation/World
University Daily Kansan / Thursday, April 4, 1991
7
World briefs
Tokyo
Activists want reactor closed
With Japan's nuclear power industry and protest movement both on the rise, five activists yesterday filed the nation's first petition calling the shutdown of an operating reactor.
The suit comes less than two months after Japan's worst nuclear plant accident, which was followed by breakdowns and safety disclosures at five other plants.
Japan obtains 26.6 percent of its electricity from nuclear power, and the government expects that figure to reach about 35 percent by 1995.
The lawsuit in Tokyo District Court demands that Tokyo Electric Power Co. stop its No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima Nuclear Site in the northern Japan to protect the safety of residents.
Bangkok. Thailand
MIA inquiry begins in Laos
U. S. and Laotian officials yesterday began investigating the失踪 of U.S. citizens missing from the war in Indochina who were last reported alive in Laos, the U.S. Embassy
An embassy representative, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the inquiry was prompted by an incident.
The current investigation centers on so-called discrepancy cases, in which U.S. officials said the Laotians should have information. The cases include airmen who were known to have survived crashes but were never heard from again.
As of March 5, the Pentagon listed 2,282 U.S. citizens as missing in action from the war, which ended in 1975 with communist victories in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. The United States also missed in Vietnam, 528 in Laos, 83 in Cambodia and aix in China's coastal waters.
U. S. officials said they had no evidence that any of the missing U.S. citizens were dead. The high court decided to have been killed, in some cases by civilians enraged by the aerial bombardment.
From The Associated Press
Salvadoran rebels part of talks Guerrillas will participate in U.N.-mediated negotiations
The Associated Press
SANTA MARTA, El Salvador — For the first time, rebel commanders have come down from the mountains under international protection to take part in U.N.-mediated peace talks.
"We are at a crucial moment that could end the war," guerrilla commander Raul Hercules said, speaking of the potentially decisive round of combat. "It was a tense time, we're scheduled to begin news, in Mexico."
"Conditions exist for negotiations, and the people can't stand more war," he said.
The presence of Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or FMLN, field commanders at the talks means that detailed negotiations on the mechanics of a cease-fire are on the agenda.
Hercules spoke to reporters late Tuesday after arriving at the isolated hamlet of Santa Marta, 56 miles northeast of the capital, San Salvador, in Cabanas province.
He and another commander, Jorge Mellez, who was picked up in Morazan province. He escaped to Cordoba, where he died.
representatives of the United Nations and the ambassadors of Venezuela, Colombia, Spain and Mexico.
Two other commanders taking part in the talks left the country earlier.
"We're going as FMLN military experts, but that doesn't mean we can't contribute to other aspects of the meeting." Hercules said.
Territorial control is a key issue in the cease-fire proposal now being negotiated. The proposal would confine the government and rebel armies to their respective zones of
"We aren't going to secede anything we contend with. He's not going to be without it." But neither is Johnny on his territory, control
Church, government, rebel and U.N. officials all have expressed optimism that the new talks could end a war that has claimed at least 75,000 lives.
"Both sides are eager to overcome road-
traffic and move on to Soto told The
Associated Press this week.
"I'm almost certain that this year will be the
year of peace." Col. Innocente Montano, vice minister of public security, said recently.
The negotiators face a deadline. Constitutional reforms would be a key part of any peace accord and two successive National Assemblies must approve any reforms.
The current assembly's three-year term expires at the end of May. If it does not act on reforms, the next two assemblies would have to and that could mean a three-year wait for real peace between the rebels and the U.S.-backed right-wing government.
The good showing by opposition parties in the March assembly elections — the first given legitimacy by the rebels — has given momentum to the peace effort.
Sources close to the talks said the new round could last weeks.
Meanwhile, some fighting continues. The Honduran government said Tuesday that an MILN attack on a Salvadran border post at El Poy, 60 miles north of San Salvador, left one Salvadron officer dead and forced nine others to flee into Honduras.
Soviet Union modifies exchange rate to combat black market conversions
The Associated Press
MOSCOW — The Soviet Union yielded to black-market pressure yesterday, offering more than four times more rubles for a dollar on a key exchange rate and pushing the Soviet economy over the threshold.
The change in the foreign exchange rate for tourists was a tacit admission that many travelers and Soviets are bypassing the state bank in search of better deals, depriving Kremlin coffers of badly needed hard currency.
Foreign currency exchange offices in Moscow were closed yesterday and employees besieged the Gosbank state bank for details of the sudden announcement. But one Western journalist reported changing money at the new rate in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital.
Soviets said the higher cost of buying dollars would prevent many from traveling outside their country. The exchange rate is up from 5.8 rubles a dollar to 27.6 rubles a dollar.
The new rate, which comes the same week as stiff price increases and a new 5-percent sales tax, is roughly the rate available on the black market rate. Whether the Black market rate would change
"Closed for technical reasons," said the sign at the Belgrade Hotel's currency exchange office. But on the wall was a chart giving new ruble rates for 20 different foreign currencies.
The ruble is all but worthless outside Soviet borders. Its artificially set rates and lack of convertibility have hampered Soviet efforts to join the world economy.
The artificial rates also have prompted a flourishing black market at nearly every tourist spot in the Soviet capital. Foreigners are asked to change money by some taxi drivers, who are often arrested. Arbat pedestrian mall and even inside a shop that sells Communist party posters.
The new "auction" or "market" exchange rate will change twice a week following currency auctions at the state bank beginning Tuesday, said Alexander Polyakov, a manager at the Vneshekombank, the government's foreign affairs bank.
This rate replaces the 18-month-old "tourist rate" of 5.8 rubles to the dollar available to tourists, foreigners living in the Soviet Union and Soviets needing money to travel abroad.
The starting rate of 27.6 rubles to the dollar was fixed following an initial auction Monday.
Oleg Mozhaiskov, head of the currency department at Gosbank, said, "We hope that it (the black market) will start to fade.
"I don't see why Soviets and foreigners should go to dubious dealers, taking risks and sometimes even risking their lives, rather than buy it or sell it for money or currency. The rate is not too bad, after all."
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