EVENTS
SARAJEVO OPENED TO CIVILIAN TRAVEL Serbs and Muslims signed an agreement yesterday to open roads to civilian traffic in and out of Sarajevo, effectively ending the 23-month siege of the capital. The deal, signed at Sarajevo airport under UN supervision, opens up a bridge and key roads linking Serb and Muslim sections of the city. It also frees a route from Sarajevo into central Bosnia, controlled by allied Muslims and Croats. Though the agreement does not permit commercial or military traffic on the road leading from Sarajevo to Visoko and on to Zenica in central Bosnia, it envisages free passage of civilians in buses or cars under UN escorts. The agreement was the latest and perhaps most symbolic sign of hope in the 23-month Bosnian war. It follows the Serb withdrawal of heavy guns from the immediate vicinity of the Bosnian capital and a tentative agreement between Muslims and Croats to stop fighting, reestablish their alliance, and create a federation. Airfare price fixing
Six major airlines agreed yesterday to settle price-fixing allegations that they used a central ticket information system to raise fares more than $1 billion. The airlines agreed to implement a new fare system that would bar them from offering special fares available only at future dates. The Justice Department charged in its suit that airlines would post fare increases on the centralized system and then adjust the ticket prices after receiving counterproposals from their competitors. Love Canal ruling
A US District Court Judge ruled yesterday that Occidental Chemical Corporation does not have to pay New York punitive damages for contamination at Love Canal that forced hundreds of families to evacuate. The state had sought penalties of up to $250 million from Occidental, the corporate successor to Hooker Chemicals & Plastics Corporation, which dumped tons of hazardous waste at Love Canal in the 1940s and 1950s. Harding pleads guilty
Figure skater Tonya Harding Wednesday gave up her sport in exchange for staying out of prison. She pleaded guilty to conspiring to hinder prosecutors investigating the attack on her rival, Nancy Kerrigan, and resigned from the US Figure Skating Association. She also must pay $100,000 in fines, donate $50,000 to Special Olympics, pay $10,000 in court costs, and perform 500 hours of community service. Miami curfew
Florida Judge Norman Gerstein ruled Wednesday that Dade County's curfew for youths under 17 could not be enforced, pending a trial on a lawsuit on behalf of four teenagers. The lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union claims the ordinance violates constitutional guarantees of due process, equal protection for juveniles and privacy for their parents. A trial date has not been set. Militants convicted
A military court in Cairo yesterday convicted and sentenced to death nine men accused of trying to assassinate Egypt's prime minister in a campaign to topple the secular government and install an Islamic state. Prime Minister Atef Sedki escaped unhurt, but a 12-year-old school girl was killed and 21 were wounded when a bomb exploded on Nov. 25 as his motorcade was leaving his home.
