Around the World

Oil pipeline deal to be announced today

ISTANBUL, Turkey - The United States, Turkey and two Caspian Basin nations are expected to announce an agreement today on a plan to build a 1,240-mile pipeline that would tap rich oil fields in Central Asia while further weakening Russia's grip on a region once firmly in the Soviet orbit.

The $2.4 billion project would carry as many as 1 million barrels of oil a day from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, through Georgia before finally reaching Ceyhan, a Turkish port on the Mediterranean Sea, where it would be pumped aboard tankers.

The agreement, while coming as no surprise to Moscow, is sure to cause friction in what was already expected to be a difficult meeting today between President Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin on the fringes of a European summit here.

U.S. officials, uncertain how Yeltsin will respond to increasing Western pressure to restrain the Russian war in the separatist republic of Chechnya, are approaching the meeting with the Russian leader with some trepidation.

"It is possible they will go on the offensive to avoid being put on the defensive," a senior Clinton administration official said, adding, "There is no such thing as a predictable meeting with Yeltsin."

Pakistan attempts to get rid of corruption

The raids - which brought in landowners, industrialists, athletes and politicians from all parties - began hours after a deadline expired for debtors to repay loans or face criminal charges.

11-18-99