Four killed in UN helicopter crash in Guatemala
     GUATEMALA CITY, March 17 - Four people were killed and four were
 injured when a United Nations helicopter crashed in a mountainous
 area of Guatemala on Tuesday, U.N. spokesmen  said.
     Spokesman Juan-Carlos Brandt, speaking at U.N. headquarters in
 New York, gave the casualty toll but said he had no further details
 and there was no evidence of foul play.
     In Guatemala City, Marcel Arevalo, spokesman for the U.N. human
 rights mission that leased the helicopter, confirmed there had been
 an accident and said he was awaiting information on the fate of
 survivors.
     The helicopter was on a routine mission over the Cuchumatanes
 mountains in the northern province of Huehuetenango near the border
 with Mexico.
     It was being used by the U.N. Mission for the Verification of
 Human Rights in Guatemala (MINUGUA), composed of human rights
 experts and unarmed military observers overseeing implementation
 of a December 1996 peace treaty between the government and leftist
 guerrillas.
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  U.S. Transportation Dept. approves 106 new weekly flights to Japan
     WASHINGTON - March 17, 1998 2:04 p.m. EDT -- The U.S. Department
 of Transportation has approved 106 new weekly flights to Japan under
 an agreement resulting from the recently updated aviation pact be-
 tween the world's two largest economies, the agency said Monday.
     The agreement tentatively awards the flights to six airlines:
 American, Continental, Delta, Hawaiian, Northwest and TWA. The cities
 getting the new service to Japan are: Atlanta; Boston; Chicago;
 Dallas/Fort Worth; Detroit; Houston; Maui, Hawaii; Los Angeles;
 Newark, New Jersey; New York; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco; and
 St. Louis.
     Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater and Japanese Transport
 Minister Takao Fujii signed the agreement over the weekend.
     "This is an example of government, industry and public working
 together for the good of all," Slater said in a statement. "Our
 action lays
 the groundwork for airlines, travelers and communities soon to enjoy
 the enormous benefits that this groundbreaking agreement will bring."
     A final decision on the flight awards will follow a comment
 period over the next few weeks.
     The agreement is a result of a January 30 accord that updated a
 46-year-old "open skies" treaty governing airline service between
 the United States and Japan.
     The four-year deal grants United and Northwest airlines and Fed-
 eral Express unlimited access to Japan and the right to fly to Japan
 from any U.S. city.
     Japan's No. 2 carrier, All Nippon Airways, gained unrestricted
 rights to a number of U.S. destinations under the deal. Japan Air-
 lines, the country's largest passenger carrier, already had unre-
 stricted access to U.S. cities under the original agreement.
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            Westendorp orders opening of Mostar airport
     SARAJEVO - March 17, 1998 11:36 a.m. EST - International envoy
 Carlos Westendorp on Tuesday ordered that the airport in the divided
 Bosnian town of Mostar be reopened for civilian traffic next month.
     Local authorities had failed to reach agreement on resuming
 civilian flights at the airport.
    A spokesman for Westendorp, the international High Representative
 in Bosnia, said he would set up an airport authority chaired by an
 international official with three members each appointed by the
 Muslim mayor and his Croat deputy.
    "This regime will allow the airport to be opened within a month's
 time and will be valid for six months," Simon Haselock told
 reporters.
    "It (the decision) underlines the urgency of having a fully func-
 tioning airport in Herzegovina region, essential to the local
 economy," he added.
     Moslems and Croats fought a bitter 10-month war in 1993 but
 later joined as allies in a U.S.-brokered federation against Bosnian
 Serbs.
     Mostar, which saw some of the worst fighting in the 1992-95
 Bosnian war, has remained divided between the two ethnic communi-
 ties, and rival politicians have been slow to agree on the func-
 tioning of joint institutions.
     However, the town's council is expected to establish a permanent
 solution for the airport at the end of the six-month period,
 Haselock said.
     Westendorp, a former Spanish diplomat, has already used arbitra-
 tion powers given to him by the international community after local
 politicians failed to agree on a number of issues.
     Over the past three months he has imposed interim laws on the
 design of Bosnia's common currency, the new flag, the law on citi-
 zenship and the law on foreign investment.
     The international community has been urging Muslim, Croat and
 Serb politicians in Bosnia to reopen airports for civilian traffic
 in order to help the country's economic recovery.
     Sarajevo's airport has been functional for civilian flights
 since 1996 and the airport in the Bosnian Serb capital Banja Luka
 was reopened last November.
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