NEWS

Hispanic activists criticize race panel Tomorrow's White House town meeting intended to smooth racerelations has instead angered Latino activists who say the panel isslighting Hispanics. Felipe Lopez of the Dominican Republic, abasketball player at St. John's University, is the only Hispanic onthe 11-member panel, which also includes President Clinton and nineathletic figures - six blacks and three whites. "Whenever there's adialogue on race, it's always black and white. They should beginconsidering Hispanics as part of the dialogue," Alfonso Maldonado,director of the Houston chapter of the League of United LatinAmerican Citizens, said Sunday. The 90-minute town hall meeting inHouston, part of Clinton's initiative on race, will discuss theimpact of race in sports from the playground to the pro level. Theforum will be televised on ESPN.Yeltsin resubmits arms pactRussian President Boris Yeltsin submitted an amended version of thelong-stalled START II arms control treaty to parliament today, andthis time seemed likely to see it passed. The treaty was signed byYeltsin and President Clinton in 1993. It would halve the strategicnuclear arsenals of the United States and Russia. The U.S. Senateratified it in 1996, but the State Duma, the lower house of Russia'sparliament, so far has refused to approve it. Parliamentary leadersnow say they expect the treaty to pass. The version that Yeltsinsent to parliament today extends the deadline for getting rid of thetwo countries' nuclear arsenals from Jan. 1, 2003 to the end of 2007,under accords signed in New York last fall.U.S. diplomats ask to flee smogThe U.S. Embassy in Brunei has requested permission from Washingtonto temporarily remove its staff from the smog-choked capital, theU.S. ambassador said Monday. U.S. Ambassador Glen Robert Rease saidhe was waiting for State Department approval to fly his staff toAustralia or back to the United States. Wildfires from droughtconditions in Brunei and in neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia haveshrouded the region in a blanket of soot and debris.North Korea dependent on food aidDespite three years of severe food shortages, North Korean childrenlook healthier this year because they have been getting more foreignaid, a UN agency says. The meager North Korean harvest has run out,forcing its people to rely on foreign donations and to scavenge forroots and edible plants, Catherine Bertini, executive director of theWorld Food Program, said Sunday. It could be years before NorthKorea can reform its centrally planned agriculture and feed its 24million people, she said. "Food aid must continue until they have aconsiderably better harvest and agricultural production," Bertinisaid after returning from a four-day visit to North Korea. Bertinisaid that because of foreign aid, conditions are better for children,hospital patients and other "vulnerable groups." Children lookhealthier, she said.Children roll 'em at White HouseThe Marine band played "Easter Parade," children tumbled hard-boiledcolored eggs across the grass, and costumed bunnies waved and dancedas President Clinton blew the opening whistle today at the 1998 WhiteHouse Easter Egg Roll. An estimated 30,000 children and accompanyingadults covered the grounds, rolling eggs, playing games and listeningto storytellers. And for the first time since the first egg rolledin 1879, the event was open to children across the world viacybercast. "This is the only thing every year, no matter what elsehappens, I know I will do right," the president said, pressing anickel-clad whistle to his lips, blowing authoritatively, andstarting eggs whizzing across the green grass.