New Congo Regime Protested

Troops fired in the air Friday to break up a Kinshasa protest by supporters of veteran populist politician Etienne Tshisekedi, who was excluded from the new government of the Democratic Republic of Congo. About 300 to 400 Tshisekedi supporters called for the departure of Rwandan and other foreign soldiers in Laurent Kabila's Alliance forces who captured Kinshasa last weekend and created the new Congo from the former Zaire. On a march from Tshisekedi's house in Limete into the city center the demonstrators chanted slogans calling Kabila a dictator.

Serb Guilty of War Crimes

The first war crimes trial in Germany since the Nuremberg tribunal on Nazi war crimes more than 50 years ago has ended in a conviction. German federal prosecutors took on the case due to an overload at the U.N. war crimes tribunal in the Hague. A 34-year-old Bosnian Serb was found guilty of taking part in the mass murder of Muslims during the Bosnian war. Novislav Djajic was found guilty by a Bavarian state court of 14 counts of being an accomplice to murder and attempted murder. The court sentenced Djajic to five years in jail.

Yeltsin Signs Belarus Pact

Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a pact Friday with neighboring Belarus that added details to their marriage contract but left their union somewhat less than the all-embracing merger envisaged by some. In the midst of an effervescent bout of activity that will also see him sign a post-Cold War treaty with NATO Tuesday, Yeltsin also confirmed a permanent replacement for the defense minister he dramatically sacked for failing to reform the army. But Russia's communist-dominated parliament protracted the agony over a budget crisis by ordering the government to find new revenues before it will consider drastic spending cuts.

Egypt Wants Settlement Stopped

Egypt's foreign minister says the Israeli-Egyptian summit next week will succeed if Israel agrees to stop building settlements for Jews on lands captured in 1967. Foreign Minister Amr Moussa made the comments on Israel's army radio. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak Tuesday at the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh. Egypt, partner to a 1979 treaty with Israel, hopes to break an Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking deadlock.

Iranians Vote in Close Election

Iranians have begun voting in the most competitive presidential election since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The two front-runners in the race are Muslim clergymen, and one is speaker of the Iranian parliament. The candidates have taken part in televised debates, and there's been much discussion of the economy and giving more rights to women. But whoever wins will still be seen as having less power than the Ayatollah Hoseini-Khamenei, whose actions are considered the will of God. The results of the election are to be known Monday.

French Pols Rally Votes

France's ruling conservatives and their leftist rivals Friday made last-minute bids to sway large numbers of undecided voters ahead of Sunday's first round of a closely fought parliamentary election. Both Prime Minister Alain Juppe and Socialist leader Lionel Jospin voiced concern that votes would be scattered among a record number of candidates, blurring first round results. The last opinion polls allowed to be published last weekend saw the right's lead shrinking. The stock market has been jittery, with dealers citing rumors of secret polls showing the government's lead narrowing. A record 6,389 candidates will vie for 577 National Assembly seats.

China Condemns US Sanctions

China today condemned U.S. sanctions on two Chinese firms for allegedly selling chemical weapons components to Iran as "unreasonable" and said it was firmly opposed to penalties. The Chinese Foreign Ministry says it opposes the development of chemical weapons by any country and would not assist any country in developing such weapons. Washington Thursday imposed sanctions on the two Chinese companies because it believes they transferred chemical weapons components to Iran. Washington also imposed sanctions on five Chinese citizens.

CIA Discloses Assassination Plan

Senior CIA officials mulled plots to assassinate scores of Guatemalan leaders as part of a 1954 coup against the elected government in their Central American country but no killings were ever approved or carried out. The spy agency memo released Friday was part of the first major release of records on one of its Cold War covert actions. The CIA said State Department officials also played a role in weighing possible assassinations to help turn back a feared Soviet beachhead in Guatemala. One newly declassified document mentioned 58 Guatemalans as possible assassination targets. The CIA promises more disclosures.

Ex-Mexican Drug Chief Speaks

Mexico's disgraced drug-fighting general Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo has accused top military officials of protecting the country's most notorious drug lord. Newspaper Reforma said Friday that allegations of drug corruption at the highest level of Mexico's armed forces emerged as part of Gutierrez Rebollo's defense on charges he himself had taken bribes from the cocaine baron, Amado Carrillo Fuentes. Gutierrez Rebollo was fired as chief of Mexico's anti-drug effort in February. The new revelations come a day after the paper reported a witness in the case denounced two generals and the private secretary of former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari for having links with Carillo Fuentes.

Cuba Defends One-Party System

Cuba's ruling Communist Party, preparing for a congress in October that will chart the country's future, has urged citizens to unite behind the one-party socialist system as an indispensable pillar of the island's independence. The stark appeal is made in an eight-page document to be debated over the coming weeks by party members and citizens and submitted for approval at the Fifth Party Congress on Oct. 8-10. The paper, dwelling at length on historical reasons for the one-party system, makes plain that at least at the leadership level, President Fidel Castro's party is not planning major political changes as it prepares for the year 2000 and beyond.

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