University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, February 27, 1990
Nation/World
7
Bill would allow Gorbachev to declare state of emergency
The Associated Press
MOSCOW — Legislators from the Baltics and other independent-minded republics yesterday denounced a draft law that would allow the Kremlin to take over their governments by declaring a state of emergency.
Several deputies said the proposal was even more dangerous because a separate bill on strengthening the presidency would permit the nation's leader to declare a state of emergency on his own.
President Mikhail S. Gorbachev is seeking a law that would give him more power to push through his
program and to halt riots and ethnic strife that have been threatening his reforms.
The state of emergency bill is one of dozens proposed in the current two-month session. Legislators frequently have complained that they had no legal guarantee, only Gorbachev's word that peaceful demands for reform would not be crushed by Soviet tanks and troops.
The bill would allow the Presidium, chaired by Gorbachev, to suspend republic parliaments and city councils, cancel local government decisions and take over administration of an area in cases of mass disorder
that threaten life and health, or even those which simply could have heavy consequences.
Legislators complained the draft presented yesterday by the Council of Ministers was too broad.
The draft allows authorities during a state of emergency to hold trouble-makers without trial for up to 30 days, ban strikes and demonstrations, fire the directors of factories and institutions, limit the use of communications and movements of citizens, place people under house arrest, expel non-residents, and abolish unregistered organizations.
Economists see 'glory days'ahead
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The nation's top business economists think the economy will avoid a recession for the next three years and break the record expansion set in the "glory days" of the 1960s, according to a survey released yesterday.
But the poll by the National Association of Business Economists indicated that the economy is in a "danger zone" and is likely to grow only a percent this year before accelerating to a 2.5 percent rate next year.
The 65 professional forecasters
also saw little sign of significant progress during the next two years in achieving the zero inflation goal set by the Federal Reserve.
In fact, they predicted prices wi rose 4.2 percent both this year and next, down slightly from 1989's 4.6 percent rate.
Nevertheless, the survey showed that 60.6 percent think the economy will avoid a recession through 1983, while 40.5 percent a 62.1 percent finding late last year.
James F. Smith, the association's president and finance professor at the University of North Carolina,
said the biggest news in the survey was its confirmation of the "seachange" of optimism found among participants in December. A survey found 63 percent of the economists expecting a recession this year.
Still, nearly 46.2 percent in the latest survey said the risk of an economic downturn increased in the fourth quarter of 1899. Of the 39.4 percent who thought a recession had begun in their country, 18.1 percent believe it started in the last quarter or will begin sometime this year.
OPERATIONS NALTD: Responding to harsh criticism, the South African defense minister said yesterday that he had suspended all operations of a secret military unit accused of involvement in the killings of anti-aaparthid activists.
The Civil Cooperation Bureau would cease to function until a judicial committee appointed by President F. W. de Klerk complied with the agreement of the bureau's activities, said Defense Minister Marus Malan.
Nation/World briefs
Malan, speaking to Parliament in Cape Town, also said that Anton Lubowski, a prominent anti-apartheid politician in Namibia who was killed last year, was a paid intelligence agent for the South African Defense Force.
Malan told Parliament that Lubowski was a paid agent of the
South African military, and that "I am assured that he did good work."
Malan said this was evidence that the South African military would have no reason to act against Lubowski.
NORIEGA TRAILA: Koe co-defendant of Manuel Noriega is negotiating a plea bargain that could put him on the stand against his former boss, a defense attorney said yesterday.
"The discussions are making good progress," said Samuel Burstyn, attorney for former Panamanian arm Ll. Col. Luis del Cid.
Burstyn refused to reveal details, except to say the proposed sentence would be far less than the 40 years del Cld was offered when taken into custody on drug-traff
ficking charges. The deal had not yet been signed.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan refused to comment on the possibility of a plea bargain.
Noriega attorney Steven Kollin said the plea bargaining caught his defense team by surprise and refused immediate comment.
JACKSON WON'T RUN! Jesse L. Jackson announced yesterday that he will not run for mayor of the "dispatired" nation's capital but will be ruled out a third bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1998.
"I want to continue to serve but not as mayor," Jackson said. "At present I believe that I may best serve by continuing work at a national level to change the direction of this country."
Czechoslovakia rejoices at Red Armv exit
The Associated Press
FRENSTAT, Czechoslovakia — A brass band struck up the "International" yesterday as the Red Army began leaving Czechoslovakia 22 years after it arrived to crush a reform movement.
town of Frenstad, beginning a negotiated, three-stage pullout of the 73,500 Soviet military personnel, scheduled for completion next year.
Twenty-two Soviet T-62 tanks loaded on flatcars left the northern
Karel Micek of the Civic Forum said the presence of Soviet troops had meant "empty shelves in stores, polluted water, an occasional fight in the pub and a reminder that we are not a free country."
A second train, laden with 33 armored vehicles, left a few hours later from the Domasco and Bystrič motorcycle service at Libya in eastern Czechoslovakia.
It is the first time the Kremlin has removed its soldiers from the territory of a Warsaw Pact ally.
Poland and East Germany, the other Soviet allies in Europe that are hosts to Red Army troops.
Soviet soldiers remained in Czechoslovakia after a Warsaw Pact invasion crushed the reformist "Prague Spring" of 1968. They entered Hungary in 1956 to put down an anti-Stalinist uprising.
Hungary is near agreement with the Soviets on a similar accord, but no deals have been struck with
Before the withdrawal began, the Soviet Union had 1,220 tanks, 2,505 armored vehicles, 77 combat aircraft and 146 helicopters in Czechoslovakia, in addition to the 73,500 soldiers.
FASHION GAL
Brady Optical 10% off
all major brand sunglasses
925 Iowa·Hillcrest Shopping Mall
RINGS sized, repaired, cleaned
YOU MAY APPLY AS A .A. ANION.
Need more information?
Call this Trial Free number - 4-800-773-6104
We are an Oversee Opportunity Agency