News Currents

EUROPE

Germany confirmed April 21 that it is not prepared to fulfill Israeli demands for further financial assistance in the form of loan guarantees. Diplomatic sources said that since the end of the Gulf war, Germany had given Israel more than $600 million in aid.... The US and the European Community are considering joint sanctions against Serbia if it does not stop its military advance in Bosnia-Herzegovina, an EC spokesman said in Brussels April 21(story, Page 1).... Romania said April 21 that former King Mi chael, dethroned and banished by the Communists 45 years ago, can come home as an ordinary citizen for next weekend's Orthodox Easter.... The opposition in Tadzhikistan won a political victory April 21 when the parliamentary presidium promised that the political activities of communist parliamentary speaker Safarali Kendjayev would be the subject of a debate, the news agency Interfax reported.... The European Commission said April 21 that it saw no new reasons for optimism about a breakthrough in world trad e talks during a US-EC summit in Washington April 22. MIDDLE EAST

Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi arrived by car April 21 at the Egyptian city of Sidi Barani, 80 kilometeres from the Egyptian-Libyan border point of El-Saloum, for talks with President Hosni Mubarak on the crisis between Libya and western nations. An attempt by Libyan Airlines flights to land at Cairo airport, breaking the UN Security Council air embargo, was turned down by the Egyptian government.... The government announced April 21 that it has completed abolition of all drug plantations in eastern Leban on, culminating a campaign that lasted many months, the independent an-Nahar daily reported.