WORLD IN BRIEF : GERMANY : Kohl, Opposition Agree to Help East

Chancellor Helmut Kohl and the opposition Social Democrats agreed to an urgent program of cooperation to help rescue eastern Germany from economic collapse. Kohl and Social Democratic Chairman Hans-Jochen Vogel, meeting amid talk of a possible national unity government to tackle the crisis, set up two working groups to thrash out a joint approach. One group will consider how to deal with the dearth of administrators in eastern Germany and questions about property rights. Another group will examine ways to create jobs and speed attempts to rescue and privatize dying businesses.