Meanwhile, Moi met with officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to revive a $220 million loan package halted by the imperialist financial institution on August 1, supposedly over "rampant corruption" among government officials. Moi had balked at imposing austerity measures demanded by the IMF, but later implemented them all, including cutting funds for education and health care, laying off public employees, and removing food subsidies.

Washington to fine Tokyo ships
Escalating trade tensions with Tokyo, the Clinton administration imposed a $100,000 fine September 4 on every Japanese ship entering U.S. ports. Washington is pressing Tokyo to widen access to its harbors for U.S. ships. Shipping officials in Japan said the penalties could cost them up to $50 million a year. The port of Los Angeles's main trade comes from Japanese shipping companies, accounting for $23.5 billion in 1995.

White House officials have been squeezing Tokyo for greater market access in other industries as well, including telecommunications, aviation, and automobiles. "I'm concerned about the growing number of disputes," U.S. trade representative Charlene Barshefsky complained recently. She said, "It's incumbent on Japan to demonstrate goodwill" toward U.S. trading interests.

U.S.-EU trade disputes escalate
The Clinton administration issued a letter to the European Union (EU) September 4 warning that unless the EU exempts U.S. meat exports from safety rules designed to curtail the spread of mad cow disease, it will face shortages in vital medicines. The EU meat safety rules would stop $100 million in U.S. exports of tallow, or rendered animal fat. Washington says an additional $4.5 billion in exports of U.S. pharmaceuticals, that include tallow derivatives would be blocked by the EU rules.

Meanwhile, on September 5 a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel rejected an appeal by the EU of an April WTO ruling that the EU's banana trade policies violated the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. On August 18 EU officials brought a poultry trade dispute to the WTO charging that Washington was unfairly banning exports of European poultry allegedly over product safety concerns.

Prisoners rebel in Venezuela
At least 29 inmates were killed during unrest at the El Dorado Prison in eastern Venezuela August 28. The prisoners were allegedly killed by other inmates, but there's a long history of brutality by the authorities in Venezuelan prisons. Last October, guards threw fire bombs at two cells of the La Plata Prison in Caracas, burning 25 inmates to death. Prison rebellions against bad food, overcrowding, and general abuse have erupted throughout Latin America in recent months. Riots have occurred in Bolivia, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, and Peru. And in Brazil there have been 60 prison disturbances so far this year.

Thai baht falls to record low
Thailand's currency continues to plummet, sinking to a record 37.85 baht to the U.S. dollar on September 4. The currency has dropped nearly 32 percent since it was devalued on July 2. The Malaysian ringgit, Philippine peso, and Indonesian rupiah also plunged to record lows.

The currency crisis has rocked automakers and other capitalist investors throughout the region. Goodyear PCL production costs has increased 20 percent since the baht devaluation. Raising tire prices is out of the question said William Ford , managing director of Goodyear (Thailand). "If we try to raise our prices," he said, "the market will just laugh at us." Business officials in the region are forecasting a steep economic downturn. "Other than Thailand, which is almost certainly heading into a recession, willing or not, the rest of Southeast Asia is certain to head into either a period of much weaker growth or recession," wrote Daniel Lian, regional economist at NatWest Markets.

Renault plant closes in Belgium
The Vilvoorde, Belgium, plant of the French automaker Renault S.A. shut down September 4, dismissing some 3,100 people. Bosses at Renault ignited an explosion of protests in both Belgium and France, including strikes and a factory occupation by workers, when they announced the plant closing in February. Lionel Jospin, head of the Socialist Party in France, participated in a protest against the factory shutdown in Vilvoorde prior to winning the June 1 election with a campaign promise to create 700,000 jobs. After taking over as prime minister, he said he could do nothing to prevent the plant closing by Renault, in which the French government holds a 47 percent stake. Unemployment in France - at 12.5 percent - has grown acute with more than 3 million people out of work.

Bounty hunters kill two people
Five masked men barged into a house in Phoenix, Arizona, and killed an innocent couple August 31. The men, who bound other occupants of the house and held four children at gunpoint, carried documents showing they were "bounty hunters" searching for a man who fled a $25,000 bail on a felony drunk driving charge in 1992.

The case, which received national coverage, has sparked outrage in Phoenix and exposed the latitude given to "bail enforcement agents" commissioned by the cops to track down fugitives. These people may use lethal force if supposedly threatened and are permitted by law to enter the residence of their prey. One of the bounty hunters in this case, Michael Sanders, was a longtime police snitch, served two years in prison for a felony conviction of "retaliation against a witness," and listed cops as his character witnesses.

Inmates rebel in death row unit
Prisoners at the Mansfield Correctional Institution in Ohio snatched keys from guards September 5 and released all 37 inmates in one of the facility's death row units. The uprising was smashed by a tactical squad using tear gas. The rebellion occurred in the unit housing Wilford Berry, an inmate who recently expressed a desire to drop his appeals, which would make him become the first Ohio prisoner to be executed since 1963.

- MAURICE WILLIAMS  
 
 
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