The government plans to take over loans worth more than two billion dollars that 53 local and foreign banks are unable to collect.
The Presidential announcement is seen as a preliminary step toward the establishment of two new state-owned and operated banks-the real estate and industrial banks with capitals of 250 and 130 million dollars.
Irish decide to join EMS
Ireland's decision to join the new European Monetary System, announced in Dublin, means that the scheme can go into operation on January 1 with all except one of the European Common Market nations in its ranks. In Brussels, the Common Market commission has warmly welcomed Ireland's decision.
21 slain in Rhodesia
Black militants have slain 21 black civilians, including seven men and a baby shot or beaten to death in raids on two farms, the Rhodesian military reported.
Earlier the Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole, one of three moderate blacks in the militants-opposed biracial transition government, appealed for an end to foreign aid to the Patriotic Front movement.
45 killed in Shiraz riots
Forty-five people are reported to have been slain in the last 24 hours in fierce fighting between rival Muslim sects in the Iranian southern city of Shiraz.
The battles between Shi'ite fanatics and followers of the small but influential Bahai sect turned into an orgy of burning and looting with the military shooting rioters to restore order.
