News Currents

EUROPE

The Ulster Defense Association, the last legal paramilitary organization in Northern Ireland, will be banned starting today, the British government said. The Protestant, pro-British group's military wing - the Ulster Freedom Fighters - is already outlawed.... Dock workers at Marseille, France's biggest port, began another 48-hour strike yesterday to protest a new law that cuts jobs and makes them salaried workers. Workers in 27 other ports accepted the plan in exchange for compensation. ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

Taiwan has abolished its export subsidy system to help its application for entry into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, central bank officials said yesterday.... Philippine President Fidel Ramos yesterday accepted the resignation of presidential executive secretary and energy adviser Peter Garrucho, revealing rifts in his 41-day-old government.... Japan's Nikkei dropped below the 15,000-point level yesterday morning for the first time in more than six years before rebounding to close at 15,066. 34 points. NORTH AFRICA

Algeria's military-backed government has suspended three newspapers in the past 48 hours. They are the first suspended since March, when those published by the fundamentalist Islamic Salvation Front were closed. LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

The Colombian government Sunday appointed a police colonel to eliminate corruption in the national prison service. It appeared to be challenging escaped drug lord Pablo Escobar, who has offered to surrender if police were kept out of his prison.