Catherine Brown

  • Changing face of Japanese politics

    TOKYO — In the 12 months preceding the July 18 election, public confidence in Japan's ruling political elite was shaken by revelations of high-level political corruption. "Money politics", as the corruption scandals have

  • Scandal may end German commando unit

    Scandal may end German commando unitThe shooting of suspected Red Army Faction member Wolfgang Grams by the German crack commando unit GSG9 has led to the resignation of the German interior minister and the federal

  • Sinn Fein still barred from talks

    Sinn Fein still barred from talksSince the Irish elections at the end of 1992 there has been growing concern in the nationalist community in the north of Ireland that the incoming coalition of the Labour Party and

  • Refugee family denied asylum

    Refugee family denied asylumA Romany refugee family, denied asylum by the Cologne city council (led by the Social Democrats), is now in hiding to avoid forced deportation to Macedonia. Asylum was denied on the basis

  • French government attacks immigrants

    Anti-racist activists warned that the new right government of Prime Minister Edouard Balladur would step up attacks on immigrants. Within two weeks of its appointment, four young immigrants were shot by French police. Three

  • French greens analyse election setback

    The French elections last month were expected to register a new alliance between les Verts (Greens) and Génération Ecologie as the most significant green political force in Europe. Opinion polls predicted the

  • French right wins big majority

    "I am sad. Whatever the size of the faults we have committed, I really don't think we deserved this", lamented Michel Rocard, the French Socialist Party former prime minister and future presidential candidate. The SP enters

  • Corruption scandal swamps Italian government

    Last year the Italian government announced plans for extensive privatisation of government-owned industry. Now, the prime targets for privatisation are in the thick of a massive corruption scandal. All major state companies

  • Irish republicans' strategy for peace

    DUNDALK — Under the banner "Unity and Independence — For a Peaceful Future", Sinn Fein's 1993 Ard Fheis (annual conference) affirmed the centrality of the party's new thinking about its strategy for peace in Ireland.

  • Austrians demonstrate against racism

    Austrians demonstrate against racismIn the biggest demonstration in Vienna for 50 years, more than 250,000 people at the end of January demonstrated their anger at a racist "Austria First" petition organised by the

  • Shetland anger turns on officials

    Shetland anger turns on officialsAnger on Shetland over the use of dispersants on the Braer oil spill last month has deepened after the government's admission that some of the chemicals used failed the Agriculture

  • Europe's slump fuels political crisis

    LONDON — 1992 marked the closing of one chapter and the opening of another in European politics. The former, developing from the early '80s, reached its pinnacle in 1989 with the collapse of walls and