European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 2, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 b the stars and stripes monday March 2, 1992 Stasi kept East Germany Safe sex chief maintains Berlin apr East Germany a former Security minister on sunday defended his vast and once feared Empire of secret police agents saying they managed to make the streets Safe at night. Erich Mielke on trial for allegedly killing two police officers in 1931, gave a rare interview to the Berliner Zeitung from his Berlin prison cell. The 84-year-old former chief of the ministry for state Security known As the Stasi said the Domestic intelligence network kept the peace in the former communist nation. A Calm and order ruled there a he was quoted As saying. A and the people could really walk the streets at night the women and  Mielkey a Security apparatus used intimidation torture harassment and false imprisonment to keep the communist party in Power and the people in Check. Besides More than 80,000 official members the Stasi employed an even larger network of informants who spied on their friends and neighbors. Any connection Quot experts gather to help Sphinx save some face Giza plateau Egypt a Egypt has opened a global conference in Hopes of solving the age old Riddle of How to Stop the Sphinx from crumbling. For four Days 90 delegates from Egypt and around the world will examine the Monument and sift through the opinions of scientists historians geologists chemists and conservation experts. The difficulty of their Challenge was brought Home in saturdays opening session. Delegates sat Down to graphic images of Salt eaten Rock avalanches of Stone deep craters and a review of Many failed attempts to save the Sphinx. The Sphinx a crouching body of a lion and the head of a pharaoh was sculpted about 4,600 years ago from both Good and bad Limestone that had been stacked at the base of Giza plateau As the pyramids Rose behind it. A this statue was in terrible condition when the first True restoration occurred under pharaoh Tut Mosis in a thousand years after the Sphinx was built a said Zahi a Wass head of antiquities for the pyramids and Sphinx. A Sand would cover it. But each time the Sphinx was pulled free it was found to be in terrible condition. Inside the statue rocks Are split As though the Sphinx is in two  but he said a each generation saw it As special and tried to save  a restoration after restoration left the Sphinx with new rocks that did not quite fit with the old. Thus its appearance had changed remarkably by the mid-20th Century from the original harass said. Bruce Midkiff a Stone masonry expert at the Rochester museum and science Center of Rochester n.y., advised participants it was time to Stop using techniques that would produce further damage for future generations.�?�1 Hurt in bomb attack on Istanbul synagogue Istanbul Turkey a attackers hurled two bombs at a synagogue sunday wounding one person the Anatolia news Agency reported. In 1986, an attack on the same synagogue by Abu Nidal terrorists killed 22 worshippers. The news Agency said one of the bombs exploded about 5 50 . At Neve shalom turkeys largest synagogue. The report claimed that there were two attackers and that a suspect was captured. On sept. 6, 1986, two gunmen burst into the 55-year-old, Hilltop synagogue during a service and began firing automatic weapons at the congregation. The attackers then threw hand grenades blowing themselves up. Istanbul has 16 synagogues serving 20,000 jews. Another 5,000 jews live elsewhere in Turkey which is the Only Muslim state that recognized Israel when it was created in 1948. With the Stasi now carries a stigma that has destroyed hundreds of careers. The Berlin Justice ministry has come under fire for prosecuting Mielke on an old Case stemming from the Days when he was a communist dissident during Germany a Short lived Weimar Republic. Prosecutors under pressure to prosecute Mielke for crimes committed by the Stasi they say the old murder Case is the Best one they have. A police file alleging that Mielke gunned Down two officers during a protest was found in the former Security chiefs old office. In the interview Mielke said that if the file were accurate he would have destroyed it Long ago. A i was enraged when i heard about the charges a he said. Among other things Mielkey a Stasi controlled Border troops carried out the infamous a shoot to kill orders that resulted in the deaths of at least 200 people who tried to flee former East Germany. Zahi harass left talks with one expert Mark Easton of Washington d.c., near the crumbling Sphinx. In the Long run he said a it would be Good to preserve the Sphinx in As near As possible to its original or fat least its present condition. A Many problems need to be solved a said Shawky Nakhla chief of restoration for the egyptian antiquities organization who led the delegates on an inspection of the Monument. A the Northern Side is bad. The head and neck Are weak. We need this conference to give us ideas.�?�40 injured As boat hits whale off Canary islands Madrid Spain up a a High Speed boat carrying 170 passengers collided with a 60-foot whale near the Canary islands on saturday injuring More than 40 passengers police and Crew members said. Officials had no information on what happened to the whale. A total of 28 injured passengers were taken to a Hospital on the Island of Fuerte Ventura and 10 were admitted for treatment police said sunday. The Spanish administered Canary islands Are located off the Northwest coast of Africa. Many of the 170 aboard were foreign tourists. The boat was making a regular run Between the City of Las Palmas and Fuerte Ventura when it hit the whale. Passengers told of being hurled from their seats by the Impact and doctors said some suffered fractures cuts and bruises. World britons held hostage say Money not enough from wire reports London a a group representing britons held hostage by Iraq during the persian Gulf War complained saturday that a . Compensation plan was inadequate. The United nations set a ceiling of $5,000 for a claim related to being taken hostage including mental and physical abuse and $15,000 for the family of an individual who died in Captivity. A to offer these amounts is nothing Short of an insult a chairman Andy Charles said at a meeting of hostages of the Middle  still Active Manila Philippines a authorities warned residents living near mount Pinatubo of renewed mudflows sunday and said the Volcano which erupted and killed More than 600 people in june remained Active. The philippine Institute of volcanology said in a statement that it recorded 15 a High frequency volcanic earthquakes in a 26-hour period near the Volcano indicating magma movement  kills four Prague Czechoslovakia a an explosion in an apartment building killed four people in a City West of Prague czechoslovak radio reported saturday. Four people died and one person was seriously injured in fridays blast in Karloy vary according to the report. Police in Karloy vary a spa about 75 Miles West of Prague said a Gas leak was probably the cause of th6 explosion at the three Story  protest fare Rise Bombay India a angry commuters set fire to coaches and hurled stones at suburban trains saturday to protest a fare increase forcing the suspension of some rail services in indians largest City. The protects disrupted life for a second Day in Bombay where half the City a 10 million people depend on the state run railway. A spokesman for Central railway said All 1,030 of the systems trains were stopped after mobs damaged eight trains and burned three coaches. No serious injuries were  exodus feared Tirana Albania a thousands of people were reported massing in murres on saturday in an apparent Effort to commandeer ships and flee this impoverished country after the latest outbreak of food riots. Radio Tirana said that one youth was killed and 20 people including 16 police officers were injured Friday As rioters looted and burned two food warehouses in  suffocate in fire nar6n, Spain a four Young children and their grandmother suffocated Early sunday when a fire broke out in their apartment news reports said. Spanish state news Agency efe said 56-year-old Amalia Corral was baby sitting the children aged from 6 months to 5 years while their parents were at a discotheque celebrating Spain a carnival weekend in the Northern town 32 Miles from la Coruna. Police have not yet determined the cause of the fire which states at 1 45  collision kills 1 Berlin a a bahamian flagged freighter collided with a Small fishing boat at the Mouth of the Elbe River on sunday killing at least one person German coast guard officials said. The 50-year-old Captain of the fishing vessel died on Board the boat and a 32-year-old crewman was presumed to be dead authorities said. A third person on the boat was uninjured