News In Brief

The US

Gen. Colin Powell was set to announce yesterday he won't seek the White House in 1996, Republican sources said. After weeks of agonizing decisionmaking, Powell apparently decided the personal popularity evidenced in his national book tour might not hold up under the rigors of a national campaign. (Story, Page 1.)

Double good news for Senator Dole: New Hampshire Gov. Steve Merrill said yesterday he will support the GOP front-runner - a key endorsement in a critical primary state; and Dole's main threat, Colin Powell, was set to say he won't run in '96.

Democrats claimed it was an electoral repudiation of the Republican revolution: The GOP was thwarted in its attempts to take over the Kentucky governor's office and the Virginia and Maine legislatures on Tuesday. But the GOP did fare well in Mississippi, where Gov. Kirk Fordice (above with his wife, Pat Fordice) easily won a second term. And in Maine, voters appeared to have narrowly nixed an antigay-rights measure. Also, gambling proposals were rejected in Seattle, two Indiana counties, and Springfield, Mass. (Story, Page 1.)

The bill to criminalize certain late-term abortions was set to be put off for later consideration by the Senate yesterday. Skeptics called for hearings on the rare procedure. But supporters objected, saying the House, which has passed a similar ban, already had hearings on what they call ''partial-birth'' abortions. President Clinton opposes the legislation, saying it doesn't have an exception for saving the mom's life.

At peace talks in Dayton, Ohio, the US and Bosnia have been cajoling Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to sack Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic, allow the UN war crimes court to try them, and bar them from power in the new Bosnian state. But at home, Bosnian Serb leaders have threatened Milosevic, saying any extradition would bring ''ruin'' on him. The issue is the main sticking point in the talks in Dayton.

House Republicans were preparing to act yesterday on a stopgap spending bill that would keep the government running through the end of the month. But spending for many programs would be financed at only 60 percent of current levels. The Senate is expected to take up a similar bill Monday. Meanwhile, the House Ways and Means Committee approved legislation that would extend the government's ability to borrow until Dec. 12. (Stories, Page 3.)

Five US midshipmen face military trials on drug charges, and 19 others are being investigated for suspected drug use, the US Naval Academy said Tuesday. All 4,000 midshipmen were tested for drug use starting Oct. 15, after two midshipmen were found in a hotel near the academy with LSD.

Whether Francine Kerner, a Treasury Department lawyer, gave confidential documents to her superior, Jean Hanson, who was under scrutiny in a Whitewater-related ethics probe, was to be the topic of Senate hearings yesterday. On Tuesday, former Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen denied he tried to help the White House avoid embarrassment in the probe. He said he gave White House counsel Lloyd Cutler the papers only after Cutler said he was ''having trouble getting them'' - and only with the agreement they wouldn't be given to those under scrutiny.

The US State Department, responding to a Cuban offer to let moderate exiles visit the island, challenged Havana to extend the same privilege to hard-line critics. Cuba said Monday that two-year travel permits would only be issued to exiles not actively opposed to Castro.

Chiding the US's European allies, a senior administration official said Tuesday that Britain, France, and Germany set back hopes for an early NATO consensus on a new secretary general by endorsing former Dutch premier Ruud Lubbers. This does not mean the US opposes Lubbers, but consensus is best reached in private, he said.

The profile of single moms is changing: As more unmarried professional women have children, the group is increasingly older and richer, the Census bureau said Tuesday.

The World

An accord was reached over Russia's military role in a possible NATO-led peace force in Bosnia during yesterday's meeting between US Defense Secretary William Perry and his Russian counterpart, Pavel Grachev, in Brussels. Gen. George Joulwan, NATO's supreme commander in Europe, ''will have a Russian deputy who will give orders to the Russian forces,'' Grachev said. The political control of the NATO operation is yet to be worked out.

David Rohde, The Christian Science Monitor's East European correspondent, was released yesterday by the Bosnian Serbs. (Story, Page 1.)

Two more suspects were arrested in the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. And ''D'', head of Israel's secret service VIP protection unit and whose name is a state secret, quit yesterday. A security reshuffle is expected soon.

Limited oil sales by Iraq were expected to be discussed at a meeting between UN chief Boutros Boutros-Ghali and a top Iraqi official in Geneva yesterday, a UN spokeswoman said. Also, a Sudanese request to approve 600 flights from Libya to enable 300,000 Sudanese to return home was turned down by a UN committee, a UN official said Tuesday. Facing mounting economic problems, Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi issued a December deadline for 1 million foreigners to leave Libya.

Closer ties with industrialized nations will help emerging markets capitalize on their economic turnarounds, leaders of 15 developing nations said Tuesday in Buenos Aires at the end of a two-day summit.

Italian police said yesterday they had arrested the president of the provincial government of the Sicilian capital Palermo, his brother, and three others on charges of Mafia association and protection.

French Premier Juppe's new and leaner Cabinet went to work yesterday. Jacques Barrot, the new ''superminister'' for social affairs, pledged to make inroads into the spiraling deficit of the state welfare system. President Chirac chaired the first meeting of the Cabinet, which was cut from 41 to 32 members.

India's election commissioners toured Kashmir yesterday to study the feasibility of holding elections in the troubled region next month. The commission will decide if polls can be fair and free from violence. Major parties have opposed the government's decision to call for elections in Kashmir. (Story, Page 1.)

The three US servicemen charged with raping an Okinawa schoolgirl will receive a fair trail by Japanese courts, a US State Department spokesman said Tuesday. And the serviceman who pleaded guilty said in a letter to his parents that he didn't commit the rape, but confessed in hopes that Japanese authorities would show mercy.

Rwanda's military captured an island near Zaire after a daring raid which neutralized the most significant threat posed by exiled Hutus, the military said yesterday. About 300 Hutu militiamen were killed.

Talks for a national unity government in Trinidad and Tobago started Tuesday between the island nation's two leading parties. In Monday's election the ruling People's National movement and the opposition United National Congress won 17 seats each in a 36-seat house.

British Prime Minister Major arrived in New Zealand yesterday for a Commonwealth summit, where he is expected to face criticism for supporting French Nuclear testing in the South Pacific.

Etcetera

Two polar adventurers, Roger Mear of Britain and Borge Ousland of Norway, are vying to conquer Antarctica alone and unaided. They plan a 1,680-mile, 100-day trek across the continent. The men will drag their supplies and equipment behind them on sleds. Mear has begun his quest; Ousland was to set off yesterday.

Novelist Pat Barker won the Booker Award, Britain's most prestigious literary prize, for ''The Ghost Road,'' the last book in her World War I trilogy. She takes home $31,650, plus publicity worth far more. She beat out Salman Rushdie, who had been a favorite.

Portugal's massive Foz Coa dam project, which threatened a series of prehistoric engravings, has been put on hold. Prime Minister Antonio Guterres's government decided to investigate the import of the Stone Age drawings before approving or rejecting the dam in northern Portugal.

For $25, you can own a piece of Titanic history. The liner hit an iceberg and sank on its maiden Atlantic voyage in 1912. The vessel's salvager is selling pieces of Titanic coal from the bunker in the ship's No. 1 boiler room. Divers mined the coal as they brought up artifacts during a 1994 expedition.

The World As Your Classroom

Want a diverse college experience? These schools have the highest number of international students enrolled.

1. Boston University, 4,734

2. University of Southern California, 4,259

3. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 3,964

4. New York University, 3,832

5. Ohio State, 3,760

6. University of Texas-Austin, 3,753

7. Columbia University, 3,644

8. Harvard, 3,410

9. University of Pennsylvania, 3,168

10. University of Illinois-Urbana, 3,064

- Institute for International Education (New York City)

'' This will be remembered as the day that Kentucky stood tall.

Kentucky has said 'no' to Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole.''

- Democratic Lt. Gov. Paul Patton, who defeated businessman Larry Forgy in Kentucky's governor's race Tuesday.

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