Le 22 décembre 1996 était un dimanche sous le signe astral du ♐. C'était le 356ème jour de l'année. Le président des États-Unis était William J. (Bill) Clinton.
Si vous êtes né ce jour-là, vous avez 29 ans. Ton dernier anniversaire était le lundi 22 décembre 2025, il y a 182 jours. Votre prochain anniversaire est le mardi 22 décembre 2026, dans 182 jours. Vous avez vécu 10 774 jours, soit environ 258 598 heures, ou environ 15 515 883 minutes, ou environ 930 952 980 secondes.
Date: 23 December 1996
By Barry Meier and Bill Carter
Barry Meier
Newsgathering tactics of television news magazines are coming under new form of legal attack, as targets find increasing success with argument that use of hidden cameras and other undercover techniques trample on their rights; network aides see jury verdicts against such tactics reflecting growing public skepticism about television (M)
Date: 23 December 1996
By Celestine Bohlen
Celestine Bohlen
L'Osservatore Romano, Vatican's semiofficial newspaper, sees itself as Vatican' window on the world, a way to disseminate not only the Pope's official statements and documents but also unofficial church views on range of issues; what it does not print are controversial pronouncments by church, or news of objectionable behavior by clergy; it is often compared to Pravda, Kremlin mouthpiece of old, in that it is best read for news it does not print, or buries on back page; photos (M)
Date: 22 December 1996
By Holly Brubach
Holly Brubach
Wendy Wasserstein offers tongue-in-cheek description of how John F Kennedy Jr and his bride would spend their first Christmas together, away from prying reporters, in a chalet on an otherwise uninhabited island off coast of Lapland; drawing (M)
Date: 23 December 1996
International A3-9 225 FREED IN PERU Guerrillas holding 365 hostages at the Japanese Ambassador's residence in Lima freed the less strategically important people, but still have 140, mostly top-level Peruvians and foreign ambassadors. A1 MYTHIC REBEL IN PERU The leader of the rebels who still hold 140 hostages at the Japanese Ambassador's residence is a former textile union official whose ability to evade capture has lent him almost mythic stature. A1 MEXICAN SPEAKS UP A former senior Mexican police commander is speaking out about the corrosive effect of drug money, including cash payments to the brother of a former President. A8 NEW PUSH IN HEBRON TALKS The American mediator for the Middle East held an intensive round of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials in what he described as an attempt to ''re-energize'' talks over Hebron. A3 BOMB WOUNDS I.R.A. SUPPORTER Protestant militants appeared to end a 26-month truce when a car bomb exploded in a Roman Catholic enclave in Belfast and wounded an I.R.A. supporter. A4 QUICK COMEBACK IN BULGARIA The former Communists who have governed Bulgaria for three years appeared poised to re-elect their Prime Minister, who said on Saturday that he was resigning in an apparent bid to rally support. A3 MORE PRESSURE ON MILOSEVIC Opposition leaders took new steps to coordinate their forces against Serbia's President, forming a coalition of the 30 towns and villages that they already govern. A5 THE VIEW FROM SINGAPORE As Singapore races to keep ahead of its bigger and more richly endowed neighbors, the nation's founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, is looking over his shoulder -- at Malaysia. A9 London Journal: The fight against fluoride. A4 National A10-12, B8-9 SUPPORT FOR GINGRICH House Republican leaders spent the day proclaiming their support for Speaker Newt Gingrich, saying that the ethics lapses he has now conceded should not keep him from another term as Speaker. A1 HOLIDAY SALES STRENGTH On the final weekend before Christmas, shoppers were apparently not holding on to their wallets as tightly as in previous years, according to retailers, mall operators and companies that track spending. A1 TV MAGAZINES CHALLENGED News magazine shows have become the target of a new form of legal attack, as individuals and companies argue that the use of hidden cameras and undercover reporting tramples on their rights. A1 A RUSH TO CITIZENSHIP Changes in the Federal welfare law have sent tens of thousands of legal immigrants back to school to cram for the citizenship test. If they do not become citizens, they will no longer automatically be entitled to the Government money that most of them need to live. B8 OPPOSING NEW DRUG LAWS Federal officials say that, rather than bring a court challenge to ballot initiatives in California and Arizona that relax restrictions on the medical use of illegal drugs, they will use the prosecution of doctors to try to blunt the new laws. A10 RESCUING ADOBE CHURCHES The weather has been unkind to many of New Mexico's adobe churches, but efforts are under way to save them. A10 BISON PLAN WILL GO FORWARD A Federal judge will not halt plans by the National Park Service to trap bison leaving Yellowstone National Park and ship the animals to slaughter. A12 JACKSON JOINS LANGUAGE FRAY The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson says the school board in Oakland, Calif., was both foolish and insulting when it declared that many of its black students spoke a language distinct from traditional English. B9 A DETOUR FOR CHARITABLE COINS Much of the money that children poured into gumball and candy machines bearing March of Dimes stickers never got to the organization. B9 CONCERNS ABOUT PLUTONIUM PLAN A dozen influential groups are wary of a Federal proposal to consume plutonium from old weapons in nuclear reactors. B8 Metro Report B1-7 A LESSON IN POWER After a plea to Albany by Schools Chancellor Rudy Crew, the New York City school system has undergone its most far-reaching realignment since the racial strife of the late 1960's. But Dr. Crew is only part of the reason for the change. A1 DECK THE HALLS, SHOP THE MALLS For all the worry about the mallification of America, malls like Roosevelt Field in Garden City, L.I. -- with its garland-draped railings and player piano tapping ''All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth'' -- have become as much a part of the holiday season as community-group renditions of Handel's ''Messiah'' and the glow of electric menorahs through windowpanes. A1 Business Digest D1 Arts/Entertainment C9-16 Behind the creation of ''Jerry Maguire.'' C9 Theater: ''No Way to Treat a Lady.'' C12 Music: Tokyo String Quartet. C14 Honoring the past at the Knitting Factory. C14 Critic's Notebook. C9 Ann Hampton Callway. C10 New York Philharmonic and rarities. C16 Johnny Paycheck. C10 Dance: ''Parade,'' by Mummenschanz. C9 ''Yorkville Nutcracker.'' C13 ''Japanese Contemporary Dance.'' C13 Alvin Ailey Dance Company. C14 Books: Japanese consul who saved Jews from the Holocaust. C16 Sports C1-8 Obituaries B10-11 Margret Rey, co-creator of ''Curious George'' children's books B11 Editorials/Op-Ed A14-15 Editorials The whoops defense. Serbia's apartheid victims. Brent Staples: Rock-and-roll. Letters Anthony Lewis: The loss of hope. Bob Herbert: Managed care turf war. William Safire: Mideast -- Bibi Agonistes. Francisco Goldman: In Guatemala, all is forgotten. Chronicle B9 Bridge C16 Crossword C16
Date: 22 December 1996
International 3-13 DOUBTS ABOUT LIFE ON MARS New research has cast a cold shadow over the sensational claims made last August that a meteorite that fell on Antarctica carried chemical and possibly fossil evidence of primitive life on early Mars -- microbial Martians. 1 NEGOTIATORS MEET PERU OFFICIALS Talks on the release of 350 hostages in Lima stalled but the President of Peru broke a long silence to make an offer after the guerrilla leader made one of his own. 10 U.S. TAKES QUIET ROLE IN PERU Holding to its policy of refusing to negotiate with terrorists, the U.S. is playing a quiet backstage role in the hostage standoff. 10 MORE TENSION OVER HONG KONG China established a new legislature for Hong Kong, ignoring protests from Britain that the proceedings violated agreements on the colony's transition to Chinese rule. 4 IRANIAN FRONT-RUNNER With the presidential campaign barely begun, Ali Akbar Nateq-Noori, a conservative cleric who wants stricter Islamic rule, is acting as though he has won. 8 Tajik rebels freed 21 hostages, including 7 U.N. observers. 12 Soul-searching at the Red Cross after six deaths in Chechnya. 12 In Spain, the bell business has its risks, but it is not a dying craft. 13 National 14-32 GINGRICH SAYS HE BROKE RULES After two years of uncompromising denials, Speaker Newt Gingrich admitted today he violated House rules in the ethics case that has clouded his political future. 1 LOOPHOLE EXTENDS BENEFITS Because of a loophole in the new Federal welfare law, many of the nation's poorest men and women who were to have lost full food stamp benefits will continue to receive them for at least a year. 1 TEAMSTER CHIEF'S SLIM VICTORY In light of all the praise for Ron Carey's first term as president of the teamsters, many people are mystified that the nation's 1.4 million teamsters came within a hair of throwing this corruption fighter out of office. 1 RUSHING AWAY FROM TAXES A decade after Congress closed some of the biggest loopholes in the tax on wealth handed down from one generation to the next, the Federal estate tax has become so easy to avoid that some experts believe that much of it is voluntary, at least for those who plan early. 1 TOURISM AND COMMERCE COLLIDE To some, the accident of a freighter plowing into a riverfront development should cause New Orleans to consider the wisdom of merging its tourism and maritime commerce on a single stretch of river. 14 ATHEIST AND MONEY MISSING Madalyn Murray O'Hair, once famous for her cantankerous advocacy of the right not to believe in God, is at the core of a bizarre and growing mystery, one set off by her total silence, and her apparent disappearance. 14 UNCERTAINTY ON WAR CHEMICALS A panel of independent scientists has determined that there is a ''very real possibility'' that the Pentagon will never know how many American troops may have been exposed to chemical weapons in the Persian Gulf war. 32 Metropolitan 33-41 GIULIANI PREPARES CAMPAIGN Expressing enormous confidence about the strength of his re-election campaign, New York City's Mayor, Rudolph W. Giuliani, says he needs another term in office to cement his legacy into the bedrock of New York City government. Otherwise, he says, any of his opponents would need only a year to undo his work reducing crime and redefining the welfare system. 1 PIONEERING OFFICER IS SLAIN An off-duty police officer -- one of a handful who started New York City's heralded community policing program in 1990 -- and the owner of a Queens check-cashing store who employed him as a part-time security guard were waylaid and shot to death by armed robbers as they opened the business. 33 ARSON SUSPECT WINS SYMPATHY In most small towns, a man accused of setting fire to several historic barns would be vilified, or at the very least avoided. But when Vernon Shultis, a volunteer firefighter, was arrested in Woodstock, N.Y., in connection with setting 10 fires that caused an estimated $400,000 in damage, people rallied behind him, even other firefighters. 33 Neediest Cases 41 Obituaries 42
Date: 22 December 1996
By Philip Shenon
Philip Shenon
Defense Dept says panel of independent scientists has determined that there is 'very real possibility' that Pentagon will never know how many American troops may have been exposed to chemical weapons in demolition of Iraqi ammunition depot shortly after 1991 Persian Gulf war (M)
Date: 23 December 1996
Jim Karayn,public television executive, dies at age 64 (S)
Date: 23 December 1996
By Aaron Barnhart
Aaron Barnhart
Dozens of television networks languish in almost total obscurity, unable to penetrate only a handful of country's more than 11,000 cable systems; networks have fallen victim to process that favors proven, broad-concept approaches to programming over niche concepts; winnowing is likely to become more ruthless because of recent moves by cable's dominant force, Tele-Communications Inc, which is trying to stem operating losses and counter its direct-satellite and wireless competitors; graphs (M)
Date: 22 December 1996
MONDAY The University of Michigan releases its final index of consumer sentiment for December. TUESDAY Various financial markets close early for Christmas Eve. WEDNESDAY A merchandise transfer of staggering proportions. THURSDAY The Labor Department reports on initial claims for unemployment insurance. The Money magazine-ABC News consumer confidence index is released. The Energy Department issues its weekly report on United States petroleum stocks. FRIDAY The Federal Reserve releases its weekly report on commercial and industrial loans at commercial banks.
Date: 23 December 1996
Stephen G Smith is named editor of National Journal, succeeding Richard S Frank, who is retiring after 20 years (S)