European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 26, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday july 26, 1993 world the stars and stripes Page 9 Italy s Christian democrats seek ways a better image from wire reports Rome Italy s scandal tainted Christian democratic party wrestled saturday with ways to make a clean break with the past including changing its name and giving away its wealth. Party leaders were to continue meeting in survival strategy sessions through tuesday. Among the proposals under debate was Secretary Mino Martinaz Zofi s suggestion to change the Nam of the party which dominated italian governments and politics since shortly after world War ii. Francesco d Onofrio who is a Christian Democrat parliamentary Deputy and expert on constitutional and electoral Reform said the party should donate everything it possesses to the state and to City governments to show it wanted to make a clean break with the past. The nationwide 18-month-old Kickback scandal has implicated 2,500 politicians businessmen and local officials. Laotian rats infest Thailand Bangkok Thailand swarms of Hardy rats Are swimming in from neighbouring Laos an devouring Rice Corn and bean crops in three northeastern thai provinces local authorities say. The rats have damaged More than 8,700 acres of Farmland this month officials in Nong Khai and two neighbouring provinces reported. Officials along the Mekong River tacked up posters offering 2 cents a Cattail and villagers have so far killed More than 100,000 of the rampaging rodents. Shuchart Rattana Suwan a Loci province agricultural officer said villagers and fishermen in Nung Khai province reported seeing hordes of rats swimming across the Mekong from Laos. De Klerk rejects coalition Johannesburg South Africa president . Do Klerk said saturday the White government would remain in control of the country until april s multiracial elections. The african National Congress and other groups Are negotiating with de Klerk s White government on forming a transitional panel that would help govern the country until the voting the first Ever involving the Black majority. Black leaders want the panel to Nave joint control of Security forces during the run up to the election the government still carries the final responsibility under the Constitution and will carry it until after a general election de Klerk said at a military ceremony. Alleged prostitution ring hit Barcelona Spain seventy three people have been arrested in a crackdown on a gang that illegally brought latin american women into Spain police said saturday. The gang based in the dominican Republic charged $2,500 to $3,700 for each person wanting to enter Spain police said in a statement. The gang wanted the women to work As prostitutes to pay off their passage debts police  statement said Many of those arrested had been furnished with passports by a High ranking official in the dominican Republic. The official was not identified. Among those arrested was a Barcelona lawyer who allegedly supplied forged work permits and other documents Tor the immigrants. Pope prays for Kidnap victim Castel Gandolfo Italy Pope John Paul ii speaking sunday at the midday angelas at his summer residence in the Alban Hills South of Rome appealed for the release of a wealthy italian woman kidnapped in the sardinian town of Olbia on july the Pope said he was praying for the release of Miria Furlanetto Giuliani 52, the wife of a leading lawyer on the Island of Sardinia who was abducted from her Home in Central Olbia by kidnappers dressed in police  make a Heartfelt Appeal to the kidnappers in the name of god to restore Miria to the love of her family John Paul  said he was also praying for All other victims of  in the Southern Region of Calabria on Friday kidnapped Adolfo Cartisano 57, a Small landowner Ana owner of a photographic shop in the town of Bovalino. Israeli warplanes kill 12 raids in Lebanon Baalbek Lebanon a israeli warplanes bombed shiite Muslim guerrilla bases in five separate raids sunday. At least 12 people were killed including five syrian soldiers and More than a dozen people were wounded police said. It was apparently the biggest series of some 23 air strikes Israel has launched in Lebanon this year the first carried out by warplanes rather than helicopter gunships. Guerrillas fired four Katusha rockets on Northern Israel in retaliation for the 3v4 hours of raids Security sources in South Lebanon said. There was no immedi ate word on casualties in Israel. The first four raids targeted the iranian trained Hezbollah or party of god in Southern Lebanon. Later in a sixth raid israeli planes struck bases of the popular front for the liberation of Palestine general com Mand at Naameh near Beirut. Police said they had no immediate details of that raid. The raids heightened tensions on the Only Active Arab israeli War front just a week before Secretary of state Warren m. Christopher s trip to the Middle East. Police sources speaking on condition of anonymity said a Hezbollah military base was destroyed in a four minute attack by four jets near Baalbek in the Bcka Valley. Fighter bombers later targeted the Bcka Valley Vil Lages of Schmor and Yoh mor police said. In another raid 10 fighter bombers struck the Village of bin Al Tineh and the nearby town of Mash Harah further South in the Bekaan police said. Two israeli jets also blasted the Village of Siddi inc in the zone patrolled by . Peacekeeping troops in South Lebanon police said. A one Story House believed to belong to a Hezbollah Leader was destroyed. Brazil slayings have children seeking Refuge Rio de Janeiro Brazil a legions of fearful Street urchins took Refuge in makeshift Shel ters saturday White an outraged nation demanded Swift punishment for gunmen who massacred seven homeless boys. Survivors and police attributed Fri Day s killings to off duty police. The youths were shot to death before Dawn a they slept on dirty blankets and cardboard in the Shadow of the Candelaria Cathedral in downtown Rio. They were like Many of Brazil s estimated 7 million Street urchins who live shoeless homeless and unclaimed by family members. President Itamar Franco who said he was Horri fied by news of the killings flew to Rio with Justice minister Mauricio Correa to follow the Case. Expressing horror before such a tragedy is too Little said a front Page editorial saturday in the Rio daily o Globo. Steps must be taken to ensure the lives of peaceful citizens and minors from the possible beastly reaction of extermination  but the investigation took a step Back saturday when two troopers arrested in connection with the slaying were released after five survivors failed to identify them in a lineup. At the Rio morgue family members saturday identified three of the victims of the  first identified was Marcclo Candido de Jesus 14, who left his Home in the outlying suburb of Itab Oraf in May to earn Money for the family after his father suffered a heart attack. The other two were listed As Valdevino Miguelde Almeida 17, and Paulo Roberto de Oliveira 11, according to morgue employees. Scores of Street boys and girls who normally sleep on the deserted streets of Rio s financial District flocked to improvised shelters set up by Volunteer sin the City s affluent South zone. The Pio x Square where the Cathedral stands was deserted saturday but for a wooden Cross left by the Street children in Rio de Janeiro gather around a Cross erected by friends of the shooting victims. Victims friends and some of the children s clothing left hanging on Wash lines. Violence against Street children is not new in Bra Zil. About 320 abandoned minors have been killed this year alone in what experts say is a sign of Bra Zil s crumbling social fabric strained by a severe economic crisis. More than 3,000 children in the City eke out a Liv ing on the streets by begging and stealing according to a social research Agency. British rail feels ties to 4-footed workers London up the plans to privatize British rail apparently failed to consider some of the rail Road s most valued employees 200 cats deployed a vermin catchers in and near stations. Olive Katie pickles and scores of other rail cats have been recognized As by employees for years with food and medical expenses paid out of Petty Cash for the regulars who catch the rats that Chew through Ca Bles and worry passengers. Under government plans for privatization of the state owned rail network fixed assets such As tracks will be transferred to the control of a new organization called rail track while routes and stations Are sold to private operators. The cats were not included in the plans however and their future is another question Mark in the controversial privatization process. The sunday times said rail track will ask the govern ment s rail minister for a ruling on who gets the cats. We know we get the cat baskets As part of the As sets the sunday times quoted a senior rail track source As saying. But we do not know whether we Are responsible for finding other roles for the vermin patrols or whether we simply pass them on alongside other staff to eventual winners of rail  a British rail spokesman said there Are about 200 cats throughout the system usually about one per Sta Tion but up to four at some larger mainline stations i London. They Are treated As employees the spokesman said