News Currents

AFRICA

In Malawi, 10 political detainees, including a former Cabinet minister held for 12 years, have been released, diplomats said Saturday. The releases and the granting of bail to detained labor leader Chikufwa Chihana on Friday indicate that Malawi's authoritarian government may be bowing to Western pressure to improve its human rights record, said the opposition Democratic Alliance. EUROPE

Polish parliamentary deputies Saturday approved the Cabinet of new Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka, ending a five-week impasse that left Poland virtually without a government. Her 22-member Cabinet is backed by a coalition of seven parties descended from Solidarity.... Ukranian President Leonid Kravchuk on Saturday fired Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Lanovoy, who was considered the government's leading economic reformer. Kravchuk cited Lanavoy's membership in the opposition group New Ukraine, calling it duplicitous. MIDDLE EAST

Rival Palestinian factions clashed anew on Saturday. The fighting broke a day-old truce, and marked the latest round in a power struggle between the Muslim fundamentalist group Hamas and the PLO's Fatah faction. Hamas opposes the Fatah-backed autonomy negotiations with Israel. ECONOMY AND BUSINESS

IBM, Toshiba Corporation of Japan, and Siemens AG of Germany have agreed to jointly develop computer memory chips two generations more advanced than those currently in use, industry sources said Saturday.