European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 26, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes world wednesday january 26,1994 european rocket crashes minutes after launching from wire reports Kourou French Guiana an unmanned ariane rocket fell into the Atlantic Ocean on monday minutes after lifting off from a base i French Guiana. It was the first failed launch for the european rocket in nearly four years. The rocket was carrying turkish and a european satellite. Officials said the rocket s third stage malfunctioned shortly after igniting. The cause of the problem was not immediately known. The ariane has dominated the world commercial space liftoff chalking up More than 50 " percent of the  last failure was feb. 23,1990. American gets life term Manila Philippines a court has sentenced an american woman to life in prison for attempting to smuggle heroin aboard a flight to California. Judge sofronio Sayo found Viacita Latura Jones,24, of Altadena calif., guilty monday in the dec. 11,1991, smuggling attempt. He also ordered her Topay $714 in fines. There is no jury system in the Philippines. Judges determine guilt or innocence and pass sentence usually on the same Day As the verdict. Customs officials said they found 3 /2 pounds of heroin hidden in Jones underwear during a routine body Check As she was about to Board the air plane. Blast shakes Central Madrid Madrid Spain a suspected car bomb believed to have been planted by the Basque separatist group Eta exploded near a passing  personnel vehicle during Rush hour tuesday in Central Madrid. Nobody was injured in the blast shortly after 8v a.m., a police spokesman said. He said a vehicle carrying  personnel had passed the scene seconds earlier. Less than two hours later police carried out a controlled explosion of the car fearing the vehicle contained a More powerful explosive device. The spokesman said police suspected that the first blast was caused by a bomb but As yet were unable to confirm this. The blast occurred in an area where dozens of military personnel reside. 10 feared dead at sea Hong Kong ten Crew members were feared dead after an Oil Tanker exploded and broke in two off Hong Kong officials said tuesday. Passing ships picked up six greek and 19 indonesian Crew members from the maltese registered cps Mas a a government spokeswoman said. The ship broke up in flames monday night 330 Miles Southeast of Hong Kong. One of those picked up was later pronounced dead she said and nine others were missing. An air search was suspended tuesday after 17 hours because of Gale Force winds said Philip Weaver of the government s search and Rescue Section. Russian population Falls Moscow the population of Russia fell by approximately 300,000 last year As deaths by natural causes overtook the birth rate a labor ministry specialist said monday. The drop in population was recorded in preliminary statistics covering 68 of 79 regions of Russia ministry demographer Alexander Tkachenko told the official itar Tass news Agency. Although the decline is less than 1 percent of Russia s population 150 million the government called the country s demographic situation unfavourable and predicted that the population will drop further if current trends continue. One forecast suggests that with prevailing birth rates of 1.5 children per family Russia will suffer a Steep decline in population based on current birth and death rates. This trend also will Lead to an Overall aging of society with pensioners making up an increasingly larger part of society the labor ministry said. Russia s population Rose by roughly 1 million per year through the 1980s, but experienced a slowdown at the turn of the decade. Dutch g Rou p sues Japa n for Wii compensation Tokyo a dutch survivors of japanese concentration Camps in world War ii sued the japanese government tuesday becoming the first westerners to go to court to demand compensation from the Tokyo government for wartime suffering. The lawsuit was Likely to revive debate in Japan Over the painful and complicated subject of Japan s wartime responsibility. After taking office in August prime minister Mori Hiro Hosokawa apologized for Trie suffering Japan had caused during the War saying its aggression had been wrong. His comment the most forthright on the subject Ever by a japanese Leader prompted a backlash from right Wing groups that said Japan had nothing to apologize  ,. -. The lawsuit was filed by the foundation for japanese honorary debts based in the Hague Netherlands. It asks $22,000 for each of eight plaintiffs. The group rep resents nearly 77,000 Camp survivors and lawyer Isomi Suzuki said that if the action on behalf of the eight is successful it could set the stage for a much larger Repa ration package. Last year a group of British pos demanded a for Mal apology and $240 million in compensation from Japan. At that time Japan rejected the request for compensation. The group said it was considering court action. Asians including koreans and filipinos also have filed lawsuits against the japanese government for War time abuses including sex slavery and forced labor. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit Range in age from 52 to 80. They include former prisoners of War civilian inter nees and a woman who was pressed into sex slavery for the japanese military in the colonial dutch East indies now Indonesia. Sjoerd Albert Lapre 73, president of the group and one of the eight bringing the lawsuit told reporters that even after five decades the wounds still fester. Why can t the injustice of that time be resolved now he asked. Lapre said that As a pow he was subjected to Dis ease starvation and forced labor. He vividly remembers being forced to watch the Bayonet executions of three fellow prisoners who tried to escape. Ice women attempting suicide at protest. -. ,. -. I Seoul South Korea a three korean women who say they were forced into sexual slavery for the Japa Nese  during world War ii tried to commit suicide tuesday but were stopped by police. None of the three was injured police said. The three dressed in White funeral clothes were among 13 women who gathered in front of the japanese embassy in Central Seoul to demand to Kyo s apology and compensation for Japan s wartime atrocities. Witnesses said the three after shout ing slogans and Reading a statement denouncing Japan s refusal to pay compensation suddenly took out knives Ain tried to slash their bellies. Police guarding the embassy overpowered the three and took them to a near by Hospital the witnesses said. The protesters carried a huge placard Reading Japan must pay due compensation. Otherwise we will let the world know of Japan s bad conduct by commit Ting  a Man identifying himself As a family member of one of the protesters late told reporters that he understood the demonstrations would continue. Historians say up to 200,000 women most of them korean were forced into sexual slavery for the japanese Imperial . About 120 South korean women sofar have come Forward to identify themselves As former Comfort women As they were euphemistically called. Korea was under japanese colonial Rule from 1910 to1945. Last year Japan issued a formal apology for the sex slavery but has so far refused to pay compensation to koreans. It maintains any compensation claims for actions during its colonial Rule of Korea were settled a plainclothes with a knife at police officer stops a woman trying to commit suicide Japan s embassy in Seoul South Korea on tuesday. When it normalized relations with the Seoul govern ment in 1965. Japan paid South Korea $350 million under the 1965 normalization treaty. The government of South korean president Kim Young Sam said last year that it would not seek additional compensation from Japan for the korean sex slaves. It said it would compensate them itself. Indonesia tour plans to drop magic Jakarta Indonesia a indonesian sports promoters said tuesday that they have dropped plans to include former National basketball association Sta magic Johnson in an aids prevention group. Director general of immigration Roni Sika sin Raya declared last week that immigration officials would bloc Johnson s entry because he has the aids virus. Plans for his visit set off a debate Over whether aids should fall under the policy of denying entry to people with contagious diseases. Tour officials decided to avoid controversy by not including Johnson in the group said Marcel Maulana director of Point promotion which organized the tour with the indonesian aids foundation. Our Mission is Noble to promote prevention of aids and to raise funds for the activities in Indonesia Maulana said after a one hour meeting with minister of health Sujuki and minister of youth and sports affairs Hayon Oisman. He said the promoters still hoped to bring Johnson Sall Star team to the country. The team had been scheduled to play two exhibition games in Indonesia feb. 26 and 27. They plan to Send a delegation to the United states to explain the situation to Johnson Maulana added