Tel Aviv frees 800 prisoners
The Israeli government released 812 Palestinians from prison January 10 to relatives in the West Bank and Gaza. Tel Aviv had agreed to free 1,200 inmates before the January 20 Palestinian elections, based on negotiations in September. Israeli officials say there are about 4,000 Arabs still being held in jails; Palestinians maintain that some 5,500 inmates remain in Israeli prisons.
The Israeli regime also announced January 10 that it would allow Palestinian workers from the West Bank and Gaza to return to their jobs on January 11. The government had sealed off the territories in response to protests that followed the assassination of a Palestinian January 5 by explosives hidden in a cellular telephone.
S. Korean president took bribes
South Korean president Kim Young Sam admitted January 10
that he accepted donations for a political slush fund. Kim
said his case was different from Roh Tae Woo and Chun Doo
Hwan, two former presidents who are at the center of a
growing corruption scandal rocking the country. "I too
received help for my political activities before I became
president," Kim asserted. "I have never, however, received
any dirty or shady money." Roh Tae Woo is already on trial,
charged with receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in
bribes. Chun Doo Hwan, recovering from a 26-day hunger
strike, was indicted January 12 on bribery charges. The two
also face a possible trial for their role in a December 1979
coup and the 1980 massacre of hundreds of demonstrators in
Kwangju.
Meanwhile, Seoul is attempting to use the severe food shortages in North Korea to extract concessions from Pyongyang. Kim Young Sam claimed his government was ready to send food assistance, but not while the North Korean regime "pours all its national resources into maintaining its military power."
Yemen, Eritrea govt's clash
Eritrean soldiers battled Yemeni troops December 16-18
and captured Greater Hanish, the main island in an
archipelago between the two countries. The island chain is
spread across one of the world's major shipping lanes, 100
miles north of the southern entrance to the Red Sea.
At least 16 soldiers were killed in the territorial dispute, which had been simmering for months. Evacuated Yemeni soldiers said the Eritrean military used thousands of troops in the battle. Eritrean internal affairs minister Ali Said Abdalla said his government was willing to withdraw its forces from Hanish, under an agreement for the joint withdrawal of troops supervised by a third party.
Peruvian gov't protests jet sale
Government officials in Peru protested the sale of four
Israeli Kfir fighter bombers to the regime in Ecuador,
saying it could spark an arms race and lead to a new
military confrontation. A military clash in January and
February 1995, over a disputed border area, left 78 soldiers
dead and hundreds wounded.
Local television and newspapers in Peru reported January 5 that the Peruvian military was massing troops along the border, while the Ecuadoran regime was building barricades in the same area.
The Peruvian government said Ecuadoran aircraft violated its airspace in late December and that Ecuadoran soldiers had entered the disputed border area and opened fire on a guard post. An agreement was reached last July stipulating that neither country may send its forces into the area or fly aircraft over it without the approval of international observers.
Haitian cops fire on peasants
Haitian police opened fire on a demonstration of
peasants January 10, killing a 10-year-old girl and wounding
three others. The peasants were demanding electrical service
be brought to the town of L'Estere. Haitian cops, accused of
responding with brutality towards past protests, are being
trained by U.S. and Canadian advisers.
Meanwhile, White House officials said January 10 that United Nations soldiers will remain in the country, but all U.S. troops would leave when a new government takes office. The U.S. Department of Justice cop-training program will remain, however. U.S. officials say a plan is being considered that will establish a force of 1,000 to 1,500, divided into a police contingent and a military unit. According to the New York Times, Haitian president-elect Rene' Preval told U.S. officials that he "favored a continued international military presence."
Guatemalans elect president
Alvaro Arzu was elected president of Guatemala January
8, by 31,000 votes - the closest election in that country's
history. Arzu, who served as a tourism official under former
dictator Gen. Romeo Lucas García, defeated Alfonso
Portillo, the hand-picked proxy of former military dictator
Gen. Efrain Rios Montt. Rios Montt led a right-wing coup in
1982 and presided over one of the bloodiest periods in a 35-
year civil war that has left 120,000 people dead.
Only one-third of eligible voters cast ballots in the presidential runoff, which was the third presidential election in the country since 1986. "We made great efforts to call citizens to the polls," said Rigoberta Menchu', the Nobel Prize-winning Indian rights activist. "Still, this is very positive for democracy in Guatemala and in restoring credibility in its institutions."
No-fault divorce law debated
Rep. Jessie Dalman is sponsoring a bill in the Michigan
legislature that would repeal the state's 1972 no-fault
divorce law. The bill, revised after a series of hearings,
would be part of a package requiring counseling before
marriage and divorce, alimony schedules for people married
more than 10 years, and parenting plans in divorce. Michigan
Gov. John Engler said he would sign the bill, which will be
reintroduced in February.
According to the Wall Street Journal, if the bill becomes law, a spouse seeking divorce from a partner who objected would have to obtain counseling and prove either adultery, physical incompetence, three years imprisonment, two years desertion, drug or alcohol abuse, or significant or repetitive mental or physical abuse of spouse or children.
If both spouses agreed to a divorce, the no-fault law system would still apply, but consenting partners with children would have to go through counseling.
Coal miners hit by job cuts
Jobs in the coal industry in Virginia have dropped to
7,860 in 1996 from 14,339 in 1980. Officials report that the
state will probably lose another 2,000 mining jobs by the
year 2005. In Virginia's coal-producing counties, 22 percent
of the residents live below the poverty line.
In Wise County, Virginia, the jobless rate has climbed to 17.7 percent. The unemployment rate statewide fell to 4.4 percent in October. Ron Flannery, director of the planning district that includes Wise County, said he expects the mining jobs to be replaced with lower-paying jobs at two state prisons now under construction.
- MAURICE WILLIAMS