European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 27, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 8 a the stars and stripes thursday february 27, 1992eastbound cars hot topic in Germany Bonn Germany apr hey Wanna buy a porsche Low mileage. A real Road Burner. Just the ticket for an East european entrepreneur in need of a Western status Symbol. Many Eastern europeans Are eager to buy pricey cars and they re getting their pick of tens of thousands a stolen from the streets of Germany. The vast criminal Enterprise has sprung up with the fall of the Iron curtain. A record 39,000 unsolved missing car cases Are on Germany a 1991 police books a staggering 66.7 percent increase Over 1990. At least a third of the cars Are believed to have disappeared to the East mostly to neighbouring Poland. Rudolf Seiters Germany a Interior minister says mobsters in Poland and Russia Are the leaders of Many car theft rings. Motor Welt a car Magazine came up with a Little rhyme that characterizes the Speed and deftness with which the car thieves work a hardly stolen already in Many buyers have no idea the cars have been stolen authorities say. The epidemic has generated anxiety in German car owners anger in insurers and a sense of helplessness among German detectives who Are unable to touch the Kingpins because they live in foreign lands. A a lot of people Are suddenly discovering car alarms a said Barbara Koch spokeswoman for Germany Shuk insurance group. Fearing they will lose their own cars Hertz and Avis have slapped restrictions on driving rentals into the East. A Hertz customer can drive an Ordinary Volkswagen but not a Mercedes into Poland and the former soviet Union is totally off limits. The North German port City of Hamburg has become a favorite target of the car rings because it is full of luxury cars and a fast dash on an autobahn brings a Driver to the polish Border. Michael Weiss Hamburg a Deputy chief of detectives said several local thieves have been arrested recently. A but these Are Little fish not the people who contracted for cars to be stolen a he said. The hot wheels sometimes end up in Roadside bazaars in Poland where members of a new Well to do class shop. A Many people who buy stolen cars buy them with the conviction that it is a legally bought vehicle a said Andrzej Kobeszko of Interpol in Poland. Protesting abortion ruling angry protesters in Dublin Ireland try to break through police barriers during a demonstration tuesday against the Irish High court s decision barring a 14-year-old rape victim from having an abortion abroad. Since Ireland has the most restrictive abortion Law in Europe the girls family had sought an abortion in Britain. The five judges of Ireland a supreme court Are expected to Rule on the family a Appeal this tosses out ban on Dwarf act Versailles France apr a court tuesday paved the Way for the return of Dwarf tossing in France rescinding an order that barred a Dwarf from performing at a nightclub and fining the town that imposed the ban. The court rejected As illegal an oct. 25 order by the mayor of Orsang sur orge Genevieve Rodriguez forbidding a Dwarf known As or. Skyman from being tossed by customers at the embassy club. It ordered the town to pay 10,000 francs $1,820 to Manuel Wackenheim a or. Skyman a real name a and his production company fun productions. Wackenheim 24, has led a Campaign to allow Dwarf tossing claiming bans on using him As a human projectile at several clubs Are an attack on individual Liberty and his right to work. The court ruled that even if Dwarf tossing a in which customers throw a Dwarf onto an inflated mattress a was a a degrading a the mayor of Orsang sur orge had overstepped her jurisdiction. The decision goes against a november recommendation by Interior minister Philippe Marchand to halt Dwarf tossing in France. He said it was an a intolerable attack on human dignity and an exploitation of the regains passport oks terms on burial Manila Philippines apr former philippine first lady Imelda Marcos received a new passport wednesday after two judges rejected government motions to prevent her from travelling to Hawaii to bring Home the body of her late husband. The widow of ousted president Ferdinand Marcos said tuesday that she had accepted government conditions that the body be flown directly to his Northern Home province of ii cos Norte and buried there instead of in Manila. Marcos one of eight candidates in the May 11 presidential election said tuesday that she would leave As soon As possible for Honolulu to make arrangements to return her husbands body. President Corazon Aquino who succeeded Marcos in the 1986 a people Power revolution a said wednesday her government was prepared to Accord Marcos a appropriate honors As soon As his widow officially advised the government she had accepted terms for the burial. As a first step in her journey Marcos reported wednesday to a department of foreign affairs consular office and received a new five year passport. Consular employees some of them flashing the a a a for Victory sign of the Marcos administration swarmed around her As she left the building. A a it a unbelievable that i have a passport a Marcos said. Her old passport was voided after the 1986 uprising that toppled her husband and swept Aquino to the presidency. Marcos returned from exile last november on a temporary one time travel permit. Earlier wednesday Marcos appeared in court to plead innocent to 11 charges of depositing funds abroad without Central Bank permission. They Are among More than 80 criminal and civil charges filed against Marcos for alleged corruption during her husbands 20-year Rule. The former leaders body has been kept in a refrigerated mausoleum in Honolulu since he died there a a in september 1989. Aquino first refused to allow Marcos to Bury her husband in his Homeland but relented last october if the former first lady agreed to certain some snags in Trade talks with China . Says Beijing a a . Trade official said wednesday that substantial differences remain in negotiations Over chinese import barriers and he denied China a claim that breakthroughs occurred. A your talks were As usual Frank and Friendly. We did clarity a number of Points and issues but i say that there had been any breakthroughs yet a assistant Trade representative Joseph Massey told a news conference. The chinese government did not immediately respond wednesday to a . Senate vote to impose conditions on renewing China a most favored nation Trade status. The Senate vote tuesday was not by a Large enough margin however to override an expected veto by president Bush. The House of representatives approved the Bill last year. The legislation would require China to release or account for political prisoners and show other Progress in human rights Trade and weapons proliferation issues As a condition for renewing the Low Tariff Trade status in june. Without it communist China would lose billions of dollars Worth of exports to the United states. Shortly before tuesdays Senate vote China sentenced seven dissidents to prison terms reinforcing Beijing a rejection of foreign pressure for amnesty for dissidents. The defendants included an editor of the communist party newspaper and three students who helped Lead pro democracy protests in 1989 and 1990, chinese sources said. A Massey said his talks with the chinese this week ended before the Senate vote. Massey held closed door talks monday with Tong Zhiguang vice minister of foreign economic relations and Trade on lowering import barriers including quotas bans complicated licensing require ments and secret Trade rules. China a state run Xinhua news Agency quoted the Trade ministry As saying tuesday that a major breakthroughs were it did not elaborate. Massey said he had no idea what the chinese were referring to. The next round of talks is scheduled for april. The United states says China a barriers Are at least partly responsible to a $12.7 billion chinese surplus in two Way Trade last year. China could tace higher . Import tariffs if it does no remove the barriers by the . Deadam of oct. 10
