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Voice of America, 00-08-11Voice of America: Selected Articles Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Voice of America <gopher://gopher.voa.gov>CONTENTS
[01] POLAND / WALESA (L-ONLY) BY WALTER WISNIEWSKI (LONDON)DATE=8/11/2000TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-265368 CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: A court in Warsaw has cleared former Polish President Lech Walesa of charges that he was an informant for Poland's Communist-era security police. Mr. Walesa says there was never any real evidence against him. V-O-A's Walter Wisniewski [pron: vish- `NYEFF-skee] reports (from our European News Center). TEXT: Polish government documents dating back nearly
20 years show there once was an attempt to brand Mr.
Walesa as a secret police collaborator. But a special
court in Warsaw has decided those documents were faked
apparently in an attempt to deny Mr. Walesa the
Nobel Peace Prize.
Mr. Walesa was awarded the Peace Prize in 1983, three
years after he founded Poland's Solidarity free trade
union. Solidarity eventually took a leading role in
the Polish government (in 1989), paving the way for
the end of Communist rule in central and eastern
Europe.
Mr. Walesa became Poland's first post-war,
democratically elected president 10 years ago. It was
during his five years as head of state that rumors
first began to circulate, suggesting he had once been
an informer for the security police.
Mr. Walesa always maintained his complete innocence,
and he reacted joyfully to the court ruling that
vindicated him. He is now free to run for the
presidency again in October, against Alexander
Kwasniewski, a popular former Communist who succeeded
Mr. Walesa (in 1995).
The same court that declared Mr. Walesa innocent of
any links to the security police also cleared Mr.
Kwasniewski (on Thursday), saying special prosecutors
had failed to provide convincing evidence that he ever
was an informer. (Signed)
[02] NEW YORK ECON WRAP (S&L) BY BARBARA SCHOETZAU (NEW YORK)DATE=8/11/2000TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-265378 CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Trading was moderate on Wall Street today (Friday) but the Nasdaq Composite made a modest comeback while the Dow Jones Industrials topped 11- thousand for the first time since the end of April. Correspondent Barbara Schoetzau reports from New York. TEXT: The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 119 points to close at 11-thousand-twenty-seven point- eighty, a one percent gain. The broader Standard and Poor's 500 Index gained eleven-and-one-half points, almost one percent. The best performing stocks of the day - and the week - were found in the tobacco sector. Philip Morris took the lead, surging after a Goldman Sachs analyst said class action litigation by smokers is waning. Energy, brokerage and retail stocks also gained. Strong biotech stocks helped the Nasdaq composite recover modestly from a decline Thursday to finish up more than 29 points, almostone percent, despite concerns about Dell, the biggest direct seller of personal computers. After the market closed Thursday, Dell had reported a smaller than expected rise in second quarter sales due to weak sales in Europe and slowing demand for desktops P-Cs. For the most part, analysts say investors were cheered by newly-released government reports showing both low levels of inflation and strong retail sales for July. /// REST OPT for long ////// SILVER ACT /////// END ACT //////GIFFORD ACT ///////END ACT ////NNNN Source: Voice of America [03] FRIDAY'S EDITORIALS BY ANDREW GUTHRIE (WASHINGTON)DATE=8/11/2000TYPE=U-S EDITORIAL DIGEST NUMBER=6-11966 EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS TELEPHONE=619-3335 INTERNET=YES CONTENT= INTRO: Politics is very much on the minds of editorial writers at many U-S dailies this Friday, and with good reason. The Reform Party convention is underway in Long Beach California, while Democrats are converging on nearby Los Angeles for the start of their convention Monday. Other editorial topics include the new U-S effort in Sierra Leone; a U-N snub for the Dalai Lama; some tributes to a very historic submarine's new life and a baby bald eagle here in the nation's capital. Now, here is ________ with a closer look and some excerpts in today's U-S Editorial Digest. TEXT: There has been a lot of pushing and shoving and angry words at the Reform Party convention, as competing forces of candidates Pat Buchanan and a rival, John Hagelin, who is also the presidential nominee of the Natural Law Party. The two sides are primarily fighting over more than 12-million-dollars in federal election funds due the Reform Party candidate. The Reform Party, founded by Texas billionaire businessman Ross Perot in 1992 as an alternative to the Democratic and Republican parties, has recently suffered from severe, internal dissension. The Detroit News is dismayed: VOICE: It's ironic to see ugly politics from a party that promised to end ugly politics. The Reform Party seems hopeless, in more ways than one. Third parties naturally have a tough row to hoe (a difficult time). America has a longstanding two-party tradition. ... The Reform Party's most recognizable issues have simply become glum. Federal budget deficits are no longer a problem, and the party hasn't sent a clear message about what should be done with the budget surpluses that have replaced them. TEXT: Minnesota's Saint Paul Pioneer Press is also sad to see the apparent demise of what once was, briefly, a meaningful alternative to the two major parties. VOICE: /// OPT /// That giant sucking sound you hear is the Reform Party going down the drain. Eight years after Ross Perot started the party on an ego trip; Pat Buchanan is about to finish it on an ego trip. /// END OPT /// Two lessons emerge ... from the sorry mess ... One is that the cult of personality is insufficient to build an American political party. The other is you are going to be ripped off [Editors: " you, the taxpayer, are going to be stolen from"] for at least 12-point-five million dollars to fund a Reform presidential candidate. /// OPT ///TEXT: In Connecticut, the Waterbury Republican- American points out, that while people criticized the Republican convention for being scripted, and well disciplined, the Reform Party gathering shows the ugly side of what can happen when discipline is lacking. /// END OPT ///VOICE: "Does anyone, Republican or Democrat, seriously believe that under Mr. Gore, the next four years would be any different from the last eight?" ... On the basis of experience, one may reasonably ask: Will Al Gore contaminate Joe Lieberman? TEXT: And in USA Today, published in a Washington, D- C suburb, there are even questions about Mr. Lieberman's supposedly impeccable character. VOICE: Behind [Senator] Lieberman's shiny image is a politician who built his career on contributions from special interests. There's nothing illegal about this; [Mr.] Lieberman is just doing what many others do. But it is the appearance of connections between money and public policy that tarnishes democracy. /// OPT ... [Real] reform requires breaking the links between special-interest money and individual campaigns. ... /// END OPT /// Change is long overdue. TEXT: Lastly on politics, today's New York Times is critical of the expansive role President and Mrs. Clinton plan to play at the Democratic Convention, suggesting: VOICE: As has so often been the case in the Clinton administration, the thirst for campaign money ... seems to be overriding both good manners and political prudence. ... Mr. Gore does not get to be the star of his own show until it is half over ... TEXT: A popular international topic is new U-S aid to Sierra Leone, by way of training Nigerian and other West African troops for a peacekeeping role there. The Boston Globe suggests: VOICE: Ever since 18 U-S peacekeepers were slaughtered if Somalia in 1993, the United States has been loath to send its forces to Africa. This week, a top Clinton administration official announced that significant numbers of G-Is would be returning to Africa - as trainers of African peacekeepers. ... Washington hopes that U-S-trained regional soldiers will be able to restore the power of the Sierra Leone government. TEXT: The Honolulu Star-Bulletin is pleased at this latest move. VOICE: /// OPT /// The New York Times reported ... Washington had previously refused to help the U-N peacekeepers and tried to charge high rates for ... U- S planes to ferry soldiers of other nations to Sierra Leone. That position was criticized in Congress and by Britain, which had dispatched its own troops to help restore order in its former colony. /// END OPT TEXT: In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Star Tribune wants the Republican-controlled Congress to release funds to pay for the training. /// OPT ///VOICE: As things stand, the United States is scheduled to undertake ... training Nigerian peacekeepers that the Republican Congress refuses to help deploy. /// END OPT ///TEXT: More outrage at a snub by the United Nations of Tibet's exiled Dalai Lama, who has been left off the guest list for a Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders. The Tulsa [Oklahoma] World says politics has no place determining the guest list. VOICE: Nowhere is that more important than in the United States. So ... the United Nations should ignore China's selfish and politically motivated demand and invite the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Dalai Lama. /// OPT ///TEXT: Of the snub, the Washington Post says: VOICE: ... China's veto turns what was planned as a showcase for the power of faith into a case study in the power of power. /// END OPT ///TEXT: Today's Chattanooga [Tennessee] Free Press is one of several papers outraged at the Moscow subway bombing in Russia. VOICE: Whoever was responsible, the crime was like countless other acts of terrorism throughout the world. Vicious, irresponsible killers victimized innocent people. Terrorism is one of the worst kinds of senseless horror. TEXT: Many papers have been cheering the raising this week from Charleston, South Carolina harbor of the first submarine anywhere to sink an enemy ship. It is the Hunley, a U-S Confederate submarine that sank a Union warship blockading the harbor 136 years ago. The Chicago Tribune says of the 20-million-dollar reclamation project: VOICE: It was a noble effort. Not every watery grave ought to be disturbed. ... And there is no effort here to legitimize black slavery, for which the Confederacy stood. The raising of the Hunley is, rather, a chance to reflect upon the fervor of an age long gone. TEXT: And finally, joy at the birth, earlier this year, of a baby bald eagle within the confines of Washington, D.C. It is the first such birth of the nation's avian symbol in half a century, and in Oklahoma, The Tulsa World rejoices. VOICE: What a perfect symbol: a mother and father bald eagle and their recently hatched baby, soaring above our nation's capital. ... if this little family can stand the likes of the largest conglomeration of politicians in the world, it suggests the species can stand just about anything. TEXT: On that note, we conclude our editorial rounds
from the U-S daily papers for this Friday.
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