IMPASSE IN RUSSIAN-SYRIAN ARMS TALKS.

Negotiations on an arms deal by which Russia would modernize Syria’s armed forces have foundered on disagreements over "method of payment and date of delivery," Russian diplomatic sources indicated on March 21. The two sides reportedly failed also to resolve the issue of Syria’s $10 billion debt to Moscow. A Russian delegation led by Mikhail Timkin, deputy head of the state arms trading company Rosvooruzhenie, had spent a week in Damascus negotiating the proposed deal. (UPI, March 21)

Top Oil and Gas Executive Assassinated in Kyrgyzstan.