Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.news From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: news Wed, Jul 8 1992 Date: Wed, 8 Jul 92 05:13:09 EDT Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: News USA TODAY Update July 8, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network GULF WAR BOOSTERS INDICTED: An indictment handed down Tuesday says the former U.S. ambassador to Bahrain and two others were secretly paid $7.7 million by Kuwait to drum up support for the Gulf war. A Denver federal grand jury said the scheme included ex-ambassador Sam Zakhem; William Kennedy Jr., owner of defunct Conservative Digest; and Digest editor Scott Stanley Jr. All three were arrested. WARNING OUT ON SELDANE: A prescription drug used by millions for hay fever and allergy symptoms could be fatal for certain patients. The Food and Drug Administration says Seldane users with liver disorders or who are taking ketoconazole, itracanozole or erythromycin could develop an abnormal heart rhythm that could prove fatal. Maker Marion Merrell Dow has been ordered to issue stronger warnings. G-7 ISSUES WARNING: The world's seven leading industrialized nations, meeting at the Group of Seven summit in Munich, Germany, took their stand on Yugoslavia's civil war Tuesday. The United States, France, Canada, Britain, Japan, Germany and Italy warned all sides that if humanitarian efforts are imperiled "other measures, not excluding military means" will be used. L.A. PONDERS TAX HIKE: The Los Angeles City Council votes Wednesday on a proposal to hike property taxes to pay for more police officers. The increase, proposed Tuesday by Mayor Tom Bradley and new Police Chief Willie Williams, would cost the owner of an average, 1,500-square-foot home $73 more a year. The $100 million it would raise would go toward expanding the 7,900-officer force. VIOLENCE HITS N.Y. NEIGHBORHOOD: Officials are pleading for calm in the mostly Hispanic Washington Heights neigborhood of New York City where a fatal police shooting led to rioting that left one man dead, 28 people under arrest and a mess of overturned cars and trash fires. About 1,300 police were deployed there Tuesday after Monday's rampage. Friday, police shot Jose Garcia, 23, who they say was armed. ABORTION PROTESTS BEGIN IN LA.: As Operation Rescue protesters demonstrated outside abortion clinics in Baton Rouge Tuesday, abortion rights supporters charged the group with sending threatening letters. About 200 Operation Rescue protesters demonstrated in shifts outside Delta Women's Clinic. Abortion rights advocates were angry after receiving the letters signed by Keith Tucci, an Operation Rescue leader. NORIEGA LAWYERS SAY HE'S A POW: Manuel Noriega can't be sent to a civilian prison because he's a prisoner of war, his lawyers told the Miami federal judge who will sentence the convicted drug racketeer Friday. Since his surrender after the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama, Noriega has received Red Cross visits and other POW treatment under the Geneva Convention. Prosecutors Monday urged a sentence "measured ... in decades." FORMER HUD OFFICIAL CHARGED: Deborah Gore Dean, executive assistant to Samuel Pierce, the Housing and Urban Development secretary in the Reagan administration, Tuesday was charged with 13 felony counts in the HUD influence-peddling scandal. Prosecutors said Dean used her HUD position to enrich herself and others by steering housing money to developers represented by favored consultants. PAN AM JURY IN DELIBERATIONS: Rage over the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 should be directed against the terrorists who did it, not the airline, a lawyer told jurors Tuesday in his closing arguments. The New York jury began deliberating whether Pan Am should pay millions of dollars to victims' families for failing to provide better security. The 1988 bombing killed 270 people. PENTAGON `UNAWARE' OF POW OFFER: According to a report Tuesday, the Pentagon said it was unaware of a reported offer by Vietnam to swap supposed U.S. POWs for $4 billion in 1981. The Washington Times reported that Richard Allen, former President Reagan's first national security adviser, had testified about the alleged swap offer to the Senate Select Committee on POW:MIA Affairs. SOUTH WILL SIZZLE: Sizzling summer heat saunters into the Southeast Wednesday. Temperatures will reach well into the 90s. To the north, a strong jet stream will usher a series of quick-moving weather disturbances throughout the northern tier of the USA. In the mid-Atlantic, the muggies roll in Wednesday with temperatures hovering in the 80s. Thunderstorms will rumble through the Southwest. DOW JONES OPENS ON DOWNSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens Wednesday at 3295.17 after closing down 44.03 Tuesday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 225.15, down 2.29. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 380.26, down 2.32. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 557.41, down 5.76. News Editor: William Snoddy. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution purposes violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM