EVENTS
IRISH GOVERNMENT CRISIS RESOLVED In Dublin yesterday, the Irish Parliament elected Fine Gael party leader John Bruton prime minister, ending a month-long government crisis. Mr. Bruton succeeds Albert Reynolds, leader of the Fianna Fail party, who resigned Nov. 17 after Labor Party leader Dick Spring withdrew from their two-year-old coalition government. The government crisis had stalled negotiations between Irish and British officials on setting up a framework for peace talks involving all parties in Northern Ireland. Meanwhile, in Belfast, British officials met with representatives of pro-British ``loyalist'' gunmen to try to persuade them to surrender their weapons. The meeting comes a week after a British delegation argued a similar case with members of Sinn Fein, the IRA's political wing. Judge blocks Prop. 187
US District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday blocking almost all of California's Proposition 187, which seeks to prevent illegal aliens from using public schools and health and social services. The judge said parts of the measure would constitute a ``scheme to regulate immigration,'' something only the federal government is allowed to do.
Mexican peace commission
Mexico's new president announced yet another commission to search for peace in the southern state of Chiapas, scene of increasing tensions between the Army and Indian rebels. President Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon said the seven-member, multiparty group would seek new ways to arrive at a peaceful settlement in Chiapas, almost one year after an Indian uprising killed 145 people. Indian Cabinet turmoil
Three members of Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao's Cabinet offered to quit yesterday as the ruling Congress Party, reeling from losses at the polls, tried to clean up its corruption-tainted image. Brokerages won't merge
Investment house Morgan Stanley Group Inc. said yesterday that it had ended talks with Britain's S.G. Warburg Group Plc on merging the two companies a deal that would have created the world's largest investment bank.
Murayama to visit US
Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama plans to visit President Clinton Jan. 11 in Washington in his first official trip to the United States, a Foreign Ministry official said yesterday.
Gore in Russia for talks
Vice President Al Gore Jr. and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin opened a session in Moscow yesterday of their joint commission to develop ties on everything from space to trade to health care. Mr. Gore was accompanied by Health Secretary Donna Shalala, Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary, and other American officials, who held talks with their Russian counterparts.
