Clinton pushes trade pact at summit
The second Summit of the Americas meeting that drew officials from 34 countries took place in mid-April in Chile. U.S. president William Clinton used the conference to push the "Free Trade Area of the Americas" pact. Through this deal, a layer of the ruling class in the United States hopes to deepen the domination of U.S. capital in Latin America, against increasing competition from their European rivals, and trade blocks among the largest countries in South America.

Protesters were on hand at the summit protesting Clinton's presence, and 5,000 cops were deployed on the U.S. president's arrival. The last time Clinton set foot in Latin America, he was jeered and picketed at his every showing.

Black youth sentenced to jail in `double jeopardy' trial
Lemrick Nelson, a Black man tried and acquitted in 1992 for the 1991 stab-killing of Yankel Rosenbaum in Brooklyn, New York, was retried and convicted last year in a federal "civil rights" trial. He received the 19-and-a-half-year maximum sentence for what Judge David Trager ruled was second-degree murder. "Even though I've been found guilty of this crime, I'm like a scapegoat," Nelson said. Arguing that his civil rights have been violated for being tried twice for the same crime he said, "It's like double jeopardy." In August 1991 a Hasidic motorist struck and killed a Black child, which set off clashes between some Blacks and Jews in Crown Heights. During the scuffles, Rosenbaum was stabbed and died. Complaining that Nelson showed "no remorse" for a crime he insists he is innocent of, Trager warned that "even with this sentence he will be out as a relatively young man" who, the judge asserted, "will continue to constitute a threat to the community."

Race rigged so `Americans' win
Corporate sponsors for the Bolder Boulder distance races complained that runners from Kenya were winning all the medals and accompanying cash bonuses. Sponsors imposed a limit of three runners from other countries, while an unlimited number of "American" runners could be fielded. "We hope to level the playing field," remarked Bill Reef, the director of the races. "It's our event, our country, our money."

U.S. participants will also receive double the cash prize if they finish in any of the top five positions. The organizers of the Boulder, Colorado, event are not alone. Some U.S.-run races only give prizes to U.S. participants; other are eliminating cash prizes altogether. Posed U.S. runner Keith Brantly, "Do you think if a white American runner had won the last few years, they'd be cutting prize money?"

Florida probes indefinite jailing
Florida legislators are floating a series of bills that would, upon court decision, force prisoners convicted of sex offenses to serve indefinite, extended time in prison or in a "treatment" facility. The legislation is named after Jimmy Ryce, a young boy killed in 1995, allegedly by a sex offender. The man accused of the killing has no former record of sex offense.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the argument that such laws are, in effect, locking someone up a second time. The court move allowed five states to implement such laws.

French farmers: more gov't aid
Farmers in Brittany, France, dumped 400 tons of cauliflower across the four-lane N12 highway April 15, demanding at least $10.5 million in subsidies. They had been protesting for a week the drop in cauliflower prices to below production costs. French agriculture minister Louis Le Pensec condemned the protests as violent and disruptive, but gave in April 17, promising a case-by-case examination of the claims for support by up to 4,000 farmers. The farmers then lifted their blockades.

Income gap in Israel grows
"The gap between rich and poor in Israel is greater that in any Western country except the United States and France - and it is growing," read a March 9 article in the Miami Herald. Unemployment is at 7.8 percent and at least 800,000 of the country's more than 5 million people are below the poverty line - some 16 percent. A 1996 Tel Aviv University study revealed that Israelis from North Africa and other dark-skinned ethnic groups earned 30 percent less than Jews of European or North American descent. Israeli Arabs barely earned half.

Nigerians demand share of oil bosses' profits
Nigerian youth are stepping into the forefront of the fight to demand that oil bosses, as well as the Nigerian government, apply a portion of the enormous profits they reap to develop "oil communities." The government is supposed to allocate 13 percent of gross oil revenues for development, but villages in many of those areas still lack electricity, running water, schools, and clinics. The military dictatorship, headed by Gen. Sani Abacha, has faced resistance from workers and peasants. Villagers frequently occupy and close oil platforms, halting up to 10 percent of production. The government has instituted a new "anticrime patrol" to crack down on and intimidate activists. Troops have even raided churches, warning preachers not to talk about environmental and political issues.

In 1990 the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People organized protests demanding development. The capitalist dictatorship responded with sweeps and military raids. By 1993, Nigerians in the Ogoniland region had forced Shell to halt its operations there. A year later four Ogoni leaders were assassinated and the dictatorship charged nine activists with the killing. They were convicted and executed.

Pilots maintain strike in Japan
Pilots at the All Nippon Airways Company forced the company to cancel 54 more flights through April 16 after a second day of negotiations failed to resolve their two-week strike. The company said the walkout had cost it $18.2 million. The airline's first-half profit will fall by 50 percent, the New York Times reported April 18.

Meanwhile, the Japan-based Nissan Motor Company is also facing economic troubles. The auto company announced April 17 that its profits dropped 79 percent for the 1997 fiscal year. The credit rating company Standard & Poor's lowered the company's ratings to one level above junk bond status.

- BRIAN TAYLOR  
 
 
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