News Currents

MIDDLE EAST DEVELOPMENTS Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries president Sadek Boussena Wednesday said cartel-member states will be expected to return to the 22.5 million barrel-a-day production quota once the Gulf crisis is resolved.... The UN Security Council late Wednesday abandoned attempts to vote this week on a resolution seeking protection for Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories. Diplomats are continuing negotiations to avert a US veto of the resolution.... The US military is constructing a logistical system able to sustain 400,000 troops for a full year should the White House decide to delay war against Iraq. Without war, Desert Shield will cost about $30 billion in fiscal 1991.... Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze told Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir Wednesday that his country was moving toward full diplomatic relations with Israel. Moscow broke ties with that nation in 1967.

UNITED STATES

The US and the Soviet Union agreed to sign in February a Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which will drastically reduce arsenals of long-range nuclear missiles.... President Bush Wednesday announced an assistance package that will provide up to $1 billion in agriculture export credits to ease Moscow's food shortage.... Assistant Education Secretary for civil rights Michael Williams Wednesday said scholarships for minorities may be violating civil rights laws. Williams said that scholarships designated for a particular race or minority violate civil rights laws if the university receives federal financial aid.... In Boston, an Amtrak passenger train Wednesday derailed and slammed into a packed commuter train inside the city's Back Bay Station, injuring more than 260 people.

AROUND THE WORLD

In a historic decision, Sweden Wednesday voted to seek membership in the European Community, citing the new climate created by the collapse of communism in Europe.... South Korean President Roh Tae-woo began a groundbreaking trip to Moscow yesterday which both sides hope will generate economic as well as diplomatic benefits. Roh's trip comes less than three months after the two countries established diplomatic relations, ending decades of hostility.... Oliver Tambo, the exiled president of the African National Congress (ANC) who guided the movement during its three decades as an outlawed organization, returned to South Africa yesterday to attend the ANC's first congress since being legalized. Tambo has been in exile for 30 years.

LOOKING AHEAD

Monday: Wright Brothers Day in the United States, by presidential proclamation.... Tuesday: Anniversary of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in 1865.... Wednesday: Bureau of Economic Analysis will release third quarter 1990 gross national product figures.