Monday, November 2, 1987/The Battalion/Page 7
World and Nation
Communist party head
resigns ‘in triumph’ at 83
BEIJING (AP) — Top leader
Dene Xiaopine resigned in triumph
Sunday from the Communist Party’s
governing body, leaving younger of
ficials to carry on his drive to shake
up the stagnant bureaucracy and re
place dogma with production.
The 83-year-old Deng left, as he
had promised, at the end of a party
congress that affirmed his policies
and forced into retirement all the
leading conservatives who had
sought to slow his reforms.
The congress appointed a
younger, streamlined party Central
Committee that is expected Monday
to confirm Deng’s protege, premier
Zhao Ziyang, as party general secre
tary.
It also is expected to keep Deng
on as head of the party’s key Central
Military Commission, from which he
likely will exert considerable influ
ence on party decisions. The con
gress amended the party constitu
tion so Deng can remain on the
commission even though he re
signed from the Central Committee.
Observers believed one of Deng’s
key reasons for retiring was to pres
sure elderly conservatives to follow
suit, clearing the way for younger
technocrats to take control.
Party spokesman Zhu Muzhi said
the average age of the new Central
Committee was 55, compared with
an average age of 59 for the out
going committee elected in 1982.
Deng’s supporters remained on
the committee, including Hu Yao-
bang, who was ousted as party gen
eral secretary in January for failing
to crack down on widespread stu
dent pro-democracy demonstra
tions.
Zhao was named acting party
chief to replace Hu. Officials have
said he will stay on as premier until
the National People’s Congress, the
nominal legislature, appoints a new
premier at its annual session in the
spring.
The party congress, the first in
five years, was a triumphant exit for
Deng, who was purged three times
in leftist campaigns before reaching
the pinnacle of power in 1978.
From Zhao’s keynote speech car
ried live on national television to the
closing slogans flashed on electronic
boards in the Great Hall, the session
produced great praise for Deng’s
political and economic reforms.
Those reforms have included dis
solving the unwieldy agricultural
communes, introducing incentives
into the workplace and encouraging
small-scale private enterprise.
Article on Cuban-Soviet rift
‘surprising, ’ U.S. officials say
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say they are
surprised and intrigued by a rare public airing of dif
ferences between Cuba and its principal ally, the Soviet
Union, over Cuba’s economic policies.
The two countries have been on intimate terms for
most of the past two decades, and the differences gen
erally have been subtle, discernible only to seasoned
analysts.
American experts on Soviet-Cuban relations have
long suspected that Moscow is displeased with Cuba’s
economic performance, and that impression was borne
out by an article in late August in the Soviet “New
Times” magazine.
The article chides Cuba for excessive defense spend
ing, non-repayment of foreign debts, continued ration
ing of food, inadequate housing and other perceived
deficiencies.
Equally surprising was the Cuban response, which
appeared in a recent edition of the same publication.
The article accuses Chirkov of a lack of balance and
logic and said the writer had no business assailing Cu
ba’s productivity levels in view of the Soviets’ own diffi
culties in that area.
As for criticism of Cuban defense spending, the Cu
ban article noted that the Soviet Union and other social
ist countries which have provided military aid to Cuba
obviously believe that Cuba is vulnerable to attack.
Otherwise, he suggested, the aid levels would have been
much lower.
Cuba is estimated to receive more than $4 billion an
nually in Soviet assistance and allows more than 2,000
Soviet technicians to operate a facility in Cuba with the
capacity to monitor U.S. communications along the East
Coast, U.S. officials say.
In return, Cuba has lent itself to Soviet strategic pur
poses in a variety of ways. About 35,000 Cuban troops
serve in Angola, Moscow’s most reliable ally in southern
Africa. Moscow and Havana also are the two principal
backers of Nicaragua’s leftist government.
Brazil’s nuclear tests
raise grave questions
ANGRA DOS REIS, Brazil (AP)
— The radiation poisoning of more
than 200 people has raised serious
questions about the government’s
ability to control its ambitious nu
clear program, which includes the
technology for atomic weapons.
This vast nation of 138 million
people has one atomic power plant
on fine — in the quiet fishing com
munity of Angra dos Reis — and two
more planned. But it has no site for
safely disposing of nuclear waste.
Last month’s poisoning of 243
people in the central city of Goiania
occurred just one month after Presi
dent Jose Sarney proudly an
nounced that Brazil had mastered
the technique of enriching uranium,
a necessary step in building an
atomic bomb.
A scavenger took a capsule of the
isotope cesium-137 from a partly de
molished cancer treatment clinic. A
junk dealer broke open the 500-
pound lead casing and found about
3 ounces of a phosphorescent pow
der, which he and others confused
with carnival glitter.
By late October, four people who
had rubbed the cesium on their bod
ies, including a 6-year-old girl, were
dead. Seven others remain hospital
ized with little chance of survival.
Rex Nazare, the president of the
national Nuclear Energy Commis
sion, said on nationwide television
the Goiania incident would not af
fect Brazil’s nuclear program, which
he declared safe.
But many people say Brazil’s
thrust into the atomic age is down
right dangerous.
In Angra dos Reis, 90 miles west
of Rio de Janeiro, people called the
giant reactor “vagalume” — Portu
gese for lightening bug. But the
jokes stopped when they learned
that evacuation plans for the town
were classified as a “state secret.”
In addition to the plant, Brazil has
1,763 known radioactive installa
tions in military and civilian research
centers, hospitals and industrial
plants. But, critics charge, it lacks ac
companying progress in regulation,
nuclear safety and public education.
Brazil has neither an atomic waste
disposal site nor an agency desig
nated solely for nuclear regulation.
The Nuclear Energy Commission,
scientists say, spends more time
pushing nuclear energy than watch
ing over existing radioactive
material.
Group starts
drive to stop
oornography
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) —
The opening shots in a war
against hard-core pornography
— a $300,000 campaign includ
ing billboards, a newspaper insert
and a TV program — have been
fired in Kansas City by activists
who say their target is dehuma
nizing and dangerous.
Their critics, however, say the
group is using scare tactics and
exaggerating the problem to
arouse the public.
The anti-porn drive was a test,
organizers said. A national group
may take the campaign through
out the country, depending on its
evaluation of the Kansas City ef
fort.
The campaign launched by the
National Coalition Against Por
nography and its local affiliate
urged people to Stand Together
Opposing Pornography, or
STOP. It featured 80 billboards,
a two-hour television program,
direct mail pleas, a 12-page news
paper insert and a phone bank to
take calls from financial contribu
tors.
New uniform system of prison sentencing
becomes law despite some objections
WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite
the objections of some judges and
lawyers, a new, and some say stricter,
uniform system of sentencing goes
into effect Sunday in U.S. district
courts.
The new guidelines, drafted by
the U.S. Sentencing Commission
and mandated by the sweeping 1984
anti-crime law, are designed to bring
consistency to the federal sentencing
process.
Under the new rules, the 550 fed
eral judges will have less latitude in
sentencing criminals, permitting
them to deviate from the guidelines
only in rare instances.
Proponents argue that the
guidelines are expected to minimize
disparities in the sentences different
judges give those convicted of simi
lar crimes. Opponents claim the new
guidelines eliminate the human fac
tor judges use in handing down sen
tences.
The guidelines establish a 43-level
system of punishment, depending
on the crime and the defendant’s re
cord. Each level corresponds to a
specific punishment. A judge may
go outside of the guidelines in ex
traordinary cases, but if he does, his
decision will be subject to appeal.
The guidelines also eliminate pa
role. Those convicted of federal
crimes could have their punishment
reduced only as a result of good be
havior.
#MSC Cepheid Variable presents
Gene Roddenberry
"The Shape of Tomorrow"
January 30,1988
7:30 pm Rudder Auditorium
Tickets Eire $6.00 forTAMU students
on sale today at Rudder Box Office
for more information call 845-1515 or come by 216 MSC
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TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY ART EXHIBITS PRESENTS
THE PLAN OF
RUDDER EXHIBIT HALL
ALL
OCTOBER 22 THROUGH NOVEMBER 28, 1987
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3
LECTURE BY DR. JOHN J. McDERMOTT
DISTINGUISHED PROF., PHILOSOPHY, AND HEAD, HUMANITIES IN MEDICINE
THE EROS OF THE MEDIEVAL DIVINE IDEAS
7:30 PM MEMORIAL STUDENT CENTER ROOM 201
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11
LECTURE BY DR. VIVIAN L. PAUL
PROFESSOR OF ARCHITECTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF THE CAROLINGIAN COURTS
7:30 PM MEMORIAL STUDENT CENTER ROOM 201
The exhibition was organized by the University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley,
with the participation of the University of California Press, presented by Pro Helvetia,
National Council for the Arts and Culture of Switzerland, Zurich, Switzerland.
DOCENT TOURS ARE AVAILABLE BY CALLING 845-8501
CAT 5
Don't miss
a lick.
The Tony Award winning hit musical "CATS" is coming this
year. The only way you can be sure of getting a seat is to buy
season tickets to the NSC OPAS Theatre Series. "CATS" has
consistently sold out during its 6 years in London, 5 years on
Broadway and wherever the American touring companies stop.
With only three performances here, tickets are going fast.
"CATS" isn't the only hit in this year's Theatre Series. Season
ticket holders will be assured of seats to ' Singin' in the Rain",
"Beehive", Narcel Narceau and Frankenstein".
Season tickets to the NSC OPAS Theatre Series are available
through Fiovember 17. Order today and you won't miss a lick.
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