WORLD IN BRIEF : UNITED NATIONS : Council OKs Rules on Arms Exports

The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council agreed on a set of arms export rules in a bid to stop countries such as Iraq from amassing huge arsenals that could be used to threaten their neighbors. After a two-day meeting in London, the five announced a series of guidelines committing them to avoid selling weapons likely to worsen international conflicts or increase tensions in a given region. They also said they had agreed to inform each other about sales to the Middle East of major conventional weapons systems. The five--Britain, China, France, the Soviet Union and the United States--together account for 85% of the world’s arms trade.