News Currents

UNITED STATES

Firefighters Aug. 24 worked to contain a California fire that has burned across 64,000 acres northeast of San Francisco in six days. Three hundred and seven homes have been lost. In Idaho, a fire that has consumed 257,000 acres threatened a tree believed to be the state's oldest ponderosa pine.... The National Association of Realtors said Aug. 25 that sales of existing homes rose 3.9 percent in July. It was the first increase since March. EUROPE

Italy said Aug. 25 that it is prepared to send troops to join international efforts to escort humanitarian supplies to Bosnia-Herzegovina.... In Rostock, Germany, up to 1,000 neo-Nazi youths, cheered on by local residents, fire-bombed a refugee hostel Aug. 25 and fought police in a fierce battle involving water cannons and tear gas. Because of its liberal asylum provisions, Germany attracts over half of all refugees arriving in Europe. ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

Tibet's government-in-exile denounced China on Aug. 25 for launching what it called the "final solution" to suppress Tibet's quest for independence. A statement said China's recently stated plan to develop Tibet's economy was a smoke screen for a mass settlement of Chinese in the Himalayan land.... The Japanese government on Aug. 25 accepted a longstanding invitation for Emperor Akihito to visit China, a nation once occupied by Japanese troops fighting in the name of his father. The visit, tentatively sc heduled for Oct. 23-28, will be the first trip by a Japanese emperor to China in at least 2,000 years of contact between the two neighbors. It marks the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Japan.