Row over dam goes to court

THE HAGUE (Reuter) - Hungary has applied to the International Court of Justice to help resolve a row with Czechoslovakia over the damming of the Danube river. A Hungarian official said he believed the court was the best forum for resolving the dispute, but Czechoslovakia has refused to recognise the jurisdiction of the court, the UN's principal judicial body.

The project was conceived as a joint effort to improve navigation of the Danube and build a power-generating plant, but Hungary pulled out under pressure from environmentalists and is now fighting the project on ecological grounds.