News Currents

ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

Mongolia's ex-communist ruling party beat democratic opponents, winning 70 of 76 parliamentary seats in Sunday's election, according to official results released yesterday. The election was the first under a new constitution enacted this year that enshrined the principles of human rights and private ownership of property, and established the new single-chamber parliament.... Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gained 432.56 points yesterday, closing at 16,757.63. The Nikkei now has climbed a total of 1,016.36 p oints in three days. UNITED STATES

NATO announced yesterday that the United States has finished withdrawing thousands of tactical nuclear weapons from Europe.... Customs officials at John F. Kennedy airport stopped a pregnant American woman Wednesday from bringing the controversial French abortion drug RU-486 into the US in a confrontation set up by abortion-rights groups. It was organized to initiate a challenge to the Food and Drug Administration's ban on the drug.... Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. William Crowe said Wednesday the Am erican warship USS Vincennes was in Iran's waters, not international territory, when it shot down an Iranian civilian airliner four years ago, killing 290 people. But the ship's former captain, Capt. Will Rogers, denied Crowe's assertion. EUROPE

UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said yesterday 1,500 French, Egyptian, and Ukrainian troops would be deployed to guard Sarajevo airport.... About 40,000 workers at Greek state industries went on strike yesterday to protest the government's privatization plans, Greece's biggest union said.