SERIOUS OIL SPILL IN BASHKORTOSTAN.

The extent of an oil pipeline leak discovered December 26 near the town of Ufa was covered up by the state oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, a Bakshkortastan environmental official said yesterday. The leak occurred in a section of the Urals-Siberian oil pipeline that travels underneath the Belaya river in the southern Ural mountains in the Bashkortostan region. The pipeline, which has now been shut off, spilled an unknown quantity of oil directly into the river, some of which has already reached Tatarstan. Originally reported as a 100-ton spill, the official said the leak was of far greater magnitude. (2)

Iraqi Sanctions Retained.