European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 15, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 2 the stars and stripes monday january 15,1990 news updates Prague communists Prague. Czechoslovakia a the communist party has agreed to withdraw 90 to 100 of its deputies this month to become a minority party ending 41 years of communist dominance in parliament a civic forum spokes Man said. Petr Pithart said the agreement came during negotiations among the communists the civic forum opposition movement and other political parties. The communists now hold More than 200 of the 350 seals in parliament. The remaining seats Are held by members of parties that in the past were Allied with the communists but have become increasingly in dependent. Some non party Mem Bers also hold seats. Negotiators agreed that parliamentary elections will be held Junco. First lady s ailment Washington a bar Bara Bush is finished with the radiation treatments for a stubborn Eye ailment that has impaired her vision. However she will not know for at least two months How effective the treatments have been. The first lady has undergone the last of 10 radiation treatments said Anna Perez. Mrs. Bush s press Secretary. After receiving the 10-Minutc radiation dose at Walter Reed army medical Center. Mrs. Bush returned to the White House and took her daily swim in the out door heated swimming Pool Perez said.  relations Mexico City a de spite harsh mexican criticism of an Abc to series on the killing of . Drug agent Enrique Camarena. The controversy will not affect working relations Between the United states and Mexico a government spokesman has said. Now More than Ever the relationship Between our nations i Friendly particularly among those dedicated to fighting drug Traffick  said Fernando Anas chief spokesman for Federal attorney general Enrique Alvarez Del Cas Tillo. The criticism erupted following the broadcast of drug wars based on the i98s murder of drug enforcement administration agent Camarina. Irao asks turks to shorten euphrates River blockage Baghdad Iraq a Turkey blockage of the euphrates River for a month will seriously harm Iraq and could cause a real agricultural disaster in the Long term Iraq s ruling party newspaper warned sunday. The turks diverted much of the euphrates on saturday to fill a huge Reser voir at the Italy re dam Centrepiece of an ambitious irrigation and hydroelectric project in Southeastern Anatolia prov Ince. The 1,460-mile euphrates flows South from Turkey through Syria and Iraq to the persian Gulf. Amid indications of heightened ten Sion Over Turkey s move a top level iraqi delegation led by Oil minister Issam Abdul Rahim Al Chalabi flew to Ankara on sunday to urge the turks to reduce the diversion period the iraqi news Agency reported. The delegation also will deliver a letter from president Saddam Hussein to the turkish president. Turgut Ozal. Dealing with the euphrates problem and bilateral relations the official Agency said. We re sure the turks do not seek to harm us but if this measure continues it will for sure harm Many iraqis. And Many economic establishments. We Hope Turkey will cooperate the report quoted the letter As saying. The baath socialist party s Al thaw a daily warned sunday that relations could suffer if Turkey docs not relent. It said in a front Page editorial that the drastic reduction in the euphrates flow will affect 3.2 million acres of prime Farmland in the euphrates Basin. The action also will Force Iraq to shut Down four Power plants in the Western Region that produce about 40 percent of the country s electricity the daily said. Turkey said its action would reduce the euphrates flow to one Quarter of the nor Mal Soo cubic meters a second. The iraqis tried in vain to persuade inc turks not to proceed with the cutoff but sought earlier to play Down the Impact of the turkish action on their Agri culture and Industry. The detailed com ments on the cutoffs effects by the authoritative Al thaw a were in marked contrast to the earlier statements. Officials believe that the euphrates flow could eventually be reduced from its cur rent 32 billion cubic meters a year to 11 cubic meters a year 2 billion cubic me ters less than Iraq says is its minimum requirement the newspaper said. Al thaw a reported that seven prov inces with 5,000 villages inhabited by about 5.5 million people about one third of the population will be threatened by the severe water shortage. Syria in severe economic trouble is almost totally dependent on the River for irrigation and hydroelectric Power. It has so far made no official comment on sat urday s cutoff by the turks. Iraq which receives a smaller amount of the euphrates water is less dependent because it has the Tigris River whose headwaters arc also in Turkey. But it still relics heavily on the euphrates. Al thaw a urged Turkey to reduce the cutoff period from 30 Days to 10-14  said a two week cutoff would be enough for the turks to fill the Reservoir at Ataturk. Murder and Mutiny charges sought for 21 officers in Philippines coup Manila Philippines a the military chief has approved recommendations that two generals and 19 other officers be charged with murder and Mutiny in connection with last month s coup attempt the military said sunday. President Corazon Aquino thanked foreign governments for expressing their support for her during the Mutiny and said there will be no More bids to seize Power if her government succeeds in undertaking reforms. Armed f9rces chief of staff Gen. Re nato de Villa approved a recommendation by a military investigating com Mittee to prosecute air Force Brig. Gen. Jose commendador army Brig. Gen. Marcelo Blando and 19 officers arrested after the failed coup dec. 1 to dec. 9 those to be subjected to a pretrial investigation before formal charges arc filed included two Navy captains one colonel seven lieutenant colonels three majors five captains and one first lieu tenant. Twelve of the rebel officers be Long to the army. The military said about 3.000 rebel soldiers took part in the coup attempt the sixth and most serious bid to topple Aquino. The fighting left at least 113 people dead and More than Soo wounded. Commendador seized the Mac Tan air Force base in Cebu 350 Miles South of Manila on the first Day of the rebellion and held out until dec. 9. Blando the commander of the elite 7th infantry div was called in to reinforce Loyal troops but he joined the rebels according to do Villa in a recent television interview. Another rebel officer la. Col. Rafael Galvez led about Soo army scout rang ers who seized several High Rise apart ments and hotels trapping about 1,600 guests in the Manila financial District for four Days. Galvez and his forces later surrendered. The military investigating panel said three air Force officers capt. Elmer Amon capt. Var gel Nacino and 1st it. Joey Sarroza piloted planes that bombed the Malac Anang presidential Palace inc armed forces Headquarters and a television station on the first Day of the uprising. The rebel aircraft were later destroyed by government fighter planes and . F-4 phantom jets flew air cover for Loyal troops. In an interview sunday a general said the military discovered the plot in june and moved against rebel recruitment among Young officers who achieved a certain measure of tactical Surprise Only because some commanders ignored intelligence reports of the impending re Bellion. Mai. Gen. Ramon Montano chief of the philippine constabulary said key rebel leaders were driven by personal ambition and tried to recruit Field com Manders. A military statement said the 21 offi cers who arc being detained in a military Camp were the first Batch of ranking leaders of the coup attempt to be charge with Mutiny murder and conduct Unbe coming of an officer. In a statement Given before a separate investigating commission created by Aquino commendador denied he was involved in the coup claiming that his action prevented mutineers from bring ing More War planes to Manila. Astronauts conduct tests on flawless flight space Center. Houston a space shuttle Columbia s Crew performed medical and science experiments sunday As they passed the Halfway Point of what a flight director called a flawless  near the midpoint the Crew beamed to Earth a television shot of Mission specialist Marsha Ivins checking David Low with an Choc radiograph a de vice that generates a two dimensional Cross sectional image of inc heart. It is among Many experiments the astronauts Are conducting to determine How Well the human body adapts to weightlessness in space. Columbia launched tuesday is scheduled to land Friday at Edwards fab Calif. Assessing the first half of the trip flight director Al Pennington said it has been a flawless flight. We have a beautifully running  the 10-Day flight is the sec9nd longest shuttle mis Sion. It is intended As a stepping Stone toward longer shuttle flights and months Long stays aboard space Sta Tion Freedom. Commander Dan Branden slain Pilot Jim we Thor acc and Mission specialists Bonnie Dunbar Ivins and Low were continuing experiments begun the Day of launch including special movie camera observations of various Sites on Earth. This is the second longest shuttle Mission that we be had so far Low said saturday so we can do some Good materials science experiments up Here and we can also get some very Good medical  one Experiment which involved melting and resold defying a Metal broke Down Friday when a Glass con Tainer cracked probably because of overheating. But pinning Lon said sunday that experts on the ground had found a solution and that the astronauts were working to resume the Experiment. The Glass Container called an ampule contains the element Indium a Metal that melts at a relatively Low temperature. It had been feared that the cracked con Tainer could shatter sending shards of Glass floating around the Cabin. Pennington said one of the astronauts wearing a mask and gloves removed the ampule and vacuumed the machine involved in the Experiment. There was no sign of any Loose Glass shards pinning Lon said adding that a new Glass Container was to be installed later sunday. On Friday the astronauts captured the 11-ton Long duration exposure facility a space Laboratory and lucked it into the shuttle s cargo Bay. The operation saved the lab and the 57 experiments on Board from burning up in the atmosphere on March 9, when it was expected to plunge to Earth. The astronauts look time out saturday to play the theme song from the movie attack of the killer to Matoes As they showed Mission control a drawing of def entwined in wild Tomato vines. It was a joking reference to an def Experiment with 12.s million Tomato seeds destined for student research. Brandenstein s 22-year-old daughter Adelle had sent a greeting to the Crew asking have the killer tomatoes attacked yet i guess that answers Adelle s question earlier the commander said