News Currents

UNITED STATES In Washington, doctors have decided not to administer electric therapy to President Bush for minor heart trouble, but the ailment has nonetheless thrust Vice President Dan Quayle into the political spotlight. The procedure would have required Bush to yield his authority to Quayle temporarily.... A racially mixed neighborhood three miles from the White House erupted into a full-scale riot after a police officer shot a Hispanic man who he said pulled a knife while being arrested. The shooting set off a fi ve-hour rock- and bottle-throwing melee between police and residents.... Astronauts on space shuttle Discovery were set to wrap up their eight-day research mission yesterday at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Meanwhile, engineers in Florida made preparations for the arrival of the new $1.8 billion space shuttle Endeavour.

MIDDLE EAST

The Persian Gulf states are negotiating with Iran to include it in a postwar security pact. The six Gulf states hope to build an alliance that will deter future Iraqi aggression.... Iraq is sending a permanent representative to the Cairo-based Arab League. Iraq broke relations with Egypt and five other Arab states last February.... Israel says it is willing to trade Arab prisoners for Western hostages and missing Israeli soldiers in Lebanon. Seven Israeli soldiers are missing in Lebanon, according to Is raeli officials. Six Americans, three Britons, two Germans, and an Italian are believed held in Lebanon. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati called Saturday for the release of all hostages.... Lebanon's 70,000 schoolteachers joined staff of the state university in an indefinite strike yesterday, demanding better pay and benefits to combat soaring inflation.

SOVIET UNION AND EUROPE

In Moscow, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev warned the West not to write off his reforms and raised the possibility of a new cold war if cooperation ends.... The Kremlin signed over control of the big Siberian coal mines to the Russian Federation Monday to end the nine-week miners' strike. The agreement allows miners in the Siberian Kuzbass to retain most hard currency from coal exports for investment and benefits.... In Yugoslavia, troops and tanks moved into the Vukovar area of northeastern Croatia yesterday after a decision by the national presidency to authorize the Army to keep the peace between ethnic groups.

AFRICA

In South Africa, the Inkatha Freedom Party threatened to unleash 100,000 Zulus upon its rival, the African National Congress. Inkatha was also considering pulling out of government talks on violence in the black townships to protest police searches. ANC blames Inkatha for most of the township violence.... Liberian militia are fighting on the side of Sierra Leone's Army in a bush war against Liberian rebel invaders.