Capital, The (Newspaper) - February 7, 1996, Annapolis, Maryland Wednesday February 7 1996 NATION WORLD 189 feared dead as jet plunges into Caribbean PUERTO PLATA Dominican Re- public AP A charter jetliner parrying German tourists home from the Caribbean crashed into waters off the Republic There were no signs today that any of the 189 people aboard including four children survived Aircraft and boats searching the waters off the Dominican Republic's north coast spotted bodies empty life rafts and debris scattered over two square miles At least 40 bodies were recovered but divers were wary of entering the water because NATIONAL DIGEST of the sharks There was no immediate tion on the cause of the crash late yesterday but the Boeing 757 was substituted at the last minute The plane took off in heavy rain then abruptly turned around and headed back for land just minutes later The pilot did not radio the control tower about any problems ing to the Dominican civil air agency The plane bound for Frankfurt and Berlin was owned by a Turkish company Birgen Air and leased to a Dominican airline Alas de Trans- trade gap smallest In almost 2 years WASHINGTON The U.S trade deficit narrowed dramatically in November to billion the best showing in nearly two years as the gap with Japan shrank to its smallest level since the spring of 1993 The Commerce Department said today that the deficit in goods and services dropped a sharp 13.5 percent from a revised October figure of billion It was the smallest imbalance since a billion deficit in March 1994 The November improvement reflected a big jump in sales of aircraft and computer parts as exports of capital goods climbed to a record level of billion Sales of military goods including Patriot missiles to Saudi Arabia and helicopters to Greece also took a big jump erupts in courtroom DEDHAM Mass John C Salvi m erupted in court today knocking over a table as jury selection in his trial for the slayings of two abortion clinic workers was about to resume His outburst came after he held up a statement as he had done yesterday when a pool photographer was taking his picture A bailiff tried to restrain him and he overturned the table He was then tackled by court officers and carried from the court This is unconstitutional to deny my right to address the media I have the right to speak to the Mr Salvi said Mr Salvi is accused of walking into two Brookline clinics that perform abortions pulling a rifle from a duffel bag and opening fire Killed were receptionists Shannon Lowney and Lee Ann Nichols five other people were wounded in the Dec attacks Terrorism suspect attempts jailbreak NEW YORK A man charged with plotting to blow up U.S airliners tried to escape from a Manhattan prison by Climbing from one rooftop to another officials said Wall Khan Amin Shah was placed in secure housing at the Metropolitan Correctional Center yesterday while prison authorities investigate The attempt came less than two weeks after federal Judge Kevin Duffy said the trial of Shah and two others in the plane bombing plot posed an even greater security risk than the World Trade Center bombing trial Mr Shah was discovered missing from the rooftop recreation area at yesterday said Robert Manco executive assistant to MCC Warden Reish Prison guards found him 15 minutes later standing on another roof of the prison four stories above the recreation roof telecom Ignites Cyberspace protest Opponents of legislation restricting smut on computer networks are staging a protest today in cyberspace About 150 people and groups have pledged to turn their home page on the global computer network Internet said Shabbir Safdar head of the Voters Telecommunications Watch a coordinator of the protest What that means is protesters will change the background color of their home page the electronic equivalent of a calling card with lots more information to black Voters Telecommunications Watch is an on-line group that organizes grassroots action against what it views as threats to free and privacy The disputed provision is contained in a massive telecommunications President Clinton is expected to sign into law tomorrow The provision would outlaw transmission of indecent and other sexually explicit materials to minors Clothes crush Salvation Army worker ALBANY A Salvation Army employee working in a warehouse was crushed to death by an bundle of used clothing Michael Raughter 57 was found yesterday under a rectangular bundle of clothing measuring about 8 by 5 feet police said He was later pronounced dead of massive internal injuries at Albany Medical Center Hospital Insurance and federal workplace safety officials were investigating Salvation Army officials declined to provide further details WORLD DIGEST NATO struggles to cool Serb anger SARAJEVO Bosnia-Herzegovina NATO commanders struggled to keep Bosnia on the path to peace today after the government angered Serbs by arresting two of their top officers as criminals In The Hague the Netherlands the war crimes tribunal asked Bosnian authorities to continue holding Gen Djordje Djukic and Col Aleksa Krsmanovic until it decides whether to issue Indictments I War crimes investigators have been in Sarajevo this week interviewing Gen Djukic and Col Krsmanovic and other suspects Arrested by the Bosnian government Bosnian authorities have provided few details about the arrested men except to say that Gen Djukic and Col Krsmanovic were believed responsible for mass killings of civilians around Sarajevo j Further threatening the peace plan less than two months after it took effect Croats rioted in Mostar protesting plans to share political control of the bitterly divided city with Muslims arrives in Nicaragua I MANAGUA Nicaragua Pope John Paul n brought a message of peace and reconciliation today to Nicaragua where hundreds of thousands gathered for a welcome they hoped would overcome the memory of his last visit We are going to receive him with open said President Violeta Chamorro a fervent Roman Catholic We have to respect one another so that what happened the last time doesn't happen again The pope's last visit to Central America in 1983 was marred by a struggle of wills with the leftist Sandinistas who then ruled and tried to use the papal visit for propaganda purposes I A crowd seeded with militants chanted slogans at his Mass that year provoking the pope to shout repeatedly for silence porte Internacional U S Coast Guard Li Lincoln Ben edict in San Juan said pilots had spotted sharks in the area of the crash site The area is Lt Benedict said It obviously would hamper recovery of either or bodies from the water At least 40 bodies have been recovered he said There reports of survivors Seas were relatively calm as the search continued this morning off the coast of the Dominican lic which shares the island of with Haiti Skies were clear in Puerto Plata a coastal resort 100 miles northwest of the capital Santo Domingo but thick clouds and ram squalls ob- the crash area offshore U S Coast Guard Lt Mike han in San Juan said the rain was slowing the rescue a bit but was not a serious problem Flight 301 took off in heavy rain from Puerto Plata International port about 11 pm 10 pm EST yesterday The aircraft had been in the air only five minutes when a radar operator noticed that it had turned around and was headed back to land said Luis Flores Mota a spokesman with the Dominican Re- public's civil air agency There was no radio contact with the plane to indicate there was a problem Mr Mota said Navy aircraft and Coast Guard cutters and helicopters from da the Bahamas the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico headed to the crash site 13 miles north of Puerto Plata During a refueling stop Coast Guard Lt Art Snyder said his helicopter crew had spotted about 18 bodies and that the largest piece of debris he saw measured about 6 feet by 6 feet Lt Callahan said a person ing on the beach saw the crash and called the Puerto Plata airport con- trol tower to report it The flight was a German tourist charter heading for Berlin and Frankfurt Tours in Hamburg chartered the plane and sold tickets through travel agencies A total of 176 passengers and 13 crew members were on board Flight 301 when it went down Gramm has explaining to do DES MOINES Iowa AP Sen Phil Gramm battered in a ana GOP contest also is coming under heavy fire for playing hooky in the Senate on a critical vote so he could spend more time campaigning But Mr Gramm dismissed the criticism as petty politics played by Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination who has repeatedly attacked Gramm for his absences Dole took the vote when he knew 1 wasn't going to be Gramm said today on CBS This Morning That's simple Washington politics In the end that doesn't help Bob Dole It's petty politics Gramm faced sharp questioning on the subject today as he resumed campaigning in Iowa while the Senate was resuming work on the farm in ton The Texan suffered a humiliating setback yesterday when he was defeated in Louisiana caucuses by conservative commentator Pat chanan in a race nearly all the other GOP candidates ignored Mr Gramm had been heavily favored in the contest With the Louisiana caucuses over attention now shifts to Iowa the traditional GOP kickoff state with its caucuses scheduled for Monday And GOP candidates have full campaign schedules here Mr decision to get in a little extra campaigning in ana yesterday instead of returning to Washington for a vote blew up in his face As it was the GOP effort to clear the way for action on the delayed farm legislation failed in the Senate yesterday by a single vote Mr his opponents charged Two of Mr rivals for the GOP presidential nomination Mr Dole and Indiana Sen Dick Lugar were in Washington for the vote to end Democratic delays and force a vote on the farm The Senate needed 60 votes to bring the up for debate AP photo Presidential hopeful Pat Buchanan won the Louisiana Republican caucuses yesterday In a surprising upset of Sen Phil Gramm the expected winner The legislation is viewed as cial to farmers helping them make important planting decisions Everyone knew what the vote was about and everyone knew its Mr Lugar said in Washington Mr Dole's Iowa campaign ager Darrell Kearney told ters in Des Phil Gramm turned his back on Iowa farmers today Mr Kearney asserted that Gramm was in meltdown Earlier yesterday Mr Gramm told a meeting of Iowa corn and soybean producers that agricultural policy would play a key role in a Gramm administration and that he viewed the farm as vital At the same time he said he didn't want to cut a political to end up with a farm that won't work I don't want a bad farm the Texan said At the Iowa convention farmers were surprised to hear that Mr Gramm was headed to Louisiana instead of Washington after his morning speech He needs to be Wallie Hardie a North Dakota farmer who is vice president of the National Corn Growers Association said Brian Kennedy Iowa GOP man did not appear eager to get into the controversy You're asking me to walk right into a tinderbox on this he said I expect opponents will make much on his missed vote on the farm Mr Gramm had already drawn some criticism in Iowa for in the Louisiana caucuses because they proceeded the Iowa ones Most GOP candidates ing Mr Dole Mr Lugar and former Tennessee Gov Alexander had boycotted the Louisiana con- test Mr Gramm said planting already has begun in some parts of Texas Nobody wants a farm more than I do because my planters are planting he said Under the legislation that licans are trying to move through Congress most government farm support programs would be phased out over seven years Fanners would get declining federal ments over those years and would be freed from planting restrictions Many Democrats oppose the plan Simpson paints dark picture of ex-wife LOS ANGELES AP In his deposition and public remarks Simpson paints a dark portrait of his slain ex-wife describing her as promiscuous emotionally unstable a heavy drinker and part of a lane crowd Mr Simpson also said that Nicole Brown Simpson had a violent streak and once hit a maid He said she called Mr Simpson's father a de- rogatory word for a homosexual lied about domestic violence tried to dodge paying taxes and had sex with one of Mr Simpson's best friends Some of Ms Simpson's behavior still two years Ronald Goldman were cording to the deposition transcript obtained yesterday by the Associated Press I'm mad today when I think about Mr Simpson said re- counting his fling with Keith Zlomsowitch Most of these claims were made Jan 25 in the intense fourth day of Simpson's grilling by attorney niel Petrocelli who represents Mr Goldman's father in a death lawsuit according to the script v Still Mr Simpson insisted that he never became frustrated enough to hurt Ms Simpson and that he never was jealous or obsessive even when he found out she was having an affair with his friend Marcus Alien a running back for the Kansas City Chiefs Her with Keith with Marcus with any of them didn't bother me at said Mr Simpson who repeatedly portrayed himself as the voice of reason in their relationship and a sort of father figure to Ms Simpson Simpson wasn't always sgen as a pillar of stability His deposition and an earlier session with his ex-girlfriend Paula bieri offers the bleakest look to date of Mr Simpson He was described as so suicidal in the days after the slayings that Ms Barbieri searched the house for razor blades and Mr Simpson's sister Shirley Baker had to talk Mm out of killing himself the Barbieri transcript also by the AP Clinton official's son subject of special probe WASHINGTON AP In a series of contacts under investigation by a special prosecutor an Oklahoma gas company paid to Com- merce Secretary Ron Brown's son and provided travel for a top Com- merce Department aide documents show Dynamic Energy Resources of Tulsa Okla also lured away from the Commerce Department the head of minority business development at a time the company was ing pursuing federal contracts the records obtained by the Associated Press state former president and his wife the company's second est shareholder have alleged in court testimony that the payments to Michael Brown 30 were de- signed by key company officers to curry favor with his father He absolutely is there for them Dynamic to gain influence with the Department of Commerce and that's Oklahoma oil man Stuart Price testified last summer in a state court lawsuit filed by his wife that alleged the company was being mismanaged The company's chairman is Nora Lum a prominent Democratic nor and friend of the Brown family Exhibits from that lawsuit ob- by AP through legal action show that just three months after Michael Brown was placed on board he was paid two checks totaling Ron Brown's lawyer said the has never been involved in any way with any decision by Dynamic to compensate Michael Brown But he declined to answer whether the elder Mr Brown got any money from his son about the time of the April 1994 payment The occasions upon which Brown like other parents may have provided loans or gifts to his children to help them get started as young adults and occasions upon which they may have sought to repay their father's support and good will are private femily attorney Reid Weingarten wrote in a letter to the AP Administration won't commit to Taiwan aid WASHINGTON AP China should not underestimate U.S de- termination to ensure peace for the people in Taiwan a senior State Department official said day But Winston Lord assistant of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs also minimized the threat of Chinese military sion against Taiwan All evidence at our disposal at this time leads to the conclusion that the People's Republic of China has no intention to initiate tary Mr Lord told the Senate Foreign Relations panel on East Asia Mr Lord like Defense Secretary William Perry yesterday wouldn't say if an attack by China on Taiwan would provoke a U.S tary response But he stressed a U.S obligation to maintain Taiwan's defense force and The people of the United States feel strongly about the ity of the people of Taiwan to determine their future peacefully This sentiment must not be under- estimated Even as the administration ex- pressed concern about military intentions President Clinton authorized the sale of eral hundred million dollars worth of communications satellites to Beijing The White House said the sale was unrelated to concern about China's sale of nuclear weapons to other countries or to regional curity If s consistent with our there needs to be a constructive engagement with China China is a nation with we have a very important presidential spokesman Mike McCurry said Yesterday Mr Perry said he was concerned but not alarmed that China was using military maneuvering to try to influence Taiwan's March 23 democratic presidential elections Mr Perry said he did not see an imminent military threat from China Taiwan is the seat of the alist government that fled China's mainland in 1949 after losing a civil war to forces
