Israeli court says torture is o.k.
The Israeli High Court ruled November 14 that Shin Bet, the national security cops, could use "physical pressure" in interrogating Mohammed Hamadan, a Palestinian who lives in the occupied West Bank. The ruling overturned a temporary restraining order issued the previous day. Shin Bet demanded it be allowed to use torture methods against Hamadan, who they accuse of belonging to the Islamic Holy War group, claiming "a well-founded suspicion that the petitioner [Hamadan] has extremely vital information whose immediate extraction would help save lives." As in all such cases, the evidence presented by the state was kept secret from the Palestinian and his lawyer.

Meanwhile, tensions are rising in the West Bank. Ten demonstrators, both Palestinian and Israeli, were arrested November 9 in Hebron, West Bank, while protesting the expansion of the settlements. In September, the Israeli government approved plans to build 1,800 new apartments just 15 miles from Jerusalem. On November 10, attempts to implement this in Naalin, West Bank, were met by Palestinians protesters, many carrying deeds to prove the land about to be taken was rightfully theirs. Israeli soldiers opened fire on the protesters, killing Atallah Amira and injuring 12 others. Hana Amira, Atallah's widow, said, "We are not afraid, and we will keep on fighting.... Even if they kill us by the hundreds we won't budge." UK gov't clashes with rest of EU
United Kingdom prime minister John Major has threatened to veto a European Union treaty unless the UK is exempted from labor regulations adopted by the grouping in 1993. These include a 48-hour workweek cap, a minimum three-week paid vacation, and mandatory rest periods for "long shifts." After the European Court ruled November 12 that the UK must comply with regulations, Major wrote to European Commission president Jacques Santer stating that the ruling "is unacceptable and must be remedied." In response, Santer described London's demands as a "return to the Dickensian sweatshops of the 19th century."

This is the second major conflict this year between London and its rivals in the European Union - the first being the EU- imposed worldwide ban on British beef. Bonn postpones `Eurofighter'
The German government has postponed the financing of a project to build the Eurofighter 2000 combat jet, the European Union's largest joint military project. The November 13 issue of the Wall Street Journal cited "spending cuts aimed at reining in Germany's ballooning budget deficit"as the main argument for why Bonn has pushed back its plans to finance the joint venture. The aerospace industry has cut about half its work force since 1990.

Bonn will also have "problems paying for ... an expanded German role in the Bosnian peacekeeping" force, the Wall Street Journal added. The Eurofighter 2000 combat jet is scheduled to be built jointly by the governments of Britain, Spain, Italy, and Germany. Plane crash over India kills 351
In the third worst air disaster in aviation history, all 351 passengers and crew died November 12 when a Saudi Arabian jumbo jet collided near New Delhi with a Kazak Airlines cargo plane. Indian and international aviation officials cited the fact that all planes enter and exit the airport through one single corridor as a factor in the collision. The Indian air force, despite numerous complaints from pilots, "is not willing to open up more sky for civil aviation," said an Indian Air Traffic Controllers' Guild statement. Eric Moody, a retired British Airways pilot, told reporters, "The problem with Delhi is that the radar is antiquated," pointing to the fact that pilots can't always get a steady readout of where other planes are. Castro attends summit in Chile
For the first time in 25 years, Cuban president Fidel Castro visited Chile to attend the sixth Ibero-American Summit Conference on democracy in early November, setting off much debate. Thousands of those sympathetic to the Cuban revolution greeted the socialist president with chants of "Castro, Castro!" While there, Castro visited the tomb of Salvador Allende, a Socialist Party leader who was president of Chile from 1970 until he was killed in a 1973 U.S.-backed coup led by General Augusto Pinochet.

General Pinochet, who ruled Chile for 17 years and was responsible for the death of thousands of revolutionary-minded workers and others, said, "The government has invited Lucifer, and he has arrived." Argentinean president Carlos Menem, while not opposed to Castro's presence said, "no doubt there is a contradiction on inviting Fidel Castro to a meeting where the main point is democracy." Jamaican gov't expands cops
Jamaica's National Security and Justice Minister Keith Knight announced a series of measures at the end of October in a so-called "anti-crime" campaign. The 20-point plan includes the re-establishment of hanging, bolstering of the police force, allowing cops more latitude to carry out surveillance, deployment of soldiers to search incoming cargo, and a "zero tolerance" policy that will stiffen penalties for "minor crimes." Government spokesman Derrick Smith said that a "massive" recruitment of cops would be necessary to enforce the plan. Knight, in explaining what "minor crimes" working people would be punished for, cited roadblock demonstrations as one of the infractions that would "no longer be tolerated." N.Y. gov't proposes welfare cuts
New York governor George Pataki has floated a series of proposals to implement so-called "welfare reform." The measures include reducing welfare benefits in increments adding up to 45 percent over the five years an individual is eligible, as well as ending cash benefits for teenage parents who are not living with parents or are not attending school. Anyone who tests positive for drug use or whose children skip school will be penalized, and those that do not report to "workfare" assignments won't get benefits. Immigrants will be denied most assistance under the bill, which Pataki submitted to the state legislature November 13. Drug-dealing cop gets wrist slap
Alberto Vargas, a former New York cop, plead guilty on charges of stealing and selling drugs, perjury in several state court cases, and other crimes. Faced with a possible sentence of up to 48 years imprisonment, Federal District Court Judge Lawrence McKenna gave the cop four years probation, six months of house arrest, and a $2,000 fine on November 12. The New York Times refers to it as the "most lenient sentence yet" in a series of trials of cops in the 30th Precinct in Harlem, where Vargas was assigned. After sentencing the cop and wishing him good luck, McKenna explained, "I'm a great believer in cooperation." Sunbeam will halve workforce
Albert Dunlap, CEO for the appliance maker Sunbeam Corp., announced plans to cut the company's workforce by 50 percent. Some 6,000 workers will be out of a job, with 3,000 of them gone before the year's end. John Challenger, executive vice president of a company that tracks layoffs, told the New York Times he thought this was the largest percentage of dismissals of a workforce ever made. The company plans to reduce its plants and warehouses internationally from 43 to 13.

- BRIAN TAYLOR  
 
 
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