News Currents

MIDDLE EAST

Israeli planes flew into south Lebanon for the second day in a row May 26 and blasted pro-Iranian guerrilla bases with volleys of rockets. Israel indicated attacks would continue, while diplomats worried that Syria, which controls Lebanon, might decide to retaliate directly. UNITED STATES

A proposed balanced-budget amendment to the US Constitution would require the largest spending cuts and tax hikes ever, a House Budget Committee report said May 26. Cuts would reduce spending below current levels by $38 billion the first year - then $70 billion the second, $113 billion the third, $173 billion the fourth, and $237 billion the fifth year, when a balanced budget would be achieved. Half of the cuts the first year would end the space station, the superconducting supercollider, and the Seawolf

submarine, and slow many other activities.... Yale University president Benno C. Schmidt Jr. told trustees he will be leaving the institution to create a national private school system, the New York Times reported May 26. ASIA AND AFRICA

South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party May 26 elected its co-leader, Kim Dae Jung, to run for a presidential election expected by the end of the year.... Japan regained its status as the world's largest creditor nation last year with net foreign assets of $383.1 billion. The US had net external debts of $360.6 billion at the end of 1990.... Japan has decided to give $83.8 million to nine drought-hit southern African countries.... The Popular Front Party of President Blaise Compaore won a surprisi ngly large victory in Burkina Faso May 24, taking at least 74 of 107 parliamentary seats in the country's first multiparty elections in 14 years.