2 -The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 17, 1996 Yeltsin fires one of last reform backers i:: .x:" .: , f, v .., % ryrA. ,:r . , :, w H The Washington Post MOSCOW - Continuing the purge of almost all top Kremlin advocates of reform, President Boris Yeltsin yester- day accepted the resignation of First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais, the driving force behind Russia's ambitious economic changes and the architect of its colossal privatization program. Chubais, a 40-year-old economist who ranked below only Yeltsin and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin in the government pecking order, made it clear that his .resignation had been forced by Yeltsin's "rather negative evaluation" of his performance. "I proceed from the belief that if the president considers my work as unsat- isfactory I should not remain in the job," he said. A key member of Yeltsin's team since 1991, Chubais was almost the last re- maining pro-Western democrat in the upper reaches of the Russian govern- ment. His departure signifies a stun- ning reversal from the early days of Yeltsin's presidency, when Moscow's commitment to building a functioning market economy seemed unshakable. His resignation a month after the vic- tory of Communists and nationalists in elections follows closely on the heels of the removal of two other leading advo- cates of change at the top level of the Russian government: foreign minister Andrei Kozyrev, who was dismissed last week after three years under fire from Communists and nationalists for pursu- ingtoopro-Westernapolicy; andYeltsin's chief of staff, Sergei Filatov, who was transferred over the weekend to the No.2 position on the commission to oversee this June's presidential election. Yeltsin's allies and enemies alike saw the dismissal of Chubais as driven by the president's effort to distance himself from the country's unpopular economic transformation and reposi- tion himself as a traditional nationalist before the presidential campaign be- gins this spring. Although he has not announced his intentions, Yeltsin has given every indication that he plans to run for a second term. Chubais had been roundly criticized for having conceived what is viewed here as a deeply flawed privatization program. It has been variously skewered as a giveaway of precious state resources and a sweetheart deal for former indus- trial "red managers" and other insiders who have grabbed valuable assets for a fraction of their real value. "He's clearly become a political li- ability, and the president doesn't want political liabilities around," a Western economist in Moscow said. Maine senator leaves Congress WASHINGTON - Sen. William Cohen (R-Maine), a prominent Republican moderate, announced yesterday he will not seek a fourth term next year, describing the budget stalemate as a "crystallizing" factor in his decision. Cohen is the 13th senator who will not seek re-election in 1996 - a record, according to the Senate Historical Office. The previous record of 11 was set in 1896. Cohen's departure threatens to further erode the shrinking ranks of moderate Republicans in the Senate and to enhance the ideological polarization of the parties in a legislative body that relies heavily on bipartisan cooperation to function effectively. Cohen's announcement to a gathering at the City Council Cohen chambers in Bangor, came as a surprise to colleagues, who thought they had seen the last of the huge wave of retirements for next year. While there had been a brief spate of speculation that he might not run last year, Coher had been raising money and acting like a candidate for re-election. In his statement, Cohen said he wanted to pursue "a variety of new challenges' outside the Senate, including international trade and promotion of foreign mars for Maine industries. AP PH"( wounded comrade after fighting yesterday In Chechnya. Russian soldiers help a White House, GOP resume budget talks WASHINGTON - White House and Republican congressional leaders will end a one-week break in budget talks and resume negotiations today amid bleak forecasts about chances the two sides will resolve their deep differences on eliminating the deficit in seven years. White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta said he was pessimistic about achieving a budget agreement and that the two sides "are reaching the point where neither side is going to give." Senate Republicans warned there would be little to discuss unless Presi- dent Clinton offered new compromises on spending and taxes. "The ball is in the administration's court," said a Senate Republican aide. "if they want to move ahead toward a balanced budget agreement, then they can lay something on the table." House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R- Ga.) confirmed he will attend the ses- sion at the White House, but noted that Republicans have "had no indication of any movement on their part so far." The on-again, off-again talks were sus pended Jan. 9, after repeated meetings failed to yield a major breakthrough. Both sides are concerned with the ap- proaching Jan. 26 expiration of a tempo. rary funding measure that covers activi- ties within nine Cabinet agencies. Clinton lawyers deie Whitewater cover-up WASHINGTON - Deputy White House Counsel Bruce Lindsey :and former presidential lawyers Neil Eggleston and William Kennedy, ap- peared yesterday before the Senate Whitewater Committee to explain notes taken by Kennedy in 1993 containing, such phrases as "vacuum ... Rose Lu files," a reference to the former L.~ Rock, Ark., firm in which Kennedy and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton were partners. Kennedy rejected suggestions from the Republican-controlled panel that this n6o= tation meant the lawyers had discussed destroying or hiding law firm records relating to Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan, for which Mrs. Clinton had per- formed legal work.i, High court to consider reverse discrimination Los Angeles Times WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court cleared the way yesterday for white men to challenge government affirmative action "goals" in court, even when they cannot show they have been hurt by them. The court's action, in a California case, will probably widen the legal at- tack on public programs that steer con- tracts, jobs or other benefits to racial minorities or women. In the past, the court had maintained that a plaintiff must have suffered a true loss, such as losing a contract or a job, to have the "standing" to bring a lawsuit challenging a government program as unconstitutional. But the justices have relaxed that "standing" rule recently in affirmative action cases. In July, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of appeals in San Francisco relied on the new approach to revive a white architect's challenge to a state utility directive, which has steered $1.1 bil- lion a year in business to companies owned by blacks, Latinos, Asians, Na- tive Americans or women. White men have a right to challenge a state policy that "effectively encour- ages, if not compels, (utility compa- nies) to adopt discriminatory pro- grams" that favor minorities and women, wrote Chief Judge J. Clifford Wallace of San Diego for a 2-1 major- ity. Lawyers for the state Public Utility Commission appealed. Supported by California's giant utilities, the commission's attorneys said the rul- ing puts the entire program in jeop- ardy. They argued their affirmative- action effort should be upheld be- In other news Yesterday, the Supreme Court considered many important cases: 9 The Court refused to give federal copyright protection to the menu of a computer program, the part that guides a user through an application. The justices split 4-4, and left In place the lower-court decision in the case, which applies only to the far Northeastern part of the country. The dispute between Lotus Development Corp. and Borland International arrived at the high court after a protracted five-year legal battle B The Court limited the damages that can be won by the families of people killed over water in international air disasters. In a 9-0 ruling, the Court said a mother whose daughter died when Soviet fighters shot down a Korean Air Lines 747 in 1983 cannot win money for her "loss of society." The law allows damages only for financial losses, the Court said in Zicherman vs. KAL., 94-1361. Damages in international air crashes are already limited by the Warsaw Convention. cause it simply "establishes volun- tary goals, not quotas, set-asides or preferences." They also insistedthearchitect's law- suit should be thrown out because he cannot show he lost a contract because of the state's program. But yesterday, the high court rejected The Court let stand a ruling that awdrded patents for developing AZT, the main drug used in treating AIDS patients, to the Burroughs Wellcome Co. The decision, in Barr Labs vs. Burroughs, 94-1527, was a setback for generic drug-makers who said they should be allowed to sell the drug because scientists at the government's National Institute of Health helped put the Burrough's discovery into use. A federal patent court disagreed, ruling that inventors need not show how their discoveries can be used. The Court refused to hear a free- speech challenge to the government's procedure for fining broadcasters who air indecent programs. The Federal Communications Commission can fine a station up to $25,000 for violating its policy on Indecency, and it can take years for a broadcast to contest the fine in court. But the justices have been unwilling to reconsider the issue of indecency in broadcasting. (Action for Children's TV vs. FCC, 95-620) the state agency's appeal in PUC vs. Bras, 95-767, and cleared the way for the architect to seek a federal court order striking down the state policy as unconstitutional. The case now goes before U.S. Dis- trict Judge William Orrick in San Fran- cisco for trial. Court declines to rule in airbag case The Washington Post WASHINGTON - Ford Motor Co. suffered a setback yesterday at the Su- preme Court in a case that it said could expose automakers to a flood of litiga- tion over accidents involving cars with- out airbags. The Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling that would allow a New Hampshire family to sue Ford for fail- ing to install airbags in a 1988 Escort car, even though there were no federal rules specifically requiring air bags at the time of the car's manufacture. Rebecca Ann Tebbetts, whose fam- ily is suing Ford on her behalf, died in a May 1991 crash of that Escort in Holderness, N.H. At the time her Escort was made, fed- eral law required the installation of"pas- sive-restraint devices" - meaning that autoimakers had the option to install air bags. automatically closing seat belts, or any other device that met an auto safety performance standard. In 1991 the gov- emment ordered theauto industrytophase in airbags, and all new cars must be equipped with them by the fall of 1997. Iebbetts' car was equipped with an automatically closing seatbelt. But her faimily and lawyers contend she would have survived the crash had the Escort been equipped with a driver's-side airbag. The lower court, the New Hampshire Supreme Court, upheld the Tebbetts faiily 'sclaiim that they had a right to sue Ford for failing to install air bags, citing Ford's Own rinrecords, which said the bags were technologically feasible. Ford argued it could not be held li- able for failing to meet a federal re- quirement that did not exist. Ford's lawyers coitinued that line of argument yesterday. They were sup- ported by foreigi rivals, who said the New Hampshire court's ruling and the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to inter- vene subjects them and other manufac- turers to double jeopardy. "Our basic view is that there is pre- emption here," that the presence of a federal rule giving automakers the op- tion of installing air bags protects the industry from liability if companies in- stall another federally sanctioned de- vice, said PhilipA. Hutchinson Jr.,presi- dent and chief executive of the Asso- ciation of International Automobile Manufacturers Inc. China puts foreign financial news under tighter scrutiny BEIJING - In an attempt to regulate foreign news agencies that sell and dis- tribute economic information on Chi- nese financial markets, the government yesterday issued a Cabinet edict requir- ing foreign agencies operating in China to conic under the supervision of the official New China News Agency. The Chinese government said the move was made by China's ruling State Council to"safeguard state sovereignty, protect the legal rights and interests of the Chinese economic information us- ers and promote the healthy develop- ment of the country's undertaking of economic information." While the precise effects of the edict were not immediately clear, it prompted protests from the Clinton administra- tion, economists and news organiza- tions whose operations could be di- rectly affected, all raising the specter of censorship. The State Department said the move could "restrict the amount and type of information about economic matters in 4AA A . .. >,. . w; China." It called on China to reconsider or suffer damage to its credibility on economic issues and to its "overall eco- nomic prospects." In Geneva, diplo- mats said it threatened China's bid to join the World Trade Organization, Assassin says Rabits death was accidental- JERUSALEM - Yitzhak Rabi s confessed assassin says he didn't want to kill the Israeli prime minister, but only to injure him. "If I could have paralyzed hirp it would also havebeen good," Yigal Anir told a state commission investigog Rabin's death, in testimony made pub- lic yesterday. Amir, who confessed to killing Rabin to stop the Mideast peace process, said he aimed for the prime minister's spine and not his head. The 25-year-old Jewish nationalist shot Rabin twice at close range afterthe prime minister appeared at a Nov. 4 peace rally in Tel Aviv. Rabin died almost immediately. Amir'smurder al is slated to begin Jan. 23 in Tel A. - From Daily wire services I Seniors. You can have the Daily delivered to your home after you leave campus forever . Call 764-0558 and don 'tmiss a single issue. The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September. via U.S. mail are $85. winter term (January through April) is $95, year-long (September through April) is $165. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a member of the Associated Press and the Associated collegiate Press. ADDRESS: The Michigan Daily, 420 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1327. PHONE NUMBERS (All area code 313): News 76-DAILY; Arts 763-0379; Sports 747-3336; Opinion 764-0552 circulation 7640558: Classified advertising 764-0557: Display advertising 764-0554; Billing 764-0550. 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