The World - News from Jan. 13, 1989

The United Nations ended 1988 more than $750 million in the red, mainly because the United States withheld part of its dues during the Reagan Administration, according to an advance copy of 1988 figures obtained by the Associated Press. The United States, largest contributor to the world body, owed $401.7 million, 53.5% of the total arrears of the combined regular and peacekeeping budgets, according to the figures. The Soviet Union was also in arrears, owing more than $181 million in regular and peacekeeping assessments. Washington began bringing the U.S. account up to date after President Reagan said last September that he was satisfied with the organizations’s progress in fiscal and other reforms.