S. Africa marks apartheid's fall
A multiracial crowd of 5,000 gathered on the lawn of the capital buildings in Pretoria to mark the anniversary of South Africás first nonracial elections. "If any one day marked the crossing of the divide from a past of conflict and division to the possibility of unity and peace, from inequality to equality, from a history of oppression to a future of freedom, it is 27 April, 1994," President Nelson Mandela told the gathering.

Mandela announced the early release of prisoners convicted before Dec. 6, 1993, of politically related arms and explosives possession charges. All other inmates, except those convicted of child abuse, will have their sentences cut by 25 percent, or a maximum of six months.

More nuclear plants worldwide
Four new nuclear power plants began operating last year, bringing the total worldwide to 432. Forty-eight more are under construction in 15 countries.

Bonn opens nuke dump
Anti-nuclear demonstrators in Germany recently tried to stop a train carrying 10 metric tons of plutonium and uranium waste destined for the Gorleben dump in Lower Saxony. Bonn opened the disposal site in April after 10 years of protests and legal action had kept the gates closed. Previously, waste from the nuclear industry, which supplies 30 percent of Germany's energy, had been shipped to facilities in Britain and France.

Atomic waste docks in Japan
The governor of Aomori province, Japan, finally allowed a freighter carrying atomic waste to dock at Mutsu Ogawara after an emergency cabinet meeting determined Tokyo "cannot make Aomori the final destination for the waste without consent of the governor." The ship had been at sea since February when it left France with reprocessed nuclear waste. Gov. Morio Kimura had refused to allow the Pacific Pintail port entry because of growing dissatisfaction in Aomori province that Tokyo would permanently dump the 14 metric tons of dangerous nuclear material there.

Tel Aviv to seize Arab land
Tel Aviv announced plans April 26 to confiscate 80 acres of Arab-owned land in northern Jerusalem and 60 more near the southern district of Beit Safafa. A Palestine Liberation Organization spokesman said the land seizures are "a severe threat to the whole peace process." The land theft, if carried out, would be the largest in Jerusalem in 15 years.

Palestinian killed in Israeli jail
"There is no doubt whatsoever about the cause of death," a Scottish pathologist said of a Palestinian who died in Israeli custody. "He died from torture." Two Israeli pathologists who took part in the autopsy agreed with the conclusion. Abdel-Samad Harizat, 29, was beaten during an interrogation by Israel's Shin Bet secret police. Tel Aviv tried to justify the murder claiming Harizat was a member of Hamas. Restrictions on Shin Bet agents being able to use only "moderate physical pressure" on Palestinian prisoners have been relaxed recently.

In a related development, Gen. Ilan Biran, senior Israeli army commander in the occupied West Bank, admitted that Tel Aviv's policy is to murder Palestinians wanted as "fugitives," rather than arresting them. Biran told Haaretz newspaper that, "there are still four or five squads that we have to kill." The Israeli regime has long denied that its police, soldiers, and specialized hit squads are under orders to assassinate Palestinians.

Canada court acquits rapist who was 'too drunk to know'
A Canadian court acquitted a man - for a second time - of a rape he has never denied committing. Henri Daviault admits to sexually assaulting a 65-year-old wheelchair-bound woman in 1989, but said he was too drunk at the time to know what he was doing.

After Daviault's initial acquittal in 1991, the Quebec Court of Appeals found him guilty and sentenced him to a year in jail. Daviault then took his case to the Supreme Court. The high court ruled last September that drunkenness can be used as a defense for rape and other crimes and ordered a new trial for Daviault. Outrage from defenders of women's rights forced legislators to propose a bill to limit the use of drunkenness as a defense in rape trials. Parliament is expected to debate the bill in the coming months.

N.Y.C. cops beat store clerk
Four or five New York police officers beat and threatened a grocery store clerk after being called to the store during an attempted robbery. One cop stuck his gun inside the mouth of Marcos Maldonado, a 26-year-old Guatemalan immigrant, while he lay on the floor handcuffed. The Queens College student reported the officer used profanity and said, "You're going to die tonight."

"They were just beating the crap out of me, stomping on me, kicking me in the ribs, hitting me in the head with their guns and flashlights," said Maldonado, who repeatedly told the police he was a store employee.

Airlines turn first profit since '89
The world's airlines noted their first profitable year since 1989, with reported earnings totaling $1.8 billion in 1994. But the International Air Transport Association said carriers must increase their profit margins if they plan to upgrade their fleets and meet government rules, such as flying quieter airplanes.

Moscow subsidizes coal `profit'
Russia's state-owned coal industry reported first-quarter earnings of $35.3 million, claiming the first "profits" since 1992. But the coal industry, which has been hard hit by strikes and decreased production, turned that "profit" through more than $264 million in subsidies pumped in from Moscow.

- PAT SMITH  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home