EVENTS
ANGOLAN ANNOUNCEMENT LIFTS HOPES Angola's warring foes have agreed in principle to end nearly 20 years of civil war, but foreign diplomats advised caution over the prospects for real peace, remembering that previous deals came to nothing. Diplomats monitoring talks, which began last November in Lusaka between the Angolan government and UNITA rebels, said that the agreement in principle announced by UN mediator Alioune Blondin Beye Oct. 17 appeared to have fewer loopholes than a short-lived May 1991 accord but that decades of distrust were hard to overcome. The war started when Angola won independence from Portugal in 1975. Major and Ulster
British Prime Minister John Major met Northern Ireland's leading Protestant politician in a late-night briefing, fueling speculation that an announcement would come soon on peace talks. Mr. Major and Ulster Unionist Party leader James Molyneaux made no comments after their hour-long discussion late Oct. 17 at Major's Downing Street residence.
@EVENTEXT =
King Hussein won unanimous support from his government Oct. 18 for a draft peace treaty with Israel initialed in Amman, the state news agency said. Prime Minister Abdul-Salam al-Majali and his Israeli counterpart, Yitzhak Rabin, initialed the treaty Oct. 17. King Hussein and Mr. Rabin are expected to sign it Oct. 26 to end a 46-year state of war between their nations. President Clinton has said he will attend the ceremony. Meanwhile, Syria, renewing its criticism of the Jordanian-Israeli peace deal, said Oct. 18 that it would not adopt a similar accord. Arizona border woes
The border crackdown in Texas and California is sending a surge of illegal immigrants into Arizona, leading the nation's top immigration official to pledge Oct. 17 that she will send 100 more agents to stem the flow. Immigration and Naturalization Commissioner Doris Meissner said the Border Patrol agents will be sent over the next eight months, along with nearly $1 million to help defray expenses.
Peru election dispute
Susana Higuchi, who is challenging her husband, President Alberto Fujimori, for the presidency of Peru, has charged that high-tech fraud, including a computer virus, was being used to sabotage her campaign. She said records of 147,000 names out of 192,000 people who signed her campaign petition were erased as a result of a blackout earlier in the month. Ms. Higuchi moved out of the presidential palace in September.
GM truck recall urged
General Motors Corporation attacked Transportation Secretary Federico Pena's decision that millions of GM pickup trucks are unsafe and promised a court battle if the government orders a recall. ``There is simply no legal or scientific basis on which to seek a recall of these trucks,'' GM Vice President Bruce G. MacDonald said in a statement Oct. 17 after Mr. Pena's announcement. At issue are the trucks' ``sidesaddle'' fuel tanks, which are mounted outside the frame rails on the sides of the vehicles.
Heavy rain in Texas
Heavy rain continued to fall in already flooded sections of southeast Texas, and more rain was expected throughout the day on Oct. 18. Up to 16 inches of rain has pounded southeast Texas since Oct. 16, causing several deaths.
