EVENTS

GERMAN TROOPS RESTRICTED

Parties in Germany's governing coalition have agreed to allow troops to fight abroad under certain conditions, but the deal remains without teeth since the Constitution still bars deployment. German combat roles would be permitted in some internationally sanctioned missions and only with prior approval of the German parliament. Russia privatizes

Russian economic officials and Western advisers announced yesterday that 14 regions of the country will begin widescale privatization of medium and large businesses next month. About 500 enterprises - including many state-run factories with thousands of workers - are to be sold to their employees and the public by April. The success of the privatization effort is crucial to the reform policies and popularity of President Boris Yeltsin. Turkey bombs rebels

Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel camps in the southeast yesterday, killing at least 35 guerrillas, the Anatolia news agency reported. The strikes were apparently in retaliation for stepped-up assaults by guerrillas of the Kurdish Workers Party, who reportedly killed 14 people on Wednesday in three separate attacks in the southeast.The rebels have been fighting for self rule. Polish ferry sinks

A Polish ferry capsized in the storm-whipped Baltic Sea between Poland and Denmark yesterday, and German television said 52 people were believed to have died. Fourteen people were saved but some of them were in critical condition. US car debuts in Japan

Chrysler yesterday rolled out its much-ballyhooed, right-hand-drive Jeep Cherokee, the first US car to be sold in Japan with the steering wheel on the right to match Japanese roads. Japanese officials have long said that American cars do not sell well there because of the placement of the steering wheel. US retail sales up

Retail sales jumped 1.2 percent in December as US businesses enjoyed their best holiday season in five years, the government said yesterday. The big surge was spotty, however, as auto dealers enjoyed a huge jump of 3.2 percent but sales at department stores were down slightly when compared with the level of sales in November. Logging restricted

The US Forest Service is restricting logging to protect the California spotted owl, a cousin of the northern spotted owl. In announcing a two-year ban Wednesday on clearcutting of timber in all federal forests in California's Sierra Nevada, the agency acknowledged the move may cost timber-industry jobs and cause lumber prices to rise. Tanker transport approved

Overcoming opposition from environmentalists, Chevron Corporation has won California state approval to transport crude oil from an offshore field to Los Angeles by tanker - but only until a pipeline is built in 1996. Hawaii lowers US flags

Gov. John Waihee has ordered the American flag removed from state buildings to mark the 100th anniversary of the US-backed overthrow of Hawaii's last queen in 1893 - an event decried in the Aloha State as "a dark page" in US history.