Baghdad expels U.N. official
The Iraqi government July 8 expelled a UN official, Ian
Broughton, after accusing him of attempting to sabotage the
country's crops by breeding locusts. Iraqi government
officials said Broughton, a former officer with the New
Zealand Army, planted boxes of locust eggs on April 8 near
Khanaqin, close to the Iranian border. Earlier this year,
Clinton administration officials were forced to admit U.S.
spies worked under cover on the UN Special Commission as
"weapons inspectors."
Meanwhile, U.S. warplanes bombed an Iraqi communications site in the country's northern "no-fly zone" July 8. It was the 58th time that U.S. imperialist planes attacked Iraqi facilities in the northern area since December 28. Washington imposed two "no-fly zones" on the country after it led the slaughter of Iraqi people in the 1990-91 Gulf War.
Greek workers protest job cuts
Workers at Olympic Airways in Greece held a 24-hour strike
July 7, forcing the company to cancel 50 of its 79 domestic
and international flights. It was the second one-day job
action against the state-owned company in two weeks. The
unionists were protesting the possibility of layoffs as the
airline's management was taken over by Speedwing, a
consulting firm for British Airways. Speedwing bosses seek
to cut labor costs to make Olympic more profitable. A week
earlier the airline's new chief executive officer, Rod Lynch,
threatened workers to submit to the "restructuring" or see
Olympic shut down.
Moscow plans military exercises
The Russian defense ministry announced July 8 it will
conduct military maneuvers in Northern Caucasus, the region
between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Airborne troops,
ships from the Black Sea Fleet, and units from the North
Caucasus military district will participate in the exercises,
scheduled July 13-16. Last month the Russian military
practiced "West-99," which involved repelling aggression from
imperialist countries. While Moscow would not state what
force would launch an assault on the country, the Russian
newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta asserted, "Few doubt that the
enemy is NATO's armed forces in Europe."
Washington imposes tariff on New Zealand, Australia lamb...
U.S. president William Clinton announced July 7 that
Washington would impose quotas on lamb imports from Australia
and New Zealand and duties of 9, 6, and 3 percent over three
years. Any sales above the quota will be subject to a 40
percent tariff. Combined imports for both countries will be
set at 1998 levels for one year, rising slightly for the
following two years. Australia and New Zealand account for
about 95 percent of U.S. lamb imports, worth $146 million.
Australian trade minister Mark Valle, warned that Washington
is provoking a "global trade war."
...squeezes Brazilian steel trade
The U.S. Commerce Department announced July 7 the
Brazilian government will restrict the level of hot-rolled
steel exported to the United States by 28 percent in exchange
for Washington suspending anti-dumping investigations of
Brazilian steel exports. Brazilian officials also agreed to
set a minimum price their steel producers would sell their
commodities for in the U.S. market. Last June the U.S.
Senate narrowly rejected legislation that would have imposed
quotas on steel imports. U.S. commerce secretary William
Daley said the decision does not effect the "investigations"
into whether Brazil and several other countries were selling
large amounts of cold-rolled steel at low prices to grab more
of U.S. market share.
Argentina: truckers win strike
After tens of thousands of truck drivers throughout
Argentina struck for three days, the government voted to
postpone a proposed vehicle tax until November 15. The two
main truckers organizations warned they were prepared to
paralyze the nation's highways indefinitely. The regime of
President Carlos Menem threatened to declare a state of siege
that would suspend constitutional rights and give the
military and cops the power to arrest striking truckers and
seize their vehicles. But the Argentine ruling class and
imperialist investors feared that the strike would wreak
economic havoc on the already deepening recession in the
country, and bowed to the truckers' demands for now.
Cuban economic growth is up
The Cuban economy registered a growth rate of 6.1 percent
in the first half of 1999, Carlos Lage, the secretary of the
Cuban Counsel of State, reported in early July. An upturn in
sugar production, which increased by half a million tons from
the previous year, was a key factor in the overall increase.
Sugar production has dropped precipitously since the early
1990s, hit by the cut in fuel, fertilizers, and other inputs
that came with the collapse in trade with the Soviet Union,
as well as several natural disasters. Overall, Lage said,
industrial output grew 6.4 percent, including a 23.4 percent
upturn in sugar processing. The growth rate in agriculture
for the first half of 1999 was 10.7 percent compared to the
previous year.
N.Y. cop acquitted after shooting Black `squeegeé man
Acting Justice John Collins of the State Supreme Court
dismissed all criminal charges July 8 against New York cop
Michael Meyer, who shot and wounded an unarmed man. Meyer was
charged with attempted murder and lesser counts in the June
1998 shooting of Antoine Reid, who had soaped up the
windshield of the off-duty cop's car to clean it for a few
dollars at an exit ramp in New York City.
Collins had dismissed the attempted murder charge two days earlier, saying the prosecution had failed to disprove Meyer's assertion that he shot Reid because "he feared for his life." The acquittal in the nonjury trial came after several witnesses testified that Meyer stepped out of his car, backed up Reid across several lanes of traffic, and then shot him point blank in the chest. After the decision, Reid, who lost his spleen as a result of the shooting, said the verdict was "an outrage. Just because you're a cop doesn't give you the right to shoot somebody."
Heat wave toll rises to 27 in N.Y.
The death count rose to 27 people in New York City during
the second week of July when record temperatures reached more
than 100 degrees for three days in the Northeastern part of
the United States. Some 7,000 calls were made to city
ambulances and other emergency agencies in the city. The New
York City administration responded to the heat wave by
throwing sprinklers on a few open fire hydrants, and 15
schools were opened with air conditioning. After a record
demand for electricity, Con Edison, the giant utility
monopoly in New York City, cut off the power in working-class
neighborhoods in upper Manhattan, leaving more than 200,000
people with no refrigeration, air conditioning, or fans for
18 hours.
- MEGAN ARNEY