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    <P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="7">Events of November
      1996 </FONT></FONT></P>
    <HR SIZE="1">
    
    <P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="5">Anne D. Baylon
      </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="5"></FONT></FONT>
    </P>
    <DIV ALIGN="center">
    <CENTER><ADDRESS> <FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>CENTRAL
    EUROPE </I></B></FONT></FONT></ADDRESS></CENTER></DIV>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4">Bulgaria </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 3</B> In
      presidential elections, preliminary results show the victory of Petar
      Stoyanov, the opposition candidate who campaigned on a pledge to speed the
      pace of economic reform, over Ivan Marazov, his ex-Communist rival.
      </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>Czech
      Republic </I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 8</B>
      Defense Minister Miloslav Vyborny announces that the government will
      investigate whether Czech troops received adequate chemical protection
      during the Gulf war. &#160;Mr. Vyborny promises that health problems
      related to service would be compensated financially. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>Lithuania
      </I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 11</B> In
      parliamentary elections, the party of Vytautas Landsbergis, the man who
      led the independence movement in Lithuania, wins with a large margin over
      its former Communists rivals. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>Romania
      </I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 2</B>
      President Ion Iliescu, a former high-ranking Communist and close aide of
      dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, is up for reelection after seven years in
      power. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 4</B>
      President Iliescu will have to face a runoff on Nov. 17 against Emil
      Constantinescu, an academic and centrist politician. Mr. Iliescu's party,
      the Party of Social Democracy, loses parliamentary elections that were
      held on this day. The voting reflects disillusion with Mr. Iliescu's
      policies, which have led to a lower standard of living. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 13</B> In
      Bucharest, 10,000 people rally in support of Emil Constantinescu, who
      received 28% of the votes in the Nov. 3 first-round election, against 32%
      for President Iliescu. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 17</B> Emil
      Constantinescu becomes Romania's President with 53% of the votes. Mr.
      Constantinescu's victory creates a totally new political alignment in
      Romania--the only country in Central and Eastern Europe to have elected
      governments of former Communists repeatedly since 1989. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 18</B>
      Saying that &#147;Romania comes back now to the great concert of a
      democratic Europe,&#148; President Constantinescu announces that economic
      reform is the main priority and that the austerity program that he intends
      to carry out will start &#147;with austerity for people at the top.&#148;
      </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"> <FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>EASTERN
      EUROPE </I></B></FONT></FONT> </P>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>Belarus
      </I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 18</B>
      After threatening to step down unless President Aleksandr Lukashenko
      cancels a Nov. 24 referendum that could grant the President almost
      absolute power, Prime Minister Mikhail Chigir resigns when Mr. Lukashenko
      insists that he has no plans to cancel the voting. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 22</B>
      Worried about the crisis within neighboring Belarus, Russia attempts to
      broker an agreement between President Lukashenko and his opponents. But
      Belarus's parliament refuses to endorse the compromise, saying that it
      leaves Mr. Lukashenko with &#147;the upper hand.&#148; Under the
      compromise, the referendum's results would not be binding but parliament &#160;would
      have to end its bid to impeach Mr. Lukashenko. Belarus announces the
      shipping of its last nuclear warheads to Russia. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 23</B>
      President Lukashenko says that the referendum to expand his powers will be
      binding. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 24</B>
      President Lukashenko goes ahead with the referendum, sparking fears that
      Belarus, a small nation of 10 million people, is heading back toward a
      Soviet-style dictatorship; he also confirms that the last nuclear missiles
      will be sent to Russia within a week. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 25</B>
      Although the Speaker of Parliament, Semyon Sharetsky, calls the referendum
      &#147;a farce,&#148; President Lukashenko declares himself the victor and
      moves to expand his power. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 26</B>
      Parliament splits as 112 members out of 199 vote in support of President
      Lukashenko to make the results of the referendum binding and set up their
      own assembly. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 27</B>
      Pro-Lukashenko deputies abolish the old parliament and approve the
      creation of a new lower house. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 28</B>
      President Lukashenko signs a new Constitution that gives him control of
      all branches of government and extends his term by two years to 2001.
      Denouncing opposition deputies as traitors, he posts guards outside their
      building. He also reiterates his opposition to NATO's planned expansion.
      </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>Russia
      </I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 2</B>
      President Yeltsin's daughter, Tatyana Dyachenko, has become his &#147;closest
      confidante and adviser,&#148; acting as a guardian of the President's
      health and image. Without political experience until she joined her
      father's reelection campaign, Mrs. Dyachenko has emerged as one of the
      most powerful people in Russia. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 4</B> Paul
      Tatum, an American businessman involved in a dispute over control of the
      Radisson-Slavyanskaya Hotel--one of Moscow's best-known hotels--is shot to
      death in Moscow by an unknown assailant. Although businessmen have
      frequently been killed in Russia, the slaying of foreign businessmen is
      rare. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 5</B>
      President Yeltsin undergoes a successful heart operation. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>NY Times, Nov. 9</B>
      One quarter to one third of all Russian consumer goods are imported into
      the country by about 10 million Russian &#147;shuttle traders&#148; who
      earn a living by flying between Russia and Turkey, southern Europe,
      Poland, China, and South Korea and buying low-quality goods that they
      resell in street markets all over the former Soviet Union. Shuttle trading
      has become a $10 billion import business. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 10</B> A
      bomb explodes at a Moscow cemetery, killing 13 and wounding dozens more.
      The explosion underscores the role of organized crime in Russia. There are
      at least 500 criminal organizations in Moscow alone. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 15</B> The
      Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets publishes a transcript of a taped
      meeting in which President Yeltsin's chief of staff, Anatoly Chubais,
      plots to cover up evidence of illegal campaign spending during the
      presidential campaign. Mr. Chubais, who denies any involvement, accuses
      his ousted rival in the Kremlin, former chief of presidential security
      Maj. Gen. Aleksandr Korzhakov, of planting fake evidence. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 16</B> An
      explosion destroys a building housing Russian military officers in the
      southern region of Dagestan, killing 32 people. Since Dagestan borders
      Chechnya, officials suspect Chechen rebels of causing the explosion.
      </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>Russia/Chechnya
      </I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 23</B>
      President Yeltsin orders the removal of all Russian forces from Chechnya,
      to be completed by Jan. 27 when Chechnya holds elections to choose a new
      president and legislature. In a concession to Chechen rebels, a small
      military force that was to remain permanently stationed in Chechnya will
      be stationed in the North Caucasus across the border. Also, Russia and
      Chechnya sign an economic cooperation agreement that will restore trade
      and communications by December. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>Ukraine
      </I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 4</B>
      Yevhen Shcherban, a well-known member of parliament and one of Ukraine's
      richest men, is shot down by three gunmen. Mr. Shcherban had been &#147;indirectly
      accused&#148; of involvement in an assassination attempt on Prime Minister
      Pavlo Lazarenko in July. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"> <FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>THE
      FORMER YUGOSLAVIA </I></B></FONT></FONT> </P>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>Bosnia
      </I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 6</B>
      Bosnian Serb officials destroy the homes of 96 Muslim families who had
      asked to visit their homes in a Serb-controlled area. Under the Dayton
      Peace Agreement, refugees have the right to return to their pre-war homes
      but, so far, no refugees have been able to actually return despite the
      presence of 50,000 peacekeeping forces. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 7</B> A
      European intelligence report says that the Bosnian government is smuggling
      heavy artillery weapons into Bosnia through the Croatian port of Ploce in
      violation of the Bosnian peace agreement. NATO officials fear that the
      Bosnian Muslims are trying to stockpile arms in order to gain the
      advantage if the war resumes in Bosnia. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 9</B> The
      newly elected Bosnian Serb president, Biljana Plavsic, announces on Pale
      television the dismissal of Gen. Ratko Mladic, the military commander
      indicted for war crimes during the Bosnian war. She cites international
      opposition to the general as making it impossible for him to remain. Maj.
      Gen. Pero Colic, who is replacing Gen. Mladic, says that he supports the
      peace agreement. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 10</B>
      Eager to assert control over their army, Bosnian Serb political leaders
      swear in new military commanders, in effect sealing the decision announced
      by President Biljana Plavsic. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 11</B>
      Hundreds of Muslims storm a village near Koraj in northeastern Bosnia to
      reclaim their former homes in an area now held by Bosnian Serbs. American
      and Russian peacekeepers quell the fighting. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 12</B> A
      second fight erupts between Muslims and Serbs but NATO forces intervene to
      break it off, suggesting how essential NATO troops may be in preventing
      war. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3">In Paris, European
      officials and U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher meet with
      representatives of Bosnia's three ethnic groups to &#147;chart a course
      toward peace.&#148; They urge Bosnia's Serbs to respect the peace
      agreement and allow refugees to reclaim their homes. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 14</B> In
      order to punish Bosnian Muslim officials for inciting civilians to
      violence against Bosnian Serbs, U.S. peacekeepers raid a Bosnian army camp
      and confiscate weapons, but they are attacked in turn by Muslim rioters.
      </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3">European and U.S.
      officials warn the leaders of Bosnia's three ethnic groups that they will
      stop providing economic aid after two years if peace has not taken hold by
      then. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 15</B>
      President Clinton announces that the U.S. is prepared to keep a force in
      Bosnia for an additional 18 months. While the American contingent is
      currently about 14,000 troops, the new force would have a limited mandate
      and would be reduced to about 8,500, with full withdrawal planned for June
      1998. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 17</B>
      Supporters of Gen. Ratko Mladic, who was dismissed as the Bosnian Serb
      military commander, seize a television transmission tower. (The Bosnian
      Serb television is allied with President Plavsic.) </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 17
      (reported in NY Times, Nov. 19)</B> NATO officials agree that up to 30,000
      troops (including 8,500 U.S. troops) will stay in Bosnia after the mandate
      of the current force of 60,000 expires on Dec. 20. Final approval for the
      new force is due in early December when NATO defense and foreign ministers
      meet in Brussels. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 19</B>
      Acting under U.S. pressure, the Bosnian government dismisses Hasan Cengic,
      the Deputy Minister of Defense of the Bosnian and Croat Federation and a &#147;fervent
      Muslim nationalist with very close ties to Iran.&#148; American officials
      had made Mr. Cengic's departure a requirement for the delivery of $100
      million of U.S. military tanks, helicopters, and rifles to the federated
      Muslim and Croat armies. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 27</B>
      Three weeks after Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic dismissed Bosnian
      Serb military leader Gen. Ratko Mladic, Gen. Mladic finally steps down but
      appoints his deputy, Gen. Manojlo Milovanovic, another officer dismissed
      by President Plavsic, to replace him. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 29</B> In
      The Hague, the war crimes tribunal hands down its first verdict,
      sentencing a low-ranking 25 year-old ethnic Croat to 10 years in jail for
      his role in the Bosnian Serb army's massacre of Muslim civilians near
      Srebrenica in 1995. &#160;None of the senior military commanders who
      issued the orders have been arrested, however. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>Croatia
      </I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>NY Times, Nov.
      16</B> According to White House officials, Croatian President Franjo
      Tudjman is seriously ill and undergoing cancer treatment in Washington,
      D.C. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>NY Times, Nov.
      17</B> U.N. officials report that the Croatian government has set up &#147;bureaucratic
      roadblocks&#148; intended to deny Serbs legal status in Croatia. With
      about 150,000 Croatian Serbs living in Eastern Slavonia&#151;a region
      taken over by rebels backed by Serbia--the U.N. officials warn that, when
      their mandate expires in July and Croatia regains control of the region,
      these Croatian Serbs could be forced to flee to Serbia. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>NY Times, Nov.
      18</B> President Tudjman's grave illness is causing Western diplomats to
      worry that a powerful group of extreme nationalists, centered around
      Defense Minister Gojko Susak, might take over. These nationalists are
      against the idea of democracy and the Muslim-Croat Federation in Bosnia
      that was brokered by the U.S. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 20</B> The
      Croatian government announces that it will close Radio 101, the last
      independent radio station, for being &#147;too politicized&#148; (Radio
      101 has been critical of President Franjo Tudjman). Six thousand people
      protest the decision in a spontaneous political rally in Zagreb. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 21</B>
      Although the government reverses its decision to close Radio 101, over
      100,000 people keep demonstrating. The government controls both radio and
      television, and three of the four national newspapers. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>Serbia
      </I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 3</B>
      President Slobodan Milosevic, who cannot run for the presidency again (his
      second and final term as Serbian President ends at the end of 1997), is
      intent on retaining the control he has exercised over the country for the
      past nine years. Mr. Milosevic increasingly governs Serbia in tandem with
      his wife, Mirjana Markovic, who heads a party allied with his own
      coalition, led by the Socialist Party of Serbia. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 17</B>
      Zajedno, an opposition coalition composed of four parties, claims victory
      in municipal elections and warns the leftist block, composed of Mr.
      Milosevic's Socialists and the neo-Communists of Mirjana Markovic, against
      trying to tamper with the vote. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 24</B>
      Despite protests by the opposition, President Milosevic annuls the
      opposition's victory in local elections. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 25</B> In
      the largest anti-government demonstration in five years, over 100,000
      people block Belgrade's streets. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 27</B>
      Ignoring protesters, President Milosevic holds new elections in order to
      give his party the victory it failed to obtain at the polls. The
      opposition coalition calls for a boycott of the vote. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 30</B> In
      the fight against Mr. Milosevic's government, Zoran Djindjic, a
      44-year-old articulate opposition leader, has emerged as the possible &#147;new
      political power broker in Serbia and Montenegro.&#148; But Western
      diplomats are nervous because they are not sure Mr. Djindjic &#147;really
      believes in anything other than power.&#148; </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>Slovenia
      </I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 11</B>
      Liberal Democrats, led by Janez Drnovsek, who was President of Yugoslavia
      from 1989 to 1990, win in parliamentary elections. The Liberal Democrats
      are eager to be part of the European Union and NATO. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"> <FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>WESTERN
      EUROPE / EASTERN EUROPE </I></B></FONT></FONT> </P>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>Chemical
      Weapons Convention </I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>NY Times, Nov. 3</B>
      The Chemical Weapons Convention, which bans the development, production,
      stockpiling, or use of chemical weapons worldwide and has been signed by
      160 nations, receives its 65</FONT><SUP><FONT SIZE="3">th</FONT></SUP><FONT SIZE="3">
      ratification (by Hungary), enabling it to go into force in the spring 180
      days later. The treaty will apply to all nations that signed it, whether
      they ratified it or not. The United States, China, and Russia have not yet
      ratified the treaty. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>France/United
      States/NATO </I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 9</B>
      French/American relations have soured over the French demand in August
      that a European officer take over an important NATO command, Allied Forces
      Southern Europe, a post that has always been held by a U.S. admiral.
      France has threatened not to reintegrate the NATO military structure if
      Washington does not relent. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>Russia
      </I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>NY Times, Nov.
      15</B> Vimpel-Communications, Russia's leading cellular telephone company,
      is about to become the first Russian company to trade on the New York
      Stock Exchange, offering investors a chance to buy part of a young company
      run by former Soviet military scientists who have reconverted themselves
      for the new market economy. The company is known to have &#147;close
      connections to the Russian establishment.&#148; </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>Spain/NATO
      </I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 14</B>
      After 14 years during which Spain was a member of the Alliance without
      participating in the NATO command, parliament votes to permit Spain's full
      participation in NATO's military structure. The government will now
      negotiate for Spain to become a full member of the Alliance. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>U.S.A./U.N./70
      Nations </I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
    
    <P ALIGN="left"><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE="3"><B>Nov. 4</B> The
      U.S. introduces in the U.N. General Assembly a nonbinding resolution,
      co-sponsored by over 70 nations, that calls for the adoption of bans on
      the &#147;transfer, use, production or stockpiling&#148; of land mines.
      Land mines kill and maim thousands of civilians in former war zones where
      they are difficult to detect and remove. </FONT></FONT></P>
    
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    <P ALIGN="left">Copyright &copy; Center for Strategic Decision Research
      1997</P>
    
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