EVENTS

S. AFRICA REVEALS NUCLEAR ACTIVITY

President F.W. de Klerk said yesterday that South Africa had built six nuclear bombs by the end of 1989, but they had since been dismantled. He told a special session of parliament the weapons were developed under the direct control of his predecessor, P.W. Botha. He added: "I would like to confirm unequivocally South Africa is adhering strictly to the requirements of the NPT [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] and will continue to do so." Germans join airdrops

Germany will take part in the United States airdrops of food and medicine to besieged eastern Bosnia, Chancellor Helmut Kohl's chief spokesman said yesterday. Bonn's plans have run into criticism from Serbs, largely because of Nazi atrocities in the Balkans during World War II. Government resigns

Belgium's center-left government resigned Tuesday over a budget dispute that threatened to drive a new wedge between the country's feuding French and Flemish speakers. Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene offered his resignation to King Baudouin after the four-party coalition, made up of Christian Democrats and Socialists from each language group, failed to agree on spending cuts. India appeals to Pakistan

India yesterday asked Pakistan to track down the main suspects of the bomb attack on Bombay and hand them over to Indian police for questioning. Foreign Minister Dinesh Singh told Parliament the government has confirmation that six fugitive members of a Bombay Muslim family had flown to the Pakistani port city of Karachi on March 17, five days after Bombay was rocked by a series of explosives. More than 300 people were killed. Afghan avalanche

Avalanches roared down the mountains of northern Afghanistan, burying buses and cars on the country's main highway and trapping scores of people with no food, officials said yesterday. At least 40 people were confirmed dead, but the toll was expected to rise, officials said. Japanese flag flap

A court ruling has revived Japan's long-running debate over whether the rising sun flag - associated by many with Japan's bitter wartime past - should be accepted as a national symbol. Most non-Japanese assume that the red circle against a white background is in fact the country's national flag. But no law designates it as such. The latest salvo in the flag fight came Tuesday, when a court in Okinawa handed a shopkeeper a three-year suspended sentence for burning the flag during opening ceremonies at a n ational athletic meet in 1987. Clinton statement urged

President Clinton must lay out the stakes in aiding Russia in a national address, said House Foreign Relations Committee chairman Lee Hamilton (D) of Indiana. And he needs to do it in the next few days. Aid to Russia is a tough sell to the American public, he said yesterday at a Monitor breakfast, and only the president can make the case. If Russia stops moving toward the West, he warns, "It becomes a much grimmer, tenser world." Life sentence demanded

Prosecutors in Seoul yesterday demanded life in prison for a US soldier charged with torturing and murdering a South Korean prostitute in October. The trial of Pvt. Kenneth L. Markle III of Keyser, W. Va., has revived anti-American sentiment among Koreans who have demanded the withdrawal of the 36,000 US troops stationed in South Korea. A verdict and sentencing are scheduled for April 14. Unclaimed benefits

Nearly 3 million low-income senior citizens and disabled Americans have failed to take advantage of a government program that pays some of their out-of-pocket medical expenses, according to a report released yesterday by a health care advocacy group. The study, conducted by Families USA with a grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, said complex application forms keep some seniors from seeking benefits.