Clinton Moves to Defuse Tensions Over Key Kyrgyz Base.

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan -- Hoping to defuse the latest round of tensions over a strategically important American air base, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that the United States would steer part of a lucrative Pentagon jet fuel contract to a newly created Kyrgyz state-owned corporation. The Pentagon had previously awarded the $315 million contract to a pair of secretive companies controlled by an American investor and said to be linked to the son of a former Kyrgyz leader, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was ousted in April amid accusations of corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]