President Clinton banned federal funding of research on human cloning .
He also urged privately funded researchers not to clone humans. A bill was
filed in the House to ban human cloning outright. Contrary to the traditional
objection to birth control--that it permits sex without reproduction--critics
of cloning are increasingly objecting that it permits reproduction without sex.
(3/7)
Underplayed : A California scientist announced that he has made chickens
behave like quails by replacing their embryonic brain cells with quail brain
cells. The media, consumed by the frenzy over cloning, have largely ignored the
brain-transplant story. Scientists point out that transplanting animal
tissue into human embryos is far more imminent than human cloning. Researchers
in Boston are already implanting fetal pig cells in the brains of Parkinson's
disease patients. The Associated Press raised the specter of "people with
socially unacceptable behavior being forced to undergo brain surgery."
(3/7)
Rebels
holding hostages at a diplomat's house in Peru broke off talks
with the government. They claim that police are preparing to storm the building
by digging a tunnel under the house. Peruvian officials say that the
tunnel-digging story is plausible, but that if it's true, President Alberto
Fujimori doesn't know about it. (3/7)
Flooding
along the Ohio River has killed 26 people, driven many
thousands from their homes, and destroyed more than $400 million worth of
property from Kentucky to West Virginia. (3/7)
A panel
of scientists conceded that a planned robot mission to Mars might bring back
harmful alien microorganisms . But the scientists said it's very unlikely
that Martian germs could do much damage here, since they probably can't compete
with Earth's own germs. (3/7)
Police
announced that they have ruled out JonBenet Ramsey's half-brother and
half-sister as suspects in her murder, evidently because both were out of town
when the crime was committed. Locals are said to be increasingly suspicious of
the refusal of the girl's parents to be interviewed separately by police.
Material collected from under JonBenet's fingernails--possibly tissue scraped
from the killer--is reportedly being examined by a lab. (3/7)
The
Democratic fund-raising scandal is closing in on Vice President Gore .
The Washington Post reported that during the 1996 Clinton campaign, Gore
made private phone calls (some from the White House) soliciting donations. The
report prompted further calls for an independent counsel, on the grounds that a
high government official (Gore) had violated the law by making political calls
from a federal building. Editorialists derided Gore's response that the law
doesn't apply to him. Gore and Clinton suggested that their end (getting
re-elected and thereby helping the United States) justified their means (using
the White House to raise money). Democrats also released records showing that
Vice President Dan Quayle had used his official residence for a reception for
high-dollar Republican donors in 1990. Pundits are bewailing the shattering of
their faith that Gore was the One Honest Man in the administration. The betting
now is that he's in for a stiff primary challenge in 2000. (3/5)
New
disclosures in the scandal: 1) The New York Times reported that
Webster Hubbell was paid far more money in the months after his
resignation than had been previously thought, much of it from Clinton's friends
and donors, and that the administration endorsed a project in China that was
financially important to the Riady family just after a Riady-controlled company
put Hubbell on its payroll. Whitewater Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr has
subpoenaed White House records, evidently to find out whether the
Riady-controlled Lippo Group paid hush money to Hubbell to prevent him from
cooperating with the Whitewater probe. 2) Hillary Rodham Clinton's chief of
staff accepted a $50,000 check to the Democratic National Committee--in the
White House--from an alleged "hustler" deeply embroiled in the scandal.
(3/7)
Update
on the investigation: 1) Republicans decided that the Senate fund-raising
probe will cover congressional as well as presidential campaigns, but will
concern itself with only "illegal activities," not soft money. 2) Attorney
General Janet Reno concluded that laws prohibiting political fund
raising in federal buildings apply only to direct campaign contributions,
not to soft money. This lets Vice President Gore and Hillary Rodham Clinton's
chief of staff off the hook, which, in turn, reduces the chances Reno will
authorize an independent counsel. 3) The House Intelligence Committee announced
an investigation of possible efforts by foreign governments to influence
last year's elections. 4) Newt Gingrich called the scandal "much bigger
... than Watergate." Democrats called Gingrich a hypocrite, since he was
recently reprimanded for unethical fund raising. (3/7)
Echoes
of the scandal abroad: 1) China replied to U.S. criticism of its
human-rights abuses by accusing the United States of corruption for letting its
political parties sell face time with their leaders. 2) Britain 's Labor
Party is demanding an investigation of a report that Prime Minister John Major
orchestrated an $800,000 donation to the Tories from a foreign businessman.
(3/5)
President Clinton welcomed Yasser Arafat to the White House and
criticized Israel for expanding Jewish housing in East Jerusalem.
Administration officials confirmed that Clinton was deliberately 1) "rolling
out the carpet" to enhance Arafat's prestige and 2) sending Israel a warning
not to screw up the peace process by provoking further conflict. News accounts
agree that Arafat has finally shed his image as a terrorist and is now being
honored by the White House not only as a virtual head of state but as the
indispensable player in the peace process. (3/5)
The
balanced-budget constitutional amendment failed--as expected. The Senate
voted 66-34 in favor of it, one vote shy of the two-thirds majority needed.
(3/5)
The
Dallas Morning News reported that "confidential defense reports" show
Timothy McVeigh confessed to the Oklahoma City bombing. The document in
question appears to consist of notes taken by a defense attorney during an
interview with McVeigh in prison. But McVeigh's lawyer indicated that his team
had faked the putative confession in order to persuade a witness to talk to
them, and an Oklahoma reporter has now confirmed that the defense team's
private eye told him of the fake confession a year ago. The executive editor of
the Morning News dismissed the fabrication theory as ad hoc damage
control. (3/5)
The
Immigration and Naturalization Service, pressured by the White House,
rushed
immigrants through naturalization last year and ended up
granting citizenship to hundreds--if not thousands--of people who should have
been rejected because of past felony convictions. Again, Vice President Gore is
at the center of the controversy. According to the Washington Post ,
records indicate that the pressure came from Gore's office and was driven in
part by hopes of registering new Democratic voters. (3/5)
Scientists have identified
another obesity gene . The gene creates UCP2, a protein that determines
whether an animal burns calories or stores them as fat. The next step is to
develop drugs to influence the gene and thereby treat obesity. (3/3)
