London maintains anti-gay ban
The British government pledged to continue its ban on homosexuals in the military "because it undermines the order and discipline necessary for military effectiveness," said Roger Freeman, defense procurement minister. Speaking in a parliamentary debate, Freeman said the military's policy of discharging homosexuals was "fully supported by the government." Labour Party spokesman David Clark said if the Labour Party took office it would "study the experience of other nations."

Mexico police attack prisoners
Mexican police killed four inmates May 4 at an overcrowded prison during protests for better food and living conditions. Cops stormed the Social Readaptation Center in Guadalajara firing bullets and tear gas. Prison officials admit the facility held more than double the 1,000 men for which it was designed and there were shortages of food, water, and medical care. A day earlier, club-swinging state police broke up another protest in one of the dormitories, injuring 50.

Oil workers strike in Brazil
Workers at Brazil's government-run oil company, Petroleo Brasileiro, walked off the job in early May over pay. Tens of thousands of other government workers went on strike to demand higher wages and an end to privatization.

Bus drivers walk out in Chile
A 24-hour work stoppage by bus drivers paralyzed public transportation in Chile May 3. The drivers were protesting plans for a law that would dramatically raise the amount of fines for traffic violations. The government tried to avoid any strike and the interior minister met with union representatives up until the last minute offering to make some changes in the law. But the drivers refused to call off the walkout, which shut down more than 90 percent of bus transportation. The action occurred after a strike two weeks earlier of 8,000 doctors in public hospitals and with the threat of another strike by 100,000 teachers in the upcoming week.

50,000 students denounce Seoul
Some 50,000 students in a newly formed group, Hanchongryon, demonstrated May 5 in Taegu, South Korea. The organization plans to link up with trade unions and opposition parties to defeat candidates from President Kim Young Sam's ruling party in local elections next month. Protesters demanded Washington remove its 37,000 troops from South Korea. They also blamed the government for the death in April of more than 100 people in a gas explosion, which they attributed to lax safety regulations.

U.S., N. Korea gov'ts to talk
North Korea's government announced it will resume talks with Washington at a more senior level to resolve a dispute over the construction of two light-water nuclear reactors. Negotiations broke down at the end of April after the North Korean government said it refused South Korean-designed reactors because they are not safe.

Last October, Washington and Pyongyang signed an accord to begin to open trade and political relations in exchange for changes in the nuclear program of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The North Korean government agreed to freeze its nuclear program and accept reactors that produce plutonium less suitable for the manufacture of nuclear weapons.

Miners killed in China blast
At least 16 coal miners were killed in an April 29 explosion in western China. A flame reportedly ignited gas and coal dust at the Dongfang Mine in the northwestern town of Kuche. China's greater integration into the world capitalist market has spawned a mad rush for profits among international capitalists and middle-class layers of the Chinese population, resulting in disastrous working conditions. China, the world's largest coal producer, employs 5.4 million miners. As many as 10,000 miners were killed on the job in that country in 1993.

Russian police precinct charged with leading prostitution ring
The Russian daily Moskovsky Komsomolets reported Moscow's 10th Police Precinct was suspended after its role in organizing a lucrative prostitution ring around the Belarus train station was exposed. A police spokesman confirmed that some of the officers were involved, but said it was too soon to say how many would be discharged. The newspaper reported Moscow's special police force filmed the cops collecting money and escorting prostitutes to their clients in their patrol cars.

Poverty is world's leading killer
Poverty is the leading cause of disease and death and the gap between rich and poor is widening, said a report issued May 2 by the World Health Organization (WHO). "Vast numbers of people of all ages are suffering and dying for want of safe water, adequate sanitation and basic health care," said WHO director-general Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima. According to the report, one-fifth of the world's inhabitants live in extreme poverty, almost one-third of the children are undernourished, and half the population lacks regular access to the most essential drugs. Thirty-two percent of all deaths last year were due to infectious and parasitic diseases - notably diarrhea, dysentery, pneumonia, tuberculosis, malaria, and measles. Many of these illnesses can be treated for less than 20 cents.

Hartford school desegregation
The city government in New Haven, Connecticut, announced it would join efforts to desegregate Hartford's schools. City officials said they disagreed with the Hartford Superior Court ruling that threw out the Sheff vs. O'Neill lawsuit, which charged that the Connecticut state government was responsible for massive racial imbalance between the Hartford public schools and those in the surrounding suburbs. The New Haven government will seek to support the plaintiffs' appeal as friends of the court.

N.Y. cops face another scandal
For the second time in little more than a year, a group of New York City cops has been implicated in corruption scandals. Two Bronx special grand juries indicted 16 cops from the 48th Precinct on charges of assault, robbery, burglary, larceny, filing false police reports, and insurance fraud.

About 10 percent of the officers in that Bronx precinct have been implicated. Last year, more than 30 cops from Harlem's 30th Precinct were arrested on charges ranging from assault to drug dealing.

- PAT SMITH  
 
 
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