CAPE TOWN - South Africa`s Truth and Reconciliation Commission said it had been told black consciousness leader Steve Biko had been poisoned and not beaten to death as widely believed. The commission said last week that five former security policemen had admitted to having killed Biko during interrogation in 1977.
ALBANY, New York - U.S. surgeons performed intricate artery replacement surgery on an 11-year-old boy, Christian Wood, in what doctors said was the first operation of its kind on a child in the world.
BELGRADE - Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic has made his first concessions to three months of pro-democracy demonstrations, prompting a cautious welcome from foreign and domestic critics alike. Milosevic said on Tuesday he had written to his prime minister asking parliament to reinstate the disputed results of November`s local elections with special legislation.
KHARTOUM - Sudan said Ethiopia had taken more than 15,000 people captive since its troops began fighting the Khartoum government in the southern Blue Nile province more than three weeks ago. Sudan says Ethiopian and Eritrean troops are fighting alongside rebels who are waging an offensive in the east and south. Both countries deny any involvement in the conflict.
WASHINGTON - President Clinton warned Congress against amending the Constitution to require a balanced budget, saying that this could "cripple our country in time of crisis." Laying out his second-term goals in a State of the Union speech, President issued a national "call to action" to improve education, balance the budget and reform campaign financing.
PARIS - Suspected Moslem guerrillas massacred a whole family by hacking off the heads of its nine members in a night raid at a hamlet south of Algiers, Algerian newspapers said.
SOFIA - Bulgarians celebrated into the early hours after their ex-communist rulers agreed to elections in April, and newspapers acclaimed a victory for the people who turned out for 30 days of mass protests.
TEHRAN - Two earthquakes killed 58 people and levelled at least 14 villages in northeastern Iran where rescue teams were still searching for people among the rubble, state media said.
GOMA, Zaire - Zairean rebel leader Laurent Kabila gave President Mobutu Sese Seko until February 21 to surrender power or face a major rebel attack.
LIMA - Peru sought to relaunch talks with Marxist rebels holding 72 hostages inside the Japanese ambassador`s residence in Lima for 50 days.
COLOMBO - Sri Lanka`s army has launched its biggest offensive this year against rebel-held territory in the north and so far met no resistance, military officials and news reports said.
ANKARA - A leading Turkish leftist party said it had filed a censure motion against the Islamist-led government to safeguard the country`s secular system.
