News Currents
EUROPE
The West yesterday launched a huge airlift of food and medicine to the former Soviet Union from Frankfurt. US Secretary of State James Baker III oversaw the launch and told reporters that rich nations may have to provide billions of dollars to help Russia stabilize its currency - but only after Moscow adopts a credible economic reform program.... Attacks were launched to steal weapons and military hardware from former Soviet garrisons for the third consecutive day Sunday in the Chechen region of southern
Russia, Interfax news agency reported.
UNITED STATES
President George Bush, who will campaign in New Hampshire tomorrow and Saturday, yesterday began a broadcast blitz from the White House to the Granite state.... Alex Haley, the author of the chronicle "Roots" and of "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" died Sunday in Seattle.
MIDDLE EAST
A special committee has recommended that Kuwait buy US Patriot antimissile missiles. Kuwait's political leadership will make the final decision.... Eighteen forged US visas were detected Sunday at Cairo airport in the possession of eight Sri Lankans, six Ethiopians, and four Pakistanis. They paid $2,000 each for them, but all the travelers will be sent back to their countries.... Two Russian officers have joined United Nations observers in south Lebanon, the first to join the team set up 43 years ago....
Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak met yesterday with Vice President Al-Zubeir Saleh Ibrahim of the Sudanese Revolutionary Command Council. The talks were advanced from Feb. 16 after a Canadian oil company signed an agreement with Sudan for oil exploration in the Halayeb region, where both nations claim sovereignty. Sudan backed Iraq in the Gulf war.
ASIA AND AFRICA
All rebels in Liberia are to be disarmed by the end of this month, enabling the country to prepare for free elections, the field commander of the West African peacekeeping force, Maj. Gen. Ishaya Bakut, said yesterday.... China's age-old clan system is making a comeback despite decades of communist suppression, the official Farmer's Daily reports. One farming family head is openly challenging Beijing's one-child-per-couple policy by offering a cash incentive to mothers who give birth to baby boys.... Tha iland's political season kicked off yesterday as hundreds of candidates from 21 political parties handed in their applications to take part in the March 22 general elections, intended to usher in democracy again.... Despite widespread Western condemnation of Burma's military regime, the human rights situation in the country "remains poor," due largely to the role of certain Asian governments in sustaining the government, the New York-based Lawyers Committee for Human Rights said.
