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Show t A4 THE DAILY HERALD FRIDAY. JANUARY 1, 1999 Euro seen boosting unity as well as economy GLOBAL BRIEFING Bv Bomb factory discovered SAN FRANCISCO (AP) A bomb factory was discovered Thursday inside a Pacific (las & Fleet rie warehouse, complete with manuals, "ready-to-gexplosives" and raw materials like those used in the Oklahoma City bombing. No immediate arrests were made, and investigators would not comment on what the bomb maker intended to do with the explosives. The operation was discovered after a PG&K employee discovered a pool of water in the basement and followed the trail upstairs to 250 pounds of ammonium nitrate thawing inside a storage locker. o The Associated Press BRUSSELS. Belgium Europe's leaders proclaimed a new era Thursday as 1 nations merged currencies to create the euro, a shared money they say will boost business, underpin unity and strengthen their role in world affairs. Finance ministers from the euro nations popped champagne corks shaped in the euro's 'e" symbol Thursday, setting off a frantic weekend for financial workers who are adapting computer systems and convert stocks, bonds and bank accounts into euros. At the stroke of midnight on New Year's Kve in Brussels, after years of preparation, the euro becomes the common currency of Germany. France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, 1 the next few years. The new currency is worth 1.95583 German marks, 6.55957 French francs, 1936.27 Italian lire, 166.386 Spanish pesetas. When markets open after the long holiday weekend, the euro is expected to start trading at about $1.1665, 133 Japanese yen and 70 British pence. Although euro notes and coins won't be issued to replace Irish pounds, Austrian escudos, Portuguese schillings and the rest until 2002, the new currency will immediately come into use for transactions ranging from government bond issues to credit card and check purchases. Euro figures wfll'also appear alongside national currencies on pay checks, phone bills and bank statements. Belgium, Austria, Portugal, Finland, Ireland and Luxembourg. The event was hailed as a historic turning point, creating a powerful new force in the world economy and dreams of fulfilling the union among nations whose divisions twice this century dragged the planet into its bloodiest wars. "If the postwar era ended nine years ago with the fall of the Berlin Wall, then our future begins on Jan. 1, 1999," German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder wrote in the Handelsblatt business daily. Britain is staying out for the moment, but the Labor government post-wa- r non-cas- h hopes to convince voters to join as soon as next decade. Denmark and Greece are also hoping to join within From Thursday, francs, marks and the rest will no longer be traded in foreign exchange markets. Equities and bonds will be quoted in euros. Bank transfers and business deals will increasingly be in the new money. Participating nations say all that will give a boost to business by creating a seamless market of 292 million citizens where companies can operate without exchange costs or currency jitters. Representing 20 percent of world economic output and 18 percent of will be a world trade, the powerful player in the world economy. For the first time in decades, the U.S. dollar will have a rival as the currency of choice for world trade and government reserves. euro-zon- e Dead beat collections work WASHINGTON (A I') Government efforts to force deadbeat parents to pay their delinquent child support appears to be working. Figures released Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services show a significant increase In-- in collection of overdue money. ' i. . J jr r&msLJL MFIJ The total number of delinquent child support payments that the government collected rose seven percent this year to a record $ billion, an increase of HO percent over the past six years. The number is a compilation of both federal and state efforts nationwide. Federal seizures of income tax refunds contributed greatly to the increase. ,v By LARRY MARGASAK The Associated Press - 1.-- 't '4 - i x WASHINGTON Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said Thursday he expects Democratic colleagues to support an early vote that could abbreviate President Clinton's impeachment trial and open the door to censure. The proposal, which would require a majority to continue the trial after its first few days, was floated by Majority Leader Trent Lott this 7 ?' if1 hymjf '14 two-third- Arthritis painkiller OK'd WASHINGTON (AP) The gov- ernment approved the first in a new type of painkiller for millions of arthritis sufferers Thursday, but cautioned that its stomach-safe benefits may have been long-awaite- d over-hype- Celebrex is the first in a new class of painkillers called "cox-- inhibitors" that promise to cause fewer side effects than many of today's pain relievers. Wall Street analysts have trumpeted the drug as potentially the next blockbuster seller. 1 2 stomach-plaguin- 2 killed g in Michigan pileup About GRAYLING, Mich. (AP) 50 cars crashed in a pileup Thursday after blowing snow shrouded the highway so quickly "it was like somebody pulled a curtain down." Two people were killed and at least 39 injured. The accident happened around noon on Interstate 75, about 180 miles northwest of Detroit, in heavy New Year's holiday traffic. "There was whiteout conditions at that time. It was like somebody pulled a curtain down, you went from clear conditions to whiteout conditions just that quick," said Dennis Long, Crawford County. Poll: Clintons most admired WASHINGTON (AP) Despite scandal and impeachment. President Clinton is the nation's most admired man and Hillary Rodham Clinton is the most admired woman in the Gallup Poll's annual survey. Clinton was selected by 14 percent of those questioned, well ahead of the Rev. Bill Graham, who. named by 6 percent, made the list for the 34th consecutive year. Behind Clinton and Graham were Pope John Paul II, Colin Powell, former President Carter, President Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Michael Jordan and computer businessman Bill Gates. Families morn hostage loss SAN'A, Yemen (AP) Margaret Whitehouse was one of four tourists who died Tuesday when Yemeni troops tried to rescue 16 Westerners 12 Britons, two Americans and two held hostage by Australians Islamic militants. Two other hostages were wounded. Her husband and nine other captives who survived the ordeal unscathed collected their belongings and in some cases those Thursday in the hotel of dead loved ones lobby. Democratic support for test vote likely JASSIM MOHAMMED The Associated Press Breaking the fast: Iraqis buy food to prepare for their Iftar meal, the first meal after fasting, at Shorja market in Baghdad, Iraq on Thursday. Ramadan is the holy month of fasting when Muslims worldwide abstain from food and water from dawn to sunset and break their fast with the Iftar meal. Families struggling despite sanctions By LOUIS MF.IXLER The Asociatcd Press Two weeks BAGHDAD, Iraq remain before her next rations, and Ceceel George is struggling to find a way to feed the nine hungry mouths in her house. Her flour has run out and. in four days, so will her rice. Food that Iraq has bought under a U.N. program has eased the hardship of eight years of trade sanctions imposed after Baghdad's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. But Iraqis like the George family say it does not meet their basic needs. Iraq has not committed itself to renewing the program, which provides flour, rice, lentils, soap and other basics. The current phase of the program runs out in and Iraq has argued that the subsistence-leve- l arrangement only delays the lifting of sanctions. But residents say any end to the U.N. mid-Ma- program would send ftx)d prices soaring and further squeeze families. "We would suffer more," said George's daughter Jenan, a clerk in a government ministry. 'There would be less cooking oil, less macaroni and less soap." The family cut back on luxuries like tomato juice and chocolate years ago. The importance to Iraq of the program was highlighted earlier this month, when U.S. and British warplanes and missiles pounded the country. Despite the bombardment, Iraq never stopped pumping the oil that is sold to buy food and medicine for the program. "It seems that no matter what happens ... the oil is still going and going strongly," said George Somerwill, spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian program in Baghdad. Diplomats say it is unlikely Iraq would end the program without an easing of the sanctions. The U.S. and Britain began the airstrikes after U.N. weapons inspectors said Baghdad had repeatedly blocked their work. U.N. resolutions say the sanctions cannot be lifted until the inspectors certify that Baghdad is free of weapons of mass destruction. The airstrikes destroyed a warehouse filled with 2,600 tons of rice in Iraq officials vow to continue fight By The Associated Press Tikrit, President Saddam Hussein's hometown, but Somerwill says there has been no noticeable change in the program's functioning. The United Nations says Iraq cooperates with its observers, who check to be sure the government is not tampering with the food imports. "Food distribution is extremely smooth," Somerwill said. On the 15th of each month, the Georges pick up their rations from a government-appointedistribution agent in their neighborhood of Baghdad Jedida. The family pays five cents for each member's ration. "All of the items are not enough," BAGHDAD, Iraq Iraq hinted Thursday of more clashes with the United States and Britain, with the deputy prime minister saying there would be no letup in the country's "battle against aggression." The comments by Tariq Aziz came a day after the latest clash between U.S. warplanes and Iraqi " zones over Iraq. units in the "The battle against the aggression and aggressors has not stopped. It will continue," Aziz said in a frontpage commentary in the newspaper, which is published by the ruling Baath Party. He did not specifically mention the . "no-fly- d Ceceel George said. The government began its own program of subsidized food in 1990 in response to the sanctions. But the Iraqi rations fell short and rates of child malnutrition and curable disease began to climb as sanctions land to poverty. reduced this In December 1996, the U.N. program began supplementing the gov- ernment rations, arresting much of, the deterioration in health care and making life easier for the middle class. However, a quarter of Iraqi' children younger than 5 still are malnourished, Somerwill said.. Urban water remains tainted in many areas and medical supplies in central and southern Iraq cannot be delivered because of a shortage of ' trucks, he added. The latest phase of the U.N. program allows Iraq to sell $5.2 billion in oil to buy food, medicine, and humanitarian goods. A third of that money goes to pay for U.N. programs in Iraq and to compensate victims of the invasion of Kuwait. , once-ric- h "no-fly- " zones. Aziz also criticized s week. Designed to avoid a complete trial and move to censure if 34 or more senators don't want to proceed, the idea drew a vehement protest from House Republicans who. want a full airing of their impeachment case against Clinton. While Daschle, Lott and other senators made rounds of calls to one another, Chief Justice William Rehnquist traveled a block from the Supreme Court to the Capitol to get acquainted with the Senate chamber. Rehnquist will preside at the second presidential impeachment trial in the nation's history. Surrounded by security personnel who held up public tours for about an hour, Rehnquist toured the chamber and saw the seat he will use at the front of the ornate room. "It's strictly a meeting on mechanics, a tour," said James W. Ziglar, the Senate sergeant-at-arms- , who guided the chief justice through the area. The tour included an anteroom that Rehnquist can use during breaks in the televised trial. At the White House, the president's legal advisers were weighing whether to stipulate to the authenticity of five volumes of publicly released evidence that Kenneth Starr turned over to Congress in his impeachment referral, sources said. Clinton's lawyers might accept a deal that limits the trial evidence to those volumes. They wouldn't dispute the authenticity of the evidence, only the conclusions drawn from them by Starr and the House impeachment inquiry, according to several sources familiar with the discussions inside the decision by the White House. the Arab League to postponed a meeting. Its foreign ministers had been scheduled to meet this week on the December airstrikes by the United States and Britain against Iraq. But the session was put off untiLJan. 24, after the Muslim fasting" month of Ramadan, at the request of Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia. " "Aziz" accused Arab League Secretary-Genera- l Esmat .of yielding to pressure from Saudi Arabia, terming it "outraAbdel-Megui- d The sources, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, stressed no final decision has been made and said much depends on what the new Senate chooses to do after it is sworn in next week. Daschle, in an interview with The Associated Press, said he couldn't predict whether the test vote concept would survive with majority Republicans. But "most Democrats are supportive of a process like that," he said. The plan has infuriated the team of House prosecutors, who could foresee secretary-gen- of the Senate truncating eral lacks legitimacy ... it also lacks their presentation of evidence. ifairness," Aziz added. House Committee Iraq had hoped for Arab League Judiciary backing for its demand to lift U.N. Chairman Henry Hyde wrote Lott on economic sanctions imposed after Wednesday, urging him not to "sacrifice Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The substance and duty for speed" nor sanctions cannot be lifted until U.N. "unwisely the first presi- arms inspectors declare Iraq free of dential impeachment trial since the case against Andrew Johnson in 1868. weapons of mass destruction. geous." "The decision of the one-thir- d h short-circuit- " ' fiPOOft |