Hondurans renew firing on border, Nicaragua says

Nicaragua said Honduran troops again fired on its positions and crossed the border. This was the third such accusation since Nicaragua's leftist government announced it was pursuing a force of some 2,000 rebel gunmen last week. A government communique said that the incident occurred Sunday in Chinandega Province and that the Hondurans were beaten back. A day earlier, Nicaraguan youths and French aid workers marched to the US Embassy in Managua. They were protesting alleged US involvement in a rebel invasion into Nicaragua. One of the victims of the invasion was a French physician, killed last week in a rebel attack.

At the United Nations, meanwhile, Nicaragua proposed direct talks with the US to end tensions in Central America. It accuses Washington of instigating the rebel invasion.