Informed Sources

Looking for POWs and MIAs

White House sources have provided Time with specifics on heretofore undetailed joint U.S.-Vietnamese investigations into the fate of American POWS AND MIAS. In Vietnam, since January 1992, there have been eight joint field searches and 40 crash- or grave-site excavations; also, 422 cases from files and 92 live sightings were checked out. Vietnam and the U.S. have been making searches together in Laos and Cambodia as well; there have been a total of roughly 170 investigations of various types in the former country and 110 in the latter. The high numbers seem to indicate that Vietnam -- recently, at least -- has been very cooperative in helping with POW/MIAs. This may make a difference as Washington decides in September whether to lift its two-decade-old trade embargo against Vietnam.

It's Simple -- We Use the Extra Money to Treat Lung Cancer

The Clinton Administration's health-care task force is a lot more interested in using a cigarette tax to generate revenue than to protect the public health. The task force, headed by HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, once leaned toward raising the tax on a pack of cigarettes to $2 or more. But they discovered that in Canada and other countries that heavily tax tobacco, the very high levies discourage smoking -- as they are intended to -- and so eventually bring in less revenue than a lower tax. As one task-force official says, "At this point, we're more interested in maximizing revenue." Under the current thinking, the tax will begin at just $1 a pack and then be raised to $1.50 over several years.

Aidid Ups the Bidding

Cash has become a new weapon of choice in Somalia. First the United Nations offered $25,000 for information leading to the capture of Somali warlord MOHAMMED FARRAH AIDID; now, according to U.S. intelligence sources, Aidid is offering $1 million for the assassination of retired U.S. Admiral Jonathan Howe, the U.N.'s special envoy to Somalia. Howe has been a particularly outspoken critic of Aidid.