News Currents

EUROPEThe hard-line communist committee that took power from President Mikhail Gorbachev yesterday announced through the Tass news agency that it would clamp down on the press, ban the activity of political parties, ban public demonstrations, and introduce a curfew where it met resistance. A union treaty between the central government and five republics was to have been signed today. Vice President Gennady Yanayev, who replaced Gorbachev, said yesterday the treaty was opposed because it denied the central gove rnment the right to tax. Under the pact, the republics were allowed to collect all taxes, and remit about 10 percent to Gorbachev's central government. (see stories, pages 1, 3, 4) ... A senior Muslim fundamentalist said Sunday that Iran and Germany have reached a "gentlemen's agreement" under which two German hostages in Lebanon would be freed as part of a wider prisoner exchange that would include the Hamadi brothers, Mohammad Ali and Abbas, who are convicted prisoners in Germany. MIDDLE EAST Israeli officials called an emergency meeting yesterday to prepare for the possibility of mass Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union following the ousting of President Mikhail Gorbachev. Israel had been expecting more than a million Jews to arrive from the Soviet Union by the mid-1990s. (see story, Page 4) ... In Cairo Sunday, before the Soviet coup, members of Israel's right-wing Likud party said during their first official visit to Egypt that autonomy for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Ga za Strip was the only way to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. But they ruled out any compromise on Jewish control of Jerusalem, a question at the center of controversy between Arabs and Israel. Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, who met the delegation for more than an hour, speaking separately to reporters, said there was a plan for Palestinians to have autonomy for a transitional period followed by negotiations to decide the final status of the occupied territories.... Albania and Israel established d iplomatic relations yesterday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said. In April, Israel airlifted more than 300 Albanian Jews to the Jewish state. ECONOMY AND BUSINESS Financial markets were in turmoil yesterday after Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's removal from power. The dollar and oil soared while share prices plunged. Gold gained more than two dollars to trade at around $360.50 an ounce. AFRICA South African President F. W. de Klerk yesterday appointed a four-man committee to monitor the spending of secret government cash and defuse what has become known as the Inkathagate slush funds crisis. De Klerk said in a statement he expected the committee of two academics, a retired newspaper editor and a retired chartered accountant to start work Sept. 2.