2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, No uestions Los Angeles Tunes LONDON - For nine hours, fire- fighters from two countries battled their worst nightmare - a stubborn blaze under the, English Channel in the new rail tunnel linking Europe with Great Britain. When it was over yesterday morning, there were melted rails, burned wires, severe damage in the "Chunnel," and embarrassing questions on both sides of the water. Choking from smoke and fumes, 31 truck drivers and three crew escaped from a Britain-bound freight train that burst into flames Monday night about 10 miles from Calais, a third of the way through the 31-mile tunnel. 'Three separate inquiries in Britain rvember 20, 1996 NATION/WORLD raised after 'Chunnel' fiu .S. ** - s..r.;S*.; .5., and France were launched yesterday to find out what happened and why in what was the worst incident since the Chunnel opened two years ago. By last night, all the eight injured passengers and crew were on their way home. But the tunnel itself was closed amid a traffic chaos on both sides of the channel that was compounded by gales and snow. Some limited Chunnel service may resume today, but officials said it would be months before full operations are again possible. There was praise for the rescue operation and for firefighters who braved searing heat and choking dark- ness. But the incident raised new ques- tions about the trouble-plagued Chunnel. As travelers and truckers jos- tled for space on airplanes and ferries, Eurotunnel shares slumped yesterday in London trading. "A few more minutes and it would have been a catastrophe,"said truck dri- ver John Williams, who was trapped in a smoke-filled lounge car with the other truckers. Le Shuttle - as the French term the Chunnel express - has carried almost 1 million trucks without serious inci- dent and there was no sign of trouble Monday night when the train left Calais carrying 29 trucks, most 44-ton 18- wheelers and each in its own lattice- sided rail car. Because the cars are open-sided, truck drivers make the 20-minute journey through the 31-mile tunnel in a special lounge car, unlike motorists who remain with their cars in enclosed rail cars designed to withstand fire for at least 30 minutes. Inflammable and hazardous cargoes are banned in the tunnel. Monday's blaze apparently began near the rear of the train in a truck car- rying polystyrene, a plastic-like pack- ing material. Fanned by the speed of the train, it quickly spread to five other trucks. In all, 15 trucks and the rear locomotive would be damaged before the fire was quelled. Smoke enveloped the train without warning, filling the lounge car with a noxious vapor that choked the truck dri- vers. Truckers told British reporters that they laid on the floor with wet napkins to their faces for 20 minutes. When the train stopped, the quick- thinking crew evacuated passengers into a service tunnel that runs parallel to the two main rail tunnels. A France-bound passenger train picked up the injured; eight were kept in hospital overnight in Calais with smoke inhalation. "If the disaster plan really worked well, people would have been evacuated 'without being exposed to noxious smoke. I'd hate to think of this happen- ing to a trainload of tourists," said Colin Brown of the Consumer Association. Critics on both sides of the chan- nel immediately raised questions that likely will be echoed by company and government investigators. With emergency fire bays installed at either end of the tunnel, why did the train stop? Govt. to pay for human experinments NEW YORK - The U.S. government will pay $4.8 million for injecting 12 human guinea pigs with uranium and plutonium without their knowledge as part of a Cold War-era radiation experiment. "Never again," Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary said in announcing the settle- ment yesterday. "Never again should tests be performed on human beings." O'Leary said $400,000 apiece will go to the families of the 11 victims who at now dead, and a woman still living in upstate New York. Doctors believe the deaths of the 11 were not directly related to the experiments. "This settlement goes to the very heart of the moral accountability the govern- ment owes its citizens," the outgoing energy secretary said at a meeting of the American Public Health Association. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said the government has yet to compensate about 20,000 other people used for biochemical experiments in the 1940s, '50s and '60s. The 12 victims in the settlement were injected in the 1940s - 11 with plutoni- um, one with uranium - to see how the human body would react to an atomic bombing. The tests sprang from efforts to develop atomic weapons. At the time, scientists claimed that the people were terminally ill anyway'and would not survive 10 years, but a number of them lived longer. *~4G Bkr r s 1.800.SURFS.UP CAN CUN""429 SOUTH PADRE"*149 *FREE 20+hrs. drinks *FREE Mexico pub crawrl FREE 15 meals !FREE beach parties !FREE excursions OFREE 12 meals *FREE cover charges *FREE cover charges _-Cwynunincudes. Air frm Defo t. doina, ad Transer.~ Pius Taxes and Fees r t. " -tts ti a STRIKE Continued from Page 1 these rights to research assistants. Despite the shortfall, the union did not appeal and said they would not strike if the UC universities accept the ruling. The UC Regents have appealed the ruling, and now three of the nine University of California campuses have striking TAs. Monday, 2,000 TAs, readers and tutors went on strike at UCLA. Tuesday, 500 TAs went on strike at UC-San Diego. Prudham estimated that UC- Berkeley's 1,200 TAs will join them today to complete the cycle. "The idea was for the strike to grow every day, showing power," Medearis said. The unions had voted to strike last spring if the university failed to recog- nize their rights. The strike is scheduled to last four days. "The people in this union are con- cerned teachers who see the steadily increasing class sizes and workload as damaging to the quality of education for students," said ASE member Katrina Pearson. "And it's really frus- trating that the administration has forced us to strike." Ex-Texaco executive charged with obstruction WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - The for- mer Texaco executive who secretly taped himself and his colleagues belit- tling blacks and plotting to destroy evi- dence in a race-discrimination suit was charged yesterday with shredding docu- ments in the case. Richard Lundwall, whose disclosure of the tapes was a gigantic embarrass- ment for the nation's 14th-largest cor- poration and led to the biggest race-dis- crimination settlement on record, is the first executive to face charges irr the scandal. The tapes "coi roborat; Lundwall's admissions regarding his participation, together with other officials, in an effort to corruptly destroy, conceal and withhold" documents for the lawsuit, FBI agent Joseph Mangan said in court papers. Lundwall, 55, of Danbury, Conn., could get up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines if convicted of obstruction of justice. "I think it's truly ironic that the only person accused is the individual who came forward with the tapes," said Lundwall's attorney, Christopher Riley. Institute urges fight on sexual 'seases WASHINGTON - Sexually trans- mitted diseases are diagnosed 12 mil- lion times a year in the United States - including a staggering 3 million cases among teen-agers, the Institute of Medicine reported yesterday. It urged a national attack to wipe out the largely hidden epidemic. The nation spends just $1 to prevent sexually transmitted illnesses for every $43 spent treating them, the report found. The tab reaches $10 billion a year not counting the massive costs of AIDS, the best known of these dis- eases. Left untreated, sexually transmitted diseases can cause infertility, cancer, birth defects and miscarriages. even death. ly .f. its' I: Tl- E %c: VORLD Ever Wonder ., Why the Birds Fly South? It's Not Just for the Weather. Al, '. ".w. . . 'pn - 4flF' 4, T he flagship of an excellent business school, our MBA program is nationally ranked for high quality and cost- effectiveness. Check out our references at right. What's more, a booming internation- al business community (Mercedes, JVC, British Steel) and outstanding computer, research, and classroom facilities make a UA business degree an especially great value. Our admission requirements? Like a lot of things about us, they're a little different; 0 Most MBA programs require several years' work experience - we want you right out of college. * Most programs prefer business majors - our students come from a wide range of backgrounds, and we like it that way. (Liberal-arts majors welcome here.) We're looking for bright, motivated students - especially those hoping to combine academic challenges with hands-on experience. If your grades and GMAT scores tell us you have potential, you can get an early start on the education - and the career - you want. r ,.::. . HE, BI BUSa SCHjL [UTravel ,, tIO S. UNNVERSIIY., STE. 208 (ABOVE MCDONALDS) 9:98-0200 h t t p://www *c ie e *o rg/traveI. ht m Video shows Israeli police beating Palestinians JERUSALEM - Two Israeli border police were arrested yesterday after. Israeli television aired an amateur videotape showing them beating and kicking six Palestinian workers. The Oct. 10 incident - captured in graphic footage that showed one officer kicking a worker in the head and his colleague sitting and bouncing on the bent head of a second detainee sitting cross-legged on the ground - created an uproar yesterday after its broadcast on Israel's Channel 1. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the officers' behavior, saying: "I am not prepared to accept it. I will not tolerate it, and peo- ple who behave like that are not fit to be in our security forces." Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, saying the incident was "shame- ful," called on Israel to investigate it and mete out appropriate punishment. "The University of Alabama offers one of the most low-cost, sought-after MBAs. But this does",t comes at the cost of academics." The Princeton Review Student Access Guide to the Best Business Schools, 1996 41ition )ri Y.a 'f NtK:l x"YR-Nb'{tt RAgyy. ., ' ,y .+x