Week In Review A Look Back At The Top Stories From The Last Week
NATION
Who needs spies?
A select House committee, in a classified report unusual for its bipartisanship, has found that over the last 20 years China has obtained some of the most sensitive American military technology.
The committee’s final report, unanimously approved by its five Republican and four Democratic members, found that during Republican and Democratic administrations alike, China acquired a range of technology and technical secrets far beyond the transfers of information during the Clinton administration that prompted the panel to begin its inquiry this summer.
The committee agreed with the Pentagon and the State Department that information shared with Chinese scientists by two American companies, Hughes Electronics Corp. and Loral Space and Communications, had improved Beijing’s ability to launch satellites and ballistic missiles.
What’s your hurry?
In the first signs of serious discord among Senate Republicans over impeachment, several Republican senators said they opposed a proposal that would permit a preliminary vote on articles of impeachment without a full trial.
“That’s a whitewash and a shirking of our responsibility the Constitution gives us,” said Sen. James Inhofe, a conservative Oklahoman.
Under the proposal that is now being floated by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi and Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the minority leader, the House and the White House would take no more than two weeks to make their cases. Chief Justice William Rehnquist would preside, but no witnesses would be called.
At the conclusion of the proceeding, the Senate would vote on whether the charges are serious enough to warrant a full trial that could lead to President Clinton’s removal from office. The vote would require the approval of 67 senators, the same number needed to convict and remove Clinton. If the resolution fails, the Senate would then turn to a censure proposal, an alternative that is already being hotly disputed.
WORLD
Their best shot
Iraqi forces fired between six and eight surface-to-air missiles at U.S. and British warplanes in the southern Iraq no-fly zone Wednesday, but all planes escaped unharmed and American pilots retaliated with missiles and bombs against the missile site, U.S. and British officials said.
Iraq said it had “almost certainly” shot down one U.S. or British plane, but a U.S. spokesman said: “We don’t practice propaganda in this country, and I can tell you 100 percent that no American or allied coalition aircraft were damaged or shot down.”
An Iraqi military spokesman said the U.S. fire was directed at a village and had killed one farmer and injured two other persons.
It was the second such exchange of fire this week, as Iraq has announced it no longer considers itself bound by the two no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq that keep its own planes grounded.
REGION
To err is Humanitarian
A Humanitarian Bowl victory celebration in downtown Boise turned ugly early Thursday morning, resulting in the arrests of two University of Idaho football players and the investigation of two Vandal assistant coaches.
Freshman starting nose tackle Wil Beck, 19, was charged with illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor, resisting and obstructing an officer, and disorderly conduct. Junior offensive lineman Keith Cosseboom, 22, was charged with fighting. They were ordered to appear in court on Jan. 21.
More than 100 revelers celebrating the team’s unexpected win over Southern Mississippi spilled into the streets when the bars closed at 2 a.m., and several fights broke out. When Boise Police attempted to break up the fights and disperse the crowd, the partiers turned on them, said police Lt. Jim Tibbs.
During the confrontation, Tibbs said, an “extremely intoxicated” man who identified himself as an assistant UI coach tried to obstruct police. Officers also heard that a second, unidentified assistant coach had been sneaking underage football players into bars and buying them drinks.