. . . or click on the link here for Audio Player – CBS World News Roundup – February 16, 1994 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection
February in 1994 was about the ongoing conflict in the former Yugoslavia. On this particular February 16th it had to with who was taking responsibility for the mortar attack on Sarajevo which killed 68 people. The UN investigating team came up empty, saying it could have come from either side; that was insufficient physical evidence to prove that one party, or the other were responsible. And since the ceasefire began, the first civilian casualty was reported via the infamous “snipers alley”. The United Nations was now asking for 3,000 more troops to be sent to Bosnia to police the Serb pullback of guns around Sarajevo, even though Serb leader Ratko Mladic vowed not to pull back any guns. Russia refused a UN request to move some of its 1200 paratroopers from Croatia into Bosnia for fear of the backlash at home if any of its soldiers were killed in Yugoslavia. And so it went.
Back home; a looming trade war between the U.S. and Japan was heating up, with Japan claiming it kept its word in a disputed cellular phone deal. At the same time, Tokyo reported another surge in the bitterly contentious trade surplus with the rest of the world. Economists predicted the trend would soon reverse as a rising value of the Yen made it more expensive to buy Japanese goods overseas.
Housing starts in January were down almost 18%, due to the harsh winter weather in the East and the big Earthquake in Southern California. Construction was off in every region in the country, except for the West where rebuilding after the earthquake drove starts up 3/10 of 1%.
Earthquakes were still topics for discussion, with news that a major earthquake hit the Indonesian island of Sumatra, killing some 134 people and 500 seriously injured. The earthquake registered 7.2 on the Richter scale and reports were sketchy over the amount of damage caused by the quake.
And the Nancy Kerrigan/Tanya Harding skating scandal was still making news, with Harding arriving in Oslo ahead of Nancy Kerrigan where they were to practice for the upcoming competition. Harding was reported to have failed two lie-detector tests in which she was asked about her possible role in the attack on Kerrigan.
All that, and a lot more via The CBS World News Roundup for February 1, 1994.
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