Copyright 1999 The Washington Post
The Washington
Post
July 25, 1999, Sunday, Final Edition
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A26
LENGTH: 1042 words
HEADLINE:
WORLD IN BRIEF
BODY:
EUROPE
WTO Rules Against U.S. in Tax-Break Case
After winning some highly publicized international trade rulings against
the European Union, the United States has lost one to the EU in a case involving
a tax break given to encourage U.S. exports.
The EU
claimed initial victory this weekend in a complaint it brought at the World
Trade Organization against foreign sales corporations, which
many U.S. multinationals have established to help reduce their
tax burdens. The sales corporations are often located in
offshore tax havens and their income is
partially exempt from U.S. taxes, provided it comes from the
sale of U.S. exports. A WTO panel found that these arrangements illegally
subsidize U.S. exports at the expense of other countries' products. Unless
Washington can get the panel's finding overturned, the decision could mean that
Congress will have to change the law.
The United States has blasted the
EU in recent weeks for failing to change its laws after WTO rulings that
Brussels was violating international trade rules with its banana import system
and its ban on hormone-treated beef. So far, the EU has elected to accept U.S.
sanctions against European exports such as Roquefort cheese rather than change
its laws -- as is its right under WTO rules.
European Aerospace
Giants Close to Merger
BERLIN -- DaimlerChrysler Aerospace and France's
Aerospatiale Matra are close to agreement on a merger that would create the
world's second-largest aerospace company after Boeing, a news magazine reported.
Der Spiegel said the plans to fuse the companies are already on the desk
of French President Jacques Chirac, who must approve any deal involving the
aerospace and defense group Aerospatiale Matra, which is 48 percent state-owned.
Der Spiegel's report is the latest in a flurry of consolidation
announcements from Europe's aerospace and defense industry, which has said it
hopes to better compete against U.S. giants such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Irish Republicans Confer Over 'Crisis'
DUBLIN -- Leading
Irish republicans, including Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams, met to discuss
Northern Ireland's stalled peace process and said the extent of the crisis
should not be underestimated.
Two days after the Irish Republican Army
issued a statement that was taken by critics as a veiled threat to resume
violence, the national executive of its Sinn Fein political ally met to consider
its role in the process. "No one should underestimate the extent of the crisis
that we are in now," Sinn Fein's Martin Ferris said, reading from a prepared
statement.
Ferris made clear that Sinn Fein was still considering its
response to the decision to "park" the peace process until September, when talks
will resume under the chairmanship of former U.S. senator George Mitchell.
AFRICA
Envoy Says Ethiopia-Eritrea War Near End
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- An end to the costly, bloody 14-month border
conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea is in sight, a U.S. envoy said, citing
progress in meetings in the past two days with leaders of both countries and an
Algerian-led African delegation.
In his first interview after a year of
often frustrating shuttle diplomacy, Anthony Lake said he was optimistic but
gave few details as to why. "Each side has now made a decision to try to achieve
peace, and those decisions have opened the door that I think each of them has
decided to go through," said Lake, President Clinton's former national security
adviser.
The two Horn of Africa nations have been at war since May 1998
over contested areas of their 620-mile border. Tens of thousands of soldiers and
hundreds of civilians have died in the war, and nearly half a million residents
on both sides of the border have been driven from their homes.
THE AMERICAS
Nuns Shoot, Kill Intruder in
Colombia
BOGOTA, Colombia -- Two Roman Catholic nuns shot and killed a
thief who broke into their sanctuary in central Colombia, authorities said. The
sharpshooting nuns, who have not been named, blasted the intruder in the head
with a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver after they heard strange noises
in the corridors of the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Miracles.
Police said
the fatal shooting occurred Wednesday night at the cloister in the city of Tunja
but gave details only after releasing the two nuns on bail.
ASIA
India Investigating Kashmiri Infiltration
JAMMU, India
-- India appointed a panel to investigate the infiltration by Muslim guerrillas
in northern Kashmir and kept up artillery fire to push the last infiltrators
behind the Line of Control with Pakistan.
Information and Broadcasting
Minister Pramod Mahajan said in New Delhi that the cabinet had decided to
appoint a committee "to review the events leading up to Pakistani aggression in
Kargil and to recommend necessary measures to safeguard national security."
Meanwhile, Pakistan's main opposition Islamic party said it would hold a
huge rally today in Lahore to protest against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's
decision to call for the withdrawal of Muslim militants from northern Kashmir.
U.S. Envoy Leaves China; Talks Constructive
BEIJING -- A
senior U.S. envoy left Beijing yesterday after ending talks with Chinese leaders
on Taiwan, while China accused Congress of supporting Taiwan in a dispute over
statehood.
Assistant Secretary of State Stanley Roth left for Singapore
to brief Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright on his meetings. He said the
talks had been constructive but refused to disclose details.
The crisis
over Taiwan's call for state-to-state relations enraged China and has aggravated
already touchy U.S.-China ties. After more than a year of progress in restarting
talks between the mainland and Taiwan, President Clinton's administration has
been loath to see the current dispute derail the process. Clinton dispatched
envoys to both Taipei and Beijing this week to help defuse the crisis.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I see your tears. Your pain.
And I beg your pardon. We failed to protect you."
--Bernard Kouchner,
the United Nations administrator for Kosovo, who visited Gracko, Yugoslavia,
where 14 Serbian farmers were found slain -- Page A1
LOAD-DATE: July 25, 1999
