Volume CXXXIII, Number 16 February 15, 2002 f

News briefs

Shays-Meehan campaign finance bill passes in House
After 17 hours of parliamentary debate, The House of Representatives narrowly approved a bill that overhauls the federal campaign finance system. The Senate passed almost identical legislation almost a year ago, and Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), Senate majority leader, said he would bring the new bill to a vote there soon.

The bill, known as Shays-Meehan, would prevent political parties from collecting 'soft money' donations, which have far fewer restrictions placed on their use than 'hard money' accounts. Supporters of the legislation argued that soft money donations allow corporations and wealthy interests to unfairly influence lawmakers. Opponents protested that the donations are a legitimate form of political speech.

Several amendments to the proposed law failed to pass House votes last night. The amendments were introduced by Senators hoping to make the bill significantly different from the Senate version, which would lead to months of conference negotiations stalling the legislation. 200 Democrats (including southern Maine's representative, Tom Allen), 39 Republicans and one independent voted for the bill. Only 12 Democrats voted against the measure.

Milosevic defends himself in international court
Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic began his legal self-defense this week before prosecutors and judges at the International Criminal Tribunal. Milosevic, charged with wartime atrocities throughout the 1990s, argued that the legal authority of the international court is baseless, and that his trial is a sham.

Prosecutors anticipate that Milosevic will also point to the NATO bombing campaign that aimed to stop his aggression in Kosovo as a crime in itself.

The chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, is expected to summon witnesses from high levels of the Yugoslav government as well as close friends of Milosevic. The Serbian leader has said he will call former U.S. president Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, and British prime minister Tony Blair to the witness stand.

President of Rockefeller University resigns
Arnold Levine, a respected biologist, resigned as president of Manhattan's Rockefeller University after he admitted to a relationship with a 21-year-old student there. Sources close to the Board of Trustees, which accepted Levine's resignation on Sunday, said that the student described the relationship as consensual. The two were seen together in early January in a lounge near the president's office.

Levine remains in charge of a campus laboratory; he won recognition in the 1970s for helping to discover a gene that helps to suppress the growth of cancer cells.

Western Falun Gong protestors detained in China
Political activists from several European nations converged on Beijing's Tiananmen Square on Thursday for a protest in support of Falun Gong, a spiritual sect labeled an 'evil cult' by the Chinese government. The protesters, from Germany, Belgium, Finland, Canada, and the UK, were arrested by police.

The sect has enjoyed popular support in China and has adherents worldwide, but has run into difficulty convincing Chinese citizens to participate in its political protests. The actions followed the deportation of a Canadian and an American on Wednesday after their arrest for Falun Gong support.

-compiled by James Fisher