World News Tonight (ABC) - 1999-06-18

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Brett and I will be back at 6.

[0:01] >> See you then.

[0:04] >> What time

[0:05] >> on World News Tonight this Friday, what

[0:07] happened to the gun control bill in

[0:08] Congress? Too weak for some, too strong

[0:11] for others, just right for a serious

[0:14] blame game. The Russians and NATO agree

[0:16] on the technicalities of keeping the

[0:18] peace in Kosovo. Peace and tranquility

[0:21] are another matter. A government

[0:23] commission's recommendations about

[0:24] gambling to be ignored. and what it was

[0:28] that revolutionized life on this planet.

[0:31] The century on Friday

[0:40] from ABC News World Headquarters in New

[0:43] York, this is World News Tonight with

[0:46] Peter Jennings.

[0:47] >> Good evening. There will be no new gun

[0:49] control law in the United States. Not

[0:51] this week. After several days of very

[0:53] heavy politicking, the House of

[0:54] Representatives has defeated a bill that

[0:57] would have added some restrictions on

[0:59] gun sales and relaxed restrictions on

[1:01] others. Those who voted against further

[1:03] control included Democrats and

[1:05] Republicans, liberals and conservatives.

[1:08] It was an interesting week on Capitol

[1:10] Hill. We start with ABC's Linda Douglas.

[1:14] Gun control advocates charged the gun

[1:16] lobby succeeded in weakening the House

[1:18] bill so much that it was virtually

[1:20] toothless in the end. The

[1:21] >> Republican party turned its back on the

[1:24] American people and embraced the NRA

[1:26] instead.

[1:27] >> Republicans insisted the bill was a

[1:29] legitimate compromise, a modest measure

[1:31] which the American people would have

[1:33] embraced.

[1:33] >> But the Democrats chose today to play

[1:36] politics and to say no to everything.

[1:39] But for Democratic leaders, there was

[1:40] one crucial issue. A proposal to crack

[1:43] down on gun shows, which they lost just

[1:45] after midnight. New York's Carolyn

[1:47] McCarthy, whose husband was shot and

[1:49] killed, beg members to vote for a

[1:51] measure to give authorities 3 days to do

[1:53] a background check for sales at gun

[1:56] shows.

[1:56] >> If we don't do it,

[2:00] shame on us because I have to tell you,

[2:04] the American people will remember. Thank

[2:07] you, Mr. Speaker.

[2:09] Despite the standing ovation, most

[2:11] Republicans and more than 40 Democrats

[2:13] voted for a much weaker background check

[2:15] proposal backed by the NRA. To go beyond

[2:18] this is simply to harass innocent,

[2:21] law-abiding citizens and to hurt people

[2:24] who love to go to gun shows.

[2:27] >> By this afternoon, the House had also

[2:29] voted to weaken the background check at

[2:31] pawn shops and lift the ban on handgun

[2:33] possession in Washington, DC. The

[2:36] district's representative ripped into a

[2:38] Virginia congressman who supported that

[2:39] measure.

[2:40] >> Most of the guns that are killing people

[2:42] in the District of Columbia come from

[2:45] your state. Come from your state. Mr.

[2:47] Good. Get off of my back. Get out of my

[2:50] business.

[2:51] >> The gun issue is not going to go away.

[2:53] And with the election year looming, the

[2:55] members of Congress are now going to

[2:56] have to decide, Peter, which group of

[2:58] voters they fear most, those passionate

[3:01] supporters of gun control or the

[3:03] passionate gun owners.

[3:04] >> Thanks very much, Linda. Linda Douglas

[3:06] on Capitol Hill on this debate. What a

[3:08] difference time makes. After the school

[3:10] shootings this spring, the Senate passed

[3:12] a gun control bill pretty readily and

[3:14] many thought it would be a sure thing in

[3:16] the House. ABC's Jackie Jud and what

[3:18] happened in between.

[3:21] >> WHAT DO WE WANT NOW?

[3:23] >> AFTER the horror at Coline, polls showed

[3:26] that most Americans felt more strongly

[3:28] than ever about gun control. Many

[3:30] politicians did too. But time dulled

[3:34] that emotional surge and the political

[3:36] process took over.

[3:37] >> We now know that there are 436 members

[3:41] of the House, one of them far more

[3:43] powerful than any of the others, and

[3:45] that is the NRA.

[3:46] >> The NRA is not the powerhouse it once

[3:49] was, but still has plenty of muscle. And

[3:52] it exercised that by having John Dingle,

[3:54] a leading Democrat, very much on its

[3:57] side.

[3:58] >> What saved the behinds of the NRA on the

[4:00] gun issue this time? No question was the

[4:04] willingness of John Dingle to step in,

[4:06] thwart his party's uh general viewpoint

[4:09] and work with Republicans.

[4:11] >> NRA lobbyists also were very disciplined

[4:14] in delivering their message that

[4:16] Washington should better enforce

[4:18] existing laws before passing anymore.

[4:20] >> The Justice Department has turned their

[4:22] back on enforcing all those laws. It's

[4:25] an American tragedy and it's getting

[4:27] people killed. In Littleton, there was

[4:29] shock among some at what the House did.

[4:32] >> I think it's horrible. I can't believe

[4:33] that they did that.

[4:35] >> Analysts say more powerful than memories

[4:37] of the shooting are memories of 1994

[4:40] when Democrats lost the House in part

[4:42] because of the NRA's efforts. Some fence

[4:45] sitters were not prepared to become the

[4:47] group's next targets. Jackie Jud, ABC

[4:50] News, Washington. Other news today,

[4:53] overseas, the US and Russia have settled

[4:55] their dispute over the Russian role in

[4:57] Kosovo. It's taken three days of tough

[4:59] negotiating in Helsinki. The deal does

[5:02] not give Russia the separate sector in

[5:03] Kosovo it wanted to police. It does mean

[5:06] about 3,000 Russian troops will be

[5:08] deployed throughout Kosovo, reporting to

[5:10] Russian officers, and NATO will retain

[5:13] ultimate command in Kosovo today. First,

[5:17] time to make a decision.

[5:20] In the town of Podvo, the Serb soldiers

[5:22] didn't quite know what to do, sitting

[5:24] there with Kosovo Albanians jeering

[5:26] them. And then a British tank showed up.

[5:32] Just a moment's hesitation before the

[5:34] Serbs thought better of it.

[5:38] Serbs are leaving the province at just

[5:40] about the same number that Kosovo

[5:41] Albanians are returning. Humanitarian

[5:44] workers in Albania and Macedonia believe

[5:46] that the rate of returning Albanians

[5:48] will increase this weekend. which

[5:50] worries them. Every returning refugee is

[5:53] now getting a notice which warns that

[5:55] Kosovo is still a very dangerous place.

[5:59] Here's ABC's Bob Woodruff.

[6:02] >> The refugees who are coming back to

[6:04] Kosovo are finding landmines in their

[6:06] homes and backyards.

[6:10] >> NATO troops are finding them all over

[6:12] Kosovo. And a lot of people are getting

[6:14] hurt. In this case, two men who stepped

[6:16] on a mine while walking down the road.

[6:18] In this tiny clinic alone, doctors are

[6:21] now treating about eight people a day

[6:23] for landmine injuries.

[6:25] >> They're they're flooding back to their

[6:26] houses and people have they've got mines

[6:29] in their gardens and fields and people

[6:31] aren't taking I don't think they they're

[6:33] taking enough care.

[6:34] >> Does he have any information about any

[6:36] mines here? Landmine experts are now in

[6:39] Kosovo and they are in a race against

[6:41] time to locate and destroy hundreds of

[6:44] thousands of landmines before the

[6:46] expected flood of refugees arrives

[6:47] within the next few days. Simon Conway

[6:51] has just arrived from the minefields of

[6:52] Cambodia.

[6:53] >> Whereas there's a lot of sporadic

[6:54] mining, people leaving mines as they

[6:56] leave houses and stuff like that. It

[6:58] makes it very difficult. Yeah, it's

[6:59] essentially revenge.

[7:01] >> Before the Yugoslav army began

[7:02] withdrawing, they handed over a series

[7:04] of maps to NATO. But NATO has said those

[7:07] maps are highly unreliable. So the

[7:09] location of most landmines is still

[7:11] unknown.

[7:13] >> And it is now clear that landmines were

[7:15] planted by both sides in the war. The

[7:17] Yugoslavs and the Kosovo Liberation

[7:19] Army. The KLA is now working with NATO

[7:22] to find the landmines it planted. But

[7:24] Kosovo is now the most heavily mined

[7:26] place in the world. Finding even a

[7:28] fraction of them will probably take

[7:30] years. Bob Woodruff, ABC News,

[7:32] Christina. Later this evening on Night

[7:35] Line, Ted Cppel will report from Kosovo

[7:37] on what some people there call the road

[7:39] of death. Serb troops sealed off a

[7:41] stretch of highway with thousands of

[7:43] refugees and began to kill. When we come

[7:47] back, gambling in America here to stay.

[7:52] And when an old standby gets a makeover,

[7:55] technology on the cutting edge.

[8:00] This is World News Tonight with Peter

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[10:09] >> A federal commission has issued a report

[10:11] on gambling in America. The commission

[10:13] was appointed because of concern that

[10:14] gambling is having a negative effect on

[10:16] society. The commission recommends a

[10:18] moratorum on casino expansion, a minimum

[10:21] age of 21 to gamble at all, no betting

[10:24] on college sports, nor on the internet.

[10:28] In all likelihood, there's not a

[10:29] recommendation there which will be

[10:31] implemented. As ABC's Aaron Brown

[10:33] reports tonight, gambling in America is

[10:36] bigger than ever.

[10:39] From big-time casinos

[10:43] >> to mom and pop video poker machines to

[10:46] staterun lottery, Americans spent $630

[10:50] billion on gambling last year, which is

[10:53] more than they spent on all other

[10:55] entertainment forms combined. You can't

[10:58] go any place in America not and not have

[11:01] gambling in your face. Casinos once

[11:03] confined to the Nevada desert are now in

[11:06] 26 states and revenues have increased

[11:08] sixfold in 15 years. Next to casino

[11:12] owners, no one is happier than state

[11:14] government. Taxes on the commercial

[11:17] casino industry are tremendously high.

[11:20] Probably the highest tax industry in

[11:22] America. For states, it is like free

[11:25] money. Why give manufacturers tax breaks

[11:28] when casinos will employ just as many

[11:30] people, maybe more, and pay higher taxes

[11:34] to boot? Government has created a

[11:37] demand. It has pushed gambling on

[11:39] people. You know, charitable gambling

[11:41] cracked the door. Lotteryies open the

[11:43] door. Casino gambling takes the door

[11:45] off. Nothing in today's report is likely

[11:48] to change that. The report criticizes

[11:51] state lotteryies for marketing to the

[11:52] poor and neighborhood gambling like

[11:54] video poker for feeding the addiction.

[11:57] But the big casinos come away virtually

[11:59] untouched

[12:02] >> and they are likely to remain that way.

[12:04] The commission recommends states make

[12:06] gambling decisions and states are not

[12:08] likely to dramatically limit an industry

[12:11] that is paying high taxes while giving

[12:13] voters exactly what THEY WANT.

[12:18] AARON BROWN, ABC News, New York.

[12:21] >> Elsewhere on the money tonight, more

[12:22] people than ever deciding that home is a

[12:24] double wide or an upscale version of the

[12:26] house trailer. 25% of all new single

[12:29] family homes last year were

[12:31] prefabricated like this. 19 million

[12:33] people now live in them. Pity the lawyer

[12:36] who let this one slip by. The aerospace

[12:38] company Loheed Martin says a misplaced

[12:40] comma in a recent contract for the sale

[12:43] of a C130J military transport plane. A

[12:46] misplaced comma cost the company $70

[12:49] million. On Wall Street today, the Dow

[12:51] Jones Industrial Average was up just

[12:53] under 14 points to close at 10,855.

[12:56] On the Nasdaq, stocks were up 19 points.

[12:59] Here is a sports question for the

[13:01] weekend. What event will more people in

[13:03] the world watch this weekend than any

[13:06] other? including a very large

[13:08] pay-per-view audience here.

[13:12] The World Cup of Cricket, Pakistan

[13:14] versus Australia in the final

[13:16] >> and Australia are in the final.

[13:18] >> It used to be England's game now taken

[13:20] over and dominated by parts of the world

[13:22] where England used to rule. Indians and

[13:25] Pakistanis,

[13:27] South Africans and West Indians. Two

[13:30] billion people are expected to watch,

[13:32] including a large audience here. This is

[13:35] not the time to explain cricket. Suffice

[13:38] to say, for those who'll be glued to the

[13:40] screen, it is a passion.

[13:43] >> In our next segment, shooting the moon,

[13:45] rocking the cradle, and walking the dog.

[13:47] Technology on the cutting edge.

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[15:57] something we didn't know. The ancient

[15:59] Greeks invented the yo-yo 2500 years

[16:02] ago. And pun intended, it's had its ups

[16:04] and downs. Enormously popular one

[16:07] moment, virtually obscure the next. A

[16:09] French playwright in the late 1790s may

[16:12] have described the yo-yo best. A noble

[16:14] toy, he said, which dispels the fatigue

[16:16] of thinking. If only the Greeks could

[16:19] see our technology on the cutting edge.

[16:22] Here's ABC's Brian Rooney.

[16:27] This is the Cold Fusion yo-yo sleeping.

[16:29] Simply spinning at the end of its

[16:31] string. It sleeps longer than any yo-yo

[16:34] ever made. And sleep is what has

[16:36] awakened the yo-yo.

[16:37] >> Um, this one's called splitting the

[16:39] atom.

[16:39] >> The longer the yo-yo spins, keeping it

[16:42] stable like a bicycle, the more time

[16:44] there is to perform.

[16:45] >> To make a good yo-yo, it has to sleep

[16:48] for a reasonable period of time, has to

[16:49] be dead smooth on string tricks, and has

[16:51] to come back instantly on command.

[16:54] Yo-yos made with modern technology have

[16:56] created an explosion in the variety and

[16:59] length of tricks that can be performed.

[17:01] What once were championship moves are

[17:03] now for beginners.

[17:04] >> The tricks that used to be the entire

[17:06] contest, I can teach a kid in half an

[17:07] hour now.

[17:08] >> Designers applied the rules of physics

[17:10] and moved the weight of the yo-yo to its

[17:12] outer rims, putting more force in the

[17:14] spin. They added adjustable string gaps

[17:17] for varied response, high-performance

[17:19] ball bearings to reduce friction, even

[17:22] brake pads to make it snap back. A yo-yo

[17:25] called the Brain has a centrifugal

[17:27] clutch that automatically brings it back

[17:29] when it's losing spin. And the Duncan

[17:31] yo-yo company is about to introduce the

[17:34] Ballistic with adjustable weight

[17:36] distribution. The Cold Fusion weighs

[17:38] exactly 60 g. And when you unscrew it

[17:41] and take it down to its brakes and ball

[17:43] bearings, it has 25 parts and retails

[17:46] for $150.

[17:49] The previous record for sleeping a

[17:51] conventional yo-yo stood at 51 seconds,

[17:54] but professionals have slept the Cold

[17:56] Fusion for 8 minutes and 21 seconds.

[17:59] This amateur was videotaped sleeping his

[18:01] for 10 minutes and 40 seconds. Now, kids

[18:05] on the street are using these super

[18:06] yo-yos to do things never thought

[18:08] possible. One of the simplest toys ever

[18:11] made has become a technical marvel.

[18:13] Brian Rooney, ABC News, Tucson, Arizona.

[18:18] Genius is in the news again this week.

[18:20] The mathematician and the physicist

[18:22] Albert Einstein was so intelligent that

[18:25] his name became synonymous with genius.

[18:28] >> Albert Einstein.

[18:32] When he died in 1955, he willed his

[18:34] brain to science. And now, thanks to

[18:37] research at McMaster University in

[18:39] Hamilton, Ontario, perhaps we understand

[18:41] a little more about why he was a genius.

[18:44] Einstein had a bigger brain,

[18:47] >> bigger than 91 people determined to be

[18:49] of normal intelligence, whose brains

[18:51] were also used in the study. Einstein's

[18:54] brain was clearly different in the area

[18:56] where mathematical reasoning takes

[18:58] place. His brain proved to be 15% wider,

[19:02] which researchers think means it was

[19:03] more developed. And something else, this

[19:07] fissure or groove, which most of us

[19:09] have, is non-existent in Einstein's

[19:12] brain. The scientists theorize that

[19:14] without this groove, particles in

[19:16] Einstein's brain could connect and work

[19:18] together more easily in a more creative

[19:21] way. Just one other note about Einstein.

[19:23] And in the refugee camps of Albania and

[19:25] Macedonia, many Kosvars wear t-shirts

[19:28] that say Einstein was a refugee, which

[19:31] he was. He fled Nazi Germany for the

[19:33] United States in 1933.

[19:35] And one final item from the peacekeeping

[19:37] forces in Kosovo. Last night, a British

[19:39] soldier, actually he was Scottish,

[19:41] turned south instead of north towards

[19:43] Kosovo just as his convoy was leaving

[19:45] the city of Thessaloni in Greece where

[19:47] the troops had landed. Oblivious to his

[19:49] mistake, he dutifully drove on through

[19:51] the night all the way across Greece

[19:53] until he ended up in Athens, the

[19:55] capital. He was 400 miles off course. In

[19:58] a moment, the century on Friday.

[20:01] >> It's completely changed and

[20:03] revolutionized um how we live, work, and

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[20:07] >> One cool invention, and the world would

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[20:16] Nancy will have to see from near to far

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[22:01] and get a free $25 Blockbuster gift

[22:03] card. It's the first minivan with a

[22:05] built-in video entertainment system.

[22:07] >> Are you sure you don't want to drive?

[22:09] >> Oh, no. You're doing a great job. Great.

[22:11] >> For test drive details, call 1877 Movie

[22:13] Van or see your local Omobile dealer.

[22:19] Where will you be when your grandson

[22:21] gets his first taste of the ocean?

[22:24] When man walks on Mars?

[22:28] When your children want to discover

[22:30] their heritage,

[22:32] life is filled with moments you don't

[22:34] want to miss. That's why if you have

[22:36] high cholesterol and heart disease, you

[22:38] should know about Zulor. Zokor is proven

[22:40] to help save lives by reducing the risk

[22:42] of a heart attack. So, where will you be

[22:45] tomorrow? That could depend on what you

[22:47] do today. When diet and exercise aren't

[22:49] enough, talk to your doctor about adding

[22:51] Zokor. Zilkor is a prescription

[22:53] medication that is not right for

[22:55] everyone, including women who are

[22:56] nursing, pregnant, or may become

[22:58] pregnant or people with liver problems.

[23:00] Your doctor may do blood tests to check

[23:01] for liver problems because serious side

[23:04] effects can result. Tell your doctor

[23:05] about any muscle pain or weakness you

[23:07] experience while on Zokor and about any

[23:09] medicines you are taking. For more

[23:11] information, talk to your doctor or

[23:13] call. Zokor, it's your future. Be there.

[23:17] >> Tonight, this little girl was stabbed

[23:19] and murdered. This 13-year-old

[23:21] confessed. Did he do it or did this

[23:24] police chief coersse him into

[23:25] confessing?

[23:26] >> I did not kill them

[23:29] >> on 2020 tonight.

[23:33] Some years ago, at about this time of

[23:35] year, we went to visit the late Senator

[23:37] Sam Iran at his home in North Carolina.

[23:40] And as we sat on the porch one fairly

[23:42] hot evening, he suddenly said, "You know

[23:44] what the trouble is in Washington?" And

[23:46] then he answered his own question, air

[23:49] conditioning. Before air conditioning,

[23:51] he said, politicians would have to leave

[23:53] Washington in the summer to go home

[23:55] where they saw their constituents. As

[23:58] the writer Gor Vidal puts it, now the

[24:00] Congress never stops making mischief. So

[24:03] finally tonight, the century on Friday.

[24:11] Tonight,

[24:13] air conditioning.

[24:14] >> The long

[24:18] hot summer.

[24:21] >> For much of the 20th century, a long hot

[24:23] summer was something to be endured and

[24:26] occasionally enjoyed.

[24:28] The heat was part of southern culture. A

[24:31] bit of suffering that could only be

[24:33] eased by the slow whirl of a ceiling fan

[24:36] and a tall glass of something icy.

[24:39] >> Hello, Aden, sweetie. Hello, Ula.

[24:41] >> You sure do look calm and collected on

[24:43] this hot day.

[24:44] >> Well, I'm not. I'm dancing cranky.

[24:46] >> In a good old summer time. In a good old

[24:51] summer.

[24:52] >> In the cities, the summer could be

[24:53] sweltering.

[24:55] >> Air conditioning changed the world.

[24:58] >> It's completely changed and

[25:00] revolutionized um how we live, work, and

[25:03] play.

[25:04] >> Factories got it first because they

[25:06] needed it. In the heat, textiles would

[25:08] snap their thread on the machines.

[25:11] Newsprint would jam. And by the 1930s,

[25:14] the air conditioning industry realized

[25:16] the real future lay in cooling people.

[25:20] When Willis Carrier, the Thomas Edison

[25:22] of air conditioning, developed his

[25:23] centrifugal compressor. He found a

[25:26] market at the movies. The summer

[25:28] blockbuster was born. Hotel lobbies were

[25:30] next. And then restaurants. Just about

[25:34] anyone trying to attract customers who

[25:36] wanted to be cool.

[25:38] >> Test by arriving home from your cool

[25:40] office with a cheery have a nice day.

[25:43] Cool your entire home with train central

[25:46] air conditioning. Stop boiling your wife

[25:48] in a non-airconditioned home.

[25:50] >> After World War II, the home air

[25:52] conditioner offered perpetual cooling as

[25:55] a way of life. People begin to look at

[25:57] air conditioning not as an oddity, as a

[26:00] luxury, but actually as a necessity. It

[26:03] becomes just a part of life.

[26:04] >> When it's hot like this, you know what I

[26:06] do?

[26:06] >> I keep my undies in the ice box.

[26:08] >> Popular culture took notice.

[26:11] >> There's actually a a a wonderful scene

[26:13] in the movie um The Seven-Year.

[26:16] Right after the scene where Marilyn

[26:18] Monroe's skirt kind of flies up, she

[26:20] goes back to her apartment building with

[26:22] Tom Ule and he invites her into his

[26:25] apartment because it's air conditioned.

[26:29] >> This is really the most.

[26:31] >> By the late 1950s, air conditioning was

[26:34] being installed in cars.

[26:36] >> By the 1960s, it was everywhere.

[26:41] >> The changes that came with it were

[26:43] profound.

[26:44] The South in decline since the Civil War

[26:47] began to rise again.

[26:49] >> General Electric in a sense has been a

[26:50] more devastating invader of southern

[26:52] culture than General Sherman was. The

[26:54] lore of an air conditioned environment

[26:56] prompted corporations to relocate to the

[26:58] south where real estate and labor was

[27:01] cheaper. And in the 1970s and 80s,

[27:04] millions of Americans made the move.

[27:06] There was simply no end to air

[27:08] conditioning's benefits. Almost all of

[27:11] modern science depends on on complete

[27:14] climate control. Without air

[27:15] conditioning, you really wouldn't have

[27:16] that.

[27:17] >> Today, more than 73% of American homes

[27:20] are airond conditioned. Houston, Texas

[27:23] spends over $700 million a year on

[27:26] cooling. Without air conditioning, the

[27:28] Dallas Stars would never have played the

[27:30] Stanley Cup at home last night.

[27:34] There are those who would argue that the

[27:35] cool breeze has come at a cost, leaving

[27:38] in its wake only memories of summertime

[27:42] on the front porch.

[27:45] If you log on to our website, the

[27:47] century.com, you can find out more about

[27:49] air conditioning and a lot of other

[27:50] inventions that changed the course of

[27:52] the century. That is our report on World

[27:54] News Tonight. Don't forget 2020 later

[27:55] on. And don't forget Night Line. I'm

[27:57] Peter Jennings. Have a good weekend.

[27:59] Good night.

[28:07] Sunday on This Week with Sam Donaldson

[28:10] and Coke Roberts.

[28:11] >> The House defeats gun control, plus an

[28:13] exclusive interview with Britain's Tony

[28:15] Blair. ABC Sunday.

[28:18] >> This has been a presentation of ABC

[28:20] News. More Americans get their news from

[28:22] ABC News than from any other source.

[28:24] abcnews.com, now a part of the Go

[28:27] Network.