European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 22, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 b the stars and stripes sunday december 22, 1991the fat one offers weighty payoffs Madrid Spain apr the lottery that Bills itself As the worlds richest rained a record $1.3 billion in tax free winnings on thousands of Lucky ticket holders saturday in a Spanish Holiday tradition dating Back almost two centuries. The five digit number picked saturday for the grand prize in Spain a Christmas lottery known Asel Gordo the fat on paid 300 million pesetas $3 million to holders of each of 95 tickets bearing the winning number 47996. The number which was sold in Madrid was picked at 11 23 a.m., More than two hours after the drawing began. Since each of the 95 winning tickets Cost $300, most of them were split among friends families colleagues and club members. The annual drawing showers its winnings on thousands across the country Marks the Start of the Holiday season and is More popular in Spain than soccer or Santa Claus. The Jackpot is billed As the worlds largest although other lotteries offer larger single prizes. The state run lottery handed out $1.3 billion saturday including $285 million for the top prize. Each of the second prize tickets was Worth $1.4 million and third prizes returned $720,000. The Long standing tradition brought Spain to a standstill As television and radio stations covered the drawing in which 24 boys and girls from the St. Ilde Fonso school matched numbers and prizes chanting out the winning numbers to a waiting nation. Money won in the lottery is tax free because the National Treasury takes its 30 percent Cut before the drawing is held. Total ticket sales this year were a record $1.89 billion meaning that each of Spain a 39 million people spent an average of $48 in the lottery. Spain a National lottery system was set up in 1763 by King Carlos Iii. The Christmas lottery has been a tradition in Spain since 1818.Columbus ships arrive at san Juan san Juan puerto Rico a a Spanish Flag was burned and cannons boomed Over san Juan Harbor on Friday upon the arrival of three replicas of Christopher Columbus ships retracing his voyages to the americas. Several thousand spectators cheered and waved puerto rican flags As they spied the replicas of the 15th-Century Nina Pinta and Santa Marfa. Cannons in a Spanish fort overlooking the Harbor were fired in greeting. About 75 protesters chanted anti colonial slogans and a Young woman burned a Spanish Flag. Protesters briefly scuffled with police who handcuffed the woman. No one was injured and the woman later was released. Spain sent the ships to the americas on oct. 13 As flagships for the 500th anniversary commemoration of Columbus journey. In a welcoming speech gov. Rafael Hern amp Nycz Colon said the replica ships symbolized the sources of puerto Rico a history and cultural identity. The Caribbean Island was a Spanish Colony for 400 years before it was ceded to the United states in 1898 at the end of the Spanish american War. Critics of the Columbus observances say the arrival of the europeans in the new world ushered in an Era of exploitation of native populations. A group of Canadian Indian chiefs from British Columbia met the replica ships when they arrived in puerto Rico last week at the northeastern port of a a replica of the Santa Marfa sails past the ancient Spanish fortress of Al Morro. Jardo. The chiefs had threatened to intercept the ships at sea in a fishing trawler but the Fleet eluded them. The ships left Helva Spain on oct. 13, a Day after the 499th anniversary of Columbus landfall on san Salvador Island in the Bahamas. The Fleet sailed a test voyage last year visiting ports in Spain France Italy and Portugal. The largest of the ships is less than 90 feet Long and All have motors for emergencies and for mane vering in harbours. Since aug. 3, 1990, the ships have travelled 14,000 Miles and have been visited by More than 2 million  party in Taiwan tops ballot a Taipei Taiwan apr Taiwan a ruling nationalist party which backs the islands ultimate unification with China won a historic election saturday Over an opposition party that wants to split forever with Mainland China. Government owned television said the nationalist party won 71 percent of the vote while the opposition democratic progressive party won 24 percent in the country a first National Assembly elections in 44 years. The voting was orderly and the polls closed without incident although opposition candidates charged the nationalists with voting irregularities. The results were a setback for the scrappy 4-year-old opposition party which seeks to establish an Independent Republic abandon the dream of reuniting with China and impose Radical democratic reforms. The nationalists in contrast favor ultimate reunification with Mainland China and a continuation of the slow democratization they started in 1987. The nationalists apparently managed to convince the Public that slow reforms Are the key to maintaining Taiwan As an economic powerhouse. The nationalist government fled the Mainland in 1949 after their defeat by communist forces but still claims to be the legitimate ruler of the Mainland. The election was held to fill 325 seats of the 405-member National Assembly for the first time directly electing a majority of a Central governmental body. Eighty other seats were elected in 1986. . Resolution Calls for end to Drift net fishing by 1993 United nations a the United nations on Friday adopted a Resolution Banning Drift net fishing. The Resolution Calls for an end to the 30-mile-Long a curtains of death from the worlds Waters starting in 1993. The nets Are invisible to sea life As they float from a Cork line scooping Down As deep As 50 feet to trap and kill All Marine life in their path including whales seals dolphins tuna and sea Birds. The general Assembly Resolution has no provision for enforcement but the three countries a Japan South Korea and Taiwan a that in the past had opposed such a ban agreed to abide by it. Adoption was by consensus. A we will celebrate this Over the Christmas season a said Jerry Leape a spokesman for Greenpeace International in Washington. A by definition after dec. 31, 1992, All vessels that continue to ply the seas with Drift nets will be considered pirate vessels a he said. A study by the United states Canada and Japan on High seas Drift net vessels from june to december of 1989 found that 59,060 albacore tuna 58,100 Blue Sharks 9,173 sea Birds and 914 dolphins were captured. The study covered Only 4 percent of Japan a Drift net squid fishery. The environmental investigation Agency a London based conservation group said its study showed 100,000 dolphins Are killed every year in Drift  orphans virtually enslaved Baroness says London apr thousands of orphans and children from problem families in Russia Are being kept As mentally handicapped patients and later forced into virtual slave labor a Deputy speaker of the House of lords said saturday. Baroness Caroline Cox told the British broadcasting corp. That the youngsters have lost All their human rights. Instead of being placed in Western style institutions where they might be adopted or put in Foster Homes the russian youngsters a get sidetracked into these special institutions and then condemned to an awful trajectory of despair a she said. A not Only do they have to go to these special institutions they have to go to special work in conditions that Are Little better than slave labor to live in single sex residential slum like hostels and they actually lose Alt their Basic human  Cox is the joint author of a report about the children published last week by a London based group Christian Solidarity International. It is titled trajectories of despair misdiagnosis and maltreatment of soviet orphans. The report is based on findings by Cox a trained nurse and a group of doctors who visited 15 children a Homes and other facilities in Moscow and St. Petersburg this fall. The report said there Are 19,000 children in these 15 Homes alone. It said Many Are forcibly treated often for misdemeanours with heavy doses of powerful Tranquili Zers and other drugs used 20 years ago on dissidents wrongly held As psychiatric patients. One result is that most of the children Are Likely to spend the rest of their lives in special institutions or working virtually As slave labor the report said