Ecuador and Peru have recently completed contending military maneuvers along their long-disputed border and are both engaged in large-scale arms buildups, putting the tenuous cease-fire signed in February in jeopardy. The most recent active fighting between Peru and Ecuador occurred for five weeks last year.

A decision has been made by the Nicaraguan government to commission Canal Interoceanico de Nicaragua S.A. (CINN) to undertake a feasibility study for a 236 mile rail line linking proposed new Pacific and Caribbean deep water ports.

Russian officials rushed to deny reports of a secret message from Boris Yeltsin to President Clinton accepting the admission of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic into NATO on the grounds that the Baltic states not be admitted.

The situation on Honduras' borders, reported here yesterday, may not be the worst of Honduras' problems. Discontent within the Honduran military over low pay and decreased influence and status led recently to an abortive barracks coup attempt against military chief General Mario Hung Pacheco.

A rush is on by major Asian economic powers for investment in Central and South America. Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto of Japan will visit Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru at the end of August to develop political and economic ties.

Further cracks are developing in the U.S.-Turkey relationship, this time over the issue of renewing Turkish support for Operation Provide Comfort. Broad-based opposition is growing in the Turkish parliament to the operation, which provides an air umbrella to Kurdish provinces in northern Iraq.

Israel has expanded its free trade horizons by signing an agreement with Canada. Israel is now the only country with free trade agreements with NAFTA, the EU, the United States, and Canada, and the only non-North American country with which Canada has such an agreement.

Border tensions are rising between Honduras and El Salvador over the treatment of Honduran citizens who live on territory ceded to El Salvador after the 1969 "Soccer War." Groups of expatriate Hondurans have received death threats, and some have been attacked.

An inter-parliamentary meeting of Cuban and Mexican legislators concluded Sunday with the signing of a resolution extending the "ties of friendship and solidarity" between the countries. A major provision of the resolution was an agreement to oppose the U.S.'s extraterritorial Helms-Burton law.

Canada is actively challenging U.S. sanctions against Libya, ignoring the D'Amato Bill as they have the Helms-Burton Act against Cuba. An anonymous "giant Canadian company" has signed a preliminary agreement with Bula Resources of Ireland and the Libyan National Petroleum Establishment for exploration at three sites in Libya.