News Currents

EUROPE

Russian President Boris Yeltsin yesterday extended his country's nuclear test moratorium until June 1993. Yeltsin's move reciprocates limits on tests announced by the United States and France; the Russian president appealed to Britain and China to follow suit.... The warring sides in the former Yugoslavia gathered yesterday in Geneva for an important round of negotiations sponsored by the United Nations and the European Community.... Two more bombs exploded in London early yesterday, causing no injuries but prompting fears that the Irish Republican Army was stepping up an offensive against the capital's tourist areas. UNITED STATES

Federal authorities say a contractor withheld data that would have revealed focusing problems with the $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope before it was sent aloft, the New York Times reported yesterday. The government may demand that the contractor pay substantial damages.... Jury selection began yesterday in the retrial of former CIA official Claire George on charges connected to the Iran-contra affair. AFRICA AND ASIA

The United Nations said yesterday that clan leaders in Somalia's nominally independent north have tentatively agreed to the deployment of armed UN troops at the region's main port. A formal agreement will be signed soon.... United States and Vietnamese representatives agreed yesterday to expand investigations into the fate of American servicemen missing from the Vietnam War.... Vietnam and China will hold a second round of talks on border disputes after their first meeting concluded amicably.