. . . or click on the link here for Audio Player – CBS World News Roundup – March 27, 1995 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection
A lot of news this day, 20 years ago.
Starting off with the ongoing saga of two detained Americans in Iraq. An Iraqi Parliament official referred to David Daliberti and Bill Barloon, who mistakenly crossed the border with Kuwait as infiltrators and may have been intent on sabotage. The White House and family members of the detainees labelled the accusations as “hogwash”. Daliberti and Barloon face 8 years in prison, But an Iraqi official indicated there was room for leniency if the U.S. relaxed certain UN sanctions.
The matter of responding to allegations Bosnian Serb artillery were shelling certain safe-areas brought a stern and serious warning that the UN would request NATO airstrikes if the Serbs didn’t stop.
South Africa’s President Nelson Mandela fired his estranged wife Winnie from a Deputy Ministers job. Pressure had been mounting for weeks to get some resolution to the problem. Mrs. Mandela had been brazenly criticizing the new government and deliberately disobeying government orders. ANC members had been pressuring Nelson Mandela to do something about the situation. But since she was the wife of the President, it was a bit hard as the order could only come from the top. Some felt she had mass popular support and could form her own party, while others disputed that, saying she was a loner with no political support. Time would tell.
The ongoing Major League Baseball Strike was about to get a high-hard-one from the government, who were stepping in and issuing an injunction against Major League Baseball owners. The National Labor Relations Board accused the team owners of bargaining in bad faith. Striking players said they would end their strike if a Court Order was issued, restoring the terms of the old Baseball Contract. But owners were threatening a lock-out and peace would only come at the bargaining table. However nothing would be settled before the 1995 season was slated to begin with replacement players. And even the Pentagon was getting into the fracas, with bans issued preventing military bands and color guards form taking part in games that used replacement players.
And Rap Star Eric Wright – aka: Eazy E, died of AIDS at the age of 31. Doctors at Cedars-Sinai said Wright had taken ill and was diagnosed with AIDS only a month before. His was one of the rare cases of an infected person showing no signs of the illness until its final stages. Wright’s death was shock to the Music world and a wake-up call to others who didn’t take precautions and had unsafe sex to get tested and get safe. Wright issued a statement written before his death saying he didn’t know how he contracted the virus, but that he had lived in the fast lane of fancy cars and fancy women.
And that’s a sample of what went on March 27th, 20 years ago today, as presented by The CBS World News Roundup.
