EVENTS

ENTRY OF NEW E.U. MEMBERS IMPERILED European Union parliament members threatened yesterday to veto the entry of Austria, Norway, Finland, and Sweden unless existing members agree to reduce their powers to block decisions. If the candidate nations are to meet a Jan. 1 deadline for joining, the 518-seat European Parliament has to approve their membership agreements before it adjourns in May for elections. Negotiations have broken down over the existing 12 members' failure to agree on new voting rules in an enlarged union. Talks with Norway are also deadlocked because of a dispute over fishing rights. New talks are set for next week, but angry parliamentarians said that may not give them enough time to discuss the membership deals. The spat over voting rights centers on the insistence by Britain and Spain that adding four small nations should not weaken the rights of larger members to veto decisions by union ministers. Korea talks stalled

North and South Korea failed to narrow their differences in talks yesterday as part of an international drive to end the North's suspected nuclear program. They agreed to try again on Saturday. The talks were deadlocked over North Korean demands that South Korea scrap war games with US forces and stop trying to resolve the nuclear issue in concert with its Western allies. Weld announces campaign

Gov. William Weld (R) of Massachusetts announced his bid for reelection yesterday. Mr. Weld, the first Republican governor of Massachusetts in nearly two decades, is considered a favorite to win reelection. Analysts have speculated for some time that he could eventually become a candidate for national office, though he has ruled out a 1996 presidential bid. Canadian media merger

Rogers Communications Inc., Canada's largest cable television operator, said yesterday it will buy MacLean Hunter Ltd. in a $2.2 billion deal. A merger of the two companies would create a vast corporation with an array of broadcast and print media holdings including Maclean's and Chatelaine magazines and the Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation. Afghan fighting

Soldiers loyal to Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani claimed they retook the northern provincial capital of Kunduz in a fierce two-day battle with his rival, Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. The main battle in the Afghan civil war is for control of Kabul, the capital. But the same factions are also waging war in key provincial centers. Hundreds of thousands of Kabul residents have been driven from their homes and many are dependent on dwindling food handouts. Mr. Hekmatyar has blockaded the roads into Kabul, allowing only one aid shipment this month.