News In Brief

A plan ending Texaco Inc.'s multibillion-dollar dispute with Pennzoil Company and extricating the oil giant from bankruptcy court is due to be filed today. Texaco and Pennzoil ended their four-year legal battle over the takeover of Getty Oil Saturday as Texaco agreed to pay Pennzoil $3 billion as part of a $5.5 billion bankruptcy reorganization plan. In return, Pennzoil will drop a $10.3 billion judgment that led to Texaco's bankruptcy filing last April.

The accord followed two weeks of negotiations that began after Pennzoil agreed to reduce its previous settlement demand of $4 billion.

OAU chief will mediate Kenyan-Ugandan dispute

Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, chairman of the Organization of African Unity, agreed yesterday to mediate in a border dispute between Uganda and Kenya after clashes began last week. Amid the unrest, Kenya has expelled Uganda's two top diplomats Friday, recalled two diplomats from Uganda, and closed the Libyan Embassy. President Daniel arap Moi accuses Libya and Uganda of plotting to destabilize his government.

Landlocked Uganda says Kenya has closed its border, preventing goods from moving to and from the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa. Kenya denies the charge.

BBC says Queen's words on terrorism were leaked

The British Broadcasting Corporation said yesterday it regrets a leak of Queen Elizabeth's Christmas Day broadcast in which she condemns Irish Republican Army violence, and will investigate how it happened. The contents of the pre-recorded message, filmed by the BBC are strictly embargoed until Christmas Day. But Saturday, six national newpapers published reports that this year's broadcast would condemn violence in Northern Ireland.

This year's message was particularly striking because the monarch usually steers clear of politically loaded issues.

Soviets prepare to rotate Mir space station crew

A Soyuz TM-4 capsule and a booster rocket have been rolled out and are being prepared for launch today to carry a new crew to the Soviet space station Mir, the Tass news agency said. A successful handover would signal the start of the station's permanent occupation because it would involve a complete crew change on board Mir.

Tass said two three-man crews have been in training to replace cosmonauts Yuri Romanenko and Alexander Alexandrov, who have taken part in a mission aboard the Mir that set a record for space endurance.

Indian troops capture 35 rebels in Sri Lanka

Indian forces in Sri Lanka captured 35 Tamil rebels in the island's northern and eastern provinces during search operations carried out Saturday, an official spokesman said yesterday. Separately, Sri Lanka will soon issue an order merging its northern and eastern provinces, a move aimed at ending the strife between Tamils and the Colombo government, All India Radio reported yesterday.

And Sri Lankan President Junius Jayewardene told Tamil rebels Saturday to surrender their arms to Indian troops within 45 days or face India's their military might.

Junta's new election law irks Haitian opposition

Haiti's ruling junta issued an election law Friday night that bars observers from voting stations and requires ballots to be handed to polling officials rather than deposited into a box. The new law also states that voters who challenge a candidate's qualifications and are overruled are subject to a fine or a short jail term.

Opposition leaders Saturday said the new law denies citizens the right to vote in privacy, creates the potential for fraud, and seems designed to keep the Army in power.

Iranian and Iraqi forces clash in minor skirmish

Iraq said yesterday that its forces crushed a border offensive by Iranian soldiers, but Iran said it killed hundreds of Iraqis in the attack by Revolutionary Guards. Reports - by both sides - of the relatively small number of combatants involved in the attacks indicated this was not the long-heralded major offensive that Iran is reported to be planning.

Separately, two earthquakes measuring 6.4 on the open-ended Richter scale shook southern Iran overnight, the Iranian news agency IRNA said Saturday.

Inside trader Ivan Boesky gets three years in prison

Stock manipulator Ivan Boesky was sentenced Friday to three years in prison for masterminding Wall Street's biggest insider trading scandal, a crime that already has cost him $100 million. Mr. Boesky's guilty plea was part of a plea bargain in which he revealed involvement in other illegal activity including manipulating stock prices, unlawful takeover activity, and false bookkeeping and record keeping. He has been cooperating with prosecutors in an inside trading investigation.

Boesky, free without bail since his guilty plea last April, will not begin his prison term until March so that he can conclude supplying information to investigators.

Government probe says missile had faulty tests

Government investigators said yesterday they had discovered faulty testing of a key guidance device of the air-launched Cruise missile. It is similar to faulty testing of the same component on the MX missile discovered earlier. The General Accounting Office said in a report that the Justice Department was conducting a criminal investigation of alleged fraud by former employees of Northrop's Precision Products Division in the testing of the Cruise missile part.

Senate approves bailout for Farm Credit System

The Senate Saturday approved a bailout of up to $4 billion in federally guaranteed bonds for the red ink-plagued Farm Credit System and sent the measure to President Reagan for his signature. Lawmakers painted the measure, which has been a year in the making, as aid to the Farm Belt, where some areas are still suffering from a financial crisis that began six years ago. But the measure also will be a substantial boon for those who hold bonds in the nation's largest farm lender as well as for banks and securities dealers.

The bill is expected to cost taxpayers up to $1.5 billion over five years.

For the record

South Korean students stormed police stations and battled riot officers yesterday in the southern city of Kwangju, but calls for protests against the presidential election drew little response elsewhere. The Afghan government released 351 political prisoners Saturday as part of a general amnesty program announced last month, Afghanistan's official radio said.

The US is expelling Mikhail Katkov, a Soviet diplomat accredited to the UN, for abusing his privileges of residence, the State Department said Friday.

World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov retained his title Saturday with an astonishing 64-move victory in the 24th and final game over challenger Anatoly Karpov.

Imports of Chinese-made sweaters, shirts, and other clothing and textiles will be limited to 3 percent growth a year under a US-China agreement announced Saturday, but the textile industry says that's still too much.