World News Digest
Allied warplanes bomb Iraqi
defense sites
1 ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Al
lied warplanes bombed Iraqi
military sites in two regions Mon
day after Iraqi anti-aircraft ar
tillery opened fire on allied coali
tion planes, the U.S. military said.
U.S. aircraft came under attack
over Iraq while patrolling north of
the city of Mosul, 250 miles north
of Baghdad, a statement from the
Germany-based U.S. European
command said.
The second strike, by U.S. and
British aircraft, took place in
southeastern Iraq, near the cities
of Al Amarah and Al Kut.
The military said the attack
came after Iraq fired missiles at al
lied planes on Sunday. The air
craft departed the area safely, the
military said.
U.S. and British planes have
been enforcing no-fly zones over
northern and southern Iraq since
the 1991 Gulf War to protect Kur
dish and Shiite minorities from
the forces of Iraqi President Sad
dam Hussein.
The aircraft patrolling the
northern no-fly zone are based in
southern Turkey
One of 12 foreigners seized in
Ecuador released
2 QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — A
Spaniard who was kidnapped
along with 11 other foreigners
two weeks ago returned to Quito
Monday after being freed by a
band of armed commandoes.
The others abducted near
Ecuador’s border with Colombia
Sept. 11 — seven Canadians, two
Spaniards, an American and a
Belgian — were still being held.
Authorities have not provided in
formation on their whereabouts
or on the kidnappers’ demands.
The U.S. State Department ac
cused Colombian guerrillas of
having carried out the kidnap
ping, but the rebels have denied
any role.
Ander Mimenza was flown
Monday by military plane to the
capital, where he was reunited
with his girlfriend, a government
spokesman said. He was released
Sunday.
Gerardo Lombardi, vice presi
dent of an association of educa
tional radio stations, where Mi
menza and the Belgian woman
are employed, quoted Mimenza
on Monday as saying he and the
other kidnap victims were in
good health.
The Canadians and American
were working for a Canadian oil
company. The Spaniards and the
Belgian were visiting the jungle
region as tourists.
Mubarak wins 94 percent of
vote in referendum
3 CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — Presi
dent Hosni Mubarak will be
sworn in for his fourth term after a
vote tally Monday showed he won
94 percent of the vote in a weekend
referendum on his presidency.
A close ally of the United
States, the 71-year-old Mubarak
was the only candidate in Sun
day’s yes-or-no vote. It was the
first time the “yes” vote has fallen
below 95 percent in a presidential
referendum.
Of Egypt’s 24 million eligible
voters, 79 percent cast ballots.
Opposition groups boycotted
the vote. Their leaders want
democracy, including direct,
multiparty elections and the lift
ing of the state of emergency
which has been in force since
President Anwar Sadat was assas
sinated in 1981. They also want
the freedom to form political par
ties and associations, which can
only be created with the approval
of a government committee.
Mubarak was quoted in Tues
day’s editions of A1 Gomhuria
newspaper as saying there will be
a “major change” in the new gov
ernment he will form after his new
term begins. He did not elaborate.
Cairo was quiet Monday, a day
after loudspeakers blared
Mubarak’s praises and bus loads
of men chanted his name. But
thousands of banners and posters
bearing the president’s face still
hung throughout the city
In previous referendums,
Mubarak received more than 95
percent of the vote. In the last
poll, taken in 1993, he won 96
percent. During Sadat’s presiden
cy, the “yes” vote was invariably
99.9 percent.
Vatican restates disdain for
abortion, ‘morning-after’ pill
4 VATICAN CITY (AP) — Re
sponding to a U.N. official’s state
ment that the Vatican had conced
ed defeat on reproductive issues, a
spokesman reiterated Monday the
Church’s opposition to abortion and
the “morning-after” pill.
The U.N. Population Fund’s di
rector, Nafis Sadik, said Wednes
day that the Vatican has “accepted
that the international community
has accepted that family planning
is one of the human rights of
women.”
“They believe the debate has
been lost,” Sadik said in London as
she presented her agency’s yearly
report on world population.
Sadik and Vatican officials have
clashed in the past over family
planning methods.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin
Navarro-Valls issued a two-page
statement Monday insisting that
“the Holy See has not changed at
all its well-noted position,” reiter
ating its opposition to abortion and
use of the “morning-after” pill,
which it considers to be abortive.
This summer, five years after
world governments agreed in
Cairo, Egypt, to a program to curb
population growth, the U.N. Gen
eral Assembly, over the objections
of the Vatican and a few conserva
tive governments, approved pro
posals providing for greater access
to abortions and sex education.
007087
2 out of 10
8 out of 10 UO students
UO students
have 4 or fewer drinks
report that alcohol
when they party.*
actually tastes better
Oddly enough, they seem to have more fun.
going down than
(And spend less time in the bathroom.)
coming up.
* This bit ot reality was unearthed by the 1998 UO Student Health Survey. Brought to you by the Office of Student Life.
346.3216.