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The Michigan Daily -Tuesday, October 3, 1995 - 7
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France vow
Australia, New Zealand,
Environmental groups protest
break In testing moratorium
PAPEETE,Tahiti (AP)-Emboldenedbyluke-
warm reaction to its second nuclear test in the
South Pacific, France reaffirmed its commitment
yestirday to press ahead with more underground
The environmental group Greenpeace called
trnday's test beneath Fangataufa Atoll in French
Polynesia "an enormous affront." Australia and
New Zealand lodged formal protests with the
Frenchgovernment, and New Zealand again called
in the French ambassador there.
. 'the United States andotherkey allies merely
'erssed "regret" at the test, and Britain and
I Opxany reacted with indifference.
"I haven't heard any demands - I've only
heard regrets," French Foreign Minister Herve de
Charette said at a meeting of European foreign
n1inisters in Luxembourg.
Premier Alain Juppe said yesterday that France
will conduct up to six more tests and "be among
the first" to sign a global test ban treaty next year.
President Jacques Chirac has promised to sign
the treaty after the tests, which he contends are
sf and necessary to check France's nuclear
rsenal and develop computerized simulation tests.
"The test Sunday was more than five times
stronger than the first one, the French Defense
Ministry said yesterday.
The ministry issued a terse statement, saying
only that the blast was "less than 110 kilotons."
New Zealand seismologists estimated the blast
was about 100 kilotons and produced a shock
wave equal to a 5.9 magnitude earthquake.
The Sept. 5 test on nearby Mururoa Atoll mea-
sftrd less than 20 kilotons, slightly larger than the
bomb dropped on Hiroshimain 1945. The tests are
conducted about a half-mile below ground.
.'~elatest blast was widely believed to be a test
afth TN-75 warhead for France's new subma-
rih&aunched nuclear missile.
The Foreign Ministry repeated yesterday that
France might shorten the series of tests, now
planned to end by June, if it gets enough informa-
tion from the first few blasts.
But environmental groups and the nations of
the South Pacific have reacted angrily to the tests,
which break athree-yearmoratorium. The world's
lter nuclear powers, except China, have not
td nuclear arms since 1992.
J; s a wrong call for France politically and it is
fepponsible environmentally," said New
'Zeiland's prime minister, Jim Bolger.
unday's blast also provoked swift condemna-
'tion from the prime minister of Australia.
Japan, Russia, the United States, Chile, Sweden
and the European Commission expressed "re-
gret," while Germany and Britain - Europe's
othnuclearpower-carefully avoided criticiz-
ing the blast.
"if the French decide there is a need for tests
be~ee a comprehensive test ban treaty, that is a
wtQir for them," the British Foreign Office said
'4~ Ettement- .
e White House defended its reaction. "The
d of the word 'regret' in respect to one of our
close European allies is strong indeed," said presi-
dential spokesman Mike McCurry.
rs to press on with nuclear testing
Top court
rejects
abortion
chaenge
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Su-
preme Court cast aside a broad chal-
lenge to federal limits on abortion-clinic
protests as its 1995-96 term began yes-
terday with a blizzard of paperwork but
without the chief justice.
Giving abig victory to abortion-rights
advocates, the court let stand rulings
that said the federal Freedom of Access
to Clinic Entrances Act does not in-
fringe on anyone's freedom of expres-
sion or religion.
With Chief Justice William H.
Rehnquist home recuperating from back
surgery, the court turned away more
than 1,500 appeals.
In other action yesterday, the court:
Ruled that the way Tennesseeelects
the 33 members of its state Senate does
not illegally dilute black voters' politi-
cal strength. Black voters had argued
that a 1992 redistricting plan violated
the federal Voting Rights Act.
Rejected the appeal of Prof.
Leonard Jeffries, who was ousted as
chairman of a New York college's
black-studies department after he was
accused of making a bigoted and anti-
Semitic speech.
Refused to hear an appeal by
Charles Keating, convicted of fraud and
racketeering in the most expensive sav-
ings and loan failure in U.S. history.,
Keating had sought review of rulings
that require him to repay $36.4 million
to the collapsed Lincoln Savings &
Loan.
Turned down the appeal of two
California men who say they were vic-
tims of unconstitutional, excessive
force when police dogs pursued and
bit them.
The challenged abortion-clinic law
makes it a crime for anyone to block,
hinder or intimidate someone who seeks
to enter.
Although yesterday's action was not
a ruling - and therefore not necessar-
ily the definitive word on the law's
validity - it was a key setback for anti-
abortion activists.
Jay Sekulow of the American Center
for Law and Justice called the court's
action "very disappointing," but said
his organization would continue chal-
lenging the federal law.
"The Supreme Court missed an im-
portant opportunity to strike down a
law that has turned the First Amend-
ment on its head and crippled legiti-
mate, peaceful protest," Sekulow said.
Ar PPHOT
Special police officers confront Greenpeace members, dressed up as a nuclear bomb and as French President Jacques Chirac, in front of the French Embassy.
Q&A: Jacques Cousteau criticizes French leaders, atomic bombs
Los Angeles Times ( put it, "He can't avoid us forever."
PARIS - Jacques Cousteau had risen at 4 (Nuclear testing) Question: Let's begin with the hot political
a.m. to polish a speech and then spent the day in (N ceissue of the moment. What is your opinion of
the editing room, .working on yet another doce only means improving President Jacques Chirac's decision to resume
mentary. It was after sunset when the 85-year-- nuclear tests?
oldFrenchoceanographeremerged,butthenight bombth at are meant Answer: I'm not a nuclear specialist, but I
was young. I know what I'm talking about. I was one of the
"The day rarely ends before I11 p.m.," he said. to kill opl ,, directors ofthe Marine Radioactivity Laboratory
"I have a dinner tonight at 9:30 until I-don't- of the International Atomic Energy Agency for
know-when with the director-general of - Jacques Cousteau 25 years. We measured the radioactive fallout
UNESCO." French oceanographer, film-maker ' from the atmospheric tests done by the Russians
After more than six decades of traveling, div-' and Americans during 1972-1973, and so there I.
ing, writing and producing films, Cousteau, as weight here..For years now, opinion polls have ' got quite an experience.
his schedule suggests, still has plenty of energy ranked him among the most-respected French I have all my life been against atomic bombs
left for a good fight. And that is bad news for the figures, second only to .Abbe Pierre, another and for complete nuclear disarmament. I have
French government. octogenarian who is an advocate for the home- never approved of these tests, because they can
Since June, when President Jacques Chirac less. only mean improving bombs that are meant to
decided to resume nuclear-weapons tests in the Cousteau's battle with the French government kill more people if you use them. There is no
South Pacific, Cousteau has become a vocal isn't his first. In 1960, Cousteau and Prince question about that.
critic, calling the tests "an unavowed menace to Ranier of Monaco opposed France's plan to Q: What about the argument that Chirac makes
future generations."A few days ago, he and other dump radioactive wastes into the Mediterranean -that these tests will make the world a safer
members of a presidential advisory group, the Sea, evcntually forcing France to abandon the place by giving the French scientific community
French Council for the Rights of Future Genera- plan. a better understanding of its nuclear weapons?
tions, abruptly resigned, en masse, in protest. This season's battle, though, is tougher. Chirac A: Bull, the scientific community. We don't
Ofcoursethe French government faces world- shows no signs of calling off the tests and, so far, want any kind of atoric weapons. Chemical
wide protests. But criticism from the slender, he has declined to meet Cousteau and others on weapons have beenoutlawedby all the nations of
gray-haired Jacques-Yves Cousteau carries great thepresidential advisory council. But,asCousteau the world. Bacterial warfare has been outlawed.
Daschle's Medicare plan calls
for lower premiums in 1996
1. -7
From Daily Wire Services
WASHINGTON - Further raising the stakes in the par-
tisan battle for public opinion over Medicare reform, the
Senate's top Democrat yesterday unveiled an alternative
plan that would allow seniors to actually pay less in premi-
ums in 1996 but would cut Medicare's spending growth by
about a third as much as the Republican proposals.
Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said he intends to offer his
plan as a substitute to the GOP bill when the controversy
reaches the Senate floor later this year.
He called the Republican
proposal, which was approved
Saturday by the Senate Fi-
nance Committee, "radical
and extreme," and said his
proposal represents "a sen-
2" sible" alternative.
It would reduce Medicare
spending by $89 billion over
10 years--compared to the
$270 billion in savings over
rP seven years that the GOP is
Daschle seeking. Both plans would
achieve the savings largely
through payment reductions to providers.
Daschle said the spending reductions in the Republican
blueprint go "way beyond what is necessary" and would
cause "a Medicare meltdown."
At a Capitol Hill news conference, Daschle added that his
plan would not require seniors to pay more in co-payments,
premiums or deductibles.
The Senate minority leader's plan was the third Demo-
cratic alternative to be announced in less than a week - a
good barometer of the growing Democratic resolve to scale
back both the Republican Medicare proposal and the $245
billion GOP-proposed tax cut.
For months now, Democrats have been doggedly fighting
the Republican Medicare plans, characterizing the proposed
reductions in the annual growth of spending as too severe
(from about 10 percent to 6.4 percent) and inappropriate at a
time when the GOP also wants to enact such a large tax cut.
Republicans have strenuously argued that there is no
connection between the two, but the unrelenting Democratic
Congress votes to deny
welfare to non-citizens
WASHINGTON (AP) -- If Republicans get their way,
people who renege on promises to support immigrant
relatives could be forced to repay the government for any
public assistance those family members receive.
It's one way that Congress is trying to crack down on
health and welfare benefits paid to more than a million
non-citizens.
Lawmakers may go even further and decide to bar
lower-paid Americans from bringing immigrant family
members into the country - a problem for military per-
sonnel who marry while stationed abroad.
The crackdown on legal immigrants who wind up on
welfare is part ofa larger effort by Congress to cut federal
spending by billions of dollars, undo the social programs
of the New Deal and Great Society, and turn responsibility
for the poor over to individual states..
The House passed its welfare overhaul in March; the
Senate followed in September.
Many specifics of the legislation must be worked out by
House and Senate negotiators, but the bottom line is the
"same: Millions of legal immigrants eventually will lose
their right to receive a wide range of public benefits, from
food stamps and cash to disability payments and non-
emergency health care.
Under both bills, the families who bring these immi-
grants to the United States will beheldto the promises they,
have made to support their relatives.Today, such promises
,,are not legally binding due to court decisions.
People who sponsor an immigrant relative would be
subject to a $5,000 penalty and required to notify authori-
ties whenever the sponsors move. The sponsors also could
be held liable.for the costs of any services or benefits
provided to the immigrant by public assistance programs.
of the tax cut because some conservative Republican sena-
tors now harbor doubts about enacting the tax cut, which the
House passed in March.
"Some Republicans are finally hearing what we've been
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