Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 18, 1995 TAG: 9508180068
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
HAMILTON, Bermuda - The sun of the British Empire won't be setting over Bermuda just yet.
Voters in this mid-Atlantic island colony overwhelmingly rejected independence from Britain. Premier John Swan, who supported independence, kept his promise and stepped down Thursday as leader of the governing party, and will soon be replaced as head of government as well.
With all 22,236 ballots from the Wednesday voting counted, 74 percent opposed independence; 26 percent favored it. Voter turnout was just 54 percent in the referendum, which was delayed a day because of Hurricane Felix.
Sen. Gary Pitman, chairman of the governing United Bermuda Party, said a search for a successor to Swan will begin with a party caucus today. Swan will quit as premier when one is chosen, probably later this month.
- Associated Press
Mandela starts divorce proceedings
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - After being separated from his estranged wife, Winnie, for three turbulent years, President Nelson Mandela has reportedly instructed his lawyer to start divorce proceedings.
Radio 702 reported Thursday that Mandela has asked attorney Ismail Ayob to open discussions with Winnie Mandela's lawyers. The station said Nelson Mandela, 77, was seeking an amicable settlement and no concrete legal steps were imminent.
A divorce would conclude the tempestuous relationship of South Africa's most famous couple. The marriage grew increasingly sour following Nelson Mandela's 1990 release after spending 27 years in prison.
They separated in 1992, a year after Winnie Mandela was convicted in the kidnapping by her bodyguards of four youths, one of whom was subsequently found beaten to death. She avoided jail but paid a fine.
- Associated Press
Avalanche kills 5 on K-2 mountain
LONDON - An avalanche near the summit of K-2, the world's second-highest mountain, apparently killed at least five climbers, including the first woman to scale Mount Everest alone.
Alison Hargreaves of Britain reportedly was among those caught in the avalanche Sunday on the 28,250-foot peak in Pakistan's Karakoram Range.
Hargreaves' husband, Jim Ballard, said Thursday he hadn't given up hope for his 33-year-old wife, but he was steeling for the worst.
``We shouldn't grieve,'' Ballard said. ``She was actually where she wanted to be. She had climbed the mountain. She was the first woman to climb Everest and K-2 without supplementary oxygen and she was on her way down. At least, inside, she would have had the happiness of reaching the summit.''
Among the others feared dead were Rob Slater of Colorado, Jeff Lakes of Canada and two Spaniards, an expedition organizer said.
K-2 is so named because it was the second peak measured in an 1856 survey of the Karakoram Range.
- Associated Press
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB