Domestic affairs

The State Department informs Lockheed Martin Corp., the largest US defense contractor, that it has evidence that the company infringed the Arms Exports Control Act by assessing a satellite motor made by a partly-state-owned Chinese conglomerate. Lockheed, which has 30 days to respond to the civil charges, could be fined up to $15 million and barred from exporting satellites and satellite technology for three years (first week). 
The Senate adopts a non-binding resolution asking that no American be prosecuted for not answering questions on the census forms they will soon receive at home (including those about race). 

CIA Director George Tenet fires one intelligence officer and reprimands six managers for errors that led to the 7 May 1999 bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade by American B-2 bombers during NATO’s war against Yugoslavia (7 Apr.).

President Clinton is due to meet with Russia’s President elect Vladimir Putin in Moscow in six weeks’ time: the two leaders will discuss arms-limitation treaties. In a letter to President Clinton, 25 leading GOP senators, among them Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, warn the president against renegotiating an arms-control treaty that would prevent the building of an anti-missile defense system that they plan on setting up. On 26 Apr., Jesse Helms, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, vows to block any change made to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty by the Clinton administration. "This administration’s time for grand treaties is clearly at an end," he asserts. 

President Clinton and Vice President Gore are interviewed under oath for four hours each by Justice Department agents investigating alleged campaign-finance abuses during their 1996 election campaign (21 Apr.).

It transpires that a laptop computer which contained highly classified information about weapons proliferation has been missing since 20 January. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who qualifies the incident as "inexcusable and intolerable," announces that security procedures at the Department of State will be tightened. 

Election campaigns

After outlining a $13-billion spending plan for education and a $25-billion one for defense, Governor George W. Bush calls for more federal spending — $46 billion over five years; most of it would go to health care (12 Apr.). 

Patrick Buchanan, the Reform Party presidential standard-bearer, criticizes NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) and the proposed trade pact with China before an audience of Teamsters in Washington, DC (13 Apr.). 

After meeting with a dozen gay Republican leaders (14 Apr.), George W. Bush declares himself "a better person," and vows to "welcome gay Americans into [his] campaign." 

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader announces he is running for president, and that he hopes to poll at least 5 percent of the vote; this would qualify him for federal campaign funds, which he plans on using to bolster the Green Party in the US. In 1996, Ralph Nader barely polled 1 percent of the vote, but he had refused to raise money and had spent under $5000 campaigning. 

While campaigning in Michigan on 18 Apr., George W. Bush unveils a $1.7-billion plan aimed at building new houses for low-income Americans; shortly before, he advocated refundable tax credits to help poor families buy health insurance. 

Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, co-chairs a fund-raising event in honor of George W. Bush in Washington, DC (26 Apr.). The event is expected to raise a record $18 million for the GOP, which, according to NRA spokespersons, respect citizens’ right to own arms better than the Democratic Party does. 

Both George W. Bush and Al Gore propose that the federal government withhold some federal funds from failing public schools. But Gore would reinvest the money into the public school system, while Bush would give it to parents and allow them to use it for private-school tuition (Gore’s plan is outlined before the National Conference of Black Mayors in late Apr.). 

New York City Mayor Giuliani announces that he has prostate cancer (27 Apr.) and is considering treatment options. He does not say whether the diagnosis will interfere with his plan to run for the US Senate against Hillary Clinton.

Presumptive Republican nominee George W. Bush meets with Igor Ivanov, the Russian foreign minister, to exchange views on the missile defense system planned by the US and on the Chechnya conflict (26 Apr.). 

Economic issues

In the wake of the guilty verdict against Microsoft Corp. (cf. March chronology), convicted of illegal monopoly business practices, the Nasdaq composite index drops by more than 500 points (13 percent), which prompts the White House to try to reassure investors by pointing to the strength of the US economy. The Nasdaq then regains ground and closes with a 1.77 percent fall (4 Apr.). Blue-chip stocks from the new and old economy rise again on 17 Apr.

According to the Department of Labor, the US unemployment rate remained at 4.1 percent in March.

At a White House economic conference on 4 Apr., Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan repeats his warning about the risks of inflation in the US, due to the tight labor market and the huge trade deficit.

The Clinton administration refuses to endorse a plan by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund aimed at helping the world’s poorest countries by allowing them to export goods to industrialized countries — including the US — free of tariffs and other trade barriers. The Clinton administration fears that the prospect of further opening American markets at a time of record US trade deficits might weaken support for the African Trade bill, currently stuck in Congress (9 Apr.).

Legal matters

The odyssey of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez, continuation [for the beginning of the case, see previous US chronologies]: 

The Immigration and Naturalization Service threatens to revoke Elian Gonzalez’s residency status if his Miami relatives refuse to commit themselves in writing to turn the boy over to his Cuban father peacefully if the court does not grant them custody of the boy. On 7 Apr., Elian’s father arrives in the US and meets with Justice Department officials, who offer him a chance to request US asylum; the proposal is turned down. On 9 Apr. Mr Gonzalez meets with two government-appointed psychologists and a psychiatrist to discuss ways of making things easier for the child. In Miami, Elian’s great-uncle ignores the 13-April deadline for turning the boy to his father. On 19 Apr., the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta orders that Elian be kept in the US pending further appeal. On 23 Apr. Elian is seized from his Miami relatives’ house by armed federal agents and taken to his father, at Andrews Air Force base in Maryland. All media and many Web sites feature an Associated Press photograph of a terrified Elian facing an automatic rifle; then, another picture shows a happy-looking boy in his father’s arms. Fidel Castro says the reunion of the young Cuban with his father is a "relief" and "a day of glory for our people," but adds that he expects no change in US-Cuban relationships. A few hours after the operation, Miami’s mayor discharges the city manager, and the chief of police resigns. On 24 Apr., Janet Reno says she is "satisfied with the results [of the raid]"; on the contrary, Al Gore disagrees with the surprise seizure, and Republican leaders contend that excessive force was used in the operation and call for a congressional investigation. 

The televangelist Pat Robertson, speaking at a symposium on religion in Virginia, declares in favor of a moratorium on capital punishment, which he says is administered in a way that discriminates against minorities and poor people who cannot afford a lawyer (7 Apr.). 

The first tobacco-related class-action suit in the US ends on Apr. 7, when a Miami jury, after deliberating more than two days, rules against tobacco companies. The cigarette-makers are ordered to pay $6.9 million in damages to two smokers, and the third is awarded $5.8 million. The persons who filed the suit are a clockmaker, a nurse, and a housewife; the third plaintiff, Ms Vecchia, died of cancer three weeks after the initial verdict last year.

Robert Ray, who took over the office of the independent counsel after Kenneth Starr’s departure, is considering indicting Bill Clinton once the latter’s term is over — for perjury, obstruction of justice, making false statements and conspiracy to commit those crimes when he was questioned under oath about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. According to him, "It is an open investigation. There is a principle to be vindicated, and that principle is that no person is above the law, even the president of the United States." (12 Apr.) On 12 Apr., Vice President Gore rules out granting a pardon to Bill Clinton if he is elected president: Mr Clinton says he will neither request nor accept a pardon. 

Microsoft Corp. has hired Ralph Reed, a senior consultant to Governor George W. Bush’s campaign — and former head of the Christian Coalition — to curry favor with the Republican presidential hopeful. Microsoft hopes he will express himself against the government’s antitrust case. 

During the current campaign, Microsoft and its employees have donated $727,000 to political parties — 53 percent to the Republicans and 47 percent to the Democrats.
In late Apr., the Department of Justice proposes dismantling Microsoft by separating its Windows operating system (which has a monopoly for some 85 percent of the PC market) from its Office applications. Under the plan, the two companies would be barred from recombining for at least ten years. 

On 25 Apr., in the first abortion case heard by the US Supreme Court in eight years, the moderate and liberal justices express doubt that states may outlaw an abortion procedure referred to as "partial birth" without allowing exceptions for the pregnant woman’s health. The final decision in the case is due by the end of June.

The Supreme Court is also due to determine whether a state can prevent the Boy Scouts of America from excluding a scoutmaster on the grounds that his homosexuality conflicts with their mission of nurturing "morally straight" and "clean" young men. After the oral arguments (27 Apr.), Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justice Antonin Scalia are the two Court members most favorable to the Scouts’ position; the other justices are clearly worried about the consequence the case may have. A final decision is also expected by the end of June. 

The 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals strikes down Ohio’s motto, "With God, all things are possible," a quotation from the Bible (Matthew 19:26); the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the motto on the ground that it endorsed the Christian faith and thereby violated the First-Amendment protection against establishment of religion. (Late Apr.)

Society

According to a CIA report completed in Nov. 1999, as many as 50,000 women and children from Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe are brought to the US each year and forced to work as prostitutes or servants. The report is entitled "International Trafficking in Women to the United States: A Contemporary Manifestation of Slavery."

New York City and its mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, have boasted a steady decline in the city’s murder rate over the past few years; new data, however, reveal a six percent rise in 1999 (from 1998) and a 12 percent increase in the first months of 2000. 

According to a report sponsored by the US Department of Justice, African-American and Hispanic youths are treated more severely by the juvenile justice system than white youths charged with similar crimes. Minority youths are more likely to be arrested, held in detention, sent to court for trial, and given longer prison terms. Thus, white youths convicted of violent offenses are jailed for an average of 193 days after trial, African-Americans for 254 days and Hispanics 305 days on average. 

Vermont becomes the first state to allow gay and lesbian couples to obtain civil union licenses (to be approved by a justice of the peace, a judge or a member of the clergy) with all the benefits that the state confers through marriage. Breakups will be handled in family court, and gay partners can be liable for child support. The bill, passed by the state legislature, will shortly be signed into law by the governor and will take effect on 1 July, 2000.

A shooting at Washington, DC’s National Zoo wounds seven people (one of them critically) on 24 Apr. The police arrest a 16-year-old suspect, who will be tried as an adult. 

Miscellaneous

In a report issued on 5 Apr., the National Academy of Sciences alters its stance on genetically modified crops, saying that they may pose food safety and environment risks. The academy recommends that the Environmental Protection Agency regulate these plants, and extend its regulation to crops engineered to be resistant to viruses. American farmers planted 20 million acres of genetically-modified corn last year (a corn that produces its own pesticide). 

On 12 Apr., in an attempt to put an end to a bitter conflict, the South Carolina Senate votes to remove the Confederate battle flag (which was used by the Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War) from the Capitol Dome and put a smaller version of the banner on the statehouse grounds, next to a monument honoring the Confederate dead. A few hours earlier, the state House of Representatives approves a holiday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. — South Carolina is the very last state to enact such a holiday. 

On 20 Apr., US paleontologists reveal that they have found the well-preserved heart of a dinosaur in South Dakota. Surprisingly, the discovery shows that a dinosaur’s heart is more like a bird’s or a mammal’s than a reptile’s. 

Former US Air Force pilot and current Senator John McCain, whose plane was shot down during the Vietnam War in 1967 and who spent nearly six years in prison near Hanoi, is in Vietnam on a private visit on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the end of the war (27 Apr.). He lashes out at Vietnam’s Communist government about ideological and economic issues, and adds, "I think the wrong guys won." A spokeswoman for the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry relies, "It is the United States, the initiator of the war, which has committed horrendous crimes against the Vietnamese people." 

The US Coast Guard reveals (27 Apr.) that a ship carrying hundreds of Haitian emigrants capsized in the southern Bahamas, that 14 people died and 46 had to be hospitalized. 
 Magali Puyjarinet  Université de Metz

Source: The International Herald Tribune.