Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.inter From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: inter Fri, Feb 28 1992 Date: Fri, 28 Feb 92 05:50:42 EST Message-ID: 02-28 0000 DECISIONLINE: International News USA TODAY Update Feb. 28-March 1, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network RUSSIA SEES HARDSHIP AHEAD: Russia's top economic official said Thursday most remaining price subsidies will be removed by the end of March and predicted further hardships ahead in the transition to a market economy. Deputy Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar said state-set prices will be abandoned next month, with medicine, baby food and communal services being the only items remaining under state control. ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN GO AT IT: Shelling by Armenian and Azerbaijani fighters Thursday shattered a cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh only a few hours after it took effect; both sides suffered casualties, officials said. Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosian sent a special message to the leaders of 14 countries, including the United States, urging them to dissuade Azerbaijan from forming its own army. HELP FOR HAITI PROPOSED: The United States called Thursday for sending a civilian peace corps to Haiti to bolster that country's shaky democracy and pave the way for the return of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Luigi Einaudi, U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States, said Washington would donate $2 million for the creation and deployment of the unarmed force of up to 500 people. WOMEN HIDING IN KUWAIT: Rep. Patricia Schroeder, D-Colo., has asked the Defense Department to consider sending a U.S. military plane to Kuwait to airlift scores of foreign women hiding in their countries' embassies. USA TODAY last week reported 172 female housekeepers had taken refuge in the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait after claiming to have been been beaten, raped and not paid by Kuwaiti employers. LEADERS NOT UNITED ON DRUGS: President Bush and the leaders of Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia and Equador failed to agree Thursday on how to fight the war on drugs. Bush was unable to persuade his fellow leaders to endorse an international air force unit empowered to cross borders for investigations and surveillance operations and to set timetables for reducing the supply of and demand for illegal drugs. LEAHY HAS FORMULA FOR LOANS: Senate appropriations subcommittee head Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said Thursday he was "increasingly optimistic" about a Senate agreement to fund $10 billion in Israeli loan guarantees. His formula would allow President Bush to reduce the loan guarantees dollar for dollar by the cost of Israeli housing construction in occupied territories. LOOTERS CONVERGE ON ALBANIA: Thousands of looters, some armed and drunk, rampaged in Pogradec in western Albania Thursday. Similar scenes have been reported in other towns in Europe's poorest country as citizens struggle to survive a tough winter. Prime Minister Vilson Ahmeti called for urgent military action to end days of looting and violence. SERBIAN LEADER GIVES IN: Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, who led his republic into a ruinous conflict with Croatia in a failed attempt to hold Yugoslavia together, declared the war ended Thursday. He appeared to be responding to mounting opposition inside Serbia over the war's human and economic toll. Many Serbs have turned against the once-popular leader and are demanding his resignation. U.N. DISCUSSES GLOBAL WARMING: An international treaty to combat global warming appeared closer to reality after U.S. negotiators disclosed new commitments to reduce emissions of heat-trapping gases. The United States told the United Nations Thursday it is prepared to: Strengthen appliance standards to boost energy efficiency in housing, industry and commerce; buy more alternative-fuel vehicles; and plant more trees. DOW JONES OPENS ON DOWNSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens Friday at 3269.45, after closing down 13.87 Thursday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 228.75, down 0.48. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 416.09, up 2.12. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 633.95, up 1.55. DOLLAR OPENS MOSTLY DOWN: The dollar opens mixed on foreign markets Friday. It opens at 0.5701 British pounds, down from 0.5721; 5.5928 French francs, down from 5.6389; 129.40 Japanese yen, up from 129.35; and 1.6435 German marks, down from 1.6495. (As of 3 p.m. Thursday. Source: First American Bank of New York.) International News Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM