EVENTS

COURT TO REVIEW CHURCH/STATE RULING The US Supreme Court yesterday agreed to reexamine its landmark 1971 ruling on how far government may go to accommodate religious practices without violating the constitutional doctrine of church-state separation. The court voted to use a case involving a New York school district created for children of a Hasidic Jewish community to reexamine its decision in Lemon v. Kurtzman. The precedent set in that case states that laws or government practices are unconstitutional if they have a religious purpose, primarily advance or promote religion, or excessively entangle government and religion. In the case accepted for review yesterday, New York courts ruled that the Kiryas Joel Village School District, created to resolve a dispute about the education of disabled children, was an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion. The justices could have limited the issues in the case to avoid reconsidering the 1971 ruling. Mexico's candidate

The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party announced Sunday its candidate for the 1994 presidential elections will be Social Development Minister Luis Donaldo Colosio, making him virtually certain to be Mexico's next president. US-educated Colosio embraced the country's current economic policies and promised to push social reform. Cambodia talks

Cambodia's Khmer Rouge guerrillas said yesterday they want to meet the government to discuss a proposal from King Norodom Sihanouk to cease hostilities in exchange for a role in government. Under the plan, the Khmer Rouge would cease all violence, return their zones of control, and demobilize their army. British television war

Carlton Communications Plc launched the first bid yesterday in an expected takeover war for the British television industry with a $923.2 million offer for Central Independent Television Plc. The deal to create the country's largest Independent Television Network broadcaster came only five days after Broadcast Minister Peter Brooke said television-ownership rules would be relaxed to make such mergers possible. Japan markets falling

Pressure for government action to rescue the sinking Japanese economy grew stronger yesterday as gloomy investors pushed stock prices to their lowest level this year. The Nikkei stock market has shed more than 3,600 points in the past month, as pessimism over the economic outlook deepened.Iran/Iraq border clashes

Fighting between Iran and rebels based in Iraq has escalated, with Iranian forces raiding a main guerrilla camp 45 miles inside Iraq, rebels said yesterday. There was no independent confirmation available. Hostilities have intensified in recent months along the nations' border. They have still not signed a formal peace treaty ending their 1980-88 war, which was halted by a UN-sponsored truce. No Escobars in Germany

Family members of Colombian drug boss Pablo Escobar are headed back to their native country after they failed to win permission to stay in either Germany or Venezuela. Escobar's son told a reporter they are fleeing his father's enemies. Aideed proposes talks

Mohamed Farrah Aideed denounced the UN anew yesterday and demanded it leave peacemaking in Somalia to a neutral body of African countries, international donors and Somalis. The faction leader also proposed that all political factions meet for talks in the Somali capital the first week of January. Aideed boycotted the latest UN effort at peace talks. William Trent, activist

William Trent Jr., who helped form the United Negro College Fund and ran it for 20 years, died over the weekend. Mr. Trent was a teacher at Bennett College when he joined the administration of President Franklin Roosevelt in 1938 as an adviser on black affairs. In 1944, Trent was asked to help form the association of private black colleges.