Washington yields on IMF head

Following unanimous backing by the European Union, U.S. president William Clinton gave Washington's endorsement to Horst Koehler, the German government's nominee to head the International Monetary Fund. Clinton scuttled Germany's first nominee, but agreed to Koehler, who will "retain the talented management team at the IMF," said White House press secretary Joseph Lockhart. Stanley Fischer from the United States heads this group.  
 

Cohen tells Tokyo: back U.S. forces

U.S. defense secretary William Cohen headed to Japan to press officials there to continue massive payments for 47,000 U.S. troops stationed in the country. "It's important to us," he said. Cohen also said he will tell the Japanese government to either "clean up or shut down" an incinerator located next to one base. Tokyo pays $100,000 per year for every soldier, sailor, airman, and Marine stationed in the country, for a total of $5 billion annually.

Japan's gross domestic product shrunk 1.4 percent in the final quarter of 1999, the second straight quarter of contraction, officially marking a recession.  
 

Ally of Iranian president shot

An ally of Iran's president who helped organize the landslide electoral victory by the "reformers" was severely wounded when a man shot him in the face in central Tehran. Saeed Hajjarian, a newspaper editor, was a close associate of President Mohammad Khatami. In another development, the country's election panel ruled invalid without comment the election victories of five candidates identified with the Khatami forces in three cities. Khatami allies won 226 of the 290 seats in the country's parliament. A runoff of contested seats will be held April 21.  
 

Swiss town votes on immigrants

Eligible voters in the town of Emmen, Switzerland, received a handbook detailing personal information on candidates for naturalization prior to a recent ballot to determine on a case-by-case basis who should get a Swiss passport. Information included a family photograph, financial status, background, and hobbies. The rightist People's Party has been campaigning for such votes across the country. Their reactionary views were stated by Urs Ischi in Emmen: "The Swiss feel danger because there are always more and more strangers here."  
 

Pope says church "sinned"

Pope John Paul II, head of the Roman Catholic Church, apologized March 12 for 2,000 years of sins, "especially in the second millennium" by "some of our brothers." These included religious intolerance and injustice toward Jews, women, indigenous peoples, immigrants, and the poor. Bishop Piero Marini said that "given the number of sins committed in the course of 20 centuries," the description of the acts "must necessarily be rather summary."  
 

Land occupations rise in Zimbabwe

What started as a trickle with a nod from the government of Robert Mugabe, spread quickly to an occupation of 426 large farms by thousands of landless peasants in Zimbabwe. The organization that represents the small minority of white farmers who own most of the fertile land in the African country complained to the government that it was doing nothing to control the situation. Tensions also rose between the British government, from whence the white farmers originally came, and Zimbabwe. Britain recalled its ambassador from its former colony when Zimbabwean officials refused to accept a six-ton shipment as protected diplomatic baggage.  
 

Cut in price of Australian coal

Australian coal companies agreed to a 4 percent drop in the price of coal exported to Japan for use in power utilities there. Last year hard-coking coal prices were cut by 18 percent and thermal coal by 13 percent. Australian coal bosses have reduced the number of workers by almost 30 percent over two years, but increased production dramatically, marking productivity gains of nearly 40 percent.  
 

Ban ended on interracial dating

One fallout of Republican presidential candidate George Bush's visit to the right-wing Bob Jones University has been to inadvertently put a spotlight on its ban on interracial dating. At first the college defended the ban, saying the Bible teaches that God does not want a unified and undifferentiated world. Then it ended the ban, stating the controversy threatened to cloud over the institution's "Christian mission."  
 

Boeing halts research on new jet line

Boeing announced in mid-March that it is halting research on developing a new line of commercial jets. The Wall Street Journal noted this decision was "harmful to the company's long-term effort to compete against advancing rival Airbus." The Journal further worried that the strike by engineers and technicians is "virtually locking up many jet-making operations, and certain military lines." According to the paper, Boeing is shifting engineers from plants not affected by the strike to Seattle, where the strike is centered.  
 
 
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