Beyond the farm

For the week preceding this Saturday, April 6th, 1996, here's what made the News Beyond the Farm:

Next week at this time, the two Koreas could be at war. On Apr 4th, North Korea announced it would no longer recognize the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two nations. In effect, the North was rejecting the entire armistice agreement which ended the Korean War. North Korean soldiers crossed into the DMZ on Apr 4th and twice Apr 6th, prompting the South to go to its highest level of alert. The motives of the North are not clear; some experts suspect the current agriculture crisis in that nation may be forcing its leadership to find a politial distraction in order to maintain power.

The Week in the Balkans:

• Bosnia and Croatia signed an agreement Mar 31st designed to salvage the Federation between their two nations; concerns had been rising not only would the alliance disappear, but that Bosnia and Hercegovina might separate.

• Bosnia joined the World Bank Apr 1st.

• A plane carrying US Commerce secretary Ron Brown crashed near Dubrovnik, Croatia Apr 3rd, killing all 35 people aboard. CEOs of several major US companies were also on the plane. President Clinton spent most of the week eulogizing the loss, planting a tree in Brown's memory Apr 6th as the bodies were returned from the Balkans.

• According to accusations raised Apr 5th, the Clinton adminstration may have tactily sanctioned the shipment of arms from Iran to Bosnia during the warfare in 1994 and 1995.

They're Talking About It:

• Dallas Cowboy star receiver Michael Irvin was indicted on drug charges Apr 1st.

• Taco Bell tried to pull an April Fool's joke claiming it was buying the Liberty Bell and ended up having to pay $50,000 toward the bell's preservation and maintenance.

In Shorts:

• Russia continued its offensive in Chechnya Mar 31st despite claims that it had ceased. On Apr 6th, Boris Yeltsin again announced, this time directly to Chechen leaders, that the offensive had ended.

• Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev rejected the offer from Russia to include his nation in an integration agreement Mar 31st.

• 90,000 people turned out in Okinawa Mar 31st to protest the US military bases on the island.

• Riverside County (CA) police beat the illegal alien occupants of a vehicle involved in an extended car chase Apr 1st in shades of the Rodney King beating. Officials plan to discipline the officers involved; the couple that was beaten was released from the hospital by Apr 2nd.

• Umpire John McSherry died of a heart attack during the opening game of the Cincinnati baseball season Apr 1st.

• British researchers announced Apr 1st that testing had revealed a male method of birth control involving testosterone injections in the posterior was 98% effective. The significance may be less in the method, which may not be practical, than in realization that reduction of sperm count to a threshold level can be effective.

• Pepsi started marketing a blue can Apr 1st.

• SBC and Pacific Telesis announced their intention to merge Apr 1st.

• New York's law banning assisted suicide was overturned by the US 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals Apr 2nd.

• 1000 students protested in Seoul, South Korea Apr 2nd, demanding the resignation of Kim Young-Sam.

• British officials intially refused Apr 2nd to destroy 11 million cattle as ordered by the European Union to control Mad Cow disease, but eventually agreed to kill 15,000 cattle a week for five years.

• Bolivia ordered troops into the streets of La Paz after rioting broke out among disgruntled transportation workers Apr 3rd.

• President Clinton signed the $47 billion farm reform bill Apr 4th.

• Jail violence in Argentina in 18 prisons resulted in the taking of 27 prisoners by Apr 4th. Over 6000 inmates were involved.

• Political violence in the southern Mexican town of Santa Catanina Juquila resulted in four deaths Apr 4th.

• Alberto Pandolfi Arbulu became Peru's prime minster after Dante Cordova resigned Apr 4th.

• The defense attorneys in the Whitewater case ripped into the prosecution's star witness, David Hale, Apr 5th, in a fashion that had many analysts saying they had actually hurt their case.

• The "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue" policy for gays in the military was upheld in Federal Court Apr 5th.

• The state of Texas announced Apr 5th that it is required by law to castrate a sexual offender who is to be released from prison.

• Hutu rebels in Burundi attacked and killed 6 Apr 5th.

• Two more "freemen" turned themselves in to authorities as the standoff in Jordan, MT entered its second week Apr 6th.

• The overturn of a truck carrying illegal aliens in Temcula, CA resulted in seven deaths Apr 6th.

• Actress Greer Garson died Apr 6th at the age of 92.

Finally:

And that's what made the News Beyond the Farm.

News Beyond the Farm is designed to provide a reasonably short summary of a week's events for people who would otherwise have no chance to keep up with current events. It is distrubuted by direct e-mail and is published by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute's student newspaper, "Newspeak," when that institution is in session. It may be distributed, forwarded, or re-posted anywhere. Check "http://www.stanford.edu/~lglitch/btf/btf.html" on the World Wide Web for back issues and further information. Comments, criticisms, and requests for e-mail subscription additions or deletions should be e-mailed to "lance.gleich@leland.stanford.edu." Congratulations on keeping up with the world around you!