News Currents

MIDDLE EASTHeavy shooting erupted early Sunday in curfew-bound Algiers where Islamic militants are defying the army, which is enforcing a state of siege. The militants have been on strike in support of an Islamic state.... Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati said Saturday that he and his Saudi and Syrian counterparts would meet soon, apparently to discuss the postwar era and security arrangements in the oil-rich region. Velayati also said he was ready to receive an Iraqi delegation. UNITED STATES United Airlines will announce Monday that it will triple its flights to and from Orlando, the Orlando Sentinel has reported. There has been speculation in the industry that the Chicago-based airline would make Orlando its fifth regional hub, and its first in the southeast US.... High-level discussions have resumed between US and Soviet officials to consider having American astronauts fly for months aboard the Soviet space station Mir, the Washington Post reported. Soviet cosmonauts have flown missions of up to a year aboard Mir, compared with the US record of 84 days in orbit, the Post said.

JUSTICE A federal jury in New Orleans convicted stunned US District Judge Robert Collins of bribery Saturday, finding the Deep South's first black federal jurist guilty of taking money in exchange for giving a light sentence to a drug smuggler.... A new Florida law that becomes effective Monday is expected to put out of business dozens of suspect Florida telemarketing companies that offer loans nationwide in exchange for cash fees. At their peak there were about 90 such firms in south Florida suspected of bilkin g thousands of Americans nationwide of more than $100 million since 1989.... Salmon were caught in a legal net in Alaska over the weekend. Fishermen had gone on strike protesting too-low prices offered by processors, said to be dominated by Japanese owners, and the governor had supported the fishermen. But a state judge said fishing could go on, enabling some willing fishermen to fish for lower prices.

EUROPE Britain's new AWACS early warning aircraft was used to detect and shadow Soviet warplanes in British airspace early in June, official sources said Sunday.... Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari arrived in Berlin Saturday for a four-day visit to Germany as he tours a new Europe in quest of a boost in trade and investment to Mexico.... Alexander Yakovlev, ideological mentor of Mikhail Gorbachev and a close aide to the president, has suggested that a party of democrats be founded in September to cha llenge the Communists, the independent Interfax News Agency said Saturday. Yakovlev also hinted to the Rabochaya Tribuna newspaper that he might quit the Communist Party in response to what he called a campaign of "lies and active malice" being organized against him.