News Currents

UNITED NATIONS

In an unprecedented vote, the General Assembly Tuesday expelled the truncated Yugoslav state comprising only Serbia and Montenegro and said it would have to submit a new membership application. This in effect invalidates a country's membership for the first time in the 47-year history of the world body. UNITED STATES

The federal deficit grew by $24.7 billion in August, the Treasury said Tuesday, virtually assuring that the government's red ink in fiscal 1992 will set a new record.... An appeals panel in Louisiana Tuesday upheld a ruling striking down the state anti-abortion law. Also Tuesday, Alaska's health commissioner signed regulations restricting funding for abortions; Rhode Island's governor told officials to ignore a rule barring federally funded family-planning clinics from mentioning abortion; and Arizona's Supreme Court put an anti-abortion initiative back on the ballot. EUROPE

In France, violent storms triggered flash floods that killed at least nine people Tuesday, damaging roads, crops, and homes. The same weather system flooded parts of England yesterday, stalling commuters as rivers overflowed highways and rail lines. ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

In Thailand, Chuan Leekpai, whose Democrat Party led the narrow victory over pro-military parties in the Sept. 13 general election, yesterday became the country's 20th prime minister.... Le Duc Anh, a retired general who commanded Hanoi's invasion force in Cambodia, was elected yesterday to the newly strengthened post of president of Vietnam.