Superproblems
Russia hits today's front-page jackpot. The New York
Times and the Los Angeles Times lead with dire economic assessments from
President Boris Yeltsin and Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko, while the Washington Post takes on Russia wannabe Belarus. The actual
WP lead, however, is the $23 million settlement of the Roman Catholic
Diocese of Dallas with eight ex-altar boys who were sexually abused by a priest
in the 1980s and early 90s. The story stunningly asserts that over the past 20
years, up to 2000 of 51,000 priests in the U.S. have been accused of sexual
assault, and that Roman Catholic dioceses have shelled out $800 million since
the 1980s in compensation for sexual abuse by priests. (The NYT and
LAT also run stories on the settlement.)
The NYT 's lead replays Yeltsin's Friday appeal to Western leaders for
$20 billion ($10 million of it from the IMF) to bail out Russia's faltering
markets. This amount almost doubles previously requested sums. According to the
NYT , Yeltsin embarked in a phonathon Friday, urging Western leaders to
pressure the ever-reluctant IMF to provide the money. And Yeltsin means
business--his telephone short-list included President Clinton, Jacque Chirac,
Tony Blair, Helmut Kohl, and Michel Camdessus (head of the IMF).
The LAT lead story focuses on Kiriyenko's depressing announcement
Friday that Russia's debts have reached 44 percent of gross domestic product.
Only a month ago, the LAT notes, Kiriyenko estimated Russia's debt at
one-third of GDP. The change dramatically illustrates the free-fall of the
Russian economy. Meanwhile, the WP , having tackled Russia's economics
earlier this week, goes next door to inhospitable Belarus, where nostalgia for
the Soviet Union and anti-Western sentiment reign supreme.
The court-martial ordered for two Marines whose plane downed an Italian
cable car receives front-page play at the LAT , but is inside at the
WP and NYT . The two Marines--the plane's pilot and the
navigator--face 20 counts including negligent homicide and involuntary
manslaughter. Charges against the other two Marines in the back of the plane
were dropped, though they will likely testify in the upcoming court
martial.
Another NYT front-pager states that federal judges are galvanizing
Congress to rethink the 1974 Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The
judges' goal is to make it easier for patients to sue HMOs and insurance
companies.
And the adventurous WP takes a front-page whirl through controversial
Dianaland (officially called "Althorp"), the glamorous museum- cum -shrine
that Earl Spencer created to memorialize his sister. Among the features: a
"Temple" with a marble silhouette of Princess Diana; a museum with her jewelry,
silk shoes, wedding gown, and other accessories; and an admission fee of $16.
Skinflints should stick to Graceland.
