European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 09, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 12 the stars and stripes world sunday january 9,1994 3 cosmonauts blast off for orbiting space station Moscow a a russian rocket took off from a snowy launch pad saturday carrying three cosmonauts  Mir orbiting space station 200 Miles above Earth. The troubled russian space program has a lot Riding on the Mission the 15th since the Mir was launched in1986. A  this is definitely one of the most critical flights in a Long time because of doubts about their capabilities said Houston based space expert. James Berg. The launch delayed by two months because of a shortage of Booster rockets apparently went off with out a hitch at 1 05 . Russian television showed the waving smiling cosmonauts walking through the Snow to their soyuz rocket at the Bai Konur cosm drome in the former soviet Republic of Kazakhstan in Central Asia the United states and Russia signed an agreement in december bringing Russia into an International space station program. A representative of the Ameri can space Agency Nasa was present at the launch the television report said. If All goes according to plan the spaceship will Doc monday with the Mir for a Crew change. The current Mir Crew will come Home Jan. 15 after 200 Days in space. A. Two members of the new Crew will stay at the station until july 4 the third 51-year-old physician Valery Polyakov will try to remain for a record 427 Days. The two returning cosmonauts made five spacewalk during their seven months in space and and carried out a number of commercial experiments for German an american companies. A car sits stranded Friday but canoeists have no trouble navigating a coastal Highway near Chichester England. England facing new floods wet warmer weather prompts River warnings London up the Prospect of further rain and a thaw across Central and Southern England renewed worries saturday of More flooding after a recent deluge caused an estimated $89.4 million Worth of damage the slightly warmer weather was expected to melt Snow across much of Britain and cause flooding in West Sussex Kent and Hampshire counties As More water poured into already swollen Rivers. Compounding matters for britons were the latest forecasts which predicted a band of rain moving in overnight with the Prospect of Snow or sleet. The National Rivers authority which covers eng land and Wales issued 111 flood warnings saturday on Rivers in Southern England that Are close to overflow ing. The figure represented a slight fall on an overnight tally of 131 warnings and a marked improvement on the 155 warnings issued earlier in the week. A spokeswoman for the Rivers Agency speaking by Telephone from Bristol Western England said two re warnings had been issued in the Bedfordshire and Chichester regions. Red warnings Are released when properties Are at risk. The past 24 hours have been dry which has allowed some River Levels to subside the spokeswoman  according to the forecasts we Are expecting More rain across the country and this could cause problems again  disruptions around the country included 68 reported Road accidents in Essex in a three hour period the evacuation of 40 people from their Homes in Chichester after the Lavant River burst its Banks and numerous impassable roads in Hertfordshire Oxfordshire and Bedfordshire. Ufos May find a Home in japanese City Tokyo up questions about the existence of alien beings from outer space May be answered in a Small City in Western Japan that Aims to become the world s information Center on ufos. An official from Haku said Friday that the City has been looking into becoming a data base on mysteries of the universe with particular emphasis on research int unidentified flying objects. In the future we Hope the Haku facilities will become the focus of International attention in terms of collecting and disseminating information on ufos City official Toru Wada said. Researchers in Haku located on the Japan sea 310miles West of Tokyo already have spent 10 years acquiring documentation on ufos sightings. Haku s Library has More than 10,000 official documents relating to ufos Phenomena Wada said. Among information housed there Are reports by Bot the Cia and Fri including a 1950 Fri report on the re covery of the bodies of three supposed alien beings an fragments of a mysterious Craft Wada said. The City s facilities for extraterrestrial research in clude a Hall capable of holding International symposiums and exhibitions a theme Park and a Library. We Are not seeking to offer any conclusions on the existence of ufos said Josef Takano 38, a prime mover behind the ufos Center. Rather we just want to1provide people with information so that they can make their own  two charged with spying for e. Germany s Stasi from wire reports Bonn Germany a 71-year-old journalism professor and a former far right political Leader and journalist were charged Friday with spying for former East Germany s secret  professor Heinz Stuckmann is suspected of recruiting students for the communist led Stasi spokesman for the Federal prosecutor s office said the Cologne newspaper express said Stuckmann s student included Germany s ambassador to Gabon Rainer Miiller arrested last week on espionage charges. The prosecutor s office refused to comment. The 50-year-old journalist identified Only As lutzk., was charged with accepting $510,000 from the Stasi for snooping on his colleagues. W. ,. Hanoi says it aids searchers Hanoi Vietnam in the latest Hunt for mias Vietnam is allowing More americans to search freely and is teaming up its own people to Hel them a foreign ministry official told seven visiting . Senators  understand the difficulty and the suffering of the people in the families of the mias in the  is Why we Are cooperating very positively vice foreign minister be Mai said unwelcoming the senators for their three Day visit the delegation arrived at a time when 84americans divided into eight teams Are roaming Vietnam s Countryside searching for the remains of americans missing in action. The operation the largest since the end of the War was launched thursday and will continue through Jan. 28. Terms set in Matador kill Murcia Spain a rancher and his farmhand each got 81-year prison sentences Friday for murdering three aspiring matadors caught practising with the rancher s fighting bulls. A Murcia court sentenced rancher Manuel Costa and labourer Jose Manuel Yepes on three counts of murder. Apprentice matadors Lorenzo Franco Andres Panduro and Juan Carlos Rumbo were gunned Down dec. 1,1990, As they fought the bulls by the Light of the Moon on Costa s ranch in  bullfighter who Don t have regular Access to bulls often practice by sneaking onto ranches where fighting bulls Are raised. French beaches reopening Saint-l6, France French officials began reopening Atlantic beaches Friday that were closed since last month when thousands of detonators falloff a freighter and washed ashore. More than 5,000 hand sized detonators used i construction projects were found on French beaches after a cypriot registered freighter carrying 34,000of them lost some of its Load at sea. Beaches from Normandy in Northern France tothe Southern Border with Spain were closed. Snakes seized aboard plane London British customs agents have seized 788 snakes packed onto a cargo flight from Ghana West Africa to London. They said it was their largest haul Ever of illegally imported reptiles. The slithering cargo arrived at Heathrow Airport on dec. 23, but customs officers held Back publicity about the illegal aliens until efforts had been made to track Down who was involved. Most of the snakes including 397 Royal pythons Are being housed in quarantine at a department of customs and excise facility at  is certainly the largest seizure we have Ever had of reptiles a customs spokesman said  s an absolutely enormous haul of the  no one has come Forward to claim the snakes. Suicide seminars planned Amsterdam Netherlands for health car professionals who want to be better prepared when their patients talk about suicide Jan Hilarius has just the seminar. The dutch activist for suicide rights is organizing conference feb. 17 to help doctors Counselor and Legal experts Deal with death wishes. We must prevent the isolation of those who want to commit suicide and of their relatives afterwards and prevent people from using unnecessarily cruel methods Hilarius said Friday. The seminar will Deal with the ethical problems of counselling the suicidal without trying to dissuade them from taking their own lives