news digest

IN BRIEF
Nigeria's electoral commission reported a high turnout in local elections that marked the first step in the military government's plan to restore democracy to the most populous nation in Africa.
Russian President Boris Yeltsin is still in the hospital, and it is unclear whether he will be in the Kremlin on Monday as aides earlier suggested.
Paraguay's ruling Colorado Party expelled former army chief Lino Oviedo from its ranks and accused President Raul Cubas of violating democracy for refusing to send the convicted rebel back to jail.
Gabon's presidential election got under way slowly and peacefully on Sunday with Omar Bongo, head of state since 1967, the favorite to win a new seven-year term in the oil-producing Central African nation.
South African President Nelson Mandela rejected a general amnesty for apartheid-era crimes, clearing the way for trials of human rights violators who ignored the country's Truth Commission.
Turkey's most wanted man, the rebel Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocolan, said he was prepared to stand trial in front of an international tribunal.
OPEC powers Iran and Saudi Arabia, anxious over collapsed oil prices, are exerting fresh efforts to align their views on ways of rescuing the petroleum market, sources close to the consultations said.
Algerian moslem rebels slashed the throats of seven villagers in an Algerian hamlet overnight, security forces said.
A Russian cargo ship rescued 52 would-be illegal immigrants, but another eight people were missing after they all jumped from their boat as it neared Malta, the Maltese army said.
The Iranian government is preparing legislation
to set up a new ministry to boost tourism, newspapers
reported.