Tel Aviv razes homes in Lebanon
In Tel Aviv's latest trampling of Lebanese sovereignty, Israeli troops demolished 14 houses in Arnoun, Lebanon, January 7. The Israeli government claims the houses were bulldozed because they were allegedly used to attack Israeli occupational troops. This was the second such attack in less than two weeks. Arnoun is just under two miles away from the border zone Tel Aviv forcibly maintains inside Lebanese territory. Lebanese officials and Hezbollah, an armed group fighting to kick 4,000 Israeli troops and Zionist-backed South Lebanon Army militia out of Lebanon, denounced the Israeli aggression.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank hundreds of Palestinians marched through Hebron January 7 to protest a three-day military siege and curfew by the Israeli government. The action came a day after Israeli troops shot and killed a mentally handicap Palestinian who was reportedly carrying a toy gun. Tel Aviv instituted the crackdown January 4 on the unsubstantiated claim the shoot-up of a van that day was the work of Palestinian independence fighters.

Miners strike in Romania
Thousands of miners in Romania, on the fifth day of their strike for higher wages, marched through the town of Petrosani January 8 in an act of solidarity with coal miners there who face massive layoffs. The government announced the day before the closing of 37 so-called unprofitable mines. Petrosani, 160 miles southwest of the capital city, Bucharest, contains Jiu Valley, the country's biggest coalfield used to fuel electricity production. Since the Romanian government begun shutting down mines in 1997, more than half the Jiu Valley miners have been laid off, leaving about 21,000 working. Unemployment there stands at more than 26 percent - double the national average.

Radu Vasile and Rady Berceanu, the prime minister and industry minister respectively, have refused to visit the Jiu Valley. They claim they are willing to hold talks with the miners, but refuse to meet with mine leader Miron Cozma, who participated in the 1990 labor battles in Bucharest against government "reforms."

Indonesian cops kill nine in raids on Aceh independence group
Indonesian soldiers raided several villages January 3 in Aceh, the northern region of Sumantra island. When infuriated residents in Pusung responded by trying get the soldiers out, troops opened fire. In the Aceh town of Lhokseumawe, 132 people were arrested in the raids. At least nine people were killed and hundreds more were injured. The Indonesian government said the raids were in search of members of Free Aceh, a group fighting for independence.

Meanwhile, thousands of people participated in antigovernment protests in Karawang, Indonesia, January 8 after a rumor spread that cops harassed motorcycle taxi drivers. The sizable crowd attacked the police headquarters as well as other sites. Protests like the one in Karawang have been taking place there unrelentingly for more than a year against the effects of the deepening world capitalist economic crisis.

Brazil state halts debt payment...
Two days after taking office Itamar Franco, governor of Minas Gerais, Brazil, declared a 90-day moratorium on more than $13 billion in debt owed to the federal government. Minas Gerais is the third-wealthiest state in Brazil. In the six days following the January 6 announcement, stock values dropped 12.7 percent on the Brazilian exchange. Since last July there has been a $40 billion flight of foreign investments out of Brazil under fears that that country would be unable to repay loans and impose austerity measures on working people there.

Meanwhile, Chase Manhattan Corp. announced it will buy the Brazilian bank Banco Patrimonio. This will give Chase capacities to organize mergers and acquisitions inside Brazil, as U.S. capitalists seek to profit from the economic crisis by buying up more of the country's patrimony.

...and auto workers defy sackings
Shortly before the end of 1998, Ford Motor Co. laid off some 3,000 auto workers -nearly half the workforce - from its Sao Bernardo, Brazil, factory. On January 5, the sacked workers went back into the plant along with those still working, and reported to their job sites demanding they be rehired. The workers have returned daily, playing cards and dominoes by the stopped assembly lines, and the company has not tried to halt them.

Workers at Volkswagen - the largest carmaker in Brazil - facing similar company assertions of low profits, took a 15 percent pay cut and shorter work day.

U.S. `conspiracy' indictment widens in embassy bombings
A U.S. District Court in New York City indicted a 12th person on sweeping "conspiracy" charges stemming from the August 7 bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Mamdouh Mahmud Salim was arrested in Germany three months ago on a U.S. warrant. He was taken to New York last month where he is being held without bail. The charges against Salim could bring a sentence of life in prison without parole.

Salim is accused of conspiring with Osama bin Laden and others to murder U.S. citizens and use "weapons of mass destruction" to destroy U.S. military facilities. U.S. government officials and the capitalist media organized a similar anti-Arab smear campaign to railroad into prison those accused of bombing the World Trade Center.

Boeing bosses hit hard by rival Airbus
The European company Airbus Industrie struck a blow against its rival Boeing with a January 6 announcement of a $1.3 billion deal with Boullion Aviation Services. Boullion, formerly run by Japanese capitalists, was acquired by Deutsche Bank and is now a German-owned leasing company based in Washington State, where Boeing's headquartered. Boullion, which until this deal had only purchased Boeing aircraft, will buy 30 single aisle airliners from Airbus. Boeing has complained about Airbus low pricing policies, which stung them last year when British Airways and Trans World Airlines -two former Boeing exclusives - bought 90 jets and wide-bodied planes from Airbus.

Meanwhile, Scandinavian Airlines System is contemplating seeking a multimillion dollar compensation package from Boeing because their aircraft deliveries are up to 10 weeks late.

N.Y. governor tries to end parole
New York governor George Pataki is pushing for state lawmakers to end parole for all prisoners convicted on felony charges. As part of this he proposes to dissolve the State Parole Board. Pataki's plan would urge the state Legislature to adopt "determinate sentencing," which would require an inmate to serve six-sevenths of their sentence. The governor's attack on the democratic rights includes calling for the state's DNA data bank to carry samples from everyone convicted of a crime, up from the 8 percent currently on file.

Dominican man dies in INS jail
Miguel Antonio Valoy-Núñez, a Dominican immigrant held in a Federal detention center in New York City while facing deportation, died January 4 from what most people on the scene say was lack of medical attention. At least three other detainees with Valoy-Núñez that night called their lawyers to complain that a man died because of poor medical attention. One immigrant said Valoy-Núñez was shivering and "coughing up black stuff" and no one came to help. The 40-year-old Dominican man was never seen by a doctor, but Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) cops claim Valoy-Núñez received adequate treatment from nurses and a doctor's assistant. More than 30 people detained by the INS refused breakfast and lunch the following day in protest.

- BRIAN TAYLOR  
 
 
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