News Currents

MIDDLE EAST AND GULF US and allied troops were ready yesterday to expand their safe haven for Kurdish refugees beyond the zone set up around the Iraqi town of Zakho, a British military commander said. Brig. Andrew Keeling, commanding British marines based in north Iraq, said the plan was to extend the protected zone eastward along main valleys south of the Iraqi-Turkish border to give adequate security.... Tehran said that 1,000 refugees of Iranian descent who had been stranded in camps along the Iraq-Kuwait border had been flown to Iran. Iraq has accused Iran of sending arms and men to help Shiite Muslims who led a failed uprising against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in March. Iran, host to more than 1 million Iraqi Kurds and Shiites who fled in fear of revenge attacks by Saddam's troops, has rejected the charges. Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani appealed for more world aid to help Tehran look after the million refugees.... Iraqi refugees sheltered in two US-protected tent camps straddling the Iraq-Kuwait border were in jubilant moods yesterday as they were bused to the Safwan airport in Iraq to be flown to temporary asylum in Saudi Arabia.... Switzerland has offered to host a Middle East peace conference. The offer was presented by the Swiss foreign minister after his arrival in Cairo Saturday for a two-day visit to Egypt.... Saddam is secretly rebuilding his army with weapons and equipment bought abroad in breach of UN sanctions, according to The Observer, a British Sunday newspaper. The Observer quoted Jordanian sources as saying Saddam had set up a huge purchasing operation in Jordan to refurbish his arms industry, largely destroyed during the Gulf war.

UNITED STATES

White House chief of staff John Sununu, under fire for extensive travel at taxpayer expense, ordered senior officials in the State and Defense Departments in the fall of 1989 to cut personal expenses, the Washington Post reported yesterday.... Fort Worth's hold on the profitable Professional Golfers' Association tournament at Colonial Country Club was ensured this week with the admission of the club's first black members. Fearful that the PGA tour would follow its sister association, the PGA of America, and adopt a no-blacks, no-tournament mandate, all-white Colonial sought and received help last fall from the Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce.... The Teamsters union has officially lost its attempt to unionize USAir fleet service workers across the country in a decision by the National Mediation Board. The board rejected the union's complaint that USAir intervened in a nationwide certification vote in December.

EUROPE

More than 5,000 Albanians have again tried to force their way onto foreign ships to flee the country, but most were prevented by security forces who fired into the air, Albanian television reported Saturday.