12 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 2, 1996 1million strike in Russia, Ukraine House 0 NOVOKUZNETSK, Russia (AP)- More than a million Russian and Ukrai- nian coal miners went on strike yester- day in a wave ofanger that could lead to budgetary chaos and affect Russia's presidential election campaign. From Ukraine's coal-rich Donbass region to eastern Siberia, miners were demanding hundreds of millions ofdol- lars in unpaid wages and protesting government neglect of state-owned mines. "We'll make them respect us and teach them a lesson," Ivan Mokhnachuk, deputy head of Russia's Union of Coal Industry Workers, said in Moscow. The walkout comes in the dead of winter in countries heavily reliant on coal. In eastern Siberia, coal is the only energy source, and some regions have only about a week's reserves. In many areas, however, Russia has other energy sources. Gas and oil are both used far more than coal in Russia, and with the use of gas on the rise, it would be the apparent fallback if the strike stretches on. Hydropower and nuclear power account for a much smaller percentage of the power sup- ply. The strike's immediate impact is ex- pected to be political. Coal mining is still a state-owned industry in both of the former Soviet republics. Workers in other cash-starved state sectors also are angry, and say they have lost faith in government prom- ises to address the problems of unpaid wages and payments to industry. "The miners could start a chain reac- tion that would bring about an emer- gency situation in the country," said Alexander Zhukov, a moderate law- maker and deputy chairman of the bud- get committee in Russia's lower house of parliament. "It's enough to make a concession to one industry, and others will come for the same," he said. Thousands of men trudged off the night shift in the predawn darkness in the Kuznetsk Basin region of western Siberia, a scene repeated at dozens of mines across Russia. "I have to go to pensioners and bor- row money to buy bread and milk for my family," Ravil Shafigulin said out- side a mine near Novokuznetsk, 1,800 miles east of Moscow, his face grimy from the night shift. Union officials said about a million of a total 1.2 million miners went on strike in Ukraine, along with about 500,000 Russian miners - a majority ofthe workforce in Russia's seven coal- mining regions. The officials said the strike closed or restricted operations of203 ofUkraine's AP PHOTO Russian coat miner Yevgeny Trianov counts his day's wages as he and others go off shift to begin a nationwide strike. 245 mines, and shut down at least 87 percent of Russia's 245 mines. Although the strikes apparently were coordinated, the miners in each country were pressing their own demands only. In addition to back wages, Russian miners want a system to ensure prompt payments in the future, payment ofover- due government subsidies to mines, and a restructuring of the ailing industry. The Ukrainian workers' demands in- clude a return to Soviet-era subsidies to help the struggling mines. The head of Ukraine's Independent Miners' Union, Mikhailo Volynets, called the miners' plight "the deepest crisis the industry has ever seen." "We fully understand the possible negative effects of the strike, but an- other option simply doesn't exist," he said. Russian President Boris Yeltsin, once immensely popular among miners, was scrambling to deal with their demands as he prepares for an expected re-elec- tion bid in June. Yeltsin's chief economic aide, Alexander Livshits, told the Interfax news agency that a "tough monthly schedule" for payments to miners was being drawn up on the president's or- ders, But the president has been besieged by election-year demands for back wages from various industries, and pay- ing out the huge sums would risk fuel- ing inflation and jeopardize the government's economic austerity pro- gram. votes to ease limits WASHINGTON (AP) - In a mas- sive rewrite oftelecommunications rules for the 21st century, the House voted yesterday to ease limits on the explod- ing television, telephone and home com- puter industries. The 414-16 vote set the stage for action in the Senate, which was already debating the bill. President Clinton has said he will sign it. The huge reworking of the 61 -yea* old Communications Act would let lo- cal and long-distance telephone com- panies and cable companies into each others' businesses, deregulate cable rates and restrict smutty material on computer networks and television. It also would let media companies more easily expand their holdings. Supporters say the measure would boost jobs, expand consumer choic and potentially lower prices for cabl , telephone and other communications services. But opponents say that more jobs will be lost than gained through con- solidation, that choices will be limited and that cable and telephone rates are likely to go up considerably because the level of competition envisioned by supporters will not emerge. The bill covers the $700 billion tele- communications industry, which a counts for one-sixth of the nations economy. A major roadblock to Senate passage was cleared when Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) received assurances from the Federal Communications Commis- sion that it would not issue new digital television licenses until Congress de- cides whether broadcasters should have to pay for them. In the House, Rep. Billy Tauzin ( La.), said the bill "will link us as Ameri- cans together as never before. This is a grand celebration of the free market system. It is a grand strategy to unleash the technologies geniuses are working on and to give them a chance to become tomorrow's Microsoft." But one opponent, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), said it does more for big business than for consumers. Congress has decided, he said, "that consum* protection must take a back seat to industry demand." Sri Lanka govt vows to 'eliminate' Tamil terrorists COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - Using every- thing from small shovels to huge earthmovers, soldiers and construction workers found 13 more bodies yesterday in the scarred landscape of down- town Colombo, and the government vowed to "eliminate" the Tamil rebels it blamed for the attack. At least 73 people were killed and 1,400 injured Wednesday when a suicide squad rammed a truck packed with explosives into Sri Lanka's central bank. The attack, one of the worst in Sri Lanka's 12- year war with the rebels, ignited towering fires in the capital's business and tourist district. Seven injured people died overnight in the hospital, and nearly 100 others were still in critical condition last night. As darkness fell on Colombo's blackened sky- line, floodlights illuminated the devastation. Res- cue teams dug into piles of rubble with the deter- mination of worker ants. Some used heavy ma- Group blamed for Wednesday's bombing that killed 73 and injured 1,400 people chinery and some simple shovels, but all said they did not expect to find more survivors. Heavily armed soldiers kept large crowds at bay. Some onlookers were distraught, believing that a family member was still buried under the shattered glass, twisted steel beams and slabs of concrete. The attack came in desperation, said Presi- dent Chandrika Kumaratunga, who claimed the Tamil Tiger rebels had suffering military set- backs and realized that other Tamils backed her plan to decentralize and give them limited au- tonomy. "This unfortunate incident has once again re- minded us that the threat to Sri Lankan society by terrorism must be firmly dealt with," she said in a statement. Terrorists "must be eliminated." The separatists are fighting for a homeland in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, hundreds of miles away from Colombo, a port city in the south. The Tamils say they are discriminated against by the majority Sinhalese, who control the govern- ment and the military. More than 40,000 people have died in the war. Kumaratunga came to power in 1994, vowing to hold peace talks with the rebels and end the war, but those talks failed last year and the fighting intensified. In December, government troops cap- tured Jaffna City, the rebels' stronghold in the north. Wednesday's bomb, which police believe weighed 110 to 220 pounds, left a crater eight feet deep and shattered windows of buildings hun- dreds of yards away. The driver of the truck was killed, but two others were arrested shortly after- wards. Investigators, interrogating those suspects yes- terday, were trying to piece together the opera- tion. Police said the truck left Monday from Vavunia, a northern front-line town and took more than a day to reach Colombo, normally a five-hour trip. It parked overnight Tuesday in a Tamil neigh- borhood of Colombo, and left Wednesday morn- ing for the business district with explosives con- cealed under bags of rice hulls. Police have identified the suspects only as Ragu and Dharma Ruben from the northern rebel-held town of Kilinochchi, and the dead driver as Raj. Detectives raided a house in northern Colombo they believe the bombers had used and arrested several other people yesterday, but refused to identify them., Sping I Student Call for The Offi for a Stu 1C M The stu during V So - Curricu schol - Typed - Audio Commencement Speaker Entries higan ague L ! WORI (Lifestyle Enrichment "HOW TO GET PUBLISHED" EAP 0 KSHOPS and Advancement Program) ice of University Relations is making a Call for Entries udent Speaker at Spring Commencement aturday, May 4, 1996 0:OO a.m. fichigan Stadium dent speaker must be receiving a Winter Term 1996 or Summer Ter bachelor's de t 1996 ubmit ulum Vitae (or resume) highlighting U-J arship and campus leadership draft of speech (no more than 5 minut cassette tape of yourself reading the s A1 re i Feb 9 (Fri) 6-8pm Room D Feb 16 (Fri) 6-8pm Room D Instructor:Andrea Berg Fee: $10.00 01 This workshop will teach you the basics of astrological chart reading. Also, you will learn the necessary requirements of astrological interpretations. Find our where your sun and moon are located in order to make you better understand yourself. Bring notepad and pen and you may also want to bring small tape -wA Y A " "AY N A A " tuesdlons 'URI I rr 1it...i.4'.Y Y.t6+hi1'#1 f 2112%i.iiR:%?t j3 i ?'. .!> :'.'%:i >i >>?'<'i''i'%?:;i??4i i'isi#i:i:E: I