EVENTS
CHINA'S OLD GUARD EASED OUT
China's new government for the first time will not include old revolutionaries in key posts, although members of the ruling Communist Party's top body will dominate. The new power structure will be unveiled at the 8th National People's Congress beginning today. A key aspect of the plan is to ensure that power will smoothly pass to a new generation of Communist officials when senior leader Deng Xiaoping is no longer on the scene. The English-language Beijing Review, in an unusually frank article, said Pre sident Yang Shangkun, 85, and congress Chairman Wan Li, 77, will step down after the 17-day congress. The official Xinhua News Agency later confirmed Li's retirement. Smith to Ireland
President Clinton is expected to name Jean Kennedy Smith, sister of the late President John Kennedy, as ambassador to Ireland, administration sources say. A formal announcement is likely when Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds makes a St. Patrick's Day call at the White House Wednesday. Meanwhile, Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn indicated over the weekend he would accept a rumored White House nomination as ambassador to the Vatican, if it in fact is offered. Eastern Bosnia
A British doctor just back to Zagreb from eastern Bosnia said yesterday Muslim civilians were dying in large numbers from starvation or wounds from Serb artillery attacks as they fled on foot from their homes. Simon Mardel, a World Health Organization doctor, said what he saw in a week in the Serb-besieged towns of Srebrenica and Konjevic Polje surpassed his previous experiences in Ethiopia, Liberia, and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, US cargo planes have parachuted emergency aid over eastern Bosnia, including Srebrenica, for the 14th consecutive night, the US Air Force said yesterday. Bosnian peace talks will resume at the UN tomorrow. Reno sworn in
Janet Reno, taking office as the nation's first female attorney general, pledged March 12 to keep anti-abortion protesters from using physical force that "restrains access to a woman's right to choose." She also said she would explore whether the Justice Department has authority to prosecute the man who shot and killed a doctor during a protest outside a Pensacola, Fla., abortion clinic last week. Afghanistan government
Afghanistan's new prime minister, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, said yesterday he hoped to form a new government soon and reaffirmed his support for a cease-fire accord signed last week to end bloodshed among Afghan factions. Baltic cooperation
Foreign ministers of Baltic Sea states will hold a two-day meeting in Helsinki this week to try to improve trade and cultural links. The 10-nation Council of the Baltic Sea States was set up in Copenhagen, Denmark last year. The Baltic Council brings together the former Communist-ruled states of Russia and Poland, the three Baltic republics, and the wealthier Nordic neighbors and Germany.
