EVENTS
CHINA TO HELP CURB ALIEN SMUGGLING China said yesterday it wanted to cooperate with other countries to stop Chinese from illegally entering other countries. The statement from the Foreign Ministry in Beijing came after United States officials called for international action to stem alien smuggling. A refugee-laden freighter was grounded Sunday off New York City. The freighter had nearly 300 illegal Chinese immigrants on board, and six of them died after jumping into the sea in attempts to get to shore. The US Coast Guard has intercepted 1,66 6 illegal Chinese immigrants since January, compared with 613 last year, and 20 in 1991. Beijing says most of the smuggling rings are based outside China. Christopher grilled
Secretary of State Warren Christopher faced questions from his European Community counterparts yesterday in Luxembourg on whether Washington has reneged on promises to send ground forces to Bosnia. A so-called safe areas plan of the United Nations would require up to 25,000 US troops, NATO has estimated. But the 12 EC ministers are committed to maintaining a united transatlantic front in the face of continued Serb aggression in Bosnia and new fighting between Muslims and Croats there. Bosnian Serb leader
Radovan Karadzic said Wednesday his forces will take Sarajevo peacefully or by force and urged Muslims to give up the idea of a unified Bosnian state. Haitians could be free soon
More than 150 AIDS-infected Haitian refugees and relatives held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba could be free within weeks now that a federal judge has ordered their release, advocates say. There was no immediate word from the Clinton administration on whether it would appeal Tuesday's ruling and block the camp's closing. "The Haitians' plight is a tragedy of immense proportion, and their continued detainment is totally unacceptable to this court," wrote U.S. District Judge Sterling Johnson.
UN stands by election
The UN peacekeeping mission in Cambodia today rejected demands by the government for a review of the results of Cambodia's election, which the ruling party lost. The leader of the opposition party that won the May 23-28 election returned to the capital to participate in talks to break the tense deadlock caused by the government's reluctance to hand over power. The government has claimed there were widespread irregularities in the balloting organized by the UN. And so they married
Just as Japan's crown prince and his new princess emerged from the Imperial Palace yesterday after their tradition-steeped wedding ceremony, the sun broke through rain-heavy skies for the first time all day. Many hope the match of Naruhito, the foreign-educated, liberal-minded heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne, and Masako Owada, the savvy diplomat he pursued for half a dozen years before she said yes, will modernize the world's oldest hereditary monarchy. Life in Tokyo came to a near-standstill briefly a s Japanese by the millions gathered around televisions to watch the vows. Sutherland heads GATT
Peter Sutherland of Ireland will head the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade as the US, Europe, and Japan try to revive world trade talks, officials said yesterday. A 47-year-old lawyer who is chairman of Allied Irish Banks, Mr. Sutherland won wide respect as a European Community commissioner from 1985 to 1988. Meanwhile, French farmers vandalized an office of French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe in Paris and demonstrated in several towns to protest France's decision to accept a US-European Community deal on soybeans, cutting subsidies to the farmers.