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Voice of America, 99-09-28

Voice of America: Selected Articles Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Voice of America <gopher://gopher.voa.gov>


CONTENTS

  • [01] CLINTON - TURKEY (L) BY DEBORAH TATE (WHITE HOUSE)
  • [02] CLINTON - TURKEY WRAP (S) BY DEBORAH TATE (WHITE HOUSE)
  • [03] TURKEY - U-S / KURDISH PROTEST (L) BY PAMELA TAYLOR (WASHINGTON)
  • [04] TURKEY / PRISON RIOTS (L ONLY) BY AMBERIN ZAMAN (ANKARA)
  • [05] CLINTON-KOSOVO (S-ONLY) BY DAVID GOLLUST (WHITE HOUSE)
  • [06] KOSOVO ATTACK (L ONLY) BY TIM BELAY (PRISTINA)
  • [07] YUGOSLAVIA/U-N (L) (CQ) BY NICK SIMEONE (UNITED NATIONS)
  • [08] BELGRADE / SOUP KITCHEN (L ONLY) BY PHILIP SMUCKER (BELGRADE)
  • [09] GERMAN ATTACK (L ONLY) BY JONATHAN BRAUDE (BERLIN)
  • [10] I-M-F TUESDAY WRAP (L-ONLY) BY BARRY WOOD (WASHINGTON)
  • [11] N-Y ECON WRAP (S & L) BY BRECK ARDERY (NEW YORK)

  • [01] CLINTON - TURKEY (L) BY DEBORAH TATE (WHITE HOUSE)

    DATE=9/28/1999
    TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
    NUMBER=2-254433
    CONTENT=
    VOICED AT:

    INTRO: President Clinton -- encouraged by improving ties between Turkey and Greece -- is sending his special envoy for Cyprus to the region to seek a resumption in talks aimed at resolving the dispute over the divided island. The White House announced the move after Mr. Clinton met with Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit Tuesday. Correspondent Deborah Tate reports.

    TEXT: U-S officials say special envoy Al Moses could travel to the region as early as next week to try to get the parties back to the negotiating table. Mr. Clinton -- pleased by Greece's quick response to Turkey's devastating earthquake last month and Turkey's prompt aid to Greece after a smaller temblor there this month -- spoke of an improving relationship between the two countries that could promote a resolution of the Cyprus issue.

    /// FIRST CLINTON ACT ///

    This meeting is occurring in an atmosphere of hope, and a positive atmosphere.

    /// END ACT ///

    Speaking at the start of his talks with Mr. Ecevit, Mr. Clinton reiterated U-S support for the effort to find a peaceful end to the dispute over Cyprus, which has been divided ever since Turkish troops occupied the northern third of the island in 1974.

    /// SECOND CLINTON ACT ///

    What we have been working for all along is resumption of UN-sponsored talks without preconditions, and we hope somehow we can find a way to get there.

    /// END ACT ///

    The President also expressed hope that better ties between Athens and Ankara -- along with improvements in Turkey's human-rights record -- will improve chances for Turkey to gain membership in the European Union. U-S officials say Mr. Clinton also used his meeting to reiterate the need for Ankara to continue pursuing peace in its conflict with Kurdish rebels in eastern Turkey. He and Mr. Ecevit discussed the appeal by the jailed leader of the radical P-K-K Kurdish faction, Abdullah Ocalan, to his followers to withdraw from Turkey. But U-S officials say the Prime Minister described a situation in which it is not clear that withdrawals are taking place. During their two-hour meeting, which also included a White House lunch, Mr. Clinton also thanked Mr. Ecevit for Turkey's role in the international peacekeeping operation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and for providing logistical support during NATO's bombing campaign in Yugoslavia. For his part, the Prime Minister thanked the United States for its assistance in the recovery and reconstruction effort following the August 17th earthquake, and sought additional aid to continue the rebuilding effort. Mr. Clinton vowed to consider the request, and raised the possibility of increased investment through the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. Mr. Clinton is to travel to Turkey and Greece in November. (Signed)
    NEB/DAT/TVM/WTW 28-Sep-1999 18:36 PM EDT (28-Sep-1999 2236 UTC)
    NNNN
    Source: Voice of America

    [02] CLINTON - TURKEY WRAP (S) BY DEBORAH TATE (WHITE HOUSE)

    DATE=9/28/1999
    TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
    NUMBER=2-254437
    CONTENT=
    VOICED AT:

    INTRO: President Clinton - encouraged by improving ties between Turkey and Greece - is sending his special envoy for Cyprus to the region to seek a resumption in talks aimed at resolving the dispute over the divided island. The White House announced the move after Mr. Clinton met with Turkish Prime Minister Boulent Ecevit Tuesday. Correspondent Deborah Tate reports. Text: U.S. officials say special envoy Al Moses could travel to the region as early as next week to try to get the parties back to the negotiating table. Mr. Clinton - pleased by Greece's quick response to Turkey's devastating earthquake last month and Turkey's prompt aid to Greece after a smaller temblor there this month - spoke of an improving relationship between the two countries that could promote a resolution of the Cyprus issue. He reiterated U.S. support for the effort at the start of his meeting with Mr. Ecevit:

    // Clinton actuality //

    What we have been working for all along is resumption of UN-sponsored talks without preconditions, and we hope somehow we can find a way to get there.

    // end act //

    The President - who plans to visit Turkey and Greece in November - also called on Ankara to improve its human rights record, a move that he says would help Turkey gain membership in the European Union. (signed)
    NEB/DAT/PT 28-Sep-1999 18:47 PM LOC (28-Sep-1999 2247 UTC)
    NNNN
    Source: Voice of America

    [03] TURKEY - U-S / KURDISH PROTEST (L) BY PAMELA TAYLOR (WASHINGTON)

    DATE=9/28/1999
    TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
    NUMBER=2-254438
    INTERNET=YES CONTENT=
    VOICED AT:

    INTRO: Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit met with President Clinton at the White House (Tuesday), as about 50 Turkish Kurds and their sympathizers rallied across the street (in Washington's Lafayette Park). The protesters demanded immediate action by the two leaders to help reconcile differences between Kurds and Turks. V-O-A's Pamela Taylor reports.

    TEXT:

    /// SFX: RALLY CHANTING ///

    The protesters sang the Kurdish nationalist anthem, shouted slogans like "Give Peace a Chance" and listened to a long list of speakers. Their message was directed to both President Clinton and Prime Minister Ecevit, asking them to take advantage of recent events to work for peace between Turks and Kurds. Several speakers spoke about a recent call by the imprisoned leader of the Turkish Kurds, Abdullah Ocalan, for his followers to lay down arms and discuss peace. To date, they said, Mr. Ocalan's supporters in the Kurdish Workers Party, the P-K-K, have honored that request, but there has been no counter gesture from the Turkish authorities. The Turkish government and guerrillas of the P-K-K have been fighting each other for the past 15 years. Ankara has defended its crackdown on the outlawed Kurdish group, calling it a terrorist organization. P-K-K officials like Mr. Ocalan counter that they are defending their right to preserve their culture. Najmaldin Karim of the Washington Kurdish Institute told the protesters that perhaps Prime Minister Ecevit will hear their calls for peace during his visit to Washington. But Mr. Karim said, true peace means addressing the basic human right to have one's own culture:

    /// KARIM ACT ///

    If we can not hear Kurdish songs, Kurdish language, literature, culture ... what sort of peace is it? As a citizen of the Republic of Turkey, I have the right to demand "glasnost" [Russian for "openness"] from my state.

    /// END ACT ///

    // OPT //

    Joining the Kurdish-American groups at the rally was a Turkish peace activist from Istanbul, a leader of the American Hellenic Institute and representatives of four U-S Congressmen. All of them expressed the importance of seizing the moment to heal the divisions between Kurds and Turks, following last month's devastating earthquake, which brought all the people of Turkey together. // END OPT // The Turkish Ambassador was among those invited to send a speaker to the rally. Instead, supporters of the Turkish government held a separate demonstration to denounce terrorist activities. Guler Koknar of the Assembly of Turkish American Associations explains why the group decided not to join the Kurdish peace rally:

    /// KOKNAR ACT ///

    That's a sympathizer group for the P-K-K, so we don't really want to be with them on this. I mean, they're doing this as a peace rally but you see that they have the picture of [Abdullah] Ocalan up and he's the last person to talk about peace.

    /// END ACT ///

    Ms. Koknar said most Turks believe Mr. Ocalan told his followers to cease their armed operations against the Turkish government as a gambit to avoid the death penalty. In June, a Turkish court condemned Mr. Ocalan to death for terrorist-related activities. His sentence must be approved by the Turkish Parliament before it can be carried out. (Signed)
    NEB/PAM/WTW 28-Sep-1999 19:37 PM EDT (28-Sep-1999 2337 UTC)
    NNNN
    Source: Voice of America

    [04] TURKEY / PRISON RIOTS (L ONLY) BY AMBERIN ZAMAN (ANKARA)

    DATE=9/28/1999
    TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
    NUMBER=2-254404
    CONTENT=
    VOICED AT:

    INTRO: Turkish police (on Tuesday) detained scores of demonstrators, including human rights activists in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet district. As Amberin Zaman reports from Ankara, the demonstrators had gathered to protest the killings by security forces of 11 leftist prisoners in an Ankara jail.

    TEXT: Turkey's Justice Ministry and the Ankara prosecutor's office have launched separate investigations into circumstances surrounding the outbreak of violence Sunday at Ankara's Ulucanlar prison that resulted in the deaths of 11 leftist inmates. As word of the shootout spread, leftist inmates at other prisons seized scores of prison guards and continue to hold at least 60 of them hostage. Human rights groups described the storming of the prison by security forces as a "pre-planned massacre," and there are widespread allegations that some of the victims bore wounds inflicted by blunt instruments and had their throats slit. Lawyers for the prisoners say they cannot confirm the allegations because they were denied permission to see their clients' bodies. Turkish authorities say Sunday's prison raid was launched following a tip-off that a group of inmates belonging to armed extremist left wing organizations were digging a tunnel through which they planned to escape. Turkish authorities on Monday showed reporters weapons and explosives they say they had been found in the prison dormitory. Critics say lax security and widespread corruption at Turkey's overcrowded prisons facilitates the smuggling of weapons, drugs, and cell-phones by inmates. Prisoners often take hostages or stage hunger strikes to protest living conditions or to show solidarity with illegal political or armed groups that they support. Turkish officials say negotiators are continuing to talk to the rebel prisoners to secure the safe and speedy release of the prison guards. (Signed)
    NEB/AZ/JWH/JP 28-Sep-1999 11:43 AM EDT (28-Sep-1999 1543 UTC)
    NNNN
    Source: Voice of America


    [05] CLINTON-KOSOVO (S-ONLY) BY DAVID GOLLUST (WHITE HOUSE)

    DATE=9/28/1999
    TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
    NUMBER=2-254420
    CONTENT=
    VOICED AT: Intro: President Clinton has underlined his continuing support for automony within Yugoslavia - rather than full independence - for Kosovo. VOA's David Gollust reports from the White House. Text: Mr. Clinton has added his own voice to those of Administration spokesmen who have been stressing there has been no change in U-S policy regarding Kosovo's future. Unnamed U-S officials have been quoted in newspaper accounts as saying independence for the ethnic-Albanian province is inevitable. But in comments to reporters as he greeted Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit for talks, Mr. Clinton said Kosovo should remain within Yugoslavia:

    /// Clinton actuality ///

    We have supported and we continue to support for Kosovo autonomy, which is now protected autonomy because of the conduct of the Serbs and the government of Mr. Milosevic. And that continues to be our position. We need to do our best to implement the agreement that we have made within the policy framework that both NATO and the United Nations have approved, and we intend to do that.

    /// end act ///

    Earlier, presidential spokesman Joe Lockhart dismissed as "fiction" a report of a deep split between the Administration and European allies about Kosovo's future. (Signed)
    NEB/DAG/JP 28-Sep-1999 14:20 PM EDT (28-Sep-1999 1820 UTC)
    NNNN
    Source: Voice of America

    [06] KOSOVO ATTACK (L ONLY) BY TIM BELAY (PRISTINA)

    DATE=9/28/1999
    TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
    NUMBER=2-254406
    CONTENT=
    VOICED AT:

    INTRO: Two people have been killed and 39 were injured-- at least four of them seriously -- in a grenade attack Tuesday at a market in central Kosovo. Tim Belay reports from Pristina that officials have arrested four ethnic Albanians in connection with the attack.

    TEXT: The attack took place at mid-morning Tuesday in the village of Bresje, six kilometers southwest of the capital, Pristina. Two grenades hit the marketplace. The victims are said to be ethnic-Serbs. A spokesman for the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo, Ole Irgens, says it is not certain if the attackers used rifle-propelled or hand-thrown grenades. The attack came as ethnic Serbs and Albanian Kosovars in the area entered a third day of violent confrontations. Peacekeeping troops closed off access to the region on Monday after an ethnic Albanian man was dragged from his car and severely beaten when he mistakenly drove into a Serb demonstration. In response to the grenade attack Tuesday, Serbs reportedly have blocked the main road connecting Pristina with Kosovo's main airport. The major city in the region, Kosovo Polje, has a mostly Serb population, but the villages that surround it are populated predominately by ethnic Albanians.

    /// OPT ///

    The area also was the scene of heavy fighting between Yugoslav armed forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army./// END OPT /// In another development, four Serbs were arrested Tuesday as suspects in the abduction of 23 ethnic Albanians earlier this year. Bodies of the people who investigators believe were the victims of an April raid by Serb paramilitaries have been discovered near Mitrovica in northern Kosovo. The U-N's Yugoslav war crimes tribunal is overseeing the investigation at the gravesite. (Signed)
    NEB/TB/JWH/JO 28-Sep-1999 12:02 PM EDT (28-Sep-1999 1602 UTC)
    NNNN
    Source: Voice of America

    [07] YUGOSLAVIA/U-N (L) (CQ) BY NICK SIMEONE (UNITED NATIONS)

    DATE=9/28/1999
    TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
    NUMBER=2-254439
    CONTENT=
    VOICED AT:
    /// EDS: RE-ISSUING CR 2-254425, FIXING NAME IN 1ST LINE OF TEXT ///

    INTRO: The United Nations Security Council has rejected Yugoslavia's criticism of its decision to transform the Kosovo Liberation Army from an ethnic Albanian rebel group into a civilian protection force. Correspondent Nick Simeone reports from the United Nations where Belgrade has been arguing that this protection force is just a reconstituted version of the K-L-A.

    TEXT: Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic charges the K-L-A is being allowed to exist in another form. He says this is a violation of a U-N resolution which demands some 200-thousand Serb refugees be allowed to return to Kosovo and live in safety. He told reporters the K-L-A's transformation earlier this month from a rebel group to a lightly armed civilian protection force amounts to an attempt to legalize what Belgrade regards as a terrorist organization.

    /// JOVANOVIC ACT ///

    About 400 persons have been killed in various terrorist attacks. About 500 have been kidnapped and about 600 have been wounded. In the light of ethnic cleansing, terrorism, destruction, one can not speak about successful implementation of the resolution of the Security Council but rather be profoundly concerned about systematic violation of that resolution.

    /// END ACT ///

    But Security Council members appear to have rejected Yugoslavia's arguments, siding instead with NATO commander General Mike Jackson and the U-N's Kosovo administrator, Bernard Kouchner. These top Western military and civilian leaders in Kosovo oversaw the K- L-A's transformation. Dutch Ambassador Peter Van Walsum is the rotating president of the Security Council.

    /// VAN WALSUN ACT ///

    In the very complex circumstances that prevail in Kosovo, Mr. Kouchner and General Jackson had found the best way of demilitarizing the K-L-A. The outcome of the discussion was in any case that everybody felt that we should give our full support to Mr. Kouchner.

    /// END ACT ///

    Yugoslavia has been trying to make the case here that the K-L-A and its leaders are terrorists and that stability can never return to Kosovo province as long as the group is allowed to operate -- under any name. Meantime, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has warned ethnic Albanian leaders that the killing of Serbs and other acts of terror in Kosovo could cost them international aid. (SIGNED)
    NEB/NJS/TVM/JO 28-Sep-1999 19:41 PM EDT (28-Sep-1999 2341 UTC)
    NNNN
    Source: Voice of America

    [08] BELGRADE / SOUP KITCHEN (L ONLY) BY PHILIP SMUCKER (BELGRADE)

    DATE=9/28/1999
    TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
    NUMBER=2-254418
    CONTENT=
    VOICED AT:

    INTRO: Winter is approaching in Serbia and lines at local soup kitchens are already growing longer. Philip Smucker went to the Seventh Day Adventist church in downtown Belgrade, where food is in short supply and diners say they expect things to get much worse.

    TEXT: At the Seventh Day Adventist Soup Kitchen, the pressures are growing. Church leader Zoran Stanevic, who helps coordinate the free lunch, says that he feeds 200 people, all of whom have an income of 20 dollars or less a month. He says that already, the hungry mouths outnumber the meals that the charity ADRA (AH-drah) can pay for.

    /// STANEVIC ACT / WITH TRANSLATION ///

    I believe it is getting worse since the bombing. The salaries are not paid regularly, not to mention the pensions. A lot of the people who come here are pensioners and many of them are invalids as well, and they usually have very small incomes and they are not regular now.

    /// END ACT ///

    The past decade has been hard on Serbia, but this winter could be the worst. Humanitarian organizations, like ADRA (AH-drah) which runs the soup kitchen here, predict severe food and fuel shortages. Even young university graduates are starting to line up for free meals in Belgrade. Jasna Despotovic finished school as a bio genetics expert three years ago but cannot find a job. She can no longer survive on her mother's tiny pension, and says young people in Serbia feel helpless to change their situation.

    /// DESPOTOVIC ACT / WITH TRANSLATION ///

    I was never expecting this to happen, but this is the destiny of the young people like me who can not control what is going on in this country so those who do not have a chance to leave will have my destiny.

    /// END ACT ///

    Tens of thousands of street demonstrators demanding the removal of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic have marched through Belgrade for the past week. But organizers remain disappointed with the number of young people who have turned up for the protests, and they say a feeling of helplessness is growing among Serbia's younger generation. (SIGNED)
    NEB/PS/JWH/BK 28-Sep-1999 14:37 PM LOC (28-Sep-1999 1837 UTC)
    NNNN
    Source: Voice of America

    [09] GERMAN ATTACK (L ONLY) BY JONATHAN BRAUDE (BERLIN)

    DATE=9/28/1999
    TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
    NUMBER=2-254413
    CONTENT=
    VOICED AT:

    INTRO: A German police chief has written to the U-S Ambassador to Germany to express regret for an attack by neo-nazi youths against five U-S military bandsmen. Jonathan Braude reports from Berlin.

    TEXT: U-S military authorities are playing down the incident. But district Police President Ute Leichsenring and officials in the eastern German state of Brandenburg are embarrassed. Five U-S military bandsmen, on a goodwill visit to the German military garrison in the small town of Prenzlau outside Berlin, were accosted in the street by a group of local youths, and beaten with a wooden club when they failed to respond to a neo-Nazi salute. The district prosecutor's office says the bandsmen had taken part in a concert at the garrison headquarters earlier in the evening. They had changed into civilian clothes and taken a walk through the town. Although both German authorities and U-S military officials said they would be seeking further evidence from the five soldiers, the outlines of what happened next are clear. As the soldiers were returning to the garrison at about five in the morning, ready to travel back to their own barracks in southern Germany, five young men and a girl came up to them, gave a Nazi salute, and shouted "Sieg Heil." When the U-S soldiers failed to respond, the German youths attacked them and ran away. A U-S military spokesman said the men suffered only a few minor bruises and scratches and even one soldier with a broken nose did not think the matter was very serious. But the Brandenburg government is less relaxed. The former East German state has an ugly history of attacks against foreigners. In addition, the state has one of the worst records for racial attacks anywhere in Germany. Interior ministry spokesman Manfred Fueger said officials are especially concerned because the number of attacks has risen in 1999 after falling last year. There were 40 cases of right-wing, anti-foreigner or anti-semitic violence in the state in the first six months of this year and 27 violent attacks against individuals. In her letter to U-S Ambassador John Kornblum, police chief Ute Leichsenring said the state government is doing its best to re-educate local opinion. The police have set up a special anti-xenophobia unit and racial tolerance is taught in schools. But Brandenburg authorities say they are fighting an uphill battle. Unemployed and disaffected youth are still attacking foreigners. And in elections this month, Brandenburg put neo-Nazi deputies in the state parliament for the first time since the end of World War Two. (Signed)
    NEB/JB/JWH/JP 28-Sep-1999 13:17 PM EDT (28-Sep-1999 1717 UTC)
    NNNN
    Source: Voice of America


    [10] I-M-F TUESDAY WRAP (L-ONLY) BY BARRY WOOD (WASHINGTON)

    DATE=9/28/1999
    TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
    NUMBER=2-254429
    INTERNET=YES CONTENT=
    VOICED AT:

    INTRO: The annual meeting of the Interational Monetary Fund and World Bank is underway in Washington. V-O-A's Barry Wood reports on the first day's highlights.

    TEXT: I-M-F managing director Michel Camdessus opened the meeting by noting the impressive economic recovery underway in East Asia and parts of Latin America. The world economy, he said, is in much better condition than it was a year ago. Mr. Camdessus said the I-M-F, which is owned by its over 180 member governments, will stand behind its commitment to Russia and not cut off lending despite worries about possible theft of foreign money. World Bank president James Wolfensohn said debt relief for the poorest countries will be a principal accomplishment of the meeting. Indonesia used the I-M-F meeting to express its commitment to democracy and express deep regret over the loss of life in East Timor. Central bank chief Sjahril Sabirin said the government accepts the decision of the East Timorese to seek a new destiny outside Indonesia. Mr. Sabirin promised decisive action to overcome a new financial scandal involving the diversion of bank money to members of Indonesia's ruling party.

    /// SABIRIN ACT ///

    We consider this to be a very serious matter and we know that we need to resolve it in a transparent manner and in a way that is consistent with Indonesian law.

    /// END ACT ///

    Market based reform in Indonesia has been set back by the latest scandal and the I-M-F has suspended it lending. I-M-F managing director Camdessus said lending to Indonesia will be resumed after a new government takes office later this year. (Signed)
    NEB/BDW/TVM/PT 28-Sep-1999 17:16 PM LOC (28-Sep-1999 2116 UTC)
    NNNN
    Source: Voice of America

    [11] N-Y ECON WRAP (S & L) BY BRECK ARDERY (NEW YORK)

    DATE=9/28/1999
    TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
    NUMBER=2-254428
    CONTENT=
    VOICED AT:

    INTRO: Stock prices in the United States were down today (Tuesday) in a very volatile session. V-O-A Business Correspondent Breck Ardery reports from New York.

    TEXT: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 10- thousand-275, down 27 points. The Standard and Poor's 500 index closed at 12-hundred-82, down one point. The NASDAQ index lost a small fraction of one percent. Stock prices were down most of the day with the Industrial Average plunging more than 200 points or two percent. But bargain-hunters substantially cut the losses late in the session. Analysts say traders continue to focus on next Tuesday's meeting of governors of the Federal Reserve Board, the U-S central bank. Until the bank governors make a decision on short-term interest rates, analysts say, financial markets will probably remain volatile.

    /// REST OPT ///

    Charles Crane of the Key Asset Management company says although worries continue about the central bank decision, there seems to be a growing consensus on Wall Street that the bank's governors will not raise rates.

    /// CRANE ACT ///

    Traders are definitely concerned about whether the "Fed" is going to raise rates. But, currently, the weight of the evidence is that the "Fed" will not raise rates.

    /// END ACT ///

    An indication that interest rates may not be raised came from the latest index of consumer confidence in the United States. It was down for the third month in a row. Analysts say that may help convince the central bank that the U-S economy is starting to slow on its own and there is no need for higher interest rates. The price of gold passed 300 dollars an ounce for the first time in almost a year. Gold prices began rising Monday in reaction to an announcement that European central banks will restrict their gold sales. Chase Manhattan, the second-largest banking company in the United States, will pay one-point-three billion dollars for Hambrecht and Quist, one of the nation's leading investment banks. The deal will give Chase the ability to underwrite new stock and bond issues and offer other investment banking services. Tyco International, the U-S-based electronic component manufacturer, will pay one-point-one billion dollars for the electronic switching unit of Siemens of Germany. Analysts say the deal will immediately add to Tyco's profits. The stock of Aetna, the largest U-S health insurer, fell more than 10 percent, after the company warned it is having trouble earning a profit in its recently acquired Prudential health care unit. The stock of C-M-G-I, an Internet venture capital firm, rose five percent after the company reported better than expected earnings. The initial public offering of the day was the stock of Foundry, a computer networking company. Foundry's stock gained more than 500 percent on its first day of trading. A U-S central bank governor says American banks and financial services firms should have no serious problems connected with Year 2000 computer failures. Roger Ferguson says major U-S financial institutions have conducted exhaustive testing to make sure their computer systems are Y-2K compliant. (Signed) NEB/NY/BA/LSF/JO 28-Sep-1999 17:13 PM EDT (28-Sep-1999 2113 UTC)
    NNNN
    Source: Voice of America
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