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Show U.S. DIGEST GM TO BEGIN OFFERING ELECTRIC CARS FOR SALE THIS FALL: General Motors Corp. said yesterday it will begin selling electric cars to the public in California and Arizona this fall, becoming the first of the Big Three automakers to get into the mass market. "Well, there it is. It's been a long road to getting it here," GM Chairman John Smith Jr. said as the automaker rolled out its nonpolluting electric car a sporty called the EV-at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The EV-- will cost in the range, plus an undisclosed amount to buy or lease a battery charger. Its top speed is 80 mph. It has a range of about 90 miles between charges, but that can be reduced by such factors as cold weather and heavy traffic. In normal use, it's expected to travel between 60 and 70 miles. two-seat- 1 1 mid-$30,00- 0 MEMO TRIGGERS NEW CONTROVERSY FOR WHITE HOUSE: A newly produced White House memo written two years ago drew congressional accusations of a cover-uyesterday and prompted the Whitewater prosecutor to criticize the Clinton administration. The memo identifies Hillary Rodham Clinton as the key figure in the mass firings at the White House travel office an assertion she has denied. Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr expressed concern over the White House's failure to immediately turn over the draft memo which the White House says it discovered in the files of presidential aide Patsy Thomasson last Friday. For nearly two years, Whitewater prosecutors have been investigating the suicide of deputy White House counsel Vincent Foster, whose name is mentioned repeatedly in the p memo. RESCUERS SEARCHING FOR LAST AMERICAN AIRLINES CRASH VICTIM: Rescuers were still boy from New Jersey, searching for the body of a the only passenger unaccounted for after an American Airlines jet crash two weeks ago, the airline said yesterday. Colombian officials had said they recovered all the bodies from the wreckage of the Boeing 757 that smashed into a mountain ridge on Dec. 20, killing 160 people. Four people and a dog survived. But American Airlines confirmed that Michael Claros, of Hillsborough, N.J., remained unaccounted for. PRINCESS DIANA RETURNS HOME TO MEET WITH LAWYERS: After a Caribbean vacation from her family troubles, Princess Diana returned yesterday to London to face a meeting with her lawyers and rumors that she had made up her mind to divorce Prince Charles. Her attorney, however, told reporters not to expect an announcement after the meeting on Friday. Dismissing newspaper reports, lawyer Anthony Julius said the princess had not yet decided to divorce her husband of 14 years. Queen Elizabeth II last month urged the couple to divorce, and Prince Charles agreed. British newspapers claimed this week that Diana had told her advisers she too would agree because she had realized that her marriage was over. reluctantly U.S., RUSSIAN, UKRAINIAN DEFENSE CHIEFS TALK ARMS REDUCTION: The defense chiefs of the United States, Russia and Ukraine mapped plans yesterday for further arms reductions that will start with destruction of handshake, Defense a missile silo. Sharing a three-waSecretary William Perry, Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev and Ukrainian Defense Minister Valery Shmarov greeted each other, then sat down for talks touching on Bosnia and other issues as well as arms control. y GOP leaders look to end shutdown Rank- g WASHINGTON (AP) and-fil- e House Republicans forced g Speaker Newt Gingrich and other party leaders to piece together a c new plan last night for ending the y record partial federal p shutdown after rejecting an initial GOP proposal for returning Alejandro Gutierrez, 3, holds up a sign during a protest of furloughed Housing and Urban Development employees furloughed civil servants to their in Los Angeles Wednesday. Gutierrezs parents are both jobs. HUD employees. In a day that saw Republican leaders retreat under pressure to "We did not want the federal employees held end the shutdown, Gingrich, and other Gingrich told reporters. hostage," leaders unveiled a plan to return all 280,000 The new measure would finance a handful of idled federal workers to their jobs. They would programs in the nine Cabinet departments and have been fully paid, as would the 480,000 dozens of other agencies whose spending bills have been working without workers who have not been completed. These include funds salary since the partial shutdown began Dec. to administer unemployment benefits, for 16. foster care and adoption help, to keep national But the proposal, which was to restore the parks and museums open, for many veterans workers' jobs through March 15, failed to gain benefits, and for Meals on Wheels, which closed-door sufficient support at a meeting of provides dinners for needy senior citizens. House GOP lawmakers. The bulk of programs in the affected When the meeting ended, House leaders would not be fmanced, however, departments patched together a new plan that would keep which could leave many workers with little to the civil servants at work only through Jan. 26, do. said House Rules Committee Chairman Gerald House leaders predicted passage of the bill He said the House would Solomon, "I expect to receive overwhelming today. vote on the measure today. support on the floor tomorrow," Solomon said. 20-da- release 16 civilians SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovi- (AP) Bowing to pressure from NATO and the United States, Bosnian Serbs freed 16 civilians yesterday who had entered territory after NATO forces had declared roads in Bosnia Serb-hel- d open to all. Six of the 16 Bosnian civilians released by Bosnian Serbs smile while inside a French NATO armored personnel carrier Sarajevo suburb of just after being released in the Lukavica yesterday. Three men had bruises and said they were beaten when they were detained. Others were robbed. The rest had no complaints about how they were treated by the Serbs but said their experiences proved it was still too dangerous to travel unescorted through territory. "I won't dare to take the route through Ilidza again," said Adil Spahic, a truck driver who had bruises on his face. Yet another obstacle to free movement around Bosnia arose yesterday when Bosnian Croats began taxing trucks carrying humanitarian aid. The measure prompted the U.N. relief agency to suspend aid convoys to central Bosnia. For the international forces enforcing peace, the 16 detentions exposed an embarrassing rift between military and civilian officials Serb-hel- d Serb-hel- d over who is responsible for the safety of civilians. The Dayton peace agreement guarantees freedom of movement in Bosnia, but military officials have insisted that local police and international civil authorities must oversee it. However, only 100 of the planned 2,000-stron- g U.N. civilian police force have even arrived yet in Bosnia, and the official who oversees them, Carl Bildt, said his unarmed police could not be expected to fulfill that mission. Looking tired and anxious, 13 of the freed civilians gathered yesterday in a restaurant in suburb of Lukavica. Serb waiters the Serb-hel- d served them beer and plum brandy as they waited for peacekeepers to escort them home. |