The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 8

MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1999 THE SAUNA JOURNAL WOULD TRADE ORGANIZATION 'No deal better than bad deal' Labor leader, White House official agree talk collapse was OK fry Tht AMoelattd SWEENEY WASHINGTON The head of the nation's largest labor federation Welcomed the collapse of World Trade Organization talks in Seattle and the failure to agree on a new round of negotiations. "No deal is better than a bad deal," AFL- CIO chief John Sweeney said Sunday. President Clinton "would be of the same opinion," responded Commerce Secretary William Daley, adding the administration never would have signed a deal that did not benefit the United States. "We think that what was done hi Seattle as far as some progress issues was positive," Daley said, who followed Sweeney on CBS' "Face the Nation." "But I would agree with (Sweeney) a hundred percent that we were not going to do a bad deal." The four-day WTO session was to have begun development of an agenda for worldwide talks on trade relations, but it broke up early Saturday in disarray. Raucous, sometimes violent demonstrations and stern police reactions kept Seattle in turmoil 'during the conference.

But the lack of success inside meeting rooms was attributed to squabbling among negotiators unwilling to compromise on tightly held positions. The Associated Press Commerce Secretary William Daley says the White House would not have approved any trade deal at latt week's World Trade Organization meeting that did not benefit the United Statee. Many delegates, especially those from poor countries, objected to suggestions by Clinton that the WTO should set labor and environmental conditions and punish countries that ignore them. "We had 40,000 workers and their families gathered in Seattle peacefully protesting and trying to set a focus on worker rights, human rights and environmental protection," Sweeney said. "No deal is better than a bad deal.

I look at it more optimistically in terms of how the focus has been set on issues that are important. We all support trade, and we all recognize globalization, but it's about time that the WTO took into consideration worker rights." Asked if labor should favor the United States' abandoning the organization, Sweeney said: "We're still going to continue to negotiate trade agreements with or without the WTO. I think that we have to really assess what is the best process for that." Trump on trade Labor received support from New York developer Donald Trump, who is considering a Reform Party bid for president. "The World Trade Organization is not necessarily fair to America," Trump said on ABC's "This Week." "I do think in many cases the workers know a lot more than the people that are representing us on trade." Trump also went after a regular target, the administration's team of trade negotiators. "We don't have our best and our smartest and our brightest," said Trump, who has declared that if elected he would appoint himself as his administration's trade representative.

"If you look at other countries, they have their smartest, their toughest, their best negotiators. And we're not going to beat them unless we get ours." Does that mean that U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky and Daley, the commerce secretary, do not know how to negotiate? Trump was asked. "I would absolutely say that," Trump said. "1 will say that affirmatively." Daley defends talks Daley insisted the failure of the Seattle session does not end possibilities for eventual agreement.

"These negotiations have failed twice before in Montreal and also in Brussels, once before," he said. "In trade negotiations, every time there is an attempt to launch a round, it isn't always successful. But eventually they will be successful, and we will have the chance to sell more products." Daley also was asked about the reaction to Clinton's suggestions on child labor and other matters, which Third World countries say would strip them of their main trade bargaining chip cheap wages. Daley denied that the United States wants to dictate terms to the world. "There is 'no question that there ought to be an acknowledgment by the world that labor standards and labor issues are important to people," Daley said.

"Whether it's in the WTO or whatever forum, these issues need to be discussed. The president didn't say they must be done on our terms or this year." CRIME Most violent crimes by women are simple assault WASHINGTON Women commit about 2.1 million violent crimes each year in the United States, three-quarters of which are simple assaults on other women, one of the mildest forms of violent crime, the Justice Department said Sunday. By comparison, men commit about 13 million violent crimes each year, just over half of are simple assaults, and 70 percent of their victims are males, the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics reported. The figures were based on averages for the years 1993-1997 as measured in the annual National Crime Victimization Survey of about 100,000 people. The remainder of violent offens- es by both sexes were more serious: aggravated assaults, robberies, rapes, murders, i "This report shows that women are where men were during thy 1960s and 1970s, using their fists when they commit violent saults," said Jack Levin, a profek sor of sociology and criminology who directs the Brudnick Center 1 for Violence at Northeastern versity in Boston.

"The men have graduated into aggravated assaults and murder. The womert haven't followed." Women comprise almost 52 percent of the population. So the totals mean that there is one violent male offender for every nine males age 10 or older compared with one violent female offender for every 56 women age 10 or er, the bureau said. TELECOMMUNICATIONS Net firms will get access to cables By The Associated Press WASHINGTON intends to give competing Internet providers access to its high-speed cable lines. The move could quell fears about the telecommunications giant gaining too much control over what information reaches consumers' homes.

In a letter the company planned to send federal regulators today, pledges eventually to give its customers a choice of Internet providers over cable connections, according to sources close to the discussions. The letter to the Federal Communications Commission spells out the framework will use in negotiating future contracts with rival Internet providers that want to share the company's cable lines, the sources said. Among those signed on to the terms outlined in the letter is the nation's No. 2 Internet service provider, MindSpring Enterprises. Although the letter does not amount to a contractual agreement, it sets the stage for to reach a deal with MindSpring and other Internet companies.

officials have said before they would consider agreements with other companies once their exclusivity contract with Internet provider ExciteAtHome expires in June 2002. Location: 651 S. Location: 722 s. Location: 509 S.Broadway/Salina Bennett Autoplex We're Cooldn'Now! Come'N Get It! Put Your Family Tree In History It's Our Second Anniversary! And to celebrate, we've rustled up some great deals on savory vittles that will satisfy any cowpoke's appetite. SAVE QQ SAVP Aged Black Angus OnAnylwo Western Prime I OllAlly I Adult Dinner lintrees I ,) imuM Kmpon Valid lo, of! the valid uul, luiivhaM'01'anysiiiglfdiiiiHT ollu-t ollfi-Olli-i g.xid hn pun ul tli iMiici'f.

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Cost after December 15 is $12.95. Winners will be selected by ballots from the readers of the Journal. Each vote is $1. All proceeds from voting will be donated to the United Way. The Top 10 Winners will be published January 31, 2000.

Employees (and their families) of the Una Journal may enter but are not eligible to win. (Only the baby's name will be published) Zip I Daytime Phone. I E-mail Address. Please enclose a check or money order for $9.95 if mailed in time to teach Journal by Dec. 15, 1999.

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All submissions must be prepaid. Mail or deliver form to: The Sating Journal Baby Coated 333 South Fourth Salina, KS 67401 For more information call classified at 783-823-6363..