The battle between police and protesters continued in the streets of Seattle yesterday, even after a zone of more than 50 blocks was declared off limits to demonstrators and was surrounded by police, state troopers, King County sheriff’s deputies and the National Guard, many wearing riot gear. About 500 people have been arrested — the final numbers are not yet in — placed in city buses, taken to a relinquished naval facility. Police pepper-sprayed the nonviolent protesters even in buses in which they were being held, this according to the Direct Action Network legal team. Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union yesterday requested a temporary restraining order in a legal action against the city of Seattle. The ACLU order, which was denied, challenged the city’s no-protest zone, which the organization says interferes with the right of people to protest peacefully.

This news from Madison, Wisconsin: Yesterday, 14 members of the city’s Common Council, joined by the Madison mayor, Susan Bauman, signed a letter to World Trade Organization Director-General Michael Moore in support of the anti-WTO civil disobedience actions this week. The signatories to the letter said they’re joining with diverse organizations around the world to oppose the current practices of the trade group, which they believe are a threat to workers’ rights, consumer safety and the environment. Further, they called on President Clinton to conduct a full review of the WTO’s impact in a variety of areas, including democracy, the poor, health, labor rights and the rights of women and children.

Northern Ireland entered a new era today as political foes banded together to try and rule in peace after 30 years of armed conflict. Without fanfare, but with hope, a coalition of Protestant and Catholic ministers took over responsibility for day-to-day running of the province from British ministers, who had shuttled in and out from London as guerrilla war raged year after year. Martin McGuinness, a Sinn Féin minister in the new Cabinet, told the BBC he was working toward the disbandment of the Irish Republican Army, which is his party’s military ally. The IRA is expected to open talks with disarmament authorities later today.

Yesterday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry gave the United States a protest note, accusing an American diplomat of spying, and telling her to leave the country, this according to the ITAR-TASS news agency. The State Department has confirmed “an incident” involving one of its diplomats has taken place, but gave no further details. The Embassy confirmed an employee by that name worked in the political section, but declined further comment. Russia said that on Tuesday it had caught the diplomat red-handed attempting to obtain military secrets from a Russian citizen and bearing a collection of spy gadgets to thwart detection. It hoped the incident would not harm its already-strained relations with the United States.

This news from Nigeria, on the verge of an AIDS explosion that could kill millions and wreak untold economic damage, a new report says today. It is released to coincide with World AIDS Day yesterday, showing overall HIV infection rates in Africa’s most populous nation of 5.4%, climbing as high as 21% in the worst affected areas. Like other West African countries, Nigeria has been less severely affected by the epidemic than eastern and southern Africa, but its population of more than 108 million means that it already has more people infected with HIV, which possibly leads to AIDS, than many other African countries.

The U.N. General Assembly endorsed a resolution yesterday aimed at pressing the United States to abandon plans to build an anti-missile defense system. The vote on the resolution recommended last month by the assembly’s Disarmament and International Security Committee was 80 to 4. Voting against the draft, together with the United States, were Albania, Israel and Micronesia. The members of the 15-nation European Union abstained, except for France and Ireland, which voted for the resolution.

Hillary Rodham Clinton offered the most pointed attack to date on her likely opponent on Tuesday, condemning Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s policy of arresting homeless people who sleep on the streets and refuse help. Clinton told an audience made up of mostly Black ministers, “Our political leaders must be judged on how they treat everyone, including the least fortunate.”