News Currents

UNITED STATES and UNITED NATIONS

The Supreme Court will decide if mail-order companies can be required to collect taxes for the states in which they sell their products.... Fifteen world leaders are expected to adopt a UN declaration Jan. 31 defining that body's role in the post-cold war era. A draft for a first-ever Security Council summit describes the world as having "the best chance for peace, security, and development" since the UN was founded and foresees a more active role for the new secretary-general, Boutros Boutros-Ghali.....

The White House reportedly plans sharp reductions or elimination of long-range nuclear missiles with more than one warhead. MIDDLE EAST AND GULF

Algeria's fundamentalist Islamic Salvation Front said yesterday the arrest of its leader, Abdel-Kader Hachani, is a "state provocation." ... The Saudi government has for the first time hosted a delegation of prominent Jewish leaders from the United States and told them that it does not contest Israel's right to exist. ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

The US may sharply cut its aid to the Philippines after US forces complete their pullout by the end of 1992, US Ambassador Frank Wisner said. The money could be diverted to the Commonwealth of Independent States or eastern Europe.... Japan's parliament plans to buy two American cars - Buick Park Avenues - at the request of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.... Vietnam has rebuffed a German government delegation in Hanoi by refusing to repatriate thousands of Vietnamese who once worked in communist East

Germany.... Taiwan is considering purchasing arms from the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Central News Agency reported.