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Reports that the Sandinista state employees in Nicaragua struck last week for a 25 percent raise in pay and reinstatement of workers fired since March 19. Legislature moving to give Chamorro power to weed out high-level officials who could sabotage her policies.

Discusses the April 25 deadline for the Nicaraguan contras to disarm as a concession to the outgoing Sandinista regime, and the very real possibility that they will fight on. Bringing the Army to heel as officers balk at yielding authority; New negotiations.

Reports that both Nicaragua's Sandinistas and their Contra enemies seem to be headed down irreversible courses: The Contras toward apparent oblivion and the Managua regime toward grudging electoral reform.

Report that with elections just eight months off, Nicaragua's Sandinista regime and its political rivals both are experiencing credibility problems.

Report that Nicaragua's Sandinista regime will have to liberalize its recent electoral and media reforms even more if it hopes to halt its confrontation with domestic and foreign adversaries.

Report that Nicaragua's Sandinista regime is operating with greater confidence now that President Reagan has given up on winning new military aid for the Contras. Arias peace plan.

The article presents discussion on several different issues and topics in the U.S. of political importance. American lawyer and consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who worked in the U.S. Labor Department for Daniel Patrick Moynihan while writing on the side for "The Nation," has worked quite a lot for the interest of consumers. He is not so much appalled as flat-out bewildered by the reign of money and political action committees (PAC) and "honoraria" and every other element in the carnival of inducement. Foreign funding of political campaigns is outlawed in most democratic countries and very strictly forbidden in the United States. But not apparently by the United States, which claims the right to suborn elections in a country that it has spent ten years reducing to beggary and privation. A compliant and PAC-sodden Congress voted to renew economic sanctions against Nicaragua, which had already voted to ruin by "humanitarian aid."

This article focuses on the political developments in the U.S. Another torrid Washington summer brings to mind a theory first propounded by the late Everett Dirksen. The Illinois Senator predicted that historians would link the demise of the Republic to the rise of the air conditioner. Two leading Democratic liberals, Senator Bill Bradley and Representative Les Aspin, voted for-aid to the contras on similar grounds-that U.S. President Ronald Reagan's Administration is serious about Contadora, and the $100 million package will pressure the Nicaraguan government to negotiate.

Presents several letters to the editor referencing articles and topics published in previous issues. Comments on the refugee camps of Miskitos from Nicaragua; Information on Miskito Indians rebellion against the Sandinistas; Comments on political conditions in Nicaragua.

Last week the Sandinistas accused the most Rev. Miguel Obando y Bravo, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Managua, of trying to get rid of them. The Sandinistas and the Catholic hierarchy have been approaching open warfare for months. The Vatican authorities intervened in the battle, hoping to keep an eye on Church state relations in the war-torn country.

After more than two years of self-imposed exile, Arturo Cruz, the former Nicaraguan ambassador to the U.S., returned to Managua last week to announce that he was running for president against the ruling Sandinista Front. Cruz did not register as an official candidate for the November 4 elections. The Reagan Administration solemnly expressed its `disappointment' over Cruz's withdrawal and scrambled to keep ahead of difficulties on other scattered fronts.

Top Sandinista leaders vow that they will press ahead with the democratic reforms promised in exchange for the chance to end the bloody six-year-old civil war. The pace and scope of reform may be stepped up so that President Daniel Ortega can play peacemaker at the United Nations in October. Looks at some reforms in the works; Political and economic effects of the reforms.

Reports that in Nicaragua, an unlikely alliance of former contras and Sandinistas seized 147 farms in a dispute over promises of land and credit. Actions taken by President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro and Daniel Ortega; Anti-Sandinista out cry.

Reports on the violent strike led by a Sandinista labor federation which paralyzed Managua, and wounded President Violeta Chamorro's authority, last week. Chamorro's deal with the Sandinista leadership; Restlessness.

Examines the Sandinistas' last effort to stay in control in Nicaragua, a threat which the contras are taking very seriously. No supplies to create a harmful military threat inside Nicaragua; How the Sandinistas are biding their time.

The decision by the Sandinista government to close the 60-year-old daily, La Prensa, made in the wake of the House of Representative's approval of $100 million in contra aid, is more proof that the Sandinistas are hardly the plucky pluralists thatsome of their supporters have made them out to be. Doa Violetta Barrios de Chamorro (whose family owns the paper) has vowed to stay in Nicaragua until she is thrown out.

Profiles Alfredo Cesar, president of Nicaragua's national assembly, who says that the economy has stopped shrinking, but investment, by foreigners or Nicaraguans, has not picked up. Like many educated Nicaraguans fighting to break free of Central America's oligarchic past, Cesar was briefly a member of the Sandinistas in the late 1970s. Reasons for stagnant economy; Educational background.

Reports that, tossed from office in free elections, Nicaragua's Sandinista gang hopes to regain power by sabotaging the economy and then blaming the mess on the democratically elected government. How the Sandinistas are sabotaging the government's plans; Whether or not President Chamorro can turn the mess around.

Outlines recent harassment by the Sandinista controlled army and police in Nicaragua, which has driven about 1,000 so-called `recontras' to rearm, threatening a recrudescence of the war. There have been 52 killings of demobilized rebels since July 1990. Coalition led by President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro.

Reports that government employees in Nicaragua staged strikes for salary increases and the promise not to dismiss anyone, following which they were promised a 100 percent pay hike and job security.

Reprints an article about the Sandinistas in Nicaragua originally published in the February-March 1928 issue of "The Nation".

Reports that with Sandinista-inspired labor difficulties posing a mounting threat to the Chamorro government in Nicaragua, some in the Bush Administration think the time may be ripe to remobilize the rebels.

Discusses the role of the Contras and Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and the U.S. involvement in the country in the recent past. Demobilization of the Contra army in return of Sandinistas' promises to hold fair elections in February 1990; Suppression on the right of free speech; Propaganda against the U.S. support for Contras; Division in the leadership of the opposition to the Sandinistas; Success of Soviet propaganda in Europe; Military support of the Soviet Union to Sandinista; Information about agreement between two warring groups in Nicaragua.

Reports that the U.S. Congress will decide whether to resume funding for the Nicaraguan Contras, who are fighting the Cuban-like Sandinista government. Statement that the government is being aided by all the disreputable elements of international terrorism; Plans for the formation of a totalitarian regime; Suggestion that the Congress should have voted a healthy flow of support for the Contras.

Presents a letter to the editor about the new Nicaraguan Government.

The article presents business-related updates from around the world as of February 1927. The recognized government of Nicaragua is being assisted by the U.S. Coal production in Great Britain has made a good start with output estimated at 4,468,000 tons per week. The Bank of France has improved its position and has repaid its national debt.

Focuses on the issue of partisanship in the media coverage of the November 4, 2001 presidential elections in Nicaragua. Attitude of journalists regarding political issues in the country; Leftists newspapers in the country. INSET: Hits and misses.