[chico20854]

June 4, 1998

Nothing official for the day. Unofficially,

In the aftermath of the effective final collapse of the civilian federal government, there are no remaining USDA officials to raise the alarm that, as the spring planting season comes to an end, only 40 million acres (seven percent of the 521 million acres planted in 1997) have been planted, mostly on small farms that are more fuel-intensive than large tracts. (This is not entirely a negative, as the smallholdings are more advantageous for working by the masses of refugee labor that are providing much of the power for the American farm of 1998).

In Northern Ireland the fighting between Catholic Republicans (supported by the armed fighters of the IRA and Irish Army) and largely Protestant Loyalists (represented on the battlefield by the British Army Ulster Defense Regiment, the civilian Royal Ulster Constabulary and a loose alliance of armed loyalist militias), which has been largely stagnant for many months as neither side can muster sufficient troops and firepower for offensive operations, rumbles to life. The resumption of fighting does not immediately result in any changes of territory held but does increase the misery and suffering of the province's population.

Following up on successful Pact attacks elsewhere along the wide front in southern Germany, the Hungarian 2nd Corps launches an attack on the British II Corps, which is deeply embedded in Nuremburg. To the east, the battered German I Korps withdraws from Bayreuth, abandoning the city to the advancing Czech 1st Army.

In southern New South Wales the Ned Kelly gang launches another raid. Mirroring its original namesake, the group hits the bank in the small rural town of Jerilderie, making off with over AUS$50,000 in cash (of questionable value).