Protests in France hit privatization plan
Tens of thousands of workers at the state-owned tele
communications company, France Télécom, the post office,
and gas companies staged a 24-hour strike May 30, to protest
the government's plans to privatize those industries. Some
40,000 workers from the gas and electric companies marched
in downtown Paris.
The unions say the moves would lead to layoffs, cost thousands of jobs, and mean deteriorating public services. Jacques Chirac, France's new president, announced the privatization plans six days after taking office.
Sweden overtime ban
Trade unions representing engineering workers in Sweden
called off a three-week-old ban on overtime May 23, and won
a national three-year wage agreement with the employers.
The settlement includes an average 3.7 percent pay hike in
the first year. The overtime ban, honored by 270,000
workers, was beginning to have a serious effect on
production in a number of key Swedish export industries.
Athens extends territorial waters
The Greek Parliament passed a bill May 31 that extends
Greek territorial waters from six to 12 nautical miles. Many
Greek islands are within three to 10 miles of the western
coast of Turkey in the Aegean Sea, where territorial waters
are currently split in half.
Giorgos Mangakis, Greece's European affairs minister, said the move defends the country's "national interests from Turkey's chauvinistic threats." The Turkish government warned that the measure could lead to war.
Rights abuses block Ankara goal
The Turkish government's attacks on intellectuals who
criticize its actions could undermine its bid for entry into
the customs union agreement of the European Union. Pressure
on members of the European Parliament is threatening to hold
up Ankara's application unless its human rights record
improves.
Turkey's prime minister, Tansu Ciller, proposed abolishing Article 8 of the country's so-called antiterrorism law to get around the European Parliament objections. Ciller would incorporate the substance of the article in Turkey's criminal code. The Human Rights Association, a nationwide Turkish monitoring group, says that more than 2,000 people have been convicted under Article 8 and scores of writers, journalists, and trade unionists have been jailed for defending the rights of Turkey's Kurdish minority.
More war in Chechnya
Russia's Lt. Gen. Gennady Troshev announced June 1 that a
major assault is planned to flush out 5,000 Chechen fighters
in the towns of Shatoi and Vedeno. Troshev stated Chechens
hiding in the hills and mountains are sealed off, but the
Russian forces have been trying unsuccessfully for months to
dislodge the Chechen fighters from their positions.
Brief negotiations sponsored by the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe were held May 25, but produced no agreement. Authorities in Moscow said more talks are scheduled for June 10. Meanwhile, Russian soldiers continue to suffer heavy casualties. The ITAR-Tass news agency reported the bodies of 50 Russian soldiers were brought into a hospital in Grozny May 25.
Beijing triples Iran oil imports
Iranian officials announced May 30 that an agreement was
reached to increase oil sales to China to 60,000 barrels a
day from the current 20,000 barrels. Tehran will earn more
than $400 million a year from the deal, which was made at
the eighth Iran-China joint economic commission held in
Beijing.
Iran, the world's second largest exporter of oil, would also invest more than $25 million in China's oil refining business. The deal comes only a few weeks after U.S. president Bill Clinton issued an executive order prohibiting U.S. oil companies from buying Iranian oil.
Crackdown continues in Nigeria
Some 20 cops stormed a political meeting in the home of a
government opposition leader in Owo, Nigeria, May 25
arresting 50 people. The crackdown comes on the eve of the
second anniversary of the June 12 elections that were
annulled by dictator Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.
Businessman Moshood Abiola, the presumed winner of the 1993 elections, marked the anniversary last year by declaring himself president. He was subsequently arrested and imprisoned on treason charges. He remains in jail.
Generals convicted
The Chilean Supreme Court sentenced Gen. Manuel Contreras
Sepúlveda to seven years in prison and his deputy, Brig.
Gen. Pedro Espinoza Bravo, to six years for ordering the
1976 assassination of opposition leader Orlando Letelier and
his colleague Ronni Moffitt in Washington, D.C.
The two officers denied responsibility for the murders, stating the CIA killed Letelier and Moffitt. Letelier was Chile's ambassador to the United States under Salvador Allende, who was murdered in a coup staged by Gen. Augusto Pinochet with the help of the CIA in 1973. A government commission found that 3,000 people were tortured or disappeared during Pinochet's reign. Letelier was organizing opposition to the U.S.-backed military dictatorship in Chile at the time of his murder.
Gulf war vets hit hard
"The combination of a weak economy, medical problems and a
lack of affordable housing have helped make gulf veterans
the fastest growing segment of the nation's 271,000 homeless
veterans," according to the New York Times. Many Gulf war
veterans say their problems stem from seeing burned-out
tanks, bloody bunkers, and charred bodies. More than 30,000
veterans have complained of problems associated with what is
called Gulf War syndrome, whose symptoms include fatigue,
muscle pains, and breathing trouble, as well as post-
traumatic stress disorder. These veterans suffer a high
level of joblessness.
- MAURICE WILLIAMS