Michel Alfonso, son of striker Eladio Alfonso, served a 58-month jail term for bank robbery but was engaged to be married, attending college and working at an ad agency when the INS detained him last December. Late last week the INS released new guidelines making timely reviews of detainees’ cases mandatory. But the strikers say they’ll continue to lie on their roadside cots, where they have only flimsy plastic sheeting and an awning for protection, until their sons are released.
JAPANThe Battle of the Sexes
In what seemed like a blatant double standard, the Japanese Ministry of Health has stalled approval of the Pill since 1961, but legalized Viagra in only six months (NEWSWEEK, Feb. 8). Now that the ministry is finally set to approve the Pill in June, condom makers are getting anxious. Eighty percent of Japanese couples use condoms, the country’s most popular contraceptive, but companies worry that their market will shrink. In response, they’ve done some shrinking of their own. Okamoto, the world’s largest condom manufacturer, has decided to make its product up to 20 percent thinner– even though Japanese condoms are already considered the most “sensitive.” With condoms like these, consumers may need the Pill more than they thought.
BASEBALL DIPLOMACY
