EVENTS
FRENCH CALL FOR G7 SUMMIT ON RUSSIA
French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas said yesterday France has called for a special G-7 summit of leading industrial nations next month in Vancouver to discuss the difficult situation in Russia. Government sources in Paris said that President Francois Mitterrand made the proposal to Russian President Boris Yeltsin during a visit to Moscow March 16. Mr. Yeltsin has been struggling to bring reform to his land. The summit would follow right after the United States-Russian summit in the same city on April 3- 4. Mr. Dumas reportedly stressed that the domestic situation in Russia is of world importance. More for S&L bailout
The Clinton administration's $45 billion request to finish the savings and loan cleanup may fall short, the Congressional Budget Office warned. Robert D. Reischauer, director of the CBO, told a House panel that $50 billion will be needed to pay for savings and loan failures through 1998 and set up a new insurance fund. US inflation moderate
US consumer prices rose a moderate 0.3 percent in February, the Labor Department said today, supporting the conclusion of many analysts that inflation will remain in check this year. And US industrial output increased for a fifth month in a row in February as factories operated at their highest capacity in nearly one and a half years, the Federal Reserve Board said. Flynn goes to Vatican
The longtime mayor of Boston, a devout Roman Catholic, is President Clinton's nominee to become the US ambassador to the Vatican. If confirmed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Raymond Flynn would leave office about halfway through his third four-year term. Another bomb in India
A bomb blast rocked India's second-largest city early today, killing at least 60 people and spreading the terror that began with a series of explosions in Bombay last week. There is no firm proof yet, police say, of who is responsible. Japan hit on asylum
Amnesty International said yesterday Japan tramples on the rights of asylum seekers threatened with persecution. David Petrasek said the government treats asylum seekers "as if they were criminals." The issue is sensitive for Japan, which has given refugee status to only 200 out of 983 applicants since 1981, when it joined the UN refugee convention. US talks with N. Korea
The US, worried about North Korea's pullout from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, opened a dialogue on the dispute yesterday in a secret meeting, according to news reports. US officials met with North Korean representatives in Beijing, a US Embassy official there confirmed. Russia accused
Georgian leader Eduard Shevardnadze appealed yesterday for citizens to donate guns to fight separatists in Abkhazia, and said his country is in a virtual state of war with Russia over the region. He again accused Russia of aiding Abkhazian forces and threatened a full military mobilization.
