European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 4, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday april 4, 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 9 world avalanches landslides kill 55 people in Pakistan from wire reports Islamabad Pakistan a avalanches Anco landslides have claimed 55 lives in pakistanis Northern mountainous areas this week while hundreds of other people have become homeless officials say. Authorities in Muzaffar Abad capital of pakistani Azad Kashmir said 26 people were killed in the Neelum Valley late wednesday while 14 died in the Mansera District of the North West Frontier province. Fifteen people died in avalanches in Mansera District on sunday the reports  plead for Cis Aid London a an advertisement appeared in newspapers around the world Friday calling for Aid to the a hopeless and despairing a people of the former soviet Union. The impassioned plea was signed by former soviet foreign minister Eduard a. Shevardnadze. It was published free by newspapers in 13 countries including the United states Japan Australia Germany and South Africa said advertising Agency Saatchi and  Complete fast Jerusalem a muslims Rose before Dawn Friday to Mark the end of a month of fasting with prayers. More than 80,000 muslims attended Dawn prayers at a1 Asa mosque on the old City a Temple mount. The site is islam a third holiest shrine. The ceremony celebrated the end of the holy month of  islands shaken Washington a a Strong earthquake rocked the new Britain Island area in the South Pacific Early Friday according to the . Geological  spokesman Don Finley said the quake which registered 6.6 on the Richter scale struck at 1 20 . Local time Friday or 10 20 . Thursday  eases Bonn Germany a the number of people without jobs particularly in the hard hit states of former East Germany declined last month the government said Friday. According to the Federal labor office the Eastern German unemployment rate fell from 16.4 percent to 15.5 percent in March or 1.22 million people out of work compared with 1.29 million in february. The jobless rate also dropped in the More prosperous Western half of the country from 1.8 million to 1.7 million for a 6.5 percent unemployment rate in the 11 states of former West Germany.. To shut consulate Paris a the . Consulate in Lyon France will be closed As of june 1 As part of a shift of state department resources to Eastern Europe and the former soviet Union the . Embassy said thursday. The closure will leave the United states with consular offices in Paris Marseille and Bordeaux. A . Department of Commerce office in Lyon will remain in operation the embassy  fein worker slain Belfast Northern Ireland a pro British gunmen on thursday killed an election worker for sinn fein the Legal political party that supports the Irish Republican army. The Ulster Freedom fighters paramilitary group claimed  said the victim Danny Cassidy was sitting in the Drivers seat of a parked car in Kilrea 35 Miles Northwest of Belfast when a car pulled alongside and its occupants opened fire. He was working for Pauline Davey Kennedy sinn feints candidate in the East Londonderry District before Britain selection on thursday. Albania president resigns opens door for democrats Tirana Albania apr president Ramiz Alia the last communist Leader in a country sealed off from Europe for decades by a xenophobic stalinist regime resigned Friday. Alias announcement read on state radio on the eve of the first meeting of a new parliament removed the last hurdle for the anti communist democratic party to take full control. His resignation represented a Graceful exit for the 66-year-Ola Alia avoiding a fight with the democrats who had vowed to oust him rather than submitting their new Cabinet to him for approval. Quot we want a new president before we agree to form a new government a democratic party Deputy chief Aleksander Merksi said thursday. On Friday when alias announcement was made All leading democrats were huddled behind closed doors at party Headquarters to assign Cabinet posts. It was not immediately Clear who the democrats who dominated March 22 elections would choose to replace Alia. Alia became president after the death of stalinist dictator Enver Hoxha in 1985 he eased the communist party a absolute grip on Power in december 1990 and the democratic party was the first opposition party formed. The communists won multiparty elections a year ago used their parliamentary majority to elect Alia president and changed their name to the socialist party. Alia gave up the party leadership when he was elected president. But the socialists found the country ungovernable and democrats won 92 of 140 seats in the new parliament. Socialists won Only 38. Democrats had said after their electoral Victory that they wanted to use their legislative majority to remove Alia whom they associate with the country s Long communist past. Alia said he was satisfied that he had managed the delicate transition from the harsh stalinist system a peacefully without confrontation and civil unrest that might Lead to irreparable developments for the Fate of the  Only a month before being forced to permit opposition to the communists Alia had said he never would allow such a thing. Precision seeking japanese lower Boom on Catfish that sense quakes Tokyo apr every Day for 16 years researchers watched a tank of Catfish to see if the fish lived up to their fabled prowess at forecasting earthquakes. The fish acquitted themselves Well but not reliably enough to please the precise demands of science. So on wednesday the City sent the fish into retirement. The Money for the project a some $60,000 in 1991 a now will be used to fish for other ways to predict quakes. Tokyo sits near several geological faults and in 1923 an earthquake and resulting fires killed 140,000 people. City officials say another major earthquake could hit soon. They predict it would kill at least 10,000 people and injure 150,000. Yasuo Baba of the Tokyo metropolitan Marine Experiment station said researchers studied old books and Folk tales and discovered frequent accounts of links Between Catfish and earthquakes. In Japan there is a widespread belief Fis a l that Catfish become More Active before earthquakes so we decided to see if its True a he said. Electronic sensors monitored the fish 24 hours a Day and relayed information about their movements to a computer. The data were compared with records of earthquakes kept by the Central meteorological Agency. Consistently All seven of the usually sluggish fish greatly increased their activity several Days before about 31 percent of earthquakes that registered a quite Strong or higher on the japanese earthquake scale Baba said. Five or six of the fish perked up before 60 to 70 percent of the quakes he said. A a that a better than a random association a Baba said. A we believe the research was successful but our sponsors in the Tokyo government did no to think it was going anywhere. They want to discover ways to predict a major earthquake but the fish Are sensitive to even this earthquake predicting japanese Catfish and six colleagues retired after 16 years of research. Shallow  research now is needed on what kinds of signals Are released by impending earthquakes and Why Catfish apparently Are Able to sense them he added. A if we re Able to find that out we wont need Catfish anymore. We can make equipment that can predict earthquakes directly a he said. Separate research conducted at Tokyo University suggests that Catfish May be sensitive to shifts in extremely weak electrical Fields that could be caused by earthquakes in the making. That sensitivity Baba said could be linked to some kind of sonar like device used by the weak eyed fish to locate food. Japanese Catfish belong to different species than the american variety. A american Catfish Are not Good at earthquake predicting. They re Only Good for eating a Baba said. Secondhand smoke tied to High cholesterol Buenos Aires Argentina up exposure to cigarette smoke raises the cholesterol Levels of nonsmokers which in turns boosts heart disease risk researchers said thursday. Researchers at the University of Cal Fomia los Angeles estimated that environmental tobacco smoke increased heart disease risk by 10 to 15 percent in men and Between 26 and 39 percent in women. In findings presented at the eighth world conference on tobacco or health in Buenos Aires Urcla physiologist James White said Carbon dioxide Levels were nearly three times higher in offices with smokers compared with smoke free offices. Increased Carbon dioxide caused the non smokers to have higher total cholesterol Levels and a significantly depressed so called Good cholesterol Hal or High density Lipoprotein. Women also had higher Levels of so called bad cholesterol Idlor Low density Lipoprotein. High total cholesterol and Low Hal Levels Are considered risk factors for heart disease. White urged office smoking bans and added a i predict that in 10years smoking will be prohibited in All indoor Public facilities. Tobacco smoke is dangerous