EVENTS
US ECONOMY PICKS UP, BUT TRADE LAGS The economic growth rate in the US revived to a moderate 2.7 percent annual rate in the third quarter and analysts are looking for further improvement during the final three months of the year. Third-quarter growth marked a clear improvement over the mediocre 1.9 percent rate of the second quarter and the anemic 0.8 percent rate in the first. Profits at US corporations also inched up 0.8 percent in the third quarter. For the year so far, profits are running 7.8 percent higher than 1992. And construction spending increased 2.5 percent in October, the sixth consecutive increase. But the US merchandise trade deficit shot up to $36.3 billion from July to September, the biggest quarterly inbalance in six years. If the deficit continues at this pace, it will be the largest annual figure since 1987. Russian elections
Russia's election Arbitration Court yesterday threw out a request from First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Shumeiko to ban the Communists and another opposition party from Dec. 12 parliamentary elections. Mr. Shumeiko asked this after they used free air-time to oppose a draft constitution also up for voting. @EVENTEXT = Troubled Bosnia talks
Troubled peace talks on Bosnia-Herzegovina hovered close to collapse yesterday as rival leaders bickered over a map that would divide the state among its three ethnic groups. Leaders held a second day of face-to-face negotiations, but sources said there was no progress. Irish talks tomorrow
Britain and Ireland will hold Northern Ireland summit talks tomorrow, but British officials cautioned against hopes of major steps toward a peace settlement. Leaders will meet for the first time since they launched a peace initiative in Brussels in October, and since disclosure of British contact with the Irish Republican Army. Egypt militant trial
An Islamic militant was sentenced to death yesterday for the assassination of Egyptian author Farag Foda, who was critical of Muslim extremism. The case was closely watched by Egyptian intellectuals, who feel they are under siege by fundamentalists. Clinton and Rushdie
Trying to soothe the Muslim world, President Clinton said he met British author Salman Rushdie to support his right to free speech and religion, not to endorse attacks on Islam. Mr. Rushdie has been in hiding since fundamentalists called for his death. Libya sanctions
New UN sanctions freezing Libyan assets abroad came into force yesterday to pressure Tripoli into surrendering two men accused of bombing a Pan Am airliner in the skies over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. Libya has been under other UN sanctions since 1992. RTC nominee withdraws
Developer Stanley G. Tate Tuesday withdrew his nomination to head the banking cleanup agency, the Resolution Trust Corporation, after a Senate committee declined to consider it. Tate blamed his demise on allegations by those who feared he would crack down on waste and fraud. L.A. airport settlement
Officials of the Los Angeles International Airport and more than 50 airlines were expected to finalize a landing-fee settlement brokered by the Clinton administration that will avert a threatened shutdown. The ``agreement in principle'' was announced Tuesday night, but no details were offered. Korean rice protests
About 7,000 South Korean farmers protested yesterday in three cities, demanding that either the government keep foreign rice out of the domestic market or President Kim Young Sam resign. The issue threatens to be the first political crisis for his 10-month-old government. Boeing, Airbus cuts
Boeing Company said yesterday it will cut up to 3,000 jobs and trim production of its 737 and 747 commercial jetliners in 1994 due to a global recession in the airline industry. Similarly, the European Airbus consortium said Tuesday it had received 20 more cancellations than new orders this year.
