MIDEAST UPDATE

* Foreign exchange traders in the United States said widespread reports that the Kuwaiti government had sold a significant amount of Japanese government bonds and bought dollars probably are true. The traders at major Wall Street firms said, however, that the trading probably took place in Tokyo, and they said they had no first-hand knowledge of it. The Kuwaitis reportedly sold the yen bonds in part because of the expected upward movement of U.S. interest rates and in part to begin raising cash to pay for reconstruction projects.

* Texaco said it plans to meet with Kuwaiti Oil Minister Rashid Salem al-Ameeri in Saudi Arabia this weekend to get information on war-damaged oil facilities. Texaco and Kuwait Petroleum Corp. jointly operated 360 active wells in the Wafra South, Um Gudair and South Fuwaris fields in southern Kuwait.

* The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against Pan Am charging the airline with harassment for allegedly subjecting Arab-American passengers to unwarranted interrogations, body searches and luggage checks.

* Three major European airlines--Alitalia, British Airways and Iberia--announced that they will resume Middle Eastern commercial flights that were suspended during the Persian Gulf crisis. British Airways said it will resume routes to Tel Aviv and Bahrain this month. Alitalia, Italy’s flag airline, said it will resume flying to Cyprus; Tel Aviv; Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Jidda, Saudi Arabia, on Monday. Iberia, the state-owned carrier in Spain, said it will begin flying to Tel Aviv and Cairo again on March 3.