Microsoft Bookshelf 1991/TheWorldAlmanacAndBookOfFacts1991.txt

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 The World Almanac And Book Of Facts 1991



                         Some Days Usually Observed

 Arbor Day (Apr. 26 in 1991). Tree-planting day. First observed April 10,
 1872, in Nebraska. Now observed in most states, usually on the last Friday
 in Apr.

 Armed Forces Day (May 18 in 1991). Alw ys third Saturday of May, by
 presidential proclamation. Replaces Army, Navy, and Air Force Days.

 Bill of Rights Day, Dec. 15. By Act of Congress. Bill of Rights took effect
 Dec. 15, 1791.

 Bird Day. Often observed with Arbor Day.

 Child Health Day (Oct. 7 in 1991). Always first Monday in Oct., by
 presidential proclamation.

 Citizenship Day, Sept. 17. President Truman, Feb. 29, 1952, signed bill
 designating Sept. 17 as annual Citizenship Day. It replaced I Am An American
 Day, formerly 3d Sunday in May, and Constitution Day, formerly Sept. 17.

 Easter Sunday (Mar. 31 in 1991).

 Easter Monday (Apr. 1 in 1991). A statutory day in Canada.

 Elizabeth Cady Stanton Day, Nov. 12. Birthday of pioneer leader for equal
 rights for women.

 Father's Day (June 16 in 1991). Always third Sunday in June.

 Flag Day, June 14.

 Forefathers' Day, Dec. 21. Landing on Plymouth Rock, in 1620. Is celebrated
 with dinners by New England societies, especially "Down East."

 Gen. Pulaski Memorial Day, Oct. 11. Native of Poland and Revolutionary War
 hero; died (Oct. 11, 1779) from wounds received at the siege of Savannah,
 Ga.

 Grandparents'  Day (Sept. 8 in 1991). Always first Sunday after Labor Day.
 Legislated in 1979.

 Groundhog Day, Feb. 2. A popular belief is that if the groundhog sees his
 shadow on this day, he returns to his burrow and winter continues 6 weeks
 longer.

 Halloween, Oct. 31. The evening before All Saints or All-Hallows Day.
 Informally observed in the U.S. with masquerading and pumpkin decorating.
 Traditionally an occasion for children to play pranks.

 May Day. Name popularly given to May 1st. Celebrated as Labor Day in most of
 the world, and by some groups in the U.S. Observed in many schools as a
 Spring Festival.

 Mother's Day (May 12 in 1991). Always  second Sunday in that month. First
 celebrated in Philadelphia in 1908, Mother's Day has become an international
 holiday.

 National Day of Prayer. By act of Congress, the first Thursday in May.

 National Freedom Day, Feb. 1. To commemorate the signing of the Thirteenth
 Amendment, abolishing slavery, Feb. 1, 1865. By presidential proclamation.

 National Maritime Day, May 22. First proclaimed 1935 in commemoration of the
 departure of the SS Savannah, from Savannah, Georgia, on May 22, 1819, on
 the first successful transatlantic voyage  under steam propulsion. By
 presidential proclamation.

 Pan American Day, Apr. 14. In 1890 the First Intl. Conference of American
 States, meeting in Washington, was held on that date. A resolution was
 adopted which resulted in the creation of the organization known today as
 the Pan American Union. By presidential proclamation.

 Primary Election Day. Observed usually only when presidential or general
 elections are held.

 Reformation Day, Oct. 31. Observed by Protestant groups.

 Sadie Hawkins Day (Nov. 2 in 1991). First Saturday in November (the day may
 vary in some places).

 St. Patrick's Day, Mar. 17. Observed by Irish societies, especially with
 parades.

 St. Valentine's Day, Feb. 14. Festival of a martyr beheaded at Rome under
 Emperor Claudius. Association of this day with lovers has no connection with
 the saint and probably had its origin in an old belief that on this day
 birds begin to choose their mates.

 Susan B. Anthony Day, Feb. 15. Birthday of a pioneer crusader for equal
 rights for women.

 United Nations Day, Oct. 24. By presidential proclamation, to commemorate
 founding of United Nations.

 Verrazano Day, Apr. 7. Observed by New York State, to commemorate the
 probable discovery of New York harbor by Giovanni da Verrazano in April,
 1524.

 Victoria Day (May 20 in 1991). Birthday of Queen Victoria, a statutory day
 in Canada, celebrated the first Monday before May 25.

 World Poetry Day, Oct. 15.

 Wright Brothers Day, Dec. 17. By presidential designation, to commemorate
 first successful flight by Orville and Wilbur Wright, Dec. 17, 1903.


                        Addenda, Late News, Changes


                                  Aerospace

 The space shuttle Discovery had a successful 4-day mission, Oct. 6-10.


                                   Awards

                          Broadcasting and Theater

 Emmy Awards, by Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, for nighttime
 programs, 1989-90: Dramatic series: L.A. Law, NBC; actress: Patricia Wettig,
 Thirtysomething, ABC; actor: Peter Falk, Columbo, ABC; supporting actress:
 Marg Helgenberger, China Beach, ABC; actor: Jimmy Smits, L.A. Law. Comedy
 series: Murphy Brown, CBS; actress: Candice Bergen, Murphy Brown; actor: Ted
 Danson, Cheers, NBC; supporting actress: Bebe Neuwirth, Cheers; supporting
 actor: Alex Rocco, The Famous Teddy Z, CBS. Mini-series: Drug Wars: The
 Camarena Story, NBC; actress: Barbara Hershey, A Killing in a Small Town,
 CBS; actor: Hume Cronyn, Age Old Friends, HBO. Music-variety: In Living
 Color, Fox; performer: Tracey Ullman, The Tracey Ullman Show, Fox. Special
 recognition: Jim Henson.

                               Miscellaneous

 Country Music Awards, Entertainer: George Strait; single: "When I Call Your
 Name," Vince Gill; album: "Pickin' on Nashville," The Kentucky Headhunters;
 song (songwriters): "Where've You Been," Jon Vezner/Don Henry; female
 vocalist: Kathy Mattea; male vocalist: Clint Black; vocal group: The
 Kentucky Headhunters; Vocal duo: The Judds; vocal event: Keith Whitley and
 Lorrie Morgan; musician: Johnny Gimble, fiddle; horizon award: Garth Brooks;
 music video: "The Dance," Garth Brooks; Hall of Fame: Tennessee Ernie Ford.


                                Nobel Prizes

 (Each 1990 Nobel Prize included a cash award of around $710,000.)

 Physiology or Medicine: Joseph E. Murray, a surgeon at the Brigham and
 Women's Hospital in Boston, who performed the first kidney transplants, and
 E. Donnall Thomas, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle,
 who transplanted bone marrow from one person to another, shared the award.

 Physics: Richard E. Taylor, a Canadian professor at Stanford Univ., and
 Jerome I. Friedman and Henry W. Kendall, both of the Massachusetts Institute
 of Technology, shared the award for their "breakthrough in our understanding
 of matter" achieved by a series of experiments that confirmed the reality of
 quarks.

 Chemistry: Elias James Corey, a Harvard Univ. professor, received the
 chemistry prize for developing new ways to synthesize complex molecules
 ordinarily found only in nature.

 Peace: Pres. Mikhail S. Gorbachev of the Soviet Union won, in recognition of
 his initiatives in promoting international peace, including championing
 political change in Eastern Europe and helping to end the Cold War.

 Literature: Octavio Paz became the first Mexican to win the Nobel Prize in
 Literature, for his poetry and essays, "impassioned writing with wide
 horizons, characterized by sensuous intelligence and humanistic integrity."

 Memorial Prize in Economics: Three Americans, Harry M. Markowitz, of Baruch
 College, The City Univ. of New York; William F. Sharpe, Stanford Univ., and
 Merton H. Miller, The Univ. of Chicago, shared the prize for their
 pioneering theoretical insights into the economics of finance.


                                Miss America

 Marjorie Judith Vincent, Miss Illinois, was named Miss America 1991.


                                   Boxing

 Evander Holyfield knocked out James (Buster) Douglas in the 3rd round to win
 the world heavyweight championship in Las Vegas, Oct. 25.


                                Census, 1990

 Early spot-checks by Census Bureau workers have found that some cities,
 including New York and Boston, have made the same kinds of mistakes (putting
 houses where they do not exist) that the bureau has been accused of making.
 The bureau said it would recanvass nearly 150,000 blocks containing more
 than 5.4 million housing units in response to local governments' challenges.



                         International Organizations

 The Arab League voted to move its headquarters from Tunis back to Cairo.

 Portugal is no longer a member of the European Free Trade Association.
 Liechtenstein is a member of the European Free Trade Association.


                            Nations of the World

 China: The newest census established that the nation's population is a bit
 more than 1.13 billion.

 Germany: As of the closing date for this section, reunification had not yet
 taken place.

 India: The post WWI history was mistakenly dropped; for details see Index.

 Lebanon: Some 750 people were killed in a Syrian-lead offensive that toppled
 Michel Aoun, the Christian militia chief.

 Liberia: Pres. Samuel K. Doe was killed by rebel forces, Sept. 10.

 New Zealand: Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer resigned, Sept. 4.

 Pakistan: Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was ousted, Aug. 6.


                               U.S. Government

 Elizabeth Dole resigned as Sec. of Labor, Oct. 24.


                               U.S. Population

 The correct figures for Greece, N.Y. are 75,136 (1970) and 81,367 (1980).

 Census and Areas of Counties and States: The 1980 census was conducted on
 Apr. 1, 1980, not 1990.


                                  Zip Codes

 The correct zip code for Green River, Wyoming is 82935.


             Heroes of Young America: The Eleventh Annual Poll

 Paula Abdul, the dancer, singer, and choreographer of pop music, was named
 the "Top Heroine" of Young America in The World Almanac's eleventh annual
 poll of high school students. The students in grades 8 through 12 were asked
 to select those individuals in public life they admired most. The schools
 chosen to participate represented a geographic cross-section of the United
 States. In addition to choosing a top hero/heroine, the teenagers were asked
 to make selections in 8 other categories as well as answering 10 general
 questions on entertainment and current events and leaders.


                            The Top Heroine/Hero

 The selection of the 27-year-old Paula Abdul marks the first time in the
 history of the poll that a woman was named as the person most admired. Ms.
 Abdul grew up in California's San Fernando Valley, where she was an
 A-student at Van Nuys High School. While attending California State Univ. at
 Northridge, Abdul became a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers and
 quickly became their choreographer. She went on to become a choreographer
 and dance teacher for such notables as Janet Jackson, Aretha Franklin, and
 George Michael. Her debut album produced four number one singles--"Straight
 Up," "Forever Your Girl," "Cold Hearted," and "Opposites Attract." Ms. Abdul
 has received many entertainment awards and has also produced many hit
 videos.

 The second place finisher was the write-in vote for "Mom," while the
 write-in for "Dad" finished in fourth place. The third place winner was last
 year's top hero, Michael Jordan, the basketball star of the Chicago Bulls.
 In a tie for fifth place were first lady Barbara Bush and television talk
 show host Oprah Winfrey. For the first time, a political leader of a nation
 other than the U.S. finished in the top ten as South African Nelson Mandela
 placed sixth in the poll. Headline-grabbing real estate tycoon Donald Trump,
 who was the leading vote getter in the newsmaker category, placed seventh,
 and President George Bush was the eighth-place winner. Former top hero Tom
 Cruise finished ninth, followed by Janet Jackson in tenth place. Others who
 received support for top hero/heroine included Soviet leader Mikhail
 Gorbachev, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, British Prime Minister
 Margaret Thatcher, Mother Theresa, and 13-year-old tennis player Jennifer
 Capriati.


                     Issues and Influential Individuals

 According to the poll, the "most important public issue" facing 8th-12th
 graders is drug abuse, which received more than double the number of votes
 as the second and third choices of AIDSand environmental issues. The quality
 of education, racism, and teen pregnancy also received substantial
 consideration.

 When asked to name the "foreign political leader you most admire," the teens
 narrowly chose Nelson Mandela over Mikhail Gorbachev. Others receiving
 support included Margaret Thatcher, Corazon Aquino, and Lech Walesa.

 Best Friends and teachers were named as the "person most directly
 influential in your life" (other than parents).


                     Books, Sports, Songs, and TV Shows

 The students chose S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders as their "all-time favorite
 book," followed by Stephen King's Pet Semetary, Harper Lee's To Kill a
 Mockingbird, and J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye.

 The overwhelming choice for "favorite participation sport" was basketball,
 followed by volleyball, football, softball, baseball, and tennis.

 When it came to "viewing sports events," the students' clear favorites were
 football and basketball, with baseball finishing a distant third.

 The "favorite song of 1990" was M.C. Hammer's "U Can't Touch This." A close
 second was "Nothing Compares 2 U" by Sinead O'Connor. The "least favorite
 song of 1990 was "Hangin' Tough" by New Kids on the Block.

 The runaway winner in the "favorite TV show of 1990" was "The Simpsons,"
 which received 4-times as many votes as the second place finisher, "The
 Wonder Years." Finishing in third place was "The Cosby Show." The "least
 favorite TV show of 1990" was "Roseanne" with "Married With Children" coming
 in a close second.

 Listed below are the top male and female vote-getters in each category. The
 winner is listed first.


                                  Top Hero

                 Paula Abdul, singer, dancer, choreographer

              Michael Jordan, basketball player, Chicago Bulls

                         Politicians and Newsmakers

 Donald Trump, businessman

 Sandra Day O'Connor, Supreme Court Justice

                        Artists, Writers, Filmmakers

 Matt Groenig, "The Simpsons"

 Judy Blume, Tiger Eyes

                            News and Sports Media

 Barbara Walters, "20/20"

 Tom Brokaw, NBC News

                                   Sports

 Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls

 Jennifer Capriati, tennis player

                               Music and Dance

 Paula Abdul, singer/dancer

 M.C. Hammer, rap singer

                                   Comedy

 Eddie Murphy, Harlem Nights

 Roseanne Barr, "Roseanne"

                      Television Performers/Non-Comedy

 Johnny Depp, "21 Jump Street"

 Oprah Winfrey, "The Oprah Winfrey Show"

                         Movie Performers/Non-Comedy

 Mel Gibson, "Lethal Weapon" series

 Whoopi Goldberg, Ghost


                   Public Opinion Poll of Older Americans

 A phone survey conducted for The World Almanac and Maturity News Service
 between Oct. 17-28, 1990 polled nearly 1,000 respondents aged 50 years and
 older concerning various public issues, individuals and historic events. A
 summary of the results follows:

      1. Who do you consider to be the most influential political figure of
 your lifetime?--While John F. Kennedy received 25.8 percent of the total,
 Franklin D. Roosevelt was a close second with 21.4 percent. FDR received
 30.3 percent of the vote from those aged 65 and over, and JFK totalled 41.8
 percent from those between age 50-55.

      2. What would you consider to be the most important political event of
 your lifetime?--JFK's assassination (13.3%) edged out the end of World War
 II (11.8%), and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall received a surprisingly
 low 3.5 percent.

      3. What do you feel would be the most effective resolution to the
 current Middle East crisis?--Over 30 percent of the respondents said that
 the U.S. should continue to pressure allies for tougher sanctions against
 Iraq, while 22.2 percent said the U.S. should use military power to force
 Iraq out of Kuwait. Over 23 percent of the women polled said the U.S. should
 gradually withdraw its troops and hope Iraq has learned its lesson.

      4. Which living ex-president has conducted himself most appropriately
 and effectively since leaving office?--The overwhelming winner was Jimmy
 Carter (45.1%). Ronald Reagan (18.5%), Gerald Ford (14.5%), and Richard
 Nixon (9.0%) trailed Carter, whose approval rating is much higher since
 leaving office.

      5. Which living ex-first lady has conducted herself most graciously and
 effectively since leaving office?--Like their husbands, Rosalynn Carter
 received the most votes (26.0%), with Nancy Reagan and Betty Ford placing
 second and third.

      6. What is the best way to combat the growing problem of drug abuse and
 crime?--Almost half of the respondents (44.3%) said that the U.S. should
 offer more education and job training programs for youth; 22.6 percent said
 the military should be used to wipe out international drug supplies. A small
 percentage of those polled said the U.S. should offer more rehabilitation
 programs and build more and better prisons and hire more police.


                      1990 Census: Preliminary Results

 The preliminary count for the nation's 1990 population, released in late
 August 1990, was about 245.8 million, based on the mail return of census
 forms and follow-up door-to-door head counts. The Census Bureau said that
 efforts to count people missed in those initial surveys would add at least 3
 million people, bringing the total closer to the 250 million it had
 estimated earlier in the year.

 The data showed that at least 55 percent of Americans now live in the South
 and West, up from 52 percent in 1980, and that 20 percent live in the
 Northeast, a 1.7 percent decrease from 1980. The Midwest also showed a
 decrease by approximately 2 percent with 24 percent of Americans now
 residing there.

 The growth in the 1980s centered around metropolitan areas, with nearly 80
 percent of the U.S. population now residing in or near a large city. While
 metropolitan areas were growing in population, rural areas lost more than 1
 million people during the past decade. Reasons for the rural decline
 included the agricultural crises and general economic recession,
 particularly  in the early 80s, which had a prolonged impact in states such
 as Iowa, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Louisiana.


                                Immigration

 Almost 40 percent of the nation's population increase (23 million) was due
 to immigration, both legal and illegal, with 7-9 million immigrants (largely
 from Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean) arriving between 1980-1990.
 This marked the largest impact on U.S. population by immigration since World
 War I. In California, as much as 30 percent of the state's growth was due to
 immigration. In New York, the estimated 1 million immigrants offset the
 out-migration and were responsible for its limited growth.


                                   States

 The preliminary 1990 census results showed that Nevada (49.1), Alaska
 (35.8), Arizona (33.1), and Florida (31.1) had the largest percentage
 increases in population since 1980. California, with an increase of 23.7
 percent from 1980, and a population of 29,279,000, is the largest state with
 almost 12 percent of the total U.S. population. The state's growth of 5.6
 million people nearly equaled the entire population of Massachusetts, as
 California now has more people than Canada or Australia. The second largest
 state remains New York with 17,627,000 (0.4% increase since 1980), while
 Texas with a 1980-1990 increase of 18.3 percent is the third largest state
 with a population of 16,625,000. Almost 40 percent of the nation's
 population now resides in these three states.

 The states that showed the largest percentage decreases in population from
 1980 to 1990 were West Virginia (-8.6), Iowa (-5.1), and Wyoming (-4.3),
 while Washington D.C. showed a drop of 9.9 percent, losing 63,000 residents.



                                   Cities

 Among the 12 largest cities in 1990, New York (-0.5) Chicago (-9.3),
 Philadelphia (-8.6), and Detroit (-19.4) showed percentage decreases in
 1980-1990 population. Los Angeles (15.3), Houston (0.9), San Diego (25.0),
 Dallas (9.6), Phoenix (23.0), San Antonio (17.9), San Jose (21.6), and
 Indianapolis (5.1) grew in population in the 1980s. During the decade, Los
 Angeles passed Chicago and became the country's second-largest city, and San
 Diego moved past Detroit and Dallas to become the sixth-largest. New York
 City is still the nation's largest city with 7,033,000 people, more than
 twice as many as Los Angeles (3,420,000).


                     Challenges to Preliminary Results

 In mid-September 1990, New York City officials challenged the Census
 Bureau's counts, claiming that they had found 254,534 housing units that
 were not counted. They said that this finding solidified their claim that
 almost 1 million New York City residents had not been counted. In a formal
 challenge to the 1990 count, the city officials, using city records, aerial
 photographs, and data from utility companies, said the Census Bureau had
 missed five or more residences on nearly 12,000 of the more than 28,000
 residential blocks in the city.

 All of the 51 largest cities, plus one-seventh of the towns, counties, and
 cities in the U.S., challenged the Census Bureau's counts of their housing
 units. As many as 500,000 housing units, half of them in New York City, may
 have been overlooked, according to figures provided by the 15 largest
 cities. Census  Bureau officials stated that they expect the preliminary
 results to rise as a result of some of the challenges. Census Bureau
 director, Barbara Everitt Bryant, appearing before a congressional committee
 in Sept. 1990, said that dwellings in 500,000 census blocks might be
 rechecked. The Bureau also stated that it had set aside money to recheck up
 to 2.1 million individual housing units.

                   1990 Census: Preliminary State Totals
                         U.S. Bureau of the Census


╓┌─────┌──────┌────────────┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────╖
 Rank  State  1990         % change 1980-90
 Rank  State  1990         % change 1980-90
 ────────────────────────────────────────────
 1     Cal.   29,279,000   23.7
 2     N.Y.   17,627,000   0.4
 3     Tex.   16,825,000   18.3
 4     Fla.   12,775,000   31.1
 5     Pa.    11,764,000   -0.8
 6     Ill.   11,325,000   -0.9
 7     Oh.    10,778,000   -0.2
 8     Mich.  9,179,000    -0.9
 9     N.J.   7,617,000    3.4
 10    N.C.   6,553,000    11.4
 11    Ga.    6,387,000    16.9
 12    Va.    6,128,000    14.6
 13    Mass.  5,928,000    3.3
 14    Ind.   5,499,000    0.2
 15    Mo.    5,079,000    3.3
 16    Wis.   4,870,000    3.5
 17    Wash.  4,827,000    16.8
 18    Tenn.  4,822,000    5.0
 19    Md.    4,733,000    12.2
 Rank  State  1990         % change 1980-90
 ────────────────────────────────────────────
19    Md.    4,733,000    12.2
 20    Minn.  4,359,000    6.9
 21    La.    4,181,000    -0.6
 22    Ala.   3,984,000    2.3
 23    Ky.    3,665,000    0.1
 24    Az.    3,619,000    33.1
 25    P.R.   3,599,000    12.6
 26    S.C.   3,407,000    9.1
 27    Col.   3,272,000    13.2
 28    Conn.  3,227,000    3.8
 29    Okla.  3,124,000    3.3
 30    Ore.   2,828,000    7.4
 31    Ia.    2,767,000    -5.1
 32    Miss.  2,535,000    0.6
 33    Kan.   2,467,000    4.4
 34    Ark.   2,337,000    2.2
 35    W.V.   1,783,000    -8.6
 36    Ut.    1,711,000    17.1
 37    Neb.   1,573,000    0.2
 Rank  State  1990         % change 1980-90
 ────────────────────────────────────────────
37    Neb.   1,573,000    0.2
 38    N.M.   1,490,000    14.4
 39    Me.    1,218,000    8.3
 40    Nev.   1,193,000    49.1
 41    N.H.   1,103,000    19.8
 42    Ha.    1,095,000    13.5
 43    Id.    1,004,000    6.4
 44    R.I.   989,000      4.4
 45    Mont.  794,000      0.9
 46    S.D.   693,000      0.3
 47    Del.   658,000      10.8
 48    N.D.   634,000      -2.9
 49    D.C.   575,000      -9.9
 50    Vt.    560,000      9.6
 51    Alas.  546,000      35.8
 52    Wy.    450,000      -4.3





              Projected Changes in Congressional Apportionment

 Based on the Census Bureau's preliminary figures for 1990, these states will
 have changes in their congressional representation: Calif. (+7); Fla. (+4);
 Tex. (+3); Wash., Ariz., Ga., N.C., and Va. (+1 each); N.Y. (-3); Mich.,
 Pa., Oh., and Ill. (-2 each); and W. Va., Ky., La., Kan., Ia., and Mon. (-1
 each).



                              The World Almanac

                         and Book of Facts for 1991


                          123rd ANNIVERSARY EDITION

                           The Top 10 News Stories

 After a 45-year division into Communist and non-Communist states, the
 reunification of Germany was formalized on Oct. 3; 1990 also brought
 dramatic movements towards democratization in other Warsaw Pact nations.

 Leaving Kuwait in ruins, Saddam Hussein's forces overran and annexed the
 oil-rich nation, which led to UN-backed economic sanctions against Iraq and
 U.S. military intervention to protect Saudi Arabia and American interests in
 the Persian Gulf.

 Economic hardships, calls for independence among Soviet republics, and
 political dissent marked a year of domestic conflict; Pres. Mikhail
 Gorbachev, winner of the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize, attempted to move the USSR
 from a long history of Communist authoritarian rule to democracy and
 capitalism.

 Xhosa, Zulu, and other South African tribes continued to clash in the wake
 of Nelson Mandela's release from prison and Pres. de Klerk's attempts to
 unify the nation and eliminate apartheid.

 As economists predicted another recession and oil prices rose, the U.S.
 Congress worked out a budget that tried to deal with the growing deficit,
 taxation changes, unemployment, health care, and other domestic problems
 including the huge costs of the S&L crisis.

 Navy, Army, Air Force, and Marine troops invaded Panama in Dec. 1989, as the
 U.S. overthrew the government of Manuel Noriega and arrested him on
 drug-trafficking charges.

 Drug abuse, crime, racial tensions, and financial difficulties plagued large
 U.S. cities, while the 1990 Census reported an increase in homelessness and
 a decline in cities' population.

 Exhibitions of Robert Mapplethorpe's photographs, 2 Live Crew's obscenity
 trial, NEA grants, and the new NC-17 movie rating were some of the
 particulars that exemplified the continuing debate over censorship and
 defining obscenity in the U.S.

 Retiring after almost 34 years on the bench, Supreme Court Justice William
 Brennan was replaced by David Souter; abortion and civil rights issues were
 the focus of the Senate confirmation hearings.

 HIV-2, a second strain of the AIDS virus originally found in West Africa,
 was found to be spreading; a report by the Centers for Disease Control
 estimated that 179,000-208,000 new cases of AIDS would be reported through
 the end of 1992.


                          The Decline of Communism

 From the time of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the 19th century,
 advocates of communism had written many books on the techniques that
 revolutionaries could utilize to overthrow capitalism and install a
 socialist economic system. In fact, a rather detailed blueprint was offered
 by the founders of communism and by Vladimir Lenin and others that included
 such evolutionary stages as the dictatorship of the proletariat, the
 withering away of the state, and so forth.

 In 1990, the American writer George Will pointed out, however, that no one
 had ever written a book on the transfer of power in society from Communist
 authoritarian rule to a democracy. Nor had anyone ever offered a guide to
 the transition from a centrally planned economy to one driven by the demands
 of the marketplace.

 The leaders of the nations of Eastern Europe and of the Soviet Union
 itself--still the putative mecca of world communism--could have benefitted
 from such a textbook in 1990, a year of surprise and shock in the shrinking
 Communist sphere, from Germany to Mongolia. In its absence, the leaders and
 street demonstrators in many countries proceeded to write the history of
 their times in a somewhat haphazard way. In Eastern Europe, only the elderly
 had much recollection of the meaning and implementation of democracy and a
 free-market economy. In the Soviet Union, with no relevant history at all,
 these concepts had no meaning. Therefore, despite some individual
 demonstrations of real statesmanship, the whole process of change seemed to
 some degree to be an exercise in which the blind were leading the blind.

 In the now-discredited world of communist ideology, a comparative liberal
 was one so bold as to suggest that there was more than one road to
 socialism. It became apparent in 1990 that there were also several roads
 away from it, including a few cluttered with rough rocks and with branching
 byways that threatened to lead to dead ends.

                              The Soviet Union

 The first Communist government had been established in Russia in 1917. Since
 then, leaders or would-be leaders of Marxist-Leninist states around the
 world had looked to the Soviet Union for guidance, and indeed the USSR, from
 Joseph Stalin to Nikita Khrushchev to Leonid Brezhnev, had exercised a form
 of command and control over governments in Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin
 America, and Africa that exceeded even the reach of the colonial empires of
 the 19th century. Even the schism with China in the 1960s had not
 jeopardized the Soviet Union's paramount role as the fountainhead of
 Communist thought and practice, backed up with nuclear muscle.

 Hence, the inability of the Soviet system by 1990 to so much as put enough
 bread and meat on the tables of its citizens or cigarettes in their pockets
 exposed the ultimate bankruptcy of applied communism in the starkest way
 possible. But the travails of the Soviet Union went beyond the paralysis of
 industrial production and of agricultural planting and harvesting. The
 country, a jigsaw puzzle of 100 ethnic pieces, was at the point of falling
 apart. Almost all of the USSR's 15 constituent republics were demanding full
 independence or some degree of autonomy.

 Whatever their grievances, the long-suffering people of the Soviet Union
 were prepared to make use of tools of resistance as diverse as rifles and
 the ballot box. A student of the Kremlin had once observed, "Nothing ever
 happens by accident in the Soviet Union." But in 1990, the process of
 "reform," whatever that meant, appeared to be out of anyone's control.

 Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev, lionized in the West for allowing former Soviet
 satellites to choose their future course and for closing the books on the
 40-year-old Cold War, lost popularity at home when he demonstrated a less
 sure hand in his efforts to create a better life for his people. A brilliant
 tactician in the arcane world of Kremlin politics, he survived many
 predictions that he would be overthrown, and it was instead many of his
 adversaries who disappeared from the upper echelons of the government and
 the Communist Party. But in the larger processes of governing, he was swept
 along by events, yielding to pressure when he had to, somehow conveying the
 impression that the crowd of citizens to his rear were following him, not
 chasing him.

 Measured by his offical status in the party and the government, Gorbachev
 seemed firmly in control. As general secretary of the Communist Party, he
 held the post always recognized as the source of ultimate authority in the
 Soviet Union, and being president and chairman of the Defense Council made
 him perhaps less vulnerable to swift overthrow.

 Apparently confident that his grip on the reins of power was secure, and
 equally confident that the country would not reject the party that had led
 it for 73 years, Gorbachev supported repeal of the provision in the Soviet
 Constitution granting the Communist Party a monopoly of political power. The
 party's Central Committee agreed to this change in February, and the Soviet
 Congress of People's Deputies followed suit in March. Yegor Ligachev, leader
 of the conservatives within the ruling party Politburo who resisted this and
 other Gorbachev reforms, protested in vain against the party being reduced
 to what he called a "shapeless organization, a political club."

 No other political group seemed remotely ready to contest the Communist
 Party in nationwide elections, but it quickly became apparent that the party
 itself might break into factions. Liberals, working within the party,
 constantly pressing Gorbachev for more radical reform, had formed the
 Democratic Platform. They mobilized street demonstrations, and in March they
 scored some stunning upset victories in local elections, winning control of
 city councils in Moscow, Leningrad, and Kiev.

 May began with an embarrassing (to the leadership) demonstration by
 thousands of marchers in Moscow's May Day Parade, who jeered those on the
 reviewing stand and called for radical reform. The month ended with the
 election of Boris Yeltsin as president of the Russian Republic, by far the
 largest of the 15 republics. Yeltsin, a radical gadfly whose career
 Gorbachev had sought to suppress, thus reemerged as a formidable threat to
 Gorbachev's leadership. The president's attacks on him had helped make
 Yeltsin a hero, a role he exploited. Neither an intellectual nor an
 ideologue, Yeltsin was a man of action who attacked Gorbachev as being timid
 and a lover of the perks of office. As a delegate from Moscow to the
 national legislature, Yeltsin had become an idol of the masses, and the
 presidency of Russia provided the platform to put his ideas into action. He
 favored a loose confederation for the USSR.

 Yeltsin spoiled an otherwise successful--for Gorbachev--Congress of the
 Communist Party in July. Ligachev had denounced the draft platform for the
 28th Congress with its references to the rights of the individual and the
 right to earned private property. Gorbachev was reelected general secretary
 and Ligachev was defeated for the second position in the party.  A new
 Politburo was approved with the exclusion of most of its previous
 members--Gorbachev a notable exception-- and the thrust of these changes was
 to strengthen the government at the expense of the party. But then Yeltsin
 renounced the party and walked out of the congress, and was joined by the
 mayors of Moscow and Leningrad.

 In a curious footnote to the May summit meeting in the United States between
 Gorbachev and Pres. George Bush, White House Chief of Staff John Sununu
 agreed to go to Moscow to instruct the Soviets on the operation of a
 presidential office. Sununu, during his trip, dealt with such matters as
 scheduling, the flow of documents through the bureaucracy, and the
 techniques of decision-making and implementation of policy.


                          Unrest in the Republics

 Paradoxically, as Gorbachev tightened his control at the top, the nation he
 governed began to crumble. Movements arose in almost all of the republics
 for some form of autonomy or even outright independence. During World War
 II, the formerly independent Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
 had been absorbed by the Soviet Union and these, the youngest "republics" of
 the USSR, were the most aggressive in seeking to exploit the loosening of
 the Communist Party's grip on the country. Citizens of the Baltics generally
 seemed more optimistic than the citizens elsewhere in the USSR that their
 agriculture and industry would revive once the burden of central planning
 imposed on them 50 years earlier was removed.

 Gorbachev's trip in January to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, in an
 attempt to dissuade the Lithuania Communist Party from breaking with the
 mother party, was not a success. Candidates favoring independence for
 Lithuania ran strongly in elections to the Lithuanian parliament, and in
 March parliament voted unanimously for independence and then formed a
 noncommunist government. After Lithuania ignored a deadline to rescind the
 declaration, Gorbachev banned the sale or possession of firearms there, and
 a Soviet military convoy entered the capital. No shots were fired, but
 Soviet troops seized the headquarters of the Lithuanian Communist Party and
 Gorbachev stepped up the economic pressure, cutting off the flow of crude
 oil into Lithuania and shutting down 3 of 4 natural gas pipelines into the
 republic. Lithuania suspended enforcement of its declaration of independence
 in May, and talks with Moscow began. In June, the Lithuanian parliament
 agreed to suspend the declaration, and Moscow lifted the oil imbargo.

 Estonia and Latvia proceeded more cautiously, principally because their
 populations had been diluted by a substantial settlement of ethnic Russians
 who opposed secession. Estonia's parliament abolished the drafting of
 Estonians into the Soviet army and in May declared the birth of the Estonian
 Republic (dropping "Soviet Socialist" from the title). Latvia's parliament
 voted for secession in May, but it set no timetable for attaining that goal
 and avoided the brunt of Moscow's wrath.

 Elsewhere, the Moldavian Republic, populated mostly by persons of Romanian
 descent, seemed eager to break away and join Romania. The Ukraine, the
 so-called breadbasket of the Soviet Union, and crucial to the economic
 well-being of the USSR, was divided on its future course, and was also split
 between adherents of the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches.

 Unrest in other republics was punctuated by bursts of violence. Georgia,
 where a number of citizens demonstrating for independence were killed by
 soldiers in 1989, was quieter in 1990. But two neighboring republics,
 Armenia and Azerbaijan, fought each other openly. At issue was the region of
 Nagorno-Karabakh, and enclave populated by Armenians within Azerbaijan. In
 January, the Armenian parliament sought to integrate the economy of
 Nagorno-Karabakh into its own economy. Armenias are mostly Christian, the
 Azerbaijanis mostly Islamic. After Azerbaijanis attacked Armenians in Baku,
 the capital of Azerbaijan, and with guerrillas fighting each other in other
 locations, the Soviet government sent troops into Baku in January. The
 Azerbaijanis responded with a blockade, and 93 were reported killed in the
 ensuing fighting. The army prevailed, but at a price of profound hostility
 for Azerbaijan.

 Blood was spilled in two other Central Asian republics. Party and government
 leaders resigned in Tadzhikistan after 18 people were killed in riots in
 February. In Kirghizia, 148 were reportedly killed in June in clashes
 between Uzbeks and Kirghiz citizens. Again, Soviet troops intervened.

 The Red Army itself was wounded by the regional upheaval. Recruits from
 ethnic minorities had long been subjected to brutal hazing, and many
 soldiers had no stomach for firing on other Soviet citizens. Desertions and
 resistance to the draft became commonplace in some republics throughout the
 country.


                               Soviet Economy

 Ironically, even as nationalist ties threatened to pull the Soviet Union
 apart, its diverse citizenry seemed united only in the common frustration at
 the system's failure to provide basic goods and services. Gorbachev had
 studied law, but had no training in economics. In the economic sphere as
 elsewhere, he had proved to be a rather cautious revolutionary, taking half
 steps that disappointed some of his advisers. His objective was to reform
 the economic system, not scrap it. Five years into his era of perestroika,
 or the restructuring of Soviet institutions, the system of central planning
 was still in place. By early 1990, however, reforms were being drafted that
 would privatize most Soviet industry, sell small businesses to
 entrepreneurs, and lease large companies to their workers.

 By late summer, shortages in stores were getting worse. Bread riots had
 played a part in bringing the Bolsheviks to power in 1917. In 1990, long
 bread lines were forming throughout Moscow, and the price of bread, when
 available, rose sharply. Elsewhere, crowds rioted and stormed through stores
 looking for scarce foodstuffs. Meanwhile, tons of grain were rotting in the
 fields because collective farms lacked equipment, fuel, and means of
 transportation. Gorbachev said farmers were withholding grain and ordered
 local officials to take it from them by force. Medicine, coal, and soap were
 also scarce.

 The Russian Republic, under Yeltsin's leadership, responded to these
 circumstances with a 500-day plan that would see private property legalized,
 government subsidies abolished, price controls lifted, and the institution
 of private banks and a stock market. Meanwhile, Soviet Prime Minister
 Nikolai Ryzhkov had drawn up a more cautious plan that would preserve much
 of the central planning apparatus. But Gorbachev, in a candid statement to
 the Supreme Soviet in September, said, "The system is no longer there; it's
 gone." He supported an economic plan that would be a compromise between the
 Ryzkhov concept and the 500-day plan. Late in September, the Supreme Soviet
 agreed to work out the compromise, and at Gorbachev's request, it also
 granted the president emergency powers to put into effect new policies on
 wages, prices, finances, and the budget.

                          Reunification of Germany

 The reunification of Germany, after a 45-year division of the German people
 into Communist and non-Communist states, was 1990's biggest headline from
 Eastern Europe. Political union came far more swiftly than most had
 expected, but full economic integration would clearly take longer.

 In October 1989, Erich Honecker stepped down as leader of the Socialist
 Unity (Communist) Party in East Germany. His successor, Egon Krenz, who had
 declared, "Without the Communist Party, there is no German Democratic
 Republic," was unable to head off massive public demands for reform or
 removal of the regime. After East Germany opened its border with
 Czechoslovakia, thousands of East Germans sought permission to leave, and on
 Nov. 9 the East German government agreed to issue exit visas to those who
 asked for them. This was the day the Berlin Wall symbolically "came down,"
 with young citizens of both east and west sitting atop it in celebration.
 Throngs of East Berliners flocked into the western sectors of the city to
 taste freedom and enjoy such Western pleasures as fast food and shopping.

 The East German government collapsed, and the new premier, Hans Modrow,
 surpassed Krenz in popularity by calling for free elections and a multiparty
 system. The party was shaken up again, with Krenz departing, and parliament
 revoking the constitutional clause assuring the Communists a "leading role"
 in society. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl called for confederation of
 the two Germanys. Public sentiment in East Germany soon rallied to this
 possibility, though a minority opposed any union with West Germany,
 preferring the security of the status quo and job guarantees available under
 communism.

 The obstacles to reunion seemed massive, but with the cooperation of the
 U.S., England, France and the USSR, negotiations moved swiftly and agreement
 on the future of one German state became a shocking reality. Strong impetus
 for reunion came in March when Conservatives supported by Kohl won the East
 German parliamentary election. Modrow had favored a united nation that would
 be neutral militarily, but the West German government insisted that the new
 Germany be a part of NATO--as West Germany already was. In April, a
 noncommunist government was installed under Lothar de Maiziere, leader of
 the Christian Democratic Union. At a July meeting with Kohl, Gorbachev
 dropped his objection to a united Germany in NATO. At the same time, Kohl
 agreed to the continued presence of Soviet troops in East Germany for up to
 four years, and the promised limitations on Germany weaponry. West Germany
 and the USSR later signed a pact of "friendship and cooperation," and Bonn
 promised Moscow $10 billion in economic aid.

 In still another breakthrough in July, the two Germanys and the four major
 allied powers of World War II guaranteed Poland's border with a united
 Germany. Thus, Poland would keep the former German territory awarded to it
 after World War II.

 The details of economic union were troublesome but not insurmountable. In a
 treaty signed in May, the two Germanys established a unified monetary system
 using the West German mark as the sole official currency. The treaty,
 ratified by both parliaments, took effect July 1. East German marks were
 exchanged with the Deutsche Mark at rates of 1-1 or 2-1. The West German
 Bundesbank took control over East German monetary policy. East Germany was
 plugged into West Germany's tax, pension, and unemployment-compensation
 systems.

 For all the euphoria and fireworks that accompanied formal reunification on
 Oct. 3, the two parts of the new Germany remained quite different. East
 Germans had no experience with free democratic and economic institutions,
 and their economy, once perceived as the strongest in East Europe, was, in
 fact, in bad shape. Manufactured goods were generally of poor quality, and
 East Germans, given a choice, spent their money on Western products.
 Unemployment in the East soared from almost nothing to 350,000 during the
 first eight months of 1990. Factories in the East were in disrepair and too
 few people had competent business skills.

                               Eastern Europe

 In the other Warsaw Pact countries of Eastern Europe, new leaders were
 thrust to the fore and had to work out their destiny with far less outside
 assistance.

 Romania's path to the future was the only one stained with bloodshed, and
 its route by late 1990 led only a short distance from standard
 Marxism-Leninism. Pres. Nicolae Ceausescu, in power for 24 years, was
 unanimously reelected Communist Party secretary in November 1989, but his
 days were numbered. The self-styled "Genius of the Carpathians" and "Danube
 of Thought" had squandered Romania's resources on grandiose public buildings
 and had sold off basic neccessities of life, including textiles and
 chickens, to pay foreign debts. Ceausescu exercised ruthless control through
 the Securitate, 60,000 well-armed police who had better weapons than the
 army and who were fiercely loyal to the president. In a country where it was
 said that half of the people were spying on the other half, even typewriters
 were illegal.

 News of the ferment in neighboring countries could not be kept out of
 Romania, and in December an incident occurred that quickly brought Romania
 into the maelstrom. A crowd in Timisoara, in Transylvania, protested the
 deportation of a Protestant minister who had supported the rights of ethnic
 Hungarians in the area. A demonstration for democracy emerged from this, and
 the army and Securitate moved in. A large number of civilians, later put at
 95, were killed, and the spark fired up the whole country. Within days,
 Ceausescu was shouted down when he attempted to speak at a rally in
 Bucharest. He and his wife, Elena, also a powerful figure in the government,
 fled by helicopter and car, but were captured, tried in an unidentified
 location, and executed on Christmas day on charges of genocide, abuse of
 power, and theft. A mixed bag of former Communists, military officers, and
 students sought to form a government, the National Salvation Front, and Ion
 Iliescu, a former party official, was made interim president. The Securitate
 fought on for days, but eventually was subdued.

 Amid the ensuing chaos, some reforms were introduced. Typewriters were back,
 food appeared on shelves, political prisoners were freed, and birth control
 was permitted again. Many citizens became convinced, however, that little
 had really changed, and some contended that the events of December had been
 nothing more than a coup by the Communist establishment against Ceausescu
 and his immediate circle, some of whom were later convicted of various
 charges. Large street protests were not matched by votes at the ballot box,
 however, and in the May election, the National Salvation Front turned back
 the challenge of a large number of parties, retaining about two thirds of
 the seats in parliament. Iliescu won about 85 percent of the vote for
 president.

 In a scene reminiscent of the old regime, riot police attacked demonstrators
 in June, the protestors fought back, and four were killed and 200 injured.
 Then, 10,000 miners poured into Burcharest on Iliescu's appeal to save
 Romania from a "fascist rebellion," and sacked the headquarters of
 opposition parties.

 Czechoslovakia's transition was accomplished virtually without violence, and
 its rejection of the past was more clear-cut. Here, a genuine popular hero
 emerged in Vaclav Havel, a dissident playwright who had been imprisoned by
 the Communists despite an international reputation based on plays that
 depicted misery under totalitarian rule. Havel organized an opposition
 group, Civic Forum, that began talks with the government in November 1989.
 Public protests in Prague grew swiftly, involving hundreds of thousands of
 people. Police brutality stirred the opposition. Confronted with the option
 of widespread repression, the party and the government backed down. Milos
 Jakes, the party leader, and 12 other members of the ruling Politburo
 resigned. General strikes and the power of Havel's moral leadership brought
 down the government as well, and by early December, Pres. Gustav Husak was
 out and the cabinet had a noncommunist majority.

 Another popular figure, Alexander Dubcek, who had led the 1968 reform
 movement known as the Prague Spring, also came to the fore. His attempt to
 introduce "socialism with a human face" had been crushed by Soviet tanks.
 Both he and Havel aspired to lead the new Czechoslovakia, but Dubcek was,
 after all, still a Communist, and the majority of the population appeared to
 want a more thorough break with the past. Dubcek agreed to serve as chairman
 of parliament, and on December 29, Havel was elected president. Havel had
 said, "We want democracy, we want to rejoin the European Community, we want
 social justice and a free-market economy. We may be socialists, but without
 these things there can be no socialism."

 Havel moved slowly in dealing with the entrenched bureaucracy, calling for
 forgiveness and saying he did not want a witch hunt. As the government
 explored options in moving to a market economy, and as the economy failed to
 respond to the desires of the people, Havel joined in blaming the
 Communists. In deference to the wishes of 5 million Slovaks, the country was
 formally renamed the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic. In June, Havel's
 party, Civic Forum, and its allied party easily won national parliamentary
 elections.

 Poland had led the way to a new day in Eastern Europe with ten years of
 ferment created by the Solidarity labor movement, and a noncommunist
 government was in place by mid-1989. Poland also made bold moves in the
 economic sphere. In a country where food shortages had become the norm, the
 new government adopted a free-market economy in one leap. Price controls
 were lifted, and costs of basic commodities skyrocketed. The cost of
 gasoline doubled, and coal was up 600 percent. The government announced a
 timetable for "privatizing" state enterprises. This demonstration of
 commitment to radical reform produced an outpouring of economic aid from the
 United States and West Germany. As prices of food found their proper market
 level and the economy stabilized, a poll put the popularity of the
 government at 85 percent.

 The pace was not fast enough, however, for Lech Walesa, the hero of the
 Solidarity movement, who announced in September that he would run for
 president. Tadeusz Mazowiecki, whom he had helped install as prime minister,
 also declared his candidacy for president. Pres. Wojciech Jarulzelski, a
 Communist who had run Poland until 1989, said he would not seek reelection.

 In Hungary, another country in which Communist control had collapsed during
 1989, elections to a national parliament were completed in April 1990. The
 center-right Democratic Forum and its allied parties captured almost 60
 percent of the seats, while the Socialist (formerly Communist) party won
 only 8.5 percent of the seats.

 Bulgaria also broke with its Stalinist past, but found both its government
 and economy in a state of uncertain transition. Pres. Todor Zhivkov, who as
 head of the Communist Party had run Bulgaria since 1954, resigned his
 presidency and party post in November 1989. In April, parliament approved
 free multiparty elections, which the Socialist (formerly Communist) Party
 won, but its margin over the opposition coalition was not overwhelming.
 Zhivkov's  successor as president, Petar Mladenov, resigned in July after a
 videotape revealed that he had called for tanks to put down a pro-democracy
 demonstration the previous December. Parliament, in August, chose Zhelyu
 Zhelov, the opposition leader, who had been expelled from the Communist
 Party for questioning Lenin's theories, as president.

 Bulgaria's economy suffered a setback when Iraq and the Soviet Union cut oil
 supplies. The economy was in decline in late 1990, with the rationing of
 electricity, gasoline, and some food. Bread was short in some areas,
 industrial production fell sharply, and drought reduced the grain harvets.

 Albania, the smallest and by far most isolated of the East European
 countries, had long remained aloof even from its neighboring Communist
 "comrades," and yet it also made at least a cosmetic gesture toward reform
 in May. The courts were reogranized, the number of capital offenses reduced,
 restrictions on worship were relaxed (in the only nation in the world that
 had banned religion outright), and citizens were granted the right to obtain
 passports.

 In July, police battled thousands of demonstrators in the capital, and, in
 apparent reaction, the regime removed hard-liners from the Workers'
 (Communist) Party Politburo. Albanians demanding the right to leave the
 country were granted their wish, and several thousand left for Italy and
 elsewhere.

 Yugoslavia had broken away from Moscow's domination shortly after World War
 II, but had remained both Communist and authoritarian. In 1990, too,
 Yugoslavia began exploring the path toward democracy, but was plagued by the
 polyglot nature of its citizenry. A "nation" containing a number of ethnic
 groups, languages, and religions, Yugoslavia was in danger of fragmenting.
 To complicate matters, the 1974 constitution gave each of Yugoslavia's 6
 republics virtual veto power over the Federal decision-making process. In
 Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia, parliaments were drafting new constitutions,
 and the weakening of central authority made any forecast of the future
 difficult.

 The turmoil in Eastern Europe contained several common features and trends.
 Despite the show of force in Lithuania, the days of Red Army tanks rolling
 through the streets of Budapest and Prague were over, and the change of
 commands occurred without Soviet intervention. Indeed, Gorbachev repeatedly
 made it explicitly clear that hard-liners who had previously enjoyed
 Moscow's support could not count on a rescue from Big Brother. The Soviet
 News Agency called Romania's Ceausescu "one of the most odious dictators of
 the 20th century."

 When forced to leave Czechoslovakia on an early timetable, the soldiers of
 the Red Army were also obliged to take with them soil that they had
 contaminated with toxic chemicals and oil spills. In the Soviet Union, the
 soldiers faced a homecoming literally without homes, given the extent of the
 housing shortage. The East German army nearly fell apart, losing motivation
 and shrinking from 173,000 to 90,000 between November 1989 and March 1990,
 in large part through desertion. Some soldiers were assigned to civilian
 duty to replace refugees.

                            Communism Elsewhere

 China was quiet in 1990, at least on the surface, with public protests a
 thing of the past after the tanks of the People's Army crushed the
 student-led demonstrations in Beijing in June 1989. China's elderly leaders
 did not relax their iron grip on the country, and no reforms were
 introduced. Martial law was lifted in January, but the adoption of other
 laws kept a lid on the population.

 The Mongolian People's Republic, a vast and nearly empty land lying between
 the Soviet Union and China, stirred a bit in 1990. Jambyn Batmunh, general
 secretary of the Communist Party, announced in March that the party would
 work with others to seek political reform, and the party voted to drop its
 constitutional monopoly on power. Largely ignored by the world press,
 Mongolia pursued modest change in a communications vacuum.

 Cuba was not swept up in the winds of change, after 31 years of tight
 Communist control under Fidel Castro. The economy was a shambles, and the
 regime was forced to tighten food rations, but the availability of
 subsidized medical care, housing, and education apparently was enough to
 satisfy a large portion of the population. An annual $5 billion subsidy from
 the Soviet Union was put at risk by Castro's resistance to Gorbachev-style
 reform and by his patron's own economic woes.

 Under the leadership of the Sandinistas since 1979, Nicaragua had taken on
 many characteristics of a Marxist state, but Pres. Daniel Ortega was
 defeated by Violeta Barrios de Chamorro in an election in February. The
 Soviet Union had indicated to Ortega's government that it was no longer
 going to prop up Nicaragua's revolution. Nonetheless, the Sandinistas
 retained a large following, and Chamorro, faced with rehabilitating
 Nicaragua after many years of civil war, reappointed Ortega's brother,
 Humberto, as chief of the armed forces and developed a close working
 relationship with him.

                        Present and Future Problems

 The new governments of Eastern Europe faced the task of recovery under
 arduous circumstances. Addressing the situation in Romania, the dissident
 writer Norman Manea observed, "The dictator destroyed the entire political,
 economic and moral structure and it will be very difficult to reconstruct."

 From country to country, decay and deterioration of equipment and
 infrastructure were visible everywhere. Some bridges and roads had not been
 repaired since the Communists took over. Machines broke down and stood idle.
 In some cases, the workers who had operated them had disappeared in the
 night, across an international border.

 Businesspeople faced a new world of risk. They were unaccustomed to dealing
 with consumer demand. Almost no one had had the opportunity to acquire
 entrepreneurial skills. Unemployment grew. In several countries, the
 bureaucracies still groaned under the weight of Communist functionaries.

 The environment was in bad shape. The land was scarred for miles by deep
 holes dug to extract coal, and dirt was piled high. Towns were ringed by
 smokestacks, their citizens under an umbrella of brown air. Incidence of
 cancer and respiratory disease was high. Factories were often too obsolete
 to be upgraded to meet any environmental requirements.

 A Soviet offical said, "Crime is like a thermometer of social
 disintegration," and crime was up in the Soviet Union and elsewhere. So,
 too, was antisemitism. In the Soviet Union, where public antisemitism was
 one of the first results of new-found freedom of speech, Jews took advantage
 of relaxed emigration policies, as thousands left the country to resettle in
 Israel. The skinheads in East Germany, the newly jobless elsewhere, and
 others frustrated with an era of change all too often found familiar
 scapegoats. The Jews, only a few hundred in East Germany, and those in
 Poland, only a few thousand--compared with 3.3 million in 1939, at times
 were blamed for having introduced communism in the first place, and then,
 improbably, as planning to force capitalism on the East.

 Although political unrest and divisions within society were still a fact of
 life in Eastern Europe, none of this conflict made communism appear any
 better. In January 1990, in his New Year's Day address to the people of
 Czechoslovakia, Pres. Vaclav Havel looked back:

 "Notions such as love, friendship, compassion, humility and forgiveness have
 lost their depth and dimension  . . .  The previous regime, armed with its
 arrogant and intolerant ideology, denigrated man into a production force and
 nature into a production tool  . . .  It made talented people who were
 capable of managing their own affairs  . . .  into cogs in some kind of
 monstrous, ramshackle, smelly machine whose purpose no one can understand."

 (See Oct. 90 Chronology for additional details.)


               Democrats Score Small Gains in 1990 Elections

 Democrats added to their majorities in both houses of Congress in elections
 held on Nov. 6, and in races for governor they also maintained their control
 of a majority of the nation's statehouses.

 Public-opinion polls had shown that voters were unhappy, and often angry,
 because of the decline of the economy, and because of a prolonged fight over
 the adoption of a federal budget that had ended just 10 days before the
 election. However, only one incumbent senator was defeated and about 96
 percent of the incumbents seeking reelection to the House won.

 In the contests for governor, the Democrats, who held a 29-21 advantage
 before the voting, emerged with about the same margin. Displeasure with high
 state taxes seemed to be a common thread in gubernatorial elections in which
 the statehouse shifted from one party to the other.

 The results of these races was especially important because governors would
 play an influential role in the redistricting of Congressional and state
 legislative seats that would take place as a result of the 1990 census.
 Democrats captured statehouses in Florida and Texas, where several
 Congressional districts will be added. In Florida, former Sen. Lawton Chiles
 ousted Bob Martinez, whose popularity had plunged in 1989 after he sought
 unsuccessfully to get the legislature to approve curbs on abortion.

 In Texas, State Treasurer Ann Richards defeated a wealthy rancher and oil
 man, Clayton Williams, who spent $8 million of his own money in pursuit of
 the governorship.

 In California, though, Sen. Pete Wilson held the governorship for the
 Republicans, as he turned back former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein.
 Wilson opposed, and Feinstein supported, a ballot proposition known as "Big
 Green," which would have imposed a number of strict environmental controls.
 The proposition was defeated.

 Gov. Mario Cuomo, a Democrat, easily won a third term in New York against
 Pierre Rinfret. The surprise  here was Herbert London, the Conservative
 Party candidate, who got about 20 percent of the vote.

 However, Republicans kept the governorships in Illinois and captured the
 statehouses in Ohio and (apparently) Michigan. In Massachusetts, the
 governorship went to William Weld, a former assistant U.S. attorney general.
 He defeated John Silber, the outspoken president of Boston University.

 In Minnesota, the Republican candidate for governor, Jon Grunseth, withdrew
 from the race 2 weeks before the election following sexual misconduct
 charges. His replacement, Arne Carlson, defeated the incumbent, Rudy
 Perpich, in a very close race. Two independents, Lowell Weicker in
 Connecticut and Walter Hickel in Alaska, won governorships--both in
 political comebacks.

 Minnesota was also the only state to see a change in a U.S. Senate seat.
 Rudy Boschwitz, a Republican, lost narrowly to Paul Wellstone, a college
 professor with strong liberal views. This gave the Democrats a 56-44
 advantage in the new Senate.

 Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina swept to victory over Harvey Gantt, the
 former mayor of Charlotte, who was seeking to become the first black senator
 from the South since the Reconstruction era. Helms, the most conservative
 member of the Senate, took a strong stand against quotas in hiring.

 Abortion was the key issue in Iowa, where Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat, who
 was "pro-choice," turned back an opponent of abortion, Rep. Tom Tauke. Sen.
 Bill Bradley of New Jersey, a Democrat and strong vote-getter in the past,
 narrowly squeaked through to reelection, apparently because voters were
 angered by a package of state tax increases pushed through by Gov. Jim
 Florio, a Democrat.

 In the House of Representatives, the Democrats had held a 257-176 advantage
 before the election, with 2 vacancies. Late returns showed that they would
 control the new House by about 267-167. One Socialist, Bernie Sanders, the
 former mayor of Burlington, who ran as an independent, won in Vermont.

 Newt Gingrich of Georgia, the assistant Republican leader in the House,
 barely survived by a thousand votes. Gary Franks of Connecticut became the
 first black Republican elected to the House in more than 50 years.

 Sharon Pratt Dixon was elected mayor of Washington, D.C., succeeding Marion
 Barry, who did not seek reelection. She became the first black woman mayor
 of a major city. Barry sought election at-large to the City Council but was
 defeated. The Rev. Jesse Jackson won elective office for the first time,
 becoming the "shadow senator" from the District of Columbia, which gave him
 a voice in Congress but not a vote.


                      CHRONOLOGY OF THE YEAR'S EVENTS

 Reported Month by Month in 3 Categories: National, International, and
 General

                       Oct. 15, 1989 to Oct. 31, 1990


                                   OCTOBER


                                  National

 Severe Quake Hits Northern California -- One of the strongest earthquakes
 ever recorded in California struck along the San Andreas fault in the
 northern part of the state, Oct. 17. More than 60 people were killed and
 several thousand injured. Some 100,000 houses were reported damaged. The
 worst damage was in San Francisco and Oakland, 75 miles north of the
 epicenter of the quake. Most of the deaths, more than 40, occurred when the
 upper level of the double-decker Nimitz Freeway (Interstate Highway 880) in
 Oakland collapsed. The freeway was packed with rush-hour traffic at 5:04
 p.m., when the 15-second quake hit. In San Francisco, several fires broke
 out with the worst being in the Marina district, where a number of buildings
 were destroyed. Other cities that suffered heavily included Santa Cruz,
 where much of the downtown shopping district was leveled; San Jose; and Los
 Gatos. The tragedy struck just minutes before the start of the 3d game of
 baseball's World series between the Oakland Athletics and the San Fransisco
 Giants at San Francisco's Candlestick Park. The game was canceled and the
 crowd of 58,000 evacuated safely. The last survivor to be found, Buck Helm,
 a longshoreman, was pulled from the wreckage of the Nimitz Freeway, Oct. 21.
 The U.S. Geological Survey said, Oct. 24, that its estimate of the quake's
 intensity had been put at 7.1 on the Richter Scale, the 5th strongest of the
 century, though well below the impact of San Fransisco's great earthquake of
 1906. Congress, Oct. 25, approved an aid package totaling $4.15 billion. The
 World Series resumed, Oct. 27, at Candlestick Park, and Oakland completed a
 4-game sweep of the Giants, Oct. 28.

 Trade Gap Widens Again -- The Commerce Dept. reported, Oct. 17, that the
 U.S. merchandise trade deficit had risen to $10.77 billion in August. The
 gap, the largest in 8 months, was attributed to the stronger U.S. dollar,
 which had made imports cheaper and exports more expensive. The Census Bureau
 said, Oct. 18, that the median U.S. family income stood at $32,191 in 1988,
 a slight decline from the $32,251 in 1987. The figures were adjusted for
 inflation. The Labor Dept. said, Oct. 19, that consumer prices rose 0.2
 percent in September. The Commerce Dept. reported, Oct. 26, that the gross
 national product had grown at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the third
 quarter. The department said, Oct. 31, that its leading economic indicators
 had risen 0.2 percent in September.

 Flag Amendment Fails in Senate -- On Oct. 19, a week after Congress had
 completed action on a bill to outlaw desecration of the American flag, the
 Senate failed to approve an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that had the
 same purpose. The vote was 51-48, well below the two-thirds required for
 approval of amendments. Pres. George Bush, who feared that the law could be
 declared unconstitutional, had supported the amendment.

 Senate Removes Federal Judge -- U.S. District Judge Alcee Hastings of
 Florida was convicted of 8 articles of impeachment, Oct. 20, by the U.S.
 Senate. The convictions had the effect of removing him from the bench.
 Hastings, the 6th federal judge to be so removed, had been acquitted in 1983
 of accepting a bribe in a case before him. However, a federal judicial panel
 found "clear and convincing evidence" in 1987 that Hastings had conspired to
 accept the bribe.

 Congressman Convicted in Wedtech Scandal -- In the last major trial to grow
 out of the Wedtech investigation, Rep. Robert Garcia (D, N.Y.) and his wife,
 Jane Lee, were found guilty of extortion and conspiracy, Oct. 20.
 Prosecutors charged that Garcia, who represented the Bronx district in which
 the company had been located, had demanded payoffs from Wedtech. Mrs. Garcia
 had been accused of receiving payoffs from the company totalling more than
 $75,000.00. More than 20 prominent persons had been convicted in the
 scandal. Federal Judge Leonard Sand Jan. 19 sentenced the Garcias to 3 years
 in prison. On June 29, 1990 a federal appeals court overturned the
 convictions of the Garcias.

 Funding for Abortion Vetoed -- The Senate and House approved a spending bill
 for the departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services that
 reinstated funding for Medicaid abortions in instances of rape or incest.
 Pres. George Bush vetoed the bill, Oct. 21. The House, Oct. 25, voted
 231-191 to override the veto, but this fell far short of the two-thirds vote
 needed, and the veto was sustained. Bush had supported federal funding only
 if the mother's life was in danger. Those who had supported the bill said
 the burden of the veto would fall most heavily on poor women who could not
 afford to pay for an abortion.


                                International

 German Communists Remove Honecker -- The 18 year rule of Erich Honecker in
 East Germany came to an end, Oct. 18, when he stepped down as head of the
 Socialist Unity (Communist) Party, chairman of the National Defense Council,
 and head of state. The Central Committee of the Party had clearly forced him
 out, though a statement said he had retired because of ill health. Honecker
 was succeeded by Egon Krenz, a member of the ruling Politburo. On Oct. 23
 and 30, 300,000 persons in Leipzig demonstrated on behalf of political
 reform.

 Hungary Proclaimed a Free Republic -- The Hungarian National Assembly
 amended the constitution, Oct. 18, to prepare for multiparty free elections
 in 1990 when a new constitution would be drafted. The Assembly ended the
 ruling party's monopoly on power, removed references to the "leading role"
 for the Communists, and renamed the country the Republic of Hungary, without
 reference to a "People's Republic." Acting Pres. Matyas Szuros, Oct. 23,
 proclaimed Hungary a free republic. The Assembly voted Oct. 31, to conduct a
 national referendum on how to choose a president.

 Soviets Admit Afghanistan Invasion was Illegal -- Foreign Minister Eduard
 Shevardnadze, in a speech to the Soviet legislature, Oct. 23, said his
 country's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 was illegal. Saying that the
 intervention "violated the norms of proper behavior," he blamed it on
 then-Pres. Leonid Brezhnev and some others in the inner circle. He also
 acknowledged that the Soviet radar complex at Krasnoyarsk violated the 1972
 ABM treaty. The foreign minister said that historic changes in Poland and
 Hungary were acceptable to the Kremlin, and that the Soviet Union looked
 toward the eventual dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and NATO. Pres. George
 Bush said, Oct. 31, that he and Soviet Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev would hold an
 informal summit on ships in the Mediterranean Sea, Dec. 2-3.

 Police Break Up Prague Demonstration -- On Oct. 25, with political unrest in
 Czechoslovakia on the rise, Premier Ladislav Adamec rejected any dialogue
 between the government and those "who act for the liquidation of the
 socialist system  . . .  and the Communist Party." On Oct. 27, several
 prominent dissidents were placed under detention. On Oct. 28, some 10,000
 persons gathered in Wenceslas Square in Prague to observe the 71st
 anniversary of the founding of the republic. The demonstration was broken up
 by club-swinging police.

 Ortega Announces End to Truce -- On Oct. 27, on the first day of a 2-day
 summit meeting of heads of state of Western Hemisphere countries in San
 Jose, Costa Rica, Pres. Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua said he would end his
 regime's unilateral cease-fire against contra rebels. He claimed the contras
 had repeatedly violated the truce, leaving more than 3,000 Nicaraguans dead,
 wounded, or missing. Pres George Bush, who attended the summit, Oct. 28,
 attacked Ortega as a "little man" and as "an animal at a garden party."
 Ortega announced, Nov. 1, that the cease-fire had ended, and the contras
 reported that the army had resumed operations.


                                   General

 Spacecraft Begins Journey to Jupiter -- The space shuttle Atlantis was
 launched with a crew of 5 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Oct. 18, It carried
 the spacecraft Galileo, which separated from the shuttle on its 5th orbit
 and began a 6-year journey to the plant Jupiter. After arrival in the
 vicinity of Jupiter in 1995, the craft would explore the planet's atmosphere
 and moons. The shuttle landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California on
 Oct. 23.

 Evangelist Jim Bakker Sentenced -- Television evangelist Jim Bakker, who had
 been convicted of fraud and conspiracy, was sentenced, Oct. 24, to 45 years
 in prison and fined $500,000.00. He would be eligible for parole in 10
 years.

 Disasters -- The crash into the Caspian Sea, Oct. 18, of a Soviet military
 transport plane carrying paratroopers resulted in the death of all 57
 aboard.  . . .  The crash, Oct. 21, of a Honduran jetliner into the side of
 a mountain in Honduras took the lives of 131 of the 146 persons aboard.  . .
 .  More than 50 people burned to death, Oct. 21, in the Sudan after 2 buses
 collided.  . . .  A China Airlines Boeing 737 crashed into a mountain after
 taking off from Hualien, in eastern Taiwan, Oct. 26, killing all 54 people
 aboard.


                                  NOVEMBER


                                  National

 Minimum Wage Compromise Approved -- Congress approved a compromise worked
 out with the White House on the minimum wage. The agreement provided that
 the current minimum of $3.35 an hour be increased to $4.25 an hour by 1991.
 A training wage of $3.35 would be permitted for workers 16 to 19 years old
 during their first 3 months on a job. The House approved the bill, Nov. 1,
 and the Senate followed on Nov. 8.

 Flurry of Activity as Congress Adjourns -- With concern shifting toward the
 economies of Eastern Europe, the Senate and House, Nov. 20, approved a
 foreign aid bill that contained $532.8 million for Poland and Hungary. The
 House voted, Nov. 21, 352-63, to repeal the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage
 Act of 1988. Many elderly Americans had complained that they had to finance
 it even though it duplicated other coverage. Also on Nov. 21, the House
 approved a deficit-reduction bill aimed at producing $14.6 billion in
 savings and new revenues. By voice vote, Nov. 22, the Senate gave its assent
 to the insurance repeal and the deficit-reduction bill. Congress adjourned,
 Nov. 22.

 Cut in Capital Gains Dropped -- Pres. George Bush and Republican leaders in
 Congress, Nov. 2, shelved their effort, for the time being, to win approval
 for a reduction in the capital gains tax. The House, in September, had
 attached a reduction to a deficit-reduction bill, but the Senate had not
 included the capital gains issue in its version of the bill.

 Jobless Rate Steady -- The nation's unemployment rate held at 5.2 percent in
 October, the Labor Dept. said, Nov. 3. The department reported, Nov. 9, that
 producer prices had risen 0.4 percent in October. The Commerce Dept., Nov.
 16, put the merchandise trade deficit in September at $7.94 billion, the
 lowest since 1984. The Labor Dept. said, Nov. 21, that consumer prices had
 risen 0.5 percent in October.

 Another Judge Removed by Senate -- On Nov. 3, for the second time in 2
 weeks, the U.S. Senate convicted a federal judge on impeachment charges and
 removed him from the bench. The charges involving U.S. District Judge Walter
 Nixon Jr. of Biloxi, Miss. related to his conviction in 1986 for lying to a
 grand jury about intervening in a drug case on behalf of the son of a
 contractor with whom Nixon had had financial dealings. Nixon asserted that
 he had been "unjustly and wrongfully convicted."

 Quake Damage Put at $5.6 Billion -- As Californians continued to repair the
 damage from the October earthquake, Gov. George Deukmejian, Nov. 7, signed a
 bill raising the sales tax temporarily by one-quarter percent as a means of
 obtaining money for earthquake relief. State officials estimated property
 damage, Nov. 11, at $5.6 billion. The insurance industry estimated that only
 $2 billion was covered by insurance. Repair work was completed, Nov. 16, on
 the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Buck Helm, a longshoreman who had been
 trapped in the wreckage of a freeway for 89 hours before being rescued,
 died, Nov. 19. California officials placed the death toll at 62 on Nov. 19.

 Democrats Strong in Off-Year Voting -- Democrats won most of the top offices
 at stake in off-year elections, Nov. 7. Black candidates also scored some
 major breakthroughs. In a very close race for governor of Virginia, Lt. Gov.
 L. Douglas Wilder, a black, appeared to be the winner by a few thousand
 votes over J. Marshall Coleman, the Republican nominee. No state had had a
 black governor since the Reconstruction era after the Civil War. Wilder
 appeared to have benefitted from his support of abortion rights for women.
 Abortion was also a major issue in the New Jersey gubernatorial campaign.
 U.S. Rep. James Florio, the Democratic candidate, who favored the right of a
 woman to choose an abortion, won in a landslide over the Republican, U.S.
 Rep. Jim Courter. Manhattan Borough Pres. David Dinkins, a Democrat, became
 the first black to be elected mayor of New York City. He defeated former
 U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani, stressing the themes of unity and harmony.
 Seattle, New Haven., Conn., and Durham, N.C. all elected their first black
 mayors. Coleman Young of Detroit and Kathy Whitmire of Houston, both
 Democrats, were among the mayors who were re-elected. On Nov. 27, the
 Virginia Board of Elections certified Wilder as the winner of the
 governorship.

 Guilt Admitted in Arms Scandal -- Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard Secord (ret.)
 pleaded guilty, Nov. 8, to making a false statement to Congress regarding
 the Iran-contra scandal. He admitted that he lied in June 1987 when he said
 he did not know that Lt. Col. Oliver North had benefitted financially from
 the sale of arms to Iran or from the diversion of profits to contra rebels
 in Nicaragua. Eleven other charges against Secord were dropped as part of a
 plea bargain agreement. He was sentenced, Jan. 24, 1990, to 2 years'
 probation.

 Pennsylvania Acts on Abortion -- The Pennsylvania legislature approved a
 bill restricting abortions, and Gov. Robert Casey signed it into law, Nov.
 18. Pennsylvania became the first state to restrict abortions after the U.S.
 Supreme Court gave states the right to do so in July. Most abortions at
 public hospitals were banned, as were almost all abortions after 24 weeks of
 gestation. For abortions that were permitted, prior notification of the
 spouse and a 24-hour waiting period were required.

 Congress Votes Itself a Raise -- Congress approved increases in salaries for
 its own members and for federal judges and top officials in the executive
 branch. At present, members of both the Senate and House received $89,500.
 Under the bill, House salaries would go to $124,400 by 1991, and members
 would be barred from accepting speaking fees. Senators' pay would rise to
 $98,400 in 1990, with limits on speaking fees reduced by a like amount. The
 House and Senate gave their approval on Nov. 16 and 17, respectively.
 Apparently mindful of the storm of criticism that had averted approval of a
 pay increase earlier in the year, Congressional leaders unveiled the new
 plan only a day before the House voted. Pres. George Bush signed the bill,
 Nov. 30.


                               International

 East Germany Opens Berlin Wall -- A year of dramatic upheaval in Eastern
 Europe reached a climax in November when the East German Communist regime
 lifted its restrictions on travel and emigration to the West. On Nov. 1,
 East Germany opened its border with Czechoslovakia, prompting a sharp
 increase in East German emigration to West Germany through Czech territory.
 In 9 days, some 50,000 joined 150,000 who had previously gone west in 1989.
 On Nov. 3, 5 Politburo members resigned, and East German leader Egon Krenz
 promised economic and political reforms. More than 500,000 joined a peaceful
 pro-democracy rally in East Berlin, Nov. 4. Premier Willi Stoph and the
 entire Council of Ministers resigned, Nov. 7, and were joined by more
 Politburo members, Nov. 8. The Party's Central Committee, Nov. 8, nominated
 Hans Modrow, a reformist, for premier. A spokesman for the Soviet foreign
 ministry said, Nov. 9, that the changes were welcome. The government lifted
 travel and emigration restrictions, Nov. 9, and exit visas were issued to
 those who asked for them. Within hours, thousands of Germans from East and
 West massed at the Berlin wall, many of them sitting atop the barrier that
 had separated the 2 Germanys since 1961. On Nov. 10, East Germany opened
 more crossing points and East Germans by the hundreds of thousands poured
 into the West to shop, look around, and be reunited with family and friends.
 The migration was repeated in subsequent days. Although some East Germans
 remained in the West, most returned home. By Nov. 15, the East German
 government had issued 7.7 million travel visas. On Nov. 28, West German
 Chancellor Helmut Kohl proposed a plan for the confederation of the 2
 Germanys.

 Salvadoran Rebels Open Offensive -- The Farabundo Marti National Liberation
 Front (FMLN) began a major offensive against the government of El Salvador
 in November. The leftist rebels pulled out of peace talks, Nov. 2, after 10
 were killed in the bombing of a labor federation headquarters. The FMLN
 began its attack in San Salvador, the capital, and in other cities, Nov. 11
 and 12. Hundreds of combatants and civilians died in the worst urban
 fighting of the 10-year civil war, and the government, Nov. 12, declared a
 state of siege. By Nov. 15, the rebels had been driven from some of their
 strongholds in the capital. Six Jesuit priests as well as a cook and her
 daughter were shot to death by uniformed gunmen at Jose Simeon Canas
 University of Central America in San Salvador, Nov. 16. Democrats in the
 U.S. Congress warned, Nov. 17, that aid to El Salvador would be halted if
 the government failed to bring the killers to justice and end human rights
 abuses by the army and security forces. Rebels seized a hotel in San
 Salvador, Nov. 21, trapping 12 members of the U.S. Special Forces, or Green
 Berets. After being threatened with death, the soldiers were allowed to
 leave, Nov. 22. The rebels resumed their offensive in the capital, Nov. 27,
 and the homes of several U.S. diplomats were seized. On Nov. 30, the United
 States flew 282 embassy officials and dependents out of the country.

 New Lebanese President Killed -- Rene Moawad, a moderate Christian who
 enjoyed the support of Syria, was elected president of Lebanon, Nov. 5, but
 he was assassinated 17 days later. When electing Moawad, the Lebanese
 parliament also approved a plan supported by the Arab League to end
 Lebanon's civil war. The plan called for a balancing of political offices
 among the religious factions and would require militias to disband and
 Syrian troops to withdraw within 2 years. Gen. Michel Aoun, the Christian
 army commander, rejected the plan because Syrian troops would not leave at
 once. Moawad was assassinated, Nov. 22, when a bomb exploded along the route
 of his motorcade. It killed 23 other people. Parliament, Nov. 24, elected as
 president Elias Hrawi, like Moawad a moderate Maronite Catholic friendly to
 Syria.

 U.S. to Return Iranian Assets -- It was announced, Nov. 6, that the U.S.
 would unfreeze $567 million in Iranian assets that had been held since 1979.
 Pres. Bush said, Nov. 7, that he hoped Iran would use its influence to help
 free U.S. hostages in the Middle East. An Iranian newspaper said, Nov. 9,
 that the unfreezing of assets was an insufficient gesture of U.S. good will.


 Bulgarian Communist Leader Resigns -- Todor Zhivkov, who had been president
 of Bulgaria since 1971 and leader of the ruling Communist Party since 1954,
 resigned both posts, Nov. 10. The resignations came amid the first stirrings
 of the pro-democracy movement that was flourishing elsewhere in Eastern
 Europe. Zhivkov, 78, had ruled Bulgaria for a longer time than any other
 Eastern European leader. He was regarded as a hard-line Communist and loyal
 supporter of the Soviet Union. Zhivkov resigned at a meeting of the party's
 Central Committee, which named Foreign Minister Petar Mladenov to succeed
 him as the party's general secretary.

 Czech Communist Leadership Replaced -- The tide of political reform sweeping
 Eastern Europe engulfed Czechoslovakia in November. Unrest began to build,
 Nov. 17, when police used clubs, tear gas, and dogs to break up a
 demonstration by university students in Prague. More than 200,000 people
 marched in Prague, Nov. 20, calling for free elections. Czech Premier
 Ladislav Adamec met, Nov. 21, with playwright Vaclav Havel and other
 dissidents who had just formed a new opposition group, Civic Forum. Havel,
 addressing 150,000 afterward, said the regime had promised some reforms, but
 Communist Party leader Milos Jakes said on television that evening, "There
 are boundaries that should not be crossed." Alexander Dubcek, leader of the
 short-lived reform movement of 1968 that was crushed by Soviet tanks, spoke
 to pro-democracy crowds in Bratislava, Nov. 23, and Prague, Nov. 24. On Nov.
 24, at an emergency meeting of the Communist Party Central Committee, Jakes
 and the other 12 members of the policy-making Presidium (politburo)
 resigned. Jakes, an opponent of reform, had been in power since 1987. A new
 Presidium, including 6 holdovers, was named, with Karel Urbanek as general
 secretary of the party. Havel, addressing 800,000 people in Prague, Nov. 25,
 dismissed the personnel shifts as a trick. Millions of workers joined a
 2-hour general strike, Nov. 27. Adamec opened power-sharing talks with Civic
 Forum, Nov. 28. Parliament, Nov. 29, deleted from the Constitution a
 provision guaranteeing the Communist Party the "leading role" in society.

 Communist Leader of Romania Re-Elected -- Seemingly unaffected by turmoil
 elsewhere in Eastern Europe, the Romanian Communist Party opened its 14th
 Congress in Bucharest, Nov. 20. In a 5-hour keynote address, Pres. Nicolae
 Ceausescu proclaimed the party to be the "vital center" of life in Romania.
 Ceausescu, who had been in power since 1965, was unanimously re-elected
 party secretary, Nov. 24.

 Prime Minister Gandhi Resigns -- Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India
 resigned after his Congress (I) Party did poorly in parliamentary elections.
 His popularity had been declining for some time amid accusations that his
 government was corrupt and inefficient. In elections to parliament, Nov.
 22-26, his party lost more than half its seats. Opposition parties won more
 than half the seats. Gandhi announced his resignation, Nov. 29, subject to
 the selection of a new prime minister.

 Hungarians Vote on President -- In a national referendum, Nov. 26,
 Hungarians voted in favor of letting their next parliament choose the
 president of the country. Opposition groups had favored this approach,
 rather than the direct election of the president. Parliamentary elections
 would take place in 1990.


                                  General

 Conference Acts on Global Warming -- Representatives of 68 countries met in
 the Netherlands to consider the threat posed by the warming of the
 atmosphere--the so-called greenhouse effect. This was the first
 ministerial-level meeting held on the problem. A compromise resolution,
 adopted unanimously, Nov. 7, committed the signers to stabilizing levels of
 carbon dioxide emissions by 2000. A stronger resolution that would have set
 specific goals did not get a consensus, meeting resistance from the United
 States and Japan.

 Tornadoes Take 29 Lives -- Violent weather, including tornadoes, struck the
 eastern United States in mid-November and claimed 29 lives. A tornado cut
 through downtown Huntsville, Ala., Nov. 15, killing 18 people and injuring
 500. Outside Newburgh, N.Y. on Nov. 16, a tornado struck the East Coldenham
 Elementary School and knocked down a wall in the cafeteria. Nine students
 were killed and 16 injured.

 Vitamin Pills Reduce Birth Defects -- The Journal of the American Medical
 Association reported, Nov. 24, that women who take nonprescription
 multivitamin pills early in pregnancy reduce the risk of having a baby with
 certain neurological defects. These neural tube defects include anencephaly,
 or the absence of nearly all the brain, and spina bifida, in which part of
 the spinal cord protrudes from the spinal column. These defects may cause
 death or paralysis, and affect 1 to 2 babies in every 1,000 born. Mothers
 who took multivitamin pills containing folic acid during the first 6 weeks
 of pregnancy had only one fourth as many babies with these defects as women
 who did not take such pills. Some 23,000 women participated in the study.

 Disasters -- A typhoon that stuck Thailand in the first week of November
 took at least 365 lives. . . .  A Colombian jetliner exploded in midair,
 Nov. 27, shortly after it took off from Bogota, killing all 107 aboard.


                                 DECEMBER


                                  National

 Stocks Score Big Gains in 1989 -- The value of stocks on the major exchanges
 increased in 1989, even though economic data issued by the government
 continued to show no consistent pattern. The Commerce Dept. said, Dec. 1,
 that its leading economic indicators declined 0.4 percent in October. The
 Labor Dept. reported, Dec. 8, that the unemployment rate had edged upward to
 5.3 percent in November. The department said, Dec. 15, that producer prices
 fell 0.1 percent in November. On Dec. 15, the Commerce Dept. reported that
 the U.S. merchandise trade deficit had jumped to $10.20 billion in October.
 Consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in November, the Labor Dept. reported, Dec.
 19. The leading economic indicators edged upward 0.1 percent in November,
 the Commerce Dept. said, Dec. 29. When the stock exchanges closed on Dec.
 29, their last trading day of 1989, the Dow Jones industrial average stood
 at 2753.20, up 27 percent for the year. Standard & Poor's index of 500
 stocks was also up 27 percent for the year. The American Stock Exchange
 index was up 23 percent, and the Nasdaq over-the-counter market composite
 index posted a 19 percent gain for 1989.

 U.S. Official Resigns S&L Position -- M. Danny Wall, head of the federal
 Office of Thrift Supervision, resigned, Dec. 4. As the official in charge of
 overseeing the thrift industry, Wall had been criticized by members of
 Congress and other regulators for having overlooked signs that the Lincoln
 Savings and Loan Association of Irvine, Calif. was in financial trouble. The
 collapse of Lincoln and many other S&Ls was about to cost taxpayers many
 billions of dollars. Wall said he was being made a "scapegoat for the entire
 thrift crisis."

 Bombs Kill Judge, Lawyer -- Judge Robert Vance of the U.S. Court of Appeals
 for the 11th Circuit was killed, Dec. 16, in his home in a suburb of
 Birmingham, Ala., when he opened a package that contained a bomb. The
 explosion of the pipe bomb killed him instantly. Recent rulings by the court
 had angered white supremacists. In Savannah, Ga., Dec. 18, Robert Robinson,
 a lawyer and alderman, was killed by a similar bomb, sent to his office.
 Robinson, a black, had performed legal work for the National Association for
 the Advancement of Colored People. Two more bombs were seized at the federal
 court building in Atlanta, Dec. 18, and at the Jacksonville, Fla., office of
 the NAACP, Dec. 19, before they exploded. Federal investigators said, Dec.
 19, that "hard forensic evidence" linked the 4 bombs.


                               International

 Bush, Gorbachev Hold First Summit -- Pres. George Bush and Soviet Pres.
 Mikhail Gorbachev held their first summit meeting in December. The shipboard
 summit took place in Marsaxlokk Bay at the Mediterranean island republic of
 Malta. Bush arrived in Valletta, the capital of Malta, Dec. 1, and met with
 Maltese leaders before boarding the U.S.S. Belknap in the bay. A heavy
 storm, Dec. 2, forced the 2 leaders to hold their talks aboard the large
 Soviet cruise ship Maxim Gorky, rather than on a smaller cruiser. Bush
 proposed that bilateral treaties on strategic arms and conventional arms in
 Europe be completed during 1990. He offered to waive trade restrictions if
 the Soviets liberalized their emigration laws. The Soviet leader made no
 major proposals then or on the second day of their talks on the same ship,
 Dec. 3. After their second meeting, the 2 leaders held a joint press
 conference, another first for a superpower summit. They both seemed to agree
 that the Cold War was virtually a thing of the past and that the world, in
 Bush's words, was on the "threshold of a brand new era of U.S.-Soviet
 relations." Meeting with NATO leaders in Brussels, Dec. 4, Bush reported on
 the summit, pledged a continued U.S. military presence in Europe, and
 discussed the question of German reunification.

 East German Party Shaken Up Again -- December was another month of turmoil
 for the ruling Socialist Unity (Communist) Party in East Germany. On Dec. 1,
 parliament revoked a clause in the constitution guaranteeing the Communists
 a "leading role" in society. On Dec. 2, a committee reported to parliament
 that former party leader Erich Honecker and his associates had lived in
 luxury while they ran the country, and the committee said it had evidence
 that they had hidden $54 billion in Swiss bank accounts. These revelations
 led, Dec. 3, to the resignation of the entire leadership of the party,
 including General Secretary Egon Krenz, Premier Hans Modrow, the rest of the
 Politburo, and the entire Central Committee. Krenz remained head of state
 and Modrow head of government. Honecker and some former aides were put under
 house arrest, Dec. 5. Krenz resigned as head of state, Dec. 6, and was
 replaced by Manfred Gerlach, head of the small Liberal Democratic Party.
 Honecker and former Premier Willi Stoph were among 6 former officials
 charged, Dec. 8, with corruption and abuse of power. The party, Dec. 9,
 elected Gregor Gysi, a lawyer, to succeed Krenz. In Leipzig, Dec. 11,
 200,000 persons demonstrated for German reunification. U.S. Sec. of State
 James Baker 3d delivered a speech in East Berlin, Dec. 12, and then met in
 Potsdam with Modrow. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl met with Modrow,
 Dec. 19.

 Another Coup Fails in Philippines -- Rebel elements within the Philippines
 army launched another coup attempt, the 6th during the presidency of Corazon
 Aquino. Like its predecessors, the coup failed. Rebels attacked military
 positions in suburban Manilla, Dec. 1, and planes dropped a few bombs. One
 struck the presidential palace, but Aquino was unhurt. Responding to a
 request from Aquino, Pres. George Bush authorized 2 U.S. F-4 jet fighters
 from Clark Air Force Base to provide air support for the government. There
 were no reports that the U.S. planes fired any shots. Vice Pres. Salvador
 Laurel, Dec. 3, backed the coup attempt and urged Aquino to resign. Within a
 few days, most rebels had surrendered to regular army troops, and the fall
 of a key airport, Dec. 9, ended the uprising. The official casualty toll for
 both sides was reported as 119 killed and 418 wounded.

 Pope and Gorbachev Meet -- In an historic first, Dec. 1, the leader of the
 Soviet Union, Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev, met with the head of the Roman
 Catholic Church at the Vatican. Pope John Paul II endorsed Gorbachev's
 reforms in the Soviet Union, and the 2 agreed to work toward establishing
 diplomatic relations. In a statement, Gorbachev called the meeting
 "extraordinary" and promised a law that would guarantee to Soviet citizens
 the right to "satisfy their spiritual needs."

 New Indian Prime Minister Named -- Vishwanath Pratap Singh, a former
 minister in the cabinet of outgoing Pres. Rajiv Gandhi, was chosen as leader
 of the National Front coalition on Dec. 1, and on Dec. 2 he was sworn in as
 prime minister of India. Gandhi had announced that he would step down after
 his Congress (I) Party did badly in the November elections. Singh's
 coalition would include both right- and left-wing groups.

 Communists Lose Grip on Czechoslovakia -- Communist domination of
 Czechoslovakia ended in December. In the wake of November's massive
 demonstrations, Premier Ladislav Adamec unveiled a new cabinet, Dec. 3, but
 the opposition Civic Forum rejected it because 16 of the 21 positions were
 still to be filled by Communists. Adamec resigned, Dec. 7, and Pres. Gustav
 Husak named Marian Calfa to replace him. The new cabinet, announced Dec. 7,
 had only 10 (of 21) Communists. In conversations with Civic Forum, Dec. 8,
 the Communists agreed to relinquish power. Husak, who had run the country
 for more than 20 years as Communist leader and president, resigned as
 president, Dec. 10. A hard-liner, he had come to power after Russian tanks
 crushed a reform movement in 1968. Vaclav Havel, a dissident playwright, and
 Alexander Dubcek, who had headed the 1968 reform movement, both declared
 their candidacies for president. The Communist Party, Dec. 20, replaced
 Karel Urbanek as its leader with Adamec. Parliament, Dec. 28, elected Dubcek
 as its speaker and on Dec. 29, it elected Havel president without
 opposition.

 Bombings Linked to Drug Cartel -- The government of Colombia said, Dec. 5,
 that it believed that the destruction of an Avianca Airlines jetliner, Nov.
 27, was caused by the explosion of a bomb. The death toll, possibly
 including several persons on the ground struck by the falling wreckage, was
 put at 110. More than 60 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded when
 a bomb exploded in front of the Dept. of Administrative Security in Bogota,
 Dec. 6. The bomb contained half a ton of dynamite. Authorities believed both
 bombings represented acts of terrorism by drug dealers who were defying
 government efforts to eradicate their operations. On Dec. 15, some 300
 commandos and soldiers attacked a ranch near Tolu, where they killed Jose
 Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, the number two man in the Medellin drug cartel. His
 son and 15 bodyguards were also killed. Rodriguez Gacha was one of those
 believed responsible for acts of terrorism and the killing of several
 prominent Colombians.

 Lithuania Looks Toward Independence -- The Baltic republic of Lithuania gave
 strong signals of its eagerness to break free from the Soviet Union. The
 Lithuanian parliament voted overwhelmingly, Dec. 7, to adopt a multiparty
 political system, the first time any republic in the USSR had taken such a
 step. The vote was to remove Article 6 of the republic's constitution
 guaranteeing the Communist Party a monopoly on power. At the federal level,
 at the opening of the Congress of People's Deputies, Dec. 12, in Moscow,
 Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev averted a similar effort to debate the leading role
 of the party in the Soviet Union. Among those opposing Gorbachev and calling
 for a debate was Andrei Sakharov, the nuclear physicist and political
 dissident. Sakharov, an admired figure around the world for his efforts in
 behalf of human rights and a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, died, Dec.
 14. In another unprecedented move, the Lithuanian Communist Party declared
 itself independent of the national party, Dec. 20. The party further
 asserted that its goal was creation of an "independent democratic Lithuanian
 state." Gorbachev, Dec. 26, called this action "illegitimate" and ruled out
 secession by any of the nation's 15 republics.

 Bush Envoys Meet Chinese Leaders -- Two top Bush administration officials,
 National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft and Deputy Sec. of State Lawrence
 Eagleburger, met with Chinese party and government leaders in Beijing, Dec.
 9 and 10. Although it was announced that the purpose of the meeting was for
 the U.S. representatives to brief the Chinese on the Malta summit, it was
 widely assumed that an attempt to improve relations between China and the
 United States was the principal focus. The administration announced, Dec.
 18, that Scowcroft and Eagleburger had also made a secret trip to China in
 July, a month after the Chinese regime had brutally crushed a pro-democracy
 demonstration in the capital.

 Central American Leaders Sign Accord -- The presidents of Costa Rica, El
 Salvador, Guatamala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, meeting in San Jose, Costa
 Rica, Dec. 12, signed a new peace agreement for the Central American region.
 The agreement declared that all support for the 10,000 rebels fighting
 against the Nicaraguan regime should be channeled through an international
 commission set up to disband the rebels. The accord included a strong
 endorsement of the government of Pres. Alfredo Cristiani of El Salvador,
 which was also under attack from a rebel force.

 Pinochet Era Ending in Chile -- On Dec. 14, Chile held its first
 presidential election since 1970. The result was a victory for opposition
 leader Patricio Aylwin, who received 55 percent of the vote. A more
 conservative candidate, Hernan Buchi, got 29 percent of the vote. Buchi, a
 former finance minister under Gen. Augusto Pinochet, was handicapped by his
 identification with Pinochet's authoritarian rule. Pinochet had come to
 power in a bloody coup in 1973, and the election results appeared to signal
 the end of his domination of the country, although he would remain chief of
 the armed forces.

 U.S. Invades Panama, Pursues Noriega -- Pres. George Bush sent U.S. military
 forces into Panama, and they engaged in a brief but bloody conflict with
 troops supporting the Panamanian dictator, Gen. Manuel Noriega. Panama's
 National Assembly of Representatives formally named Noriega head of
 government on Dec. 15, and also proclaimed that Panama "is declared to be in
 a state of war" with the United States. On Dec. 16, 4 off-duty U.S.
 servicemen were confronted at a roadblock by civilians and troops, and when
 they attempted to leave one was killed. U.S. troops stationed in Panama were
 placed on a high alert, Dec. 17. Some 12,000 U.S. military personnel were
 already in Panama, with the primary duty to safeguard the Panama Canal. On
 Dec. 20, in the early morning hours, 12,000 more Army, Navy, Air Force, and
 Marine troops landed. U.S. forces were divided into 5 task forces which
 attacked selected targets. One seized the headquarters of the Panama Defense
 Forces. Other targets included military and strategic locations in and
 around Panama City. An alternative government, headed by Guillermo Endara as
 president, was sworn in by a Panamanian judge at a U.S. military base.
 Endara claimed he had won a presidential election in May, but Noriega had
 annulled the vote. To protect shipping, U.S. troops closed the Panama Canal,
 Dec. 20, but reopened it, Dec. 21. Announcing the invasion, Dec. 20, Bush
 said he had the obligation to safeguard the lives of American citizens. Sec.
 of State James Baker 3d said, Dec. 20, that Noriega reportedly had planned
 to attack U.S. citizens in Panama. Most members of Congress supported the
 invasion, but the Organization of American States deplored it, Dec. 22. The
 U.S. Defense Department said, Dec. 23, that the secret radar-evading F-117A
 Stealth bombers had been used in combat for the first time, and had dropped
 2 bombs near a barracks. On Dec. 24, Noriega took refuge in the Vatican's
 diplomatic mission in Panama City. When this news came, most remaining
 resistance to the U.S. invasion collapsed. The mission had the right to
 grant Noriega asylum, and negotiations began among U.S., Vatican, and
 Panamanian diplomats as to his future. U.S. officials argued that because he
 had been indicted in the United States for drug trafficking he was not
 eligible for asylum. Casualty figures issued by U.S. military officials,
 Dec. 27, were: 23 U.S. soldiers, 3 American civilians, 297 Panamanian
 soldiers, and at least 400 Panamanian civilians killed; 322 U.S. soldiers, 1
 American civilian, 123 Panamanian soldiers, and 2,000 Panamanian civilians
 wounded or injured. The U.N. Security Council, Dec. 29, voted 75-20, with 39
 abstentions, to "strongly deplore" the U.S. invasion. On Mar. 26, U.S.
 officials confirmed it had lowered its tally of casualties suffered by
 Panamanians. It said about 50 members of the Panama military had been
 killed, and that the civilian death toll had been put at 202.

 Gen. Manuel Noreiga surrendered to U.S. authorities and agreed to give
 himself up after being assured that he would not face the death penalty.
 After leaving the mission, Jan. 3, Noriega was taken to a U.S. military base
 in Panama City and arrested on drug-trafficking indictments by U.S. Drug
 Enforcement Administration agents. He was flown to Florida and arraigned,
 Jan. 4, in federal district court in Miami. Noriega's lawyer refused to
 enter a plea, contending he was a political prisoner, and the court entered
 a plea of not guilty. Crowds in Panama City celebrated Noriega's capture.
 The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Colin Powell, said,
 Jan. 5, that with Noriega in custody U.S. troops could be withdrawn from
 Panama within a few weeks. Pres. George Bush, Jan. 25, announced his support
 of a $1 billion package of cash, loans, and other types of aid to help
 rebuild the devastated economy of Panama. U.S. District Judge William
 Hoeveler, Jan. 26, ordered Noriega held without bail. U.S. Vice Pres. Dan
 Quayle visited Panama, Honduras, and Jamaica, Jan. 27-29, to explain
 administration policy on Latin America.

 Romanian Leader Overthrown, Executed -- Pres. Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania
 was overthrown in a popular uprising, and he and his wife Elena were
 executed. As first secretary of the Communist Party since 1965, Nicolae
 Ceausescu had ruled Romania for nearly a quarter century. For months,
 Romania had appeared untouched by the political unrest sweeping other
 Communist nations in Eastern Europe. Then, on Dec. 15, in Timisoara, in
 Transylvania, a crowd formed to protest the arrest and deportation of a
 Protestant minister who had been advocating the rights of ethnic Hungarians
 who lived in the region. The protest evolved into a pro-democracy
 demonstration, Dec. 16, and Army and Securitate (internal-security) troops
 moved in. A large number of citizens were shot to death, Dec. 17, during a
 demonstration. Protests spread to 2 other cities, Dec. 19. Ceausescu
 returned from an official visit to Iran, Dec. 20, denounced the
 demonstrators, and then addressed a rally in Bucharest, Dec. 21. He was
 jeered by many in the crowd, an unprecedented event considering how tightly
 he held power. Securitate troops, known for their fierce loyalty to
 Ceausescu, fired on the crowd, drove them elsewhere, and eventually killed
 up to 40. On Dec. 22, as up to 150,000 persons massed to defy Securitate
 forces, it was reported that the defense minister had committed suicide,
 though it was later determined that he had been shot for refusing to order
 the army to fire on the demonstrators. Military units joined the rebels.
 Pres. Ceausescu and Elena, his chief deputy in the government, fled the
 capital by helicopter. They landed and seized a car, but were in turn
 captured by insurgents near Tirgoviste. On Dec. 25, after a brief trial by a
 military tribunal on charges of genocide, abuse of power, and theft, they
 were both shot at an undisclosed location. Meanwhile, on Dec. 22, a
 coalition of former Communist officials, military officers, students, and
 others formed a National Salvation Front to run the country. On Dec. 26, Ion
 Iliescu, a former party official, was named interim president. By the end of
 the month, the rebels were in control, but only after bloody fighting.
 Reports of the number of people killed in the 2 weeks of upheaval varied
 widely, but ran as high as tens of thousands.


                                  General

 Gunman in Montreal Kills 14 Women -- A man armed with a hunting rifle shot
 14 women to death on the campus of the University of Montreal, Dec. 6. He
 also wounded 13 others, mostly women, before killing himself. Six of the
 women were killed in one classroom. Police, Dec. 7 identified the gunman as
 Marc Lepine, and said he had left a note in which he had said that women had
 ruined his life. The rampage was the worst mass shooting ever in Canada.

 Driver Who Caused 27 Deaths Convicted -- Larry Mahoney, the driver of a
 pickup truck that collided with a church bus near Carrollton, Ky. in May
 1988 was convicted of 27 counts of manslaughter, Dec. 21. Mahoney's lawyers
 acknowledged that he had been drunk and driving in the wrong direction on an
 interstate highway at the time of the crash, but blamed a faulty gas tank on
 the bus for the fire that took the heavy toll of life, including 24 children
 and 3 adults. Twelve other persons were burned in the crash. The defendant
 was found not guilty of 27 counts of murder. On Feb. 23, Mahoney was
 sentenced to 16 years in prison.


                                  JANUARY


                                  National

 Economic Growth Slowed in 1989 -- Figures released in January showed that
 the U.S. economy slowed down in 1989, compared with 1988. The Dow Jones
 industrial average closed, Jan. 2, at 2810.15, an all-time high, before
 beginning a month-long decline. The Labor Dept. said, Jan. 5, that the
 unemployment rate had held steady in December at 5.3 percent. In the first
 shift downward in 6 months, major banks, Jan. 8, lowered their prime lending
 rate by 0.5 percent to 10 percent. The Labor Dept. said, Jan. 12, that for
 all of 1989 producer prices had risen 4.8 percent, the highest annual
 increase since a 7.1 jump in 1981. The Commerce Dept. reported, Jan. 17,
 that the merchandise trade deficit for November was $10.5 billion, the
 largest for any month in 1989. Consumer prices rose 4.6 percent in 1989, the
 highest rate since 1981, the Labor Dept. reported, Jan. 18. The Commerce
 Dept. said, Jan. 26, that the gross national product grew at 2.9 percent
 (later revised to 3.0 percent) for 1989. Thus, economic growth had slowed
 considerably from 1988, when it was 4.4 percent. The department said, Jan.
 31, that the leading economic indicators had risen 0.8 percent in December.

 Marketing of Cigarette to Blacks Deplored -- Sec. of Health and Human
 Services Louis Sullivan, Jan. 18, sharply criticized a plan to market a
 cigarette to black Americans. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. planned to
 test-market the new brand, Uptown, to blacks in Philadelphia. Sullivan,
 speaking to medical students at the University of Pennsylvania, said, "At a
 time when our people desperately need the message of health promotion,
 Uptown's message is more disease, more suffering and more death. . . . "
 Surveys had found that smoking was more common among blacks than whites.
 Reynolds, Jan. 19, canceled its test of the brand, saying that "the unfair
 and biased attention the brand had received" would invalidate the results of
 the test.

 Washington, D.C. Mayor Arrested -- City police and FBI agents, Jan. 18,
 arrested Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry on a drug charge. Rumors, which
 Barry denied, had circulated for years that he used drugs. According to
 reports, law enforcement officials utilized a former model and friend of
 Barry's to lure him to the Vista International Hotel in downtown Washington.
 There, according to the FBI, Barry bought a small amount of crack cocaine
 from an undercover agent, put it in a pipe, and smoked it. This incident was
 reportedly videotaped, and Barry was arrested. He was arraigned, Jan. 19, in
 U.S. District Court on one charge of willfully possessing cocaine, a
 misdemeanor.

 Agent Pleads Guilty in HUD Inquiry -- Marilyn Louise Harrell, a private
 escrow agent, pleaded guilty in federal court in Baltimore, Jan. 29, to
 embezzling $4.5 million that was to go to the U.S. Dept. of Housing and
 Urban Development. She also admitted underreporting income on her tax return
 for 1987. She had previously claimed that she had given much of the money to
 charities and the poor, and had been nicknamed "Robin HUD." Prosecutors said
 that Harrell had been "her own biggest charity." On June 22, Harrell was
 sentenced to 46 months in prison and ordered to pay $600,000 in restitution.


 Bush Budget Calls for No Tax Increases -- Adhering to his pledge while
 running for president, George Bush submitted a budget for the 1991 fiscal
 year to Congress, Jan. 29, that called for no increase in taxes. The $1.23
 trillion budget included a small cut in real spending for defense--a 1.9
 percent increase in outlays that was below the rate of inflation. Larger
 cuts were proposed for some domestic programs, but not for environmental
 programs, the war on drugs, and space projects. Overall, the budget adhered
 to the deficit limitation of the Gramm-Rudman law, but the Congressional
 Budget Office and some economists said the deficit projections were based on
 economic forecasts that were far too optimistic.


                               International

 Toll High in Sudanese Massacre -- A rebel radio in Sudan reported, Jan. 4,
 that a pro-government Arab militia had killed 2,000 black villagers at the
 end of December. Reportedly, 2 members of the Shilok tribe killed their
 Moslem employer in a dispute, and local militiamen armed with machine guns
 then destroyed the entire village. Western diplomats and relief officials
 put the death toll at 300 to 1,500. The Moslem central government was in a
 sustained war against black Christians and animists.

 New Romanian Leadership Assailed -- The National Salvation Front, the new
 leadership group in Romania, became a target of much criticism. By Jan. 5, a
 deadline set by the government, many parties had declared their intention to
 run candidates in elections scheduled for April. During a visit to Romania,
 Jan. 6, Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze said Moscow would
 support any form of political system that emerged. Thousands of Romanians
 demonstrated nationwide, Jan. 7, protesting the prominence of ex-Communists
 in the provisional regime. A large crowd gathered in Bucharest, Jan. 12, to
 protest the perceived influence of Communists in the leadership. Ion
 Iliescu, chairman of the front and interim president, managed to calm the
 crowd somewhat by announcing that the Communist Party had been outlawed.
 However, the government then lifted the ban on the party, Jan. 17, and
 canceled a referendum that was to decide its fate. Facing growing public
 unrest, the government, Jan. 24, outlawed unauthorized demonstrations. Vice
 Pres. Dumitru Mazilu resigned, Jan. 26, and accused the regime of using
 "Stalinist practices." A judge investigating the violence in Timisoara in
 December said, Jan. 29, that only 95 civilian deaths had been verified,
 against earlier reports that there had been thousands of victims.

 Soldiers Held in Killing of Priests -- Pres. Alfredo Cristiani of El
 Salvador said, Jan. 7, that the military had been involved in the murder of
 6 Jesuit priests and 2 other people in San Salvador in November. The Jesuits
 had criticized human rights abuses by the government and had supported a
 negotiated settlement of the civil war with leftist guerrillas. Cristiani
 announced, Jan. 13, that a colonel, 2 lieutenants, and 5 other soldiers had
 been arrested in the killings. The 8 soldiers plus a 9th still being sought
 were indicted, Jan. 19. The soldiers in custody pleaded not guilty.

 East Germans Sack Police HQ -- An official of the East German government
 disclosed, Jan. 8, that 60,000 (of an original 85,000) secret-police
 personnel were still on the government payroll despite a promise in December
 that they would be disbanded. A party in the ruling coalition confirmed,
 Jan. 10, that the government was forming a new secret security agency.
 Premier Hans Modrow said, Jan. 12, that no new security force would be
 formed before national elections, and admitted that secret police had
 continued to spy on the political opposition. On Jan. 15, 100,000 persons
 gathered outside the East German headquarters of the state security service,
 and the peaceful rally soon turned violent. Many in the crowd stormed the
 headquarters, generally tore up the interior and destroyed or threw out
 thousands of documents. Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union, after
 meeting with Modrow, Jan. 30, indicated that German reunification was to be
 expected, adding "No one casts any doubt upon it."

 Crises in Soviet Republics Continue -- On Jan. 9, the parliament of the
 republic of Armenia voted to integrate the economy of the region of
 Nagorno-Karabakh into the economy of Armenia. The region, occupied
 predominantly by Armenians, lay within Azerbaijan. After the presidium of
 the national Supreme Soviet declared that step unconstitutional, Armenia's
 parliament, Jan. 11, asserted Armenia's right to override national laws that
 affected the republic. Soviet Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev arrived in Lithuania,
 Jan. 11, in an attempt to persuade the Lithuanian Communist Party to rescind
 its break with the national party. Some 250,000 persons demonstrated, Jan.
 11, in Vilnius, the capital of the republic, on behalf of independence. In a
 walk through the streets of the city, Gorbachev denounced independence as a
 dead end and said the Soviet Union could not afford to lose its Baltic
 ports. Before leaving Lithuania, Jan. 13, Gorbachev expressed a willingness
 to accept a multiparty system in the USSR. In Baku, the capital of
 Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani youths, Jan. 13, went on a rampage through the
 Armenian section of town, and some 30 people, mostly Armenians, were
 reported killed. With guerrillas fighting elsewhere in the 2 republics in
 what had virtually become an ethnic civil war, the Soviet government sent
 troops into the area, Jan. 15. The Azerbaijanis resisted, destroying or
 blockading bridges, roads, and rail lines. Some troops were killed. Soviet
 troops led by tanks forced their way into central Baku, Jan. 20. The
 Azerbaijani parliament, Jan. 22, threatened to secede from the Soviet Union.
 By Jan. 23, the death toll in the fighting stood at 93.

 Martial Law Ended in Beijing -- Premier Li Peng of China announced, Jan. 10,
 that martial law would be lifted in Beijing. In a televised speech, he said
 that order had been restored and "a great victory has been won in checking
 the turmoil and quelling the counterrevolutionary rebellion." The end of
 martial law, which took effect, Jan. 11, had little practical effect because
 other laws introduced since the June 1989 protests had curtailed
 unauthorized political activity.

 Bulgaria Ends Communist Monopoly -- The Bulgarian National Assembly, though
 controlled by Communists, voted unanimously, Jan. 15, to repeal paragraphs
 in the constitution guaranteeing a dominant role for the Communist Party. It
 was reported, Jan. 18, that Todor Zhivkov, the former Communist Party
 leader, had been put under house arrest on charges of malfeasance in office
 and misuse of government property and money. It was announced, Jan. 29, that
 he had been transferred to a prison.

 Polish Communists Form New Party -- A congress of the United Workers'
 (Communist) Party opened in Warsaw, Jan. 27. Some 1,600 delegates attended.
 On Jan. 29, the party voted overwhelmingly to disband and create at once a
 new Social Democracy Party. But some former Communist Party members bolted
 and formed yet another new group, the Social Democratic Union.

 Bush Proposes Troop Cuts in Europe -- In his State of the Union address,
 Jan. 31, Pres. George Bush proposed a ceiling of 225,000 on the number of
 U.S. and Soviet troops that could be deployed in Europe. Under his plan, no
 more than 195,000 could be deployed by each side in the central zone of
 Europe. At present, the United States had 300,000 troops in Europe and the
 Soviet Union 565,000.


                                  General

 Suicide Adds Bizarre Turn to Murder Case -- A murder case in Boston that had
 gained nationwide attention took an unexpected turn, Jan. 4, when the
 husband of the murder victim leaped to his death from a bridge in Boston
 harbor. The man, Charles Stuart, had learned that he had become the prime
 suspect in the case. In October 1989, Stuart had called from a phone in his
 car to report that his pregnant wife, Carol, had been shot and that he had
 been shot. The tapes of his pleas for help had been played on radio and
 television and had engendered widespread sympathy. Charles Stuart recovered
 from a serious wound but Carol Stuart died at the hospital. Her baby,
 delivered prematurely, also died. Stuart said a black man was their
 assailant. The Stuarts were white. On Jan. 3, Charles Stuart's brother
 Matthew told investigators that he had driven to the neighborhood where the
 shooting occurred and that Charles had given him his wife's bag and a gun,
 which Matthew threw into the Pines River. Matthew said he had decided to
 come forward after his brother had identified a black man in a police
 line-up as resembling the gunman. Based on Matthew's information, police
 divers recovered both the handbag and a .38 caliber revolver from the river.
 It was reported that Charles Stuart had taken out large insurance policies
 on his wife. Some black leaders objected to the intensity with which police
 had conducted investigations in black neighborhoods when it was believed
 that a black was the culprit.

 Long Child Abuse Trial Ends -- Peggy McMartin Buckey and her son, Raymond
 Buckey, were found not guilty on 52 counts of child molestation and
 conspiracy in Los Angeles, Jan. 18. The jury was deadlocked on one remaining
 count against Mrs. Buckey and on 13 counts against her son. The trial was
 the longest and costliest in U.S. history. It lasted 33 months, filled
 60,000 pages of transcript, and cost the state of California about $15
 million. Based on accounts by young children, 7 people had originally been
 indicted on child molestation charges--incidents that had allegedly occurred
 at the McMartin Pre-School in Manhattan Beach. Charges against the other 5
 defendants had been dropped for insufficient evidence. Raymond Buckey had
 spent 5 years in jail and his mother 22 months in jail. Some jurors who were
 interviewed after the verdict said they had reservations about the technique
 used to interview children who may have been molested, especially the
 practice of asking them leading questions. The remaining count against Mrs.
 Buckey was dismissed. A mistrial was declared on the remaining counts
 against Raymond Buckey. He was then retried on 8 of the counts, but on July
 27, the jury declared that it was deadlocked on all charges. On Aug. 1,
 Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg dismissed all charges against Buckey.

 Value of Oat Bran Questioned -- Researchers from Harvard University reported
 in the Jan. 18 New England Journal of Medicine that a study they had
 conducted failed to show that oat bran had any special ability to lower
 blood serum cholesterol levels. Based on the study of 20 adults, the
 researchers concluded that bran or any other starchy carbohydrate was
 beneficial primarily because people who ate it tended to eat less high-fat
 food. The oat bran fad had caught on after a previous study had shown that
 it lowered cholesterol. Manufacturers of oat bran products said the Harvard
 study was too small to be accepted.

 Jet Crash on Long Island Kills 73 -- A Colombian jetliner apparently ran out
 of fuel over Long Island in New York, Jan. 25, and crashed into a wooded
 area in the community of Cove Neck. Of the 161 persons aboard, 73 were
 killed and dozens of the rest were injured. The plane, en route from Bogota
 via Medellin, Colombia, was to have landed at Kennedy International Airport.
 The landing was delayed more than an hour because of bad weather. The pilot
 had told controllers about 50 minutes before the crash that he needed a
 priority landing because of low fuel.

 Disasters -- A passenger train crashed into a stopped freight train in a
 station in Sangi, Pakistan, Jan. 4, causing the death of 307 people and
 injury to 700 others. . . .  About 100 people were killed, Jan. 14, when a
 ferry collided with another vessel in a river near Dhaka, Bangladesh.


                                  FEBRUARY


                                  National

 Reagan Testifies in Iran-Contra Trial -- Former Pres. Ronald Reagan provided
 videotaped testimony for use in the trial of Adm. John Poindexter (ret.),
 his former national security adviser. Albert Hakim, who had pleaded guilty
 in November in one of the previous trials in the Iran-Contra case, was
 sentenced, Feb. 1, to 2-years' probation and fined $5,000. He had illegally
 supplemented the salary of former National Security Council staff member
 Oliver North. Poindexter's attorneys had asked Reagan to provide excerpts
 from his diaries, and Judge Harold Greene had directed Reagan to do so, but
 the former president declined, Feb. 5, asserting, in the words of his
 attorneys, a claim "to the constitutionally protected privacy of his
 diaries." Greene, Feb. 5, ordered Reagan to give videotaped testimony,
 agreeing with Poindexter that he possessed evidence unavailable from any
 other source. Reagan, Feb. 9, agreed to comply. In a closed Los Angeles
 courtroom, Feb. 16 and 17, Reagan provided 8 hours of testimony. A
 transcript was made public, Feb. 22. Reagan testified that he had
 authorized, in general, the policies of selling arms to Iran and aiding the
 Nicaraguan contras. But he said he had repeatedly told subordinates to obey
 the law, and he said he had not known that North had been coordinating
 supply missions for the contras and otherwise assisting the contras at a
 time when Congress had banned U.S. support for them. Reagan often testified
 that he was unable to remember key meetings or conversations.

 Special Prosecutor Asked in HUD Case -- U.S. Attorney Gen. Richard
 Thornburgh recommended, Feb. 1, that a special prosecutor, or independent
 counsel, be appointed to investigate Samuel Pierce, Jr. and other former
 high officials in the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. In compliance
 with procedures established by law, Thornburgh made his recommendations to a
 special 3-judge panel. He said the prosecutor would investigate charges that
 Pierce, a former secretary of HUD, and other officials had awarded grants to
 developers backed by well-known Republicans. The 3-judge panel, Mar. 2,
 named Arlin Adams, a retired federal judge from Philadelphia, as special
 prosecutor.

 1989 Trade Gap Lowest in 5 Years -- The Labor Dept. reported, Feb. 2, that
 the unemployment rate fell to 5.2 percent in January. The department
 reported, Feb. 9, that producer prices for finished goods had risen 1.8
 percent in January, the largest monthly increase since November 1974. The
 sharp rise was primarily the result of a jump in heating oil prices during
 very cold weather. The Commerce Dept. said, Feb. 16, that the merchandise
 trade deficit, which stood at $108.58 billion for all of 1989, was the
 lowest since 1984. Exports rose 13 percent in 1989, imports only 7.3
 percent.

 ABA Supports Right to Abortion -- At its meeting in Los Angeles, Feb. 13,
 the American Bar Assn. declared its support for a constitutional right to
 abortion. The vote by the ABA's house of delegates was 238-106. The
 resolution opposed legislation or other governmental action "that interferes
 with the confidential relationship between a pregnant woman and her
 physician or with the decision to terminate the pregnancy at any time before
 the fetus is capable of independent life."

 Washington, D.C. Mayor Indicted -- Mayor Marion Barry Jr. of Washington,
 D.C., who had been arrested in January, was indicted, Feb. 15, by a federal
 grand jury on 5 counts of cocaine possession and 3 counts of perjury. The
 perjury counts related to testimony he had given to a grand jury in January
 1989. Barry, meanwhile, had entered an alcohol treatment program in Florida.
 He had denied having a drug problem, and called the indictments "a
 continuation of the political lynching and excesses of the Justice
 Department."


                               International

 Reunified Germany Is Nearer to Reality -- Addressing a press conference in
 East Berlin, Feb. 1, East German Premier Hans Modrow outlined a plan for
 reunifying East and West Germany. He described an approach for integrating
 economic and governmental institutions into a country that would become
 militarily neutral. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said, Feb. 1, he
 would not begin any negotiations until after East German elections in March.
 After meeting with Soviet Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow, Feb. 10, Kohl
 said that the Soviet leaders supported "the right of the German people
 alone" to choose their form of relationship. Meeting in Bonn, Feb. 13, Kohl
 and Modrow agreed to talks on uniting their 2 monetary systems under the
 West German deutsche mark. At a first-ever meeting of foreign ministers of
 NATO and Warsaw Pact countries, in Ottawa, Feb. 13, a formula for
 reunification talks was established. The 2 Germanys would discuss internal
 and domestic issues relating to reunification. External issues, such as
 "security of the neighboring states," would be expanded to include the "Big
 4" allies of World War II: the U.S., USSR, Great Britain, and France. In
 another tentative breakthrough at Ottawa, the Soviets agreed to limit their
 troops in Europe to 195,000 and to a larger limit--225,000--for U.S. troops
 in Europe. Kohl met with Pres. George Bush, Feb. 24 and 25. At a press
 conference, Feb. 25, they endorsed the concept of a united Germany within
 NATO. Bush said that the United States formally recognized the current
 German-Polish border. Some Poles were concerned that a united Germany might
 want to regain territory ceded to Poland after World War II.

 Bulgarian Communists Elect New Leader -- Alexander Lilov became chairman of
 the Communist Party in Bulgaria, and the party, Feb. 1, ratified a manifesto
 that endorsed democratic ideals but kept its Marxist-Leninist ideology.
 Premier Georgi Atanasov and his cabinet resigned, Feb. 1. Lilov, elected
 Feb. 2, to succeed Petar Mladenov, was seen as a compromise candidate, who
 was not identified with the ousted hard-line regime of Todor Zhivkov, and
 who could better lead the party in upcoming elections. Parliament, Feb. 3,
 confirmed Andrei Lukanov as premier.

 Opposition Gains Ground in Romania -- The National Salvation Front agreed,
 Feb. 1, to a power-sharing arrangement prior to elections in Romania. It was
 agreed that the interim legislative body would be increased in size and
 would include representatives of 30 registered political parties. On Feb. 2,
 a military court convicted 4 former top aides to the deposed Pres. Nicolae
 Ceasescu of complicity to commit genocide. The defendants included Emil
 Bobu, 3d-ranking figure in the government. The men were sentenced to life
 imprisonment.

 South Africa Frees Mandela -- South African Pres. F. W. de Klerk announced,
 Feb. 2, that black nationalist leader Nelson Mandela, who had been in prison
 for treason for 27 years, would soon be freed. In a surprising speech, de
 Klerk also said his government was lifting its ban on the African National
 Congress, the principal black organization opposing white minority rule. He
 also announced legalization of the South African Communist Party and the
 Pan-African Congress, and the lifting of restrictions on 33 groups and 374
 individuals. He said news censorship would end, executions would be
 suspended, nonviolent political prisoners would be freed, and power-sharing
 talks with black leaders were on the horizon. Mandela, 71, was released from
 prison, Feb. 11. His release was hailed around the world. In his first
 speech, in Cape Town, Feb. 11, he urged that pressure be kept on the white
 government until the apartheid system of racial segregation was destroyed.
 More than 100,000 people welcomed him home to Soweto, Feb. 13. Up to 20,000
 conservative whites protested in Pretoria, Feb. 15, against the legalization
 of ANC and the freeing of Mandela. In his first trip outside of South Africa
 since being released, Mandela went to Zambia, Feb. 27, to meet with ANC
 leaders. He was greeted by official delegations from many countries. Meeting
 with Pres. George Bush in Washington, D.C., Feb. 28, Zulu Chief Mangosuthu
 Gatsha Buthelezi called on the president to lift economic sanctions against
 South Africa.

 Noriega Ordered to Stand Trial -- The U.S. Justice Dept. announced, Feb. 2,
 that the government would treat ousted Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega
 and one of his co-defendants as prisoners of war. The department noted,
 however, that the Geneva Convention provides that "prisoners of war may be
 prosecuted in the civilian courts of the detaining country." Congress, Feb.
 7, approved $42 million in emergency aid to Panama and lifted economic
 sanctions against Panama. U.S. District Court Judge William Hoeveler ruled,
 Feb. 8, that Noriega must stand trial in Miami on drug-trafficking charges.

 Multiparty System in Sight in USSR -- The Central Committee of the Communist
 Party of the Soviet Union voted to end the party's monopoly on power, as
 guaranteed in the constitution. In Moscow, Feb. 4, 100,000 persons
 demonstrated on behalf of democracy. Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev, who favored
 the constitutional change, told the Central Committee, Feb. 3, that "We
 should abandon the ideological dogmatism that became ingrained during the
 past decades." Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov said, Feb. 6, that a multiparty
 system, in effect, already existed. Conservatives on the committee warned
 that any moves toward a multiparty system or free enterprise could lead to
 the disintegration of the Soviet Union. But the Central Committee endorsed
 Gorbachev's proposal, Feb. 7. Parliament and the standing legislature would
 still have to act. The KGB said, Feb. 13, that 786,098 persons had been shot
 to death as enemies of the state during the rule of Joseph Stalin.
 Tadzhikistan, in central Asia, became the latest Soviet republic to
 experience ethnic violence. On Feb. 15, after 18 people had been killed in
 rioting, party and governmental leaders there resigned. In multiparty
 elections to the Supreme Soviet (parliament) of Lithuania, Feb. 24,
 candidates favoring independence ran very well. Runoff elections would
 determine the final outcome. Hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy
 demonstrators turned out in more than 30 cities in the Soviet Union, Feb.
 25. The Supreme Soviet, the standing Parliament, gave its approval, Feb. 27,
 to Gorbachev's proposal for a popularly elected president having broad
 executive powers.

 Bush at Drug Summit in Colombia -- The presidents of Bolivia, Colombia,
 Peru, and the United States signed an accord in Cartagena, Colombia, Feb.
 15, to work together in the fight against illegal drug traffic. Most coca
 grown for the production of cocaine is found in Bolivia and Peru, and
 three-fourths of the world's cocaine supply is produced in Colombia. The
 presidents agreed to the need for encouraging trade and investment in the 3
 South American countries. The presidents also recognized that reducing
 demand (in the U.S.) was as important as reducing supply. The meeting was
 held under tight security. Pres. George Bush had come under some pressure
 not to attend because of the danger of violence from the drug traffickers.

 Japan's Ruling Party Wins Election -- The Liberal Democratic Party won a
 clear-cut victory, Feb. 18, in elections to the lower house of the Diet, the
 parliament of Japan. The long rule of the Liberal Democrats had appeared
 threatened by the Recruit Co. scandal, in which the conglomerate had given
 millions of dollars in cash and stocks to leading political figures.
 However, the party lost only a few seats and held a majority in the lower
 house. The Socialist Party, the principal opposition, gained ground, but
 mostly at the expense of smaller parties. The results seemed to strengthen
 the position of Premier Toshiki Kaifu.

 Czech President Addresses Congress -- Czechoslovak Pres. Vaclav Havel began
 a trip to North America, Feb. 18, in Ottawa, where he conferred with
 Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. On his arrival in Washington, D.C.,
 Feb. 20, he became the first head of state of his country to visit the
 United States. Havel, a leader of the nearly bloodless revolution that had
 ended Communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1989, received an enthusiastic
 reception during an address to Congress, Feb. 21. He said he saw the rise of
 democracy in the Soviet bloc as a "historically irreversible process" and he
 foresaw "an era in which all of us, large and small, former slaves and
 former masters, will be able to create what your great President Lincoln
 called the 'family of man.'"

 Sandinistas Lose Nicaraguan Election -- The Sandinista National Liberation
 Front (FSLN), which had held power for 10 years in Nicaragua, was defeated
 in national elections, Feb. 25. Pres. Daniel Ortega lost, 55 percent to 41
 percent, to Violeta Barrios de Chamorro of the National Opposition Union
 (UNO), and the UNO also won more seats in the National Assembly. Chamorro
 belonged to no party, and the UNO was a loose coalition. The assassination
 of her husband, an editor, in 1978, helped provoke the overthrow of the
 Somoza dictatorship by the Sandinistas, whom Mrs. Chamorro initially
 supported and then abandoned with their shift toward Marxist thinking.
 Dissatisfaction with the economy was regarded as the prime factor in the
 defeat of the Sandinistas. The election was monitored by some 2,000 foreign
 observers. Ortega conceded defeat, Feb. 26. However, he said, Feb. 27, that
 the contra rebels would have to demobilize before the Sandinistas yielded
 control of the army and the police. Chamorro, Feb. 27, called on the contras
 to disband to help speed the transfer of power.


                                  General

 Securities Firm Files for Bankruptcy -- Drexel Burnham Lambert Group Inc.,
 which made financial history on Wall Street in the 1980s, filed for Chapter
 11 bankruptcy, Feb. 13. The firm had become highly profitable for a time
 through the utilization of so-called junk bonds, securities that paid high
 interest rates and had high risk. The use of these bonds facilitated the
 corporate takeover boom of the 1980s. Michael Milken, the firm's leading
 junk-bond trader, orchestrated many takeovers. Drexel's slide began after it
 agreed in 1988 to pay the government $650 million to settle insider-trading
 charges; Milken was indicted in 1989 on a variety of charges. Drexel was
 hurt further by the decline in the market value of junk bonds. Company
 officials said that the bankruptcy filing would lead to the liquidation of
 Drexel.

 FDA Approves Fat Substitute -- For the first time, Feb. 22, the U.S. Food
 and Drug Administration approved a low-calorie substitute for fat.
 Nutrasweet Company had developed the substance, Simplesse, a blend of
 proteins from egg white and milk. The FDA said Simplesse was safe for use in
 frozen dessert products, and the company said it could be used in other
 foods having a high fat content. Other food manufacturers were reported
 working on fat substitutes in response to concerns about nutrition.

 Disasters -- An Indian Airlines passenger jet crashed, Feb. 14, while
 preparing to land at Bangalore, killing 91 of the 146 persons aboard.


                                   MARCH


                                  National

 Economic Indicators Show No Trend -- The Commerce Dept. reported, Mar. 2,
 that the leading economic indicators were unchanged in January. The Labor
 Dept. reported, Mar. 9, that unemployment stood at 5.3 percent in February.
 The department said, Mar. 16, that the index of producer prices for
 unfinished goods was unchanged in February. The department reported, Mar.
 20, that consumer prices had jumped 0.5 percent in February, following an
 even sharper 1.1 percent runup in January. A record rise in oil imports
 caused the merchandise trade deficit to grow to $9.25 billion in January,
 the Commerce Dept. announced, Mar. 20.

 North, Meese Testify in Poindexter Trial -- The trial of John Poindexter,
 former national security adviser for Pres. Ronald Reagan, got under way in
 federal district court in Washington, D.C. Poindexter was charged with
 obstructing Congress and making false statements to Congress in connection
 with its investigation of the Iran-contra affair. Oliver North, a former
 aide to Poindexter who had been convicted on Iran-contra charges, was called
 as a witness for the prosecution. North sought to resist implicating
 Poindexter in a coverup, and said, Mar. 9, "No one told me to lie to
 Congress." He admitted, Mar. 12, that he had seen Poindexter destroy an
 order signed by Reagan authorizing U.S. participation in arms sales to Iran.
 Judge Harold Greene ruled, Mar. 21, that Reagan would not be required to
 provide his presidential diaries to Poindexter's defense. Former Attorney
 Gen. Edwin Meese 3d, who had led a Justice Dept. investigation of the Iran
 arms sales, testified for the defense, Mar. 22, that Poindexter had not
 tried to conceal details of the arms scandal from Congress.

 Exxon Valdez Captain Guilty of Negligence -- Joseph Hazelwood, who was
 captain of the oil tanker Exxon Valdez on Mar. 24, 1989, when it dumped
 nearly 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound in Alaska, was
 found guilty of negligent discharge of oil in a state court in Anchorage,
 Mar. 22. He was acquitted of criminal mischief and 2 other charges. The
 spill contaminated more than 1,000 miles of coastline and claimed a heavy
 toll of wildlife. Hazelwood, Mar. 23, was sentenced to serve 1,000 hours of
 community service and ordered to make a "token restitution" of $50,000 over
 time.

 Idaho Anti-Abortion Bill Vetoed -- Gov. Cecil Andrus of Idaho vetoed, Mar.
 30, a bill that would have banned most abortions. Under its provisions, an
 abortion in the case of rape would have been allowed only if the rape was
 reported within 7 days, and abortion in the case of incest would be allowed
 only if the victim was under 18. Andrus complained that anti-abortion
 activists had designed the bill for "the sole purpose of getting this issue
 back before the Supreme Court."Andrus said he had not been influenced by
 threats by abortion-rights groups to boycott Idaho potatoes.


                               International

 Unrest Grows in South Africa -- In the month after black nationalist leader
 Nelson Mandela was freed from prison, unrest among blacks in South Africa
 increased. On Mar. 2, at a meeting in Zambia, the executive committee of the
 African National Congress named Mandela the ANC's deputy president. Because
 Pres. Oliver Tambo was ill, Mandela in effect became the ANC leader. Mandela
 traveled to Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Ethiopia, where he received enthusiastic
 welcomes, then met with Tambo in Sweden, Mar. 12, their first visit in 28
 years. Meanwhile, tensions overflowed in several of the black "homelands"
 created by the minority white government of South Africa. These 10 tribal
 homelands were to become self-governing, but only 4 had been formally
 established. Black nationalists believed to be sympathetic to the ANC
 overthrew the president of one homeland, Ciskei, Mar. 4. After looting and
 arson became widespread, and 27 people were killed, South Africa sent
 soldiers and police into Ciskei, Mar. 5. By Mar. 6, protests had spread to 4
 other homelands, led by pro-ANC activists, who, in turn, clashed with
 security forces in the homelands. In Bophuthatswana, Mar. 7, seven people
 were killed and 450 persons injured when local police opened fire on a crowd
 of 50,000 that had marched on a government office. On Mar. 26, in the black
 township of Sebokeng, 11 people were killed and hundreds wounded when police
 fired on a large crowd of demonstrators. In Natal Province, Mar. 27 and 28,
 fighting among black factions resulted in 25 fatalities.

 Mystery Fire Strikes Libyan Plant -- The United States said, Mar. 6 and 7,
 that poison gas was being produced at a plant at Rabta, Libya, about 50
 miles southwest of Tripoli. White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said,
 Mar. 7, that evidence indicated that the plant was producing chemical
 weapons and called on the "international community" to "step up its efforts
 to deny Libya the ability to continue operating the plant." Libya claimed
 the plant was a pharmaceutical factory. A fire broke out at the plant, Mar.
 14, and Pres. George Bush denied "absolutely" that the United States was
 responsible. Libyan and U.S. officials said, Mar. 15, that the plant had
 been damaged extensively and would be out of operation indefinitely. Libya's
 official news agency said at least 2 persons had been killed in the fire.

 Britons Protest New Poll Tax -- A new community charge, or poll tax, stirred
 protests across Great Britain. The community charge was to replace the
 previous system of property taxes. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
 contended that the new system was fairer, and she blamed local councils for
 overspending when they set charges at higher levels than the government had
 estimated. Left-wing groups led the protests. Violence occurred in Bristol,
 Southampton, and in several boroughs of London, including Hackney, where 29
 police officers were hurt and 60 people were arrested, Mar. 8. A riot
 involving several thousand people occurred in London on Mar. 31, the day
 before the new rates were to go into effect. More than 400 were injured,
 including 331 police officers, and 341 arrests were made.

 Lithuania Declares Independence -- Lithuania, a republic of the Soviet
 Union, declared its independence, Mar. 11. Lithuania and its Baltic
 neighbors, Latvia and Estonia, had been annexed by the USSR in 1940. The
 vote in the Lithuanian Supreme Soviet (parliament) was 124-0, with 6
 abstentions. The deputies then elected Vytautas Landsbergis, a professor of
 music history, as president. The U.S. State Dept., Mar. 12, declined to
 extend diplomatic recognition. Soviet Politburo member Yegor Ligachev, Mar.
 12, called for a peaceful solution, adding, "Tanks will not help in this
 matter." Soviet Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev, Mar. 13, called Lithuania's step
 "illegitimate and invalid." On Mar. 17, the Lithuanian parliament formed a
 noncommunist government. Soviet forces began military maneuvers in
 Lithuania, Mar. 18. The Lithuanian government ignored the Mar. 19 deadline
 set by Gorbachev for rescinding the declaration. On Mar. 21, Gorbachev
 banned all sale of firearms in Lithuania and ordered Lithuanians to
 surrender all their firearms to Soviet officials. A Soviet military convoy
 entered Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, Mar. 22. The Soviet government,
 Mar. 23, ordered Western diplomats to leave the republic and restricted
 entry of foreigners into Lithuania. Soviet paratroopers, Mar. 25, seized the
 headquarters and other property of the rebellious Communist Party of
 Lithuania. Ethnic Lithuanians who had deserted the army were rounded up. All
 foreigners were ordered to leave, Mar. 27. Landsbergis, Mar. 28, called for
 talks with Moscow. Soviet troops, Mar. 30, seized the state prosecutor's
 office in the capital and the printing plant of a pro-independence
 newspaper. Estonia's parliament proclaimed, Mar. 30, that it was occupied
 and that it was entering a "transitional period" that would lead to
 independence. Gorbachev warned Lithuania, Mar. 31, of "grave consequences"
 if it did not annul its declaration of independence.

 Disbanding of Contras Debated -- Pres.-elect Violeta Barrios de Chamorro met
 with Pres. Oscar Arias in Costa Rica, Mar. 6, to discuss repatriation of the
 contras. She said after the meeting that she would solve the contra problem
 by declaring an amnesty. She called for demilitarization of Central America
 and said she would reduce Nicaragua's army to a small police force. Meeting
 with Vice Pres. Dan Quayle in Santiago, Chile, Mar. 12, Pres. Daniel Ortega
 gave assurances that his government would surrender control of the military
 and the security police to the new government. Pres. George Bush, Mar. 13,
 lifted economic sanctions against Nicaragua and asked Congress for $300
 million in economic aid. The contras, Mar. 23, agreed to dismantle their
 camps in Honduras, and those in Nicaragua would gather in U.N.-supervised
 security zones until absorbed into civilian life. Contra leaders said, Mar.
 25, that those gathering in the enclaves would remain there for months, and
 would keep their arms. The Sandinista government, Mar. 27, signed an
 agreement recognizing Chamorro's right to have full authority over the army
 and security forces.

 Mongolian Communists Relax Grip -- Jambyn Batmunh, general secretary of the
 Communist Party of Mongolia, said, Mar. 12, that the Communists would work
 with opposition forces to make needed political changes. The Central
 Committee of the People's Revolutionary (Communist) Party voted, Mar. 14, to
 drop its monopoly on power as guaranteed by the constitution. Gombojavyn
 Ochirbat, a reformist leader who had been living in Czechoslovakia, was
 selected to replace Batmunh, and an all-new Politburo was chosen.

 Communist Monopoly in USSR Ended -- The Soviet Congress of People's Deputies
 voted overwhelmingly (1,771 to 24, with 74 abstentions), Mar. 13, to repeal
 Article 6 of the Soviet constitution that gave the Communist Party a
 political monopoly. The historic change had been included in a platform
 approved by the party's Central Committee in February. Pres. Mikhail
 Gorbachev, who had pressed for the change, also won a victory with the
 approval by the deputies, Mar. 13, of a more powerful presidency with broad
 executive authority. He believed that a strong president could rise above
 partisan politics in the new multiparty system, but many deputies feared
 that his plan would lead to a dictatorship. The congress voted, Mar. 14, to
 begin popular elections for the presidency beginning in 1995. Gorbachev, as
 expected, was chosen president Mar. 15, but barely got the required
 two-thirds vote. Gorbachev already held the title of president. In local
 election results reported Mar. 19, opposition groups scored many victories
 over the Communists. It was reported that insurgents won 281 of 498 seats on
 the Moscow City Council, and the Communists also lost control of city
 councils in Kiev and Leningrad. Nationalist opposition movements continued
 to gain in Estonia, Latvia, and the Ukraine in voting for various local and
 republic offices.

 Conservatives Win East German Election -- Conservatives supported by West
 German Chancellor Helmut Kohl won big in East German elections held in
 March. Earlier, onMar. 14, diplomatic representatives from both Germanys,
 France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the U.S. began talks on German
 reunification in Bonn. The pace of reunification was apparently the key
 issue in the voting for the East German parliament, Mar. 18. Three
 conservative parties, who had joined together as the Alliance for Germany,
 and who favored rapid reunification, piled up 48 percent of the vote and
 earned an equivalent percentage of the seats in parliament. The Social
 Democratic Party ran a distant second with 22 percent of the vote. The Party
 of Democratic Socialism, the successor to the Communist Party, received 16
 percent.

 Shamir Government Falls in Israel -- Israel's coalition government led by
 Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir of the Likud Party fell, Mar. 15, when it was
 defeated in a 60-55 no-confidence vote in the Knesset (parliament). The vote
 came after Shamir refused to accept a U.S. plan for peace talks between
 Israel and the Palestinians. Likud's coalition partner, the Labor Party,
 voted against the government, but the key votes were held by the small
 religious parties. Five members of the Shas party withheld their support for
 Shamir after he refused to compromise on the U.S. proposal, and that allowed
 the no-confidence vote to carry.

 Namibia Becomes Independent -- Namibia, once known as South-West Africa,
 became independent, Mar 21. Once a German colony, the country was controlled
 from World War I by South Africa, which was granted a League of Nations
 mandate in 1920. The United Nations opposed South Africa's request to annex
 Namibia, and an armed independence struggle ensued. U.N.-supported
 negotiations began in 1978, and culminated in an accord on independence.
 Pres. Sam Nujoma, a former guerrilla leader, took a moderate stance at the
 independence celebration, saying he welcomed "inflows of capital and
 know-how from abroad."


                                  General

 AIDS Epidemic Seen at Its Peak -- Two medical researchers concluded, Mar.
 16, in an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association that
 the AIDS epidemic had reached its peak in the U.S. Dennis Bregman of the
 University of Southern California and Alexander Langmuir, former chief
 epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control, foresaw that new cases of
 AIDS, which had been increasing each year, would level off within a few
 years. They cited a theory of epidemiology which says that epidemics fade
 quickly after the disease spreads from highly susceptible members of the
 population to less susceptible members. However, other AIDS specialists were
 less optimistic, noting that hundreds of thousands of persons infected with
 the AIDS virus were expected to show symptoms of the condition in the
 future. The number of new AIDS cases in the U.S. rose by 9 percent in 1989,
 according to the Centers for Disease Control, the lowest rate of increase
 since the CDC began keeping records.

 $100 Million in Art Stolen -- Twelve works of art valued at $100 million or
 more were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Mar.
 18. The robbery, in terms of value of the works, was the largest in the
 history of art. Two Rembrandt paintings, including his only seascape, were
 taken. Several works by Degas and one painting each by Vermeer and Manet
 were also seized. The museum said, Mar. 19, that the works were not insured
 because the premiums would have exceeded the museum's annual budget.

 Aspirin Found Effective Against Strokes -- Researchers reported in the New
 England Journal of Medicine, Mar. 22, that taking aspirin daily cut the risk
 of stroke from 50 percent to 80 percent among patients suffering from a
 common heartbeat irregularity, atrial fibrillation. Warfarin, a prescription
 drug that like aspirin thinned the blood, had a similar benefit. Some 70,000
 Americans suffered a stroke each year connected with atrial fibrillation.
 Aspirin had previously been found to be effective against heart attacks and
 another kind of stroke caused by clots in the blood vessels of the brain.

 87 Die in Fire at Bronx Club -- Eighty-seven people died in a fire at a
 social club in the Bronx borough of New York City, Mar. 25. The fire, which
 police said was deliberately set, spread rapidly through the 2-story
 structure, and the victims died within minutes from burning or asphyxiation.
 Only a few persons escaped. The club had been ordered closed in 1988.
 Officials said it had no sprinklers, fire exits, emergency lights, or exit
 signs at the time of the tragedy. The club was popular with immigrants from
 Central America, and the majority of those who died were from Honduras. The
 police, Mar. 25, arrested Julio Gonzalez and charged him with arson and
 murder. They said he had had an argument with a former girl friend who
 worked at the club.


                                   APRIL


                                  National

 Consumers Prices Jump Again -- Another sharp increase in consumer prices
 highlighted statistics on the economy released in April. The Commerce Dept.
 reported, Apr. 3, that the leading economic indicators had fallen 1 percent
 in February. The Labor Dept. said, Apr. 6, that unemployment had stood at
 5.2 percent in March. The department reported, Apr. 13, that the index of
 producer prices for finished goods had declined 0.2 percent in March. The
 department said, Apr. 17, that consumer prices had risen 0.5 percent in
 March, equaling the advance reported for February. The inflation rate for
 the first quarter of 1990, 8.5 percent, was the highest annual rate for any
 quarter since 1982. The Commerce Dept. said, Apr. 18, that the U.S.
 merchandise trade deficit had fallen to $6.49 billion in February, the
 smallest monthly gap since 1983. The department said, Apr. 27, that the
 gross national product had grown at an annual rate of 2.1 percent during the
 first quarter.

 Poindexter Convicted on Iran-Contra Charges -- John Poindexter, a former
 national security adviser for Pres. Ronald Reagan, was convicted, Apr. 7, on
 all 5 felony counts facing him at his trial in a federal district court in
 Washington, D.C. These included 2 counts of obstructing Congress, 2 of
 making false statements to Congress, and one of conspiracy to obstruct
 Congress. In one case, for example, he was found guilty of reporting falsely
 that no U.S. officials had known until January 1986 of a November 1985
 shipment of Hawk anti-aircraft missiles to Iran by Israel. Poindexter was
 the highest-ranking official to be convicted in the Iran-contra affair. On
 June 11, he was sentenced to 6 months in prison, becoming the first
 defendent in the case to be sentenced to jail.

 U.S. to Keep Records on "Hate" Crimes -- Under a bill signed into law, Apr.
 23, by Pres. George Bush, the federal government would keep records of
 crimes committed by persons motivated by racial, ethnic, or sexual
 prejudice. Under the Hate Crimes Statistics Act, data would be kept on
 incidents of murder, rape, assault, arson, vandalism, and intimidation. Some
 conservatives in Congress had opposed including "sexual orientation" in the
 bill along with race and religion. Homosexual-rights leaders said that this
 was the first federal law to include the classification of sexual
 orientation.

 Foes of Abortion Demonstrate in Capital -- Opponents of abortion came to
 Washington, D.C., Apr. 28, to demonstrate for their cause. The number of
 participants was officially put at 200,000, but organizers claimed the
 figure was closer to 700,000. After the Supreme Court in 1989 had granted
 states wide authority to restrict abortions, supporters of a woman's right
 to choose an abortion had become more active, and the latest rally was aimed
 at countering that sentiment. Pres. George Bush, addressing the rally by
 phone, said that the "widespread prevalence of abortion is a tragedy." Vice
 Pres. Dan Quayle, who attended the rally, said, "The pro-life movement is
 the humanitarian movement of our time."

 HUD Described as 'Political Machine' -- DuBois Gilliam, a deputy assistant
 secretary at the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development from 1984 to 1987,
 began testifying before the House Government Operations subcommittee, Apr.
 30. Gilliam was serving a prison term for accepting payoffs from developers.
 Gilliam told the subcommittee, which was investigating other allegations of
 wrongdoing, that the department "was the best domestic political machine
 I've ever seen. We dealt strictly in politics." Gilliam admitted he had
 accepted about $100,000 in payoffs from developers and consultants who
 wanted to do business with HUD. He disputed testimony by Samuel Pierce, a
 former HUD secretary, who had asserted that he had played no role in
 awarding HUD grants. "I know for a fact that the secretary made decisions,"
 Gilliam said. "We were not allowed to spend any discretionary funds without
 clearing it with him." Gilliam said Pierce transferred an employee who
 became suspicious about a link between politics and the awarding of grants.
 An attorney for Pierce denied the allegations against his client, Apr. 30.


                               International

 USSR Increases Pressure on Lithuania -- Tensions between the Soviet Union
 and its rebellious Baltic republics remained high in April. The Supreme
 Soviet, the national standing legislature, passed a law, Apr. 2,
 establishing the rules for secession. One would require a two-thirds
 approval in a referendum, and if this majority was not obtained a republic
 would have to wait 10 years before trying again. The parliament of Estonia
 declared, Apr. 2, that the law did not apply to Estonia. Pres. Vytautas
 Landsbergis said, Apr. 2, that the timing of Lithuania's declaration of
 independence was open to discussion, and he called for talks with the Soviet
 leadership. The Latvian Communist Party broke into pro- and
 anti-independence factions, Apr. 7. The Estonian parliament, Apr. 11,
 abolished the drafting of Estonians into the Soviet military. Soviet Pres.
 Mikhail Gorbachev, Apr. 13, threatened to impose an economic embargo on
 Lithuania. Pres. George Bush warned, Apr. 17, that if that happened the
 United States would consider "appropriate responses." On Apr. 18, the Soviet
 government cut off the flow of crude oil into Lithuania, and on Apr. 19, it
 shut down 3 or 4 natural gas pipelines serving Lithuania. On Apr. 24, Bush
 announced an indefinite delay in imposing sanctions on the Soviet Union,
 saying he did not want to add fuel to "an already volatile situation."
 Landsbergis, Apr. 24, called this a modern Munich, a reference to the
 attempt by France and Great Britain to appease Hitler in 1938.

 Bulgaria Schedules Elections -- The Bulgarian parliament gave its approval,
 Apr. 3, to free, multiparty national elections that would be held in June.
 Parliament also amended the constitution to create an executive presidency
 and delete the words communist and socialist from the document. Also on Apr.
 3, parliament elected former Communist Party General Secretary Petar
 Mladenov as executive president. The Communist Party, Apr. 3, changed its
 name to the Bulgarian Socialist Party.

 Chamorro Inaugurated in Nicaragua -- Violeta Barrios de Chamorro began her
 term as president of Nicaragua in April. Meeting in Montelimar, Nicaragua,
 Apr. 3, 5 Central American presidents set a deadline 3 weeks hence for the
 demobilization of the Nicaraguan contras. On Apr. 19, representatives of the
 contras, the outgoing Sandinista regime, and the new government agreed to a
 cease-fire, which took effect that day. The contras agreed to move into 5
 security zones by inauguration day, Apr. 25. Mrs. Chamorro's inauguration at
 a baseball stadium was an emotional occasion, with the stands filled with
 supporters of her and of the Sandinista government that she had defeated in
 the campaign. She surprised many by announcing that she would retain Gen.
 Humberto Ortega Saavedra as chief of the armed forces. He was the brother of
 the outgoing president, Daniel Ortega. A contra leader declared, Apr. 25,
 that the contras would not demobilize so long as Ortega stayed in power.

 Mandela Meets With Pres. de Klerk -- Pres. F. W. de Klerk of South Africa
 and Nelson Mandela, the black nationalist leader whom he had freed, met in
 Cape Town, Apr. 5. They agreed that formal talks would be held soon between
 the government and the African National Congress. Speaking to Parliament,
 Apr. 18, de Klerk rejected the concept of majority rule, which he said would
 result in black domination, but he endorsed the sharing of power between the
 races. This would include "the requirement of consensus on controversial
 matters." He said the ANC would have to renounce violence before
 participating in negotiations on a new constitution.

 Conservatives Win Hungarian Election -- The second round, or runoff,
 elections to the Hungarian parliament were completed, Apr. 8. The
 center-right Hungarian Democratic Forum captured 43 percent of the seats,
 and this party, in alliance with 2 smaller conservative parties, would
 control almost 60 percent of all the seats. The liberal Free Democrats won
 24 percent of the seats. The ruling Socialist (formerly Communist) Party
 captured only 8.5 percent of the seats.

 East Germany Installs New Government -- Lothar de Maiziere, leader of the
 Christian Democratic Union, a conservative party, became premier of East
 Germany, Apr. 12. In coalition with the Social Democratic Party, he headed
 East Germany's first freely chosen government. The Party of Democratic
 Socialism, the successor to the Communist Party, was not included in the
 coalition government. De Maiziere, a lawyer, had formerly been a
 professional viola player. Meeting under its new leadership, Apr. 12,
 parliament asked for forgiveness from Jews and the Soviet Union for the
 policy of genocide practiced by the Nazis in World War II. Parliament also
 acknowledged that East Germany shared the guilt for invading Czechoslovakia
 in 1968, and it pledged "unequivocal recognition" of Poland's current
 border.

 2 U.S. Hostages Freed in Lebanon -- Kidnapers in Lebanon freed 2 U.S.
 hostages in April. The first, Robert Polhill, was freed, Apr. 22, after more
 than 3 years in captivity. Polhill, a diabetic who had received insulin
 injections from his captors, said he had never seen the sun during the time
 that he was held. He had been held with 2 other hostages. President George
 Bush said, Apr. 22, that if Iran wanted better relations with the United
 States it would have to use its influence with its Shiite allies in Lebanon
 to free the remaining hostages. Bush, Apr. 23, thanked Pres. Hafez al-Assad
 of Syria for his role in the release. A 2d U.S. hostage, Frank Reed, was
 freed, Apr. 30. He had disappeared in September 1986. Bush thanked the
 government of Iran for having used its influence to free Reed. Reed said,
 May 2, he had spent his time in captivity with 4 other Western hostages.
 Altogether, some 15 westerners were believed being held in Lebanon.

 3d Candidate Slain in Colombia -- Another presidential candidate was
 assassinated in Colombia, Apr. 26. Carlos Pizarro Leongomez, the candidate
 of the leftist movement known as M-19, was the third presidential aspirant
 to be killed during the current campaign. He was shot while traveling aboard
 an Avianca Airlines flight that had just left Bogota. The gunman was
 immediately killed by Pizarro's bodyguards. An anonymous caller to a radio
 network claimed that the assassination was carried out by leaders of the
 drug cartel, but drug leaders, Apr. 27, issued a statement condemning the
 slaying.


                                  General

 Museum Indicted for Showing Photos -- An exhibit of photographs by the late
 Robert Mapplethorpe opened at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati,
 Apr. 7, and on that day the museum and its director, Dennis Barrie, were
 indicted by a grand jury on obscenity charges--pandering and illegal use of
 a minor. Prosecutors had concentrated their charges on 7 (of 175)
 photographs in the exhibit that depicted naked children or homosexual acts.
 The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. had canceled the same
 exhibit in 1989 after some members of Congress objected to the subject
 matter and threatened to restrict funding for the arts. On Apr. 8, U.S.
 District Judge Carl Rubin forbade law enforcement officials from closing the
 exhibit. The exhibit broke records for attendance at the museum.

 Fire on Danish Ferry Takes Heavy Toll -- A fire broke out on the Danish
 ferry Scandinavian Star while it was en route, Apr. 7, from Oslo, Norway to
 Frederikshavn, Denmark. Up to 176 persons died, mostly from smoke
 inhalation. About 360 persons escaped in life-boats.

 Tuna Canners Act to Protect Dolphins -- Three companies announced, Apr. 12,
 that they would no longer buy tuna that had been caught in nets that also
 trapped dolphins. H. J. Heinz Company, Van Camp Seafood Company, and Bumble
 Bee Seafoods Inc., which produced 70 percent of the canned tuna fish sold in
 the United States, acted in response to protests from enviromentalists. Tuna
 fisherman often used huge nets to capture tuna, and from 80,000 to 100,000
 dolphins also perished each year when caught in the nets.

 Pete Rose Pleads Guilty on Taxes -- Pete Rose, one of baseball's greatest
 players, pleaded guilty, Apr. 20, to 2 counts of filing false tax returns.
 The admission, in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, followed a long
 investigation into his gambling habit. Rose had been banned from baseball
 for life in 1989. In the court settlement, Rose agreed to pay $366,000 in
 back taxes, penalties, and interest. He remained subject to a possible
 prison sentence. On July 19, he was sentenced to 5 months in jail, fined
 $50,000, and ordered to perform 1,000 hours of community service.

 200 Million Celebrate Earth Day -- In what was believed to be the biggest
 grass-roots celebration ever, some 200 million people in Europe, Asia,
 Africa, and the Western Hemisphere participated in Earth Day activities,
 Apr. 22. Events were planned in some 3,600 cities and towns in 140
 countries. The day marked the 20th anniversary of the original Earth Day in
 1970. The intent was to focus on growing environmental problems that were
 threatening the quality of life everywhere. Concerts, street fairs,
 festivals, marches, and exhibits stressed such issues as recycling, global
 warming, endangered species of animals, and air and water quality. About
 750,000 persons attended a rally and concert in Central Park in New York
 City.

 Space Telescope Deployed by Shuttle -- The shuttle Discovery lifted off from
 Cape Canaveral, Fla., Apr. 24, with a crew of 5. On Apr. 25, it deployed its
 12.5-ton cargo, the Hubble Space Telescope. The $1.5-billion telescope,
 which had a 94.5-inch mirror, was put into orbit 381 miles above earth. It
 was anticipated that the telescope, which would be far above any atmospheric
 interference associated with the surface of the planet, would be able to see
 deeper into space than any other telescope, and with unprecedented clarity.

 Milken Fined $600 Million in Fraud Case -- Michael Milken, the former "junk
 bond king" at the securities firm of Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc., pleaded
 guilty, Apr. 24, to 6 counts relating to securities fraud, and agreed to pay
 a record total of $600 million in fines and restitution. Under the
 agreement, in U.S. District Court in New York, more serious charges against
 Milken were dropped, and a case against his brother, Lowell Milken, was also
 dropped. Michael Milken had helped spur the corporate takeover boom of the
 1980s through the use of high-yield, high-risk junk bonds. Counts to which
 Milken pleaded guilty included conspiracy, aiding and abetting the filing of
 a false statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and assisting
 the filing of a false tax return. Milken still faced the possibility of
 being sentenced to prison.

 Disasters -- An explosion caused by a leaking gas cylinder killed at least
 80 persons on a commuter train traveling near Kumrahar, Hihar state, India,
 Apr. 16.  . . .  An earthquake in central China, in Qinghai province, Apr.
 26, killed 115 people.


                                    MAY


                                  National

 More Testimony Heard in HUD Inquiry -- DuBois Gilliam, a former deputy
 assistant secretary at the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, continued
 his testimony before a House subcommittee. He said on May 2, that an
 assistant to then-Vice Pres. George Bush had once intervened on behalf of a
 Bush supporter, Hector Barreto. A developer in Kansas City, Barreto was
 granted $500,000 for a trade center project even though it had initially
 been rejected for HUD funds. Gilliam testified, May 4, that on several
 occasions former HUD Secretary Samuel Pierce had used discretionary funds to
 fund projects supported by friends or Republican figures. Pierce's attorney,
 May 4, said that nothing illegal had occurred. The Justice Dept. said, May
 29, that Attorney Gen. Richard Thornburgh had asked that the independent
 counsel investigating the HUD allegations expand his inquiry to pursue
 assertions made by Gilliam.

 Inflation Fears Ease a Bit -- Figures on  consumer and producer prices
 released during May indicated a lessening of inflation pressures. The
 Commerce Dept. reported, May 2, that leading economic indicators had risen
 0.9 percent in March. The Labor Dept. reported, May 4, that the unemployment
 rate had edged upward to 5.4 percent in April, the highest level in more
 than a year. The department said, May 11, that producer prices for finished
 goods had declined 0.3 percent in April. It said, May 16, that consumer
 prices had risen just 0.2 percent in April, the smallest advance since
 September 1989. The Commerce Dept. reported, May 17, that the U.S.
 merchandise trade deficit had risen to $8.45 billion in March, propelled by
 a 10 percent surge in imports. The department, May 24, revised its estimate
 of the growth of the gross national product in the first quarter, putting
 the annual rate at a lower figure of 1.3 percent. It reported, May 30, that
 the leading economic indicators had fallen 0.2 percent in April. Stock
 prices advanced throughout May, with the Dow Jones industrial average
 setting a string of all-time highs. The highest point during the month was
 reached, May 30, when the Dow closed at 2878.56.

 Budget 'Summit' Held at White House -- Pres. George Bush, leaders of his
 administration, and Congressional leaders began a budget "summit" at the
 White House, May 15, amid concern about the growing national budget deficit.
 Administration estimates for the 1991 fiscal budget deficit had jumped from
 $101 billion to at least $123 billion. The administration attributed the
 growing gap to higher interest rates, a falloff in tax receipts, more
 spending on commercial bank failures, and, most of all, the size of the
 savings and loan bailout--although it was not officially a part of
 administration figures. At a news conference, May 16, Bush said, "when you
 take a look at the most recent estimates, the problem is of such a magnitude
 that we have to address it." He said the problem should be addressed now
 while the economy was reasonably strong. Those attending the summit, May 17,
 heard a Congressional Budget Office report putting the 1991 deficit
 projection as high as $159 billion. No agreements on the budget were
 reported from the talks.

 S & L Bailout Cost Estimate Rises -- Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady told
 the Senate Banking Committee, May 23, that the cost of bailing out the
 savings and loan industry could run as high as $130 billion, nearly twice
 previous projections. He said the higher figure could become a reality if
 real-estate prices continued to fall and if thrifts continued to fail at an
 accelerating rate. Interest payments, furthermore, could help send the cost
 over the next 10 years toward $300 billion. Neil Bush, the son of the
 president, testified before the House Banking Committee, May 23. He was
 asked about his role as a director of Silverado Banking, an S & L in
 Colorado, which had been taken over by the government in 1988 at a cost to
 taxpayers of perhaps $1 billion. Questioned about possible conflicts of
 interest related to loans Silverado had made to 2 of his business partners,
 Bush denied any wrong-doing.

 Navy Reopens Inquiry in Blast Fatal to 47 -- The Navy said, May 24, that it
 was reopening its investigation into the explosion aboard the battleship
 Iowa in April 1989 that took the lives of 47 members of its crew. The
 explosion had occurred in a gun turret during a training exercise. The Navy
 later issued a report stating that it was "most likely" that the explosion
 had been caused by a suicidal crewman, Clayton Hartwig, who, according to
 the theory, had placed some sort of detonating device in the mechanism.
 Hartwig died in the explosion. Hartwig's family had fought to clear his
 name. At the request of the General Accounting Office, the Sandia National
 Laboratories in Albuquerque, N. M. examined 3 battleships and found traces
 of foreign chemical elements in all, undercutting a conclusion by the Navy
 that the presence of such materials on the Iowa suggested that an explosive
 device had been planted. On May 24, the Navy tested Sandia's suggestion that
 the explosion could have been caused because gunpowder was rammed too fast
 into the turret's center gun. The bags of gunpowder exploded on the 18th
 test.


                               International

 Soviet Referendum on Economy Scheduled -- On May 1, the annual May Day
 parade in Moscow's Red Square came to a surprising climax. As in years past,
 official delegations marched along the parade route, displaying their
 socialist unity. But, for the first time, independent and unofficial
 organizations were permitted to march, and thousands of persons jeered Pres.
 Mikhail Gorbachev and other national leaders as they passed the reviewing
 area atop Lenin's Mausoleum. These marchers, who included ethnic
 nationalists, human-rights and religious activists, and students and
 intellectuals, carried banners of protest, with such slogans as "Down with
 the Cult of Lenin" and "Seventy-two Years on the Road to Nowhere." No May
 Day celebrations were held at all in the capitals of 5 of the restive
 republics. On May 24, Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov presented to the Supreme
 Soviet, the standing national legislature, an economic-reform program that
 included an easing of price controls. Bread prices would triple, and the
 cost of some goods and services would go up 30 percent. Government subsidies
 had kept many prices artificially low. The program also included
 unemployment benefits and tax-indexing to assist workers. It also would set
 in motion a transformation of state enterprises into joint stock companies.
 The program would be subject to approval in a national referendum. Unrest
 flared anew in Armenia, May 27, and by May 29, the official death toll was
 put at 24. On May 29, on the third ballot, Boris Yeltsin was elected
 president of the Russian Republic, the largest and most important of the 15
 republics of the Soviet Union. An advocate of radical reforms, Yeltsin had
 called for economic and political sovereignty for Russia, and said he
 favored turning the USSR into a loose confederation of republics.

 Debate Over Baltic Republics Continues -- Pres. Vytautas Landsbergis of
 Lithuania said, May 2, in a letter to French and West German leaders that
 Lithuania would consider suspending some pro-independence laws if that would
 get talks with the Kremlin underway. Premier Kasimiera Prunskiene met with
 Pres. George Bush in the White House, May 3. This was a private visit
 inasmuch as the United States did not recognize Lithuania as an independent
 nation. Bush declined to declare for Lithuanian independence but reiterated
 his support for the republic's "self-determination." Prunskiene indicated a
 willingness to suspend full implementation of Lithuania's declaration of
 independence to get negotiations started. On May 4, the parliament of Latvia
 voted 138-0 to declare its independence from the USSR, thus joining
 Lithuania and Estonia in that move. An unspecified period of transition was
 approved. Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev condemned this move, May 5, and on May 7,
 a column of Soviet tanks entered the Latvian capital of Riga. On May 8, the
 Estonian parliament declared the birth of the "Estonian Republic" and
 dropped the words "Soviet Socialist" from the republic's name. Gorbachev
 asserted, May 14, that the attempts by Latvia and Estonia to break from the
 Soviet Union had no legal basis. Demonstrators supporting unity with the
 Soviet Union, believed to be mostly ethnic Russians, stormed the parliament
 buildings in Estonia and Latvia, May 15. The Lithuanian government suspended
 enforcement of its independence laws, May 16, and on May 17, Gorbachev met
 with Premier Prunskiene in Moscow. She later said that the discussions were
 a big step forward. Gorbachev told Lithuanian leaders in Moscow, May 24,
 that the republic could be independent in 2 years if it suspended its
 declaration of independence.

 Unified German Monetary System Approved -- A treaty signed in May cleared
 the way for the unification of the economies of the 2 Germanys. Earlier, on
 May 5, foreign ministers of the 2 Germanys and of the 4 Allied powers in
 World War II met in Bonn to discuss reunification. Foreign Minister Eduard
 Shevardnadze of the Soviet Union reiterated his country's position that a
 united Germany in NATO was not acceptable. On May 18, the finance ministers
 of East and West Germany signed a treaty establishing a unified monetary
 system under the West German mark. The treaty would require approval of
 parliaments of both countries, and would take effect July 1. Under its
 terms, East Germans could exchange up to 4,000 East German marks for West
 German Deutsche marks, one for one. Wages and pensions would also be
 calculated in Deutsche marks at a one-to-one rate. East Germans would pay
 West German federal taxes and would be covered by West German laws on
 pensions and unemployment.

 Albanian Parliament Approves Reforms -- The parliament of Albania approved a
 package of legislation, May 8, that appeared to set the isolated Marxist
 nation on the path toward liberalization. Pres. Ramiz Alia, who was also
 first secretary of the Albanian Workers' (Communist) Party, provided the
 impetus for the legislation. Under the new laws, the court system was
 reorganized, the number of capital offenses was reduced from 34 to 11,
 restrictions on the right to worship were apparently relaxed, and citizens
 were guaranteed the right to obtain foreign passports.

 Ruling Party Wins Romanian Election -- Romania's National Salvation Front
 retained power in elections held in May. The front had led the country on an
 interim basis since the December 1989 revolution. Dozens of other parties
 competed in the election, but the front was better financed and better
 organized. The campaign was marked by violence, and the 2 major opposition
 parties complained that the front was responsible for beatings and
 harassment of hundreds of its supporters. The U.S. ambassador was withdrawn
 temporarily, May 10, and the State Dept. said it was concerned about
 "irregularities . . . which raise questions about whether those elections
 will be free and fair." In the voting, May 20, the front won about
 two-thirds of the seats in both houses of parliament. Interim Pres. Ion
 Iliescu also retained office, winning about 85 percent of the presidential
 vote.

 2 U.S. Airmen Killed in Philippines -- Two U.S. airmen were shot to death
 near Clark Air Force Base, a U.S. base in the Philippines, on May 13. The
 killings came at a critical time, because negotiations between the U.S. and
 the Philippines on the future of U.S. bases on the islands began in Manila,
 May 14. Many Filipinos wanted the U.S. to give up the bases. On May 15,
 communist rebels claimed responsibility for the deaths of the airmen.

 Report Issued on Pan Am Bombing -- A U.S. presidential commission issued a
 report, May 15, on the bombing in December 1988 that destroyed a Pan
 American airliner. All 259 persons aboard the plane and 11 on the ground at
 Lockerbie, Scotland died in the disaster. The commission said it was not
 certain how the bomb was smuggled aboard the plane but cited evidence that
 it was in an unaccompanied suitcase loaded in Frankfurt, West Germany. The
 report said that the security system for U.S. civil aviation "is seriously
 flawed and has failed to provide the proper level of protection to the
 traveling public."  The commission called for greatly increased security at
 U.S. airports, the creation of the post of assistant secretary of
 transportation for security and intelligence, and establishment of a
 national system for warning passengers of credible threats against airlines
 or flights.

 Bush, Gorbachev Open Summit Talks -- Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet
 Union arrived in Washington, D.C. at the end of May to begin summit
 discussions with Pres. George Bush. Earlier in the month, Secretary of State
 James Baker 3d had visited the USSR, and on May 19, he reported progress on
 several issues. He said all major obstacles had been cleared away on
 strategic arms, opening the way to a treaty that would reduce nuclear
 missile arsenals by 30 percent. The agreement included limitations on both
 air- and sea-launched cruise missiles. The 2 superpowers also agreed to
 begin eliminating their arsenals of chemical weapons in 1992. However, no
 break-through was reported on reducing conventional arms in Europe. Bush
 said, May 24, that he opposed normalizing trade relations with the Soviet
 Union because of the impasse over Lithuanian independence and because the
 Soviet leadership had not pushed for more liberal emigration policies.
 Gorbachev met in Ottawa, May 29 and 30, with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
 of Canada. Canadian officials announced they would extend a line of credit
 to the Soviet Union to facilitate purchase of Canadian goods and services by
 the USSR. Gorbachev and his entourage, including his wife, Raisa, flew to
 Washington, May 30, and on May 31, they were welcomed to the White House by
 President and Mrs. Bush. The 2 leaders and their aides met twice, May 31,
 focusing on German reunification, but failed to resolve the question of a
 united Germany's membership in NATO, which Gorbachev opposed. A number of
 leaders in the arts, entertainment, and politics attended a reception hosted
 by the Gorbachevs at the Soviet Embassy, May 31, and Mrs. Gorbachev helped
 open an exhibit of Russian religious texts at the Library of Congress, May
 31.

 Gorbachev met U.S. congressional leaders for breakfast at the Soviet
 Embassy, June 1, and the Soviet leader also met, June 1, with Vice Pres. Dan
 Quayle.

 Bush and Gorbachev signed more than a dozen documents at the White House,
 June 1. One agreement, spelling out broad goals to be incorporated in a
 treaty, would reduce long-range nuclear weapons arsenals. As worked out in
 May during Sec. of State Baker's trip to Moscow, the agreement set a limit
 of 1,600 strategic delivery vehicles per side, with a total of 6,000
 warheads per side for these long-range vehicles. Another agreement called
 for an immediate end to chemical weapons production by both superpowers.

 A third agreement was something of a surprise. Bush signed the trade treaty
 Gorbachev wanted so much, even though the Soviet Union had not met the
 condition previously stated--liberalizing emigration laws. Apparently, Bush
 also put aside concerns over Lithuania in signing the treaty. The treaty,
 requiring approval by Congress, would be a step toward granting the Soviet
 Union most-favored-nation status.

 Mrs. Gorbachev and Mrs. Bush addressed the graduating class of Wellesley
 College, Wellesley, Mass., June 1. Mrs. Gorbachev spoke on the role of women
 in Soviet society, and Mrs. Bush emphasized the importance of family and
 friends even for career women.

 The 2 presidents conducted informal talks at Camp David, in Maryland, June
 2. At a joint press conference in Washington, June 3, both leaders called
 the summit a success while acknowledging that agreement on German
 reunification had not been reached. Gorbachev said the Soviet Union might
 curb emigration of Soviet Jews to Israel unless Israel gave assurances that
 they would not settle in the occupied territories.

 Gorbachev flew to Minnesota, June 3, met with Gov. Rudy Perpich, and visited
 the headquarters of Control Data Corp., a leading company in computer
 technology.

 The Gorbachev party then flew to California, and on June 4, the Gorbachevs
 visited with former Pres. Ronald Reagan and Mrs. Reagan. Speaking to 1,700
 students at Stanford University, Gorbachev said, "The cold war is now behind
 us. Let us not wrangle over who won it."

 Gorbachev met, June 4, in San Francisco with South Korean Pres. Roh Tae Woo,
 and Roh later said the 2 countries would normalize relations.

 New Israeli-Palestinian Violence Flares -- More acts of violence involving
 Israelis and Palestinians added to growing tensions in the region in May. On
 May 20, a former Israeli soldier opened fire on Palestinian workers with an
 automatic rifle. Seven were killed and at least 10 were wounded. The army
 said the gunman had a record of disciplinary problems. Israeli leaders
 condemned the massacre. Riots broke out in the occupied Gaza Strip and the
 West Bank. The army cracked down, sending in reinforcements and imposing
 curfews. ByMay 22, 15 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces. On May
 30, Palestinian guerillas in speedboats sought to attack the coast of
 Israel. Israeli security forces captured one boat and its 5-man crew, which
 surrendered. Eleven men landed in a second boat, but 4 were killed and the
 rest captured. A radical faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization
 claimed responsibility  for the raid, saying it was intended to avenge the 7
 Palestinians killed, May 20. PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat denied, May 31, that
 the PLO had any "official" connection with the raid. Israeli leaders called
 on the United States to end its diplomatic contacts with the PLO.

 Foe of Drug Lords Elected in Colombia -- An opponent of the drug cartels,
 Cesar Gaviria Trujillo, was elected president of Colombia. The campaign had
 cost the lives of some 2,000 persons, mostly as a result of violent acts by
 the drug cartels. Three presidential candidates had been killed. Threats of
 more violence kept the turnout for the May 27 voting to 46 percent. Gaviria,
 the nominee of the ruling Liberal Party, received 48 percent of the vote.
 Alone among the 4 main candidates, he had supported extraditing drug
 traffickers to the U.S. Other candidates had advocated negotiating with the
 traffickers. Gaviria had served as minister of finance and as minister of
 government. In his victory speech, May 27, he vowed to put an end to
 terrorism, and he criticized industrialized countries for not doing enough
 to reduce consumption of drugs.


                                  General

 AIDS Drug Approved for Children -- The Food and Drug Administration, May 3,
 approved the drug AZT for treating children 3 months to 12 years who had
 symptoms of AIDS or who were infected with the AIDS virus. Government
 officials estimated that up to 20,000 children in the U.S. were infected
 with the virus. In approving AZT, the FDA waived its rule requiring separate
 testing of drugs for children

 Van Gogh Painting Sells for $82.5 Million -- A record price for a painting
 sold at auction was set, May 15, at Christie's auction house in New York
 City. Vincent van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" was sold for $82.5 million
 (including Christie's commission) to a Japanese businessman, Ryoei Saito.
 OnMay 17, at Sotheby's in New York City, Saito was the successful bidder for
 Pierre Auguste Renoir's "Au Moulin de la Galette." The total cost of that
 transaction, $78.1 million, was the second highest for any painting.

 Scientists Forecast Global Warming -- A U.N. report issued May 25, by
 scientists from many countries, warned that global temperatures could rise
 by 2 degrees Fahrenheit within 35 years. They foresaw a 6 degrees F increase
 by the end of the next century, with serious consequences that could not be
 forecast now. The report had received nearly unanimous approval from
 scientists representing 39 countries. The authors concluded that emissions
 of carbon dioxide, methane, and chlorofluorocarbons would have to be reduced
 by 60 percent in order to just stabilize atmospheric concentrations at
 current levels. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, May 25, set a target for
 Great Britain of a 30 percent reduction in projected emissions of carbon
 dioxide. In doing so, she broke away from the position of the Bush
 administration, which called for more research on the problem.

 Disasters -- A cyclone swept through Andhra Pradesh state, in India, May
 9-11, killing at least 220 persons and leaving about 3 million homeless  . .
 .  At least 101 persons died in an earthquake that struck northern Peru, May
 30.


                                    JUNE


                                  National

 Jobless Rate Edges Downward -- The Labor Dept. reported, June 1, that
 unemployment edged downward 0.1 percentage point in May to 5.3 percent. The
 department said, June 14, that producer prices for finished goods rose 0.3
 percent in May, following 3  consecutive monthly drops. It reported, June
 15, that consumer prices had edged upward 0.2 percent in May. The Dow Jones
 industrial average posted another all-time high, June 15, of 2935.89. The
 Commerce Dept. said, June 15, that the merchandise trade deficit had
 narrowed to $6.94 billion in April. The department reported, June 21, that
 the estimate of the growth in the gross national product, on an annual
 basis, for the first quarter of 1990 had been revised upward from 1.3
 percent to 1.9 percent. This was the second lowest growth rate reported in
 the past 30 months. It reported, June 27, that the leading economic
 indicators had risen 0.8 percent in May.

 D.C. Mayor's Drug Trial Opens -- The trial of Marion Barry, the mayor of
 Washington, D.C., on drug charges got underway, June 4. He faced 11
 misdemeanor counts relating to cocaine and 3 felony counts of lying to a
 grand jury. On June 13, Barry announced that he would not seek a 4th term,
 saying that his struggle to overcome dependency on drugs and alcohol was
 more important to him than another campaign. Opening arguments in the trial
 were presented, June 19. The defense attorney said that FBI agents had
 sought to entrap Barry when they videotaped him using cocaine in January. On
 June 28, the prosecution presented its key piece of evidence--the videotape
 apparently showing Barry smoking crack in a hotel room in the Vista
 International Hotel in Washington, D.C. The defense contended that the tape
 supported the entrapment defense.

 Flag Amendment Fails in Congress -- A proposed Constitutional amendment to
 permit the federal government or the states to prosecute those who
 desecrated the American flag failed to win approval in both houses of
 Congress. The U.S. Supreme Court, June 11, struck down a 1989 federal law
 barring desecration of the flag. Pres. George Bush renewed his call for an
 amendment to protect the flag. Many other political leaders, mostly
 Republicans, joined him. Democrats generally opposed an amendment, arguing
 that it would represent a compromise of the First Amendment's protection of
 free speech. On June 21, members of the House voted 254-177 in favor of the
 amendment, but this was well short of the two-thirds majority needed for the
 approval of an amendment. The Senate, June 26, voted 58-42 for the
 amendment, again well below the required majority.

 Cardinal Issues Warning on Abortion -- Cardinal John J. O'Connor, the Roman
 Catholic archbishop of New York City, said, June 14, that Catholic political
 leaders who supported the right of women to have an abortion "must be warned
 that they are at risk of excommunication." In an article in the
 archdiocese's newspaper, he said that the warning applied to women who
 obtained an abortion, to doctors who performed the procedure, and to
 officeholders who supported abortion or made funds available for it.


                               International

 Violence Flares in Soviet Kirghizia -- Violent clashes began, June 4, in the
 city of Osh, in the Soviet republic of Kirghizia, between Uzbeks and Kirghiz
 citizens. The dispute was over a proposed allocation of a large plot of land
 for housing for the Kirghiz. Thousands of Uzbeks rioted, and Soviet troops
 were sent to the area. By June 7, the death toll was reported as 48. On June
 8, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, at a joint press conference
 with Gorbachev during a visit to the Soviet Union, praised the president's
 reform programs as "the most exciting, the biggest, the most historic in
 Europe for a very long time." Tass reported, June 13, that the death toll in
 Kirghizia stood at 148. The Supreme Soviet (standing national legislature),
 June 14, approved the country's first corporate income tax, setting a basic
 rate of 45 percent. The Supreme Soviet, June 14, also rejected the
 government's proposal to triple the price of bread. Although parliament's
 approval was not required, its opposition appeared likely to force a
 revision of the price structure.

 State of Emergency Eased in South Africa -- Pres. F. W. de Klerk announced,
 June 7, that he would lift the 4-year-old state of emergency in 3 of South
 Africa's 4 provinces. He made an exception in Natal Province, where more
 than 3,000 blacks had been killed in 3 years of fighting between
 conservative and radical Zulu factions. Nelson Mandela, deputy president of
 the African National Congress, praised the action but urged the West to
 maintain sanctions against the government.

 Shamir Forms Cabinet in Israel -- The leadership paralysis in Israel ended,
 June 8, when Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir announced that he had succeeded
 in forming a cabinet. This was to be no "national unity" government similar
 to the one that had fallen, but was composed of Shamir's Likud Party and
 several small nationalist and religious parties. It appeared likely that the
 new government would resist any concessions to reach a peace with the
 Palestinians. Ariel Sharon, an outspoken hardliner, was named housing
 minister and overseer of the influx of Jews from the Soviet Union. The new
 government went on record as favoring expansion of Jewish settlements in the
 occupied territories. The Knesset approved the new government 62-57 on June
 11. Testifying before a U.S. House committee June 13, Sec. of State James
 Baker expressed his irritation with a statement by Israeli officials that
 the U.S. peace plan was irrelevant. He said, "When you're serious about
 peace, call us," and gave the White House phone number.

 Czechoslovak Elections Held -- On June 8 and 9, in the first free voting in
 Czechoslovakia in more than 4 decades, the Civic Forum and its sister party
 in Slovakia, Public Against Violence, won 46 percent of the vote for
 parliament and captured 170 of 300 seats in the bicameral body. Civic Forum
 was the party of Pres. Vaclav Havel. The Communist Party finished a distant
 second with 14 percent of the vote and 47 seats in the Federal Assembly. The
 allied parties also ran well ahead in voting for the legislatures of the
 Czech and Slovak republics. Havel, June 12, reappointed Marian Calfa as
 premier and asked him to form a new government.

 Mandela Gets Big U.S. Welcome -- Nelson Mandela, the black nationalist
 leader from South Africa, toured Europe and North America and received an
 enthusiastic welcome, most notably in the United States. Mandela, deputy
 president of the African National Congress, had been freed in February after
 27 years in prison. He sought during his tour to raise money for the ANC and
 to encourage Western governments to maintain sanctions against the South
 African government. Between June 9 and June 16, he met with officials and
 leaders in Switzerland, West Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands,
 including West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Pope John Paul II. In
 Canada, Mandela addressed parliament, June 19, and met with Prime Minister
 Brian Mulroney. Mandela and his wife, Winnie, arrived in New York City, June
 20, to begin an extended U.S. tour that proved to be especially inspiring to
 blacks, who acclaimed him as a hero. The Mandelas were given a ticker-tape
 parade up Broadway to City Hall, the scene of a big rally. On June 21,
 events included a rally in Harlem and a rock concert and speech by Mandela
 in Yankee Stadium. On June 22, he met with corporate executives and spoke at
 the United Nations. In Boston, June 23, Mandela spoke at the John F. Kennedy
 Memorial Library at the Univ. of Massachusetts and attended a 6-hour pop
 concert and rally. Mandela met with Pres. George Bush in the White House,
 June 25. The president urged all parties in South Africa to renounce
 violence, but Mandela declined to make that commitment at that time. He
 addressed Congress, June 26, thanking the United States for imposing
 sanctions against the South African government and urging that they be
 maintained until "irreversible" reforms were established. Some members
 stayed away from the speech, objecting, in part, to Mandela's refusal to
 criticize Yasir Arafat, Fidel Castro, and Muammer el-Qaddafi, all of whom
 supported his cause. Before ending his tour of the U.S., June 30, Mandela
 visited Atlanta, Miami, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Oakland.

 Miners Rout Students in Bucharest -- On June 13, riot police attacked a tent
 city in downtown Bucharest, the capital that had been set up by
 anti-government demonstrators, most of them students. The police drove out
 some 200 persons, including some hunger strikers. Thousands of students then
 protested, rioting and burning the central police headquarters. Security
 forces killed 4 people, and more than 200 were injured. Pres.-elect Ion
 Illiescu appealed to the working class to save the country from a "fascist
 rebellion." Some 10,000 miners poured into Bucharest, June 14, routed the
 students, set up barricades, ransacked the headquarters of 2 opposition
 parties, and wrecked the offices of an independent newspaper. Members of the
 foreign press were also attacked. The U.S. State Dept. said, June 15, it
 would withhold U.S. economic aid from Romania. Iliescu was sworn in as
 president, June 20.

 Most Nicaraguan Contras Disarm -- Pres. Violeta Barrios de Chamorro of
 Nicaragua announced, June 15, that more than 14,000 contra rebels had
 disarmed under an agreement that she had reached with them. Their total
 force had been put at about 16,000. Chamorro also announced, June 15, that
 the Sandinista-trained armed forces would be cut to about 41,000 from its
 estimated strength of 55,000 to 60,000. She also said that an all-volunteer
 army would be created.

 Bulgarian Socialists Win Parliament Election -- The Bulgarian Socialist
 Party won parliamentary elections in the nation's first free election since
 the tide of change swept Eastern Europe. The first round of voting was held,
 June 10, and the run-offs were held, June 17. The Socialists were a Marxist
 party, though much reformed from the hard-line party that had run the
 country since World War II. The Socialists captured 211 of the 400 seats in
 the Grand National Assembly, or parliament. The opposition coalition, the
 Union of Democratic Forces, won 144 seats. Other parties ran far behind,
 with one representing ethnic Turks picking up 23 seats.

 Bush Breaks Off PLO Talks -- Pres. George Bush announced, June 20, that he
 was breaking off the diplomatic dialogue with the Palestine Liberation
 Organization. The talks, aimed at enhancing  the prospects for a Middle East
 peace settlement, had begun in December 1988 after PLO chairman Yasir Arafat
 renounced terrorism. But Arafat and the PLO had failed to condemn an
 unsuccessful speedboat raid on Israel in May that had apparently been the
 work of a radical PLO faction. Israel hailed Bush's decision, June 20. But
 the PLO executive committee complained, June 21, that the U.S. had not
 responded in a similiar way to "Israeli crimes against Palestinians."

 Canada Faces Constitutional Crisis -- The failure of 2 provinces to ratify a
 series of constitutional amendments left the future of Canada in doubt. The
 deadline for adoption of the amendments, known as the Meech Lake Accord,
 passed without any approval from the legislatures of Newfoundland and
 Manitoba. The 2 holdout provinces feared that a clause in the accord
 designating Quebec as a "distinct society" within Canada would make Quebec
 too powerful. Prime Minister Brian Mulroney had led the fight for the
 amendments in the hopes of persuading Quebec to ratify Canada's 1982
 constitution. Speaking to the nation, June 23, Mulroney urged Canadians to
 "mend the divisions and heal the wounds" caused by the failure of the
 accord. Quebec's premier Robert Bourassa, in a June 23 speech, said he was
 willing to consider all possible options for Quebec. One plan supported by
 separatists in Quebec would give Quebec political independence while
 economic ties to Canada would be maintained.

 Chinese Allow Dissidents to Leave -- After living for more than a year in
 the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, a dissident Chinese couple left China, June 25,
 and flew to London on a U.S. Air Force plane. Fang Lizhi, a physicist, and
 his wife, Li Shuxian, had entered the embassy in 1989 to avoid being seized
 by Chinese authorities in the wake of the aborted uprising against the
 regime. The government accused the couple of helping incite the
 pro-democracy movement. In a statement issued as they left, they admitted
 opposing elements of the Chinese constitution and agreed not to participate
 in "activities whose motive lies in opposing China." Fang was to become
 affiliated with Cambridge University.

 Bush Backs Tax Revenue Increases -- Pres. George Bush issued a statement,
 June 26, in which he listed "tax revenue increases" as one of the necessary
 components of any plan to reduce the nation's budget deficits. In 1988, Bush
 had run successfully for president while saying repeatedly, "Read my lips.
 No new taxes." But he indicated in his statement that a compromise with
 Congress on the budget was not possible without agreeing to some sort of
 revenue increase. Democratic congressional leaders praised Bush for
 reversing his stand, but many Republicans were incensed. One letter, signed
 by more than half of the Republicans in the House, called a tax increase
 "unacceptable."

 Oil Pipeline to Lithuania Reopened -- Tensions between the Soviet Union and
 its rebellious republic of Lithuania eased in June. On June 29, the
 Lithuanian parliament agreed to suspend its declaration of independence for
 100 days in exchange for an agreement by Moscow to negotiate on the issue
 and end economic sanctions. On June 30, the Soviet Union reopened the oil
 pipeline to Lithuania. During the oil embargo, tens of thousands of workers
 had been laid off and many factories had closed. On July 2, the Soviet
 government announced a complete lifting of its economic embargo on
 Lithuania.


                                  General

 'Suicide Machine' Used by Ill Woman -- A woman from Oregon, assisted by a
 retired pathologist, committed suicide in Michigan, June 4, triggering a
 medical and ethical debate. Janet Adkins of Portland, Ore. had come to the
 Detroit area to meet with Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who had been promoting a
 suicide machine. Adkins, who was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, had
 decided to take  her own life.  Her husband supported the decision.
 Kevorkian told police that he drove Mrs. Adkins to a park in his van and
 inserted an intravenous needle into her arm. She then pushed a button that
 fed a fatal combination of drugs into her bloodstream. Unlike many states,
 Michigan had no law prohibiting doctor-assisted suicide, but the American
 Medical Association's code of ethics prohibited doctors from helping
 patients to die.

 33 Believed Dead in Ohio Flood -- Heavy thunderstorms created a flash flood,
 June 14, that tore through a valley and into the town of Shadyside, Ohio, on
 the Ohio River, 10 miles south of Wheeling, W. Va. Almost 200 homes and
 trailers were destroyed, and part of a tavern was swept away with customers
 inside. As of June 23, there were 23 confirmed deaths and 10 others were
 missing.

 Protestors Disrupt AIDS Conference -- More than 10,000 specialists and
 public health officials attended the 6th International AIDS Conference in
 San Francisco, and heard 3,000 reports on the disease. Protests, which began
 on June 19, the eve of the conference, were organized in large part by the
 AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT-UP). Demonstrators, who numbered about
 500 during the week, were primarily concerned about the slow pace of testing
 of anti-AIDS drugs and by the shortage of money for research and treatment.
 Luc Montagnier of France, co-discoverer of the virus that caused AIDS, said,
 June 20, he believed that a second microbe was also responsible, and that
 patients would not become ill until they had become infected with it as
 well. It was reported, June 20, that AIDS was continuing to spread in the
 U.S., especially among teen-agers, women whose sexual partners used
 intravenous drugs, and users of crack cocaine. According to a report, June
 23, some 30 possible vaccines were being tested around the world. Protestors
 in the audience, June 24, disrupted an address by U.S. Sec. of Health and
 Human Services Louis Sullivan.

 Iran Earthquake Kills 40,000 -- An earthquake recorded as high as 7.7 on the
 Richter scale struck Iran, June 21. The epicenter was in the Caspian Sea a
 few miles north of the port city of Rasht. More than 100 communities were
 destroyed or badly damaged. Offers of help came from many countries,
 including the U.S., whose offer was accepted by Pres. Ali Akbar Hashemi
 Rafsanjani even though the 2 countries had no diplomatic relations. Iran
 estimated, June 27, that 40,000 people had been killed and 60,000 injured.

 Flaw Found in Space Telescope -- The Hubble Space Telescope, launched in
 April, was found to be suffering from a serious design flaw that would spoil
 many of its experiments. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration
 said, June 27, that an improper curvature in one or both mirrors in the $1.5
 billion instrument prevented rays of light from meeting at a sharp focus at
 the cameras. The defect appeared to preclude any search for black holes and
 distant quasars, and might also jeopardize a calculation of the size of the
 universe. A camera could be sent up in 3 years to correct for the flaw, but
 the mirrors could not be replaced. The mirrors had not been tested together
 on the ground for reasons of cost, NASA said.


                                   JULY


                                  National

 Governor Vetoes 2 Abortion Bills -- Gov. Buddy Roemer of Louisiana vetoed a
 strong anti-abortion bill, July 6. The bill banned all abortions except to
 save the mother's life. Roemer, who described himself as pro-life, objected
 to the bill because it made no exceptions for victims of rape or incest.
 Both houses of the legislature, July 8, passed a second bill that made
 exceptions for incest and for rape--providing that the rape was reported to
 the police within 7 days. Roemer also vetoed this bill, July 27, saying he
 found the 7-day requirement too restrictive.

 Dow Jones Average at 3,000 Level -- The Dow Jones industrial average pushed
 to an all-time high on Wall Street even though most new economic data were
 not too encouraging. The Labor Dept. reported, July 6, that the unemployment
 rate had edged downward to 5.2 percent in May, but added that few new jobs
 had been created and that the labor force was increasing only slowly. The
 department said, July 13, that producer prices had risen 0.2 percent in
 June. On 2 consecutive days, July 16 and 17, the Dow Jones average closed at
 the identical figure of 2,999.75, an all-time high. On both days, the
 average was above 3,000 during the course of the day. Thereafter, the
 average began to decline. The Commerce Dept. reported, July 17, that the
 U.S. merchandise trade deficit had widened to $7.73 billion in May. The
 Labor Dept. said, July 18, that consumer prices had jumped 0.5 percent in
 June. The Commerce Dept. reported, July 27, that the gross national product
 had slowed to a 1.2 percent annual growth rate during the second quarter of
 1990, a signal to some economists that the country was moving toward
 recession.

 Law Protects Rights of Disabled -- The House, July 12, and the Senate, July
 13, gave overwhelming approval to a bill that would bar discrimination
 against people with physical or mental disabilities. The Americans with
 Disabilities Act defined disability as a condition that "substantially
 limits" an important activity such as walking or seeing. The bill covered
 people with AIDS as well as alcoholics and drug users undergoing treatment.
 Under the bill's provisions, all except small businesses were required to
 hire and promote employees without regard to any disability. Transportation
 systems were required to purchase new vehicles accessible to the disabled.
 Pres. George Bush signed the bill, July 26.

 Congress Rebukes 2 of Its Members -- The Senate Ethics Committee, July 18,
 recommended that the full Senate denounce Sen. David Durenberger (R, Minn.)
 for a number of ethical violations. The Committee said Durenberger had
 knowingly violated Senate rules and had "brought the Senate into dishonor
 and disrepute." The charges against him included accepting improper
 reimbursement for travel and housing from the Senate and conspiring to evade
 limits on speaking fees. The Committee advised the Senate to ask Durenberger
 to repay $29,050 in reimbursements and ask him to donate $95,000 to charity
 to compensate for excess fees. The House Ethics Committee, July 19, voted to
 reprimand Rep. Barney Frank (D, Mass.) for using his office improperly to
 assist a male prostitute. The committee found that Frank had used his
 influence to fix parking tickets for the man, Steven Gobie, and that he had
 attempted to influence parole officers to end Gobie's probation on felony
 charges. The Senate, July 25, accepting its committee recommendation, voted
 96-0 to denounce Durenberger, who apologized for his behavior. The House,
 July 26, took up Frank's case. It rejected, 390-38, a move, supported
 largely by Republicans, that Frank be expelled from the House. A more severe
 penalty, censure, was rejected 287-141. Frank was then reprimanded, 408-18.
 Frank apologized for his conduct, attributing it in part to his efforts
 prior to 1987 to conceal his homosexuality.

 Oliver North's Convictions Suspended -- A 3-judge panel of the U.S. Court of
 Appeals in Washington, D.C. suspended Oliver North's 3 felony convictions in
 the Iran-contra, July 20. One was overturned outright. North, before being
 tried, had testified before Congress in 1987 under a grant of immunity from
 prosecution. The Appeals Court panel held that the trial judge, Gerhard
 Gesell, had failed to insure that witnesses testifying at North's trial had
 not used North's Congressional testimony to refresh their memories. In its
 decision, the panel was split 2-1. The majority held that if the case were
 to proceed Gesell must demonstrate that North's testimony was not used by
 witnesses or by the office of the prosecutor, Lawrence Walsh. The panel set
 aside convictions for deceiving Congress and for receiving an illegal
 gratuity, and overturned North's conviction for destroying government
 documents.

 Brennan Retires From Supreme Court -- Justice William Brennan, Jr.
 announced, July 20, that he was resigning from the U.S. Supreme Court,
 effective immediately. Brennan, 84, had served on the court for almost 34
 years, and was recognized as the leader of the liberal bloc and as one of
 the court's most influential members. Major decisions that he had written
 included the ruling that established the "one person,  one vote" principle
 in reapportionment cases and the ruling protecting the press in libel cases.
 His belief that the court must interpret the law in the light of present-day
 circumstances underlay the process by which he reached his conclusions.
 Brennan, who had suffered a mild stroke earlier in July, had incurred the
 opposition of conservatives, who believed that his approach represented an
 intrusion by the judicial branch into lawmaking. With the court closely
 divided on the legality of abortion and on other key issues, Pres. George
 Bush's nomination of a successor to Brennan was awaited with great interest.
 On July 23, he announced his choice, Judge David Souter of the U.S. Court of
 Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston. Souter, was a graduate of Harvard
 College and Harvard Law School. He had served as New Hampshire's attorney
 general and as a state Supreme Court judge before being named to the circuit
 court earlier in 1990.

 More Money Asked for S&L Bailout -- In testimony before a House committee,
 July 30, Resolution Trust Corp. Chairman William Seidman and Treasury
 Undersecretary Robert Glauber said that the RTC would need up to $100
 billion in fiscal 1991 to continue the savings and loan bailout effort. This
 was twice the amount of money previously allocated for the rescue operation.
 A slump in real-estate values and a higher failure rate among thrift
 institutions were blamed for the need for more money.


                               International

 Economy of 2 Germanys Unified -- A treaty ratified in June that established
 a unified economic and monetary system for East and West Germany became
 effective, July 1. The West German deutsche mark became the sole legal
 tender for all of Germany. The West German Bundesbank (central bank) was
 given control over monetary policy for East Germany. East Germany also
 became wedded to West Germany's market economy, social security and tax
 systems, and labor and banking laws. East Germans were allowed to exchange
 from 2,000 to 6,000 East marks for deutsche marks at a 1-to-1 rate and the
 rest of their holdings at a rate of 2 East marks for one deutsche mark. The
 East German government, July 2, agreed to all-German elections in December.
 In mid-July, 2 more bold steps were taken toward German reunification.
 Meeting in the southern Russian town of Zhelezonovodsk, July 16, Soviet
 Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl announced
 that they had reached an agreement that would allow a unified Germany to
 join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Kohl called the agreement,
 which had not been anticipated so soon, "fantastic," and Gorbachev said it
 foreshadowed an era of "strong, prolonged peace." Kohl agreed to a
 limitation on German weaponry and military manpower and to a continuing
 presence of Soviet troops on East German soil for up to 4 years. Pres.
 George Bush and other Western leaders hailed the agreement. On July 17, in
 Paris, the 2 Germanys and the 4 Allied powers of World War II approved a
 plan to guarantee Poland's border with a united Germany. Poland had sought
 assurances that Germany would not seek to reclaim onetime German territory
 awarded to Poland after World War II.

 Gorbachev Survives Party Congress -- Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev appeared to
 have strengthened his hand during the tumultuous 28th Congress of the
 Communist Party of the Soviet Union. As the congress opened in Moscow, July
 2, conservatives were concerned about a draft platform that did not refer
 directly to Marxism-Leninism and supported the right to "earned private
 property" and the "interests and requirements of the individual." Gorbachev,
 speaking July 2, admitted that the party leadership had made mistakes but
 that his program of restructuring was the nation's only hope. He reaffirmed
 the need for a regulated market economy. Foreign Minister Eduard
 Shevardnadze, July 3, criticized defense spending as too high and warned
 against military influence in shaping foreign policy. Yegor Ligachev, a
 conservative, got a positive response from the audience, July 3, when he
 denounced  reform as "thoughtless radicalism" and opposed the draft
 platform. Gorbachev said, July 4, he would quit in 2 years if restructuring
 failed to produce positive results. By a 3-1 margin, July 10, the Congress
 approved Gorbachev's reelection as the party's general secretary. By an even
 greater margin, July 11, the congress chose Gorbachev's candidate, Vladimir
 Ivashko, over Ligachev for the number 2 position in the party. In a
 surprise, Boris Yelstin, the president of the Russian republic who had
 criticized the pace of reform as too slow, announced, July 12, that he was
 quitting the party. The mayors of Moscow and Leningrad also left the party,
 July 13. In accord with a plan approved at the congress, the party's central
 committee, July 14, approved a new, expanded, 24-member Politburo that
 included the party leader in each of the 15 republics. Ten of the 12
 previous members of the Politburo (all but Gorbachev and Ivashko) were
 dropped. The changes appeared to have the effect of weakening the party's
 influence over the government.

 Mrs. Marcos Not Guilty of Fraud -- Mrs. Imelda Marcos, the widow of former
 Philippine's Pres. Ferdinand Marcos, was found not guilty of charges of
 racketeering, fraud, and obstruction of justice, July 2, in Federal Court in
 New York City. Her codefendant, Saudi Arabian financier Adnan Khashoggi, was
 found not guilty of mail fraud and obstruction of justice. The prosecution
 alleged that Mrs. Marcos had stolen $200 million from the Philippines
 treasury and spent most of it on herself. Khashoggi was said to have helped
 her buy office buildings in the U.S. The defense argued that Mrs. Marcos was
 unaware of any illegal activities on the part of her late husband. Jurors
 were reported to have found this assertion persuasive, and some said they
 did not understand why the trial was being conducted in the U.S.

 Bulgaria's Socialist President Resigns -- Although Bulgaria's Socialist
 (formerly Communist) Party had won parliamentary elections (in June),
 hundreds of students erected a tent city in Sofia, the capital, and demanded
 the resignation of Pres. Petar Mladenov and the prosecution of his
 predecessor, the longtime leader Todor Zhivkov. Mladenov's cause was
 undercut when a videotape showed that he had called for military tanks to
 quell a pro-democracy demonstration in December 1989. Mladenov resigned,
 July 6. After a 3-week impasse, Parliament, Aug. 1, chose Zhelyu Zhelov,
 leader of the 16-party opposition coalition, as the new president. A
 philosopher, he had been expelled from the party in 1965 for questioning the
 theories of Lenin.

 Albanians Seek Refuge in Embassies -- Thousands of Albanians sought refuge
 in foreign embassies in Tirana, the capital of Albania, in late June and
 early July. Their ranks swelled after pro-democracy demonstrators clashed
 with police several times. OnJuly 6, riot police closed off the embassy
 district and attacked some 10,000 people who were demonstrating in the
 capital. The regime of Pres. Ramiz Alia dismissed hard-liners from the
 Workers' (Communist) Party Politburo, July 7. On July 8, the authorities
 agreed to permit the refugees to emigrate. The evacuation got under way,
 July 9, as 51 refugees were flown to Prague. Several thousand arrived in
 Italy, July 13.

 NATO Modifies Its Strategy -- Leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty
 Organization, meeting in London, July 5 and 6, approved some shifts in
 strategy that reflected the easing of tensions in Europe. Pres. George Bush
 was among the heads of government attending the meeting. The leaders agreed
 to scale back the number of troops in a front-line position. Essentially
 renouncing the possibility of using nuclear weapons in response to an attack
 by conventional forces, NATO's leaders declared that their nuclear arms were
 "truly weapons of the last resort." The U.S. said it would be willing to
 withdraw all of its nuclear-tipped artillery shells if the Soviet Union did
 the same. The leaders invited Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev and other leaders of
 the dissolving Soviet bloc to address NATO.

 Leaders of Democracies Meet in Houston -- The heads of government of the 7
 major industrial democracies met in Houston, July 9-11, for their 16th
 annual summit on international economic issues. The leaders commissioned a
 study of the Soviet economy to determine if economic aid would be useful and
 what forms it might take. Pres. George Bush opposed direct aid to the Soviet
 Union until it made further moves toward a free-market economy. West German
 Chancellor Helmut Kohl had warned other summit leaders before they met that
 the prospect of global warming was "a threat to all mankind." But the U.S.
 position was that imposing strict goals for reducing emissions of carbon
 dioxide and some other gases would hurt the U.S. economy and that scientific
 evidence of global warming was not conclusive in any case. Any commitment to
 cut back emissions was postponed until 1992. The leaders did, however,
 pledge to develop strategies for worldwide reforestation and to help Brazil
 save its imperiled rain forests.

 U.S. Shifts Policy on Cambodia -- U.S. Sec. of State James Baker announced
 in Paris, July 18, that the U.S. would no longer recognize the Cambodian
 rebel coalition and would instead open talks with Vietnam in an effort to
 end the civil war in Cambodia. He had met with Soviet Foreign Minister
 Eduard Shevardnadze, whose government was a backer of Vietnam and who
 endorsed Baker's shift in policy. The U.S. had become concerned because of
 the growing success on the battlefield of the Khmer Rouge, the brutal rulers
 of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 who may have caused the deaths of 2 million
 Cambodians. Baker said it was "very important" to prevent the return to
 power of the Khmer Rouge. Vietnam was a supporter of the current Cambodian
 government.

 Adviser to Thatcher Killed by Bomb -- Violence attributed to the Provisional
 Irish Republican Army flared anew in Great Britain when the explosion of a
 land mine, July 24, apparently detonated from a nearby house, killed 3
 Northern Ireland policemen in a car near Armagh in Ulster. A Roman Catholic
 nun, traveling in another car, was also killed by the blast. On July 30, Ian
 Gow, a member of Parliament and a close friend and adviser to British Prime
 Minister Margaret Thatcher, who had been a frequent critic of the IRA, was
 killed at his home in Hankham, East Sussex, when a bomb blew up his car.

 Coup Fails in Trinidad & Tobago -- A group of black Moslem rebels,
 complaining that the government had impoverished the country, launched a
 coup attempt in Trinidad and Tobago, July 27. The Caribbean island nation, a
 producer of oil, had suffered a recession in recent years as the price of
 oil had declined. The rebels seized the parliament building, July 27, and
 took Prime Minister Arthur Robinson hostage, along with cabinet members and
 other officials. Other hostages were seized at a television station.
 Robinson was shot in the leg. Negotiations began, July 28, and Robinson and
 the other hostages were released. The coup ended, Aug. 1, when 113 rebels
 surrendered. The government, Aug. 2, put the death toll in the coup attempt
 at 30.


                                  General

 Stampede Kills 1,426 in Mecca Tunnel -- The government of Saudi Arabia said,
 July 3, that 1,426 Moslem pilgrims had been killed when a stampede occurred
 in a tunnel leading from a nearby tent city to the holy sites in Mecca. Some
 50,000 people were crowded into the tunnel, which was 500 yards long and 20
 yards wide. The crowd panicked after 7 people fell from a bridge at the
 entrance to the tunnel. The victims, including many from Indonesia,
 Pakistan, Egypt, and Malaysia, were suffocated or trampled to death.

 Yankees' Owner Is Disciplined -- Fay Vincent, the commissioner of major
 league baseball, ordered George Steinbrenner, principal owner of the New
 York Yankees, on July 30, to give up day-to-day control of the team. In
 addition to resigning as the team's general partner, Steinbrenner was
 required to reduce his holdings in the Yankees, then at 55 percent, to less
 than 50 percent. Vincent said Steinbrenner's relationship with Howard Spira,
 a "known gambler,"prompted his ruling. Spira said Steinbrenner paid him
 $40,000 after Spira provided information on Dave Winfield, a former Yankee
 with whom Steinbrenner was feuding. Stein-brenner said he paid the money to
 Spira because he was afraid of him and wanted to be rid of him. Vincent also
 said that he had observed in Steinbrenner "a pattern of behavior that
 borders on the bizarre." Under Steinbrenner's stormy rule since 1973, the
 Yankees had won 2 World Series in 1977 and 1978, but had faded in recent
 years and had the worst record in baseball when Vincent made his decision.
 Steinbrenner had changed managers 18 times.

 Disasters -- An earthquake whose epicenter was 55 miles north of Manila
 struck the Philippines, July 16, killing more than 600 people and leaving
 2,600 homeless.


                                   AUGUST


                                  National

 Unemployment Rate Up Sharply -- The Labor Dept. reported, Aug. 3, that the
 unemployment rate had increased in July to 5.5 percent from 5.2 percent. The
 0.3 percent monthly increase, largest in more than 4 years, was taken as a
 sign the country might already be in a recession. The department reported,
 Aug. 10, that producer prices had declined 0.1 percent in July. It reported,
 Aug. 16, that consumer prices had jumped 0.4 percent in July, and that
 prices had risen at an annual rate of 5.8 percent during the first 7 months
 of the year. The Commerce Dept. said, Aug. 17, that the merchandise trade
 deficit had fallen to $5.07 billion in June, the lowest level in 7 years.
 The department reported, Aug. 29, that the index of leading economic
 indicators had not changed in July.

 Price of Gasoline Rises in U.S. -- Within a few days of Iraq's invasion of
 Kuwait, the price of fuel rose sharply. OnAug. 6, Pan Am Corp. announced
 that it was raising air fares 10 percent to cover the increase in fuel
 costs. Other air carriers made similar announcements. Executives of oil
 companies, testifying before Congress, Aug. 7, said that the cost of fuel
 had jumped quickly because their companies paid for oil when it was
 delivered to U.S. refineries, rather than when it was contracted for in the
 Middle East, so the worldwide rise in the cost of oil per barrel was
 reflected almost immediately. The American Automobile Association reported,
 Aug. 9, that the retail price for self-service unleaded gasoline had risen
 18 cents per gallon in the week since the Iraqi invasion. As the price of
 oil fluctuated widely on world markets, the cost of gasoline leveled off. A
 number of economists expressed concern that the Mideast conflict, including
 its great cost to the U.S. Treasury, could hasten a slide into a recession.
 Such fears appeared to be reflected on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones
 industrial average slumped 14 percent in 3 weeks, closing Aug. 23 at
 2483.42. Concern over the status of the U.S. economy also appeared to be a
 factor in the decline of the dollar against other currencies. On Aug. 23,
 the dollar was trading at 1.56 German marks, the lowest since the mark was
 introduced in 1948.

 D.C. Mayor Convicted on One Count -- The trial of Marion Barry Jr., the
 mayor of Washington, D.C., on drug charges ended in August with a split
 verdict. Ten witnesses had testified during the trial that they had seen
 Barry use illegal drugs, and others had told of delivering drugs to him or
 obtaining drugs from him. A video tape had shown him inhaling from a crack
 pipe. The prosecution contended that evidence had been presented of more
 than 200 separate uses of illegal drugs by Barry. The defense conceded that
 the mayor had occasionally used drugs, but contended that there was
 reasonable doubt about each charge of cocaine possession. On Aug. 10, the
 jury found Barry guilty of one count of possession of crack and acquitted
 him on a second count. On 12 other misdemeanor and felony charges, the jury
 was unable to reach a verdict, and Judge Thomas Jackson declared a mistrial
 on those counts. Barry saw himself as largely vindicated, and on Aug. 14, he
 said he would seek an at-large seat on the City Council, running as an
 independent.


                               International

 Gorbachev, Rival Unite on Economy -- Soviet Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev and
 Boris Yeltsin, president of the Russian Federation, agreed, Aug. 1, to work
 together to transform the Soviet economy from central planning to a market
 system. The 2 men, who had frequently quarreled over the pace of reform,
 with Yeltsin pushing a more radical approach, signed a unity agreement. They
 set up a commission to draft proposals, and it was reported that a 500-day
 plan developed by Russia would be the basis for the commission's plan. Under
 the Russian Republic's 500-day plan, it would legalize private property,
 abolish government subsidies, lift price controls, and take other as yet
 unspecified steps to stabilize its economy. In the republic of Armenia, the
 Communist-dominated government resigned, Aug. 13, under pressure from
 parliament. On Aug. 23, in a 183-2 vote, the Armenian parliament declared
 the republic's independence from the Soviet Union. It also claimed control
 over the disputed area Nagorno-Karabakh, situated within the republic of
 Azerbaijan. Following the shooting deaths of 5 people, including a member of
 parliament, the Armenian parliament, Aug. 29, declared a state of emergency
 and outlawed the republic's largest paramilitary group.

 U.S. Mariners Land in Liberia -- U.S. Marines flew to Liberia to rescue
 American citizens endangered by the bloody civil war in the West African
 country. The war had raged since late 1989 when guerrillas led by Charles
 Taylor launched an effort to overthrow the government of Pres. Samuel Doe.
 The rebels reached the capital of Monrovia in July, but they also split into
 2 factions, the other led by Prince Johnson, and fought each other as well
 as the government forces. There were many instances of brutality toward
 civilians, and at least 200, possibly many more, were killed when government
 troops stormed a Luthern church in Monrovia, July 30. Johnson said, Aug. 4,
 that he would begin to round up foreigners. Pres. George Bush authorized a
 rescue mission, and onAug. 5, 230 Marines were flown to Monrovia from ships
 off the coast. Without firing a shot or suffering any casualties, the
 Marines evacuated 125 persons by Aug. 8. The Marines remained at the embassy
 in Monrovia.

 Cease-Fire Approved in South Africa -- The African National Congress and
 government officials began talks in South Africa, Aug. 6, and on Aug. 7, the
 ANC announced that it was suspending its 30-year armed struggle against the
 white regime. The cease-fire began immediately. Pres. F.W. deKlerk's
 government agreed to free political prisoners, allow exiled dissidents to
 return, and repeal the nation's security laws. Both sides agreed to seek an
 end to the violence in Natal Province, where some 3,000 persons had been
 killed in fighting among factions of the Zulu tribe. Fighting had also
 occurred in Transvaal Province between Zulus and other blacks.

 3 Hostages Freed in Mideast -- On Aug. 8 and 14, 2 Swiss Red Cross workers
 were freed in Damascus after being held in Lebanon for 10 months. On Aug.
 24, a group called the Organization of Islamic Dawn turned another hostage,
 Brian Keenan, over to Syrian military officers and he was freed in Damascus.
 Keenan, who held both Irish and British citizenship, flew to Dublin, Aug.
 25. A teacher, he had been held more than 4 years. It was believed that 13
 more Western hostages were being held by Shiite Moslems.

 Bhutto Removed as Pakistan's Leader -- Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of
 Pakistan was dismissed, Aug. 6, by Pres. Ghulam Ishaq Khan. He named Ghulam
 Mustafa Jatoi as interim prime minister, and declared a state of emergency.
 The president said that corruption in the Bhutto government had been
 widespread, and the press had reported a number of allegations. Ishaq Khan
 also cited a nationwide increase in crime and violence. Bhutto called her
 removal illegal and unconstitutional.

 East Germany Sets Unity Date -- The parliament of East Germany voted 294-62
 on Aug. 23, to set Oct. 3 as the date for unification with West Germany.
 Under the West German constitution, any former German territory could
 declare its wish to unify, and the West German parliament was not required
 to take any action. The October date would fall about 2 months before the
 scheduled all-German elections.


                                  General

 3 Convicted in Attack on Jogger -- Three teen-age boys were convicted in New
 York City, Aug. 18, of charges related to a crime that had shocked the
 public because of its brutality. In April 1989, a 28-year-old investment
 banker, who was jogging in Central Park in Manhattan, was attacked by a gang
 of young men. She was beaten severely and left unconscious. Alleged members
 of the gang, which reportedly numbered as many as 30, were seized by police
 and charged with a variety of crimes involving the attack on the jogger and
 attacks on others in the park. The first 3 defendants, aged 16, 16, and 15,
 were convicted of rape, assault, and other charges. Videotaped confessions
 were key evidence inasmuch as no hard physical evidence placed the accused
 at the scene of the crime. The jogger, who was not publicly identified by
 most members of the news media, testified briefly at the trial. More than a
 year after the attack, she had no memory of it, and she had lost her sense
 of smell, suffered from double vision, and had difficulty walking.

 Tornado Kills 27 in Illinois -- Without warning from the National Weather
 Service, which was taken by surprise, a tornado, Aug. 28, cut a
 700-foot-wide swath across towns and cornfields 35 miles southwest of
 Chicago. Following an 8-mile course through Plainfield, Crest Hill, and
 Joliet, the tornado killed 27 persons and injured more than 350. Fifty
 houses and 500 apartments were destroyed. Some victims died when the
 tornado's vacuum lifted them into the sky and dropped them into nearby
 fields.

 Disasters -- An explosion, probably caused by coal dust or methane gas, tore
 through a coal mine 90 miles west of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Aug. 26, killing
 more than 170 miners.


                                 SEPTEMBER


                                 National

 Consumer Prices Jump -- Fueled by an increase in energy costs because of the
 Persian Gulf crisis, consumer prices rose sharply in August. The Labor Dept.
 reported, Sept. 7, that the unemployment rate continued to edge up in
 August, to 5.6 percent. The department said, Sept. 14, that producer prices
 for finished goods jumped 1.3 percent in August. It released its report on
 consumer prices, Sept. 18, that showed a 0.8 percent increase in August. The
 Commerce Dept. reported, Sept. 18, that the merchandise trade deficit rose
 to $9.33 billion in July, 75 percent above the June figure. An increase in
 oil imports was a major factor. Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal
 Reserve Board, said, Sept. 19, that the Gulf crisis would likely slow
 economic growth and stimulate inflation. The Commerce Dept. reported, Sept.
 25, that it had lowered its estimate of economic growth during the second
 quarter to just 0.4 percent on an annual basis from 1.2 percent. The
 department reported, Sept. 28, that the index of leading economic indicators
 had dropped 1.2 percent in August, the biggest monthly decline since 1987.

 Negotiators on Budget Agree to Plan -- Pres. George Bush and Congressional
 negotiators reached a tentative agreement on a controversial plan to reduce
 the Federal deficit. It was feared that the deficit in the 1991 fiscal year
 might reach $250 billion, with the bailout of the savings and loan industry
 being a major factor. Under the Gramm-Rudman deficit reduction law, the
 deficit would have to be pared to $64 billion or mandatory spending cuts
 would become automatic. Talks began, Sept. 7, between White House
 representatives and congressional leaders. Bush supported a cut in the
 capital-gains tax rate, but Democrats insisted that any such reduction be
 balanced by an increase in income-tax rates for Americans with high incomes.
 The talks broke down in disagreement, Sept. 17, and resumed, Sept. 19, with
 fewer negotiators. The way to a compromise seemed open, Sept. 29, when Bush
 dropped his position on capital gains. An agreement was announced, Sept. 30.
 It included big increases in taxes on gasoline, tobacco, and alcohol.
 Deductions available to Americans earning more than $100,000 a year would be
 limited, and an excise tax would be imposed on luxury items. Medicare taxes
 would rise. Spending on Medicare and other domestic programs would be cut.
 Members of Congress from both parties quickly announced that they would
 oppose the plan. In a new projection, Sept. 30, the 1991 deficit was put at
 $293.7 billion.

 Primary Elections Include Surprises -- Sharon Pratt Dixon, a former
 treasurer of the Democratic National Committee, who was seeking public
 office for the first time, was nominated by the Democratic Party for mayor
 of Washington, D.C. on Sept. 11. Of the 5 candidates, she had been the most
 outspoken in her criticism of the incumbent mayor, Marion Barry Jr., who had
 been convicted in August on a drug charge. In Massachusetts, Sept. 18, both
 gubernatorial primaries were won by candidates who had run poorly in the
 polls. John Silber, president of Boston University, won on the Democratic
 side. More conservative than most Democratic leaders in the state, he had
 criticized the state welfare system as too generous, and had made remarks
 that ethnic groups found offensive. His victory was believed to reflect a
 voter backlash against economic problems of the incumbent governor, Michael
 Dukakis, a liberal Democrat.  On the Republican ballot, William Weld, a
 former U.S. attorney who supported abortion  rights, prevailed over a more
 conservative opponent. Also, on Sept. 18, Oklahoma voters supported a
 concept that was being considered elsewhere--by approving a limitation of 12
 years on service in the state legislature.

 Hearings Held on Court Nominee -- Judge David Souter appeared before the
 Senate Judiciary Committee, which was considering his nomination by Pres.
 George Bush to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. On Sept. 4, the American Bar
 Association gave Souter its highest rating of "well qualified" for the
 Supreme Court. Appearing before the committee, Sept. 13, Souter declined to
 give his views on abortion, but he said, "I believe that the due process
 clause of the 14th Amendment does recognize and does protect an unenumerated
 right of privacy." The right of privacy was the basis for Roe. v. Wade, a
 1973 decision by the court establishing a woman's right to an abortion.
 Asked, Sept. 14, about his views on judges who "invented" rights, Souter
 said there was a difference between inventing rights and searching the text
 of the Constitution in order to recognize those that are implicitly stated.
 Several abortion-rights and women's-rights groups testified, Sept. 18,
 against the nomination, but other organizations dropped their opposition.
 The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Sept. 21,
 opposed the nomination, saying Souter had failed to articulate a sufficient
 level of concern "for fairness, equality, and justice for all citizens." The
 Senate committee voted, Sept. 27, to endorse Souter, 13-1.

 Former Owner of S&L Indicted -- Charles Keating, one of the most prominent
 figures in the investigation of the savings and loan financial crisis, was
 indicted, Sept. 18, on 42 charges of criminal fraud by a state grand jury in
 Los Angeles. He formerly owned Lincoln Savings & Loan Association. Three
 executives of American Continental, Lincoln's parent company, were also
 indicted. The charges involved an alleged scheme to defraud older persons by
 enticing them to invest in uninsured high-risk bonds. After American
 Continental filed for bankruptcy, the money--$250 million--could not be
 recovered. Keating was unable to pay the $5 million bail, and was put in
 jail. On Sept. 22, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation sued Neil Bush,
 the son of the president, and other officials of the defunct Silverado
 Banking, Savings and Loan Association for "gross negligence" that the FDIC
 said could cost taxpayers more than $1 billion.


                               International

 USSR Moves Toward Economic Reform -- The Soviet Union appeared  to be well
 on its way toward embracing radical economic reform. The economic crisis was
 underscored, Sept. 3, when bread virtually disappeared from the shelves of
 food stores in Moscow. On Sept. 5, the government newspaper Izvestia
 published details of a plan on which aides to Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev and
 Russian Pres. Boris Yeltsin had been working. What had emerged was the
 "Shatalin plan," named for Stanislav Shatalin, an adviser to Gorbachev, and
 the plan was based on the 500-day plan already adopted by the Russian
 Republic. It would dismantle most central economic planning and stress
 private property and economic freedom. On Sept. 11, Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov
 addressed the Supreme Soviet, warning that the Shatalin plan, if
 implemented, would lead to high unemployment and a decline in the standard
 of living. But then, Gorbachev spoke and endorsed it. On Sept. 14, he
 submitted a modified version of the plan to the Supreme Soviet that would
 retain central authority over financial matters. The parliament of Russia,
 Sept. 19, called on Ryzhkov to resign. Gorbachev, Sept. 21, asked the
 Supreme Soviet for sweeping new powers to govern during the transition to a
 market economy. Ryzhkov said, Sept. 23, that the country faced a potato
 shortage because of a lack of success in collecting the harvest. The Supreme
 Soviet, Sept. 24, granted Gorbachev emergency economic powers, and agreed to
 accept a compromise plan for the economy at Gorbachev's request, heading off
 a showdown between him and the premier. The details of the compromise were
 yet to be worked out.

 Rebels Kill President of Liberia -- Pres. Samuel Doe was killed while in the
 hands of rebels in Liberia. A multinational force from black Africa had
 entered Liberia in August in an attempt to help restore order between
 government forces and rebel armies. OnSept. 9, Doe and an entourage of
 bodyguards arrived at the headquarters of the multinational force. Rebels
 led by Prince Johnson arrived, gunfire broke out, and 78 were killed, mostly
 Doe's bodyguards. Doe was wounded and died the next day, under circumstances
 that were not clear. On Sept. 21, Charles Taylor, leader of another rebel
 faction, declared a unilateral cease-fire. But the cease-fire soon broke
 down, and on Sept. 30, Johnson's faction declared a renewal of the war
 against the Taylor rebels and the remnants of Doe's army.

 Treaty signed on Germany -- The Allied powers of World War II gave up their
 responsibilities over Germany, and onSept. 10, West Germany and the Soviet
 Union agreed in principle on maintenance and repatriation of Soviet forces
 in East Germany. West Germany agreed to spend $8.2 billion to build 36,000
 houses in the Soviet Union, cover continued cost of soldiers still stationed
 in East Germany, transport the soldiers home, and retrain them. OnSept. 12,
 in Moscow, West Germany, East Germany, France, Great Britain, the Soviet
 Union, and the United States signed the Treaty on the Final Settlement with
 Respect to Germany. The wartime allies pledged to "terminate their rights
 and responsibilities relating to Berlin and to Germany as a whole." The
 united Germany was thus granted full sovereignty over its internal and
 external affairs. OnSept. 13, with formal reunification still 3 weeks away,
 the foreign ministers of West Germany and the USSR signed a friendship pact
 in which the 2 nations pledged not to attack each other and to consult each
 other in time of crisis.

 Cambodia Rivals Accept U.N. Plan -- Four factions fighting for control of
 Cambodia agreed, Sept. 10, to accept a U.N. proposal to end  their civil
 war. Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, they appointed a 12-member Supreme
 National Council that would run Cambodia until free elections could be held
 under U.N. supervision. The government named 6 to the council, 2 each from
 the 3 rebel groups.

 S. Africa Leader Meets With Bush -- Pres. F. W. de Klerk of South Africa met
 with Pres. George Bush in Washington, Sept. 24. De Klerk, who had freed
 black nationalist leader Nelson Mandela and taken other steps to ease South
 Africa's system of racial separation, was cordially received. Bush said that
 if South Africa continued its efforts to meet certain conditions set by
 Congress, he would seek to modify or suspend sanctions imposed on South
 Africa by Congress. De Klerk told members of Congress, Sept. 25, that he
 supported the principle of one man, one vote in elections, but that its
 application must include guarantees to protect the white minority in South
 Africa.

 U.N. Summit Seeks to Help Children -- Leaders of more than 70 nations,
 including the largest gathering ever of heads of state at the United
 Nations, met in New York City, Sept. 30, at the World Summit for Children.
 The primary goal of the summit was to improve the lives of children
 everywhere, and especially to reduce the number of children--put at 14
 million--who died each year before the age of 5. The leaders also discussed
 ways to reduce malnutrition among children, reduce the number of mothers
 dying in childbirth, and provide clean water and education for all.


                                  General

 New Rating Applied to Adult Films -- The Motion Picture Association of
 America announced, Sept. 26, that it had created a new "NC-17" rating that
 would be applied to films that had adult themes and perhaps scenes of sex
 and violence. The rating meant that no children under 17 would be admitted.
 The purpose was to permit "serious" movies to avoid the X rating that was
 also applied to pornographic movies. Many theaters refused to show X-rated
 films, and distributors were complaining that some important films thus
 failed to reach a large audience.

 Disasters -- As many as 160 people may have drowned, Sept. 11, when a
 crowded boat capsized in the Mahava River in Uttar Pradesh state in India .
 . . . Some 82,000 persons were homeless and more than 77 persons died after
 heavy rainfall in the vicinity of Seoul, South Korea, Sept. 11, resulted in
 massive flooding.


                                  OCTOBER


                                  National

 Congress Approves Deficit-Reduction Plan -- Congress approved a
 deficit-reduction bill that Pres. George Bush could accept, after an earlier
 plan, announced, Sept. 30, by Bush and endorsed by congressional
 negotiators, ran into trouble. Rep. Newt Gingrich (Ga.), the Republican whip
 in the House, rejected it, Oct. 1, saying it would "kill jobs, weaken the
 economy." He and many other conservatives objected to the inclusion of tax
 increases in the proposal, and many Democrats were concerned that these
 taxes would fall more heavily on the middle class than on wealthier
 Americans. An intense lobbying effort by the president and by congressional
 leaders of both parties failed. The House, Oct. 5, rejected the bill
 254-179, with a majority from both parties in opposition. Congress passed a
 stopgap spending bill, but Bush vetoed it, Oct. 6, and this had the effect
 of shutting down the government. Congress passed and Bush signed new stopgap
 legislation, Oct. 9, which extended government's borrowing and spending
 power for 10 days. Bush said, Oct. 9, that a higher tax rate for the
 wealthy, perhaps in exchange for a cut in the capital-gains tax, was "on the
 table." Later that day, after meeting with 17 Republican senators, Bush
 pulled back any commitment to raising income taxes. In another shift, the
 White House said, Oct. 10, that it was up to Congress to decide whether to
 couple an increase in rates with a cut in the capital-gains tax. The House,
 Oct. 16, approved a new budget compromise that would increase taxes on
 wealthy Americans. This passed 238-192, with only 10 Republicans supporting
 it. The Senate passed its budget package, Oct. 19, 54-46. This version had
 more of an impact on the middle class through a doubling of the gasoline tax
 and a cut in Medicare benefits. As the House and Senate bills went to
 conference committee, Bush, Oct. 19, signed another stopgap bill to keep the
 government going 5 more days. The president signaled a willingness to accept
 a small increase in the tax rate for the wealthy. On Oct. 27, both the
 Senate (54-45) and the House (228-200) approved the conference committee
 report, but with a majority of House and Senate Republicans in opposition.
 Bush said he would sign the bill, which was designed to reduce deficits by
 nearly $500 billion over 5 years. Under the law, the top tax rate would rise
 from 28 percent to 31 percent, and exemptions for upper-income Americans
 would be phased out. The gasoline tax would jump 5 cents a gallon to 14
 cents, and the cigarette tax would rise by 8 cents a pack to 24 cents. The
 tax on a 6-pack of beer would double to 32 cents. A luxury tax would be
 imposed on top-of-the-line aircraft, cars, boats, furs, and jewelry. The
 increase in Medicare premiums was less than elderly Americans had feared.

 Ex-Klansman Loses Bid for Senate -- David Duke, a former grand wizard in the
 Ku Klux Klan, made a strong but unsuccessful showing in an election for the
 U.S. Senate in Louisiana. He was contesting the re-election bid of Sen. J.
 Bennett Johnston, a Democrat. State Sen. Ben Bagert was the official
 Republican candidate, but Duke, a Republican member of the State House of
 Representatives, also entered the race. Duke gained wide support by
 appealing for "equal rights for whites" and focusing on the state's economic
 troubles. Fearing they would be embarrassed by a Duke victory, 8 Republican
 U.S. senators endorsed Johnston, Oct. 2. Bagert dropped out of the race,
 Oct. 4  On Oct. 6, Johnston defeated Duke by 54 percent to 44 percent.

 Souter Confirmed for Supreme Court -- The U.S. Senate, Oct. 2, confirmed
 Judge David Souter for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. The vote was 90-9,
 with all those in opposition being Democrats. Souter was sworn in as the
 nation's 105th justice on Oct. 8.

 Unemployment Rises Again -- The Labor Dept. reported, Oct. 5, that
 unemployment in September had edged upward to 5.7 percent, the third
 consecutive monthly increase. The jobless rate stood at its highest level
 since the spring of 1988. The department said, Oct. 18, that in September,
 for the second straight month, consumer prices had risen by 0.8 percent. Oil
 prices, affected by the Persian Gulf crisis, accounted for more than half of
 the increase. The Commerce Dept. reported, Oct. 30, that the gross national
 product grew at an annual rate of 1.8 percent during the third quarter, a
 sharp improvement over the 0.4 rate reported during the second quarter. On
 Oct. 31, General Motors reported its greatest quarterly loss ever, $1.98
 billion. It announced that it would close 4 assembly plants permanently and
 said that 5 other plants might be closed.

 Bush Vetoes Civil Rights Bill -- Pres. George Bush vetoed a civil rights
 bill, which sought in effect to reverse 6 recent Supreme Court decisions
 that civil rights organizations contended had weakened anti-discrimination
 laws on hiring and promoting. Bush said, Oct. 20, that the bill "will have
 the effect of coercing businesses to adopt quotas in hiring and promotion."
 Bush, who opposed the concept of quotas, said businesses would have to adopt
 quotas to avoid expensive litigation. He vetoed the bill, Oct. 22. The
 Senate voted 66-34, on Oct. 24, to override the veto, but this was one vote
 short of the required two-thirds.

 Mayor Receives Prison Term -- Mayor Marion Barry, Jr. of Washington, D.C.
 was sentenced, Oct. 20, to 6 months in prison and fined $5,000 and costs on
 his conviction on a misdemeanor charge of possessing cocaine. Federal
 District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson said that an example should be set
 for other public officials and said that Barry had "given aid, comfort and
 encouragement to the drug culture at large."

 Dole Resigns as Labor Secretary -- Elizabeth Dole, the highest-ranking woman
 in the administration of Pres. George Bush, resigned, Oct. 24, as Secretary
 of Labor. She was the first member of the Bush cabinet to step down. Dole
 planned to accept the presidencyof the American Red Cross.

 Sweeping Clean Air Act Approved -- Congress, Oct. 27, completed action on
 the 1990 Clean Air Act, a comprehensive updating of the original Clean Air
 Act adopted in 1970. The bill, which Pres. George Bush said he would sign,
 set an overall annual level of emissions of sulfer dioxide from power plants
 at less than one-half of current emissions, with a target date of 2000.  In
 another effort to eliminate acid rain, nitrogen oxide emissions would be cut
 by one-third.  Oil companies would be required to develop new types of
 gasoline that burn more cleanly, and cities would have to reduce
 concentration of ozone, a component of smog.  The bill would halt production
 of chemicals that threatened the earth's ozone sheild.


                               International

 Germany United After 45 Years -- The reunification of Germany was completed
 at midnight, Oct. 2-3. Since the end of World War II in 1945 there had been
 2 Germanys, but the rush to unification had been swift since the collapse of
 the hard-line Communist regime in East Germany late in 1989.  The new
 nation, having a population of 78 million, would be known formally as the
 Federal Republic of Germany, previously the official designation of West
 Germany.

 Arabs Are Killed Near Holy Shrines -- From 17 to 21 Palestinians were shot
 fatally by Israeli police in Jerusalem's Old City, Oct. 8, and more than 100
 were wounded. The shootings took place at a site sacred to both Islam and
 Judaism, where the Western Wall, or Wailing Wall, stands near 2 mosques, Al
 Aksa and Dome of the Rock. A Jewish religious group, the Temple Mount
 Faithful, had declared their intention to raze the mosques and build a new
 temple to replace one destroyed by the Romans. Members of this group came to
 the site, Oct. 8, and thousands of Palestinians came to confront them.
 Israeli authorities barred the Jewish group, but the Palestinians threw
 stones at Jews worshipping at the Western Wall. Some 2 dozen policemen and
 Jewish civilians were reportedly struck. Police fired on the protestors.
 Apparently motivated in part by a desire to retain Arab support in the
 Persian Gulf crisis, the U.S., Oct. 9, asked the U.N. Security Council to
 condemn Israel for the shootings. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir,
 Oct. 10, appointed a commission to investigate the shootings. The Security
 Council, Oct. 12, voted 15-0 to condemn Israel and to support sending a U.N.
 mission to investigate. Shamir said, Oct. 13, that the U.N. delegation would
 receive no help from Israel, and the Israeli cabinet, Oct. 14, denounced the
 mission on the basis that the investigation would call into question
 asserted Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem. The Security Council, Oct.
 24, voted unanimously to deplore Israel's refusal to cooperate with the
 investigation. An aide to Shamir declared, Oct. 25, that the U.S. in
 supporting the U.N. resolutions, was playing into the hands of Saddam
 Hussein, the ruler of Iraq. A report published, Oct. 26, by the Israeli
 commission criticized Israeli commanders for not having prepared for the
 possibility of trouble. The commission placed the blame for the tragedy on
 the Palestinians even though it also acknowledged that the Jewish
 worshippers had long since fled from the scene before the police had opened
 fire.

 Bhutto Fails to Regain Power -- Pakistan's deposed prime minister, Benazir
 Bhutto, failed in an effort to regain power. Her husband, Asif Ali Zandari,
 was arrested, Oct. 10, and charged with extortion and the kidnapping in 1989
 of a British businessman. Bhutto called the investigation a witch hunt. In
 elections to the lower house of parliament, Oct. 24, Bhutto's party was
 defeated, losing more than half of its seats. An opposing party, the Islamic
 Democratic Alliance, won a clear majority of seats.

 Lebanese Christian Militia Leader Surrenders -- Gen. Michel Aoun, who led a
 Christian force that fought the government of Lebanon for 11 months,
 surrendered, Oct. 13, after entering the French embassy to seek refuge from
 Syrian air and ground attacks. It was reported, Oct. 18, that at least 750
 people were killed in the final Syrian-led offensive that brought down Aoun.


 Soviet Parliament Approves Economic Reforms -- OnOct. 16, Soviet Pres.
 Mikhail Gorbachev revealed the details of his economic reform package and
 presented the proposal to the Soviet Parliament. The proposal generally
 reflected the radical views of economists who had presented their plan in
 broad outline in September. It included the selling of state property to
 private individuals, the lifting of price controls, and the transferring of
 many economic decisions to the 15 republics. But some sectors, including
 transportation, communications, defense industries, energy, banking, and
 foreign trade would remain under control of the central government.
 Futhermore, Gorbachev dropped the 500-day timetable for accomplishing the
 goals of the plan that the economists had originally advocated. Parliament,
 Oct. 19, gave its approval to the plan, 333 to 12, with 34 abstentions.
 Boris Yeltsin, president of the Russian Republic, criticized the plan for
 not placing more authority in the hands of the republics.