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Show 1Il4} -- -- -· - -= - THE NATION -- -·-··--· ,, ~ ' '" '"· THI UNIVIRSITY JOORNAL • SOUTHIRN UTAll UNIVERSITY• WEDNESDAY~ OCTOBER 16, 1996 n U.S. DIGEST Dole blasted for Whitewater pardon issue WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Iran-Contra prosecutor Lawrence Walsh accused Bob Dole of "hypocrisy" yesterday in trying to use the pardon issue against President Clinton in the Whitewater affair. Releasing two chapters of his forthcoming book, Walsh said Dole successfully "urged pardons for crimes of constitutional dimension" in the Iran-Contra scandal in 1992. President Bush pardoned former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger less than two weeks before he was to go on trial for allegedly lying about his knowledge of the Reagan White House's secret arms sales to Iran. "Senator Dole' s demand that President Clinton forgo future pardons connected with Whitewater gives the voters a remarkable view of Dole's hypocrisy," Walsh said in a threepage statement released by his publisher. While the pardon issue is being raised with Clinton regarding business transactions that occurred before he became president, "Dole, himseU, had urged pardons for crimes of constitutional dimension committed in office by a Reagan cabinet officer," Walsh said. "Dole's profession of public concern about what President Clinton might do sharply contrasts with his action during the LAWYERS. NARROW QUEST FOR 12 PERFECT JURORS: Lawyers seeking 12 perfect jurors for the O.J. Simpson civil trial asked prospects yeste rday for their views on race relations, domestic violence and the justice system. Simpson was in court for the first time in two weeks for the final phase of juror examination, called general questioning. It is intended to unearth any _......,.__~ biases which might have slipped by during O.f. Simpson the first two sessions. Prospective jurors were - - -- - - s eated in the jury box in groups of 12 for individual questions. The initial panel was racially mixed: four blacks, six whites and two of other ethnic backgrounds. Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole delivers a policy speech on ethics and th e presidency at a campaign stop in San Diego. ADM PLEADS GUILTY TO PRICE FIXING: The government says 1\.rcher Daniels Midland Co.'s guilty plea and $100 million fine for price fixing should serve as a powerful deterrent to other corporations thinking of wrongdoing. Financial analysts say it won't. Leonard Teitelbaum at Merrill Lynch said yesterday the settlement lays to rest one of the few thorny issues facing the big agricultural products company. ADM's belated admission is unlikely to affect its future sales. MADONNA GIVES BIRTH TO BABY GIRL: investigation of Cabinet officers in the IranContra affair - persons who, while in federal office, lied to Congress to conceal their own knowledge of a scandal of constitutional dimensions," Walsh's statement added. Dole spokeswoman Christina Martin issued a terse retort. "With all due respect to Judge Walsh, his understanding of the issue appears to have been clouded by the opportunity of a little sell-promotion and moneymaking." Madonna with child is now Madonna and child. The "Material Girl" gave birth to Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon at 4:01 pm Pacific Time at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles Monday. The pop star had the child with her personal trainer Carlos Leon. "Mother Madonna Ciccone, father Carlos Leon, and their daughter are resting comfortably," said Madonna publicist Liz Rosenberg, "and they would like to thank everyone for their kind wishes." Madonna announced her pregnancy earlier this year during the filming of her upcoming movie, Evita. THE WORLD In 'other capital' -women are free MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan (AP) - It is as colorless as the Central Asian desert it borders. Its economy trembles like the electricity in its shops and homes. Yet Mazare-Sharif is one of Afghanistan's m ost attractive cities - and a place where Afghan wom en can walk about freely. With Kabul in ruins and in the hands of militant Taliban Muslims, the remote . northern city aspires to be Afghanistan's other capital. Mazar-e-Sharif is the headquarters of Gen . Rashid Dostum, the warlord who rules northern Afghanistan and is key to the national struggle for power. Compared to Kabul, 190 miles away, it is a bastion of liberalism . The T aliban have told women in the Afghan capital to stay home, and have closed schools for girls. In Mazar-e-Sharif, the streets and bazaars are crowded with women. Many of them still observe Afghanistan's Islamic tradition by wearing a burqa covering them from their feet up to the m esh screen across their eyes. But not everywhere. At Balkh University, young women shed their burqas when they enter the gates, revealing fashionable but modest dress, shoes with raised heels and faces liberally made up with lipstick, rouge and mascara. The different style of Mazar-e-Sharif has nothing to do with prosperity. Aid workers say this town, like everywhere else in warI ravaged Afghanistan, has no institutions that really work. Unemployment is high and the local currency is virtually worthless. Still, the city of 2 million shows none of the physical scars of the civil war that reduced Kabul to heaps. Social customs, such as allowing women to study, recall Kabul before the Taliban takeover. Dostum's forces, mostly Uzbeks from the mountains, arouse fear and suspicion among the mostly Tajik residents. Armed soldiers are everywhere, but the sound of gunfire is rare. Life in the city - and its few paved streets - radiate from the sprawling green-tiled shrine of Hazrat Ali, the son-in-law of the prophet Mohammed. Taliban leaders say their rules regarding women, including forbidding foreign women to drive cars, are in keeping with the tenets of Islam. Other Afghans argue that Islam demands that women be educated, respected and treated fairly. At Balkh University, 35 percent of the 6,000 students are women, who study alongside men, said university director Ehsatullah Ha meed. " Education for m en and women is the same, " he said. . The Taliban's control of Kabul - as well as two-thirds of the entire country - has unsettled many women here. Belquis Haki mi, an engineering student, was ready to quit school, saying she would never be able to work in the hostile environment outside Mazar-e-Sharif. WORLD DIGEST DISSIDENT EXPECTED IN UNITED STATES: The Clinton Administration has decided to let one of China's earliest dissidents enter the United States under an emergency visa, officials said Monday. Nicholas Burns, a State Department spokesman, cited the " public interest" in allowing Wang Xizhe, who disappeared from his home in Canton a week ago, to enter the United States without impediment. "He's someone who the United States believes should not be under the threat of arrest in China," Burns said. " He's someone who has exercised his rights to express himself peacefully on political issues." NEW REBEL GROUP THREATENS NICARAGUAN ARMY, ELECTION WORKERS: A new, apparently armed group is threatening election workers and observers preparing for elections on Sunday. In a statement distributed this week to local news media, the Andres Castro United Front said election workers and observers will be subject to attack if accompanied by the police or army. The text of the statement was accompanied by pictures of masked, armed m en in a jungle setting. The group takes its name from Andres Castro, a 19th-century Nicaraguan military hero. MEXICAN REBEL COMMANDER MARCOS EMERGES FROM JUNGLE TO MEET PEACE MEDIATORS: Rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos is paying a rare visit to San Cristobal De Las Casas in southern Mexico to m eet with mediators trying to spur stalled peace talks. Marcos arrived yesterday to m eet with federal lawmakers mediating peace talks. The talks broke down last month after the Zapatista National Liberation Army accused the government of bad faith. But last week, the government agreed to let an ailing Zapatista leader travel to the capital for a meeting of Indians from across Mexico. The government did not interfere with the visit, despite earlier threats to arrest any rebels who leave the southern state of Chiapas. I |