WORLD IN BRIEF : PALAU : Pacific Archipelago Rejecting Compact

A political arrangement that would bring the remote Western Pacific archipelago of Palau more self-government and nearly $500 million in U.S. aid was headed for defeat at the hands of voters. Early returns from Tuesday’s balloting showed that about half of the Palauans who voted supported a Compact of Free Association and subsidiary agreements with the United States, but the results were falling short of the required 75%. Final results were not expected until Friday. Vice President Kuniwo Nakamura, who backed the compact, conceded that it would fail. As a result, Palau will continue as the world’s last U.N. trusteeship under U.S. administrative authority. The United States captured the islands from Japan in 1944.