The Times from Shreveport, Louisiana • Page 17

SUNDAY. NOVEMBER 29. 1998 17A THE TIMES World HIM Spccidtung in Design 6i Installation of Church Commercial Systems 3825 Gilbert 86 1-5953 Saddam's son sends elite force to crack down after failed assassination ATTENTION Kmart Shoppers On Page 6 of the November 29 Toy insert, due to manufacturers inability to distribute, the Play Station game, "Centipede will not be available. On Page 7, the RUGRATS Movie Dolls ARE $17.99 each AND NOT A SET of three. On Page 8, the $34.99 ACCULINE JR.

golf set is incorrectly pictured. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused our customers. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. The Associated Press BAGHDAD, Iraq President Saddam Hussein's eldest son, Odai, ordered commandos renowned for their ferocity to lead a crackdown in the southern city of Karbala after an assassination attempt on a top official, a newspaper reported Saturday. Babil newspaper, published by Odai, said 39 "saboteurs and agents" have been arrested since Monday's attempt on the life of Izzat Ibrahim.

Babil did not say if those arrested were involved in the attempt, but it described them as those "who had sold themselves to the enemy." No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Babil hinted that foreign agents were involved a reference to neighboring Iran, with whom Iraq fought a war in 1980-88. Karbala, where the attack occurred, is a holy city 70 miles south of Baghdad in the southern Shiite Muslim heartland, long a source of opposition to Saddam and his government The report did not say how many commandos from the paramilitary Fedayeen unit took part in the crackdown there or how long it lasted. Odai commands the Fedayeen, whose 40,000 members are often shown on television butchering cats, dogs and wolves and then eating their raw meat to demonstrate their aggressiveness. They wear black masks while on duty and are trained to defend the country in a crisis. "Babil has learned that heroes from Saddam's Fedayeen stormed hideouts of saboteurs and agents 72 hours after the vicious aggression on Mr.

Izzat Ibrahim," the report in Babil said. Ibrahim is Saddam's deputy on the powerful Revolutionary Command Council and also serves as a deputy commander of the Iraqi armed forces. He escaped without injury when an unidentified assailant hurled two grenades while he was attending a religious ceremony in Karbala. Several of his bodyguards and bystanders were wounded. Witnesses said Ibrahim's bodyguards killed the lone attacker.

Iraqi dissidents abroad claim that Baghdad faked the news about the assassination attempt to justify its repression of Shiite Muslims in southern Iraq. Shiites comprise a slight majority in Iraq, but Saddam and most of his officials are Sunnis. The attack on Ibrahim was the first reported assassination attempt on a senior Iraqi official since December 1996, when gunmen shot Odai several times while he waited in his car in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood. Meanwhile, Iraq's parliamentary speaker, Saadoun Hammadi, has accused the United States of building an airport near the northern town of Sarsang "to ferry troops and equipment" to rebels, the official Iraqi News Agency reported. FOR THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS a "one of a kind" collectible.

-hurry Jbr best selection- Police shoot Chinese farmer who killed 7 BEIJING Police in southwestern China shot dead a farmer after he killed his newly wedded wife and six villagers, the state-run Farmers' Daily reported Saturday. Tian Zhaokai and his wife, Huang Zumei, were on their way to her mother's home in Yunnan province to perform a traditional ceremony when Tian lost the sacrificial chicken and the couple began arguing, the newspaper said. Tian pointed a pistol at I luang and told her if she didn't stop arguing, he would shoot her, the report said. She ran and he stabbed her to death with a knife. Hien, distraught, he fled and in Wugu village fatally shot six people and seriously wounded two others, the paper said.

More than 100 police caught up with him as he hid in a forest. When Tian resisted arrest, they shot him, Farmers' Daily said. Fossilized primates found in Myanmar YANGON, Myanmar Fossilized primate remains have been found in a 40-million-year-old rock, a discovery that could lead to a better understanding of when man first appeared in Asia, members of a Myanmar-Japanese team said Saturday. The remains of the primates, with an upper jaw and teeth still intact, were found earlier this month in the Pondaung region of northwestern Myanmar, also known as Burma. Col.

Than Tun, leader of the Myanmar team, told reporters the remains were a "vital find," complimenting the discovery at Pondaung last year of the left and right lower jaws of an amphipithecus primate. The latest finds were of pondaungia and amphipithecus primates, he said. Court orders new trial for ex-Italian premier ROME An Italian appeals court overturned one of the corruption convictions against former Premier Bettino Craxi and ordered a new trial, news reports said Saturday. Craxi was one of several people convicted of taking kickbacks linked to the merger and quick breakup of Montedison, a privately owned chemical giant, and the state-owned ENI chemical group. Tie short-lived new enterprise was called Enimont.

Many political and business leaders profited from the deal. Prosecutors, alleged that the deal produced $92 million in kickbacks divided among Italian political parties. Craxi, head of the Socialists, was convicted in 1 997 and sentenced to four years in prison. Craxi, who is living in self-imposed exile in Tunisia, was convicted in several other corruption cases. Declared a fugitive from justice by Italian courts, he has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence and said he is the victim of a political vendetta.

Army deserter kills six in Tehran rampage TEHRAN. Iran An Iranian army deserter stole a gun, hijacked a van and shot to death six people, including three policemen, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Saturday. The soldier, identified as Siavosh Rahmani-Aqdam, fled after the shootings on Thursday in southern Tehran, and police have mounted a manhunt, IRNA said. Describing Rahmani-Aqdam as a "deserter and a known hooligan," IRNA said he hijacked a van at gun point minutes after stealing a gun. IRNA did not say where he stole the gun from.

Later, in an "act of mania," the soldier shot dead six people and wounded several others, some of them critically, IRNA said. 1 It gave no oilier details. Cleaner acquitted for accepting cigarettes OTTAWA A Canadian judge has ruled that a woman could accept tax-free cigarettes as payment for cleaning work she did at the Iraqi Embassy because the embassy could not afford to pay her in cash. Anahit Geodjzjan, who accepted two cases of cigarettes from her employer last year, was charged with illegally possessing tax-free tobacco intended for embassy personnel only. The judge on Friday said Geodjzjan could accept the cigarettes because she had not been paid for more than two months' work.

The Russian immigrant had been promised a $300 salary but had yet to collect, the court was told. The judge said Geodjzjan acted as any "reasonable person in these circumstances," and never thought she was receiving "anything other than a legitimate gift." Albanian president signs constitution TIRANA Albania Albania's president signed the nation's first post-communist constitution Saturday, proclaiming it effective immediately. Thanking international officials for supporting the referendum process, President Rexhep Meidani called the constitution "the symbol of Albania's European future." The document outlines civil, democratic and human rights in the country of 3.2 million, which emerged from communism in 1991. According to Albania's Central Voting Commission, slightly more than half of the country's registered voters participated in the election last weekend, and an overwhelming 93 percent voted in favor of Sali Berisha, leader of the opposfe lion Democratic Party, has said his party would refuse to recognize the constitution as legitimate and on his supporters Saturday to gather in the capital's main square to protest against adopting it. From Wire Reports Progress made in slain lawmaker case The Associated Press by unidentified assailants on the stairs of her apartment building in St.

Petersburg on Nov. 20. Her killing is believed to have been a contract hit, a crime that is common yet rarely solved in Russia. Skuratov said detectives are poring over evidence left at the scene and are close to finding people "who could have witnessed this crime," according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. Starovoitova was one of the most prominent, victims of violence in post-Soviet Russia.

Her death has serve as a rallying point for the country's liberals. Lampe Berger does what a candle cannot do. Completely eliminates tobacco smoke, cooking odors and pet odors. Murray's Interiors www.lampcbergers.com Slag jijt- if no cjM 800-86 1 -5Q53 'Big S(ij Carvers Hand-Carved Wildlife Montana Bronzes are limited editions and include a Certificate of Authenticity 0 the leemont ft company 1'if rrcmont Mall 4HDI Line Ave. Mon Sdt 10:00 Sun 1:00 5:00 8-1414 10-3 Friday 10-3 Saturday (318) 798-8400 Canon 'lJ BUYTHREE ROLLS AND GET ONE PHOTO SUPPLY 4345 Line Ave, 86 1-7664 1790 E.

BertKouns tea of ttf: 1 I Ax MOSCOW Detectives are making headway in their probe into the killing of a prominent! liberal law-, maker and expect soon to locate witnesses, the country's prosecutor general said Saturday. "Tliis is the first time we've had such a situation on our hands, when are helping us very actively, and there is a large amount of information that we immediately Yuri Skuratoy said in a television interview. Parliamentary leader Galina Starovoitova was gunned down KILLCGLQI! rW2PQOIGlTAL iM-fK7itnmBR anew House AX Jli Leather 4 fe1-- TXT tl 'JLLf fori ilfffSSSo Dee's Special Holiday Kit includes Canon Zoom bens, gadget tog, Iter, lens core kit, photo album, and tablelop tripod. Fully automatic, uhraompact s'lver matte-finish and quiet 3Smm AF SLR with retractable buik-in flash. High-speed selectable 2-point autofocus system withAl Focus for improved performance Canon's exclusive MM system links 3-pointkF to multi-zone metering for available light and flash.

Supports advanced flash system features including E-TTL, FE Lock and High-Speed Sync mode with optional Speedltes 380EX and 220EX. I exposure modes including 5 Programmed Image Control modes for easy shooting. Handy dateltime imprint feature. Includes Canon U.SA, Inc. -year limHedYhrrantIRegistrauon Card.

gallerY ff refill ami! Come by selection Fresh-cut Free Water Stand with purchase today while the is best! Christmas trees Accent Statuary Garden 'j. Excellent selection Bunnies, Angels, lfMK Cherubs. Vt Poinsettias -Pink. Red. White NOTHING ESCAPES AGFA FILM tt ik sr i I tt.

and Marble isPr-h Ltyt Vr fy varieties, CT Shaped, -4 inch to Hanging Baskctsizc- Topiaries counties 1 Heart. Ring and Cone plus more! Wreaths Garlands mr Fresh-cut and Custom decorated. Distinctive Gifts For the garden and home-tabletop fountains, hand blown glass hummingbird feeders, gazing globes, distinctive windrhimcs, lamps, gardncr's gifts and more. For all your lawn and landscape needs come by Akin 's Nursery today. While mppltes last AGFA fr FILM Dee's Low Price HDC 2004-Pack.

S9.9S 421 Market St, 42M 534 "X- DUDS CLGARArJCE S(IOP EARLY! FIREPLACE CHRISTMAS LAMPS WROUGHT IRON $9fl99 MINI-TIFFANIES BAKERS RACKS CONSOLES tt)V BEDS TABLES ACCESSORIES JEWELRY WSSSSSh CANDLEHOLDERS COPPER PLANTERS VASES RUGS r'irrn nf CrinnHc OIL PAINTINGS PORCELAIN UlCie OT riiUllClS CLOCKCANDELABRA SETS (am FISH BOWLS WINE RACKS 099.1 jOQ PLANT DOLLIES SPITTOONS AND MUCH MORE! I N'S A All 5901 Last Kings Shreveport, LA 1 W.V4 E3bfe AW OPEN SUNDAYS I 5PM.