EVENTS
RED CROSS HIT FOR EVACUATION EFFORT
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri yesterday banned further United Nations airlifts of Palestinian deportees from a snowbound tent camp in southeast Lebanon. Red Cross delegates had taken two Palestinians out with them Saturday by helicopter. One, 16-year-old Bassem Siouri, was among 10 Palestinians whom Israel said it expelled "in error." The other, a man, was said to be seriously ill. An additional nine Palestinians were mistakenly deported, Israel has said. Pope leads prayers
Denouncing a "mad craving for power" in Europe, Pope John Paul II on Sunday condemned the use of religion as a pretext for violence and prayed for an end to war in Bosnia. The pope had invited Muslims, Jews, European Catholic church leaders and other Christians, including Orthodox, for a weekend of fasting and prayer to end the war in former Yugoslavia. Vote in Montenegro
Montenegrins voted yesterday in a crucial presidential runoff. The choice was between current president Momir Bulatovic, who has indicated he may reconsider his alliance with Serbia, and Branko Kostic, a staunch Serbian ally. Results will be announced tomorrow. Secession of Montenegro could start another civil war in the Balkans, since about 10 percent of the republic's 600,000 inhabitants declare themselves Serbs and thousands more are Milosevic supporters. US job rate steady
The US unemployment rate held at 7.3 percent in December, ending 1992 only slightly higher than where it began, the government said Friday in a report underscoring again the difficulty the economy is having generating jobs. Elvis sighted again
The long-awaited United States Elvis Presley stamp went on sale at 12:15 a.m. last Friday at a half-dozen mobile postal stations across the street from Graceland in Memphis. Fireworks marked the occasion. The US, prohibited from issuing a stamp honoring someone until at least 10 years after his death, was late in joining the Elvis stamp craze. At least 14 countries and territories have Elvis stamps. Afghan parliament
Afghan authorities announced the formation of a parliament yesterday while government opponents fired more rockets into the capital, Kabul. Presidential spokesman Abdul Aziz Morad told reporters that 1,000 members of a controversial assembly chose 205 of their number Saturday to be parliament members. The country's last parliament ended with the collapse of President Najibullah's government in April. Long haul in Somalia
US officials in Somalia said Saturday the US-led effort to bring food to starving Somalis was ahead of schedule, but they admitted some of the American troops may be in for the long haul. Yesterday, US marines killed three Somali gunmen and wounded a fourth in a firefight in a Mogadishu alley. Saturday the marines seized 18 artillery pieces discovered near Mogadishu's radio station. Sniping against the marines goes on regularly.
