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<HTML>    BORDEAUX France AP  American fugitive Ira Einhorn appeared in court Tuesday for a hearing to determine whether he'll be extradited to the United States for the brutal 1977 murder of his girlfriend. The court said it would rule on Jan. 12.    The 57-year-old fugitive was defiant as he again denied killing Helen ``Holly'' Maddux whose corpse was found in a trunk in his closet.    ``One thing'' Einhorn said pointing his finger at the judge. ``I did not kill Holly Maddux. C'est tout That's all.''    That was Einhorn's only statement and it left Maddux's siblings shaking their heads in disbelief.    ``It was a clear attempt to provoke some outburst from us'' said Elisabeth Hall the victim's sister. ``He's a pitiful character and knows exactly what he has done.''    Einhorn has been sentenced in absentia to life in prison by a Pennsylvania court for the murder.    A prominent anti-war campaigner and activist in the 1960s Einhorn fled the United States shortly before he was due to be tried. But after 16 years in hiding he was tracked down and arrested at his French home in June 1997.    Einhorn looked relaxed during the two-hour hearing only occasionally glancing at the three sisters and brother of his alleged victim.    He entered the court building Tuesday holding hands with his companion Anika Flodin and refused to answer questions.    But the Ms. Hall was more outspoken.    ``We are here in France to remind the judges that underneath all this international law and political squabbling there is a person who was murdered and who looks like us'' Hall said.    ``Anybody can see there has been a definite undercurrent of anti-Americanism'' she said.    A French court refused to extradite Einhorn in December 1997 citing a French law that would have required a retrial if he was extradited. Pennsylvania then passed a law promising Einhorn a retrial. He was re-arrested in September.    His defense lawyers argue that if extradited Einhorn could face the death penalty which is banned under French law. They also claim Pennsylvania courts might withdraw the pledge of a retrial.    In a November interview on ABC television Einhorn declared his innocence and claimed the CIA or KGB framed him after he uncovered classified mind-control experiments.    When Maddux a former cheerleader from Tyler Texas disappeared Einhorn said she had gone shopping and never returned.    But 18 months later neighbors told police of a stench coming from Einhorn's apartment and Maddux's battered remains were found. Forensic experts said her skull had been smashed six times.    ip-jn-parf     
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<HTML>    NEW YORK AP  Greg Foster one of the newest members of the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame is now on the other side of his sport  and he isn't happy with its status.    Foster a sports agent is depressed about the decline of athletics in the United States.    ``When we're losing meets annually it's not good'' the hurdling great said Tuesday. ``I tell kids nowadays how good track and field was when I was coming out of college UCLA. At that time we had about 12 meets indoors and 12 outdoors  all in this country.''    Foster was the 1984 Olympic silver medalist in the 110-meter hurdles and the 1983 1987 and 1991 world champion. He was world-ranked for 15 of the 16 years from 1977-92.    He laments that today's athletes have few opportunities to compete in this country. Instead they are forced to go to Europe where meets and money are plentiful.    ``Not being able to compete in front of the U.S. fans hurts them'' he said. ``They can't showcase their talents.    ``The sport has changed drastically. For those who are saying it hasn't they're not paying attention.    ``It's not at rock bottom. They'll always be someone there to prevent it from hitting rock bottom. There are those of us who love the sport too much to let that happen. It's a slow decline. But there's a big difference from what I experienced and what I'm experiencing now.''    When Foster was in his prime and there were no shortage of meets he often competed against Renaldo Nehemiah the former world record-holder. While Nehemiah who was elected into the Hall of Fame last year had the best of their confrontations the head-to-head meetings were compelling.    Those kinds of rivalries brought out crowds and made for the best competition. Now interest in athletics in the United States has never been lower.    Foster points to other factors in the decline: lack of closeness between athletes and fans uncooperative athletes shortage of sponsors.    Foster recalls that when he competed athletes would mingle with spectators afterward  signing autographs posing for pictures and simply talking heightening the camaraderie. Before meets he enjoyed going to the host city and helping the promoter at clinics and other events.    ``Until the athletes realize how important the sponsors are and give back to the sponsors the sport will suffer'' he said.    ``They have to learn to make the sport fan-friendly. It's wasn't so much me publicizing the meet as the meet publicizing me. I've run in Times Square I've run at Magic Mountain I've run at Madison Square Garden ...''    The sport's downfall he said has resulted in a lack of quality athletes.    That has forced some athletes other than sprinters to run on relay teams in international meets and college dual meets. A prime example was Allen Johnson the two-time world champion and 1996 Olympic gold medalist in the 110 hurdles who was drafted for the winning U.S. 1600-meter relay team at the 1997 World Championships    Still Foster thinks the United States which has dominated Olympic track will remain the world's No. 1 track power.    ``But the gap is closing'' he said. ``The fact that we didn't win the 4 x 100 relay at the Atlanta Games shows that it's closing. We didn't lose before unless we dropped the baton.''    He says the sport's future lies with the athletes.    ``The athletes have to learn to make the sport exciting'' he said. ``Just to show up and run is not enough.''    Foster will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Thursday at a luncheon sponsored by Xerox at USA Track and Field's convention in Orlando Florida.    Joining him in the Hall will be discus thrower Jay Silvester women's distance runner Francie Larrieu-Smith and high jumper Dwight Stone. The four inductees will bring the Hall's membership to 176. 
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<HTML>    ISLAMABAD Pakistan AP  Cash-starved Pakistan on Tuesday raised the general sales tax from 12.5 percent to 15 percent in a bid to boost revenues and meet a key condition for loans from the International Monetary Fund.    According to a law passed by President Rafiq Tarar ``circumstances exist which render it necessary to take immediate action.''    A finance ministry official said the general sales tax increase was promised by the government last week during meetings with the IMF.    The meetings resulted in a dlrs 5.5 billion bailout package for Pakistan.    ``The raise in general sales tax is one of the many up-front measures which the government has to take before the IMF board meets to give a final nod to a bailout package for Pakistan'' said the ministry official who spoke on condition that his name not be mentioned.    Apart from increasing the sales tax the IMF also is seeking an agricultural tax revamped tax system structural reforms in the public sector the recovery of billions of rupees in outstanding loans and unpaid utility bills the official said.    The IMF package will have to be approved by the IMF board later this month before taking effect.    Without the bailout package Pakistan will surely default on its whopping debt of dlrs 32 billion.    Haneef Janoo former president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industries said the tax hike will hit the poor the hardest and encourage tax evasion in a country where barely one million people pay taxes.    ``The government is sticking to the same old policy of raising taxes to increase revenues which will result in more tax evasion in the absence of effective system of checks and balances'' he said.    But Nadeem Naqvi chief analyst of the International Asset Management Company a financial adviser to international investment funds said the tax increase shows that the government is seriously focusing on the revenue generation commitments made with the global donors.    ``There will be some opposition and protest from the business community but given the lack of alternatives the government has no choice other than to implement its decision'' he told The Associated Press.    Chairman of the Karachi Stock Exchange Yaseen Lakhani said the government should not be soft on the issue of tax collection.    ``The government should be tough with those who don't want to pay taxes'' he said. 
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<HTML>    HONG KONG AP  Although Hong Kong and Singapore retain their top places in an annual index ranking levels of economic freedom Asian governments grappling with a protracted financial crisis are imposing tighter economic controls a U.S. think tank said Tuesday.    Hong Kong which has held the title of the freest economy in the world for the past three years won this year only on a technicality said the conservative Heritage Foundation.    The list was compiled in June before the Hong Kong government's foray into the financial markets in August in an attempt to drive out speculators the foundation said. Since the market intervention Hong Kong has lost the title for the freest economy to Singapore.    ``It is my sad duty to report that Hong Kong as of today no longer has the freest economy in the world'' the foundation's president Edwin Feulner said at a press conference.    Singapore's deputy prime minister Lee Hsien Loong welcomed the news.    ``We are naturally happy that Heritage Foundation has recognized Singapore in its evaluation. We hope this will encourage more investors to look seriously at what Singapore has to offer even during the economic crisis'' he said.    Hong Kong is not unique in backing away from economic freedom as financial troubles sweep across the world the group said. The survey showed for the first time since the project started in 1995 more countries curtailed economic freedom during the past year than expanded it.    ``Far too many countries have reacted in exactly the wrong manner to the global economic downturn'' said Kim R. Holmes the foundation's vice president.    These countries should have been eliminating existing restrictions on trade and investment freeing their banking and currency systems from bureaucratic and political manipulation Holmes said.    Malaysia introduced tight currency controls to isolate its battered economy from the regional fallout.    The study rates the freedom of 161 countries' economies by trade tax monetary and banking policies.    It also considers government intervention in the economy capital flows and foreign investment as well as wage and price controls.    Following Singapore and Hong Kong in the rankings was Bahrain. New Zealand came fourth and Switzerland was fifth. The United States was ranked sixth.    Ireland Luxembourg Taiwan and Britain were all tied for 10th place.    Japan dropped one notch from 11th to 12th. The group said the Japanese government's response to the recession has been lackluster so far.    ``If Japan think it can emerge from the economic doldrums with paltry tax cuts and a dose of government spending it is mistaken'' Feulner said.    Hong Kong government officials and private economists disputed the city's loss of its ranking as the world's freest economy.    Some said Singapore still lags Hong Kong in many measures of economic freedom such as government regulation and intervention in corporate affairs as well as in transparency and freedom of the press.    ``We are not a command economy. We are a free economy - by any fair measure the freest in the world'' said financial secretary Donald Tsang.    Terence Koo associate director of economics and strategy at Indocam Hong Kong Ltd. said ``it's naive to believe Singapore is an extremely free market.''    Koo cited recent Singapore government efforts to reduce wages as evidence of a lack of economic freedom in the city-state.    ``The Hong Kong government definitely does not intervene in day-to-day company operations'' he said.
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<HTML>    MOSCOW AP  With Russia's leaders urgently seeking financial help International Monetary Fund chief Michel Camdessus planned to open two days of talks Tuesday on Moscow's frozen loan agreement with the IMF.    Camdessus will meet Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov late Tuesday and is scheduled to hold broader talks with government officials on Wednesday.    President Boris Yeltsin who is in hospital receiving treatment for pneumonia on Tuesday spoke with Primakov by telephone to discuss the government's stance at the talks with Camdessus.    Russia  picks up 3rd graf previous.    pvs/vi/adc 
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<HTML>    CAPE TOWN South Africa AP  American business leaders believe corruption is the greatest obstacle to foreign investment in Africa U.S. Commerce Secretary William Daley said Tuesday.    Daley delivered the assessment at an investment conference attended by hundreds of U.S. and southern African business executives and trade officials.    Daley said he had asked 15 American business leaders  including senior executives from Coca Cola Chevron DuPont and Eastman Kodak  who were accompanying him what the greatest obstacle to doing business in Africa was.    ``Eighty percent answered with one word: corruption'' Daley said attempting to explain why Africa accounts for only 1 percent of U.S. trade worldwide even though the continent has a population of 800 million.    Daley's trip to Africa comes eight months after U.S. President Bill Clinton visited Africa  a trip Clinton had hoped would mark ``the beginning of a new African renaissance.''    The war in mineral-rich Congo however represents an enormous setback to that vision Daley said. The fighting between rebels fighting President Laurent Kabila's government began in August and involves troops from at least five other countries.    ``The fighting in the Congo  the waste of such great human and resource potential  sends the picture to the world of the old Africa not the new Africa'' Daley said adding: ``You and I know that business people don't want to buy into the old Africa.''    Daley also urged southern African nations to accelerate their efforts to make the 14-nation Southern African Development Community a free-trade zone within eight years. He noted that so far only five countries have ratified the trade protocol.    ``For Africa to be on the global stage it cannot be small disconnected markets. It must be regional markets'' he said.    Daley's delegation leaves Wednesday for Nigeria Kenya and the Ivory Coast.    Earlier Tuesday Daley and South African Trade Minister Alec Erwin signed an agreement to promote investment between American and South African companies.    The memorandum of understanding will see Investment South Africa the government investment promotion agency and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation a company which sells political risk insurance and financing to U.S. companies jointly promote investment with an emphasis on small and medium-size enterprises.    aos/djw    
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<HTML>    NAIROBI Kenya AP  Sudanese rebels said Tuesday they fought off a four-pronged government attack in the Nuba Mountains in western central Sudan.    Government ground forces attacked the region on Nov. 11 and were finally driven out on Nov. 23 said Martin Okerruk spokesman for the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army in Nairobi.    Sudanese opposition radio said SPLA troops killed 42 government soldiers wounded many others and took four prisoners. Two rebel soldiers were killed and eight wounded it said.    Okerruk said he could not confirm the casualty figures because he was still waiting for details from the field.    Animist and Christian rebels in southern Sudan have fought a 15-year insurgency for autonomy from the Arab Muslim-dominated government in the north. More than 1.5 million Sudanese have died in the fighting and consequent famines.
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<HTML>    JERUSALEM AP  The political consultant who engineered Bill Clinton's come-from-behind victory in the 1992 presidential race hopes to do the same for the Israeli opposition leader.    Campaign adviser James Carville will arrive in Israel next month to talk strategy with Ehud Barak a former armed forces chief of staff and leader of the opposition Labor Party.    Barak has failed to pull ahead in the polls despite the repeated scandals that have tarnished Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.    Carville will work with pollster Stanley Greenberg and media specialist Robert Shrom.    The three have contributed to the successful campaigns of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Barak spokeswoman Aliza Goren.    ``We have hired this team because we are very serious about winning the elections'' Goren said.    She said Israeli Labor Party officials have also met with their counterparts in Germany and Britain to look at campaign strategies there.    The next elections are scheduled for 2000 but Netanyahu's coalition is shaky and there is a growing possibility that a vote might be held as early as spring or summer.    Netanyahu has relied on his own U.S. consultant Arthur Finkelstein who helped him narrowly defeat incumbent Prime Minister Shimon Peres in the 1996 elections.    Finkelstein has worked for some of America's top conservative politicians including Sen. Jesse Helms a Republican from North Carolina and Sen. Alfonse D'Amato a New York Republican.    Netanyahu has flown the elusive Finkelstein to Israel several times to advise him in times of political crises.    In a heated debate in parliament in July Barak accused Netanyahu of being politically out of touch and having to rely on American spin doctors for direction.    ``Rather than calling Finkelstein we should think for ourselves and take the path of peace and security'' Barak said at the time.    In his response Netanyahu said Barak also relied on U.S. advisers and mentioned Greenberg by name.  UR; lc-kl
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<HTML>    SYDNEY Australia AP  Telstra Corp. Ltd. is boosting its presence in Japan announcing Tuesday the purchase of a 10 percent stake in a Japanese network-service company INTEC Communications Inc.    Telstra is also increasing its service offerings from its wholly owned local subsidiary Telstra Japan KK and boosting permanent staff to about 50 from the current 17.    The INTEC business is forecast to post revenues of more than 50 billion yen US dlrs 410 million by its third year said Telstra's international managing director Ted Pretty.    He said the asset base stood at about 12 billion yen from day one.    He declined to reveal a purchase price for the stake.    The new business represents certain infrastructure assets of parent company INTEC Inc. one of Japan's largest information technology companies which have been hived-off into the new joint venture vehicle.    INTEC retains a 70 percent stake in INTEC Communications. Telstra joins Mitsubishi Corp. each with a 10 percent stake along with other minority players Nippon Life Insurance and Toshiba.    The move comes as Telstra revamps its international presence.    Market players have previously questioned Telstra's strategy which over this decade has been particularly focused on emerging markets rather than developed economies which Telstra is fast realizing it is better suited to serve.    Pretty speaking with reporters by telephone from Japan said the company had now ``turned its attention to large markets targeting Japan Europe and the U.S. upgrading our profile and investment profile in these countries.''    Telstra's largest offshore commitment to date is in Vietnam where it has kicked in some 200 million Australian dollars U.S. dlrs 126 million developing networks there.    Telstra's local subsidiary has also applied for a Type 1 carrier licence in Japan which allows it to offer a full suite of telecommunication services in Japan.    Pretty said he hoped the new licence would be awarded early in the new year.    pjs
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<HTML>    BEIJING AP  A strong earthquake jolted China's hilly southwest Tuesday causing several farmers' houses to collapse the Central Seismology Bureau reported.    There were no reports of casualties from the preliminary magnitude of 5.1 quake which struck Xuanwei county in Yunnan province shortly after 3:30 p.m. 0730 GMT state media and a bureau seismologist reported.    The quake toppled several houses in rural villages and cracked walls in one or two buildings in Xuanwei's county seat on the eastern edge of Yunnan said the seismologist who declined to be named.    Less than two weeks ago a pair of strong quakes killed five people injured 4000 and left 25000 homeless more than 300 kilometers 180 miles west of Xuanwei along Yunnan's northern border with Sichuan province.    The seismologist said Tuesday's quake was not related to the more catastrophic temblors which struck a few days ago.
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<HTML>    TOKYO AP  The U.S. dollar was trading at 122.88 yen on the Tokyo foreign exchange market at 3 p.m. 0600 GMT Tuesday down 0.94 yen from late Monday.
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<HTML>    MADRID Spain AP  Chile's foreign minister said Tuesday that his government is considering legal action against Gen. Augusto Pinochet but ruled out a deal guaranteeing he'd stand trial at home if Britain rejects an extradition request from Spain.    The minister Jose Miguel Insulza has argued that it is unnecessary to try Pinochet in Spain for crimes committed during his 1973-1990 dictatorship. A government lawsuit would strengthen his case.    ``The government is studying whether to join existing suits'' filed this year in Chile Insulza said. ``The possibility of a trial in Chile exists and gets larger every day.''    Human rights activists have dismissed the possibility of a Chilean trial for the former dictator since has wide-ranging immunity at home.    A Chilean government report says 3197 people were murdered or disappeared at the hands of the police after Pinochet seized power in a military coup that toppled the democratically elected president Salvador Allende.    Chile Insulza said was ``under no obligation'' to promise that the 83-year-old retired general would stand trial if allowed home from London where he has been under police guard since being detained Oct. 16 while recuperating from back surgery.    Insulza insisted that a Spanish judge's attempt to extradite Pinochet on charges of genocide terrorism and torture was an affront to Chilean sovereignty and its transition to democracy.    According to Insulza who is pressing for Pinochet's release Chile should be allowed to deal with the legacy of general's 17 years in power without interference.    Pinochet has many supporters there is widespread fear of violence if he is prosecuted.    ``There is no reason to call into doubt the solidity of democracy in Chile or our capacity to resolve our own problems'' Insulza said after stressing that the affair had triggered ``polarization break down of dialogue and sharp political confrontation.''    Spain's foreign minister Abel Matutes said the Spanish government was powerless to act since all remaining decisions on Pinochet's fate were in British hands.    Earlier Tuesday Insulza met Supreme Court Deputy President Luis Lopez and Senate President Juan Ignacio Barrero and was to later meet Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.    Prior to arriving Monday in Madrid Insulza spent four days lobbying the British government whose Home Secretary Jack Straw has until Dec. 11 to decide whether to let extradition proceedings go ahead.    Insulza said his trip had produced ``some positive indications'' but he declined to give details. 
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<HTML>    HONG KONG AP  In an effort to secure Hong Kong's position as Asia's second largest financial center the territory's stock exchange said Tuesday it will start up a new market to help smaller companies raise cash from investors.    The ``Growth Enterprise Market'' or GEM aims to entice small- and medium-sized companies from Hong Kong Taiwan and mainland China to list their shares on the new index a statement from the exchange said.    It will have less stringent listing rules and profit requirements but will enjoy equal standing to the main board market executives said.    ``Developing an effective GEM for Hong Kong mainland and Taiwan's medium-sized companies offers valuable economic benefits and will secure Hong Kong's position as the preeminent market for such enterprises'' said K.S. Lo a vice-chairman of the Stock Exchange Council who is leading the team creating the new market.    Hong Kong's market is smaller than the region's top bourse in Tokyo but is locked in an often-intense rivalry with Asia's No. 3 player Singapore.    The Hong Kong exchange wants to launch its smaller market in late 1999.    The minimum amount of stock which can be offered on the new exchange would either be 38 million Hong Kong dollars U.S. dlrs 4.87 million or 10 percent of a company whichever is higher. The proposed minimum transaction size is 50000 Hong Kong dollars U.S. dlrs 6410.    Lo defended the decision to set a minimum transaction size.    ``Because of the higher risk of this market we want to target informed investors'' Lo said. ``We don't want to see too much speculation by retail investors.''    He did not however rule out the possibility of reducing the minimum requirement once the secondary market is better established.    He said sponsors of potential listing candidates will be responsible for the initial public offering disclosure and the stock exchange will make no assessment of applicant's commercial viability for listing.    Listed companies would be required to submit quarterly reports which may be unaudited. Corporate governance requirements will include the appointment of an audit committee a qualified accountant and at least two independent directors.    ``Compliance will be strictly monitored and penalties for non-compliance will be high'' Lo added.    In a separate development the stock exchange also said Tuesday it has agreed to turn itself into a public body subjecting itself to scrutiny by the territory's independent anti-corruption body.    H.C. Lee chairman of the stock exchange said the exchange will allow its executives and managers to be accountable as public servants to the Independent Commission Against Corruption but plans to exclude its ordinary broker members from such scrutiny.    The decision is a turnaround from the exchange's earlier stance when it stood firmly against placing itself under the anti-graft body's scrutiny as public servants and public bodies in Hong Kong have been since the body was created in the mid-1970s.     
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<HTML>    LUMBINI Nepal AP  Amid loud religious chants hundreds of monks and other worshippers gathered at the birthplace of the Buddha Tuesday to begin the World Buddhist Conference.    Nepal's Crown Prince Dipendra inaugurated the two-day meeting by unveiling a multicolored traditional flag at a religious ceremony.    ``Lumbini has 3rd graf pvs
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<HTML>    TOKYO AP  The Nikkei Stock Average of 225 issues closed at 14835.41 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Tuesday down 48.29 points or 0.32 percent from Monday.
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<HTML>    CAIRO Egypt AP  At least 14 German tourists were injured when their bus overturned Tuesday on a highway near the Red Sea police said.    The bus which was carrying 33 German visitors was en route from the Red Sea resort of Hurghada to the Egyptian capital Cairo when the accident occurred they said. Hurghada is 415 kilometers 250 miles southeast of Cairo.    Police said that the bus apparently overturned after it swerved to avoid an oncoming car. They said 14 people were hurt.    Officials at the Al-Salam International Hospital in Cairo where the injured were evacuated said 12 Germans were treated for minor injuries and released. Three other Germans they said remained at the hospital for further care. All were in good condition they added.    The discrepancy in numbers could not immediately be resolved.  UR; str-bm/eap
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<HTML>    LILLE France AP  Medical tests suggest that cyclists on the Festina team expelled from the Tour de France this summer took banned drugs judicial sources said Tuesday citing a judge's report.    But top Festina cyclist Richard Virenque said the figures vindicate his claim that he didn't take banned substances.    Judge Patrick Keil called Virenque and teammates Pascal Herve and Laurent Brochard to Lille to give them the results of tests carried out in July.    According to judicial sources who saw the report the results showed Virenque had a hematocrit level of 49.3 percent. The hematocrit level measures the proportion of red blood cells in a blood sample  one sign of doping since the substances increase red blood cells.    But Virenque's level is just within the limit of 50 percent set by the International Cycling Union the sport's governing body.    Herve had a level of 52.6.    Medical experts have been analyzing blood urine and hair tests since Festina team manager Bruno Roussel admitted during the race to the use of the banned substance erythropoietin EPO among cyclists.    Virenque and Herve both deny they knowingly took any banned substances.    ``The biological parameters demonstrate scientifically that I didn't take doping agents'' Virenque said as he left the hearing. ``Today I am relieved and I hope soon hope to get back on a bike. It is the end of a nightmare.''    Gilbert Collard Virenque's lawyer said that ``no traces of anabolics growth hormones amphetamines or masking products were brought to attention concerning Richard Virenque.''    However testing remains an inexact science and the results announced by Keil suggest that eight of Festina's nine cyclists took banned substances.    Virenque's future remains uncertain.    Festina has cut by half its budget for next season is renegotiating contracts with all its riders and has already said the Frenchman will probably not be a member of the team next year.    Three of the Spanish team's Swiss cyclists  Alex Zuelle Laurent Dufaux and Armin Meier  have been banned from all competition until May 1 after they admitted taking EPO.    parf-ae-jn     
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<HTML>    ZURICH Switzerland AP  Swiss Re the world's second biggest life and health reinsurer has acquired Life Re Corp. of the United States for about dlrs 1.8 billion the company said Tuesday.    Life Re will be incorporated into Swiss Re Life and Health America Inc. thus strengthening the group's position in the United States and saving about dlrs 30 million per year.    Life Re stockholders will receive dlrs 95 in cash for each share of Life Re common stock.  UR; dj-cn    
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<HTML>    TURIN Italy AP  Juventus general director Luciano Moggi on Tuesday defended as ``well grounded'' the club decision to travel to Istanbul on game day for the politically tinged European Champions League match against Galatasaray.    The Italian league champions who need a victory to keep its quarterfinal chances alive have decided to travel to Istanbul on Wednesday and return home immediately after the game.    UEFA Europe's governing body for soccer requires teams to arrive the day before of European Cup matches and was critical of Juventus' decision.    ``Juventus feels there are well grounded motives for failing to conform to UEFA directives'' Moggi sauid.    Juventus confirmed on Tuesday its travel plans for the match which was postponed by a week after anti-Italian demonstrations erupted in Turkey over Italy's refusal to extradite a Kurdish rebel leader.    Several Juventus players who had initially refused to travel to Instanbul bowed to the club decision to play Galatasaray but criticized the UEFA stand.    ``We have been forced to play a game conditioned by political motives'' Juventus starting goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi said.    Team captain Antonio Conte said Tuesday that the Italian government and UEFA left the Italian team standing alone.    ``UEFA and the Italian government have claimed that there are no security problems in Istanbul ... but as far as we know no UEFA and government representatives will be in Istanbul Wednesday'' Conte told the Italian news agency ANSA.    Italian culture minister Giovanna Melandri who was invited to attend the game by her Turkish counterpart said Tuesday she had not yet decided whether to travel to Istanbul. 
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<HTML>    TOKYO AP  The U.S. dollar was trading at 121.84 yen on the Tokyo foreign exchange market at 9 a.m. 0000 GMT Wednesday down 0.94 yen from its level of 122.78 yen as of 5 p.m. 0800 GMT Tuesday. 
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<DOCNO>000-01-000220</DOCNO>
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<HTML>    MELBOURNE Australia AP  A helicopter rescue team on Tuesday reached a three-man television crew that had been stranded on a remote Arctic island for more than six weeks rescuers said.    The helicopter sent by the international medical emergency company AEA International SOS landed on frozen Wrangel Island at about 3 p.m. local time 0200 GMT said Mark Crawford the company's spokesman in Australia.    ``They're in fair spirits'' Crawford said of the crew which includes a Russian a Japanese and an Australian. ``They're surviving of course but they were down to their last three days of food.''    The crew  Australian cameraman Rory McGuinness; Tatsuhko Kobayashi a producer with NHK Japan's national broadcaster; and Russian scientist Nikita Ovsyanikov  arrived on Wrangel Island on Sept. 2 to make a documentary about polar bears.    The trio had intended to leave Oct. 15 but was delayed by bad weather which also prevented a helicopter rescue by Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry.    The three had been holed up in a cabin on the island's northeast coast about 550 kilometers 350 miles west of Alaska.    As the crew's food supplies dwindled residents of a Russian village about 130 kilometers 80 miles from the hut tried to drive a snow tractor carrying emergency supplies to the crew. But that effort also was frustrated by the weather.    The temperature in the area had been around minus 30 Celsius minus 22 Fahrenheit with a strong wind. The crew had a diesel generator a computer a cellular phone and access to e-mail but was running low on fuel news reports said.    Crawford said the trio would be flown to the Russian mainland at Pevek.    The rescue was extremely difficult given the remoteness of the area he said.    Crawford said his company had been hired to conduct the rescue by the filmmakers' employer Natural History Pty. Ltd. in New Zealand.  UR; rs/txw
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<HTML>    NEW YORK AP  Another wild day in U.S. baseball's offseason marketplace left half a dozen big names on new teams.    After Rafael Palmeiro went back to Texas Otis Nixon returned to Atlanta and Albert Belle formalized his deal with Baltimore the New York Mets Los Angeles Dodgers and Orioles pulled off a surprising three-way trade The Associated Press learned.    When the wheel stopped spinning Tuesday night New York had acquired outfielder Roger Cedeno from the Dodgers and reliever Armando Benitez from the Orioles Baltimore got catcher Charles Johnson and Los Angeles wound up with catcher Todd Hundley and minor league pitcher Arnold Gooch.    The big money deals Palmeiro dlrs 45 million for five years and Belle dlrs 65 million for five years were overshadowed by the big three-way trade a rarity in baseball's free-agent era.    First the Mets sent Hundley and Gooch to the Dodgers for Johnson and Cedeno and then they sent Johnson to Baltimore for Benitez.    Hundley who is to be paid dlrs 5.2 million next season and dlrs 6 million in 2000 became expendable after New York re-signed Mike Piazza to a dlrs 91 million seven-year deal in October.    Hundley struggled last season after returning from the disabled list in July following reconstructive surgery on his right elbow at the end of the 1997 season.    He hit just .161 with three homers 12 RBIs and 55 strikeouts in 124 at-bats limiting his trade value. Before the injury Hundley was one of the most feared hitters in the league.    Hundley a 29-year-old switch-hitter set a big-league record for homers by a catcher in 1996 hitting 41 to surpass Roy Campanella's 43-year-old standard. Hundley also hit .259 and drove in 112 runs that year.    Benitez gives the Mets added depth in their bullpen. He went 5-6 with a 3.82 ERA and 22 saves last season for Baltimore. He will most likely be the right-handed setup man for closer John Franco.    Johnson 27 came to the Dodgers along with Gary Sheffield Bobby Bonilla Jim Eisenreich and a minor league pitcher for Piazza and third baseman Todd Zeile last May 15. Piazza was traded to the Mets a week later.    Johnson played in 133 games with the Marlins and Dodgers last season and hit just .218 with 19 homers and 58 RBIs.    The 24-year-old Cedeno a switch hitter long considered a top prospect played in 105 games for the Dodgers last season and hit .242 with two homers and 17 RBIs. 
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<HTML>    ANKARA Turkey AP  Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz on Tuesday said that Italy or Germany should try a Kurdish rebel leader detained in Rome if Turkey's extradition bid fails.    Speaking to members of his center-right party in Parliament Yilmaz said that if Italy refuses to hand over rebel Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan ``the least you can do is to make sure that his crimes do not remain unpunished.''    Turkey wants Ocalan extradited but Italy refuses to hand him over since Italian law forbids forbid extradition to countries like Turkey where suspects may face the death penalty.    Ocalan is also wanted in Germany but German officials fearing trouble among its Kurdish and Turkish immigrant population say they will not seek his extradition.    ``You issue a warrant for crimes committed on your territory ... but then you shy away from trying him'' Yilmaz dded in a clear reference to Germany. ``What kind of a legal state is this?''    Turkey has been angered by a proposal by the prime ministers of Germany and Italy for an international tribunal to try Ocalan which Ankara accuses of terrorism.    The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey's southeast since 1984 in a war that has killed 37000 people.    Turkey's approximately 12 million Kurds are not recognized as an official minority and are denied education and broadcasting rights.    In Rome the Chamber of Deputies Parliament's lower house scheduled a debate on the Ocalan dilemma for early Wednesday evening following a speech on the issue by leftist Premier Massimo D'Alema.    sf-fd 
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<HTML>    TOKYO AP  Two drivers were killed and 30 injured Tuesday morning in a 16-vehicle pileup in foggy condition on a highway in northern Japan police said.    Two were in a critical condition and being treated at a local hospital said Fukushima Prefectural Police spokesman Akira Takamiya. The other injuries were not life-threatening he said.    Takamiya said the accident which involved 13 large trucks a bus and three cars occurred in Kita Aizu on a local expressway 219 kilometers 130 miles northeast of Tokyo.    ``The up lane was suddenly covered by a dense fog reducing visibility to just 30 meters 98 feet'' Takamiya said quoting a bus driver involved in the pileup.    Takamiya said three people were temporarily trapped in their vehicles but later rescued by highway police.  UR; km
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<HTML>    WARSAW Poland AP  One of Poland's best-known companies is under investigation for allegedly breaking stock exchange disclosure rules a regulatory commission spokeswoman said Tuesday.    Elektrim SA an electrical engineering company that was one of the first members of the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 1992 last week revealed it agreed in 1996 to sell a stake in its cellular telephone holding for a nominal price by the middle of 1999.    ``It's unacceptable'' that Elektrim waited so long to disclose the agreement said Beata Stelmach spokeswoman for the Security and Exchange Commission.    Analysts said Elektrim's announcement of the deal effectively knocked off at least dlrs 120 million  the lowest estimate for the true value of the stake being sold  from the company's market value of dlrs 800 million.    It also sent shock waves through Poland's financial community because of Elektrim's status as a solid Polish company and pillar of the stock exchange    ``Elektrim was considered trustworthy'' said Piotr Kazimierski an analyst at the brokerage firm CAIB Securities. ``It was a favorite of foreign investors.''    The announcement rocked the Warsaw exchange with the all-share Warsaw Stock Index falling to 11532.0 points Tuesday from 12453.2 points before the disclosure last Thursday. Elektrim's stock value has plunged to 28.6 zloty dlrs 8.2 a share from the Thursday price of 39 zloty dlrs 11.2.    Stelmach said an SEC investigation of the Elektrim agreement began Friday. If the SEC rules Elektrim violated disclosure regulations the case ``will qualify for consideration by the prosecutor's office'' she said.    Penalties include a fine of up to 5 million zloty dlrs 1.44 million and imprisonment of up to five years.    According to an Elektrim statement it agreed in 1996 to sell 6.5 percent of the cellular telephone company Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa to Kulczyk Holding for ``a little more'' than the nominal price.    At the time Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa was just being set up and the nominal price of the 6.5 percent stake was 33 million zloty dlrs 12.8 million at the time according to Kazimierski the analyst.    Since then the value of the cellphone company one of the first in Poland has soared. Now the 6.5 percent stake is believed to be worth anywhere from dlrs 120 million to dlrs 200 million.    Kazimierski said 6.5 percent of PTC shares accounts for 18-20 percent of Elektrim's value. Elektrim owns a 34.1 percent stake in PTC which equals about 85 percent of Elektrim's value he said.    Elektrim said it failed to realize how much the value of PTC shares would grow and how important its cellular telephone stake would be. It also said it had been trying to renegotiate the agreement's conditions with Kulczyk.    bp-tsc 
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<HTML>    LONDON AP  Britain prepared a frosty reception Tuesday for visiting Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe  angered by new moves to seize white-owned farms intervention in the Congo's civil war a ban on strikes and his flying to Libya in defiance of a U.N. embargo.    Although Mugabe's visit was billed as private Foreign Office Minister Tony Lloyd had asked to see him officials said.    Mugabe increasingly unpopular in his central African nation was due in London later Tuesday from Paris where he attended a French-African summit after visiting Libya and Egypt. There was no official word on his arrival and the Zimbabwe High Commission or embassy did not return calls.    ``There is quite a list of things we would like to raise'' said a Foreign Office spokeswoman speaking on customary condition of anonymity. ``We are still waiting confirmation of when the meeting will take place.''    Britain has said it is concerned that the Zimbabwe government's latest plan to acquire compulsorily 841 farms owned by members of the former central African colony's tiny white minority ran counter to a pledge in September to hold off on poorly planned confiscations.    Aid donors and international aid organizations are concerned about disruption of productivity.    Zimbabwe also has been harshly criticized internationally for a land redistribution program marked by delays mismanagement corruption and handing some seized properties to politicians.    Despite increasing economic hardship at home Mugabe has deployed at huge expense some 8000 troops to support Congolese President Laurent Kabila.    Mugabe visited Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi Nov. 21 apparently flying directly to Tripoli in violation of a U.N. flight ban. It was imposed in 1992 to try to force Libya to hand over for trial two suspects wanted in the 1988 bombing of an American airliner over Lockerbie Scotland.    African countries voted in June to ignore the ban.    London's Daily Mail newspaper demanded across its front-page that Britain arrest Mugabe on a litany on charges including genocide and tyranny.    The pro-conservative tabloid declared that Mugabe warranted the same fate as Gen. Augusto Pinochet the former Chilean dictator who is under arrest here on a Spanish warrant seeking his extradition to face charges of genocide and torture during his 1973-90 rule.    There would be no possibility of Mugabe being arrested  all serving heads of state have total immunity from prosecution under British law.    The newspaper however cited Mugabe 74 to illustrate what it claimed was ``diplomatic anarchy'' caused by a Nov. 25 ruling by Britain's highest court the House of Lords that as an ex-head of state Pinochet has no immunity from arrest.    The newspaper charged that Mugabe's troops killed up to 20000 members of the Ndebele ethnic minority after independence from Britain in 1980 and that he is guilty of corruption land theft and persecuting minorities by fierce verbal attacks on gays and lesbians and forcing Congo refugees to return home to almost certain death.    ``Both old men have a repellent record'' the Daily Mail said of Mugabe and Pinochet.    mj 
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<HTML>    SEATTLE AP  Boeing Co. said Tuesday it will cut an additional 20000 workers over the next two years as the company scales back production of several commercial jet lines due largely to slackening demand because of the Asian economic crisis.    The new cuts will bring the total reductions in Boeing's work force to 48000 jobs or a 20 percent drop from the high level of 238000 reached in June of this year. In July the company announced that it would trim 28000 jobs.    ``Clearly the economic slowdown in Asia is driving air traffic down which impacts our customers' plans and operations'' Alan Mulally Boeing Commercial Airplane Group president said Tuesday. ``Our actions today will match production to market demand to support our customers.''    Boeing which early had projected 1999 net earnings at about dlrs 2 billion now said it was forecasting next year's profits at dlrs 1.5 billion to dlrs 1.8 billion. It said 1998 profits were expected to be slightly above dlrs 1 billion as earlier forecast.    Boeing presently is rolling out 51 planes a month said spokesman Larry McCracken. He said that will drop to 47 at the end of next year and 38.5 planes a month by the end of 2000.    The company said it would reduce production of 747 jetliners from 3.5 to two airplanes per month late next year and to just one per month in early 2000 if market conditions fail to improve.    Production of 757 jetliners will drop from five to four airplanes per month and the 767 program will drop from four to 3.5 airplanes per month in early 2000.    The 777 program currently scheduled to be reduced from seven to five planes per month in fourth quarter of 1999 is now projected to remain at the lower rate in 2000.    Boeing will increase production on its new-generation 737s as scheduled to 24 planes per month and it will remain at that rate until late 2000 when it will decrease to 21 a month.    Air traffic growth in many Asian markets has plummeted as the countries grapple with their worst currency crisis in decades. Many Asian airlines have reported operating losses or reduced profits since the crisis began Boeing officials say. 
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<HTML>    PARIS AP  The merger of Hoechst AG of Germany and France's Rhone-Poulenc SA will create an international drugs giant rivaling world leader Merck and Co.    But analysts warn that in this case bigger may not necessarily be better.    Hoechst and Rhone-Poulenc's combined life sciences company to be called Aventis will have annual sales of around dlrs 20 billion spanning pharmaceuticals agricultural chemicals and animal health products the companies said Tuesday outlining their long-rumored merger plans.    Company executives were upbeat saying annual cost savings of dlrs 1.2 billion over three years will boost profits until new products begin hitting the market. But the new company may have trouble producing enough new lucrative drugs to match competitors' profitability.    In a news conference held in Strasbourg where the new company will be based the two companies said creation of the 50-50 joint venture is a first step toward fully merging the companies within three years.    ``Unlike what has happened to other companies in our industry the creation of Aventis  provided we obtain all the necessary authorizations  will be translated into reality'' Rhone-Poulenc Chairman Jean-Rene Fourtou said.    Despite concerns over profitability and research capabilities the combination will allow the companies to improve their marketing muscle in the United States. And Aventis will be able to negotiate better deals with U.S. managed care providers observers said.    ``Each company could not have found a better partner in terms of size culture and compatibility'' said Ian Broadhurst a pharmaceutical analyst at Enskilda Securities in London.    Seeking to calm investors' worries over the company's merger plans Rhone-Poulenc executives said they would trim the new company's debt burden over the next four years while expanding in the United States.    Still while Aventis will be able to compete with the top drug companies in terms of revenue industry leaders such as Merck Britain's Glaxo Welsome PLC and Switzerland's Navartis AG are still ahead when it comes to profitability and research productivity.    ``Hoechst and Rhone-Poulenc share the same problems  low profitability and underpowered research and development portfolios'' said Paul Diggle a drug analyst with Societe Generale in London.    Also analysts said cost-cutting projections are below average for mergers in the industry shedding further doubt on the companies' ability to quickly boost profit.    The merger announcement comes on the heels of a flurry of major cross-border transactions including Daimler Benz AG's acquisition of Chrysler Corp. Deutsche Bank AG's purchase of Bankers Trust and French oil company Total SA's agreement Tuesday to take over the Belgian petrochemicals company Petrofina SA.    And within the pharmaceutical sector the Hoechst-Rhone-Poulenc link-up is likely to encourage more matchmaking. While a series of drug companies have recently decided against mergers the Franco-German combination could renew the trend. Most imminently France's Sanofi SA and Synthelabo SA are said to be in advanced talks on their own marriage.    ``This deal starts to change the scene'' Diggle said. ``Drug companies in the U.S. and elsewhere will be gently moving in the direction of more consolidation.''    But some warned that strong labor unions in Germany and France could hamper merger plans for Hoechst and Rhone Poulenc.    ``France and Germany are particularly difficult places to cut costs'' said Broadhurst.    Unions in France and Germany have been critical of the merger so far fearing that cost cutting will lead to layoffs. Hoechst employs 118000 workers and Rhone-Poulenc employs 68000.    Rhone-Poulenc shares finished 7 percent lower at 263.4 francs dlrs 46.2 as investors expressed concern over prospects for the new company.    sp-dj-jn     
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<HTML>    MILAN Italy AP  Italy will start the same trio of players who upset the United States when it takes on defending champion Sweden in the Dec. 4-6 Davis Cup final at Assago Forum.    Italian captain Paolo Bertolucci announced Tuesday that Andrea Gaudenzi and Davide Sanguinetti will play the singles with Diego Nargiso teaming with Gaudenzi in the doubles.    Gianluca Pozzi will be the reserve player.    ``You can't change a winning team'' said Bartolucci.    Italy's No.1 player Gaudenzi Sanguinetti and Nargiso led a 4-1 rout of the United States in the Davis Cup semifinals at Milwaukee.    Meanwhile Thomas Johansson who's nursing a strained right knee may become a last-minute starter on the Swedish side in the three-day final on clay in an indoor sports palace at the Milan outskirts.    Johansson initially dropped from the Swedish team because of the sore knee and his questionable efficiency on clay trained at the Forum this week showing good form and determination.    Johansson may replace Magnus Norman on Sweden's quartet.    Swedish captain Carl-Axel Hageskog said he will announce the team on Thursday  the day of the official draw in Milan  and declined to comment on Johansson's chances to play the final.    Johansson is the highest-ranked Swedish player in the ATP computer lists 17th.    Sweden enters the final as favorite to clinch its seventh title - the third in four years.    However Hageskog noted Italy may take advantage from playing on clay.    ``Otherwise I'm not worried with the home crowd. My players are able to negotiate every situation'' he said.    The opening day singles on Friday begin at 1330gmt.  UR; pv 
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<HTML>    SANTIAGO Chile AP  As a decision nears on whether Gen. Augusto Pinochet will return to Chile or face extradition to Spain controversy is brewing here on whether the former dictator could receive an effective trial at home.    Pinochet who was arrested on Oct. 16 while visiting London faces charges in Spain of genocide terrorism and torture against Spanish nationals who lived in Chile during his brutal regime from 1973-90.    The Chilean government has opposed his extradition insisting instead that the 83-year-old Pinochet can receive an impartial trial in Chile.    Human rights activists and leftist politicians disagree.    They argue the biggest hurdles to a Chilean trial are Pinochet's immunity as a senator for life and an amnesty law issued by his government.    Because of his military status they say a case against him would probably wind up in the armed forces' courts where his influence remains considerable.    However the Chilean government says Pinochet's crimes  including the murder or disappearance of an estimated 3197 people  occurred on its soil and therefore should be handled by Chile's own courts.    Pinochet who was discharged Tuesday from a London psychiatric hospital remains under police custody. Britain's Home Secretary Jack Straw must decide by Dec. 11 whether to allow the him to return to his homeland or authorize his extradition to Spain.    The Chilean government meanwhile continued to press its case that a Pinochet trial on its own soil is possible.    Justice Minister Soledad Alvear said Tuesday that ``we have an independent judicial system capable of dealing'' with human rights trials.    She pointed out that the top commanders of Pinochet's feared secret police  Gen. Manuel Contreras and Brig. Pedro Espinoza  are now serving prison terms in Chile for the 1976 assassination of former Chilean foreign minister Orlando Letelier in Washington.    The minister said Pinochet's legislative immunity can be lifted if formal charges are filed against him.    Senate President Andres Zaldivar agreed saying ``no one in Chile is above the law.''    Chief Justice Roberto Davila said ``nobody should have doubts'' of his country's ability to put him on trial calling a trial of Pinochet by a foreign court ``tantamount to trampling Chile's sovereignty.''    However three socialist congressmen disagreed.    The legislators asserted in a letter sent to Secretary Straw that ``no real conditions exist in Chile to try Pinochet.''    Allowing Pinochet to return ``would guarantee him total impunity'' said the lawmakers  Juan Bustos Fanny Pollarolo and Juan Pablo Letelier.    Nine congressmen in President Eduardo Frei's Christian Democratic Party said they would only support Pinochet's return if they are assured his trial would be handled by civilian courts.    And they insisted the civilian judges should be guaranteed ample collaboration by the military including permission to question officers and inspect barracks if necessary.    But Juan Guzman the civilian judge handling those suits has admitted he may have to eventually transfer them to a military court.    In Chile Pinochet faces 14 lawsuits filed by victims of his regime's repression their relatives and by organizations representing journalists nurses and school teachers who were killed.    Jose Miguel Insulza Chile's foreign minister said on Tuesday in Madrid that his government ``is studying whether to join existing suits.'' 
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<HTML>    TOKYO AP  A wave of consolidation will continue to sweep the global auto industry leading to mergers between rival U.S. and Japanese carmakers a top executive of Ford Motor Co. said Tuesday.    The most likely prospects for tie-ups or takeovers are Japan's smaller automakers who lack the money and know-how to compete in world markets Ford Motor vice-chairman Wayne Booker said at a luncheon speech in Tokyo.    ``Even though small Japanese automakers are tied with very rich companies in some cases I don't believe they will be able to sustain the financial and human resources needed to meet the 21st century'' challenges he said.    ``Time will come when it will become a matter of necessity'' for automakers on both sides of the Pacific to forge alliances he said.    While in the past Japanese companies have shunned foreign suitors Booker said mergers limited to domestic auto companies would fail to provide the global reach needed to survive.    As a result cross-border mergers between Japan U.S. and European carmakers will become more commonplace.    But Booker added that his company has no plans to ``accomplish any major mergers in the Asia-Pacific.''    Ford already has a 33 percent stake in Hiroshima-based Mazda Motor Corp. and has taken effective control of the company by installing one of its own executives as president.    Booker conceded that the performance of Ford-brand cars in the Japanese market has been less than spectacular despite heavy investment including a chain of dealerships.    ``We are not challenging Toyota'' he said. ``Toyota has 40 percent of the market; if we have a few percentage points that is enough.''    Booker said Ford is focusing more on China Thailand and India and has set a target of 10 percent of Asian market share by 2007 from its present 1 percent.  UR; dj-mef 
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<HTML>    The AP World Service operates on Greenwich Mean Time GMT and begins each 24-hour cycle at 0000 GMT. Listed below are key elements of the news service transmitted on all circuits unless otherwise noted:    0000 GMT    Opener Advisory    USING THE AP WIRE Advisory    AP News Digest    AP Sports Digest    By 0100 GMT    AP Top Financial News Tuesday through Saturday    0300 GMT    AP Asian News Digest Advisory Asia only    By 0500 GMT    U.S. seasonal sports roundup    0700 GMT    AP News Digest 0600 GMT summer time    AP Asian News Digest Asia only    By 1000 GMT    Asia Business Briefs Asia Europe Mideast southern Africa    1100 GMT    AP News Digest 1000 GMT summer time    1200 GMT    AP News Summary    AP Asian News Digest UPDATE Asia only    1300 GMT    AP Sports Digest 1200 summer time    AP Top Financial News    1400 GMT    AP Europe Advisory Europe only    1430 GMT    Africa Briefs except Asia    1500 GMT    AP World Graphics Advisory    Middle East Business Briefs    By 1600 GMT    Global Weather    1800 GMT    AP News Digest 1700 GMT summer time    AP World Graphics Advisory    2100 GMT    US-Canada-Business Briefs    2200 GMT    Pronouncers Advisory  pronunciations of names places in the news    2300 GMT    AP World Graphics Advisory    2330 GMT    Latin America Briefs Europe Americas    ----    Other fixtures:    Feature stories slugged FEA are listed at the bottom of each AP News Digest. Three packages on the 0000 GMT digests emphasize specific subjects:     business on Tuesdays;     science on Thursdays;     arts and entertainment on Sundays.    ``Editorial Roundup'' excerpts of editorials from newspapers around the world. Thursdays around 1600 GMT.    ``AP Weekly News Calendar'' a list of significant news events expected in the upcoming week. Sent early in the GMT cycle each Friday and updated late in the cycle with U.S. events and again Mondays.    ``AP Weekly Sports Calendar'' a list of sports events expected in the coming week. Early in the Friday cycle.    ``Today in History'' a list of historic events for each day transmitted early each weekday about one week in advance.    ``US-Top Ten'' in Friday early GMT cycle  the top popular songs in America each week.    Theme slugs are used to identify some stories: SCI - science discoveries innovations; CYBER - computer technology; MED - medicine/health discoveries innovations; ARTS - arts/entertainment; TRAV - travel enterprise; FEA - general features; ANALYSIS - analytical backgrounders. Sports - used on all sports stories.    Category codes are used on all stories to enable computerized sorting: ``i'' on general news or feature copy; ``f'' on financial stories or fixtures: and ``s'' on sports stories. 
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<HTML>    JAKARTA Indonesia AP  Rescue teams continued their search for survivors as the death toll from a powerful earthquake that hit a remote island in Indonesia rose to 25 on Tuesday.    The magnitude-6.5 quake hit Mangole island on Sunday night destroying buildings and houses and setting off landslides.    Strong aftershocks continued to rock the island Tuesday hampering rescue efforts and frightening villagers.    Initially six people were reported killed on the island about 1900 kilometers 1180 miles northeast of Indonesia's capital Jakarta.    The toll rose after reports came in from isolated villages said Budi Waluyo an official from Indonesia's Meteorological and Geophysics Agency in Jakarta.    Local government official Wahab Konoras said at least eight villagers were still missing Tuesday.    ``Rescue teams are looking for more possible victims in remote areas. The toll could rise further'' he said in a telephone interview from Ternate the capital of North Maluku regency.    Afraid that aftershocks might bring down their damaged homes about 7000 people slept in tents or in the open.    Widespread damage was also reported on neighboring Taliabu island but there were no reports of deaths there.    Local government officials said more than 150 people were injured and more than 858 homes churches mosques and other buildings were damaged on both islands. Mangole's main government buildings were flattened.    Some houses slid into the sea. Roads were cut and bridges destroyed hampering search and rescue efforts.    Neither island has a major hospital. A local government official Karim Wamona said emergency flights were taking seriously injured victims to neighboring islands. Food and medicine were urgently needed officials said.    Five of the dead were killed when the roof of a timber factory collapsed. Others were killed when their houses fell down. Some were killed by landslides.    One landslide destroyed Mangole's main shipping dock.    On Tuesday electricity supplies remained cut in many places and telecommunications with both islands were patchy.    The quake struck at 10:10 p.m. local time Sunday and was centered beneath the Maluku Sea about 370 kilometers 230 miles south of the city of Manado on the island of Sulawesi the Meteorological and Geophysics Agency said.    Mangole and Taliabu are part of the Maluku archipelago known in colonial times as the Spice Islands.
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<HTML>    BERN Switzerland AP  Four years of tough negotiations were concluded early Tuesday with a transport deal between the European Union and Switzerland clearing the way to a wider agreement covering areas like air transport and labor.    The accord obliges the Swiss  who long held out for environmental reasons  to raise the weight limit on trucks to 40 tons from 28 tons by the year 2005.    In return they will levy a tax of at least 325 Swiss francs dlrs 230 on trucks transiting through the Alpine nation. This will be used to help fund two massive mountain rail tunnels intended to take the pressure off the roads.    The Swiss will be allowed to keep a controversial night-time ban but have pledged to speed up clearance for early morning traffic.    EU spokeswoman Sarah Lambert described the accord as a ``major step forward.''    The notion of trucks paying taxes ``introduces for the first time in EU transport law the concept that ... the polluter pays'' she told reporters in Brussels.    Wealthy Switzerland is not a member of the 15-nation EU but is surrounded by members Germany France Italy and Austria. Its tight restrictions on foreign trucks have for years infuriated neighboring countries because of the inconvenience of compliance.    Lambert said the accord meant that European trucks would be able to avoid detours through Austria totalling 500000 kilometers per year thereby cutting transport costs between the North and South of Europe by at least 50 million European currency units dlrs 57.5 million.    After an all-night bargaining session with Swiss Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger EU ministers overcame Italian misgivings and gave their blessing to the transport agreement early Tuesday.    Agreement by Swiss voters Sunday for a 30 billion Swiss franc dlrs 22 billion finance package to help modernize the Swiss rail network and connect it to the rest of Europe apparently helped the case.    The Swiss government and business representatives reacted with overwhelming relief. The agreement was initially thrashed out with EU transport commissioner Neil Kinnock last January but then put on hold because of objections by various EU countries.    Swiss Foreign Minister Flavio Cotti said he hoped that a wider package of bilateral agreements could now be wrapped up. In particular Switzerland hopes that its concessions on trucks will persuade the EU to give national flag carrier Swissair better access to European airports.    This is due to be discussed at a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers next Monday. However with the EU preoccupied with its own plans for monetary union and eastward expansion the Swiss dossier is low on the list of priorities.    In 1992 Swiss voters rejected plans to join a loose European free trade agreement . This forced the government into painstaking sectoral negotiations with Brussels to gain the access it needs to crucial export markets.    The government has officially applied to join the EU but has not pressed ahead with its request fearing that the electorate might once again say ``no.''  UR; cn-gm 
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<HTML>    BAGHDAD Iraq AP  Iraq denied Tuesday it tried to buy prohibited missile technology in Romania but admitted sending a team there to settle ``outstanding matters'' relating to an old contract.  UR; The team also pick up 2nd graf pvs. 
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<HTML>    MEXICO CITY AP  Villagers returned to their homes on the slopes of the Colima volcano on Tuesday after a 15-day evacuation caused by bursts of ash and rivers of lava.    About 180 residents of the town of La Yerbabuena in western Colima state returned although soldiers planned to stay in the town to stand guard.    ``The danger posed by the volcano has diminished'' Colima civil protection official Javier Velasco said. ``People can return to their daily lifestyles and children can go back to school.''    But some experts advised continued caution. Geologist Michael Sheridan of the University of Buffalo in New York state said the Colima volcano could be entering a period of activity that he said comes every 40-50 years.    ``Colima is going through its regular cycle and it's approaching its climactic phase which is going to be very violent'' he said. ``It could happen this week or it could happen within a month.''    Meanwhile the Popocatepetl Volcano near Mexico City also showed signs of diminished activity the National Center for Disaster Prevention said.    The ``Popo'' as local residents call it had six brief bursts Tuesday morning sending small quantities of ash over nearby towns.    Soldiers have increased patrols to keep climbers and hikers at least 4 1/2 miles 7 kms away from the Popo's crater.    Although no evacuations have been ordered the Mexico City government reportedly is setting up more than 100 shelters capable of housing 53000 people in the event that they become necessary. 
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<HTML>    SINGAPORE AP  Singapore already boasts a cyber bus equipped with computer equipment used to teach workers new skills.    Now buses are installing telephones so that commuters can keep in touch on the move.    Trans-Island Bus Service has placed a mobile phone on one of their coaches for a month-long trial and will outfit more buses if the response is good said The Straits Times on Tuesday.    During the trial use of the phones is free though calls will be limited to three minutes added the report.    In July the subway rail system installed two phones on one train for an initial six-month period.    Singapore's planners are constantly embracing the latest technologies and working to implement them into general use.    For their part many Singaporeans have a penchant for gadgets and high-tech devices. Mobile phones and palmtop computers are now so common that young teenagers are often seen toting the expensive status symbols.
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<HTML>    PHOENIX AP  Olympic champion Gary Hall was cleared on Tuesday to swim in a World Cup meet despite a marijuana-related suspension scheduled to run through Dec. 12.    U.S. District Judge Roger Strand who issued a temporary restraining order Monday allowing Hall to compete stuck by his ruling after giving FINA swimming's world governing body a chance to respond.    Raymond Lembke a lawyer for FINA told Strand that Hall's appeal should be dismissed and the rest of his suspension upheld. He said the court should have no jurisdiction in the case.    On Monday the Court of Arbitration of Sport in Switzerland rejected Hall's request to temporarily place the suspension in abeyance.    ``Our position is that FINA rules are prevailing in a case like this'' FINA secretary Gunnar Werner said Tuesday from Sweden. ``Our position is the court in the U.S. is not competent.''    Werner said an appeal would take too long and he will have to abide by the decision. He added that the case underscores the continuing battle between international federations and the courts particularly in the United States.    ``Our position is that FINA rules should prevail all around the world'' he said. ``But what can we do if a national court makes a ruling? We can only fight for our position.''    Hall who lives in Phoenix won gold medals as part of the U.S. 400-meter freestyle and 400 medley relay teams in the 1996 Atlanta Games. He also won silver medals in the 50 and 100 freestyle.    He was scheduled to compete in Friday's World Cup competition and later this week in the U.S. Open meet both in College Station Texas.    His lawyers argued that both competitions are essential to Hall's bid to compete in the 2000 Olympics and secure endorsements.    A ruling denying Hall permission to compete would be ``devastating not only to his career but financially'' lawyer Ed Hendricks told Strand during a one-hour hearing.    Hall was temporarily suspended in July after FINA said he tested positive for marijuana during a May 15 competition in Phoenix. That prevented Hall from swimming in the Goodwill Games and the U.S. Senior Nationals.    The federation delayed the suspension in August to allow a hearing after Hall appealed.    During a Nov. 6 hearing Hall received a three-month suspension from FINA's drug panel for testing positive for marijuana. That suspension was effective Nov. 12.    FINA then deducted two of the three months already served by Hall during the temporary suspension which left him with 30 more days to serve. 
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<HTML>    LONDON AP  The British Foreign Office said Tuesday it would not intervene on behalf of a British woman convicted of heroin trafficking in Thailand and seeking to have her 22-year prison sentence reduced.    Sandra Gregory 33 was convicted in 1996 and sentenced to 25 years in a Thai prison after being stopped at the Bangkok airport with more than 100 grams 3.5 ounces of heroin. Her sentence was later reduced to 22 years under a general amnesty from the King of Thailand and she was transferred to a British prison last year under a British-Thai prisoner exchange treaty.    In a letter published in Tuesday's edition of the Scotsman newspaper Stan and Doreen Gregory say they believe the government should write to the King of Thailand requesting a reduction in the sentence.    But a Foreign Office spokesman said that won't happen.    ``Sandra is already serving her sentence in the United Kingdom and it is government policy not to intervene and support Royal Pardon petitions where the subject is in jail in this country'' said the spokesman speaking on the customary condition of anonymity. ``In addition we would only consider supporting such a petition if there were strong compassionate grounds such as if the prisoner was terminally ill.    ``That is not the case and while we are sympathetic to Sandra's family we have to bear in mind she has been convicted of a serious drug smuggling offense involving heroin'' the spokesman said.    The couple 4th graf pvs     
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<HTML>    LISBON Portugal AP  More than 3000 Internet users in Portugal began a 24-hour boycott Tuesday to protest what they call costly and poor service for surfing the Web news reports said.    The protesters urged people to stay off-line until midnight Tuesday 0000 GMT to protest against Portugal Telecom and the country's three Internet access providers the Lisbon radio station TSF said.    They also complained about having to pay twice.    Portugal Telecom charges Internet users up to escudos 208 about dlrs 1.2 for each hour they are on-line. On top of that the access providers charge as much as escudos 5000 about dlrs 30 for 30 hours of Internet use. 
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<HTML>    PARIS AP  The heirs of a Jewish art collector whose claims for a Nazi-looted Braque painting were rejected have sued the Georges Pompidou Center for receiving stolen property their lawyer said Tuesday.    The suit is the first of its kind in France where the National Museum Authority possesses nearly 2000 pieces of art looted by the Nazis during World War II.    Antoine Comte the lawyer representing the heirs of Alphonse Kann claims the Pompidou Center acquired ``Le Joueur de Guitare'' The Guitar Player in 1981 knowing of its murky wartime past.    But Pompidou Center President Jean-Jacques Aillagon told The Associated Press that the center had bought the painting ``in good faith.''    ``The committee had no idea that the painting transited through the Kann collection'' he said in a telephone interview.    The legal action comes during a major conference on looted Jewish assets in Washington and in the wake of a spate of comments by French officials eager to show that progress is being made.    President Jacques Chirac said Monday that the ``question of reparation has become a top priority.''    Speaking at the inauguration of the new Museum of Jewish Art and History Chirac addressed the thorny issue of unclaimed art works a group of which are displayed in the museum.    ``Among the works on exhibit in this museum are some that were stolen from families that never returned from their long path of suffering. The place of these works naturally is here France'' he said  referring to France's determination to keep the works at home rather than have them sold at auction to benefit survivors as some have advocated.    The French Jewish community supports that position but has urged quicker action.    At a Jewish group's dinner on Saturday Prime Minister Lionel Jospin announced measures to speed up the handling of individual restitution claims. France has returned five works in the last two years.    During the war Nazi soldiers looted thousands of works from French Jews. Those paintings considered ``degenerate'' were sold off or traded. The Braque a geometrical collage done in 1914 and today one of the Pompidou Center's most prestigious possessions was one of them.    The painting finally surfaced in a 1948 exhibition in Germany. It traveled to New York and Cleveland in 1949.    Its provenance: a loan from Andre Lefevre a Parisian collector notorious for trading with the Nazis.    Earlier this year the Pompidou Center rejected the Kann family's restitution claim saying it bought the dlrs 2 million work ``honestly.'' The suit filed Monday in a Paris criminal court means that a magistrate will open an inquiry.    Hundreds of looted works were returned to the Kann family after the war. Last year Kann's heirs recovered Albert Gleizes' ``Paysage Cubist'' from the government.    ma-jn     
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<HTML>    STOCKHOLM Sweden AP  Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat this weekend will travel to the capitals of Sweden and Norway both countries that have played roles in the Middle East peace process.    On Saturday Arafat is to take part in a Middle East conference in Stockholm called to mark the 10th anniversary of Arafat's statement in the Swedish capital that the Palestine Liberation Organization recognized Israel's right to exist.    Representatives from Israel and the United States have also been invited to Stockholm for the meeting but there was no immediate information on who would attend from those countries.    ''We are not counting on representatives coming from the United States and Israel on such a high level as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Madeleine Albright'' the U.S. Secretary of State Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh said Tuesday.    Whatever the representation ''we can at least have a good and profitable discussion'' Lindh said.    On Sunday Arafat is to make a stopover in Oslo Norway said Norwegian foreign ministry spokesman Ingvard Havnen. Arafat was invited by Foreign Minister Knut Vollebaek.    Although the Oslo stopped is planned to last only a few hours any trip by Palestinian or Israeli officials to the Norwegian capital has substantial symbolic weight because the Israel-PLO peace accord was worked out in secret negotiations in Norway that became known as the ''Oslo Channel.''    The peace process has been troubled and often stalled since Netanyahu became prime minister.    The process appeared to be moving forward last week after the implementation of the first stage of an agreement under which Israel would withdraw from 13 percent of the West Bank by the end of January in exchange for Palestinian measures against Islamic militants.    But new acrimony arose this week when Netanyahu said he would walk away from the peace agreements if Arafat unilaterally declares Palestinian statehood in May. The Palestinians contend the peace agreements allow such a declaration after a five-year period of autonomy.    The Palestinians also contend that Israel has breached an agreement to release 750 prisoners. In the first stage of the release most of the 250 set free were criminals; the Palestinians demand that Israel free political activists and those jailed for anti-Israeli activities.    dm-jh 
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<HTML>    JERUSALEM AP  Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai said Tuesday that Greece turned down his invitation to carry out a joint operation in the Mediterranean after Israel and Turkey held similar exercises in the area.    ``We invited them to a humanitarian exercise at sea more than a year ago and they refused'' Mordechai said according to his spokesman Avi Benayahu.    ``They were invited once again to hold such an exercise'' during the visit on Tuesday of the Greek air force commander Lt. Gen. Giorgos Antonetzis to Israel Benayahu said. Benayahu did not say how the Greek visitor responded.    Turkey is Greece's traditional rival and Greece has been watching the growing Israeli-Turkish military alliance with some concern.    Turkey and Greece remain at odds over Cyprus. They have controlled opposite sides of the island since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied the northern third of the island after a failed coup by supporters of union with Greece.    Mordechai said he supported a diplomatic solution to the Cyprus conflict.    The Greek air force commander was to stay in Israel until Thursday night as a guest of the Israeli air force. He was to meet military officials and tour defense industry facilities the Israeli army spokesman's office said.    The Greek air force already has several defense contracts with Israel including the maintenance of F-16 fighter planes.    Mordechai will visit Greece at the end of December as a guest of the Greek Jewish community. He will hold military and policy meetings in Athens and in the northern port city of Salonica.  UR; sb-kl 
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<HTML>    MOSCOW AP  Norway's state telecommunications company Telenor said Tuesday it would buy a 25 percent stake in Russia's largest cellular phone provider VimpelCom a news report said.    VimpelCom was the first Russian company to trade on the New York Stock Exchange in 1996.    VimpelCom president Dmitry Zimin said the company welcomed the dlrs 160 million Telenor sale at a time when obtaining loans from foreign banks has become extremely difficult the Interfax news agency reported. Russia's financial crisis has eroded the credibility of many Russian companies.    The deal gives Telenor 25 percent plus one share of VimpelCom and three of the nine seats on the board of directors. The sale is to be completed by June 1 1999 Interfax said.    Telenor runs cellular networks in Norway Germany Ireland Greece Austria Hungary Montenegro Ukraine and Bangladesh the report said.    VimpelCom was founded in 1992 by a group of Russian radio and defense equipment experts with help from a U.S. investment firm.    adc 
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<HTML>    Montreal 3 Los Angeles 1  UR; Tuesday's Games QC;     Vancouver 1 Boston 1 tie    New Jersey 4 Washington 0    N.Y. Rangers 5 Florida 4 OT    Anaheim 4 Pittsburgh 4 tie    Ottawa 3 Nashville 1 
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<HTML>    Here is a summary of news from The Associated Press. Stories carried ``i'' or ``f'' category codes. Some of the items below have moved on this circuit in expanded form:    LONDON AP  In an ambulance escorted by armed police former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet left a hospital Tuesday and moved into a luxurious home to continue fighting an effort to extradite him on charges of genocide and torture. Demonstrators shouted and shook their fists as Pinochet swept through the gates of Grovelands Priory a day after the psychiatric hospital announced that he is fit and demanded that he leave. The hospital's order undermined any attempt by the 83-year-old general to plead that he is too ill or frail to stand trial in Spain in the deaths and torture of political opponents during his 1973-90 rule in Chile. BRITAIN-PINOCHET    WASHINGTON AP  In what could be a warmup for statehood U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat have launched a new U.S.-Palestinian commission designed at the outset to channel dlrs 900 million in new American aid to the West Bank and Gaza. The landmark one-hour meeting was held in Albright's office near the end of Arafat's high-profile visit to Washington in which he again asserted hopes for a state and called east Jerusalem ``occupied territory.'' The commission is unique in that other U.S. commissions are with prominent nations. Among them: Russia Mexico South Africa Egypt and Ukraine. James P. Rubin the State Department spokesman said the new commission with the Palestinians did not establish a state-to-state relationship. US-ARAFAT.    BEIJING AP  The detention of two of China's most influential dissidents and three other pro-democracy activists underscores the government's stated determination to crush any challenge to one-party Communist rule. Legislative chairman Li Peng the Communist Party's No. 2 man was quoted as saying Tuesday that Western-style democracy was inappropriate for China and that opposition groups would not be tolerated. Police in two cities went to the homes of Xu Wenli Qin Yongmin and other members of the fledgling China Democracy Party on Monday night and took them away relatives and a human rights group said Tuesday. The police action was one of the most severe since dissidents announced their attempt to form an opposition group in June to challenge the Communist Party's monopoly on power. CHINA-DISSIDENTS    HAVANA AP  Christmas is back on Cuba's official calendar after nearly three decades in which political and economic concerns made Dec. 25 just another day. Cubans said they look forward to the chance to play pray or just relax on the upcoming holiday. The Communist Party used the entire front page of Cuba's only daily newspaper Granma to recommend Tuesday that ``from this year on'' Dec. 25 be a permanent holiday in Cuba. Adoption by the Communist government is assured. Cuba's Roman Catholic Church issued a statement declaring that it ``highly values this gesture'' and expressing confidence that ``the path of opening of Cuba'' would lead to ``causes for joy unity and hope for the Cuban people.'' The government granted a Christmas holiday last year as a one-time favor to Pope John Paul II who visited in January but it had balked at declaring the measure permanent. CUBA-CHRISTMAS    JOHANNESBURG South Africa AP  Activists across the globe marched in the streets distributed condoms and held benefit concerts Tuesday to try to halt the spread of AIDS which will kill millions of people this year alone. Underscoring events on World AIDS Day was this sobering fact: Although powerful new medicines are helping industrialized countries win the battle against the disease it has reached epidemic proportions in continents where people can't afford the drugs. About 33.4 million people around the world are infected with HIV two-thirds of them in sub-Saharan Africa. In Asia and the Pacific 700000 people become infected with HIV per year. ``In the case of HIV/AIDS the difference in wealth becomes literally matter of life and death'' decried Mary Robinson the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. WORLD AIDS DAY 
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<HTML>    TORONTO AP  Vancouver and the nearby ski resort of Whistler have been chosen as Canada's candidate to bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics the Canadian Olympic Association announced Tuesday.    Voting by 72 delegates actually took place Nov. 21 in a three-way race involving Vancouver-Whistler Quebec City and Calgary Alberta host of the 1988 Winter Games.    But the Olympic association delayed announcing the results until a day after Monday's provincial election in Quebec. There was unspoken concern that rejection of Quebec City's bid might trigger a backlash among voters choosing between separatist and anti-separatist parties.    Vancouver-Whistler led the first ballot with 26 votes one ahead of Quebec City. Calgary dropped off the ballot after getting 21 votes.    The Vancouver bid took the second ballot 40-31.    Vancouver-Whistler was considered the front-runner because many Canadian Olympic officials believed it had the best chance of winning the 2010 bid.    Toronto meanwhile is bidding for 2008 Summer Olympics.    A successful Toronto bid would deal a death blow to Vancouver-Whistler's chances because it is considered very unlikely Canada would be selected or want to host consecutive Olympics. Beijing is now considered the 2008 frontrunner.    The International Olympic Committee will choose the 2010 host city in 2003. 
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<HTML>    BANGKOK Thailand AP  Inauguration of the main media center in Thailand for the 13th Asian Games was postponed Tuesday because the facilities weren't ready while a special team was assigned to round-the-clock duty to keep insects out of the games' main swimming pool.    Five days before Asia's biggest sporting competition officially opens bugs are turning up  literally  in the last-minute frenzy to put the finishing touches on venues and in some cases make them usable.    The Bangkok Post highlighted problems both about the poor soccer pitch at the National Stadium where the main matches will be played and the central swimming pool's tendency to fill up with dead insects.    Taiwan's riding team at the equestrian center meanwhile blamed poor arena conditions for injuries to a prize horse.    Organizers could only be thankful that morning rains did not extend into the afternoon's rehearsal of the opening ceremony.    Nearly 5000 journalists are accredited to cover the games which will bring together some 6000 athletes from 41 countries in what the organizers have billed as the 20th century's last great sporting event.    But the organization and construction of the venues has been plagued by the Asian economic crisis.    The main media center already a week behind schedule for its inauguration saw the official opening postponed again Tuesday when Jurin Laksanavisit a government minister didn't show because the facilities weren't ready.    The pitch at the Bangkok's National Stadium where Oman demolished Hong Kong 6-0 in Monday's preliminary soccer matches to unofficially kick off the competition is far below the required international standard the Bangkok Post cited Asia's top soccer official as saying.    Dato Peter Velappan secretary general of the Asian Football Confederation said that the pitch needed to be upgraded immediately or another ground would have to be found for remaining matches.    Velappan said he had warned Thailand six months ago that the pitch was not good enough. Attempts to improve it made matters worse because the contractor who laid new turf had more experience with home gardens than soccer grounds the Post said.    Just days ago parts of the pitch were covered in water and bare patches were showing.    Meanwhile the head of the Swimming Association of Thailand was quoted in the same newspaper as saying that thousands of dead insects of all kinds have been found floating in the central competition pool.    ``For Thai men it might not be a serious problem but I am sure it would make the foreigners' hair stand on end'' Maj. Gen. Kamol Saen-issara said.    Kamol said organizers might have to turn to strong insecticides but vowed not to use any substances that could harm swimmers. He added that he hoped that when the pool is in use the increased presence of humans might keep the bugs away.    The swimming association announced Tuesday that it will send a 24-hour standby bug-hunting team to help attendants clear insects from the pool.    The association's equipment coordinator Chiraphan Chanmanee also said the games' health subcommittee had assigned a pest control unit to exterminate insects in and around the pool every two days.    
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<HTML>    KHARTOUM Sudan AP  Sudan should let the market determine its exchange rate a former Sudanese finance minister said in remarks published Tuesday.    Sudan one of Africa's poorest states has three exchange rates. The official or the customs rate which currently stands at 2300 Sudanese pounds to the dollar. The commercial bank rate that fluctuates between 2302 and 2315 pounds to the dollar. And the black market where a dollar sells for 2340 pounds.    ``The unification of the official and black market exchange rates and the application of a foreign exchange market system as a mechanism for revealing the real rate'' would help the government Abdel-Rahman Hamdi said in remarks published in the newspaper Al-Usbu.        JIDDAH Saudi Arabia AP  The Saudi businessman Hani Yamani has provided dlrs 2 million to create a new airline in collaboration with Eritrean Airlines his office said Tuesday.    Red Sea Airlines will be 60 percent owned by Yamani's Jiddah-based company Air Harbour Technologies and 40 percent owned by Eritrean Airlines.    In addition Yamani's office said Air Harbour Technologies plans to invest more than dlrs 150 million during the next five years to develop tourism on Eritrea's Red Sea coast.    The company plans to build six hotels and four airports on the coast and in the Dahlak archipelago a group of 300 islands in the Red Sea.        MANAMA Bahrain AP  Credit Suisse Bank is to close its office in Bahrain at the end of December an official of the bank said Tuesday.    The official speaking on condition of anonymity declined to give the reasons for the closure but said Credit Suisse would move its Bahrain operations to its regional office in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.    The Zurich-based Credit Suisse has had an office in Bahrain since 1975.    Bahrain is the Middle East's leading banking center. About 47 offshore banking units operate from the tiny Gulf island.        KUWAIT AP  The price index of the Kuwait Stock Exchange fell by 10.04 percent in November closing the month at 1777.1 points a market report by the National Investments Co. said Tuesday.    The decline was caused by low oil prices and the crisis between Iraq and the United Nations over weapons inspectors the report said.    A local controversy over a government proposal to pump money into the exchange also contributed to the fall the report said. The central bank governor Sheik Salem Abdul-Aziz al-Sabah was reported to have resigned to protest a decision by a ministerial committee to allow investment companies to extend special loans to investors.    The dispute ended when the Cabinet allowed the central bank to decide if the exchange needed the extra funding.    The report said some 506.86 million shares changed hands in the 21 days of trading during November down 24.9 percent from those traded during the same number of days in October. The value of these shares also dropped by 34.41 percent to 99.43 million dinars dlrs 329.2 million. The figures were the lowest this year.    The exchange lists 77 companies but trading is restricted to Kuwaitis and nationals of the other five Arab states in the Gulf: Saudi Arabia the United Arab Emirates Bahrain Qatar and Oman.        AMMAN Jordan AP  The number of ships docking at Jordan's Red Sea port of Aqaba fell by 14 percent to 2172 ships between January and October this year an official said Tuesday.    The decline was caused by the shrinking number of passengers taking the ferry from the Egyptian port of Nuweiba' said the director-general of the Aqaba Port Authority Mohammed Dalabeeh.    Dalabeeh declined to elaborate but he appeared to be referring to the Jordanian government's decision to impose stringent measures on Egyptians seeking work in Jordan.    Iraq Jordan's largest trade partner has used Aqaba for much of its imports since its own ports were heavily damaged during the 1991 Gulf war.    Dalabeeh said the total volume of goods handled at Aqaba between January and October this year was 10.4 million tones 2 percent more than during the same period in 1997.  UR; mo-de-jah-jjh-fsa-am-jbm
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<HTML>    MOSCOW AP  With Russia's leaders urgently seeking financial help International Monetary Fund chief Michel Camdessus arrived Tuesday for two days of talks on Moscow's frozen loan agreement with the IMF.    Camdessus will meet Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov later Tuesday and is scheduled to hold broader talks with government officials Wednesday.     UR; President Boris pickup 3rd pvs    pvs/adc 
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<HTML>    BEIJING AP  A gas explosion in a government-run coal mine in southwestern China killed 38 miners and seriously injured 18 others the official Beijing Evening News reported Tuesday.    More than 80 people were working in the Laibin mine's No. 2 shaft in Yunnan province when the explosion took place Sunday and six miners were still unaccounted for the newspaper said.    Miners touched off the gas explosion by dynamiting a shaft in the mine the newspaper said. It did not provide further details of the accident.    Work in the Laibin mine in Yunnan's Xuanwei county first began in 1958. It produces about 220000 tons of coal annually the report said.    China is the world's biggest producer and user of coal but is plagued with legions of mines that are ill-regulated and operated with outdated equipment. In October alone this year accidents killed 157 miners.    China has in recent weeks renewed a campaign to improve management of mines closing down ones opened without official permission.    The Laibin accident came two days before an earthquake of preliminary magnitude of 5.1 rocked the area. Tuesday's quake toppled houses in rural villages and opened cracks in building walls in the county seat of Xuanwei a government seismologist reported.     
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<HTML>    MANILA Philippines AP  Philippine stocks plunged Tuesday as investors cashed in on recent gains following Wall Street's large drop overnight traders said.    The 30-share Philippine Stock Exchange Index fell 53.57 points or 2.7 percent to 1921.79 nearly erasing Friday's 54.43-point or 2.8 percent gain.    The market was closed Monday for a national holiday.    Traders said the market joined other regional bourses hard hit by the Dow Jones Industrial Average's 2.3 percent decline Monday.    San Miguel B shares fell 4 pesos or 5.8 percent to 65 pesos following a news report claiming that Filipino-Chinese tycoon Lucio Tan has revived his bid to acquire the 20 percent stake held by San Miguel chairman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr.    Fitzgerald Aklan assistant vice president for institutional sales of Orion-Squire Securities Inc. said the prospect of Tan taking control of San Miguel may not have been welcomed by investors.    Tan owns Asia Brewery Inc. the main beer rival of San Miguel. He is also chairman of ailing Philippine Airlines Inc. and is embroiled in a 26 billion peso dlrs 658 million tax evasion case.    Investors shrugged off a cut in the central bank's key overnight rates and gains made by the peso against the dollar Tuesday traders said.    The central bank cut its overnight borrowing rate to 13.375 percent from 13.500 percent and its overnight lending rate to 15.375 percent from 15.500 percent.    The overnight rates influence the direction of other interest rates. Lower rates may cause a shift in funds from fixed-income bonds to other types of investments such as stocks.    ``The correction was bound to happen since the market has been strong in the past few days'' said Aklan. ``The correction may continue in the next session or two but the market is bound to move up soon after and remain strong toward the end of the year.''    Aklan said the index remained fairly buoyant Tuesday despite the presence of profit-takers. He noted that any downturn in prices was soon met with bargain-hunting especially among second-tier stocks.    In currency trading the peso strengthened against the U.S. dollar with strong dollar inflows overpowering the impact of the interest rate cuts traders said.    At midafternoon the dollar averaged 39.341 pesos down from Friday's average of 39.512 pesos.    Most of the dollar inflows were remittances from Filipinos working overseas traders said.    An estimated 4.5 million Filipinos work abroad sending home around dlrs 6 billion last year. Their foreign-exchange remittances provide an important contribution to the Philippine economy and are expected to help support the peso over the rest of the year.
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<HTML>     UR; Eds: National Basketball Association owners and players have agreed to resume collective bargaining talks Thursday. A story is expected to move by 0100 GMT.    AP Sports 
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<HTML>    UNITED NATIONS AP  The U.N. General Assembly demanded full implementation of the Bosnia peace agreement and called on all parties to hand over all those indicted for war crimes to an international tribunal.    Without a vote the assembly on Monday adopted a resolution which underlined that international assistance for Bosnia remains conditional on strict compliance with the Dayton peace agreement and subsequent obligations including cooperation with the tribunal.    The tribunal at The Hague in the Netherlands was set up by the U.N. Security Council in 1993. At least 20 war crimes suspects remain at large in Bosnia including the wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Gen. Ratko Mladic.    While Russia supports the international tribunal Moscow's Deputy Ambassador Yuriy Fedotov said his government opposed any military or police actions to capture suspected war criminals.    He noted that the Dayton accord and the tribunal's statutes clearly stated that any extradition should be carried out exclusively on the basis of cooperation.    The assembly resolution also encouraged all parties to accelerate the peaceful and orderly return of refugees and internally displaced persons to all areas of the country including those where they would be an ethnic minority.    The resolution which is not legally binding condemned all acts of intimidation violence and killings including acts designed to discourage the return of refugees. It demanded that such acts be investigated and prosecuted.    Austrian Ambassador Ernst Sucharipa speaking on behalf of the European Union said there was no alternative to the 1995 Dayton agreement.    The holding of free and fair elections in September was only an initial step in the construction of a democratic society he said urging Muslims Croats and Serbs to cooperate to implement the election results.    The reform of the judicial system and the restructuring of the civilian police were crucial to the establishment of the rule of law Sucharipa said.    Saying the current level of international support could not be maintained indefinitely Russia's Fedotov called on all parties to confirm their willingness to implement the Dayton agreement and achieve genuine inter-ethnic reconciliation.    Bosnia's Ambassador Mohammed Sacirbey called for continued support for judicial and police reforms ``especially where local authorities may be resistant to or not reflect the commitment to pluralism.''    He also expressed dismay at the failure of Yugoslavia ``to establish diplomatic relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina without precondition.''
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<HTML>    MOSCOW AP  While snow squalls whipped across the desolate Arctic landscape a Russian helicopter emerged from the dusky winter light Tuesday and rescued a TV crew that had been stranded on a remote island for weeks by bad weather.    The three-man crew  a Russian a Japanese and an Australian who had been making a documentary on polar bears  had three days' food left when the helicopter airlifted them from Wrangel Island to the port of Pevek the Ministry of Emergency Situations said.    They had waited for weeks for the skies to clear up enough so that a helicopter could land. The temperature on Wrangel Island has been around minus 22 degrees and the Arctic days never get brighter than twilight.    ``We were filming polar bears and other animals'' Nikita Ovsyannikov told Russian television channel NTV. ``On Oct. 15 we completed the work and a flight was ordered to take us back.''    ``But this year the weather conditions were very unusual: heavy long cyclones the weather was constantly bad with powerful blizzards. So the flight couldn't arrive'' he said.    The three then holed up in a cabin on the island's northeast coast about 350 miles west of Alaska.    Japanese crew member Tatsuhiko Kobayashi developed complications from a recent eye operation but the others were in good health Russia's ORT television reported.    Weather in Russia's Arctic has been particularly severe this year. A nuclear-powered ice-breaking ship was stranded for several days last week unable to cut a channel for a Finnish tanker that carried badly needed fuel to residents of Russia's northeast Chukotka peninsula not far from Wrangel Island.    ``It wasn't easy to find pilots'' said Dean Finlay of the emergency company AEA International SOS. ``Also there was only a three-hour daytime window in the area and just over two hours of flight time so they had to get the window just right.''    It took the crew about an hour to load the 880 pounds of equipment and film aboard. Then they traveled back in the already black Arctic night.    ``It was an anxious couple of hours'' said John Hyde a television producer who helped coordinate the rescue.    There were conflicting reports on who organized the rescue. Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov said the rescue was organized by his agency using an Mi-8 helicopter hired from a private airline.    But AEA International SOS said it had organized the rescue according to Mark Crawford the company's spokesman in Australia. He said his company had been hired by the filmmakers' employer Natural History Pty. Ltd. in New Zealand.    ``They're in fair spirits'' Crawford said of the crew. ``They're surviving of course but they were down to their last three days of food.''    Kobayashi is an employee of NHK the Japanese television company. The Australian is cameraman John McGuiness. All three crew members were expected to fly to Moscow on Wednesday. 
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<HTML>    LONDON AP  Share prices fell Tuesday on the London Stock Exchange.    The Financial Times - Stock Exchange 100-share index was down 206.4 points or 3.6 percent at 5537.5.    Provisional volume was 900.9 million shares compared to 830.0 million shares Monday.    ms 
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<HTML>    RIO DE JANEIRO Brazil AP  The government tested the quality of teaching at Brazil's universities and most of them got a flunking grade.    The Education Ministry on Tuesday released findings of tests on 126800 college students in 10 fields of study. In nine the average grade was below 40 on a scale of 100.    Dental students did the best with an average of 59 the ministry said. Math majors finished last with 21 while chemical engineering students got an average grade of 23.    ``The overall performance of the system is still unsatisfactory'' Education Minister Paulo Renato Souza said in Brasilia the capital. Teaching generally is poor he said and students ``read little and study little.''    Public universities did better than private ones the study showed. The country's best schools are in Sao Paulo Brazil's richest and most populous state.     QC;     BOGOTA Colombia AP  U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen met with Central American counterparts on Tuesday and pledged continued disaster relief from the nearly 3000 U.S. military personnel in the region.    To date the U.S. military has deployed 2645 of its personnel to the region flown 692 missions and delivered four million pounds of supplies as part of a dlrs 250 million U.S. aid effort to the countries devastated by Hurricane Mitch Cohen said.    As many as 10000 people were killed by the storm which ripped through the region at the end of October causing massive flooding.    Central American delegates thanked Cohen in town for a meeting of defense ministers for U.S. assistance and urged the United States to remain supportive as the region moves from the emergency relief phase to longer-term reconstruction.    ``We've regressed more than 20 years in terms of infrastructure and the loss of human potential'' said El Salvador's defense minister Gen. Jaime Guzman.    Nicaragua's defense minister Pedro Joaquin Chamorro said his country's most pressing need was public health specialists to prevent epidemics.        QUITO Ecuador AP  A new leftist rebel group is active in Ecuador and claimed responsibility for a dynamite attack on a provincial government office police said Tuesday.    Police have arrested three alleged members of the People's Combatants Group. The group said it bombed the governor's office in the province of Manabi 150 miles 240 kilometers southwest of Quito on Nov. 16 Police Chief Jorge Villarroel said in a radio interview. The bomb caused damage but no injuries.    Villarroel said the group was against the government and its economic measures and called for an ``armed struggle.''    President Jamil Mahuad took office in August and announced a series of economic reforms  which included ending subsidies on electricity cooking gas and diesel oil  to rescue Ecuador's bankrupt economy.    Since the announcement three other minor bombings have occurred in addition to the Manabi attack including a dynamite stick thrown into the U.S. Embassy compound in Quito.        MEXICO CITY AP  Mexican authorities withdrew an order for five U.S. clergymen to leave the country after straying near rebel territory in southern Mexico saying they accepted the group's explanation that it was an honest mistake.    The clergymen part of a 29-member delegation of the Chicago-based Pastors for Peace group were briefly detained Saturday when they traveled to the village of El Bosque during their rounds delivering food to hungry Indians.    El Bosque wasn't on the itinerary they filed in their visa applications. Since May Mexico has required that foreign observers or humanitarian workers list all places they intend to visit in order to be granted a visa.    Andres Chao spokesman for Mexico's immigration institute said Pastors for Peace President Lucius Walker traveled to Mexico City to meet with immigration officials and to explain the group's position.    Walker said the group of five had diverted their route because a dirt road was impassable.    ``He accepted the error of having taken a route that wasn't established'' Chao said.    Two of the five clergymen left Mexico voluntarily on Monday and the other three had been ordered to leave by Friday. Chao said the government had decided not to force them out because they accepted their mistake.    Chao said the pastors had been detained for their own safety because the area is near the zone of influence of Zapatista rebels who staged a brief uprising in January 1994. There has been little fighting while peace talks with the government have stalled. 
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<HTML>    MADRID Spain AP  Chile's foreign minister said Tuesday that his government is considering legal action against Gen. Augusto Pinochet but ruled out a deal guaranteeing he'd stand trial at home if Britain rejects an extradition request from Spain.    ``The government is studying whether to join existing suits'' the minister Jose Miguel Insulza told reporters referring to private lawsuits filed this year in Chile against the former despot.    ``The possibility of a trial in Chile exists and gets larger every day'' Insulza said to back his argument that trying Pinochet in Spain for crimes committed during his 1973-1990 dictatorship is unnecessary.    Human rights activists have dismissed this possibility because Pinochet has wide-ranging immunity at home.    But Insulza insisted that Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon's attempt to extradite Pinochet to Spain on charges of genocide terrorism and torture was also an affront to Chilean sovereignty and its transition to democracy.    A Chilean government report says 3197 people were murdered or disappeared at the hands of the police after Pinochet seized power in a military coup that toppled democratically elected Marxist President Salvador Allende.    Chile Insulza said was ``under no obligation'' to promise that the 83-year-old retired general would stand trial if allowed home from London where he has been under police guard pending possible extradition since being detained on Oct. 16 while recuperating from back surgery.    According to Insulza sent to press for Pinochet's release Chile should be allowed to deal with the legacy of general's 17 years in power without interference.    ``There is no reason to call into doubt the solidity of democracy in Chile or our capacity to resolve our own problems'' Insulza said after stressing that the affair had triggered ``polarization break down of dialogue and sharp political confrontation.''    Insulza was speaking after talks with his Spanish counterpart Abel Matutes.    Earlier Tuesday he met with Supreme Court Deputy President Luis Lopez and Senate President Juan Ignacio Barrero and was due to meet Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar later in the day.    Matutes expressed sympathy for Chilean government concerns but insisted that the Spanish government was powerless to act as all remaining decisions on Pinochet's fate were in British hands.    Prior to arriving in Madrid Monday Insulza spent four days lobbying the British government whose Home Secretary Jack Straw has until Dec. 11 to decide whether to allow extradition proceedings to go ahead.    Insulza said his trip had produced ``some positive indications'' but he declined to give details.    jt/dw 
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<HTML>    ROCKVILLE Maryland AP  Mike Tyson pleaded no contest on Tuesday to charges he assaulted two men following a traffic accident.    Although the plea is not an admission of guilt Tyson faces up to 20 years in prison  10 years on each count  when he is sentenced early next year.    ``He admits to losing his temper on the side of the road'' Tyson attorney Paul Kemp said.    Tyson told Judge Steven Johnson he was not promised leniency and does not expect preferential treatment in sentencing. He also said he was aware his plea could affect his probation for a 1992 rape conviction in Indiana.    ``The state was prepared to present the facts in the case'' said Assistant State's Attorney Carol Crawford objecting to Johnson acceptance of the plea.    The charges stem from an Aug. 31 accident involving his wife Monica in Montgomery County in suburban Washington D.C.    Abmielec Saucedo and Richard Hardick said Tyson kicked and punched them following the accident. They have reached an out-of-court settlement with Tyson to avoid a civil suit in the case.    ``The complainants will testify at sentencing that this is the appropriate plea'' Kemp said.    Outside court Tyson would not discuss the incident although he did talk about a Jan. 16 bout against Francois Botha. The Nevada Athletic Commission returned Tyson's boxing license in October. It was revoked after he bit champion Evander Holyfield's ears during a June 1997 title bout. 
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<HTML>    BEIJING AP  A Chinese court has sentenced a deputy police chief to death for fatally shooting a passerby during a gambling raid the official Workers' Daily reported Tuesday.    The Liuzhou No. 1 Intermediate People's Court in the southern Guangxi region also ordered Hongdu township deputy police chief Zhu Kehan to pay 8000 yuan dlrs 970 to Lan Rimin's family the newspaper said.    Lan a truck driver unwittingly entered the Leyi restaurant during the raid Zhu led on the suspected gambling parlor on April 21 the newspaper said. Hearing Zhu in a rage Lan ran out and the deputy police chief drew his pistol and fired the report said.    Although Zhu reported the shooting the court noted that his conduct had a pernicious effect on society and issued the death sentence ``to calm the people's anger'' Workers' Daily said.     
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<HTML>    LONDON AP  Gold bullion opened Tuesday at a bid price of dlrs 293.75 a troy ounce up from dlrs 293.20 late Monday.    er
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<HTML>    TURIN Italy AP  Juventus top manager Luciano Moggi on Tuesday defended as ``well grounded'' the club decision to stay a single day in Istanbul for the politically tinged Champions League match against Turkey's Galatasaray.    The Italian league champions who need a victory against the Turkish team to keep qualifying chances alive in the most titled European soccer competition decided to travel to Istanbul on the match day Wednesday and return home immediately after the game.    UEFA Europe's soccer governing body which requires teams to arrive the day before of European Cup matches was critical of Juventus decision.    ``Juventus feels there are well grounded motives for failing to conform to UEFA directives'' said Moggi the general director of the Turin team which is owned by the Agnelli family of auto tycoons.    Juventus confirmed on Tuesday its travel plans for the match already postponed by one week after Italy's refusal to extradite a Kurdish rebel leader prompted anti-Italian demonstrations in Turkey.    Several Juventus players who had initially refused to travel to Instanbul bowed to the club decision to play Galatasaray but criticized the UEFA stand.    ``We have been forced to play a game conditioned by political motives'' said No.1 keeper Angelo Peruzzi.    Team captain Antonio Conte said Tuesday that the Italian government and UEFA left the Italian team alone.    ``UEFA and the Italian government have claimed that there are no secutiry problems in Istanbul ... but as far as we know no UEFA and government representatives will be in Istanbul Wednesday'' Conte told the Italian news agency ANSA.    Italian culture minister Giovanna Malendri invited to attend the game by her Turkish counterpart said Tuesday she had not yet taken a final decision about traveling to Istanbul.  UR; pv 
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<HTML>    MOSCOW AP  An aide to President Boris Yeltsin urged prosecutors Tuesday to investigate the Bolsheviks for carrying out the 1917 revolution  a move apparently intended to discourage their successors.    Yeltsin's deputy chief of staff Yevgeny Savostyanov spoke at a meeting of the presidential commission set up to fight political extremism.    The prosecutors should give a ``legal assessment of the Bolshevik action to seize power'' Savostyanov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.    The statement reflected the government's concern about the increasing aggressiveness of the Communist Party which has the largest faction in the Russian parliament and enjoys broad nationwide support.    The Communists have also led a panel in parliament seeking to impeach Yeltsin  and among the charges they are investigating is his role in instigating the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union the Bolsheviks' creation.    In the latest embarrassment to the Kremlin the Communists recently won a sweeping victory in local elections in the southern Krasnodar region.    Krasnodar Gov. Nikolai Kondratenko a Communist has often indulged in anti-Semitic and anti-government rhetoric. Communist lawmaker Albert Makashov similarly sparked a recent uproar with his anti-Semitic remarks.    The Communist Party rebuked Makashov only grudgingly after strong pressure in Russia and abroad. Makashov enjoys legal immunity as a lawmaker and the government hasn't yet moved to persecute him.    Kondratenko meanwhile has been invited to the Justice Ministry for a ``conversation'' the ITAR-Tass news agency reported Tuesday.    The presidential panel on Tuesday discussed possible amendments to Russian laws to crack down on political extremism. 
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<HTML>    UPPER MARLBORO Maryland AP  Former heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe who is awaiting a probable jail sentence in North Carolina for kidnapping his estranged wife and five children in June has had an earlier assault charge involving his wife set aside.    Judge Hovey Johnson on Monday shelved the second-degree assault charge from August 1997 on the conditions that Bowe have no violent conduct with his wife and that he complete a 10-day psychiatric evaluation and any accompanying treatments.    The state withheld the right to return the case to the active docket any time within the next 12 months.    Other than a brief acknowledgment that he understood the agreement Bowe said nothing during his court appearance and refused comment as he left the courtroom. His wife Judy who watched the proceeding from the gallery also declined comment as did Bowe's lawyer Billy Martin.    In June Bowe pleaded guilty to abducting his wife and children from their home in Cornelius North Caorlina. He attempted to drive them to his home in Fort Washington Maryland but Mrs. Bowe managed to phone for help during a stop in Virginia.    Prosecutors said Bowe would serve 18 to 24 months in prison under his plea agreement in the kidnapping case but he has yet to be sentenced. He was allowed to return to Maryland on the condition he remain under house arrest with electronic monitoring.    A sentencing date has not been scheduled for Bowe in the North Carolina case a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Charlotte said Tuesday. 
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<HTML>    HAVANA AP  Christmas in Cuba is back for good.    The Communist Party on Tuesday used the entire front page of Cuba's only daily newspaper Granma to recommend that ``from this year on'' Dec. 25 should be a holiday in Cuba formally re-establishing a custom that had been abolished in 1970.    The proposal is sure to be adopted by the communist country's government.    The government granted a Christmas holiday last year as a one-time favor to Pope John Paul II who visited in January. But at the time it balked at declaring the measure permanent.    Cuba abolished the Christmas holiday in 1970 arguing that it interfered with the mobilization of manpower for the sugar harvest.    The party declaration insisted that the abolition of the holiday in 1970 was not inspired by any antireligious sentiment.    However the government at the time was avowedly atheist and Christians were barred from being members of the Communist Party or of holding many sensitive jobs.    Christmas trees were strongly discouraged.    In recent years the government has declared itself secular rather than atheist has dropped restrictions on Christians and moved to improve ties with Cuba's churches and other religions.    The Roman Catholic archbishop's office contacted by telephone said it had no immediate reaction. 
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<HTML>    CANBERRA Australia AP  Australia has defied the Asian economic crisis and recorded spectacular economic growth of 5 percent according to figures released Wednesday.    Australia's gross domestic product rose 1 percent in the three months to September 30 from the previous three months and rose 5 percent year-on-year the Australian Bureau of Statistics announced.    News of the growth came just hours after the country's central Reserve Bank cut official interest rates by 0.25 percentage points to 4.75 percent.    Treasurer Peter Costello said the growth figures demonstrated the resilience of the Australian economy.    ``I want to pay tribute to Australia's exporters who have done a remarkable job'' Costello said.    Before the Asian economic crisis which started in July last year almost 70 percent of Australia's exports went to Asian markets.    Since then local exporters have found new markets in Europe and North America.    Costello said currency realignments including a weaker Australian dollar had helped.    He said another 5 percent economic growth rate was not expected in the year ahead.    Australia's growth had been fueled by strong exports high private capital spending and vigorous domestic spending the bureau reported.    Australia had done well in the first year of the Asian crisis Costello said.    ``To have weathered the first year with such exceptional strength in the economy has been a major achievement'' he said.     
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<HTML>    JERUSALEM AP  Palestinians stepped up their demands Tuesday for the release of prisoners jailed for anti-Israel acts but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would not budge on the issue.    At a rally for prisoner releases in the West Bank city of Ramallah Ahmed Qureai speaker of the Palestinian legislature alluded to the six-year Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation when he told the crowd ``the leadership that threw stones is prepared once again to throw stones in order to free the people and to free the land.''    The comments drew a sharp response from Israel. ``The prime minister will not tolerate threats of violence'' read a statement issued by Netanyahu's office.    Ahmed Tibi an adviser to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat appealed to U.S. President Bill Clinton to resolve growing tensions over Israel's refusal so-called security prisoners.    Netanyahu said he could not release prisoners who had been involved in attacks on Israelis. ``I will not back down on this'' he vowed.    The issue which has prompted clashes between stone-throwing Palestinian youths and Israeli soldiers is raising concern about an outbreak of violence in advance of Clinton's Dec. 12-15 visit to Israel and the Palestinian-ruled lands.    The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that Israeli security officials had urged Netanyahu to agree to free more Palestinian activists in order to prevent rioting.    Palestinians claim that Israel promised at the Wye River summit last month to free 750 prisoners from political factions such as Arafat's Fatah group. Israel released 250 prisoners last month but most were car thieves and petty crooks.    ``This deception is creating demonstrations anger and frustration in the Palestinian community'' Tibi told a Foreign Press Association news conference.    Demonstrations have been held almost daily in support of Palestinian prisoners with some of the anger turned on Arafat and his government.    Several hundred demonstrators gathered at rallies in Ramallah and in the Gaza Strip where about 150 children called for the release of their fathers.    ``How can we live without our fathers?'' said Fidda Washah 16 who addressed the rally. Her father Jabar a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine faction has served 14 years of a life sentence for attacking Israeli soldiers.    Netanyahu said he would not release anyone ``with blood on their hands'' or members of the Islamic militant group Hamas.    ``The Palestinians are claiming falsely that I suggested somehow to free murders at Wye'' Netanyahu told reporters.    Israeli officials say only about 110 of the 2500 Palestinian activists behind bars could be let go in the next release scheduled to take place just after Clinton's visit.    Tibi who was spokesman for the Palestinian delegation at Wye Mills Md. said only about 300 of the Palestinians currently in jail had been involved in attacks that killed Israelis. The rest he described as ``political prisoners.''    He said about 1250 prisoners who were members of various PLO factions and the remainder belonged to Hamas.    ``We would very much like him Clinton to interfere in the issue of Palestinian prisoners'' said Tibi.    David Bar-Illan a senior adviser to Netanyahu said Israel would not agree to loosen the definition and free Palestinians involved in attacks that only injured Israelis.    ``We will not budge on this one'' Bar-Illan said adding Israel had freed more than 7000 prisoners over the past five years.    Palestinian officials called on residents of the West Bank to confront Israeli bulldozers that are expanding settlements or building roads to link Israeli-controlled areas of the West Bank and Israel.    ``Settlement activity should be resisted'' said Tibi. ``Settlers are public enemy No. 1 to Palestinians.''    Several members of the Palestinian legislative council are considering a boycott of Clinton's speech in Gaza City on Dec. 14 to show their anger over a failure by the United States to pressure Israel on the settlement and prisoner issues.    In traditionally Arab east Jerusalem meanwhile Israeli contractors bidding on the Har Homa Jewish housing project in visited the construction site where left-wing Israelis staged a protest. Police detained three demonstrators from the Peace Now group trying to disrupt the tour.    The Palestinians hope to establish a future capital in east Jerusalem. They say Har Homa is part of an Israeli plan to cut off the Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem from their hinterland in Bethlehem and the southern West Bank.  UR; nbt-kl/dl     
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<HTML>    KIEV Ukraine AP  Ukraine is so short of energy that it could not afford Tuesday to temporarily shut down the Chernobyl nuclear power plant for repairs.    Earlier this month Ukraine's Nuclear Regulation Administration ordered the plant's only working reactor be temporarily stopped warning that some safety equipment was reaching the end of its operational life and needed to be upgraded or replaced.    But a spokesman for the state nuclear energy company Energoatom said Tuesday that the reactor will stay active until at least Dec. 15. By then other nuclear reactors undergoing repairs are set to be restarted.    Nuclear Regulation Administration chief Oleksander Smyshliaev said his agency decided to grant Energoatom's request to prolong the reactor's work but stressed that it had to be stopped as soon as possible.    Another Chernobyl reactor was destroyed in a 1986 explosion and fire the world's worst nuclear accident. Since then there have been frequent malfunctions at the one remaining reactor despite lengthy repairs between July 1997 and May 1998.    The Energy Ministry has repeatedly protested the order to shut down the reactor saying it is needed until the spring to ensure enough electricity for the winter months.    Energoatom warned Monday that the shutdown of the Chernobyl reactor would force energy authorities to cut off entire regions of the country.    Ukraine faces a huge energy deficit this winter because conventional energy plants which are owed more than 1 billion by consumers can't afford enough fuel to satisfy the demand for electricity and heat.    Thousands of towns and villages in Ukraine already go without electricity for several hours every day as temperatures throughout much of the country have sunk below zero.    Western nations have long demanded the shutdown of the working Chernobyl reactor amid growing worries over its safety. 
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<HTML>    BANGKOK Thailand AP  Apple Computer will open an office in Thailand to boost its marketing efforts as its troubled Thai distributor cuts back on promotional budgets the Bangkok Post reported on Wednesday.    Thailand is the U.S. computer-maker's second largest market in Asia with 85000 users 90 percent of whom use Apple products for design and publishing work company officials were quoted as saying.    Apple executive are hoping to increase sales with the introduction of their new iMac model the newspaper said.    Graham Long Apple's president of Asia Pacific operations was quoted as saying that its Thai distributor Sahaviriya Office Automation was doing less marketing than in the past.    He cited no reason for Sahaviriya's reduced marketing role but the company has been hard hit by Thailand's economic and financial crises.    ``We are now being more aggressive in marketing Apple'' Long was quoted as saying by the Post. He also said the company had recently opened an office in South Korea.     
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<HTML>    BRUSSELS Belgium AP - Hopes of a reprieve for duty free sales for travelers within the European Union appeared short-lived Tuesday as a proposal to delay a planned abolition failed to gain sufficient support among EU finance ministers.    France proposed extending the life of the popular tax-free sales on flights ports and ferry crossings for five years beyond June 30 1999 when the EU is scheduled to scrap them. Germany and Britain backed the proposal along with Greece Spain and Ireland.    However the bid to save duty-free shopping needed support from all 15 EU nations and Denmark the Netherlands Portugal Italy Finland and Sweden refused to budge. Austria Belgium and Luxembourg did not take a stance.    In 1991 EU nations all voted to abolish the tax free shopping claiming it was incompatible with the notion of a borderless EU market. They need unanimity to reverse that decision.  UR; Airlines shipping 5th graf 
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<HTML>    AMMAN Jordan AP  Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's half-brother returned home on Tuesday after telling a Jordanian newspaper he does not want a new government post.    Barzan al-Tikriti who said he wants to spend more time with his children crossed the Jordanian border into Iraq earlier in the day Iraqi diplomats and Jordanian border officials said.    Al-Tikriti had been expected to leave earlier but the Iraqi diplomats said he delayed his departure by two days to see friends in Jordan. They spoke on customary condition of anonymity.    Al-Tikriti 46 who headed Iraq's mission to the United Nations in Geneva for a decade was among 30 Iraqi ambassadors and diplomats recalled to Baghdad over the summer.    There had been recurring rumors from Iraqi exiles that he was seeking to defect to the opposition.    But he told reporters on arrival here from Switzerland on Sunday that he had no political differences with Saddam and that he had delayed his departure from Switzerland because his wife Ahlam was being treated for breast cancer. She died in Switzerland last month.    There had been reports al-Tikriti would be named to a Cabinet post after his return to Baghdad. He previously was a director of Iraqi intelligence.    In an interview with Jordan's Al-Arab Al-Yawm newspaper published on Tuesday al-Tikriti said he was ``not promised any post and I do not wish that.''    He added: ``The only thing I hope from the bottom of my heart is that President Saddam will absolve me from responsibilities because I'm in a tragic mental state and I will not be able to carry out the minimum requirements of any post.''    The daily quoted him as saying that he left his children in Switzerland to continue their educations and that he plans to ``spend more time with them since they need me more in view of the death of their mother.''    He is believed to have six children.    Al-Tikriti repeated his scathing attack on the Western media saying it had ``fabricated'' reports that he supervised the transfer of contraband arms to Baghdad and that he later fell out with Saddam and retained billions of dollars of the president's private funds abroad.
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<HTML>    WORLD AT 0700 GMT     UR; NEW:    CHILE-PINOCHET NEPHEW. Pinochet relative denies suicide suggestion.    UN-IRAQ. Weapons inspectors note ``with satisfaction'' Iraqi cooperation.    CHINA-DISSIDENTS. Police detain dissidents in crackdown on illegal party.    WORLD AIDS DAY.    GUATEMALA-MASSACRE SENTENCES. Court hands down first sentences for civil war crimes.    BELGIUM-PETROFINA-TOTAL. France's Total purchases Petrofina Belgian business giant.  UR; MAIN SPOT NEWS:    WASHINGTON  Declaring Jerusalem the No. 1 item on his agenda in peace talks with Israel Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has reignited a hot dispute with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by publicly laying claim to the ``occupied'' eastern part of the city. US-ARAFAT. Has moved. By Barry Schweid. AP Photos WX102-109.    LONDON  The hospital where Gen. Augusto Pinochet has been under police guard says he no longer needs medical care  dealing a blow to any plan by the former Chilean dictator to plead he is too ill to stand trial on charges of genocide and torture. BRITAIN-PINOCHET. Has moved; developments will be expedited. By Maureen Johnson. AP Photos LON103 LAB101 LON114.    ALSO MOVED:    CHILE-PINOCHET NEPHEW. Pinochet nephew denies published report quoting him as saying the former Chilean dictator would rather die than stand trial in Spain.    WASHINGTON  Republicans on the House impeachment panel move to subpoena FBI Director Louis Freeh and a federal prosecutor as they seek access to secret memos relating to alleged fund-raising irregularities in President Bill Clinton's 1996 campaign sources say. US-CLINTON-IMPEACHMENT. Has moved; developments will be expedited. By Laurie Kellman. AP Photo ACAP101.    ALSO MOVED:    US-RENO-FUND RAISING. Reno postpones decision on independent counsel for investigating former top White House aide.    POTSDAM Germany  Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac resume talks Tuesday to revitalize Germany's ties with its most important European partner. GERMANY-FRANCE. Has moved; developments will be expedited. By Tony Czuczka. AP Photos XBER103; XPOT103-104; POT101.    WASHINGTON  Jewish groups attending an international conference on the fate of Nazi-confiscated art pledge to ``uncover the truth and seek justice'' for Holocaust victims dead and alive. US-HOLOCAUST CONFERENCE. Has moved. Conference opens at 0030 GMT Tuesday. By Laura Myers. AP Photos covering.    MONTREAL  Quebec's pro-independence government is re-elected but wins only about 43 percent of the popular vote likely dampening its zest for holding a secession referendum any time soon. CANADA-QUEBEC ELECTION. Has moved; developments will be expedited. By David Crary. AP Photos MTL101; MTL103-106; JONX101; LIBS102; XQBC107-108.    WITH:    CANADA-QUEBEC ELECTION-BOX. A look at the province. Has moved.    BRUSSELS Belgium  France's oil giant Total SA takes over Belgian petrochemicals company Petrofina SA to create the sixth largest oil company in the world and the third largest in Europe the companies announce Tuesday. BELGIUM-PETROFINA-TOTAL. Has moved; devleopments will be expedited.    UNITED NATIONS  Chief U.N. weapons inspector Richard Butler notes ``with satisfaction'' in a letter released Monday that Iraq is ready to cooperate in resolving several outstanding issues. UN-IRAQ. Has moved. By Edith M. Lederer.    BEIJING  Chinese police have detained prominent dissident Xu Wenli and four others in a crackdown Xu's wife said Tuesday appears to be aimed at crushing a budding opposition party. CHINA-DISSIDENTS. Has moved. By John Leicester.    JAKARTA Indonesia  The death toll from a powerful earthquake that hit a remote island in Indonesia rises to 25 on Tuesday as rescue teams search for more victims and survivors officials say. INDONESIA-EARTHQUAKE. Has moved; developments will be expedited. By Geoff Spencer.    ALSO MOVED:    INDONESIA-RELIGIOUS TENSION. Armed with knives sickles and swords frightened Muslims on Tuesday guard their homes and places of worship in a provincial capital after Christian mobs went on a rampage burning or ransacking 15 mosques.    BEIRUT Lebanon  Prime Minister Rafik Hariri the business tycoon who launched Lebanon's multibillion dollar reconstruction from the devastation of civil war says he is bowing out as premier following a dispute with the new president. LEBANON-GOVERNMENT. Has moved; developments will be expedited. By Sam F. Ghattas.    GUATEMALA CITY  In the first war-crimes convictions following Guatemala's civil war three former pro-government fighters are sentenced to death for their role in a 1982 massacre of Indian villagers. GUATEMALA-MASSACRE SENTENCES. Has moved. By Alfonso Anzueto.    CARACAS Venezuela  A major political party drops an ex-Miss Universe on Monday and joins other groups supporting a conservative businessman to prevent a former coup leader from being elected Venezuela's next president. VENEZUELA-ELECTIONS. Has moved. By Steven Gutkin. AP Photos CAR104;106    JOHANNESBURG South Africa  A Cabinet minister seeking amnesty before a human rights panel could shed light on a painful period of black-on-black violence that preceded elections in 1994. SOUTH AFRICA-AMNESTY. Has moved. Will be led after testimony expected to begin at 0730 GMT. By Pat Reber.    LISBON Portugal  Angola appears headed back to the civil war that has ravaged the southern African nation for most of its nearly quarter-century of independence. ANALYSIS-ANGOLA-ROAD TO WAR. Has moved. By Barry Hatton. AP Graphic ANGOLA.    TOKYO  People across Asia hand out condoms and wear red ribbons Tuesday as part of efforts on World AIDS Day to raise awareness about the spread of the disease especially in underdeveloped countries. WORLD AIDS DAY. Has moved; developments will be expedited. By Joji Sakurai. AP Photos planned.    UNITED NATIONS  Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa urges countries marking World AIDS Day on Tuesday to tackle the scourge of AIDS just as it tackled the scourge of apartheid. UN-AIDS. Has moved. By Edith M. Lederer. AP Photos XUN102-103.    TRUJILLO Honduras  Laura Isabel Arriola de Guity survived six days at sea on a makeshift raft after Hurricane Mitch swept her from her village. She has been back on land for weeks but in many ways she's still adrift  ravaged emotionally after losing her family. MITCH-STILL ADRIFT. Has moved. By Ken Guggenheim. AP Photo SPS101.    LOOKING AHEAD: The State Department holds a conference Wednesday on Nazi plunder during the Holocaust. U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan visits Tunisia on Thursday. World Council of Churches opens assembly in Harare Zimbabwe on Thursday.  UR; OTHER FEATURES MOVED:    FEA-JAPAN-BRITTLE BANKS. Japanese banks rush to restructure amid rising tide of red ink. AP Photo NY300.    FEA-US-HAYES MODEM. Computer industry pioneer who invented the personal-computer modem struggles for survival.    FEA-US-AOL-NETSCAPE-GIZMOS. AOL-Netscape deal could spawn new means of Internet access.    FEA-US-AOL-NETSCAPE-CULTURE CLASH. Critics fear end of 'free and open' Internet.    YOUR QUERIES: The Associated Press World Service editors in charge are Charles Gans and Chris Tomlinson. Suggestions and story requests to The Associated Press World Service are welcome. Contact your local AP bureau or the AP International Desk in New York telephone 1 212-621-1650 fax 1 212-621-5449.
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<HTML>    MILAN Italy AP  Internazionale on Tuesday signed Romanian Mircea Lucescu to replace Gigi Simoni as coach of the star-studded but volatile Milan team through the end of the Italian Serie A season in May.    Lucescu's hiring for a reported 1 billion lire dlrs 555000 was announced at Inter's training camp one day after the startling dismissal of Simoni.    The Italian veteran was fired despite consecutive victories which kept Inter in contention for the European Champions Cup and Italian league titles.    Club president Massimo Moratti bitterly criticized Inter's play following a 3-1 victory against defending champion Real Madrid in a European Champions League game last Wednesday and an injury-time 2-1 victory against lightly regarded Salernitana in a league match Sunday.    Inter whose roster includes Ronaldo Youri Djorkaeff Roberto Baggio Diego Simeone and Ivan Zamorano is in sixth place in the Italian league with a 5-2-4 record and 17 points five behind league-leading Fiorentina.    Lucescu a former Romanian national team coach and manager of several club sides including Dynamo Bucharest and Italy's Brescia and Reggiana was presented to the Italian media at Appiano Gentile Tuesday afternoon.    He then directed the first training session with Inter players for Sunday's league match against Vicenza.    ``I will need time to change the team ... to switch to zone defense and make the play more offensive'' Lucescu said.    ``I'm convinced I did the right thing'' Moratti said Tuesday. ``I think to have interpreted the feeling of our fans who were unhappy with the team play.''    Inter sold a record of 60000 season tickets this year after it won the UEFA Cup title and finished second to Juventus in the Italian league last season.    Simoni whose stay with Inter was stormy since the beginning of his two-year contract said Tuesday he was the victim of ``an unfair unexpected decision.''    Some Italian sports dailies suggested that Simoni paid for the bad start of Brazilian superstar Ronaldo who has been repeatedly sidelined with tendinitis in his knee and failed to provide the Milan team with the goals and play he produced last season.    Simoni also had been criticized frequently for his overly defensive tactics.    Lucescu 53 is expected by many to be an interim manager until Italian Marcello Lippi can take over.    Lippi is rumored to ben leaving league champion Juventus of Turin at the end of this season and could join Inter for the 1999-2000 season. However Moratti denied a decision for next season has been make.    ``Lucescu can prove he deserves to coach a great team. He could be a more lasting solution'' Moratti said. 
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<HTML>    MUNICH Germany AP  Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich shrugged off freezing weather and reached the semifinals of the German Cup by routing crisis-shaken Stuttgart 3-0 on Tuesday.    Carsten Jancker used a good pass from veteran Lothar Matthaeus in the 26th minute to open the scoring.    A looping shot from 20 meters yards by international midfielder Mario Basler made it 2-0 and substitute Alexander Zickler scored the third in the 79th after a fast break.    A small crowd of 11000 braved the freezing temperature to see the match in the Olympic stadium.    The defeat could spell the end of coach Winfried Schaefer's reign in Stuttgart which is now without a win in six games with four defeats and two losses.    Some German media reports say Stuttgart players are rebelling against the unpopular coach who is also detested by fans.    Schaefer dropped Bulgarian star midfielder Krasimir Balakov from the rosters while starting striker Fredi Bobic only came on in the second halftime.    ns    
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<HTML>    Today TUESDAY Dec. 1:    Through Wednesday: Sentencing hearing for Evan Ramsey convicted on two first-degree murder counts in the shooting deaths of the Bethel High School principal and a fellow student. At: Bethel Cultural Center.    9 a.m.: Consumer Protection Roundtable. Agenda: Rep. Fred Dyson R-Eagle River and Rep. Eric Croft D-Anchorage convene at rountable involving socres of agencies organizations and individuals to talk about consumer fraud. At: Legislation Information Office Room 220 716 W. 4th Ave. Anchorage. Contact: 694-6683 269-0216.    Noon: Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce and the Palmer Chamber of Commerce schedule a joint meeting to talk about the future of the Valley. Agenda: Mayors and legislators from the Mat-Su will join the discussion. At: Palmer Moose Lodge. Contact: 376-1299.    1:30 p.m.: Knowles administration releases its latest state revenue forecast. Agenda: Petroleum economist Chuck Logsden Annalee McConnell director of the state Office of Management and Budget and Revenue Commissioner Wilson Condon talk about what depressed world oil prices will mean to Alaska's operating budget next year. At: Governor's 3rd Floor conference room Capitol. Contact: 465-5469. AP STAFFING.    WEDNESDAY Dec. 2:    7 a.m.: Col. Sheldon Jahn U.S. Army Corps of Engineers provides an update on Alaska development projects and regulatory issues. At: Resource Development Council for Alaska Inc. meeting at the Petroleum Club of Anchorage 3301 C St. Contact: 276-0700.    9 a.m.: Alaska Public Utilities Commission schedules a public meeting. Agenda: North Slope Borough gives a presentation on proposed Nuisut Natural Gas Line Project; staff report on FCC activity; fiscal 1999-2000 budget and more. At: Commission offices 1016 W. 6th Av. Suite 305 Anchorage. Contact: 276-6222.    10 a.m.: Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium schedules its annual meeting. Agenda: Native management of statewide Indian Health Service programs including the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage. At: Anchorage Hilton. Contact: 729-1900.    Noon: Commonwealth North talks about ``Alaska's Asset Portfolio: Managing for Maximum Return.'' Nancy Usera and Scott Goldsmith poll Commonwealth North members and agency managers about how to use the developable and financial assets Alaskans own through their state government. At: Hotel Captain Cook. Contact: 276-1414.    THURSDAY Dec. 3:    9 a.m. and through Friday: Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council schedules winter board meeting. On the agenda: Seating a board representative from Cordova United District Fishermen United; aquatic nuisance species double-hulled tankers and more. At: Anchorage Hilton. Contact: 277-7222.    FRIDAY Dec. 4:    Noon: Michael Allen director of the American Business Center in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk talks about ``Russia's Far East: Hope or Despair in the Months Ahead?'' At: Alaska World Affairs Council meeting at the Anchorage Hilton. Contact: 276-8038.    1:30 p.m.: Alaska Public Utilities Commission meets. Agenda: Anchorage Water and Wastewater contracts; Power Cost Equalization cost of power adjustments. At: Commission offices 1016 W. 6th Av. Suite 305 Anchorage. Contact: 276-6222.    SATURDAY Dec. 5:    SUNDAY Dec. 6:    MONDAY Dec. 7:    11:30 a.m.: Inaugural ceremonies/swearing in of Gov. Tony Knowles for his second four-year term. At: Centennial Building Juneau. Contact: 465-3500. AP STAFFING PHOTO-STAFFING.    5 p.m.: Department of Defense schedules a series of meetings in Alaska to hear testimony about possible missile defense sites. At: Carlson Center Fairbanks. Contact: 202-224-5209.    TUESDAY Dec. 8:    5 p.m.: Department of Defense schedules a series of meetings in Alaska to hear testimony about possible missile defense sites. At: Anderson School Main Street. Contact: 202-224-5209.     UR; The AP Anchorage 
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<HTML>    FRANKFURT Germany AP  Even before Europe's single currency is launched politicians are challenging the independence of the central bank that will keep tabs on the new euro.    Germany's new leaders have led the campaign demanding that the European Central Bank after it takes over monetary policy Jan. 1 lower interest rates to spur economic growth and create more jobs.    The push reflects growing demands across the European Union for a more hands-on approach to monetary policy as the euro launch nears and some fear the tussle between politicians and bankers could damage the historic project.    The argument ``goes to the psychological roots of the euro''  its independence from political influence German central banker Ernst Welteke said recently.    ``This is a perilous venture in an untested vessel. How can the passengers feel confident if the officers are so visibly squabbling on the quarter deck?'' London's Financial Times asked in a recent editorial.    The contest  between the usual monetary goal of promoting low inflation and the broader political goal of spurring job creation  challenges the new central bank's guiding strategy: price stability modeled on the successful German Bundesbank.    The U.S. Federal Reserve is caught in the same tug though Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan stresses that the goal of low unemployment can't be achieved unless the Fed keeps a vigilant watch and is ready to boost interest rates at the first sign inflation is accelerating.    The European debate shows how much the political landscape has changed since the European Central Bank's mission was charted in 1992 when conservative inflation-beating governments were in power.    France and Germany the twin engines of the monetary union led the charge for cutting deficits and reducing government spending to create a stable environment for the euro. They were guided by the 1992 Maastricht Treaty which outlined terms for the euro ensuring the independence of the European Central Bank.    Since then the conservatives have been replaced by center-left administrations more interested in creating jobs and less in squeezing inflation. With the German election in September nine of the 11 countries adopting the euro now are ruled by the center-left. A consensus is growing.    German Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine has received support from French Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn in his campaign for interest rate cuts. While Lafontaine boldly demands lower interest rates Strauss-Kahn was more reserved. He said it was ``not inconceivable'' that interest rates would be reduced in France and in Germany in the near future.    But that position may be easing. Last week German central banker Hans Tietmeyer said he would not rule out the possibility of lower interest rates in Germany before the end of the year. Such a move could reduce the interest rate that the euro zone itself will adopt Jan. 1.    Other European countries while making no demands have signaled they share France and Germany's concerns. A recent EU summit in Austria was devoted to finding ways to boost the continent's economy tackle unemployment  stuck at 10.9 percent in the 11 euro nations  and prepare for the launch of a single currency. Left-leaning finance ministers went even further in Brussels Belgium recently saying jobs creation should be a key element of monetary policy.    ECB President Wim Duisenberg has in the last weeks traveled around the world  including stops in Dublin Ireland and New York  repeating the message that jobs creation is up to government policy not the central bank.    The central bank's job he insists is to keep inflation low and prices stable.    With characteristic bluntness Duisenberg has described cutting interest rates to boost economic growth as ``entirely counterproductive.'' It would he says lead to higher unemployment by pushing up long-term interest rates and could undermine the benefits of price stability.    Politicians already are hinting that they may take another approach to solve stubborn joblessness if the European central bankers don't pitch in.    German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said in his first major policy speech after taking office in October that he may be forced to increase government spending if the central bank won't help stimulate economic growth.    After Schroeder's speech Duisenberg warned that increased spending would imperil a pact EU governments made promising to slash budget deficits as part of efforts to forge a strong euro.
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<HTML>    LONDON AP  Newspapers lashed out Tuesday after yet another humiliation for England's cricket team.    ``Day England lost all credibility'' said a blaring headline in The Express.    ``That's the worst I have seen in 83 test matches'' said The Mirror quoting England captain Alec Stewart.    ``One of our worst ever performances'' echoed The Sun.    England's seven-wicket hammering by Australia Monday in the second Test of the Ashes series  England was bowled out for 112 in 39 overs on the opening day  again reminded the nation how far it has slipped in a game it invented.    To make matters worse on the same day England was battered upstart Zimbabwe  the lowest ranked of the nine Test-playing sides  picked up its first overseas Test win when it beat Pakistan by seven wickets.    Writing under a headline calling England ``second-raters on cricket's world stage'' The Express columnist James Lawton said the loss reflected deeper problems.    ``It is not just the specter of another defeat which makes someone who cares for England's cricket legacy feel here like a man walking down Park Lane with holes in his shoes'' he said.    ``The grimness of this conclusion is that it may be that our cricket future is drifting beyond our own hands'' he added.    He was referring to a suggestion from former Australia captain Ian Chappell that England may no longer rate five-Test status against Australia.    ``I just don't know how we can keep handing out the five Tests to England when teams like Pakistan and South Africa are beginning to mean a lot more to the young people here'' he quoted Chappell as saying.    England has won just four of the last 30 Ashes matches to Australia's 18 and the defeat inside three days means Australia needs to win only one of the next three Tests to retain the Ashes.    The Daily Mail said even the Australian reserves were good enough to beat England.    ``Australia's second 11 could probably beat the tourists as well'' wrote columnist Bob Willis.    scw 
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<HTML>     QC;   UR; NATIONAL FOOTBALL CONFERENCE QC;   UR; Quarterbacks QC;                         Att Com  Yds TD Int Cunningham Min.      274 167 2565 23   7 S. Young S.F.        413 251 3320 29   8 Aikman Dal.          210 133 1635 10   3 Chandler Atl.        249 137 2248 17   9 Beuerlein Car.       239 155 1743 10   8 Favre G.B.           424 262 3254 23  19 Batch Det.           261 156 1893  9   6 T. Green Was.        362 200 2535 17   8 Kramer Chi.          250 151 1823  9   7 Dilfer T.B.          339 183 2226 16  11     QC;   UR; Rushers QC;                         Att  Yds  Avg  LG  TD J. Anderson Atl.     305 1326  4.3  48  11 Sanders Det.         267 1225  4.6  73t  4 E. Smith Dal.        255 1107  4.3  32  11 Hearst S.F.          229 1105  4.8  96t  5 R. Smith Min.        215 1013  4.7  74t  6 Dunn T.B.            175  806  4.6  50   2 Murrell Ariz         189  725  3.8  31   5 Staley Phi.          166  661  4.0  46   3 Lane Car.            193  645  3.3  31   5 Allen Was.           137  616  4.5  26   2     QC;   UR; Receivers QC;                          No   Yds   Avg   LG   TD Rice S.F.             64   931  14.5   66t   7 Sanders Ariz          64   812  12.7   42    3 Freeman G.B.          62  1070  17.3   84t   9 Irvin Dal.            62   868  14.0   43    1 Morton Det.           59   869  14.7   98t   2 Carter Min.           57   821  14.4   54t   9 Moore Det.            57   632  11.1   36    2 Ismail Car.           54   810  15.0   62    6 Owens S.F.            52   882  17.0   79t  10 Mathis Atl.           51   836  16.4   78t   7 Muhammad Car.         51   728  14.3   72t   4 Stokes S.F.           51   618  12.1   31t   6     QC;   UR; Punters QC;                          No  Yds LG  Avg M. Turk Was.          70 3172 69 45.3 Maynard NY-G          84 3795 63 45.2 Royals N.O.           72 3251 64 45.2 Jett Det.             48 2160 60 45.0 Berger Min.           42 1858 66 44.2 Tuten St.L            75 3300 64 44.0 Gowin Dal.            55 2417 65 43.9 Landeta G.B.          48 2096 72 43.7 Player Ariz           64 2717 67 42.5 Roby S.F.             44 1867 66 42.4     QC;   UR; Punt Returners QC;                          No   Yds   Avg   LG   TD Green T.B.            22   346  15.7   95t   1 Sanders Dal.          24   375  15.6   69t   2 Hastings N.O.         22   307  14.0   76    0 Milburn Chi.          18   248  13.8   93t   1 Palmer Min.           18   227  12.6   53    0 Mitchell Was.         38   423  11.1   47    0 Kennison St.L         33   355  10.8   71t   1 Oliver Car.           29   296  10.2   35    0 Preston G.B.          34   317   9.3   71t   1 Dwight Atl.           23   207   9.0   23    0     QC;   UR; Kickoff Returners QC;                          No   Yds   Avg   LG   TD Preston G.B.          42  1192  28.4  101t   2 Fair Det.             41  1130  27.6  105t   2 Dwight Atl.           26   675  26.0   93t   1 Horne St.L            37   943  25.5  102t   1 Mathis Dal.           25   621  24.8   42    0 Anthony T.B.          41  1017  24.8   60    0 Bates Car.            46  1093  23.8   51    0 Rossum Phi.           34   798  23.5   52    0 Milburn Chi.          47  1101  23.4   88t   1 Patten NY-G           35   811  23.2   90t   1     QC;   UR; Scoring QC;   UR; Touchdowns QC;                         TD Rush  Rec  Ret  Pts J. Anderson Atl.     12   11    1    0   74 E. Smith Dal.        12   11    1    0   72 R. Moss Min.         11    0   11    0   68 Owens S.F.           11    1   10    0   68 Freeman G.B.          9    0    9    0   56 Carter Min.           9    0    9    0   54 Hoard Min.            8    8    0    0   48 R. Smith Min.         8    6    2    0   48 Rice S.F.             7    0    7    0   46 Hearst S.F.           7    5    2    0   44     QC;   UR; Kicking QC;                           PAT     FG  LG  Pts Anderson Min.        45-45  21-21   50  108 Cunningham Dal.      35-35  22-26   54  101 Hanson Det.          22-23  24-27   51   94 Andersen Atl.        36-37  19-22   53   93 Longwell G.B.        34-35  18-21   45   88 Richey S.F.          34-36  14-22   46   76 Jaeger Chi.          19-20  18-22   52   73 Brien N.O.           22-22  16-17   56   70 Nedney Ariz          30-30  13-19   53   69 Kasay Car.           24-26  14-20   56   66 
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<HTML>    WORLD SPORTS AT 0000 GMT  UR; SOCCER:    MILAN Italy  Internazionale signs Romanian Mircea Lucescu to replace Gigi Simoni as coach of the star-studded but volatile Milan team through the end of the Italian Serie A season in May.    Slug Sports-Soccer-Inter-Lucescu. Has moved.    By Piero Valsecchi.    TURIN Italy  Juventus general director Luciano Moggi defends as ``well grounded'' the club decision to travel to Istanbul on game day for the politically tinged European Champions League match against Galatasaray.    Slug Sports-Soccer-Juventus-Turkey. Has moved.    GENEVA  UEFA and several of Europe's top clubs agree to a new format for the UEFA Cup which will give unsuccessful Champions League competitors a second chance.    Slug Sports-Soccer-UEFA Competitions. Has moved.    NEWCASTLE England  The two former Newcastle United directors who stepped down in disgrace after making disparaging remarks about the club's supporters and the city's women are seeking to be reinstated.    Slug Sports-Soccer-Newcastle Board. Has moved.    ALSO:     UDINE Italy  Sports-Soccer-Italian Cup. Has moved.     STOCKHOLM Sweden  Slug Sports-Soccer-Nordics-2008. Has moved.     ROME  Slug Sports-Soccer-Roma-Nice. Has moved.     LONDON  Slug Sports-Soccer-British Briefs. Has moved.     TOKYO  Sports-Soccer-Toyota Cup. Has moved.  UR; RUGBY UNION:    LONDON  England fullback Matt Perry is ruled out of Saturday's rugby union Test against South Africa at Twickenham.    Slug Sports-RugbyU-England-SAfrica. Has moved.    DUBAI United Arab Emirates  Title-holders New Zealand face a tough challenge from Fiji and Australia in the Dubai International Rugby Sevens tournament which kicks off.    Slug Sports-Rugby-Dubai Sevens. Has moved.  UR; TENNIS:    LONDON  Tennis one of three Olympic sports which dissented from an international agreement to unify anti-drug policies says it expects to fall into line before February's world summit on doping.    Slug Sports-Olympics-Tennis. Has moved.    By Stephen Wilson.    MILAN Italy  Italy will use the same trio of players who upset the United States when it takes on defending champion Sweden in this weekend's Davis Cup final at Assago Forum.    Slug Sports-Tennis-Davis Cup. Has moved.    ALSO:     LONDON  Slug Sports-Tennis-Australian Open-Women. Has moved.  UR; CYCLING:    LILLE France  Medical tests suggest that cyclists on the Festina team expelled from the Tour de France this summer took banned drugs judicial sources say citing a judge's report.    Slug Sports-Cycling-Doping. Has moved.    By Sebastien Bouwy.  UR; CRICKET:    LONDON  Newspapers lash out after yet another humiliation for England's cricket team. ``Day England lost all credibility'' says one blaring headline.    Slug Sports-Cricket-England Reacts. Has moved.  UR; SKIING:    MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN California  Howitzers welcome World Cup ski racers to this California resort as workers try to clear mountain drifts from a 2-foot 0.6-meter snowfall overnight.    Slug Sports-Skiing-Women-World Cup. Has moved.    By Mike Clark.  UR; ASIAN GAMES:    BANGKOK Thailand  For a few hours on Sunday Thais will be able to cast aside worries about the lingering Asian economic crisis and revel in a spectacular cultural celebration marking the opening of the 13th Asian Games.    Slug Sports-Asian Games-Rehearsal. Expected by 0400 GMT.    By Don Pathan.    BANGKOK Thailand  Preliminary Asian Games soccer matches pitting South Korea against Turkmenistan Cambodia against China United Arab Emirates against North Korea and Thailand against Hong Kong.    Slug Sports-Asian Games-Soccer. Expected by 1200 GMT.  UR; GOLF:    ADELAIDE Australia  Five-time British Open winner Peter Thomson set to lead the International Team into next week's Presidents Cup in Melbourne is taking the heat this week for his redesign of Royal Adelaide site of the Australian Open that begins Thursday. With 300 meters extra long rough and 20 new bunkers added to the course it won't be an easy homecoming for Greg Norman's first 72-hole tournament in eight months.    Slug Sports-Golf-Australian Open. Expected by 0600 GMT.    By Dennis Passa.    With:     ORLANDO Florida  Sports-Golf-Pak-Coaches. By Doug Ferguson. Has moved.     ORLANDO Florida  Sports-Golf-Notes. By Doug Ferguson. Has moved.  UR; BOXING:    ROCKVILLE Maryland  Mike Tyson pleaded no contest to charges he assaulted two men following a traffic accident. Although the plea is not an admission of guilt Tyson faces up to 20 years in prison  10 years on each count  when he is sentenced early next year.    Slug Sports-Boxing-Tyson Accident. Has moved.    Also:     UPPER MARLBORO Maryland  Sports-Boxing-Bowe-Assault. Has moved.  UR; SAILING:    NEW YORK  After weeks of repairs 15 sailors leave South Africa this weekend and head to New Zealand in the second leg of the Around Alone solo sailing race.    Slug Sports-Sailing-Around Alone. Has moved.    By Sheila Norman-Culp.  UR; ALSO:     UNDATED  Sports-Ice Hockey-NHL Roundup. Expected by 0500 GMT.     NEW YORK  Sports-Basketball-NBA Lockout. Expected by 0100 GMT.     PHOENIX  Sports-Swimming-Hall-Doping. Has moved.     BALTIMORE  Sports-Baseball-Orioles-Belle. Has moved.     NEW YORK  Slug Sports-Track-Foster-US-Hall of Fame. Has moved.     TORONTO  Sports-Olympics-Vancouver Bid. Has moved.    YOUR QUERIES: Sports stories carry the ``s'' category code or in some cases the ``i'' category code. Questions and story requests are welcome. Contact your local AP bureau or the AP International Desk in New York telephone 1 212-621-1650 fax 1 212-621-5449. 
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<HTML>    ADELAIDE Australia AP  As Australian golf's father figure Peter Thomson seemed a natural to captain the Down Under-dominated International team at next week's Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne.    But this week five-time British Open winner Thomson is taking the heat from a number of golfers at the Australian Open including Presidents Cup player Stuart Appleby of Australia over Thomson's design changes to Royal Adelaide.    ``I expected there will be controversy'' Thomson said Wednesday as Greg Norman playing his first 72-hole tournament since undergoing shoulder surgery eight months ago toured Royal Adelaide in advance of Thursday's opening round.    Thomson has added about 300 meters to the now par-72 6565-meter 7178-yard course grown out the rough and extended it further into the fairways and added 20 bunkers. Royal Adelaide's small greens have been left well small.    Norman was reserved in his comments on the course but his body language during Tuesday's pro-am indicated he wasn't happy. He appeared to be upset when after finishing pin-high down the left side of the green on the short par-4 third he found his ball submerged in knee-high rough and could only blast it into similar territory on the other side.    ``Where do you play to?'' he was heard to murmur to his caddie Tony Navarro.    Appleby said he would have preferred that the course was left the way it was.    ``I don't know what was wrong with it'' said Appleby. ``There is a real fine line between pleasure and pain. You are going to see some pretty ugly shots.    ``We are now hitting four irons where we used to hit seven irons into some places'' added Appleby. ``Shots are longer but we are talking about green sizes that haven't changed. I've never seen a course become harder by so much.''    Local newspaper reports have one unnamed player suggesting that Thomson has ``lost his marbles'' while another is quoted he'll do the ``full monty''  strip naked  in front of the clubhouse if anyone in the field breaks par in all four rounds.    Thomson won three of his five British Opens at Royal Birkdale Royal Lytham and St. Anne's and he says it's only natural that he would lean towards seaside links in his course preference.    ``I didn't hear anyone complaining about Royal Birkdale Troon or Lytham'' said Thomson. ``That's because it's the British Open and you expect it. But why shouldn't we expect it at the Australian Open?''    Englishman Nick Faldo isn't complaining  he said he enjoyed the traditional touches of Scottish golf architect Alister Mackenzie who also designed Augusta National and Royal Melbourne. Thomson has tipped Faldo a winner of six majors as the likely Australian Open winner.    ``It's a fantastic course naturally challenging and full of wonderful Mackenzie bunkering'' Faldo said Wednesday after his practice round which he said he played poorly.    ``You can be just a yard off the fairway and still have 200 to the green but not a chance of reaching it because of the heavy rough'' Faldo said. ``It has a way of punishing you but that's golf.''    Faldo's countryman Lee Westwood won last year's Australian Open at the Metropolitan course in Melbourne in a playoff with Norman who has won the tournament five times. But Westwood isn't back to defend his title playing in South Africa instead.    U.S. Presidents Cup team members Fred Couples and John Huston are also in the Australian Open field along with other International members Craig Parry of Australia New Zealand's Frank Nobilo and Greg Turner and Paraguay's Carlos Franco.    Couples and Huston possible partners in the Presidents Cup played a leisurely practice round Wednesday morning. Couples watched in amazement on the par-4 sixth when gusty winds blew putt after practice putt away from the hole. djp     
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<HTML>    ALGIERS Algeria AP  Smail Hamdani a senator and former ambassador to Paris is expected to become Algeria's prime minister within the week Algerian newspapers reported Tuesday.    Reports of the eventual resignation of Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia in office since January 1996 have circulated since President Liamine Zeroual announced in September that he would cut short his term.    Early presidential elections are set for April. Ouyahia's name is among those circulating as potential presidential candidates.    According to the paper Demain l'Algerie Hamdani described as a non-partisan technocrat will take office on Dec. 6.    There was no official confirmation of the report.    But the head of the leftist Workers' Party Louisa Hanoune told reporters Monday that other Cabinet changes were in the offing.    After speaking with Zeroual she said he'd told her that Ouyahia and several other government ministers would be stepping down ``around Dec. 10.''    In addition to Ouyahia Communications Minister Hamraoui Habib Chawki interim Justice Minister Hamed Nouj and Interior Minister Mustapha Ben Mansour will be resigning according to Hanoune.    Zeroual did not reveal who would replace the ministers Hanoune said saying only that the successors would be ``non-partisan.''    Ouyahia has not denied rumors over his reported plans to run for the presidency.    In the past it has been the army that determines the nation's president drawn from military ranks. Zeroual is a retired general.    rk-eg-jn
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<HTML>    BERLIN AP  Shirley MacLaine who won an Oscar for her starring role in ``Terms of Endearment'' will receive the Golden Bear award for lifetime achievement at the 49th Berlin film festival organizers announced Tuesday.    Film festival director Moritz de Hadeln hailed MacLaine's ``extraordinary versatility'' and said she embodies Hollywood glamour.    MacLaine 64 will receive her award Feb. 18. The 1980 film ``Being There'' will among MacLaine's films shown at the festival which runs Feb. 10-21.    aet-cb     
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<HTML>    BRUSSELS Belgium AP  France's oil giant Total SA will take over Belgium's Petrofina SA merging the two into one of the world's largest oil companies the companies announced Tuesday.    The merger announcement comes on the same day that Exxon and Mobil agreed to a record dlrs 77.2 billion merger creating the world's largest oil company.    ``The move is part of a global change oil prices have practically been cut in half over the past year. All companies are seeking to survive in this new situation'' said Total Chairman Thierry Desmarest. ``The business environment will be tougher than in past years.''    The new company known as Total Fina would be the third-largest oil company in Europe and will seek to be listed on the Paris Brussels New York and London stock exchanges a joint statement said.    Employment totals would remain largely unchanged with 69100 people working for the new group officials from the two companies said.    ``The combination of Total and Petrofina will allow the new entity to capture substantial productivity gains particularly in the North Sea and to expand its positions in the deep offshore United States Angola'' a joint statement said.    The deal to create Total Fina is based on a stock swap that gives Total control of 41 percent of Petrofina Belgium's largest industrial company. The remainder of Petrofina's shares will be bid on at a later date company officials said.    Investors on the Paris stock exchange reacted skeptically to the new merger. Total shares took a big hit falling almost 10 percent in early trading Tuesday.    Before the deal was announced the two companies had stock worth 1391 billion Belgian francs dlrs 39.9 billion.    Petrofina stock has been gaining ground in recent days on rumors that the company was in talks with France's Elf Aquitaine SA Total SA and Italy's ENI SpA.    Petrofina's stock stood at 14250 francs dlrs 407.9 Friday before trading was suspended Monday. The deal valued the stock at 19.482 francs dlrs 557.7  an increase of more than one-third.    ``We have to recognize that the value today is higher than what we could get as a stand-alone company in the medium term'' said Francois Cornelis head of Petrofina.    A combined general meeting of shareholders has been called for Jan. 14 to approve the agreement.    Petrofina which employs 14700 people worldwide is one of Belgium's biggest industrial companies with refining and distribution operations in Europe and the United States.    Total SA employs 54400 and is France's No. 2 oil company but has aggressively expanded crude oil and gas businesses. 
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<HTML>    MANILA Philippines AP  Philippine stocks plunged Tuesday as investors cashed in on recent gains following Wall Street's large drop overnight traders said.    The 30-share Philippine Stock Exchange Index fell 53.57 points or 2.7 percent to 1921.79 nearly erasing Friday's 54.43-point or 2.8 percent gain.    The market was closed Monday for a national holiday.    Traders said the market joined other regional bourses hard hit by the Dow Jones Industrial Average's 2.3 percent decline Monday.    San Miguel B shares fell 4 pesos or 5.8 percent to 65 pesos following a news report claiming that Filipino-Chinese tycoon Lucio Tan has revived his bid to acquire the 20 percent stake held by San Miguel chairman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr.    Fitzgerald Aklan assistant vice president for institutional sales of Orion-Squire Securities Inc. said the prospect of Tan taking control of San Miguel the Philippines' largest food and beverage conglomerate may not have been welcomed by investors.    Tan owns Asia Brewery Inc. the main beer rival of San Miguel. He is also chairman of ailing Philippine Airlines Inc. and is embroiled in a 26 billion peso dlrs 658 million tax evasion case.    Investors shrugged off a cut in the central bank's key overnight rates and gains by the peso against the dollar Tuesday traders said.    The central bank cut its overnight borrowing rate to 13.375 percent from 13.500 percent and its overnight lending rate to 15.375 percent from 15.500 percent.    The overnight rates influence the direction of other interest rates. Lower rates may cause a shift in funds from fixed-income bonds to other types of investments such as stocks.    ``The correction was bound to happen since the market has been strong in the past few days'' said Aklan. ``The correction may continue in the next session or two but the market is bound to move up soon after and remain strong toward the end of the year.''    Aklan said the index remained fairly buoyant Tuesday despite the presence of profit-takers. He noted that any downturn in prices was soon met with bargain-hunting especially among second-tier stocks.    In currency trading the peso strengthened against the U.S. dollar as strong dollar inflows overpowered the impact of the interest rate cuts traders said.    The dollar averaged 39.342 pesos for the day down from Friday's 39.512 pesos. It traded in a thin range of 39.290 pesos to 39.400 pesos and last changed hands at 39.355 pesos.    Traders said most of the dollar inflows were remittances from Filipinos working overseas.    An estimated 4.5 million Filipinos work abroad sending home at least dlrs 6 billion last year. Their foreign-exchange remittances provide an important contribution to the Philippine economy and are expected to help support the peso over the rest of the year.
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<HTML>    SUVA Fiji AP  Fiji's Cabinet has approved a French-led consortium's plan to build a resort complex on one of the Pacific island nation's finest beaches Information Minister Filipe Bole said Wednesday.    The consortium led by Gerard Saliot of D.B. Group Asia Pacific of Paris and Hong Kong planned to invest Fiji dollars 560 million U.S. dlrs 280 million in building resorts at Natadola Beach on Fiji's main island of Viti Levu Bole said.    The resort complex would be managed by Four Seas Club Med and other operators he said.    Natadola Beach is on the on the southwest coast of Viti Levy and is regarded as the island's finest beach.    The government plans to invest Fiji dollars 40 million U.S. dlrs 20 million in roads water and electricity for the Natadola beach area Bole said.    The Natadola Beach Co. involving CIG Enterprises of Paris and Asia Pacific International of Hong Kong has acquired 808 acres 327 hectares of land at the beach.    Bole said the development will begin in 1999 to be completed by 2009. A 300-room four- or five-star hotel and an 18 hole golf course are slated as the first construction project.    Fiji receives about 370000 tourists a year and that is expected to grow to 433000 by 2001.     
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<HTML>    BUCHAREST Romania AP  In a giant military parade which cost this impoverished country a fortune Romania on Tuesday celebrated 80 years since it was reunited with Transylvania.    In freezing weather some 20000 people and military troops gathered outside the giant palace built by former communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in celebrations with a distinctly military feel.    But the festivities designed to give the country a boost were marred by splits among Romania's political parties and criticism that 3 billion lei dlrs 300000 spent to mark the day was breaking the impoverished country's budget.    The average monthly wage in Romania is 1.2 million lei dlrs 120.    The nationalist opposition boycotted the celebrations in the capital and traveled to Alba Iulia in Transylvania where the original reunification took place in 1918.    Romania was awarded Transylvania and the northern region of Bukovina as part of the spoils of World War I. British-born Queen Marie fought Romania's case to regain lost territory.    In Bucharest President Emil Constantinescu flanked by the head of the Orthodox Church took off his fur hat as the temperature hovered at -4 C 25F in respect for the military parade of 4000 soldiers. Priests officiated a service and the ceremony was broadcast live on state-run and private television.    ``This celebration will have a positive impact on the young people in the army'' said Lt. Col. Ion Petrescu as Puma helicopters and Hercules airplanes buzzed overhead.    For the past week helicopters and airplanes practicing for the ceremony have flown low over the capital and tanks have rolled past Ceausescu's palace which now houses the parliament.
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<HTML>    CHICAGO AP  New studies show that an epilepsy drug can bring relief to diabetics who suffer pain from nerve damage and to people with shingles who develop nerve pain that sometimes lasts for years.    The two types of nerve pain afflict at least hundreds of thousands and possibly millions of Americans.    In the new studies the drug gabapentin marketed as Neurontin worked as well as the usual drugs prescribed for such nerve pain  tricyclic antidepressants  have worked in past studies researchers said.    They did not directly compare the drugs in the findings published in Wednesday's edition of The Journal of the American Medical Association.    Gabapentin costs much more but many patients can't take antidepressants for medical reasons or they find the side effects intolerable said experts not involved in the research.    After gabapentin was approved to control epileptic seizures in 1994 doctors quickly discovered that it also relieved nerve pain said one expert Dr. Phillip A. Low a neurology professor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota.    Shingles is an infection by the chicken-pox virus of nerves supplying certain areas of the skin usually in people over 50. It causes severe pain that has been described as tearing burning piercing and ``electric shocklike.'' Shingles usually produces a rash and goes away but for 10 to 20 percent of sufferers the aftermath is pain that can last for years researchers say.    For such pain tricyclic antidepressants provide relief in only about half of cases so gabapentin may be a better first choice Low and a colleague Dr. Rose M. Dotson wrote in an editorial accompanying the studies.    For diabetic nerve pain tricyclics are still probably a better first choice since they are less expensive and doctors have more experience with them the editorial said adding that further research is needed.    Nerve pain is one of the most common and difficult types of pain to treat Low and Dotson wrote.    Gabapentin is one of several seizure-controlling medicines that doctors have discovered can relieve it even though none is approved to be marketed for that purpose.    Seizure-controlling drugs and the tricyclics all modify brain chemicals that regulate pain signals from nerves Low and Dotson said.    But the tricyclics can cause heart rhythm problems low blood pressure grogginess dry mouth constipation confusion and urinary retention  side effects that are dangerous in some patients and intolerable in others Low and Dotson said.    Gabapentin caused far fewer side effects in the new studies though some patients stopped taking it because of drowsiness or dizziness researchers said.    In one study led by Dr. Miroslav Backonja of the University of Wisconsin Madison 70 patients with diabetic nerve pain who were randomly assigned to receive gabapentin for eight weeks had significantly less pain and better sleep than 65 patients who were given a placebo. Patients were studied at 20 different sites and did not know whether they received the drug or the dummy pill.    In the other study led by Dr. Michael Rowbotham of the University of California San Francisco similar differences were found among 89 patients given gabapentin and 95 given placebos for four weeks at 16 study sites to treat pain syndromes following shingles.    Both studies were funded by Neurontin maker Parke-Davis a division of Warner-Lambert Co. Morris Plains New Jersey. 
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<HTML>    HAMILTON Bermuda AP  An investigator on Tuesday cast doubt on whether a knife found near the body of a Canadian teen-ager killed in July 1996 was used in the crime.    Pathologist James Johnston told a jury in Bermuda that the serrated steak knife was rusty and covered with crustaceans suggesting it had been in the water near the crime scene for some time before the killing of 17-year-old Rebecca Middleton.    Johnston testified as a prosecution witness during the trial of 19-year-old Justis Smith who is accused of killing Middleton along with another man Kirk Mundy. Mundy is serving five years in jail after pleading guilty to being an accessory to the crime in October 1996.    Johnston also said her wounds did not look as if they were made by a serrated blade but noted the width of cuts was consistent with the width of the blade.    He said Middleton was slashed 16 times and three of the cuts were fatal.    Prosecutors claim Middleton a native of Belleville Ontario was raped and killed after she accepted a motorcycle ride from the two men. She was in Bermuda on vacation and was found dead near Ferry Reach.    The trial continues Wednesday. 
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<HTML>    NEW DELHI India AP  A truck carrying construction workers sitting on a mound of crushed stones overturned Tuesday in southern India killing 13 people and injuring 16 others domestic news agencies reported.    The driver of the overloaded truck swerved to avoid a pothole and the vehicle toppled into a 10-foot three-meter ditch United News of India reported.    The truck was carrying 32 workers to Bombay India's largest city. Six of the victims were children UNI said.    The driver escaped unhurt and reported the accident to the police. 
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<HTML>    MANILA Philippines AP  The Philippine government won't hit its target of generating 500 billion pesos dlrs 12.6 billion in investments this year as Asia's financial crisis continues to cause businessmen to think twice about spending on new projects a government official said Tuesday.    ``It would be difficult to hit our investment target for the year based on the latest figures we gathered'' Board of Investments Managing Director Melito Salazar said.    The government's investment target has already been scaled down twice this year from an original 700 billion pesos dlrs 17.7 billion in January to a revised 550 billion pesos dlrs 13.9 billion in July.    In the nine months through September 164.4 billion pesos dlrs 4.2 billion in investments were registered with the government 67 percent lower than the 498 billion pesos dlrs 12.6 billion in the year-earlier period.    The government considers fresh capital infusion and expansion activities as new investments.    Businessmen have said that the weakening economy is causing uncertainty among investors despite the country's generally better growth prospects than other Asian countries embroiled in the financial crisis.    The Philippine economy expanded slightly in the third quarter of 1998 with the gross national product growing 0.8 percent from the year-earlier period. However gross domestic product shrank 0.1 percent.    In the third quarter last year GNP growth was 5.2 percent while GDP growth was 4.9 percent.    GNP measures a country's total output while GDP excludes income from abroad.
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<HTML>    HELSINKI Finland AP  Finland will issue a postage stamp honoring Formula One champion Mika Hakkinen the post office announced Tuesday.    Two million of the 3-markkaa 58-cent stamp will be issued on January 15 said Markku Penttinen from the post office's philatelic center.    Foreign philatelists and racing fans had inquired if the post office would issue a Hakkinen stamp if he won the championship Penttinen said.    ``We believed in his victory'' Penttinen said. ``And we began planning the stamp before the crucial race'' in Japan on Nov. 1 he said.    The stamp shows a smiling Hakkinen in silver overalls holding his arms up in a demonstration of victory.    Previously the Finnish Post Office has issued stamps of leading sports figures including world rally champions Timo Makinen and Juha Kankkunen.    mhh-jh 
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<HTML>    ENSTONE England AP  Benetton with only one Formula One victory in the last three seasons opened a 12 million-pound dlrs 20 million wind tunnel Tuesday.    The state-of-the-art facility will produce wind speeds of 150 mph 240 kph and under pressure simulate wind speeds of 300 mph 480 kph. It will be used to test the car's aerodynamic characteristics under race conditions.    ``We are extremely proud that the technology involved in the wind tunnel is the most advanced in the Formula One world'' said Rocco Benetton chief executive of Benetton.    ``This is probably the biggest single technological investment in the Formula One industry and certainly the largest ever investment made by Benetton Group in motor racing.    ``We now have a unique tool that is second to none'' he added.    Benetton's only win in the last three seasons was Gerhard Berger's victory at Hockenheim in Germany in 1997.    Italy's Giancarlo Fisichella and Austria's Alexander Wurz drove for Benetton this season and will be back in 1999.    The new building is located on 1250 square meters next to the Italian team factory in Enstone about 15 miles 25 miles north of Oxford.    scw 
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<HTML>    MONTPELLIER France AP  French rap singer Didier Morvic has been charged with assault and is to appear in court later this month after he allegedly attacked a stewardess and broke her nose police said Tuesday.    Morvic alias ``Joey Starr'' of the group NTM was accused of striking the stewardess in the face early Sunday morning in a hotel in this southern French town police said on customary anonymity.    The stewardess whose name and airline were not identified was attacked shortly before she was to work on a flight to Paris police said. There was no immediate word on what sparked the attack.    The stewardess suffered ``crano-facial trauma with a nasal fracture'' forcing her to stay off the job for 12 days said a statement by France's National Airline Pilots Union or SNPL.    The union condemned the incident giving ``their complete support to their attacked colleague and will join in the legal action as a plaintiff'' when Staff appears in court Dec. 16.    The union also said it would call on its members to refuse to allow Starr to take a plane in France.    NTM or Nic Ta Mere France's most controversial rap group has already faced legal action for lyrics attacking the police.    parf-cb 
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<HTML>    HONG KONG AP - Share prices in Hong Kong tumbled Tuesday with the key index losing 4.1 percent on the back of an overnight drop in stock prices on Wall Street.    The blue chip Hang Seng Index fell 426.47 points to close at 9975.85. On Monday the index had shed 339.79 points.    Turnover rose to 6.50 billion Hong Kong dollars U.S. dlrs 833 million up from Monday's 5.08 billion Hong Kong dollars U.S. dlrs 651 million.    Share prices fell in reaction to Wall Street's drop and concerns about Hong Kong's economy said Michael Ng dealing director at Sassoon Securities.    The Dow Jones industrial average which touched a record high a week ago fell 216.53 points or 2.3 percent to end at 9116.55 Monday.    Hong Kong's economy shrank by 7 percent in the third quarter prompting the government to lower its economic forecast a 5 percent contraction for 1998.    On Monday the government also announced that its budget deficit for the first seven months of the fiscal year had reached 50.16 billion Hong Kong dollar U.S. dlrs 6.43 billion.    That figure was well above the 21 billion Hong Kong dollar dlrs 2.69 billion deficit the government estimated for the fiscal year that ends March 31 1999.    Among big property stocks Cheung Kong fell 4.25 Hong Kong dollars to 51.50 and Sun Hung Kai Properties fell 2.75 dollars to 52.75.    In the banking sector HSBC Holdings fell 9.00 dollars to 189.50 and Hang Seng Bank fell 3.25 dollars to 65.00.    Elsewhere Hutchison Whampoa fell 2.75 dollars to 52.50 and Swire Pacific ``A'' fell 1.70 dollars to 33.40.
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<HTML>    DUBAI United Arab Emirates AP  Title-holders New Zealand face a tough challenge from Fiji and Australia in the Dubai International Rugby Sevens tournament which kicks off here Thursday.    The New Zealanders who hold the Commonwealth Games gold medal will be playing without their skipper and sevens specialist Eric Rush who suffered a calf injury at the last minute.    ``Rush's absence is a big blow for us'' admitted New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens. ``But we have been training hard and this is the best available sevens team.''    Dallas Seymour one of the most durable sevens players in the world will be leading New Zealand who defeated Fiji in the final here last year.    Australia's David Campese and Fiji's Waisale Serevi will also be absent from the dlrs 50000 tournament.    Campese recently announced his retirement from international rugby and Serevi who has led Fiji for the last nine years could not obtain leave from his French club to play here.    Fiji with the explosive Marika Vunibaka as their captain start as co-favorites to win the 16-nation tournament and the dlrs 25000 first prize.    Australia led by Jim Williams will also offer a strong bid for the title.    England is led by former international Rory Underwood. France has sent a team to Dubai for the first time.    Other teams come from Scotland the United States Canada Zimbabwe Morocco and Taiwan.    The finals are scheduled for Friday. 
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<HTML>    TOKYO AP  The U.S. dollar was lower against the yen at midday Wednesday following its slip on overseas markets. Japanese stocks turned mixed.    The dollar bought 121.84 yen in late morning trading down 1.07 yen from late Tuesday in Tokyo and also below its late New York level of 122.17 yen overnight.    The benchmark 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 63.37 points or 0.43 percent to end the morning session at 14898.78. On Tuesday the Nikkei closed down 48.29 points or 0.32 percent.    In currency dealings the dollar remained weak against the yen in the absence of fresh market-moving news after its slide on overseas markets in reaction to the release of disappointing U.S. economic data.    The National Association of Purchasing Management reported Tuesday the manufacturing sector in the United States slowed for the sixth consecutive month in November.    On the stock market share prices were mixed as investors took to the sidelines to monitor parliamentary debate on a government-sponsored supplementary budget to spur the nation's sagging economy.    Market players said trading was stuck in a narrow range amid a lack of fresh news on the government's economic policies.    Investors also were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the sale of shares in Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. and next week's ``special quotation'' settlement of December futures and options traders said.    The Tokyo Stock Price Index of all issues listed on the first section was down 0.29 points or 0.03 percent to 1141.97. The TOPIX closed down 1.24 points or 0.11 percent the day before.    The benchmark No. 203 10-year Japanese government bond was quoted at 1.165 percent up from Tuesday's close of 1.140 percent driving its price down to 105.44 yen from the previous day's 105.68.  UR; may-dj 
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<HTML>    JERUSALEM AP - Archaeology one of Israel's biggest tourist attractions suffered a blow Tuesday when most of the country's excavations were shut down.    The Israel Antiquities Authority halted its salvage digs after the Supreme Court ruled that developers and building contractors cannot be billed for the costs of these excavations.    In the country of Jesus and King Solomon Crusader King Richard the Lion Hearted and Saladin the Arab conqueror who battled the crusaders in the streets of Jerusalem it is almost impossible to start a building or a road without uncovering ancient remains.    In the archaeological sense Israel is the one of the most crowded countries in the world with some 25000 known sites excavated or still waiting to be dug up.    Ahead of most construction projects the Antiquities Authority carries out a salvage dig. In response to a petition from a developer the Supreme Court ruled Sunday that the government not the builder must bear the costs of the salvage digs.    In response the Antiquities Authority decided Tuesday to halt all salvage digs which account for about 300 of the 350 excavations carried out in Israel each year.    ``We have no budget for salvage digs'' said Antiquities Authority spokeswoman Osnat Gouez.    Major digs open to the public like those in Jerusalem Caesarea and Beit Shean have been drastically curtailed for lack of government funding Gouez said.  UR; pvs-dl     
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<HTML>    MADRID Spain AP  Chile's foreign minister said Tuesday that his government is considering legal action against Gen. Augusto Pinochet but ruled out a deal guaranteeing he'd stand trial at home if Britain rejects an extradition request from Spain.    ``The government is studying whether to join existing suits'' the minister Jose Miguel Insulza told reporters referring to private lawsuits filed this year in Chile against the former despot.    ``The possibility of a trial in Chile exists and gets larger every day'' Insulza said to back his argument that trying Pinochet in Spain for crimes committed during his 1973-1990 dictatorship is unnecessary.    Human rights activists have dismissed this possibility because Pinochet has wide-ranging immunity at home.    Insulza insisted that Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon's attempt to extradite Pinochet to Spain on charges of genocide terrorism and torture was an affront to Chilean sovereignty and its transition to democracy.    A Chilean government report says 3197 people were murdered or disappeared at the hands of the police after Pinochet seized power in a military coup that toppled democratically elected Marxist President Salvador Allende.    Chile Insulza said was ``under no obligation'' to promise that the 83-year-old retired general would stand trial if allowed home from London where he has been under police guard pending possible extradition since being detained on Oct. 16 while recuperating from back surgery.    Insulza said Chile should be allowed to deal with the legacy of general's 17 years in power without interference.    ``There is no reason to call into doubt the solidity of democracy in Chile or our capacity to resolve our own problems'' Insulza said after stressing that the affair had triggered ``polarization break down of dialogue and sharp political confrontation.''    Insulza was speaking after talks with his Spanish counterpart Abel Matutes. Later he met with Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.    During a 40-minute meeting with Insulza Aznar reiterated that Pinochet's fate depended on Britain not Spain Europe Press reported quoting government officials.    Prior to arriving in Madrid Monday Insulza spent four days lobbying the British government whose Home Secretary Jack Straw has until Dec. 11 to decide whether to allow extradition proceedings to go ahead.    Insulza who said his trip had produced ``some positive indications'' but he declined to give details.    As well as Matutes and Aznar the Chilean minister filled up his Spanish agenda by holding meetings with Defense Minister Eduardo Serra congressional president Federico Trillo leaders from the main opposition Socialist party Supreme Court Deputy President Luis Lopez and Senate President Juan Ignacio Barrero.    He was to meet Spanish business leaders later Tuesday before leaving for Chile on a nightime flight.    jt/dw 
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<HTML>    KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia AP  A key police witness in the Anwar Ibrahim trial told the court Tuesday that he had failed to win business favors from the ex-deputy prime minister but denied that led him to testify against the defendant.    The former police intelligence officer Amir Junos faced questioning from defense attorneys about whether he was biased against Anwar because his request for favors had been denied.    Earlier the witness had admitted during cross-examination that he had asked Anwar for equity in a securities firm and business deals for his friends.    ``I was not given anything. I merely tried to express my feeling to get a portion of the equity but I did not get anything'' Amir told the court.    Defense lawyer Christopher Fernando suggested Amir might bear a grudge after having failed to get the equity stake in the brokerage. ``I do not have such intentions'' Amir replied.    Anwar was arrested Sept. 20 two weeks after he was fired as Malaysia's deputy prime minister and finance minister. His subsequent jailing and beating while in custody have attracted international concern over the case.    Anwar is being tried on four counts of corruption. He will be tried on another corruption count as well as five counts of sexual misconduct at a later date.    The former deputy premier denies the charges calling them part of political vendetta orchestrated by his former mentor Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.    Amir was called as a witness by the prosecution to prove allegations that Anwar had directed the police to harass and intimidate two people who had alleged that Anwar had sex with his secretary's wife and had sodomized his chauffeur.    The case has been buffeted by raucous proceedings including the sentencing on Monday of one of the defense lawyers to three months in jail for contempt of court. The action against defense lawyer Zainur Zakaria interrupted the main trial when the defense team asked for an adjournment to recover from the blow.    Judge Augustine Paul handed down the sentence Monday after Zainur refused to apologize for an affidavit he had filed on behalf of Anwar seeking the removal of two prosecutors on grounds that they were allegedly fabricating evidence.    The lawyer who won a reprieve from a higher court that stayed his imprisonment pending an appeal hearing this coming Friday was present in the court Tuesday.    During his testimony Tuesday witness Amir also denied warning Anwar about ``political enemies'' or telling the former No. 2 in the government that his phone had been tapped since 1992.
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<HTML>    BELGRADE Yugoslavia AP  The government of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic accused Kosovo rebels Tuesday of endangering the province's shaky peace warning it won't tolerate continued attacks ``no matter what the price.''    In a statement sent to the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe the government blasted international efforts to include the rebels in the peace process for effectively ``legalizing the terrorists.''    ``Insolent criminal activity and provocative actions by Albanian terrorists present an obstacle to the peace process ... in defiance of state bodies and international appeals'' said the statement carried by the official Tanjug news agency.    The strongly worded statement issued on the eve of an OSCE meeting on Kosovo in Oslo Norway signaled Milosevic's defiance as U.S. and other international mediators intensify efforts to negotiate a solution for Kosovo.    U.S. envoy Christopher Hill is due in Belgrade on Wednesday with a reworked version of his draft plan for Kosovo. Hill has sought KLA support for the draft.    Serbia the dominant republic in Yugoslavia has rejected the plan because it would loosen its control over the southern province whose population is dominated by independence-minded ethnic Albanians.    The government is proposing a form of self-rule that would keep Kosovo firmly within Serbia.    But in the statement Tuesday the Yugoslav government harsly objected to involving the KLA in the peace process and accused ethnic Albanian politicians of supporting the rebels.    ``Without a resolute condemnation and adequate measures separatists and terrorists will continue attacks against the innocent population which the state will not allow no matter what the price'' said Jovanovic.    The government accused the KLA rebels of carrying out 310 attacks since Milosevic and U.S. mediators negotiated an end to seven months of violence on Oct. 12. The statement said nine policemen and six civilians had been killed since then.    The October deal called for withdrawal of most of Serb-led forces from Kosovo. An OSCE verifying mission is to observe the cease-fire.    ``The aim of terrorists and separatists is not a political solution ... but terror violence and an attempt to change the borders'' the government said.    It blasted ``contacts that representatives of various countries and organizations keep with terrorists killers kidnappers bandits and other criminals that call themselves the KLA.''    ``Such actions undermine a true political process and peaceful solution'' the government warned.    A Serb government crackdown against the KLA earlier this year claimed hundreds of lives and made some 300000 people homeless. There are fears that the province could explode in renewed fighting next spring if a political solution is not found.    jg/dc 
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<HTML>    BAGHDAD Iraq AP  Iraq on Monday denied it tried to buy prohibited missile technology in Romania but admitted sending a team there to settle ``outstanding matters'' relating to an old contract.    The team also was interested in ``some forging and precision-casting technologies'' for short-range missiles that Iraq is allowed to produce under U.N. Security Council resolutions Lt. Gen. Amer al-Saadi a top adviser to President Saddam Hussein told reporters.    He was commenting on a report Monday by the Cable News Network that Iraqi missile experts escorted by Iraqi secret police went to Bucharest to negotiate the purchase of guidance equipment for banned long-range missiles.    The report is ``regrettably tendentious baseless and full of distortions as part of the hostile media campaign against Iraq'' al-Saadi said.    Iraq has over the years claimed that is has ended all programs to build mass destruction weapons as required by Security Council resolutions adopted after the 1991 Gulf War which ended Iraq's occupation of Kuwait.    However the Iraqi claims are disputed by the U.N. Special Commission which is responsible for dismantling its chemical and biological weapons and missiles with a range more than 150 kilometers 93 miles.    Until UNSCOM gives Iraq a clean bill of health the Security Council will not lift U.N. economic sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.    Al-Saadi said an Iraqi team did travel to Romania in May this year ``but not for the purpose of obtaining prohibited material or technology.''    ``The purpose was to settle outstanding matters regarding a contract made in 1995 for materials which was known to UNSCOM and were subjected to ongoing monitoring by them'' he said.    Al-Saadi is widely believed to be the mastermind of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons program.    According to CNN the Iraqi purchase in Bucharest was blocked because spy agencies from the United States and two other countries which were not identified uncovered the potential deal and monitored the Iraqis' two-week visit.    CNN on Tuesday stood by its report which had quoted unnamed sources and Scott Ritter an American ex-Marine who resigned as an UNSCOM member in August after complaining that the U.S. government was not being tough enough with Iraq.    Al-Saadi said UNSCOM was fully aware at the time that Iraq had a legal project to develop short-range missiles and that UNSCOM has constantly monitored and witnessed static and flight tests.    ``Scott Ritter ... is now trying to portray himself as a Rambo style hero for personal reasons and to serve Israeli objectives'' al-Saadi said.    Also Tuesday the spokeswoman for the U.N. weapons inspectors said the United Nations has brought its complement of 120 weapons inspectors in Iraq up to full strength.    The inspectors returned to Baghdad last month after a brief pull-out following Iraq's refusal to allow them to work. Iraq relented on Nov. 14 only hours before U.S. military strikes were to be launched. 
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<HTML>    First PeriodNone. PenaltyJohnson LA hooking :24.    Second Period1 Montreal Koivu 4 6:17 pp. PenaltiesRecchi Mtl unsportsmanlike conduct 3:23; Johnson LA tripping 6:00; Laperriere LA boarding 10:24; Robitaille LA elbowing 15:40; Savage Mtl holding 17:39.    Third Period2 Montreal Savage 6 Hoglund Weinrich 4:02. 3 Montreal Rucinsky 6 5:16. 4 Los Angeles Murray 10 Bodger Stumpel 16:27. PenaltiesNone.    Shots on goalLos Angeles 8-3-819. Montreal 10-13-730.    Power-play OpportunitiesLos Angeles 0 of 2; Montreal 1 of 4.    GoaliesLos Angeles Fiset 3-1-0 30 shots-27 saves. Montreal Hackett 4-8-1 19-18.    A20415 21273.    RefereesKevin Maguire Dan Marouelli. LinesmenFrancois Gagnon Gerard Gauthier.     UR; End Summary
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<HTML>    MOSCOW AP  With Russian leaders urgently seeking financial help International Monetary Fund chief Michel Camdessus came to Moscow today for two days of talks on Russia's frozen loan agreement with the IMF.    Camdessus was to meet Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov later today and is scheduled to hold broader talks with government officials Wednesday.    President Boris Yeltsin who is in a hospital being treated for pneumonia spoke with Primakov by telephone today about the talks with Camdessus.    In the Netherlands meanwhile former Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin sought to reassure international investors that Russia would survive its economic problems.    He told an international business conference that his country's economic woes were ``far from desperate'' adding: ``European companies are still with us. They are not leaving Russia.''    Russia is seeking further installments on an IMF bailout package that was reached in the summer but was held up after the government devalued the ruble and defaulted on some of its debts in August. The IMF has said Russia must come up with a realistic recovery plan before more money will be released.    Camdessus is not expected to announce any breakthroughs but his visit gives Russia an opportunity to make its case and lobby for fresh funds.    The bailout package totals 22.6 billion and also involves the World Bank and the Japanese government but Russia has so far received only about 5 billion.    An IMF mission left town last week saying the government's revenue forecast for next year was overly optimistic. It also disapproved of the government's intention to lower taxes and offer subsidies to ailing industries.    If the Russian government doesn't receive foreign help soon it will probably have to start printing money which would drive up inflation.    ``I hope that the IMF would be able to make a decision to provide aid to Russia that would allow us to avoid hyperinflation'' Oleg Sysuyev a top presidential aide was quoted as saying today by the Interfax news agency.    The government has been delaying a debate on next year's budget as it struggles to find ways to come up with enough money to meet its expenses. The Cabinet again delayed the discussion this week but insisted the delay was not connected with Camdessus' visit.    However the Russian media claimed the government put off action on the budget because it is still hoping for the IMF loans.    ``Everyone understands that budget parameters remain vague and their clarification depends on Camdessus' visit'' the business daily Kommersant said today.    Former Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko who was on a trip to the United States this week said Russia wouldn't be able to pay 17.5 billion in foreign debt that comes due next year.    ``The IMF must realize that and accept compromises with Russia in reaching agreements on restructuring foreign debts'' Kiriyenko said at New York University on Monday according to the Interfax news agency. 
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<HTML>    BRUSSELS Belgium AP  France's oil giant Total took over the Belgian petrochemicals company Petrofina SA to create the sixth largest oil company in the world and the third largest in Europe the companies announced Tuesday.    The new company will be known as Total Fina and the move was the latest in a series of mergers affecting the global oil market. The new company will be quoted on the Paris Brussels New York and London stock exchanges a Petrofina statement said.  UR; MORE
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<HTML>    It's time to pick the top news stories of 1998. The Associated Press each year asks its international media subscribers  editors and broadcasters  to vote for their choices. In a separate poll AP's international media subscribers are asked to pick the year's top sports stories. Results are announced in stories transmitted toward the end of December.    AP World Service media subscribers should submit their choices  one ballot per publication or broadcast outlet  by Tuesday Dec. 15.    Ballots should be faxed to: 1998 Top Story Poll International Desk New York x-1-212-621-5449. Subscribers may also submit ballots to their local AP bureau for relay to the pollster.    Votes are needed from all regions of the world to ensure a representative survey.    Each ballot should give the subscriber's top 10 choices in order of importance with 1 being the most important and 10 the last choice. The ballot should include the name and location of the publication or broadcaster.    The list of suggested stories below is in random order. Subscribers may give other choices if they wish.    Reminder: Dec. 15 is the deadline for submitting ballots.    -0-    Ballot for AP's poll of top international news stories of 1998.    Name of publication/broadcast subscriber:     Location of subscriber:     Stories in order of importance:    1.    2.    3.    4.    5.    6.    7.    8.    9.    10.    Suggested stories others may be submitted:    -Economic turmoil spreads in Asia; U.S. stock market tumbles    -President Clinton's fling with intern explodes into impeachment threat    -Hurricane Mitch devastates Central America Georges rips Caribbean    -Israeli-Palestinian land-for-peace deal    -Northern Ireland accord recognized with Nobel Peace Prize    -Bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania provokes U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan Sudan    -Pope John Paul II's visit to Cuba spotlights human rights    -Two Afghan earthquakes kill 10000    -India and Pakistan conduct underground nuclear tests    -Kosovo conflict draws NATO bombing threat    -Iraq-U.N. standoffs over weapons inspections    -Chile's ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet arrested in Britain    -Indonesian unrest leads to President Suharto's resignation    -John Glenn the first American astronaut returns to space at 77    -Viagra first effective pill against impotence sold worldwide    -Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Anwar put on trial    -Rwandan genocide trials executions    -Russia's economic and political problems including Boris Yeltsin's health    -Hajj stampede kills 180 in Mecca    -Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot dies    -North Korea's famine    -Preparations for introduction of Euro currency    -Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha dies sparking unrest    -Swiss banks agree on restitution payments to Holocaust victims    -Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi convicted of bribery corruption    -AIDS spreads globally 33 million infected with HIV    -France upsets Brazil in World Cup final    -Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto resigns    -Papua New Guinea tidal wave kills nearly 3000    -Cambodian elections trouble forming new government    -Floods in China kill more than 2000    -Congo conflict flares up drawing in other countries    -South Africa's truth commission gives amnesty for apartheid-era crimes    -Lesotho mutiny; South Africa Botswana intervene    -Helmut Kohl ousted as German chancellor after 16 years    -Albania unrest    -Nigerian oil pipeline blast kills at least 500    -Crash of Swissair flight off Canada kills all 229 aboard
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<HTML>    LONDON AP  Britain prepared a frosty reception Tuesday for visiting Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe  angered by new moves to seize white-owned farms intervention in the Congo's civil war a ban on strikes and his flying to Libya in defiance of a U.N. embargo.    Although Mugabe's visit was billed as private Foreign Office Minister Tony Lloyd had asked to see him officials said.    Mugabe increasingly unpopular in his central African nation arrived in London Tuesday afternoon from Paris where he attended a French-African summit after visiting Libya and Egypt. There was no official word on his visit and the Zimbabwe High Commission or embassy did not return calls.    ``There is 4th graf pvs     
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<HTML>    TOKYO AP  An American physicist who provoked controversy at home by announcing plans to clone humans has found a haven for his research: Japan where there is no law that bans what he wants to do.    Richard Seed who has three Harvard degrees but no medical license announced Tuesday that he is preparing to open up an animal cloning lab and fertility clinic in Japan both of which are eventually aimed at making human clones.    ``It seems all countries or political groups have some reservations on human cloning. But there is an existing patient demand for the service'' Seed said.    In the United States a five-year moratorium announced by President Bill Clinton to ban cloning has apparently been observed by most mainstream scientists although Congress has failed to act on legislation to outlaw the procedure.    In Japan there hasn't been nearly as much national debate about the ethics and safety of cloning as in the United States and elsewhere.    Japan's Science and Technology Agency appointed a 16-member panel last January to ponder the ethics of cloning. Last year the Education Ministry followed the United States' lead by freezing government funds for research on human cloning.    But with a domestic cattle industry squeezed by imports of cheaper beef Japanese scientists and agricultural officials see cloning as the answer to keeping the nation's small farms competitive by genetically copying animals on a large-scale basis.    Some officials remain nervous about taking the next step up the food chain however.    ``In Japan there is no law that prohibits human cloning'' said Tomoko Kitajima a Health and Welfare Ministry official in charge of maternal and child health.    ``But applying cloning technology in humans is a problem not only because of its safety concerns but also ethically and socially.''    Seed said he wants to change the minds of naysayers.    ``There is always a risk in the first time you do anything'' he said.    Already some dlrs 15 million or about 75 percent of the estimated cost for Seed's project has been raised said James Ryan a Tokyo-based consultant for the physicist.    The group has obtained land on Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido and expects to open its animal cloning lab there as early as next August.    Seed's project will also provide treatment for infertile couples in Japan where most U.S.-style treatments are not yet available.    No Japanese law prohibits the practice but ethical standards set by the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology restricts in-vitro insemination to married couples. An egg removed for fertilization cannot be implanted in another woman in Japan.    ``Our goal is to help people'' group consultant Ryan said. ``Demand for infertility will overcome all obstacles.''    Seed who had earlier said he was planning to clone himself said he has changed his mind: ``I switched to a clone of my wife because people say if I clone myself it would be ego trip.''    The cloning of his wife Gloria is still in research stage and will take another two years or so before completion he said.    ``The clone is an identical twin of a donor just 40 years younger'' Seed said. ``If you don't tell nobody will know. Everybody has seen children that look just like parents.''  UR; may
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<HTML>    LONDON AP  Gen. Augusto Pinochet is distressed at demands by a London hospital that he leave and he will likely move to a new location later Tuesday the former Chilean dictator's British attorney said.    Pincohet had planned to move on Monday from the Grovelands Priory a private psychiatric hospital in north London where he has been under police guard since Oct. 29 but the arrangement fell through because of ``unforeseen practical difficulties'' said lawyer Michael Caplan.    The hospital announced Monday afternoon that there is nothing wrong with Pinochet and he should go  dealing a blow to any plan by the 83-year-old general to plead he is too ill to be extradited to Spain to stand trial on charges of genocide and torture.    Adding to his troubles an opinion poll published Tuesday indicated that a narrow majority  51 percent  of Britons think Pinochet should be extradited.    ``Senator Pinochet and his family are distressed by reports yesterday concerning the senator's stay in at Groveland Priory Hospital'' said Caplan.    He said he received court approval on Friday to vary bail conditions and ``it is anticipated the move will take place later today.''    Pinochet's supporters have said they are looking for a secure and comfortable home where he can stay while he fights extradition.    A Chilean government report says some 3000 people were murdered or disappeared at the hands of the secret police during Pinochet's 1970-93 rule.    But Chile is trying to get him back because of fears that the anger of his supporters may destabilize its democracy.    Chile's foreign minister Jose Miguel Insulza was in Spain Tuesday after lobbying British officials arguing that Pinochet may be tried in Chile if he is freed.    Home Secretary Jack Straw has until Dec. 11 to decide whether the extradition proceedings can go ahead.    British newspapers have speculated that Pinochet is seeking to move to a nine-bedroom home on a luxurious estate in Surrey near the Wentworth Golf Club home of the European golf tour about 20 miles 30 kms west of central London.    Wherever he goes Pinochet is likely to cause disruption. Chilean exiles mount demonstration and there is a police guard and heavy police presence.    In addition The Guardian newspaper quoting unidentified Grovelands Priory officials said the general is a fussy and complaining patient.    A National Opinion poll published in London's Evening Standard said 51 percent of a 961-strong sample of voters questioned nationwide said Pinochet should be extradited 32 percent wanted him sent home and the rest had no opinion. The error margin was plus or minus three percent.    A statement by U.S. State Department James P. Rubin Monday that the international community should show ``significant respect'' for Chile's point of view was widely interpreted in British newspapers as a nod toward Straw to let Pinochet go.    On Monday Pinochet's nephew Rafael Saavedra Pinochet denied a report in a British tabloid The Mirror that he had said his uncle would rather die than face trial in Spain.    mb-mj 
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<HTML>    CANBERRA Australia AP  Police issued a nationwide postal alert after finding 21 more parcel bombs at a Canberra mail processing center where a bomb exploded early Wednesday morning.    A postal worker was slightly injured by shrapnel when a package detonated. A search of the building found 21 more bombs.    Australian Federal Police said an identical parcel bomb was discovered in Sydney on Tuesday taking to 23 in all the number of bombs found so far.    The Sydney parcel was detonated by bomb squad police after the person to whom it was delivered became suspicious.    Federal Police Superintendent Geoff Hazel said the bomber targeted a specific segment of the community but he declined to identify it publicly for fear of compromising the investigation.    The parcels are white and similar in size to a computer disc storage box bearing a 2-dollar stamp and a 30-cent stamp.     
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<HTML>    KUPANG Indonesia AP  Armed with knives sickles and swords frightened Muslims on Tuesday guarded their homes and places of worship in a provincial capital after Christian mobs went on a rampage burning or ransacking 15 mosques.    The attacks Monday in the city of Kupang came in apparent retaliation for the burning of churches in Jakarta on Nov. 22 escalating religious tensions in a nation already shaken by economic and political turmoil.    ``I feel very sad and shocked'' said Kamtina Ibrahim a 26-year-old Muslim woman standing in front of the damaged main mosque in the city of 120000. Stone-throwing rioters had pushed down the doors and shattered most of the windows.    Amid fears of a spree of tit-for-tat violence Muslim mobs early Tuesday burned two homes used for Christian worship as well as a shop and a cinema in Banjarsari 155 miles 250 kilometers southeast of Jakarta the military said.    Social tensions in the Southeast Asian nation have intensified as it grapples with its worst economic crisis in decades.    Thousands of people many with knives and other weapons blocked roads in the Christian-dominated city of Kupang and gang fights broke out. Troops patrolled in some parts of the capital of East Nusa Tenggara province 1875 kilometers 1172 miles southeast of Jakarta.    Many army reinforcements had rushed from the nearby territory of East Timor where separatist rebels have been fighting the Indonesian military since 1975.    Police said they had detained alleged instigators of the riots the official Antara news agency reported. Authorities did not say how many people were being questioned.    Skeptical of the military's vow to protect them many Muslims in Kupang patrolled in front of homes and mosques.    Indonesia is 90 percent Muslim and is the world's most populous Islamic nation. However some islands in the sprawling archipelago have Christian majorities.    On Monday mobs damaged or set afire 15 mosques after a protest against church-burning by thousands of Christians degenerated into a riot said Muhammad Djaffar chairman of the mosque council in Kupang.    Crowds also burned down a market a Muslim school and a hostel for Islamic pilgrims. Several other small places of Islamic worship as well as dozens of shops belonging to migrants from other islands were also set on fire.    Djaffar criticized the security forces saying they reacted slowly to the unrest and showed little desire to confront the mobs. There were no reports of arrests.    ``They seemed very calm while the rioters torched and pelted the mosques with stones'' Djaffar said. ``They didn't do anything to stop the mobs.''    Four mosques were burned and 13 people were injured said F.K. Lerik the Protestant mayor of Kupang. Air services to Kupang were canceled because of security concerns.    The violence was seen as an act of revenge for the burning and ransacking of 22 churches by Muslim mobs in Jakarta two weeks ago when 14 people were killed some hacked to death.    Hoping to cool tensions Kupang's Roman Catholic Bishop Petrus Turang apologized for the burnings. Islamic leaders across the nation of 202 million urged their followers not to retaliate with more violence.    ``We condemn all burning of houses of God'' President B.J. Habibie said Tuesday. ``We condemn it whether it is the burning of churches or mosques or Buddhist temples or whatever.''    Religious diversity based on a belief in God is enshrined in the national philosophy known as Pancasila adopted when Indonesia declared independence from Dutch colonial rule in 1945.    The upsurge in religious violence follows months of riots and protests in many parts of Indonesia. There is also political turmoil as students protesters demand greater democracy after 32 years of authoritarian rule by former President Suharto who was forced to quit following deadly riots in May.
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<HTML>    TAIPEI Taiwan AP  Taiwanese police shot a Chinese fishermen in the leg after he and other crew members hurled dynamite at a Taiwanese patrol boat police said Tuesday.    Fisherman Lin Chuanshou 25 was in fair condition after being hospitalized with a bullet wound on the Taiwanese-held Matsu island group Matsu marine police chief Tsai Yu-chen said.    Four other crew members of the boat who dove overboard to avoid capture were rescued and being held at Military Police headquarters on Matsu Tsai said.    The crew had ignored a command from Taiwanese marine police to stop late Sunday night after the boat was reported exploding dynamite under the water to kill fish.    Crewmen threw five bundles of explosives at two Taiwanese boats when they approached missing each time said Tsai.    Taiwanese police towed the boat registered in the Fujian province port of Huangqi back to Matsu where they searched it and discovered 419 sticks of dynamite and 126 percussion caps aboard.    The five fishermen will likely be tried in Taiwan on charges of violating fishing laws. They will serve a prison sentence here if convicted before being sent home to the mainland Tsai said.    Tsai said his office receives frequent reports of dynamite fishing by Chinese boats which poses a severe danger to both the marine environment and other fishing boats.    The Matsu island group lies just 10 miles 6 kilometers off the coast of Fujian.
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<HTML>    LILLE France AP  Medical tests suggest that cyclists on the Festina team expelled from the Tour de France this summer took banned drugs the French judge investigating the case said Tuesday.    But top Festina cyclist Richard Virenque said the figures released by judge Patrick Keil vindicate his claim that he did not take banned substances.    Keil called Virenque and teammates Pascal Herve and Laurent Brochard to Lille to give them the results of tests carried out in July.    They showed that Virenque had a high hematocrit level of 49.3 percent. The hematocrit level measures the proportion of red blood cells in a blood sample  one sign of doping since the substances increase red blood cells.    But Virenque's level is just within the limit of 50 percent set by the International Cycling Union the sport's governing body.    Medical experts have been analyzing blood urine and hair tests since Festina team manager Bruno Roussel admitted during the race to the use of the banned substance erythropoietin EPO among cyclists.    Virenque and Herve both deny they knowingly took any banned subtances.    parf-ae-jn     
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<HTML>    LONDON AP  Share prices dropped sharply on European stock exchanges Tuesday following big falls on Wall Street and in Asian markets.    The London Stock Exchange Europe's largest set the pace with a fall of 2.6 percent on the Financial Times-Stock Exchange 100-share index.    Blue-chip indexes were down 3.2 percent in Germany 3.4 percent in Paris 3.2 percent in Oslo 2.7 percent in Zurich and Stockholm 2.6 percent in Amsterdam and 2.3 percent in Milan and Madrid.    ``There was just nothing supportive out there'' said Peter Caulkett of Teather-and-Greenwood in London. ``But there is a feeling that stocks had come up too far too soon and investors are now running scared.''    On Wall Street Monday the Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.3 percent in the first big wave of profit-taking since the market recovered strongly two months ago.    Asian markets followed the trend with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index down 4.1 percent Tuesday and Singapore's Straits Times Index off 3.4 percent. Tokyo was an exception with a mild 0.3 percent decline in the Nikkei 225-stock average.    Local concerns contributed to the drops on some European exchanges.    Analysts in Frankfurt said the 3.2 drop on the Xetra DAX index partly reflected disappointment with Deustche Bank's announcement that it expected no immediate savings from its takeover of Bankers Trust a U.S. investment bank. Deutsche Bank's shares fell 2.7 percent in the morning.    In Paris the CAC-40 index was down 3.4 percent led by 9.9 percent plunge in shares of Total. Investors deserted the petroleum company after is announced it was getting back into the refinery sector by acquiring Petrofina of Belgium.    The Swiss Market Index was 2.7 lower in part because of profit-taking in the financial sector and a switch toward buying pharmaceutical stocks.    rb-er
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<HTML>    ISLAMABAD Pakistan AP  Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto warned Tuesday that Pakistan was moving toward a judicial system like the one in neighboring Afghanistan.    There the ruling Taliban militia amputate the limbs of thieves publicly execute murderers and beat people convicted of lesser crimes.    In a letter to international human rights groups as well as several heads of state including British Prime Minister Tony Blair Ms. Bhutto warned that ``Sharif's regime is intent to impose a Taliban-like system of justice within Pakistan.''    Ms. Bhutto has been a vocal opponent of Sharif's attempts to pass a constitutional amendment to bring Islamic rule to Pakistan.    The amendment already has been approved by Pakistan's powerful lawmaking Lower House of Parliament where Sharif has a comfortable majority.    However it needs to be passed by the Senate before becoming law and it seems certain to be defeated.    But several lawmakers say that won't be the end of it rather they warned that they will demand a nationwide referendum if the Senate defeats the amendment. Human rights groups worry a referendum would be so vaguely worded as to be impossible to defeat.    Ms. Bhutto's opposition to the proposed law has brought her under heavy criticism from the country's right wing religious politicians some of whom have accused her of betraying Islam.    Ms. Bhutto warned that the rights of minorities and women in Pakistan would be severely curtailed under Sharif's new Islamic law a charge his government has vehemently denied.    In her letter Ms. Bhutto asked world leaders ``to send a strong message to the Sharif regime that the Taliban system of justice is as unacceptable to the international community in Pakistan as it is in Afghanistan.''    The Taliban army rules about 90 percent of Afghanistan where it's brand of Islamic law has been imposed. As well as the punishments the Taliban have forced women off the job and girls out of school except to study the Muslim holy book The Koran. Men have been ordered to wear beards and women to wear the all-enveloping burqa which covers them from head to toe.
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<HTML>    JOHANNESBURG South Africa AP  Activists across the globe marched in the streets distributed condoms and held benefit concerts Tuesday to try to halt the spread of AIDS which will kill millions of people this year alone.    Underscoring events on World AIDS Day was this sobering fact: Although powerful new medicines are helping industrialized countries win the battle against the disease it has reached epidemic proportions in continents where people can't afford the drugs.    About 33.4 million people around the world are infected with HIV two-thirds of them in sub-Saharan Africa. In Asia and the Pacific 700000 people become infected with HIV per year.    In sub-Saharan Africa the 1998 death toll from AIDS is expected to be 2 million. Nearly 6 million more people will become infected this year  1.7 million of them in sub-Saharan Africa.    ``In the case of HIV/AIDS the difference in wealth becomes literally matter of life and death'' decried Mary Robinson the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.    From bars in Hong Kong to parks in South Africa activists preached safe sex. People pinned red ribbons on lapels to express solidarity in the fight against AIDS. In San Juan Puerto Rico more than 3000 people formed a human red ribbon.    ``It's important to be here to urge people to say `No' to AIDS and to protect themselves'' said Carlos Baerga a free agent baseball player most recently with the New York Mets. Those whose loved ones died from AIDS planned to toss carnations into the Atlantic Ocean in their memory.     In India where up to 5 million people are HIV positive hundreds of schoolchildren marched beside prostitutes in New Delhi to draw attention to the epidemic.     Israelis and Palestinians handed out condoms and literature to passengers departing Israel's international airport in Tel Aviv.     In Ivory Coast thousands of children wearing T-shirts with anti-AIDS slogans and bouncing inflated condoms like beach balls marched through the streets of Abidjan.     In Kenya children wearing black T-Shirts that said ``Stop AIDS'' distributed condoms and pamphlets on AIDS prevention in Dandora an eastern Nairobi slum.     In Hong Kong's nightspots activists handed out coasters with pictures of a condom on one side and a safe-sex message on the other.     In Tokyo Japan's Health Ministry held rallies and concerts in a central square.     In Moscow a contraceptive company's employees sheathed in red yellow or green ``condom suits'' handed out condoms in Pushkin Square.     In Pretoria South Africa clowns painted red AIDS ribbons on people's faces as drum majorettes entertained a crowd.    Underneath it all was a life-and-death message: Practice safe sex or face the consequences.    ``Come and witness the reality of AIDS. See the devastation in our community. See the fresh graves'' South African President Nelson Mandela told hundreds of people in a village in KwaZulu-Natal province where an estimated 25 percent of adults are infected with HIV.    But considering the enormity of the problem the call to action worldwide was muted.    In some countries like Zimbabwe where an estimated 23 percent of the population is infected with HIV World AIDS day passed with little fanfare. Countries in southern Africa have been slow to recognize the unfolding tragedy and have little resources to fight it.    It was only in October that the South African government launched an AIDS awareness program. Already more than 3 million South Africans are infected. This year an estimated 168000 have died from AIDS.    The vast majority of those infected in Africa and other developing regions cannot afford the drugs that are prolonging life among AIDS patients in the West.    In Washington President Bill Clinton announced dlrs 10 million in emergency grants to help children orphaned by AIDS in poorer nations. Much more assistance would be needed to help turn the tide.    Robinson the top human rights official at the U.N. said: ``The current situation is an indictment of the international allocation of resources to fight HIV/AIDS in developing nations.'' 
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<HTML>    LISBON Portugal AP  More than 3000 Internet users in Portugal began a 24-hour boycott Tuesday to protest what they call costly and poor service for surfing the Web news reports said.    The protesters urged people to stay off-line until midnight Tuesday 0000 GMT to protest against Portugal Telecom and the country's three Internet access providers the Lisbon radio station TSF said.    They also complained about having to pay twice.    Portugal Telecom charges Internet users up to escudos 208 about dlrs 1.2 for each hour they are on-line. On top of that the access providers charge as much as escudos 5000 about dlrs 30 for 30 hours of Internet use.    cp/dw 
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<HTML>    MILAN Italy AP  Italian soccer powerhouse Internazionale on Tuesday signed Romanian Mircea Lucescu to coach the star-studded but volatile Milan team through the end of the Serie A campaign in May.    Lucescu's appointment on a reported one billion lire dlrs 555000 contract was announced at Inter's training camp the day after the sensational dismissal of Gigi Simoni.    The Italian veteran coach was fired on Monday despite consecutive wins which kept Inter in the running for titles in the Champions Cup and in the Italian League.    Club president and oil industrialist Massimo Moratti had bitterly criticized the quality of Inter's play following a 3-1 victory against defending champion Real Madrid in a Champions League game last Wednesday and an injury-time 2-1 win against low-ranked Salernitana in a league match Sunday.    Inter whose roster includes such stars as Ronaldo Youri Djorkaeff Roberto Baggio Diego Simeone and Ivan Zamorano is currently sixth in the league standings five points behind leader Fiorentina. Its record is five wins two draws and four losses.    Lucescu a former coach of the Romanian national team and of several clubs including Dynamo Bucharest and Italy's Brescia and Reggiana was presented to the Italian media at Appiano Gentile Tuesday afternoon.    He then directed the first training session with Inter players for Sunday's league match against Vicenza.    ``I will need time to change the team ... to switch to zone defense and make the play more offensive'' Lucescu told reporters.    ``I'm convinced I did the right thing'' Moratti said Tuesday. ``I think to have interpreted the feeling of our fans who were unhappy with the team play.''    Inter enjoyed a record of 60000 season tickets this year after it won the UEFA title and finished second to Juventus in the Italian league last season.    Simoni whose stay with Inter was stormy since the beginning of his two-year contract said Tuesday he was the victim of ``an unfair unexpected decision.''    Some Italian sports dailies suggested that Simoni paid for the bad season start of Brazilian superstar Ronaldo who has been repeatedly sidelined with knee tendinitis and failed to provide the Milan team the decisive support and goals given in the previous campaign.    Simoni had been also frequently criticized for his overly defensive tactics.    Lucescu 53 was expected to keep Inter's bench warm for Italian coach Marcello Lippi who may leave league champion Juventus of Turin at the end of this season and join Inter for the 1998-99 campaign.    However Moratti denied a decision for the next season had been taken already.    ``Lucescu can prove he deserves to coach a great team. He could be a more lasting solution'' Moratti said.  UR; pv 
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<HTML>    MOSCOW AP  The Russian government may rescind its pledge to ban capital punishment because of the country's soaring lawlessness and crime officials said Tuesday.    ``The moratorium on death penalty is likely to be canceled and punishment will be made more severe'' said Vladimir Kartashkin head of the Commission for Human Rights under President Boris Yeltsin according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.    Russia promised to scrap the death penalty in January 1996 when it joined the Council of Europe a human rights organization. Nonetheless 92 people were executed before Yeltsin imposed a moratorium on executions later that year.    The government says there have been no executions since August 1996 but Yeltsin's previous efforts to outlaw capital punishment have been blocked by hard-liners in the Russian parliament who argue that the death penalty is needed to control crime.    With only a moratorium on executions Russian courts have continued handing down death sentences and about 1000 people are now on death row according to the Amnesty International human rights group.    Polls show a majority of Russians support capital punishment.    The unsolved slaying last month of liberal lawmaker Galina Starovoitova perhaps the most prominent woman politician in Russia caused a public uproar and renewed calls for tougher government action against crime.    Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov responded last week by promising to ``physically eliminate'' organized crime. He didn't elaborate but other officials said that would probably mean a revival of the death penalty.    Council of Europe officials said they were bewildered by Primakov's statement and expressed hope that Russia would honor its commitments ITAR-Tass said.    Kartashkin said that senior prosecutors judges and police officials are strongly pushing for resuming executions. He spoke against that saying that such an action would undermine Russia's prestige abroad.    ``We joined the Council of Europe signed corresponding legal acts and can't violate the constitution and our international obligations even in the current difficult situation'' he said.    Yeltsin's first deputy chief of staff Oleg Sysuyev also strongly opposed resuming executions saying it was unlikely to help combat crime. ``The death penalty ban remains on today's agenda'' he said. ``Its suspension will only deceive the society without bringing the desired results.''    Earlier this year parliament's lower house the State Duma ratified the European human rights convention with the exception of a death penalty ban.    vi/ren
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<HTML>    LOS ANGELES AP  The Los Angeles Dodgers looking to beef up their offense acquired power-hitting catcher Todd Hundley from the New York Mets on Tuesday for catcher Charles Johnson and outfielder Roger Cedeno The Associated Press learned.    The Dodgers will also receive minor league pitcher Arnie Gooch a 22-year-old right-hander obtained by the Mets in the Bret Saberhagen trade on July 31 1995.    Los Angeles wouldn't immediately confirm the trade but planned to make the announcement later Tuesday night.    Hundley coming off elbow surgery played in just 53 games last season and hit .161 with three homers and 12 RBIs. He became expendable when the Mets signed catcher Mike Piazza to a dlrs 91 million seven-year contract earlier in the offseason.    Hundley a 29-year-old switch-hitter set a big-league record for homers by a catcher in 1996 hitting 41 to surpass Roy Campanella's 43-year-old standard. Hundley also hit .259 and drove in 112 runs that year.    Hampered by elbow problems in 1997 Hundley played in 132 games and hit .273 with 30 homers and 86 RBIs. He thus became the first Mets player to hit 30 or more homers in consecutive seasons since Darryl Strawberry did so in 1987-88.    Johnson 27 came to the Dodgers along with Gary Sheffield Bobby Bonilla Jim Eisenreich and a minor league pitcher for Piazza and third baseman Todd Zeile last May 15. Piazza was traded to the Mets a week later.    Johnson played in 133 games with the Marlins and Dodgers last season and hit just .218 with 19 homers and 58 RBIs. He was immediately traded by the Mets to the Baltimore Orioles for reliever Armando Benitez a deal that made sense due to Piazza's presence.    The 24-year-old Cedeno a switch hitter long considered a top prospect played in 105 games for the Dodgers last season and hit .242 with two homers and 17 RBIs. 
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<HTML>    BRUSSELS Belgium AP  France's oil giant Total SA took over Belgian petrochemicals company Petrofina SA to create the sixth largest oil company in the world and the third largest in Europe the companies announced Tuesday.    The new company will be known as Total Fina and the move was the latest in a series of mergers affecting the global oil market. The new company will be quoted on the Paris Brussels New York and London stock exchanges a Petrofina statement said.    Petrofina's stock stood at 14250 francs dlrs 407.9 Friday before it was suspended for Monday's trading. The deal put the value at 19.482 francs dlrs 557.7 a jump in value of over a quarter.    The agreement is based on a share swap pact that gives 9 Total Fina shares for 2 Petrofina shares. The move gives Total a controlling stake of 41 percent in Petrofina.    A combined general meeting of shareholders has been called for Jan. 14 to approve the agreement. Total said a public offering on the remaining Petrofina shares will follow.    The move made Belgian investor Albert Frere who controlled 30 percent of Petrofina shares the biggest shareholder of Total.    Petrofina stock has been gaining ground in recent days on rumors that the company was in talks with France's Elf Aquitaine SA Total SA and Italy's ENI SpA. Trading in shares was stopped Monday when a local newspaper broke the news a deal was near.    Petrofina which employs some 15000 people worldwide is one of Belgium's biggest industrial companies. It has myriad interests in other enterprises including energy company Electrabel utilities company Tractebel SA holding companies Companie National a Portefeuille Sidro Sofina SA Groupe Bruxelles Lambert SA and Electrafina SA.  UR; rac
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<HTML>    Here is a summary of news from The Associated Press. Stories carried ``i'' or ``f'' category codes. Some of the items below have moved on this circuit in expanded form:    LONDON AP  The hospital where Gen. Augusto Pinochet has been under police guard says he no longer needs medical care  dealing a blow to any plan by the former Chilean dictator to plead he is too ill to stand trial on charges of genocide and torture. Grovelands Priory a private hospital in north London issued a statement Monday urging Pinochet's family to quickly find the 83-year-old general somewhere else to stay saying he ``no longer requires the specialist medical and nursing care.'' The hospital's decision to evict Pinochet makes it difficult for Britain's Home Secretary Jack Straw to cite ``compassionate grounds'' based on ill and frail health if he decides Dec. 11 to let Pinochet return home. A Spanish magistrate ordered his arrest on charges of murder torture and genocide. BRITAIN-PINOCHET    MONTREAL AP  Like ambivalent boxing judges Quebec voters gave their combative politicians a split decision: the pro-independence government gets another term in power but with support so tepid that a secession bid is unlikely any time soon. The separatist Parti Quebecois retained a large legislative majority in Monday's provincial election winning 75 of the 125 seats to earn a new term of up to five years. But the anti-separatist Quebec Liberal Party though winning only 48 seats received 44 percent of the popular vote to 43 percent for the Parti Quebecois. As a result the comments of Liberal leader Jean Charest sounded more buoyant than the victory speech of Premier Lucien Bouchard the separatist leader. ``The result tonight ... reflects the fact that the people of Quebec like the people of all Canada want this country of ours to work and be a success'' said Charest. CANADA-QUEBEC ELECTION    WASHINGTON AP  The House Judiciary Committee is opening a carefully scripted hearing into the consequences of perjury. But behind the scenes political fireworks are exploding over Republican efforts to expand the impeachment inquiry from President Bill Clinton's private life to his campaign fund raising. Committee Republicans sought on Monday to subpoena secret Justice Department and FBI memos urging Attorney General Janet Reno to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the president's 1996 campaign. The decision opens up a new avenue of investigation for the impeachment panel just as the committee is pressing for a vote by Christmas on possible articles of impeachment against the president. US-CLINTON-IMPEACHMENT    BEIJING AP  In an apparent attempt to crush a budding opposition party Chinese police have detained two of China's most prominent dissidents and three other democracy campaigners a human rights group and relatives of those taken into custody said Tuesday. Police in two cities descended on the homes of Xu Wenli Qin Yongmin and other members of the China Democracy Party on Monday night and took them away relatives and the rights group said. Dissidents formed the would-be opposition group in June to challenge the ruling Communist Party's monopoly on power. Signaling the leadership's resolve to quash any challenges the party's No. 2 legislative chairman Li Peng was quoted Tuesday as saying that Western-style democracy was inappropriate for China and opposition groups would not be tolerated. CHINA-DISSIDENTS    POTSDAM Germany AP  Leaders of Germany and France agreed Tuesday to strengthen efforts to fight unemployment and boost the economy a well-placed source said reflecting a stronger emphasis on a left-leaning agenda for Europe. The source who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity was unclear about which common initiatives might be planned. The leaders were issuing a joint declaration later Tuesday after a two-day German-French summit hosted by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder his first since he and his Social Democrats won September elections in Germany. Both sides also agreed that cooperation among industrial nations to combat economically damaging turmoil in financial markets was a desirable goal the source said. GERMANY-FRANCE
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<HTML>    KUWAIT AP  Former U.S. President George Bush arrived in Kuwait on Tuesday for a brief visit his third to a country that idolizes him as the hero of the 1991 Gulf War that ended a seven-month Iraqi occupation of Kuwait.    Although Bush's 2nd graf  UR; de-eap
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<HTML>    CANBERRA Australia AP  Australia's conservative government defied a U.N. body's declaration that Kakadu National Park is a World Heritage area by declaring it will allow uranium mining at Jabiluka within the park.    The U.N. Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization did accept a plea from the Australian government that it be given six months to respond to the panel's ruling.    But the panel recommended that all mining activities should cease in the meantime. It said the mine which could process 19.5 million metric tons of uranium ore over its 28-year life could damage the environment.    The local Mirrar Aboriginal people have been among the most vocal critics of the project which although actually inside the Northern Territory national park has been technically excluded as an enclave within it.    Environment Minister Robert Hill said he would compile a comprehensive rebuttal of the UNESCO report which he has described as superficial and unbalanced.    But he would not tell uranium miner Energy Resources of Australia which is still 18 months away from mining the first uranium and is still doing preparatory work to comply with the UNESCO call.    ``We are quite satisfied with all the Australian processes for approval of the mine'' Hill said.    ``The mine is not in a world heritage listed area nor in a national park and it will cause neither environmental nor cultural damage'' Hill said.    Hill said UNESCO's report made after only a four-day visit to the mine site ignored the enormous body of evidence gathered over 18 years of mining at Ranger just 12 miles 20 km from Jabiluka.    Australia's environmental groups reacted immediately to Hill's announcement saying it would seriously damage Australia's reputation.    Greens party Senator Bob Brown said ``Even major uranium buyers like France Japan and the U.S. -- members of the World Heritage Committee -- voted to stop this obscene mine.''    ``If Australia defies the world umpire on the World Heritage Convention no treaty will be seen as safe'' Brown added.    Environmentalists say reputable surveys show that 82 percent of Australians oppose mining in areas like Kakadu.    They claim that the government's rebuttal of the UNESCO report shows it to be both arrogant and out of touch with its own people and the rest of the world.    Kakadu is almost 12000 square miles 31200 sq. km. of flood plains and plateau on Australia's north coast with waterfalls and hundreds of animal species including many that are rare or endangered.    The park is one of a handful listed for both environmental and cultural values. About 200000 tourists visit the park every year.    mt-at-pjs
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<HTML>    CAIRO Egypt AP  Using magnetic sensors and computers Egyptian experts have located and mapped an important pharaonic city in the Nile Delta officials said Tuesday.    Ahmed Gouda Husain of the Geophysical Research Center said the experts have been able to create detailed images of Qantir which was a capital of one of Egypt's most famous kings Ramses II.    Ramses II a pharaoh in the so-called New Kingdom era ruled Egypt from 1304 to 1237 B.C.    ``It's a complete town with all its palaces houses streets and stables'' Husain told The Associated Press.    Husain said the team he heads has been using magnetic sensors to survey the city which also served as the capital of the Hyksos invaders for nearly a hundred years.    He said that surveying the city  covering a square kilometer about half a square mile of cotton corn and wheat fields  took about 45 days.    The team used a piece of equipment known as a ``graduometre'' which was provided by a German foundation to measure electric impulses and magnetic levels at the site Husain said.    Husain a geophysicist who has been working in archaeology for 15 years said the team later put the readings into a computer to generate images of the city.    Qantir some 114 kilometers 76 miles north of Cairo is covered with sandy mounds that archaeologists believe cover a number of pharaonic sites.    Gaballah Ali Gaballah head of Egypt's Supreme Council for Antiquities said the site was discovered in the 1920s. He said it would require at least 20 years of excavations to unearth the main sections of the city.    Husain said his team has used high-tech equipment to make a number of important archaeological discoveries in Egypt.    In Sohag in the south for example they found tombs and 12 buried solar boats designed to carry the dead in their after lives.  UR; sn-eap 
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<HTML>    MANILA Philippines AP  In the first major slump in Philippine exports since the start of Asia's currency crisis exports shrank 8.7 percent in October from the previous month to dlrs 2.542 billion the government announced Wednesday.    Export growth was also sharply lower on an annual basis dropping to 9.3 percent in October from 19 percent in September the National Statistics Office said.    The Philippines had enjoyed annual export growth of more than 20 percent for much of the past several years showing remarkable resilience to the effects of the 17-month currency crisis.    But economists said they expected a slowdown in export growth because of weaker worldwide demand following the slowdown in the global economy.    Luz Lorenzo economist for ATR Securities Inc. said the Philippines also faces increased competition from Asian neighbors that are making efforts to increase exports to recover from the regional financial crisis.    ``We may have to share our gains with our neighbors'' she said.    Joey Cuyegkeng economist for ING Barings Securities Philippines Inc. also blamed the agricultural sector for the slowdown in export growth.    Agricultural production contracted 3.1 percent in the third quarter of this year because of the aftereffects of a prolonged drought which was followed by strong typhoons.    For the first 10 months of the year exports rose 18 percent to dlrs 24.39 billion the statistics office said.    Lorenzo said she expects Philippine export growth will slip to 16 percent for the entire year compared to 1997.    Electronics and components accounted for 56 percent of total October exports grossing dlrs 1.43 billion 32 percent more than the year-earlier level.    The second top export category was garments which generated dlrs 165 million down 1.4 percent from the year-earlier level.    Computer parts and peripherals accounted for dlrs 127.1 million of October exports 18 percent less than a year before.    The United States remained the country's top export destination accounting for 33 percent of total October shipments or dlrs 849.5 million 6.7 more higher than the year-earlier level.    Japan followed with a 14 percent share totaling dlrs 351.2 million 12 percent less than a year earlier reflecting Japan's weakening economy.    The government announces import figures separately each month. 
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<HTML>    CANBERRA Australia AP  A letter bomb exploded early Wednesday morning at Canberra's regional mail center in the industrial suburb of Fyshwick injuring one postal worker.    Police said the man's injuries are not serious but they have closed the center fearing that more devices might be present.    The ceiling of the building was damaged. The explosion occurred in the early hours of Wednesday local time.    Police say their inquiries might take a week.    ``It was a well-constructed sophisticated letter bomb' Police Sgt. Ron Garbutt told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.    ``To me that appears as though the person constructing it knew what they were doing and was certainly not an amateurish attempt at making a letter bomb.''    The police have no idea who the bomb was addressed to or where it came from Garbutt said.     
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<HTML>    CANBERRA Australia AP  Police issued a nationwide postal alert after finding 21 more parcel bombs at a Canberra mail processing center where a bomb exploded early Wednesday morning.    A postal worker was slightly injured by shrapnel when a package detonated. A search of the building found 21 more bombs.    Australian Federal Police said an identical parcel bomb was discovered in Sydney on Tuesday taking to 23 in all the number of bombs found so far.    The Sydney parcel was detonated by bomb squad police after the person to whom it was delivered became suspicious.    Federal Police Superintendent Geoff Hazel said the bomber targeted a specific segment of the community but he declined to identify them publicly for fear of compromising the investigation.    The parcels are white and similar in size to a computer disc storage box bearing a 2-dollar stamp and a 30-cent stamp.    pjs 
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<HTML>    WORLD AT 1100 GMT     UR; NEW:    IRAQ-RADIO FREE IRAQ.    SPAIN-PINOCHET.    GERMANY-EURO PRESSURE.    VENEZUELA-CHAVEZ'S CHALLENGER.    RHONE POULENC-HOECHST.    HONG KONG-ECONOMY.    RUSSIA-ECONOMY.    EU-FINANCE.    INDIA-POLITICS.  UR; MAIN SPOT NEWS:    LONDON  The hospital where Gen. Augusto Pinochet has been under police guard says he no longer needs medical care  dealing a blow to any plan by the former Chilean dictator to plead he is too ill to stand trial on charges of genocide and torture. BRITAIN-PINOCHET. Has moved; developments will be expedited. By Maureen Johnson.    ALSO:    SPAIN-PINOCHET. Chilean Foreign Minister Jose Miguel Insulza says Tuesday a Spanish judge's attempt to extradite Augusto Pinochet has polarized his homeland but does not pose a threat to Chilean democracy. Expected by 1300 GMT.    WASHINGTON  The House Judiciary Committee is opening a carefully scripted hearing into the consequences of perjury. But behind the scenes political fireworks are exploding over Republican efforts to expand the impeachment inquiry from President Bill Clinton's private life to his campaign fund raising. US-CLINTON-IMPEACHMENT. Will be led after Judiciary Committee hearing begins at 1430 GMT. By Laurie Kellman.    POTSDAM Germany  Leaders of Germany and France agree Tuesday to strengthen efforts to fight unemployment and boost the economy a well-placed source says reflecting a stronger emphasis on a left-leaning agenda for Europe. FRANCE-GERMANY. Lead expected by 1200 GMT. By Tony Czuczka. AP Photo POT101-103/       BRUSSELS Belgium  Less than a month before the launch of the euro European Union finance ministers seek to break months of deadlock over who should represent the single-currency zone internationally. EU-FINANCE. By Paul Ames. Expected by 1300 GMT.    FRANKFURT Germany  Even before Europe's single currency is launched politicians are challenging the independence of the central bank that will keep tabs on the new euro. GERMANY-EURO PRESSURE. Expected by 1200 GMT. By Didi Kirsten Tatlow.    WASHINGTON  An international conference to help determine the fate of Nazi-looted art and property is being urged to ``uncover the truth and seek justice'' for Holocaust victims. US-HOLOCAUST CONFERENCE. Will be led with Albright speech scheduled to begin at 1450 GMT. By Laura Myers.    MONTREAL  Quebec voters give their combative politicians a split decision: the pro-independence government gets another term in power but with support so tepid that a secession bid is unlikely any time soon. CANADA-QUEBEC ELECTION. Lead expected by 1200 GMT. By David Crary. AP Photos XQBC6811; LISB102107.    MOSCOW  A Russian helicopter Tuesday rescues a three-man television crew that had been stranded on a remote Arctic island by bad weather and was running out of food and other supplies officials say. RUSSIA-STRANDED CREW. Has moved; developments will be expedited.    MOSCOW  With Russia's leaders urgently seeking financial help International Monetary Fund chief Michel Camdessus plans to open two days of talks Tuesday on Moscow's frozen loan agreement with the IMF. RUSSIA-ECONOMY. Has moved; developments will be expedited. By Vladimir Isachenkov.    BRUSSELS Belgium  France's oil giant Total SA takes over Belgian petrochemicals company Petrofina SA to create the sixth largest oil company in the world and the third largest in Europe the companies announce Tuesday. BELGIUM-PETROFINA-TOTAL. Has moved; developments will be expedited. By Raf Casert.    ALSO MOVED:    RHONE POULENC-HOECHST. Two of Europe's largest drug makers Hoechst of Germany and Rhone-Poulenc of France announce agreement to merge.    BAGHDAD Iraq  Iraqi authorities say they are so unconcerned about new U.S.-sponsored broadcasts aimed at undermining President Saddam Hussein that they won't even bother to jam the transmissions. IRAQ-RADIO FREE IRAQ. Has moved. By Leon Barkho.    ALSO MOVED:    UN-IRAQ. Weapons inspectors note ``with satisfaction'' that Iraq is ready to cooperate in resolving several outstanding issues.    BEIJING  Police detain two of China's most prominent dissidents and three other democracy campaigners in a concerted crackdown apparently aimed at crushing a budding opposition party. CHINA-DISSIDENTS. Has moved. By John Leicester.    JAKARTA Indonesia  The death toll from a powerful earthquake that hit a remote island in Indonesia rises to 25 on Tuesday as rescue teams search for more victims and survivors officials say. INDONESIA-EARTHQUAKE. Has moved; developments will be expedited. By Geoff Spencer.    KUPANG Indonesia  Christian mobs burn two houses a car and a motorcycle Tuesday on the second day of unrest in a provincial capital where rioters burned and ransacked 15 mosques. INDONESIA-RELIGIOUS TENSION. Has moved. By Sam Martins. AP Photos JAK102-104.    NEW DELHI India  Sonia Gandhi began her tough journey as the inexperienced leader of an 112-year-old political behemoth this year taking over the Congress party. Indians pondering recent elections results have determined she has arrived. INDIA-POLITICS. Has moved. By Neelesh Misra.    HONG KONG  The beleaguered Hong Kong economy is hit Tuesday with another string of bad news  the key stock index fell nearly 4 percent more companies announced layoffs and the financial secretary hinted at a second straight budget deficit in the next fiscal year. HONG KONG-ECONOMY. Has moved. By Priscilla Cheung. AP Photo HK102.    BEIRUT Lebanon  President Emile Lahoud begins a fresh round of consultations with Parliament on Tuesday in search of a new premier after incumbent Prime Minister Rafik Hariri bowed out. LEBANON-GOVERNMENT. Has moved. By Zeina Karam.    GUATEMALA CITY  In the first war-crimes convictions following Guatemala's civil war three former pro-government fighters are sentenced to death for their role in a 1982 massacre of Indian villagers. GUATEMALA-MASSACRE SENTENCES. Has moved. By Alfonso Anzueto.    CARACAS Venezuela  To critics he's an arrogant elitist who would rule Venezuela for the benefit of the rich. But to supporters Henrique Salas Romer is Venezuela's last hope of saving democracy and the only candidate with a chance of defeating former coup leader Hugo Chavez in Sunday's presidential election. VENEZUELA-CHAVEZ'S CHALLENGER. Expected by 1200 GMT. By Bart Jones. AP Photos CAR106-108.    DURBAN South Africa  A Cabinet minister in President Nelson Mandela's government on Tuesday tells a human rights panel how he organized vigilante groups to protect supporters of the African National Congress. SOUTH AFRICA-AMNESTY. Has moved; developments will be expedited. By Pat Reber.    TOKYO  People hand out condoms and wear red ribbons Tuesday as part of efforts on World AIDS Day to raise awareness about the spread of the disease especially in underdeveloped countries. WORLD AIDS DAY. Has moved; developments will be expedited. By Joji Sakurai. AP Photos BEJ101-103 BOM102; DEL101 TOK111 MAD101.    ALSO MOVED:    US-CLINTON-AIDS. President Clinton marks World AIDS Day by pledging assistance to AIDS orphans. Will be led with World AIDS Day event scheduled for 1715 GMT.    LOOKING AHEAD: U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan visits Tunisia on Thursday. World Council of Churches opens assembly in Harare Zimbabwe on Thursday.  UR; OTHER FEATURES MOVED:    FEA-JAPAN-BRITTLE BANKS. Japanese banks rush to restructure amid rising tide of red ink. AP Photo NY300.    FEA-US-HAYES MODEM. Computer industry pioneer who invented the personal-computer modem struggles for survival.    FEA-US-AOL-NETSCAPE-GIZMOS. AOL-Netscape deal could spawn new means of Internet access.    FEA-US-AOL-NETSCAPE-CULTURE CLASH. Critics fear end of 'free and open' Internet.    YOUR QUERIES: The Associated Press World Service editors in charge are Charles Gans and Ian Mader. Suggestions and story requests to The Associated Press World Service are welcome. Contact your local AP bureau or the AP International Desk in New York telephone 1 212-621-1650 fax 1 212-621-5449.
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<HTML>    GENEVA AP  UEFA and several of Europe's top clubs on Tuesday agreed to a new format for the UEFA Cup which will give unsuccessful Champions League competitors a second chance.    The revamped competition would merge the existing UEFA Cup and Cup Winners Cup and start with 96 teams  the combined total of the current competitons UEFA's European Football 2000 Task Force decided.    If UEFA's Executive Committee approves the proposal the eight teams that finish third in their European Champions League groups will join the new UEFA Cup in its third round.    Under the new Champions League format the first- and second-placed teams from all eight groups would advance to a two-leg single-elimination second round before the quarterfinal stage.    ``It means we have more quality'' UEFA General Secretary Gerhard Aigner told reporters.    The cup will have one qualifying round. An alternative proposal with a smaller starting lineup would have required three summer qualifying rounds.    Under the proposal countries whose teams reach the UEFA Cup quarterfinals will receive an extra berth in the following season's competition.    The group also discussed the financial structure of the revamped Champions League.    In October representatives of AC Milan Real Madrid and 10 other major teams agreed not to join a breakaway Super League after UEFA promised to extend next season's European Champions' League from 24 teams to 32 playing in eight groups of four in the first stage.    Clubs agreed Tuesday that 5 percent of the money they receive from the new competition should go to the leagues of participating teams Aigner said.    The money would be distributed to clubs which don't qualify for European competitions and ``must be used for education of young players'' he added.    UEFA expects the new-look Champions League to generate about 800 million francs dlrs 570 million. Approximately 75 percent would be distributed to clubs under both the current system of match and performance fees and the clubs' market value.    UEFA's Executive Committee is expected to give final approval to the revamped competitions and decide on a starting date for them when it meets next week in Lausanne Switzerland.    ``We have set the sails for a start next season'' Aigner said. 
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<HTML>    LONDON AP  In an ambulance escorted by armed police in darkness former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet left hospital Tuesday for a luxury home on the edge of Wentworth golf course to continue his fight against extradition to Spain on charges of genocide and torture.    To shout and taunts of fist-shaking demonstrators Pinochet swept through the gates of Grovelands Priory a day after the psychiatric hospital announced that the 83-year-old general is fit does not need medical care and demanded that he leave.    With a police helicopter circling overhead the ambulance convoy arrived an hour later at the Wentworth Estate a compound of magnificent houses with private grounds many overlooking the fairways of the famed course 20 miles 30 kms west of London and home to the European golf tour.    There was no word on who owns the house in the estate's Lindale Close where Pinochet is staying. North Surrey police chief Carl Crathern confirmed that Pinochet ``is now in residence in a house on Wentworth estate.''    Supporters househunted while the Grovelands Priory became increasingly impatient and eventually precipitated Pinochet's departure by announcing there is nothing wrong with him.    The statement was a blow to any attempt by Pinochet to plead that he is too ill or frail to stand trial over deaths and torture of political opponents by secret police during his 1973-90 rule after he overthrew an elected Marxist.    Britain's Home Secretary Jack Straw must decided by Dec. 11 whether to let extradition proceedings start and if he does Pinochet will likely be in Britain through months of court battles. Straw could block extradition on several grounds including compassion.    ``He showed no compassion for us so why should we show any for him'' said Francina Ramirez 41 a Chilean exile outside the hospital who said she was arrested by Pinochet's secret police and tortured with electric currents passing through her breasts.    Pinochet's new neighbors mostly bankers and stockbrokers face similar scenes of demonstrations and a heavy police presence.    In the House of Commons Foreign Office Minister Derek Fatchett warned Britons to stay away from Chile unless it was essential to go there. He said Britons living there ``to keep a low profile avoid crowds meetings demonstrations and areas where the English-speaking community usually gathers.''    Chile's government stepped up efforts to get the Pinochet freed. In Spain Foreign Minister Jose Miguel Insulza said it was becoming increasingly likely Pinochet would be tried in Chile.    Although an official Chilean report says some 3000 people were murdered or tortured during Pinochet's rule the Chilean government wants him back  partly because of fears that the anger of his supporters will polarize the newly democratic society.    Pinochet was arrested Oct. 16 in a central London hospital where he had undergone back surgery. He moved Oct. 29 to Grovelands Priory which for more than two weeks has been trying to make him leave.    An National Opinion Poll published Tuesday indicated that 51 percent of Britons think Pinochet should be extradited 32 percent disagreed and the rest of the 961-strong sample of voters questioned had no opinion. The error margin was plus or minus three percent.    mj 
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<HTML>    MOSCOW AP  With Russian leaders urgently seeking financial help International Monetary Fund chief Michel Camdessus came to Moscow today for two days of talks on Russia's frozen loan agreement with the IMF.    Camdessus was to meet Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov later today and is scheduled to hold broader talks with government officials Wednesday.    President Boris Yeltsin who is in a hospital being treated for pneumonia spoke with Primakov by telephone today about the talks with Camdessus.    In the Netherlands meanwhile former Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin sought to reassure international investors that Russia would survive its economic problems.    He told an international business conference that his country's economic woes were ``far from desperate'' adding: ``European companies are still with us. They are not leaving Russia.''    Russia is seeking further installments on an IMF bailout package that was reached in the summer but was held up after the government devalued the ruble and defaulted on some of its debts in August. The IMF has said Russia must come up with a realistic recovery plan before more money will be released.    Camdessus is not expected to announce any breakthroughs but his visit gives Russia an opportunity to make its case and lobby for fresh funds.    The bailout package totals 22.6 billion and also involves the World Bank and the Japanese government but Russia has so far received only about 5 billion.    An IMF mission left town last week saying the government's revenue forecast for next year was overly optimistic. It also disapproved of the government's intention to lower taxes and offer subsidies to ailing industries.    If the Russian government doesn't receive foreign help soon it will probably have to start printing money which would drive up inflation.    ``I hope that the IMF would be able to make a decision to provide aid to Russia that would allow us to avoid hyperinflation'' Oleg Sysuyev a top presidential aide was quoted as saying today by the Interfax news agency.    The government has been delaying a debate on next year's budget as it struggles to find ways to come up with enough money to meet its expenses. The Cabinet again delayed the discussion this week but insisted the delay was not connected with Camdessus' visit.    However the Russian media claimed the government put off action on the budget because it is still hoping for the IMF loans.    ``Everyone understands that budget parameters remain vague and their clarification depends on Camdessus' visit'' the business daily Kommersant said today.    Former Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko who was on a trip to the United States this week said Russia wouldn't be able to pay 17.5 billion in foreign debt that comes due next year.    ``The IMF must realize that and accept compromises with Russia in reaching agreements on restructuring foreign debts'' Kiriyenko said at New York University on Monday according to the Interfax news agency. 
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<HTML>    LONDON AP  A gay rights activist who disrupted the Archbishop of Canterbury's Easter Sunday sermon was convicted Tuesday of indecent behavior in a church and fined a token 18.60 pounds dlrs 30.69.    Peter Tatchell leader of the British gay rights group Outrage was charged under the obscure 1860 Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act  hence the amount of the fine  for entering the pulpit of Canterbury Cathedral as Dr. George Carey prepared to preach to a congregation of 1000.    While six of his fellow protesters held up placards Tatchell criticized Britain's leading cleric for opposing the reduction of the homosexual age of consent and refusing to ordain gays.    His case sparked a high-profile campaign to get the 1860 law repealed with free speech campaigners pointing out he could be jailed for up to two months  the maximum penalty and the sentence handed down when the law was last used in 1966 against anti-war protesters who interrupted a church service.    But Canterbury Stipendiary Magistrate Michael Kelly settled for a fine saying he considered the offense equivalent to a minor public disorder infraction.    During the two-day trial Tatchell had argued that his right to free speech was guaranteed under human rights laws. But the magistrate said the same laws enshrined the right of people to worship.    ``You are a man of previous good character and you have a clear commitment to your cause and a belief in non-violent protest'' Kelly said.    But he added ``I am sure that some people will have been disgusted and truly offended by your conduct.''    ``I think your conduct violated the rights of worshippers on one of the most important days in the Christian calendar.''    Tatchell said after the trial that he had no regrets ``about standing up for democracy.''    In a statement Carey said in convicting Tatchell the court ''has recognized unequivocally that his behavior cannot be condoned; nor can the considerable pain and distress caused by Mr. Tatchell to many people who were trying to engage in their legal right to worship unmolested.''    er-scl 
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<HTML>    BEIJING AP  Police have detained two of China's most prominent dissidents and three other democracy campaigners in a concerted crackdown apparently aimed at crushing a budding opposition party.    Police in two cities descended on the homes of Xu Wenli Qin Yongmin and other members of the China Democracy Party on Monday night and took them away relatives and a human rights group said Tuesday.    The police action was one of the harshest since dissidents announced the formation of the would-be opposition group in June to challenge the ruling Communist Party's monopoly on power. Since then police have questioned briefly detained and harassed the activists but refrained from filing charges.    Police on Tuesday informed the family of Qin Yongmin that he was arrested for plotting to overthrow the government the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said. The crime carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.    In taking Xu Wenli from his home Monday night police produced an arrest warrant and a search warrant that identified him as a criminal suspect said his wife He Xitong. Unlike previous occasions when Xu was held only for short periods she feared this time authorities were planning to charge and convict him.    Twenty police officers ransacked their Beijing apartment seizing a computer a fax machine address books video tapes a typewriter more than 1000 pages of documents and even a telephone she said.    ``Xu Wenli has already paid heavily for democracy. I understand that he is ready to pay again'' said his wife. ``Xu Wenli won't give up.''    Qin and Xu are among the most influential figures in China's fractured persecuted dissident community. Their campaigning started in the Democracy Wall protest movement of the late 1970s.    Xu spent 13 years of a 15-year sentence in jail much of it in solitary confinement and was released in 1993. Qin was jailed for several years in the 1980s and then again in 1994-95.    Aside from Qin police in the central city of Wuhan also hauled away two other members of the China Democracy Party Chen Zhonghe and Xiao Shichang the Information Center said.    A fifth member of the party Lai Jinbiao also was detained Monday afternoon in eastern Hangzhou city after making a speech in a public park demanding the ruling Communist Party carry out political reforms the Information Center said.    Encouraged by China's recent signing of key U.N. human rights treaties dissidents in many parts of the country have since June been trying to formally register the China Democracy Party.    Despite brief police detentions and almost constant surveillance Xu Qin and other dissidents continued their efforts setting up local party branches taking party oaths and nominating people for party posts.    In their 3 and 1/2-hour search of Xu's apartment the police paid particular attention to documents related to the party and made a careful record of each document they seized his wife said. Police also were watching the homes of other party members in Beijing.    Given the possibility of arrest Xu had already prepared a bag containing clothes and washing gear that he took with him his wife said.
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<HTML>    DURBAN South Africa AP  Black liberation leaders operated a secret military command to supply vigilantes with weapons while they negotiated an end to white minority rule with the former apartheid government a Cabinet minister testified Tuesday.    Public Works Minister Jeff Radebe 45 the first Cabinet member to apply for amnesty from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission described how he organized and armed African National Congress self-defense units.    The units operated in KwaZulu-Natal Province from 1990 to 1994 as South Africa was emerging from decades of apartheid and undergoing a painful period of black-on-black violence.    More than 5000 people died in clashes between the units and militants of the rival Zulu nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party. The Zulu militants were backed by the apartheid government according to a recent Truth Commission report.    Radebe acknowledged that in the absence of a strict command structure many self-defense members turned to crime and continue to contribute to South Africa's spiralling murder and robbery rates.    ``It cannot be denied that some of the comrades gravitated toward crime'' Radebe said in an interview.    The hearing offered detailed insight into the ANC's role in the upheavals that preceded the first all-race elections in 1994 when Nelson Mandela became president. The ANC at the time was negotiating an end to white rule.    Radebe was ANC chairman for Kwazulu-Natal region and also served as an underground commander of Umkhonto we Sizwe Spear of the Nation the ANC's armed wing.    ``This place was in flames. Almost every Saturday I used to bury comrades'' Radebe told the panel.    Orders to set up the structures came from Umkhonto commanders who included the head of the Communist Party the now-deceased Chris Hani and Ronnie Kasrils now Deputy Defense Minister Radebe said.    After being trained and armed the ANC units reverted to control by local communities.    The reason for avoiding a direct command structure was to keep Umkhonto's activities secret from the white minority government he said.    Radebe said he did not welcome the role of setting up the units but felt violence would have taken a ``heavier toll'' without them.    ``If you talk peace without the capacity to defend yourself it would be a hollow peace'' Radebe said in an interview. ``As the ANC we were involved in a multi-pronged strategy in solving problems.''    As the elections approached in 1994 Radebe said he was ordered to disarm the self-defense units and integrate them into military and police structures.    But Radebe and two other applicants for amnesty on Tuesday could not answer repeated questions from the commission about how many arms were supplied to the units and how many were retrieved.    In an interview Radebe said most of the cadres have joined the army and police forces but could not give any numbers.    Radebe said he is seeking amnesty because he and his party regret excesses that occurred.    ``I think as we are building a new democracy in South Africa our people ... need to know the truth and to open the old wounds of the terrible time from 1990 to 1994.''    pr/djw    
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<HTML>    MOSCOW AP  With a dlrs 22.6 billion loan for Russia hanging in limbo International Monetary Fund chief Michel Camdessus launched a new round of talks in Moscow on Tuesday on freeing up the money.    Yet Russia's government continued to put off tough financial decisions the IMF says are necessary for releasing the rest of the frozen loan and Camdessus was not expected to announce any breakthroughs.    Camdessus met Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov on Tuesday night and is scheduled to hold broader talks with government officials Wednesday.    ``I want to get better acquainted with the prime minister'' Camdessus told reporters upon arrival Tuesday night. ``I presume we will be having interesting conversations.''    Russia facing mounting debts to workers pensioners and foreign creditors is seeking further installments on a dlrs 22.6 billion IMF-led bailout package reached in the summer. The loan was frozen after Russia succumbed to the Asian economic crisis and devalued the ruble and defaulted on some of its debts in August.    Russia has so far received only about dlrs 5 billion of the bailout package which also involves the World Bank and the Japanese government.    The IMF has said the government must come up with a realistic recovery plan before more money will be released.    An IMF mission left town last week saying the government's revenue forecast for next year was overly optimistic. It also disapproved of the government's intention to lower taxes and offer subsidies to ailing industries.    If the Russian government doesn't receive foreign help soon it will probably have to start printing money which would drive up inflation.    ``I hope that the IMF would be able to make a decision to provide aid to Russia that would allow us to avoid hyperinflation'' Oleg Sysuyev a top presidential aide told a news conference Tuesday.    The government has been delaying a debate on next year's budget as it struggles to find ways to come up with enough money to meet its expenses. The Cabinet again postponed the discussion this week but insisted the delay was not connected with Camdessus' visit.    However Russian media have suggested the government put off action on the budget because it is still hoping for the IMF loans. The latest draft assumes Russia will receive the IMF money.    ``Everyone understands that budget parameters remain vague and their clarification depends on Camdessus' visit'' the business daily Kommersant said Tuesday.    Sysuyev meanwhile reiterated that President Boris Yeltsin will leave day-to-day management of economic matters to Primakov.    ``The new reality is that these matters are now dealt with by the government'' he said.    Yeltsin who is in the hospital receiving treatment for pneumonia discussed with Primakov by telephone Tuesday the government's stance at the talks with Camdessus.    adc 
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<HTML>    KIGALI Rwanda AP  Citing a lack of evidence the government of Rwanda on Tuesday released 76 prisoners held in connection with the 1994 massacre of an estimated half-million Tutsis.    The government said the files of those released Tuesday from Kigali's Rilima prison had either been lost or did not support a charge of taking part in or supporting genocide.    Rwanda's crowded jails hold 130000 people awaiting genocide trials most of them Hutus imprisoned on charges relating to the government-organized slaughter of more than 500000 minority Tutsis in 1994.    To speed up trials and meet international justice standards the government announced it would release 31000 prisoners for lack of evidence. Many of those scheduled to be freed were detained on a simple accusation and have never been charged or questioned.    So far more than 350 people have been tried in connection with the genocide and at least 120 have been sentenced to death. Firing squads executed 22 people on April 24.    The nation's overburdened justice system is recovering from four years of civil war that killed or forced into exile many of the judges lawyers and court officials.    Critics say the authorities are setting free those who perpetrated the massacre but whose police files were lost due to negligence or malice.    Justice officials said they expected a number of those released to be rearrested if additional substantial evidence is brought against them.    In Arusha Tanzania the United Nations has been conducting separate trials of Rwandan genocide suspects.    The tribunal has 32 suspects in custody. Two have been sentenced to life in prison the maximum sentence the tribunal can impose. 
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<HTML>    LISBON Portugal AP  Standings in the Portuguese first-division soccer league after Monday's 13th-round games: Team            GP  W  D  L GF GA Pts FC Porto        13  9  2  2 31 13 29 Sporting        13  8  5  0 24  8 29 Boavista        13  8  4  1 22 10 28 Benfica         13  7  3  3 26 11 24 Leiria          13  7  3  3 15  9 24 Amadora         13  7  3  3 17 14 24 Salgueiros      13  4  6  3 16 17 18 Braga           13  4  4  5 18 23 16 Rio Ave         13  4  4  5 11 17 16 Setubal         13  4  3  6 12 19 15 Guimaraes       13  3  5  5 19 15 14 Farense         13  4  2  7 12 19 14 Alverca         13  2  7  4 10 16 13 Chaves          13  3  3  7 15 24 12 Beira Mar       13  2  6  5  8 14 12 Maritimo        13  1  6  6 12 17  9 Campomaiorense  13  2  3  8 13 25  9 Academica       13  2  3  8 14 24  9    cp
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<HTML>    ROCKVILLE Maryland AP  Mike Tyson pleaded no contest Tuesday to misdemeanor assault a decision that could return the former heavyweight champion to prison.    Although the plea to the two counts is not an admission of guilt Tyson faces up to 20 years in prison  10 years on each count  when he is sentenced early next year by a Maryland judge. He also could be fined up to dlrs 2500 on each count.    The charges stem from an Aug. 31 traffic accident in Montgomery County Md. involving Tyson's wife Monica. Tyson was accused of kicking and punching two motorists after the accident.    ``You understand that this plea could affect your parole'' Judge Steven Johnson told Tyson before accepting his plea.    ``I'm truly aware of that'' said Tyson who was released from prison in 1995 after serving three years of six-year sentence for a 1992 rape conviction in Indiana.    Tyson who is scheduled to fight Francois Botha on Jan. 16 would not discuss his case outside court.    It will be up to Indiana authorities to decide whether the no-contest pleas violated his probation.    By late Tuesday afternoon Marion County Indiana Superior Court Judge Patricia Gifford had not heard from probation officials about Tyson her clerk Becky Wagner said. She said probation officials would decide whether to request a violation hearing for Tyson.    George Walker chief probation officer for Marion County was out of the office until Wednesday.    Tyson told Johnson he did not expect leniency or a lighter sentence in return for entering the no-contest pleas.    The prosecutor urged that jail time be included in the punishment.    ``The state opposes any probation before judgment'' said Assistant State's Attorney Carol Crawford.    Tyson's lawyer Paul Kemp said the plea was an appropriate resolution to the case.    ``Mr. Tyson certainly concedes that things occurred that were inappropriate'' Kemp said.    Following the August accident Abmielec Saucedo and Richard Hardick said Tyson attacked them. They have reached a settlement with Tyson to avoid a civil suit.    Kemp said Saucedo and Hardick are prepared to testify at sentencing that they support Tyson's no-contest plea.    ``He does not admit to intentionally striking anyone when this incident occurred'' Kemp said.    Kemp told the judge that Tyson became angry when neither Hardick nor Saucedo expressed concern for his wife who was driving when the accident occurred.    Kemp admitted that Hardick was struck with a glancing blow and Saucedo was inadvertently kicked as the boxer was restrained by his wife and bodyguard.    Tyson is undergoing psychiatric treatment one of the conditions that led to reinstatement of his boxing license by the Nevada Athletic Commission in October. The license was revoked after he bit champion Evander Holyfield's ears during a June 1997 title bout. 
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<HTML>    DURBAN South Africa AP  A Cabinet minister in President Nelson Mandela's government on Tuesday told a human rights panel how he organized vigilante groups to protect supporters of the African National Congress.    But Jeff Radebe minister of public works told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that he had little control over the groups' actions once they were armed.    More than 5000 people died in clashes between the so-called self-defense units and Zulu nationalists of the Inkatha Freedom Party Zulu in the several years before 1994 elections ended apartheid.    Radebe is seeking amnesty for his role in organizing the units which mainly operated in KwaZulu-Natal from 1990-1994. He is the first ANC Cabinet minister to appear at a public amnesty hearing.    ``This place was in flames. Almost every Saturday I used to bury comrades'' Radebe said.    Radebe claimed in his amnesty application that no one died as a result of his actions.    Local ANC supporters of the minister greeted him as he entered the hearing room and snickered at questions posed by a lawyer for the Inkatha party.    Radebe's amnesty hearing was held in Durban the major city of KwaZulu-Natal which is located on the Indian Ocean.    A number of top-ranking ANC government officials including Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and Justice Minister Dullah Omar applied for amnesty in a last-minute submission before the deadline last year.    They were among 37 ANC officials who were granted blanket amnesty by the committee last year.    The amnesty was withdrawn after a court challenge by the opposition National Party claiming the decision violated the requirement that applicants name specific crimes.    The officials had claimed only broad political responsibility for actions taken during the anti-apartheid struggle.    It is not clear when or if their amnesty applications will be heard.    Radebe applied for amnesty separately from the 37 officials.    The Truth Commission in October released a report assigning major blame for human rights violations to the National Party apartheid's architect. But it also cited the ANC for excesses.    The commission has the power to grant amnesty to those who confess to specific crimes and can demonstrate a political motive  a process expected to last well into next year as decisions are made on over 7000 amnesty applications.    pr/djw
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<HTML>    HAINES CITY Florida AP  First round scores Tuesday from the Senior PGA Tour national qualifying tournament played at the 6995-yard 6365-meter par 72 36-36 Grenelefe Golf Resort West Course. Eight players will receive full exemptions for the 1999 season and the players finishing nine through 16 will receive conditional playing privileges. John D. Morgan 34-3367 Allen Doyle 33-3467 Alberto Giannone 31-3667 Jim Thorpe 34-3367 Howard Twitty 32-3668 Dan Wood 34-3569 Barney Thompson 34-3569 Bruce Lehnhard 32-3769 Jim Barker 35-3469 Bruce Fleisher 32-3769 Tom McGinnis 36-3470 Tony Peterson 36-3470 George Yokoi 35-3570 Bob Lendzion 35-3570 Babe Hiskey 37-3471 Fritz Gambetta 34-3771 Fred Gibson 36-3571 John Brodie 37-3572 Tom Knapp 36-3672 Noel Ratcliffe 38-3472 Jesse Patino 37-3572 Glen Stubblefield 36-3672 Bill Lytle 37-3572 Ron Parsons 34-3872 Bob Wynn 35-3772 Bobby Cole 37-3572 Ron Benson 36-3672 Kikuo Arai 36-3672 Jay Horton 36-3672 Gary McCord 36-3672 Bobby Stroble 38-3573 Rick Talt 37-3673 Roy Vucinich 35-3873 Randy Petri 37-3673 Mike Joyce 35-3873 Bob E. Smith 36-3773 Allen Miller 37-3673 Mike Morley 36-3773 Tommy Price 35-3873 Rik Massengale 37-3673 Ed Dougherty 37-3673 Hiro Kazami 36-3773 Buzz Thomas 35-3873 Vic Lipscomb 37-3673 Eddie Polland 36-3874 John Schroeder 35-3974 David Ojala 35-3974 Steve Veriato 36-3874 Bill Thorpe 39-3574 J.R. Morgan 40-3474 Horacio Carbonetti 37-3774 Carl Lohren 37-3774 Roger Kennedy 37-3774 Jim Holtgrieve 37-3774 Will Sowles 38-3674 Bob Panasik 38-3674 Kurt Cox 38-3674 Paul Reed 35-4075 Tony Perla 40-3575 Don Dodgen 38-3775 Steve Heckel 38-3775 J.C. Goosie 36-3975 Jim Wilkinson 36-3975 John Grace 36-3975 Ted Hayes 37-3875 Robert Gaona 36-3975 Wally Kuchar 38-3775 Glenn MacDonald 36-3975 Bill Brask 38-3775 Mike Malone 35-4075 Bob Leaver 36-3975 Mark Plymale 36-4076 Michael Zinni 39-3776 David Creamer 38-3876 John Gentile 40-3676 David Oakley 37-3976 Greg Edwards 39-3776 T.R. Jones 37-3976 Jimmy Adams 36-4076 Harry Toscano 38-3876 Kaz Okaniwa 38-3876 Gary Klahn 40-3676 Chuck Milne 38-3876 Jack Slocum 39-3776 Chuck Lindley 38-3876 G.W. Malm 38-3876 Peter Oosterhuis 39-3877 Chuck Moran 39-3877 Pat O'Brien 40-3777 Ozzie Carlson 40-3777 Chuck Davis 41-3677 Billy King 38-3977 Blair Lacy 40-3777 Jeff Van Wagenen 38-3977 Larry Laoretti 37-4178 John Lister 39-3978 Dean Overturf 38-4078 Jack Lewis 40-3878 John Calabria 40-3878 Bill Kennedy 40-3878 Dick McLean 39-4079 Randy Erskine 38-4179 Jim Hays 41-3879 Bill Hall 39-4079 Chuck Thorpe 38-4179 Wes Smith 41-3879 Geoff Parslow 39-4079 Don Klenk 39-4079 Wayne Wright 40-4181 
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<HTML>    NEW YORK AP  Locked-out National Basketball Association players felt another squeeze on their wallets Tuesday before a glimmer of hope suddenly emerged.    Collective bargaining talks on hold for nearly two weeks will resume Thursday in New York with ``everything back on the table'' deputy commissioner Russ Granik said.    Commissioner David Stern and union director Billy Hunter spoke by telephone and agreed to a session involving the owners' and players' full negotiating committees  the first since Nov. 20.    ``Billy called David and it was agreed that there are no deal-killers or other preconditions. Neither side is now committed to anything and whatever was put on the table at the last meeting is now undone'' Granik said.    Talks originally were scheduled to resume last weekend but the sides found themselves arguing over what was agreed to in the Nov. 20 session and whether there would be preconditions for a resumption.    Owners are again asking for a 50-50 split and the players are asking for 60 percent of revenues. Each side had moved three percentage points in the Nov. 20 meeting.    ``We're back where we started'' Granik said. ``We agree we're better off meeting than not meeting.''    As the lockout moved into its sixth month players missed their second payday.    For stars like union president Patrick Ewing who was due to earn dlrs 18 million this season that meant another lost dlrs 900000 check.    ``The unprepared players are the ones who are getting hurt'' said Eric Snow of the Philadelphia 76ers who should have had about dlrs 35000 directly deposited into his bank account. ``If you paid attention to the threats you planned ahead and saved more money than you ever thought you'd have needed.''    Snow took his agent's advice and salted away as much of last season's dlrs 700000 salary as possible. His pay was supposed go up to dlrs 840000 this season but the length of the lockout means he'll lose at least one-third of it.    Snow figures he can make it another few months before deciding whether to liquidate some of his investments or take out a loan to meet his living expenses. Meantime he's knows he might never recoup the money he's losing.    ``It's a big bite but you hope the sacrifice is substantially worth it in the end'' Snow said. ``You take a hit now and hope it benefits you later.''    Snow's salary is actually small by NBA standards falling below the average salary of about dlrs 2.4 million and the median of about dlrs 1.2 million.    Since the season won't start until January at the earliest players also will miss checks Dec. 15 and Jan. 1.    Of the approximately dlrs 1 billion players were supposed to earn this season more than dlrs 300 million has been lost. 
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<HTML>    ARLINGTON Texas AP  Rafael Palmeiro is coming back to Texas.    The free agent first baseman and the Rangers agreed to a dlrs 45 million five-year contract on Tuesday five years after Texas signed Will Clark and let Palmeiro go to Baltimore.    Palmeiro who played for Texas from 1989-93 was a fan favorite during his first stint in Arlington.    But he was finished in Texas the day Clark signed a five-year dlrs 30 million deal with the Rangers. Palmeiro ended up getting an almost identical deal in Baltimore.    His departure was a bitter one with Palmeiro criticizing the Rangers' desire to win a World Series and telling a newspaper that Clark a teammate at Mississippi State had undercut him.    ``That's Will'' Palmeiro told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram at the time. ``That's the way he is. He's got no class. Friendship didn't matter to him. ... He's a low-life.''    Palmeiro also blasted Rangers management including President Tom Scheiffer who remains with the team.    Palmeiro who had just finished his best season in Texas with a .295 average 37 homers and 105 RBIs flourished with the Orioles and he always seemed to punish Texas pitchers. He hit .296 this year with 43 homers and 121 RBIs leading Baltimore in homers hits 183 and RBIs.    His return to Texas gives the Rangers something they have sorely lacked  power from the left side of the plate. Palmeiro will be able to take advantage of the short right-field porch at The Ballpark something Clark rarely seemed able to do here.    This time it's Clark's turn to look for another team.    ``We had initial interest from a number of teams but we had focused our attention on Texas which was Will's first choice'' said Clark's agent Jeff Moorad. ``At this point we'll go back to the other teams that have expressed interest and continue this game of musical chairs.''    While Moorad wouldn't say what teams he has talked to the Boston Red Sox and Orioles are said to be interested in Clark.    Palmeiro according to a pair of baseball sources turned down a dlrs 50 million five-year offer from Baltimore agreeing to a contract that calls for yearly salaries of dlrs 9 million including dlrs 1 million per season deferred.    Baltimore had been eager to bring Palmeiro back. The Orioles who signed Albert Belle to a dlrs 65 million five-year contract Tuesday also have lost Roberto Alomar Eric Davis and Alan Mills to free agency. 
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<HTML>    KUPANG Indonesia AP  Christian mobs burned two houses a car and a motorcycle Tuesday on the second day of unrest in a provincial capital of Indonesia where rioters had already burned and ransacked 15 mosques.    In a separate outburst of religious violence Muslim crowds set afire two homes used for Christian worship as well as a shop and a cinema on Java Indonesia's main island.    The riots raised fears that tit-for-tat attacks on places of worship will escalate in the world's most populous Muslim nation which is already enduring severe economic and political turmoil.    ``We condemn all burning of houses of God'' President B.J. Habibie said Tuesday. ``We condemn it whether it is the burning of churches or mosques or Buddhist temples or whatever.''    On Tuesday frightened Muslims with sickles and swords guarded their homes and mosques in the Christian-dominated city of Kupang the capital of East Nusa Tenggara province.    Thousands of people many of them armed roamed the streets and attacked several buildings. However heavy rain doused fires set by arsonists and the military reported calm by the afternoon.    ``I feel very sad and shocked'' said Kamtina Ibrahim a 26-year-old Muslim woman standing in front of the main mosque in the city of 120000. Stone-throwing rioters had pushed down the doors and shattered most of the windows.    The attacks on Kupang's mosques on Monday were in retaliation for the burning and ransacking of 22 churches by Muslim mobs in Jakarta on Nov. 22 when 14 people were killed some hacked to death.    In apparent revenge two private houses where Christians worshipped were set afire early Tuesday in Banjarsari 155 miles 250 kilometers southeast of Jakarta the military said.    About 90 percent of Indonesia's 202 million people are Muslims with the rest following Christian Hindu Buddhist or other faiths. Some cities in the sprawling archipelago nation have Christian majorities.    Many army reinforcements had rushed to Kupang from the nearby territory of East Timor where separatist rebels have been fighting the Indonesian military since 1975.    Police said they had detained alleged instigators of the riots the official Antara news agency reported. Authorities did not say how many people were being questioned.    Muhammad Djaffar chairman of the local mosque council said 15 mosques were burned or vandalized Monday in Kupang 1875 kilometers 1172 miles southeast of Jakarta.    Crowds also burned down a market a Muslim school and a hostel for Islamic pilgrims. Several other small places of Islamic worship as well as dozens of shops belonging to migrants from other islands were also set on fire.    Djaffar criticized the security forces saying they reacted slowly to the unrest and showed little desire to confront the mobs. There were no reports of arrests.    ``They seemed very calm while the rioters torched and pelted the mosques with stones'' Djaffar said.    The military its credibility sagging because of its involvement in alleged human rights abuses has been overstretched as it tries to keep order in the turbulent Southeast Asian nation.    Four mosques were burned and 13 people were injured said F.K. Lerik the Protestant mayor of Kupang. Air services to Kupang were canceled Tuesday because of security concerns.    Hoping to cool tensions Kupang's Roman Catholic Bishop Petrus Turang apologized for the burnings. Islamic leaders across the nation urged their followers not to retaliate with more violence.    Religious diversity based on a belief in God is enshrined in the national philosophy known as Pancasila adopted when Indonesia declared independence from Dutch colonial rule in 1945.    The upsurge in religious violence follows months of riots and protests in many parts of Indonesia.    Social tensions in Indonesia fueled by widespread unemployment have intensified amid the worst economic crisis in decades.    There is also political turmoil as students protesters demand greater democracy after 32 years of authoritarian rule by former President Suharto who was forced to quit following deadly riots in May.
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<HTML>    BRUSSELS Belgium AP  France's oil giant Total SA will take over Belgium's Petrofina SA the companies announced Tuesday merging into the world's fifth largest oil company.    The announcement comes the same day that Exxon and Mobil created the world's largest oil company in a record dlrs 77.2 billion merger.    ``The move is part of a global change oil prices have practically been cut in half over the past year. All companies are seeking to survive in this new situation'' said Total Chairman Thierry Desmarest. ``The business environment will be tougher than in past years.''    The new company known as Total Fina would be the third-largest oil company in Europe and the fifth largest overall. It will seek to be listed on the Paris Brussels New York and London stock exchanges a joint statement said.    Employment totals would remain largely unchanged with 69100 people working for the new group officials from the two companies said.    ``The combination of Total and Petrofina will allow the new entity to capture substantial productivity gains particularly in the North Sea and to expand its positions in the deep offshore United States Angola'' a joint statement said.    The deal to create Total Fina is based on a stock swap that gives Total control of 41 percent of Petrofina Belgium's largest industrial company. The remainder of Petrofina's shares will be bid on at a later date company officials said.    A combined general meeting of shareholders has been called for Jan. 14 to approve the agreement.    Petrofina which employs 14700 people worldwide is one of Belgium's biggest industrial companies with refining and distribution operations in Europe and the United States.    Total SA employs 54400 and is France's No. 2 oil company but has recently expanded its crude oil and gas businesses.    Investors on the Paris stock exchange reacted skeptically to the new merger. Total shares took a big hit falling 11 percent 79 French francs dlrs 13.8 Tuesday and stood at 626 French francs dlrs 109.8 in afternoon trading.    Petrofina in Brussels was up 20.4 percent in late afternoon trading winning 2900 Belgian francs dlrs 83 and stood at 17150 Belgian francs dlrs 491.    Before the deal was announced the two companies had stock worth 1391 billion Belgian francs dlrs 39.9 billion.    Petrofina stock has been gaining ground in recent days on rumors that the company was in talks with France's Elf Aquitaine SA Total SA and Italy's ENI SpA.    Petrofina's stock stood at 14250 francs dlrs 407.9 Friday before trading was suspended Monday. The deal valued the stock at 19.482 francs dlrs 557.7  an increase of more than one-third.    ``We have to recognize that the value today is higher than what we could get as a stand-alone company in the medium term'' said Francois Cornelis head of Petrofina. 
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<HTML>    NEW YORK AP  Another wild day in U.S. baseball's offseason marketplace left half a dozen big names on new teams.    After Rafael Palmeiro went back to Texas Otis Nixon returned to Atlanta and Albert Belle formalized his deal with Baltimore the New York Mets Los Angeles Dodgers and Orioles pulled off a surprising three-way trade.    When the wheel stopped spinning Tuesday night New York had acquired outfielder Roger Cedeno from the Dodgers and reliever Armando Benitez from the Orioles Baltimore got catcher Charles Johnson and Los Angeles wound up with catcher Todd Hundley and minor league pitcher Arnold Gooch.    In addition it appeared the Mets also had reached agreement with third baseman Robin Ventura with the team refusing to confirm or deny whether a deal had been completed.    The big money deals Palmeiro dlrs 45 million for five years and Belle dlrs 65 million for five years were overshadowed by the big three-way trade a rarity in baseball's free-agent era.    First the Mets sent Hundley and Gooch to the Dodgers for Johnson and Cedeno and then they sent Johnson to Baltimore for Benitez.    ``It is a bittersweet day in Mets history with Todd Hundley leaving the organization'' Mets general manager Steve Phillips said. ``We feel we've added in Armando Benitez one of the best power pitchers in the game and somebody who will give us a completely different look in the bullpen.''    Hundley who is to be paid dlrs 5.2 million next season and dlrs 6 million in 2000 became expendable after New York kept Mike Piazza with a dlrs 91 million seven-year deal in October.    Hundley struggled last season after returning from the disabled list in July following reconstructive surgery on his right elbow at the end of the 1997 season.    He hit just .161 with three homers 12 RBIs and 55 strikeouts in 124 at-bats limiting his trade value. Before the injury Hundley was one of the most feared hitters in the league.    Hundley a 29-year-old switch-hitter set a big-league record for homers by a catcher in 1996 hitting 41 to surpass Roy Campanella's 43-year-old standard. Hundley also hit .259 and drove in 112 runs that year.    Benitez gives the Mets added depth in their bullpen. He went 5-6 with a 3.82 ERA and 22 saves last season for Baltimore. He will most likely be the right-handed setup man for closer John Franco.    Johnson 27 came to the Dodgers along with Gary Sheffield Bobby Bonilla Jim Eisenreich and a minor league pitcher for Piazza and third baseman Todd Zeile last May 15. Piazza was traded to the Mets a week later.    Johnson played in 133 games with the Marlins and Dodgers last season and hit just .218 with 19 homers and 58 RBIs.    The 24-year-old Cedeno a switch hitter long considered a top prospect played in 105 games for the Dodgers last season and hit .242 with two homers and 17 RBIs.    Before the big trade Palmeiro returned to Texas the team he left after the 1993 season to sign a dlrs 30.35 million five-year contract with Baltimore.    Palmeiro turned down a dlrs 50 million five-year offer to remain with the Orioles instead going to the Ballpark in Arlington on Tuesday  without his agent  and accepting a deal that includes yearly salaries of dlrs 9 million of which dlrs 1 million a season will be deferred.    His decision ends the Texas career of Will Clark who replaced him five years ago and now seems headed to Baltimore or Boston.    Atlanta which also re-signed infielder Ozzie Guillen to a two-year contract brought back Nixon who played for the Braves from 1991-93 and turns 40 in January. The Braves apparently will attempt to trade Ryan Klesko leaving Nixon in a crowded outfield that includes free-agent signee Brian Jordan and returnees Andruw Jones and Gerald Williams. 
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<HTML>    BRUSSELS Belgium AP  With just a month to go before the launch of the euro European Union finance ministers reached an 11th-hour agreement Tuesday on who should speak for the single-currency bloc on the world stage.    The agreement resolved months of deadlock between big and small euro-zone nations over representation of the 11-nation currency bloc at the G-7 group of world economic powers and other international bodies.    Under the compromise the euro-zone's three existing G-7 nations - Germany France and Italy - keep their seats and will take turns to represent the bloc. Smaller nations will get to sit alongside them at G-7 meetings when they hold the rotating euro-zone presidency.    German Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine will therefore speak for the euro-zone for the first six months of 1999 to be joined by his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niniisto for second half of the year.    Wim Duisenberg president of the new European Central Bank will get a G-7 seat. But the EU's executive Commission will offered only a ``technical support'' role.    The launch of the euro as the shared currency of 11 EU nations on Jan. 1 will create a single bloc that will rival the United States and Japan as a global economic power.    But while U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Japanese Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa can always get on the phone to discuss the world economic situation nobody was sure whom to call when they want to speak to the euro-bloc.    The rotating system of euro-zone presidencies should go some way to meeting that need. The deal is set to be confirmed by EU leaders at their year-end summit next week in Vienna. Details of how the euro-zone will be represented at the International Monetary Fund and other world bodies are also expected to be finalized in the Austrian capital.    There was no immediate reaction from other G-7 nations  the United States Japan and Canada  who must agree to the proposal. Lafontaine is scheduled to present the proposal at a meeting with Rubin and Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan Friday in Washington.    ``It was very important that we defined the rules before the end of the year'' said French Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn. ``I think the Americans will go along with it.''    If accepted the new system will be applied at a G-7 finance ministers and central bankers meeting Feb. 20 in Bonn Germany. Britain the EU's fourth G-7 member is staying out of the euro.    The EU ministers also called for an acceleration of efforts to close corporate tax loopholes that cost national treasuries billions of dollars in lost revenue. But differences remained over talk of a wider harmonization of tax policies.    Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown repeated British opposition to French and German suggestions of EU-wide tax levels. ``There is no reason why the single currency should mean the same tax rates across Europe'' he told reporters. 
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<HTML>    UDINE Italy AP  Argentine defender Mauro Esteban Navas scored the game winner in second-half injury time as Udinese downed Parma 3-2 in a first-leg game of the Italian Cup quarterfinals Tuesday night.    The powerful long-distance drive by Navas in the 92nd could not be stopped by Hernan Crespo Parma's Argentine striker who played the final minutes as keeper to substitute for injured goalie Matteo Guardalben.    Crespo had tallied Parma's 2-2 equalizer in the 76th minute before being forced between his team posts.    Guardalben could not be replaced by another keeper when he was injured in the 85th as Parma had already completed the allowed substitutions.    It was an unexpected loss for the Parma team which came from a 4-0 rout of AC Milan in a league match last Sunday. The home triumph vaulted Parma to second place in the Serie A standings.    Ghanian teenage star Stephan Appiah put Udinese in front with a right drive from 8 meters in the 39th minute at the Friuli stadium.    Argentine veteran striker Abel Balbo needed only two minutes to tie the score in the 41st on a perfect pass by teammate Diego Fuser.    Brazilian striker Amoruso who has tallied 8 goals in 11 league matches gave Udinese a 2-1 lead in the 46th with a precise diagonal shot.    Amoruso was warmly applauded by the partisan crowd as he left the field with a light chest bruise in the 65th.    Crespo rested for most of the game made it 2-2 minutes after entering the field and shortly before the unhappy end as a keeper.    The first-leg program of the Italian Cup continues Wednesday with second-division Atalanta hosting Serie A leader Fiorentina.    In a clash between soccer powerhouses Lazio takes on Internazionale of Milan at Rome's Olympic stadium Thursday.    Juventus plays Bologna on Jan. 13 in a match postponed for the Champions Cup commitments of the Turin team at Istanbul Wednesday.    Second-leg games are scheduled on Jan. 26.  UR; pv 
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<HTML>    MOSCOW AP  Polling stations will be heavily guarded during local elections in St. Petersburg on Sunday  a vote that is believed to have played a part in the recent slaying of a prominent liberal lawmaker.    Officials are also reporting multiple campaign violations as the election nears and two of the candidates have been formally accused of corruption.    Russian media and politicians have suggested that lawmaker Galina Starovoitova was killed to prevent her faction Northern Capital from making a strong showing in the election to the legislature in Russia's second-largest city.    Starovoitova was gunned down by unidentified assailants in her apartment building in St. Petersburg last week. Police have announced no major breakthroughs in the case.    Starovoitova was not on the ballot but was campaigning for her allies who have often spoken out against corruption.    The head of the Russian parliament's security committee Viktor Ilyukhin on Tuesday joined those linking the killing to Sunday's election.    ``Three or four crime rings in St. Petersburg largely control business and politics'' Ilyukhin was quoted as saying by the ITAR-Tass news agency.    On Sunday the 1500 polling stations in the city will be heavily guarded said a senior St. Petersburg police official Gen. Nikolai Fyodorov.    Police have also started intensifying security at public places around the city Fyodorov said Tuesday according to ITAR-Tass.    St. Petersburg is a particularly crime-ridden city even by Russian standards. Several prominent political and business leaders have been killed or attacked in there in recent weeks.    One candidate in Sunday's election former head of Russia's influential Property Committee and ex-parliament member Sergei Belyayev has been formally charged with corruption prosecutors said Tuesday.    Another businessman Alexander Moshkalov was detained on suspicion of extortion.    Vote rigging is also likely the head of Russia's Central Election Commission warned Tuesday.    ``Some cunning entrepreneurs have been collecting voter signatures to sell them to interested candidates'' Alexander Ivanchenko said.    The results of several recent local elections in Russia had to be canceled when winners were found to have criminal connections or criminal records.    ``Elections are turning into a low farce. Elections are turning into a dispute between big and very big money'' prominent liberal lawmaker Grigory Yavlinsky said Tuesday.    St. Petersburg governor Vladimir Yakovlev called on election officials Tuesday to tighten security for Sunday's vote and expressed concern over campaign violations ITAR-Tass said.    The Russian newspaper Noviye Izvestia printed transcripts last week of what it said were taped phone conversations linking Yakovlev and organized crime  and said Starovoitova had the tapes in her possession before she was killed. Yakovlev has refused to comment on the article.    Starovoitova's death had all the trademarks of a contract hit which have become common in Russia and are rarely solved. Many of the killings are related to business disputes but Starovoitova had no known business interests. She was also perhaps Russia's most prominent female political figure.    ad/adc    
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<HTML>    ADELAIDE Australia AP  As Australian golf's father figure Peter Thomson seemed a natural to captain the Down Under-dominated International team at next week's Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne.    But this week five-time British Open winner Thomson is taking the heat from a number of golfers at the Australian Open including Presidents Cup player Stuart Appleby of Australia over Thomson's design changes to Royal Adelaide.    ``I expected there will be controversy'' Thomson said Wednesday as Greg Norman playing his first 72-hole tournament since undergoing shoulder surgery eight months ago toured Royal Adelaide in advance of Thursday's opening round.    Thomson has added about 300 meters to the now par-72 6565-meter 7178-yard course grown out the rough and extended it further into the fairways and added 20 bunkers. Royal Adelaide's small greens have been left well small.    Norman was in a relaxed mood during his practice round Wednesday laughing with spectators despite swirling winds that made the course play difficult.    He's kept comments about the course to himself but his body language during Tuesday's pro-am indicated he wasn't happy. He appeared to be upset when after finishing pin-high down the left side of the green on the short par-4 third he found his ball submerged in knee-high rough and could only blast it into similar territory on the other side.    ``Where do you play to?'' he was heard to murmur to his caddie Tony Navarro.    Appleby said he could see no reason to change the course.    ``I don't know what was wrong with it'' said Appleby. ``There is a real fine line between pleasure and pain. You are going to see some pretty ugly shots.    ``We are now hitting four irons where we used to hit seven irons into some places'' added Appleby. ``Shots are longer but we are talking about green sizes that haven't changed. I've never seen a course become harder by so much.''    Local newspaper reports have one unnamed player suggesting that Thomson has ``lost his marbles'' while another is quoted he'll do the ``full monty''  strip naked  in front of the clubhouse if anyone in the field breaks par in all four rounds.    Thomson won three of his five British Opens at Royal Birkdale Royal Lytham and St. Anne's and he says it's only natural that he would lean towards seaside links in his course preference.    ``I didn't hear anyone complaining about Royal Birkdale Troon or Lytham'' said Thomson. ``That's because it's the British Open and you expect it. But why shouldn't we expect it at the Australian Open?''    Englishman Nick Faldo isn't complaining  he said he enjoyed the traditional touches of Scottish golf architect Alister Mackenzie who also designed Augusta National and Royal Melbourne. Thomson has tipped Faldo a winner of six majors as the likely Australian Open winner.    ``It's a fantastic course naturally challenging and full of wonderful Mackenzie bunkering'' Faldo said Wednesday.    U.S. Presidents Cup team members Fred Couples and John Huston are also in the Australian Open field along with other International members Craig Parry of Australia New Zealand's Frank Nobilo and Greg Turner and Paraguay's Carlos Franco.    Couples and Huston possible partners in the Presidents Cup played a leisurely practice round Wednesday morning. Couples watched in amazement on the par-4 sixth when gusty winds blew putt after practice putt away from the hole.    American Billy Mayfair had similar problems Wednesday.    ``There were a few times when I actually putted off the green'' said Mayfair. ``The balls were rolling all over the place and there are some subtle breaks. If someone can get it going with the putter they've definitely read the greens well.''    djp     
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<HTML>    World's largest mergers and acquisitions:    The values of pending deals are based on Monday's closing stock prices:    1. Exxon Corp. agrees to dlrs 77.2 billion merger with Mobil Corp. announced Tuesday. Pending.    2. Bell Atlantic Corp. to merge with GTE Corp. in deal valued at dlrs 72.6 billion announced July 28 1998. Pending.    3. SBC Communications Inc. announces plan to buy Ameritech Corp. for dlrs 69.9 billion in stock on May 11 1998. Pending.    4. British Petroleum PLC agrees to buy Amoco Corp. for dlrs 58.5 billion in stock announced Aug. 11 1998. Pending.    5. NationsBank Corp. and BankAmerica Corp. merge in a deal valued at dlrs 41.5 billion completed Sept. 30 1998.    6. WorldCom Inc. acquires MCI Communications Inc. for dlrs 37 billion completed Sept. 14 1998.    7. Travelers Group and Citicorp merge in a deal valued at dlrs 36.9 billion completed Oct. 7 1998.    8. Mitsubishi Bank and Bank of Tokyo agree to merger for dlrs 33.8 billion completed in 1996.    9 tie. Daimler-Benz merges with Chrysler Corp. in a stock swap valued at dlrs 32.8 billion completed Nov. 12 1998.    10 tie. AT and T Corp. agrees to buy Tele-Communications Inc. for dlrs 32.8 billion in stock announced June 24 1998. Pending. 
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<HTML>    WASHINGTON AP  Placido Domingo wants to film a favorite century-old French opera  ``The Tales of Hoffmann  based on the composer's original music which has been newly brought to light by an American musical sleuth.    ``I don't know if I'll sing 'Hoffmann' any more'' said Domingo who has played the role nearly 100 times. He said his next job probably would be to conduct the work. He is musical director of the Washington Opera as well as its star and recently took on the additional job of artistic director at the Los Angeles Opera.    But he doesn't want to abandon the Hoffmann role one of his favorites.    ``Maybe I'll do it'' he said ``because there's a possibility a strong possibility of doing it like I did with 'Tosca' on the original locations.'' Singing in a film can be less wearing than a live performance because it's done in bits and pieces.    Domingo starred in a film of the opera ``Tosca'' by Giacomo Puccini against the background of the tourist sites in Rome where the story takes place. ``The Tales of Hoffmann'' has scenes in German cities and climaxes with a wild party in a palazzo on a canal in Venice.    Five years ago Michael Kaye of Chevy Chase Maryland discovered 144 measures from the climactic fourth act of ``Hoffman'' in the handwriting of composer Jacques Offenbach. A French collection owns the manuscript.    ``It's got Offenbach's initials and the date just 10 days before he died'' Kaye said.    Last summer Kaye finally got permission to use the music after 12 years spent cobbling together improved versions from hundreds of pages of the composer's notes culled from European archives.    The new music will get its world premiere on Jan. 24 at the Hamburg State Opera in Germany.    Offenbach had done over 100 frothy musicals that suited the taste of Paris in the mid-1800s. But his last most ambitious work  ``The Tales of Hoffmann''  has become one of the world's most popular operas.    Offenbach died however while the first production was being rehearsed and numerous changes were made over the years in both the musical score and the text.    ``The Tales of Hoffmann'' is based on three fantastic tales by E.T.A. Hoffmann an influential German novelist of the early 1800s. In the opera the climactic scene of the standard version has Hoffmann's love Giulietta floating off in a gondola with a rival.    In recent years Kaye has helped restore the text which critics complained made no sense at many points. The new text was used in a production by the New York City Opera last spring: Hoffmann blinded by magic tries to stab Giulietta but kills his rival instead. The gondolas belong to guests at a party in her apartment.    But at that point the original music for the scene was still not available.    Among the many changes in the music over the years adapters had given the melody of the famous Barcarolle  heard in the popular Italian film ``Life Is Beautiful'  to the cellos. Kaye has put back the oboe clarinet and piccolo parts that Offenbach wrote perhaps to recall light glistening on the canals.    The newly available music includes the composer's own instrumentation the singers' parts and a piano version. Offenbach wrote the piano version first filling in the parts for the voices and instruments later.    Kaye 50 spent 10 years writing ``The Unknown Puccini'' which compiles songs that Puccini  composer of ``Tosca'' ``La Boheme'' and ``Madame Butterfly''  wrote in addition to his stage music. His next project: preparing the American premiere of Ottarino Respighi's opera ``Sleeping Beauty.''
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<HTML>    TOKYO AP  Prosecutors arrested the chairman of Fuji Heavy Industries Tuesday on suspicion of bribing a ruling party legislator for help in obtaining a defense contract Japanese media reports said.    Fuji Heavy Chairman Isamu Kawai 70 was arrested after prosecutors raided the company's headquarters to search for evidence Kyodo News reported.    Kawai and other top executives allegedly asked Yojiro Nakajima who has been arrested on separate charges for help in obtaining a contract to develop an amphibian airplane for Japan's Marine Self-Defense Forces.    The executives are suspected of bribing Nakajima while he was a parliamentary vice defense minister.    Prosecutors and company officials would not confirm the arrest.    Last week prosecutors arrested Yasuyuki Kogure 64 a former Fuji Heavy executive director on charges of giving 5 million yen dlrs 41000 in kickbacks to Nakajima.    Nakajima 39 a Liberal Democratic Party member of Parliament was arrested last month on charges of ordering false receipts made to account for missing party money. The arrest was unrelated to the Fuji Heavy Industries case.    Investigators also suspect money Fuji Heavy Industries gave to Nakajima was used to bribe other members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and his supporters in preparation for an election.    Fuji Heavy Industries maker of Subaru automobiles has said it donated 4 million yen dlrs 33000 to Nakajima since 1993 and bought 740000 yen dlrs 6115 worth of tickets for fund-raising parties for the lawmaker.    In a separate scandal involving the Defense Agency ministry officials are being investigated for allowing NEC Corp. inflate defense contract bills in exchange for executive posts for retiring bureaucrats.    Two Defense Agency officials have been indicted in the scandal as have a dozen employees at NEC and two of its subsidiaries.    Defense Minister Fukushiro Nukaga resigned last week to take responsibility for the scandal.    Japan's political world has been rocked by a series of corruption scandals in recent years that have exposed cozy ties between government officials and businesses.  UR; js
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<HTML>    LISBON Portugal AP  Results from the 13th round of the Portuguese first-division soccer league home teams listed first:  UR; Saturday's Game QC;     Sporting 2 Leiria 0  UR; Sunday's Games QC;     Farense 0 Maritimo 0    Amadora 2 Boavista 1    Chaves 1 Braga 2    Rio Ave 0 Alverca 0    Beira Mar 0 Guimaraes 0    Campomaiorense 0 Benfica 5  UR; Monday's Game QC;     Setubal 1 FC Porto 2  UR; Sunday Dec. 6 QC;     Maritimo vs. Campomaiorense    Guimaraes vs. Farense    Alverca vs. Beira Mar    Boavista vs. Rio Ave    Leiria vs. Amadora    Salgueiros vs. Sporting    Braga vs. Academica    FC Porto vs. Chaves    Benfica vs. Setubal    cp
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<HTML>    TURIN Italy AP  Juventus top manager Luciano Moggi on Tuesday defended as ``well-grounded'' the club decision to stay a single day in Istanbul for the politically-tinged Champions League match against Turkey's Galatasaray.    The Italian league champions who need a victory against the Turkish team to keep qualifying chances alive in the most titled European soccer competition decided to travel to Istanbul on match day Wednesday and return home immediately after the game.    UEFA Europe's soccer governing body which requires teams to arrive the day before European Cup matches was critical of Juventus decision.    ``Juventus feels there are well-grounded motives for failing to conform to UEFA directives'' said Moggi the general director of the Turin team which is owned by the Agnelli family of auto tycoons.    Juventus confirmed on Tuesday its travel plans for the match which was already postponed by one week after Italy's refusal to extradite a Kurdish rebel leader prompted anti-Italian demonstrations in Turkey.    Several Juventus players who had initially refused to travel to Instanbul bowed to the club decision to play Galatasaray but criticized the UEFA stand.    ``We have been forced to play a game conditioned by political motives'' said No. 1 keeper Angelo Peruzzi.    Team captain Antonio Conte said Tuesday that the Italian government and UEFA left the Italian team alone.    ``UEFA and the Italian government have claimed that there are no security problems in Istanbul ... but as far as we know no UEFA and government representatives will be in Istanbul Wednesday'' Conte told the Italian news agency ANSA.    Later however Italy's minister of sports and culture Giovanna Melandri said she was going to the game.    ``I'm convinced that sports must always and in any case represent a moment of encounter. I hope I'll be attending a great match'' Melandri was quoted as saying.    Another Italian minister holding the foreign trade portfolio also was planning to attend.    Anti-Italian sentiment in Turkey over the Ocalan issue raised fears among Italian business owners that Turks might boycott Italian goods.    pv-fd 
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<HTML>    JERUSALEM AP  A senior Palestinian official on Tuesday appealed to U.S. President Bill Clinton to resolve growing tensions over Israel's refusal to release jailed anti-Israel activists.    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he could not release prisoners who had been involved in attacks on Israelis. ``I will not back down on this'' he vowed.    The issue which has prompted clashes between stone-throwing Palestinian youths and Israeli soldiers is raising concern about an outbreak of violence in advance of Clinton's Dec. 12-15 visit to Israel and the Palestinian-ruled lands.    The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that Israeli security officials had urged Netanyahu to agree to free more Palestinian activists in order to prevent rioting.    Palestinians claim that Israel promised at the Wye River summit last month to free 750 prisoners from political factions such as Yasser Arafat's Fatah group. Israel released 250 prisoners last month but most were car thieves and petty crooks.    ``This deception is creating demonstrations anger and frustration in the Palestinian community'' Ahmed Tibi an adviser to Arafat told a Foreign Press Association news conference.    Demonstrations have been held almost daily in support of Palestinian prisoners with some of the anger turned on Yasser Arafat and his government.    On Tuesday protests were held in the West Bank town of Ramallah where several hundred demonstrators gathered and in the Gaza Strip where about 150 children called for the release of their fathers.    ``How can we live without our fathers?'' said Fidda Washah 16 who addressed the rally. Her father Jabar a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine faction has served 14 years of a life sentence for attacking Israeli soldiers.    Netanyahu said he would not release anyone ``with blood on their hands'' or members of the Islamic militant group Hamas.    ``The Palestinians are claiming falsely that I suggested somehow to free murders at Wye'' Netanyahu told reporters.    Israeli officials say only about 110 of the 2500 Palestinian activists behind bars could be let go in the next release scheduled to take place just after Clinton's visit.    Tibi who was spokesman for the Palestinian delegation at Wye Mills Md. said only about 300 of the Palestinians currently in jail had been involved in attacks that killed Israelis. The rest he described as ``political prisoners.''    He said about 1250 prisoners who were members of various PLO factions and the remainder belonged to Hamas.    ``We would very much like him Clinton to interfere in the issue of Palestinian prisoners'' said Tibi.    David Bar-Illan a senior adviser to Netanyahu said Israel would not agree to loosen the definition and free Palestinians involved in attacks that only injured Israelis.    ``We will not budge on this one'' Bar-Illan said adding Israel had freed more than 7000 prisoners over the past five years.    Palestinian officials called on residents of the West Bank to confront Israeli bulldozers that are expanding settlements or building roads to link Israeli-controlled areas of the West Bank and Israel.    ``Settlement activity should be resisted'' said Tibi. ``Settlers are public enemy No. 1 to Palestinians.''    Several members of the Palestinian legislative council are considering a boycott of Clinton's speech in Gaza City on Dec. 14 to show their anger over a failure by the United States to pressure Israel on the settlement and prisoner issues.    In traditionally Arab east Jerusalem meanwhile Israeli contractors bidding on the Har Homa Jewish housing project in visited the construction site where left-wing Israelis staged a protest. Police detained three demonstrators from the Peace Now group trying to disrupt the tour.    The Palestinians hope to establish a future capital in east Jerusalem. They say Har Homa is part of an Israeli plan to cut off the Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem from their hinterland in Bethlehem and the southern West Bank.  UR; nbt-kl 
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<HTML>    DURBAN South Africa AP  A Cabinet minister in President Nelson Mandela's government on Tuesday told a human rights panel how he organized vigilante groups to protect supporters of the African National Congress.    But Jeff Radebe minister of public works told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that he had little control over the groups' actions once they were armed.    More than 5000 people died in clashes between the so-called self-defense units and Zulu nationalists of the Inkatha Freedom Party Zulu in the several years before 1994 elections ended apartheid. Radebe contends no one died as a result of his actions.    ``This place was in flames. Almost every Saturday I used to bury comrades'' Radebe said.    Radebe is seeking amnesty for his role in organizing the units which mainly operated in KwaZulu-Natal from 1990-1994. He is the first ANC Cabinet minister to testify at a public amnesty hearing.    The orders to set up the units came from the head of the Communist Party the now-deceased Chris Hani and Ronnie Kasrils  currently deputy defense minister. The two men were top members of the ANC's armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe Spear of the Nation.    Umkhonto members helped train the units and often fought with them Radebe said. But there was no chain of command leading back to Umkhonto or the ANC central organization he said.    However he acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press ``that some of the comrades gravitated toward crime.''    As the elections approached in 1994 Radebe said he was ordered to disarm the units and integrate them into military and police structures.    But security analysts say this has not happened and that many members of the units are contributing to the country's soaring crime rate.    Radebe's amnesty hearing was held in Durban the main city of KwaZulu-Natal which is located on the Indian Ocean.    Top-ranking ANC government officials including Deputy President Thabo Mbeki and Justice Minister Dullah Omar applied for individual amnesties in last-minute submissions before the deadline last year.    They were among 37 ANC officials who had been granted blanket amnesty by the committee.    The blanket amnesty was withdrawn after a court challenge by the opposition National Party claiming the decision violated the requirement that applicants name specific crimes.    The officials had claimed only broad political responsibility for actions taken during the anti-apartheid struggle.    It is not clear when or if their amnesty applications will be heard.    Radebe applied for amnesty separately from the 37 officials. He said he and his party regret the excesses committed by the self-defense units.    ``I think as we are building a new democracy in South AFrica our people ... need to know the truth and to open the old wounds of the terrible time from 1990 to 1994.''    The Truth Commission in October released a report assigning major blame for human rights violations to the National Party apartheid's architect. But it also cited the ANC for excesses.    The commission has the power to grant amnesty to those who confess to specific crimes and can demonstrate a political motive  a process expected to last well into next year as decisions are made on over 7000 amnesty applications.    pr/djw
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<HTML>    UPPER MARLBORO Maryland AP  In the hallway outside the courtrooom Riddick Bowe and Chris Webber shook hands and wished each other the best.    It would have been a sure double-take for any sports fan who happened to be wandering down the second-floor hallway in the Prince George's County Courthouse on Monday. But there they were two famous athletes having to share a courthouse to answer accusations of violence.    Webber a Sacramento Kings forward was about to stand trial on charges of assaulting a police officer resisting arrest possession of marijuana and several other offenses. The judge spent the morning hearing a pretrial motion but the start of the actual trial was delayed because the same judge had to deal with Bowe a former heavyweight champion accused of assaulting his wife.    Bowe wasn't around very long. It only took Judge Hovey Johnson a few minutes to shelve the second-degree assault charge from August 1997 on the conditions that Bowe have no violent conduct with his wife and that he complete a 10-day psychiatric evaluation and any accompanying treatments.    Then Bowe emerged and encountered Webber. The two shook hands and exchanged a good-luck pats on the shoulder. Webber was impeccably dressed in a gray suit; Bowe wore blue jeans and a dark New York Yankees championship T-shirt half tucked in.    As jury selection began in Webber's case there were passing references to his celebrity status. About 90 percent of the jury pool said they had heard about the case but only four said the publicity would effect their judgement. One of the four after being dismissed turned and said ``Good luck Chris'' before leaving the courtroom.    The unusual Webber-Bowe docket didn't attract any sort of crowd. Maybe they were waiting for Tuesday when Webber's trial resumes and another former champ Mike Tyson appears in court in neighboring Montgomery County on charges he attacked two men after a traffic accident in August.
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<HTML>    SARAJEVO Bosnia-Herzegovina AP  A shipment of nine million newly minted coins reached Bosnia Tuesday to replace chewing gum and chocolate bars as the country's loose change.    The coins hot from London's Royal Mint are the first to reach Bosnia since the summer when the country introduced a new currency theKonvertibilna Marka. The currency valued at one German Mark dlrs 0.63 was issued only in bank notes until now.    Due to the lack of coinage Bosnian shops use chewing gum as ersatz 10 Fening coins and small chocolate bars to replace coins of 20 Fenings. There are 100 Fenings to the Marka.    ``We will waste no time in putting the coins into circulation ... so that people can feel them jingling in their pockets'' said Peter Nicholl the governor of Bosnia's Central Bank. ``A sound that symbolizes a solid future built on a sound currency.''    The first coin shipment totals 936000 Konvertibilna Marka.    The 10 20 and 50 Fening coins are to be put into general circulation in December.    While shops had given chewing gum and chocolate bars as small change they refused to accept them as payment for goods. Many customers are left with large candy stashes.    Bosnia's market used four different currencies up until this summer when the Kovertibilna Marka was launched. The Bosnian Serbs used the Yugoslav Dinar the Bosnian Croats the Croatian Kuna and the central Muslim-dominated parts their own money. The German Mark remains accepted everywhere.    acr/amb/gj 
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<HTML>    KIEV Ukraine AP  An International Monetary Fund mission arrived in Ukraine on Tuesday for a four-day visit to check whether the former Soviet republic was meeting conditions for the next tranche of a dlrs 2.2 billion loan.    The visit of the IMF team headed by Mohammed Shadman-Valavi follows that of another IMF delegation last month. That mission left without announcing whether Ukraine qualified for the next loan installment.    It also comes as the leftist-dominated parliament gears up for battles with the government over the Cabinet's 1999 budget draft which forecasts a slight economic growth and a tiny deficit  0.6 percent. The document is due to be discussed in the first reading this week.    Many in parliament want more spending on social needs which might not be to the IMF's liking.    The IMF suspended cooperation with Ukraine last spring to show displeasure with the country's slow pace of economic reforms. But in September the fund announced that it was satisfied with Cabinet's reform steps and approved the three-year aid package of dlrs 2.2 billion.    Kiev already has received about dlrs 340 million of the loan. Approval of each new installment is conditioned on Ukraine's sticking to its projected budget deficit inflation and foreign currency reserves.    The IMF has expressed concerns over the government's persistent failure to raise enough budget revenues and said reforms in the key sectors of economy  energy and agriculture  and administrative reform were going too slowly.    The fund has also sharply criticized Ukraine's proposals to print money to pay off some government debts.    Ukraine's government is caught in a vicious circle of non-payments. It is owed over 9 billion hryvna dlrs 2.6 billion in unpaid taxes while its own debt in unpaid pensions and wages totals more than 3 billion hryvna dlrs 875 million.    IMF officials say Ukraine's overall economic situation has become more complex since the loan was approved.    They have noted that the credibility of Ukraine's financial market has been undermined by the economic crisis in Russia and Ukraine's economic development could slow with a possible gross domestic product decline.    Ukrainian leaders meanwhile have urged the fund to soften its lending conditions especially those concerning tax collection and social welfare payments saying the cash-poor government was unlikely to implement them.    Still Ukraine's National Bank chairman Viktor Yushchenko voiced hopes last week that the talks would be successful adding that the sides were working on possible revisions to the loan deal.    Ukraine maintains it needs foreign aid to repay a mounting foreign debt before it can improve tax collection and introduce reforms needed to boost economic growth.    sms/adc 
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<HTML>    JERUSALEM AP  The political consultant who engineered Bill Clinton's come-from-behind victory in the 1992 presidential race hopes to do the same for the Israeli opposition leader.    Campaign adviser James Carville will arrive in Israel next month to talk strategy with Ehud Barak a former armed forces chief of staff and leader of the opposition Labor Party.    Barak has failed to pull ahead in the polls despite the repeated scandals that have tarnished Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.    Carville will work with pollster Stanley Greenberg and media specialist Robert Shrum.    The three have contributed to the successful campaigns of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Barak spokeswoman Aliza Goren.    ``We have hired this team because we are very serious about winning the elections'' Goren said.    She said Israeli Labor Party officials also have met with their counterparts in Germany and Britain to look at campaign strategies there.    The next elections are scheduled for 2000 but Netanyahu's coalition is shaky and there is a growing possibility that a vote might be held as early as spring or summer.    Hard-liners have been threatening to leave Netanyahu's government over the land-for-security agreement with the Palestinians. Such a defection would rob Netanyahu of his majority in parliament.    Without such a majority Netanyahu would either have to call early elections or try to bring other parties into his coalition.    Netanyahu has relied on his own U.S. consultant Arthur Finkelstein who helped him narrowly defeat incumbent Prime Minister Shimon Peres in the 1996 elections.    Finkelstein has worked for some of America's top conservative politicians including Sen. Jesse Helms a Republican from North Carolina and Sen. Alfonse D'Amato a New York Republican.    Netanyahu has flown Finkelstein to Israel several times to advise him in times of political crises.    In a heated debate July in parliament Barak accused Netanyahu of being politically out of touch and having to rely on American spin doctors for direction.    ``Rather than calling Finkelstein we should think for ourselves and take the path of peace and security'' Barak said at the time.    Netanyahu replied that Barak also relied on U.S. advisers and mentioned Greenberg.
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<HTML>    WORLD SPORTS AT 1400 GMT  UR; SOCCER:    TOKYO  Spanish striker Raul Gonzalez scores with eight minutes remaining and givese Real Madrid a 2-1 victory over Brazil's Vasco da Gama on Tuesday for its first Toyota Cup title since 1960.    Slug Sports-Soccer-Toyota Cup. Has moved; UPDATE with details quotes expected by 1500 GMT.    GENEVA  Europe's top clubs meet with UEFA to discuss the financial shape of the revamped Champions League and the format of the new-look UEFA Cup.    Slug Sports-Soccer-UEFA-Competitions. Expected by 1900 GMT.    MILAN - Internazionale of Milan signs Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu through the end of the Serie A campaign to replace Gigi Simoni unexpectedly fired following consecutive wins but questionable play by the Milan soccer powerhouse.    Slug Sports-Soccer-Inter-Lucescu. Expected by 1600 GMT.    ISTANBUL Turkey  Authorities assign more than 20000 policemen to a politically charged Champions League match Wednesday pitting Juventus of Italy against Turkey's Galatasaray.    Slug Sports-Soccer-Galatasaray-Juventus. Has moved.    By Selcan Hacaoglu.    WITH:     NYON Switzerland  Sports-Soccer-UEFA-Juventus. Has moved.    LONDON  Player-manager Gianluca Vialli who has scored five goals in Chelsea's last two League Cup games is expected to put himself back in the starting lineup for Tuesday night's quarterfinal game against Wimbledon.    Slug Sports-Soccer-British Roundup. Expected by 2200 GMT.    ALSO:     UDINE Italy  Sports-Soccer-Italian Cup. Expected by 2200 GMT.  UR; CRICKET:    LONDON  Newspapers heap criticism on England's cricket team after its humiliation in the second Test of the Ashes series in Australia.    Slug Sports-Cricket-England Reacts. Expected by 1500 GMT.  UR; CYCLING:    LILLE France  Medical tests suggest that cyclists on the Festina team expelled from the Tour de France this summer took banned drugs the French judge investigating the case said Tuesday.    Slug Sports-Cycling-Doping. Has moved.  UR; AUTO RACING:    INDIANAPOLIS  The Indianapolis Motor Speedway once the exclusive domain of the Indianapolis 500 is expected to add a Formula One race in 2000.    Slug Sports-Car Racing-Indy-Formula One. Expected by 1600 GMT.    By Steve Herman.  UR; GOLF:    ADELAIDE Australia  The Australian Golf Union AGU says England's Lee Westwood has added injury to insult after deciding not to defend his Australian Open title then sending back the trophy damaged.    Slug Sports-Golf-Australian Open-Westwood. Has moved.  UR; ASIAN GAMES:    BANGKOK Thailand  Inauguration of the main media center for the 13th Asian Games was postponed Tuesday because the facilities weren't ready the latest blow to the hopes of host country Thailand that everything will run smoothly.    Slug Sports-Asian Games-Vexed Venues. Has moved.    By Thaksina Khaikaew.  UR; ALSO:     HOUSTON  Sports-Gymnastics-Gymnast vs Parents. By Pauline Arrillaga. Has moved.     MONTREAL  Sports-Ice Hockey-NHL Roundup. Has moved.     SAN FRANCISCO  Sports-Football-NFL Roundup. Has moved.    YOUR QUERIES: Sports stories carry the ``s'' category code or in some cases the ``i'' category code. Questions and story requests are welcome. Contact your local AP bureau or the AP International Desk in New York telephone 1 212-621-1650 fax 1 212-621-5449. 
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<HTML>    Boeing to cut up to 48000 jobs by end of 2000. 
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<HTML>    MILAN Italy AP  Telecom Italia SpA said Tuesday that its board has given its new chief executive a mandate to conduct broad-based negotiations for the development of a digital platform.    Later the Italian news agency AGI reported that Telecom will likely reach an agreement for a digital television platform by Christmas.    No one at Telecom Italia was immediately available to comment.    Telecom Italia would only say that Franco Bernabe who took up his post last week will be spearheading the company's efforts to form an alliance for satellite digital television.    Last week the chairman and chief executive of News Corp. Rupert Murdoch said that News Corp. was close to signing a digital television agreement with Telecom Italia that would create a company to compete with Telepiu the pay-TV unit that is 90 percent controlled by Canal Plus SA.    dj-fd 
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<HTML>    BAGHDAD Iraq AP  Iraq on Monday denied it tried to buy prohibited missile technology in Romania but admitted sending a team to that country to settle ``outstanding matters'' relating to an old contract.    The team also was interested in ``some forging and precision-casting technologies'' for short-range missiles that Iraq is allowed to produce by the U.N. Security Council Lt. Gen. Amer al-Saadi a top adviser to President Saddam Hussein told reporters.    He was commenting on a report Monday by the Cable News Network that Iraqi missile experts escorted by Iraqi secret police went to Bucharest to negotiate the purchase of guidance equipment for banned long-range missiles.    The report is ``regrettably tendentious baseless and full of distortions as part of the hostile media campaign against Iraq'' al-Saadi said.    Iraq has over the years claimed that is has ended all programs to build mass destruction weapons as required by Security Council resolutions adopted after the 1991 Gulf War which ended Iraq's occupation of Kuwait.    However the Iraqi claims are disputed by the U.N. Special Commission which is responsible for dismantling its chemical and biological weapons and missiles with a range more than 150 kilometers 93 miles.    Until UNSCOM gives Iraq a clean bill of health the Security Council will not lift U.N. economic sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.    Al-Saadi said an Iraqi team did travel to Romania in May this year ``but not for the purpose of obtaining prohibited material or technology.''    ``The purpose was to settle outstanding matters regarding a contract made in 1995 for materials which was known to UNSCOM and were subjected to ongoing monitoring by them'' he said.    Al-Saadi is widely believed to be the mastermind of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons program.    According to CNN the Iraqi purchase in Bucharest was blocked because spy agencies from the United States and two other countries which were not identified uncovered the potential deal and monitored the Iraqis' two-week visit.    CNN on Tuesday stood by its report which had quoted unnamed sources and Scott Ritter an American ex-Marine who resigned as an UNSCOM member in August after complaining that the U.S. government was not being tough enough with Iraq.    Al-Saadi said UNSCOM was fully aware at the time that Iraq had a legal project to develop short-range missiles and that UNSCOM has constantly monitored and witnessed static and flight tests.    ``Scott Ritter ... is now trying to portray himself as a Rambo style hero for personal reasons and to serve Israeli objectives'' al-Saadi said.    Also Tuesday the spokeswoman for the U.N. weapons inspectors said the United Nations has brought its complement of 120 weapons inspectors in Iraq up to full strength.    The inspectors returned to Baghdad last month after a brief pull-out following Iraq's refusal to allow them to work. Iraq relented on Nov. 14 only hours before U.S. military strikes were to be launched.  UR; prvs/lb/vj 
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<HTML>    BUDAPEST Hungary AP  The Hungarian premier criticized the European Union Tuesday for procrastinating while only a few blocks away the European Union inaugurated an information center in downtown Budapest.    Speeking at a business development meeting Prime Minister Viktor Orban called for better dialogue with the EU and a concrete timetable for accession by those former communist countries who are likely to be the first to join the EU.    ``It is difficult to understand why it took eight years to get into NATO or why it is not obvious that Hungary shouldn't join the EU as soon as possible why there is no deadline or timeframe for our accession process'' Orban said.    Hungary was among the first former communist countries along with the Czech Republic and Poland to be invited to join NATO and is expected to become a full member within the next few months.    Hungary is also among the first nations along with Poland Czech Republic Estonia and Slovenia under consideration for the first round of EU enlargement.    But Orban said there are grounds to fear the EU will seek to exempt Hungary and other new members from standard EU regulations for an extended period of time beyond what they feel is necessary.    The exemptions known as derogations are aimed at ensuring the balance between existing EU employment and economic standards while still participating in most political cultural and other organizations.    ``There is a new fear now in Hungary  and not only in Hungary but in the Czech Republic and Poland as well  that probably the European Union will ask for more difficult derogations than Hungary will ask for'' Orban said speaking in English.    Orban said Hungary and the other prospective members should not be exempted from free movement of labor agricultural policy and access to structural funds used to help underdeveloped regions.    ``In these three fields it seems major requests will come from the EU's side that is it will have proposals to depart from regulations within the integration'' Orban said.    Existing EU members are worried that without these exemptions vast numbers of workers will flood the West in search of jobs cheap agricultural produce will flood the existing market.    For its own part Hungary would like to set up exemptions preventing EU nationals from buying arable land in the country since real estate in Hungary is very cheap compared to Western prices.    Also Tuesday the EU opened an information center in the same building as Budapest's city hall aimed at familiarizing people with the institutions of the EU.    The center offers services to people interested in EU-related topics such as regulations policies and legislation from agriculture to security and foreign policy through EU databases via the Internet CD-ROMs video tapes as well as read books and brochures.    pvs/ab/me     
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<HTML>    PARIS AP  Provisional list of drivers for the 1999 Formula One championship as released Tuesday by the governing body FIA:     McLaren: Mika Hakkinen Finland David Coulthard Scotland     Ferrari: Michael Schumacher Germany Eddie Irvine Northern Ireland     Williams: Alessandro Zanardi Italy Ralf Schumacher Germany     Jordan: Damon Hill Britain Heinz-Harald Frentzen Germany     Benetton: Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Alexander Wurz Austria     Sauber: Jean Alesi France Pedro Diniz Brazil     Arrows: Mika Salo Finland TBA     Stewart Ford: Rubens Barrichello Brazil Johnny Herbert Britain     Prost: Olivier Panis France Jarno Trulli Italy     Minardi: TBA TBA     British American Racing: Jacques Villeneuve Canada Ricardo Zonta Brazil    sw    
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<HTML>    ROME AP  Italian first-division club AS Roma is close to purchasing French second-division team Nice in an effort to improve its youth development program.    A spokesman for the Roman club which is owned by Italian industrialist Francesco Sensi said Tuesday that negotiations with Nice had entered the final stage.    ``But the formal final agreement has not yet been reached'' the spokesman said.    Club officials said the control of the French team was intended to enable Roma to develop some of its prospective talent and scout for others young players in France and in other countries.    ``Nice would be a sort of breeding-ground for young players and for those players Roma can't immediately field'' the spokesman explained.    Roma is in second place behind Fiorentina in the Italian league standings while Nice is the last in the 20-team French second division. 
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<HTML>    CAIRO Egypt AP  Aisha Abdul-Rahman Egypt's leading female Islamic writer philosopher and literary critic died Tuesday in hospital after a heart attack. She was 85.    Abdul-Rahman was admitted to a hospital in Cairo on Saturday after suffering a stroke Egypt's Middle East News Agency said.    Better known Bent el-Shati or the daughter of the shore Abdul-Rahman was born in 1913 in the northern town of Dumyat overlooking a lake near the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.    Challenging tradition she received her primary education at home at a time when women were not encouraged to go to school.    She continued her studies and graduated from Cairo University in 1939 with a B.A. in literature and then a Ph.D. in 1950 under Egypt's greatest writer Taha Hussein.    She spent some 10 years as the head of the Arabic and Islamic departments at Ain Shams University in Cairo and also taught at several Arab universities.    She wrote more than 40 books on Islamic teachings dozens of literary books and novels as well as hundreds of researches and daily columns in several newspapers.    Abdul-Rahamn received several awards for her outstanding career from the governments of Egypt Morocco and Kuwait.    She was married to Sheik Amin el-Khouli who was her teacher in Cairo University during her undergraduate days. He died some years ago. The couple is survived by a son and a daughter.    Funeral arrangements were not immediately known.  UR; my/vj 
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<HTML>    LONDON AP  Share prices dropped sharply on European stock exchanges Tuesday following big falls on Wall Street and in Asian markets.    The London Stock Exchange Europe's largest set the pace with a fall of 2.6 percent on the Financial Times-Stock Exchange 100-share index.    Blue-chip indexes were down 3.2 percent in Germany 3.4 percent in Paris 3.2 percent in Oslo 2.7 percent in Zurich and Stockholm 2.6 percent in Amsterdam and 2.3 percent in Milan and Madrid.    ``There was just nothing supportive out there'' said Peter Caulkett of Teather-and-Greenwood in London. ``But there is a feeling that stocks had come up too far too soon and investors are now running scared.''    On Wall Street Monday the Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.3 percent in the first big wave of profit-taking since the market recovered strongly two months ago.    Asian markets followed the trend with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index down 4.1 percent Tuesday and Singapore's Straits Times Index off 3.4 percent. Tokyo was an exception with a mild 0.3 percent decline in the Nikkei 225-stock average.    Local concerns contributed to the drops on some European exchanges.    Analysts in Frankfurt said the 3.2 drop on the Xetra DAX index partly reflected disappointment with Deustche Bank's announcement that it expected no immediate savings from its takeover of Bankers Trust a U.S. investment bank. Deutsche Bank's shares fell 2.7 percent in the morning.    In Paris the CAC-40 index was down 3.4 percent led by 9.9 percent plunge in shares of Total. Investors deserted the petroleum company after is announced it was getting back into the refinery sector by acquiring Petrofina of Belgium.    The Swiss Market Index was 2.7 lower in part because of profit-taking in the financial sector and a switch toward buying pharmaceutical stocks.    rb-er 
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<HTML>    LONDON AP  Results Tuesday in English soccer:  UR; League Cup QC;   UR; Quarterfinals QC;     Sunderland 3 Luton 0    Wimbledon 2 Chelsea 1  UR; F.A. Cup QC;   UR; First Round QC;   UR; Replay QC;     Notts County 3 Hendon 0    Kidderminster 0 Plymouth 0 Kidderminster wins 5-4 on penalties  UR; Second Division QC;     Wigan 2 Fulham 0  UR; Third Division QC;     Carlisle 0 Cardiff 1    Mansfield 1 Peterborough 0    scw    
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<HTML>    HELSINKI Finland AP  Rudolph the real reindeer wasn't as eager to please as the one in the song causing havoc for a week in the outlying regions of the Finnish capital.    The six-year-old Rudolph was brought last month from central Finland to Sotunki outside Helsinki where he was to entertain children and give sled rides.    But on Nov. 22 he fled his enclosure apparently spooked by a galloping horse and plunged into the woods. Farmers reported several sightings and motorists sometimes had to swerve to avoid the renegade reindeer.    With the help of vigilant reindeer-spotters Rudolph was nabbed by his previous owner who came south and tracked him down the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper said Tuesday.    There are an estimated 200000 reindeer in Finland bred mainly by the Samis in Lapland northern Finland. They are tame unlike in neighboring Norway and Sweden where there are also herds of wild reindeer.    mhh-jh 
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<HTML>    CANBERRA Australia AP  Most troubled Asian economies will recover in two to five years and will provide ``significant commercial opportunities a new Australian government report released Wednesday said.    ``Asia's infrastructure needs are still enormous'' said the report called Asia's infrastructure in the Crisis Harnessing Private Enterprise.    The report launched by Trade Minister Tim Fischer is the work of a team    headed by Dr. Frances Perkins executive director of the East Asia analytical unit of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.    It concludes that troubled regional economies will bottom out in 1999 and 2000 and it looks at how Asian countries will finance their power water and transport requirements after that time.    ``Regional governments had insufficient resources to meet these needs even before the crisis but now have even fewer'' the report says.    ``Most are devoting huge amounts to bail out their financial systems and assist the unemployed'' it adds.    ``These governments are therefore keen to harness private sector funds and expertise to provide much of the infrastructure shortfall.''    The report notes that before the onset of the crisis last year Asia's infrastructure needs were expected to top US dlrs .1.5 trillion over the coming decade.    ``That forecast has now been cut back to US dlrs 1 to 1.2 trillion'' it added.    The authors admit that the private sector developers will face big problems but insist that they can be overcome.    They say the considerable risks involved can be reduced by finding the best forms of finance and seeking involvement of agencies like the World Bank.    ``Long term concessions are the best practice in private water supply'' the report says.    ``They leave governments owning the monopoly water pipe and sewerage network but give private operators 20 to 30 year leases to use these assets and collect revenue from water sales.    ``East and West Manila and Macau are good examples of private water concessions in the Asia Pacific'' the authors say.    The report adds that best practices like these can provide benefits to everyone.    ``Manila's 1997 tendering process was highly competitive'' they say.    ``And the tariffs of the winning concessionaires were half to a quarter of those previously charged by the government owned water utility.''    The report also speaks favorably of what it called ``build operate and transfer'' or BOT arrangements in many other areas.    ``To overcome gaps in regulatory and legal environments several East Asian economies like the Philippines and China have introduced successful build operate transfer BOT legislation to encourage private investment in    infrastructure'' the report says.    However it warns that some regional governments which it did not name still lack the capacity to operate such legislation efficiently and transparently.    The report says tariff reform is is fundamental to preventing waste and encouraging private infrastructure investment in Asia.    ``Singapore leads Asia in electronic tolls and time of day road pricing'' the report said.    But it says charging practices are often less than optimal.    ``In several regional economies uneconomically low tariffs mainly benefit middle and high income users'' it warns.    The report says this reduces the authorities' ability to maintain existing assets and extend their services to lower income urban and rural areas.    at-pjs 
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<HTML>    GENEVA AP  The man accused of heading a Russian mafia organization had so much influence that he could get a hostage released in Chechnya ``with a few telephone calls'' a Swiss court heard Tuesday.    A Swiss police inspector testified that when arrested two years ago at Geneva airport Sergei Mikhailov was carrying two passports from Russia one from Israel and a diplomatic passport from Costa Rica.    Officers later found false papers from Greece and Portugal and a passport from Guyana believed to have been bought for thousands of dollars. He also lived in Austria and Belgium during the 1990s and had been banned from entering both France and the Czech Republic said Police Inspector Patrick Scheurer.    Mikhailov whose trial opened Monday is accused of being a member of a criminal organization. Prosecutors say he is the head of the Solntsevskaya mafia in Moscow which has 1700 members and the power to take over entire institutions in the city.    Mikhailov denies the charge as well as one relating to the purchase of his villa which allegedly broke the Swiss laws on foreigners buying property.    The trial has seen unprecedented security measures with the court ringed by police sheets at the windows to stop people seeing in and bullet-proof vests for Mikhailov and some of the witnesses.    The court late Tuesday agreed that three witnesses believed to be particularly at risk could give evidence by video link from an adjacent room  the first time this has happened in Geneva.    Former Russian police major Nikolai Oporov and two Russians under FBI protection will only be seen by the judge and jury so that no one else can recognize them.    After two failed attempts by the defense to stop the trial Monday Scheurer took the stand as the first prosecution witness.    He said witnesses would tell how Mikhailov had arranged for the release of the brother of a business partner who was being held by a gang in the Russian break-away republic of Chechnya.    ``With a few phone calls he managed to rescue the brother'' said Scheurer adding this showed how much influence Mikhailov had with other criminal gangs.    Scheurer said in Mikhailov's lavish villa near Geneva police found illegal listening equipment cash totaling 47000 Swiss francs dlrs 33500 and photographs of Mikhailov with other known criminals.    One showed him standing with the son of Vyacheslav Ivankov the mafia godfather known as Yaponchik who is currently in prison in the United States.    Scheurer also described how police had become suspicious about how Mikhailov was conducting his affairs from inside his prison cell.    ``He never wanted to telephone he didn't write he received no visits except from his lawyers'' he said.    One of Mikhailov's lawyers was later arrested as he left the prison and was found to be carrying letters which had not been passed by the censor.    The trial is expected to last at least a fortnight. Mikhailov who has been in custody for more than two years faces a maximum of seven-and-a-half years in prison.  UR; nk-cn    File Stored As: GVW0108 nkoppel 576 12-01 18:46 ri BC-Switzerland-Russia-Mafia Trial 1     
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<HTML>    JERUSALEM AP  Contractors bidding on a Jewish housing project in traditionally Arab east Jerusalem visited the site Tuesday and police detained three protesters from the Peace Now group trying to disrupt the tour.    Peace Now leader Mossi Raz struggled and yelled as police carried him into a police van. Police and soldiers also scuffled with several other Peace Now activists as they tried to approach the construction site.    The Jewish neighborhood of Har Homa consisting of 6500 apartments is being built in east Jerusalem on land Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war.    The Palestinians hope to establish a future capital in east Jerusalem. They say Har Homa is part of an Israeli plan to cut off the Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem from their hinterland in Bethlehem and the southern West Bank.    White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart has called the project ``inconsistent with the spirit'' of last month's Wye River peace agreement.    On Tuesday several Israeli builders interested in being awarded contracts at Har Homa toured the site in a convoy of cars.    Fifteen Peace Now activists protesting against the construction plans were barred by police from entering the site.    Five members of the outlawed anti-Arab Kach group demonstrated next to Peace Now chanting ``Peace Now a knife in the back.''    Israel maintains that Jerusalem must remain under exclusive Israeli sovereignty. Prime Minister Netanyahu has promised that the first homes in Har Homa would be completed in 2000.    Ground-breaking for Har Homa known in Arabic as Jabal Abu Ghneim led to Palestinian rioting last year and a 19-month stalemate in the peace negotiations. 
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<HTML>    CARTAGENA Colombia AP  U.S. military counternarcotics operations currently based in Panama will be relocated to Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the region when Washington completes its troop pullout from Panama next year a senior U.S. commander said Tuesday.    ``In a certain sense you can look at Puerto Rico as a partial replacement for Panama'' said Marine Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm chief of the U.S. Southern Command with responsibility for Latin America during a meeting of regional defense ministers.    Negotiations to maintain a U.S. troop presence for anti-narcotics purposes in Panama were scuttled in September setting U.S. officials on a search for alternatives. All U.S. troops must quit the country by Dec. 31 1999 when the Panama canal reverts to Panamanian control.    Panama was considered the ideal base for drug interdiction due to its central location along shipment routes between Andean cocaine- and heroin-producing countries and the United States. Currently U.S. AWACs radar planes track drug flights through the region from Howard Air Force Base in Panama. The facility will be closed in May.    ``In terms of geography Puerto Rico is not where Panama is'' said Wilhem who said the change in plans could curtail operations for a time but would still satisfy U.S. counternarcotics needs ``to a reasonable extent.''    Wilhem did not reveal which other countries might be prepared to accept a U.S. presence saying only that they were in the southern Caribbean Central America and ``the Andean ridge''  which includes Colombia Bolivia Ecuador and Peru.    He said the United States wants to reach agreements allowing access to existing airfields while avoiding a large U.S. troop buildup in a region highly sensitive to foreign intervention. 
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<HTML>    BONN Germany AP  Germany should lift its ban on the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK a Greens politician said Tuesday arguing that it has increased tensions between Germany's Turkish and Kurdish residents.    Angela Beers urged the new government to use the opportunity created by the arrest in Rome of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan to push for a political solution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey. PKK guerrillas have been fighting for a homeland in Turkey since 1981.    Germany's 1993 ban has hindered any political progress by giving Turkey a justification for its actions the Kurdish population which has in turn fueling tensions both in Turkey and in Germany Beers said. About 400000 Kurds are among the 2 million Turks living here.    Germany banned the party in 1993 after attacks on Turkish consulates and businesses in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.    Beers and lawmaker Ulla Jelpke of the ex-communist Party of Democratic Socialists are backing an initiative by the Kurdistan Information Center in Cologne which has collected 10000 signatures to lift the PKK ban.    Ocalan was arrested on a German warrant however Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has refused to seek his extradition citing fears that a trial in Germany would lead to unrest.    cb-aet     
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<HTML>    PARIS AP  Europe needs to build up its own defense to put muscle behind its foreign policy and prepare for the day Washington won't lead in a crisis Britain's defense secretary said Tuesday.    ``If Europe is to have a stronger voice in the world then European armed forces will need to be capable of supporting that position'' George Robertson told the Paris assembly of the Western European Union the EU's fledgling defense arm.    Among other crises ``Kosovo although not solely a European problem has shown that there is more that Europe could do to show unity of resolve'' Robertson said.    ``We are keen to enhance the Europeans' capability to act when our North American Allies are not engaged'' he added.    The speech appeared to lend support to France's drive for an independent European defense starting with a European pillar within NATO. But Robertson also stated clearly that the U.S.-led alliance ``will remain the cornerstone of European security and defense.''    As a condition to fully rejoining NATO's integrated command France has insisted NATO's Southern Command in Naples should go to a European. The United States whose Sixth Fleet is part of the command has rejected the idea.    Robertson also opposed giving the 15-nation European Union's executive or parliament ``a direct role in defense matters. Defense must remain intergovernmental and defense decisions must continue to be made by consensus.''    Still the British defense secretary said Europe needs to boost its role in NATO.    With more than 60 percent of the alliance's population and nearly two-thirds of its military personnel European allies provide only 40 percent of the total defense spending he noted.    ``Developing Europe's capabilities will strengthen the alliance not undermine it and respond to aspirations on both sides of the Atlantic'' he said.    Robertson also pushed European defense industries to consolidate ``particularly when facing the twin pressures of large rationalized American companies and reduced defense spending.''    The statement put pressure on France's state-owned Aerospatiale whose reluctance to privatize quickly has held up an alliance with private British and German companies.    cb 
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<HTML>    JAKARTA Indonesia AP - Indonesian President B.J. Habibie on Tuesday condemned religious attacks and urged restraint in the wake of mob rampages that have left churches and mosques in ruins in the Southeast Asian nation.    ``We condemn all burning of houses of God'' Habibie said at the opening of a human rights workshop at the state palace. ``We condemn it whether it is the burning of churches or mosques or Buddhist temples or whatever.''    On Monday Christian crowds in the provincial capital of Kupang burned or ransacked 15 mosques as well as a Muslim school and a hostel for Islamic pilgrims.    The violence apparently came in retaliation for the burning and ransacking of 22 churches by Muslim mobs in Jakarta on Nov. 22 when 14 people were killed some hacked to death.    Habibie who is already beset by economic and political turmoil said the attacks violated the values of Indonesian culture.    Religious diversity based on a belief in God is enshrined in the national philosophy known as Pancasila adopted when Indonesia declared independence from Dutch colonial rule in 1945.    ``We will not tolerate any kind of discrimination against ethnic groups religious discrimination or racial discrimination'' Habibie said. ``You should know that this is a basic principle of daily life.    ``Indonesia is not a secular state but also we are not a state based on one religion'' he said. ``We are a state reflecting the society based on a variety of religions.''    State Secretary Akbar Tanjung pledged that the government would help rebuild ruined churches and mosques.    Indonesia is the world's most populous Islamic nation. About 90 percent of its 202 million people are Muslims with the rest following Christian Hindu Buddhist or other faiths.
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<HTML>    KUWAIT AP  Former President Bush arrived Tuesday in Kuwait to meet with Kuwaiti dignitaries and U.S. troops maintaining weapons positioned here to defend against any Iraqi attack.    It was his third visit to a country that idolizes him as the hero of the 1991 Gulf War which ended a seven-month Iraqi occupation of Kuwait.    Although Bush's visit is a private one he was greeted at the airport by the crown prince Sheik Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah.    The former president planned to meet with U.S. Army troops stationed at Camp Doha north of Kuwait City.    Bush accompanied by a group of investors is to meet the emir Sheik Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah and attend a dinner with Kuwaiti dignitaries and businessmen. He was scheduled to leave early Wednesday.    Security is tight and the press has been told it will have no access to Bush during the visit.    When he first came to Kuwait in April 1993 authorities uncovered a plot to assassinate him. Two Iraqis were sentenced to death in connection with the plot and several others were given prison terms.    Bush earlier visited Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
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<HTML>    TOKYO AP  Spanish striker Raul Gonzalez scored with eight minutes remaining and gave Real Madrid a 2-1 victory over Brazil's Vasco da Gama on Tuesday for its first Toyota Cup title since 1960.    Gonzalez settled Clarence Seedorf's cross before scoring giving Real the crown for the first time since it won the inaugural trophy 38 years ago.    An own goal by Nasa off a cross from Roberto Carlos gave Real the lead in the 25th minute but Vasco drew even in the 56th on a goal by Juninho.    The game was played before 51000 spectators at Japan's National Stadium in downtown Tokyo. 
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<HTML>    CHERVONOHRAD Ukraine AP  Four Ukrainian schoolchildren were in comas Tuesday after a movie theater stampede that occurred the day before killing four children hospital officials said.    Seven other children were also still hospitalized after the accident in a movie theater in the town of Chervonohrad 450 kilometers 279 miles west of the capital Kiev.    Four children aged between 11 and 14 were crushed to death as they were leaving the theater and collided on a narrow steep stairway with other students rushing forward to find seats for the American movie ``Armageddon.''    Police have not determined who was to blame for the deaths Oleksiy Brukh of Chervonohrad's municipal council told the Interfax news agency. The Emergency Situations Ministry however blamed movie theater personnel for violating safety rules.    ``Armageddon'' has been one of the most popular films in Ukraine for several months and the theater was the only one showing the film in Chervonohrad.    About 800 children from five schools in Chervonohrad came to the two afternoon showings of the film  the one that was ending when the accident occurred and the one that was about to start.    President Leonid Kuchma sent a telegram of condolences and ordered local authorities to assist the families that lost their children.    str/vl/sms/adc 
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<HTML>    LONDON AP  Share prices dropped sharply on European stock exchanges Tuesday in a swirl of gloom and profit-taking following big falls on Wall Street and in Asian markets.    The London Stock Exchange Europe's largest set the pace with a fall of 3.6 percent on the Financial Times-Stock Exchange 100-share index.    ``We have seen quite a rally in the last week or so but investors are nervous'' said Tessa Kohn-Speyer investment analyst at Barclays Stockbrokers in London. ``There has been a lot of speculation that the market will fall back again so they have been trying to cash in on profits today.''    Key indexes were down 5.0 percent in Germany 4.0 percent in Paris 5.2 percent in Moscow 4.7 percent in Amsterdam and 2.7 percent Stockholm.    ``There was just nothing supportive out there'' said Peter Caulkett of Teather-and-Greenwood in London. ``But there is a feeling that stocks had come up too far too soon and investors are now running scared.''    Dmitry Kulyashenits trader at Moscow investment bank MFK Renaissance said: ``There was profit-taking everywhere. Russia wasn't an exception.''    The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 2.3 percent Monday in the first big wave of profit-taking since the market recovered strongly two months ago. The Dow was off again Tuesday morning but came back just into positive territory by early afternoon.    Asian markets had followed New York's lead with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index down 4.1 percent Tuesday and Singapore's Straits Times Index off 3.4 percent. Tokyo was an exception with a mild 0.3 percent decline in the Nikkei 225-stock average.    Local concerns contributed to the drops on some European exchanges.    Analysts in Frankfurt said the declines in German stock prices partly reflected disappointment with Deutsche Bank's announcement that it expected no immediate savings from its takeover of Bankers Trust Corp.    In Paris the CAC-40 index was down 4.0 percent led by 12 percent plunge in shares of Total. Investors deserted the petroleum company after it announced it was getting back into the refinery sector by acquiring Petrofina of Belgium. Petrofina shares rose 18 percent on the Brussels exchange. 
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<HTML>    MOSCOW AP  Crime and suicide continue to rise in the demoralized Russian military with a growing number of officers taking their own lives because of late pay and poverty the Interfax News Agency reported Tuesday.    Citing Defense Ministry statistics the report said some 10500 crimes and incidents had been recorded in the armed forces during the first 11 months of 1998 compared to about 10000 in all of 1997.    The Russian military has been falling apart in recent years because the cash-strapped government can provide only a fraction of the funding budgeted for the armed forces. Soldiers and officers routinely go months without pay often live in appalling conditions and bullying and crime are rampant.    Overall the number of deaths in the military has declined the report said.    Some 500 servicemen were killed or died on active service compared to 600 deaths last year. More than 800 servicemen were killed or died in off-duty situations compared to about 1000 such deaths in 1997 the report said without adding any further details.    But suicides are climbing with about 350 cases reported this year said the report without providing figures for last year. More than 60 percent of suicides involved officers and poverty and delays in salaries were cited as the main reason it said. 
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<HTML>    MONTREAL AP  Like ambivalent boxing judges Quebec voters gave their combative politicians a split decision: the pro-independence government gets another term in power but with support so tepid that a secession bid is unlikely any time soon.    The separatist Parti Quebecois retained a large legislative majority in Monday's provincial election winning 75 of the 125 seats to earn a new term of up to five years.    But the anti-separatist Quebec Liberal Party though winning only 48 seats received 44 percent of the popular vote to 43 percent for the Parti Quebecois.    As a result Liberal leader Jean Charest sounded more buoyant in his remarks to supporters than Premier Lucien Bouchard the separatist leader did in his victory speech.    ``The result tonight ... reflects the fact that the people of Quebec like the people of all Canada want this country of ours to work and be a success'' said Charest who will serve as opposition leader in the provincial legislature.    The split decision stems from the geographical distribution of political support in Quebec.    Anti-separatist support is concentrated in about 40 districts mostly around multiethnic Montreal where the Liberals can rack up huge victory margins. The separatists whose backing comes almost entirely from Quebec's French-speaking majority are competitive in a much larger number of districts spread across the province.    Bouchard 59 had campaigned on the pledge that he would  if returned to power  call for a referendum on seceding from Canada whenever he felt conditions were right for a separatist victory.    But with only 43-percent support for his party Bouchard is likely to shelve any immediate push for a referendum and concentrate instead on policies that will build public confidence.    ``There is no question that this vote was a vote to elect a government not a vote to determine the future of Quebec or the future of the country'' said Brian Tobin the premier of Newfoundland.    ``I wouldn't expect with these results that Mr. Bouchard will be thinking of a referendum any time soon if ever.''    Bouchard paid tribute to his opponents' determination and pledged to work with them on policy matters. But he also promised to work for the ``winning conditions'' that would make independence possible eventually.    ``Our first priority is to advance Quebec ... to push it farther toward its destiny'' he said.    In Washington U.S. State Department spokesman James P. Rubin reaffirmed U.S. support for an undivided Canada.    ``The United States recognizes this is an internal issue for Canadians to resolve within their constitutional legal and political system'' he said. ``We have always valued our close and productive relationship with a strong and united Canada.''    Canada's federal government kept a low profile during the 33-day campaign not wanting to undercut Charest in a province where many francophones are traditionally wary of federal intentions.    Prime Minister Jean Chretien assured Bouchard of cooperation in helping strengthen Quebec's economy and social services.    ``But when he talks about bringing together his famous winning conditions which he refuses to reveal to hold another referendum on separation he should know we will defend our country'' Chretien said.    As a personality the charismatic Bouchard is by far the most popular politician in Quebec. But many Quebeckers who voted for his party are not keen on secession; recent polls indicated about 70 percent didn't want another referendum.    One of the most notable results of the election was the strong showing of Democratic Action the No. 3 party that drew 12 percent of the vote behind its 28-year-old leader Mario Dumont. The party which appeals to many young voters favors greater autonomy for Quebec but stops short of advocating outright secession.    ``Mr. Bouchard's mandate is clear  to provide good government and represent Quebec's interests'' Dumont said. ``He was not elected to do a referendum on sovereignty. Quebeckers want constitutional peace.''    The separatists have lost two previous secession referendums by a big margin in 1980 and a narrow margin in 1995.    Bouchard is intent on avoiding a third defeat and won a power struggle with party hard-liners earlier this year by insisting he would call another referendum only if opinion polls showed the separatists would win.    About 80 percent of the 5.2 million eligible voters cast ballots in Monday's election high by North American standards but down from 93 percent for the 1995 referendum.    About 83 percent of Quebec's 7.4 million people are French speakers. The rest are divided among English-speakers with long-term roots in Canada and more recently arrived immigrants from southern Europe Asia and elsewhere.    The long-term crusade for Quebec independence stems from a feeling among many French Quebeckers that their culture is different from the rest of Canada plus a yearning to manage their own affairs and have their own national symbols. 
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<HTML>    LONDON AP  Selling pressure on world markets in recent days has pushed down the average wholesale cost of cocoa to its lowest level for nearly a year and a half.    The International Cocoa Organization's latest daily cocoa market indicator price fell to dlrs 1550.23 939.53 pounds per metric ton Tuesday  a level last seen in June 1997.    Worries about consumption prospects because of Russia's and Asia's economic problems and the improving crop outlook in the key West African producing region have recently put cocoa prices under pressure according to traders.    Production prospects have also brightened in Brazil and Indonesia thanks to better weather this year traders said.    Analysts say that early forecasts that global consumption of cocoa  more than 95 percent of which is in chocolate and associated confectionery and beverage products  would outstrip production this season now no longer look so certain.    At the same time industry figures show that global stock of cocoa  a big export earner for Ghana the Ivory Coast Cameroon and Nigeria  remain high historically after the big boost given by the record world crop three seasons ago.    ms 
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<HTML>    Weather summary for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands from the National Weather Service.    A high wind advisory is now in effect for the higher elevations of Puerto Rico. A coastal flood watch is in effect for the north and east coasts of Puerto Rico Culebra Vieques and all of the U.S. Virgin Islands.    A heavy surf advisory remains in effect for the northwest the north and the northeast coasts of Puerto Rico and for the north and east coasts of Vieques Culebra and the U.S. Virgin Islands of St. Thomas St. John and St. Croix.    A small craft advisory remains in effect for all of the coastal waters until further notice.    The weather conditions will get worse before they get better. A developing low-pressure area in the southern Windward Islands will move slowly north through Friday and will intensify causing an increase in wind seas and rain for the rest of this week.    Separate statements and advisories will be issued to cover these events.    San Juan and the north sections of Puerto Rico:    Heavy surf advisory in effect.    Coastal flood watch in effect.    Today... Mostly cloudy and windy with a 60 percent chance of showers. Possible thunderstorms. High 80 to 85. Wind northeast 15 to 20 mph with frequent higher gusts.    Tonight... Mostly cloudy and windy with a 70 percent chance of showers possibly a thunderstorm. Low 70 to 75. Wind northeast 20 mph and gusty.    Wednesday... Mostly cloudy and windy with showers likely. Chance for thunderstorms. High 80 to 85. Wind northeast 20 to 25 mph and gusty. Chance of rain 70 percent.    Eastern sections of Puerto Rico:    Heavy surf advisory in effect for Ceiba and Fajardo.    Coastal flood watch in effect.    High wind advisory in effect for higher elevations.    Today... Mostly cloudy and windy with showers likely. Possible thunderstorms. High from near 80 to 85. Wind northeast 15 to 25 mph with higher gusts. Chance of rain is 70 percent.    Tonight... Mostly cloudy and windy with a 70 percent chance of showers. Low near 70 to 75. Wind east to northeast 15 to 25 mph.    Wednesday... Mostly cloudy and windy with showers likely. Chance for thunderstorms. High near 80. Wind northeast to east 20 to 25 mph. Chance of rain is 70 percent.    Ponce and the southern regions of Puerto Rico:    High wind advisory in effect for higher elevations.    Today... Variable cloudiness and breezy with a 40 percent chance of showers. Possible afternoon thunderstorms. High 80 to 85. Wind northeast 15 to 20 mph and gusty.    Tonight... Variable cloudiness and breezy with a 40 percent chance of showers. Slight chance of a thunderstorm. Low around 70. Wind northeast 15 to 20 mph except 20 to 25 mph in higher elevations.    Wednesday... Mostly cloudy and windy. Showers likely. Chance for thunderstorms. High 80 to 85. Wind east 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain is 60 percent.    Mayaguez and the western sections of Puerto Rico:    Heavy surf advisory in effect for Aguadilla.    Coastal flood watch in effect for Aguadilla.    Today... Variable cloudiness and windy with a 50 percent chance of showers. Possible afternoon thunderstorms. High 80 to 85. Wind northeast 20 to 30 mph with frequent higher gusts.    Tonight... Variable cloudiness and breezy with a 50 percent chance of showers. Slight chance of a thunderstorm. Low around 70. Wind east 20 to 30 mph and gusty. Wind 25 to 35 mph in higher elevations.    Wednesday... Mostly cloudy and windy. Showers likely. Possible afternoon thunderstorms. High 80 to 85. Wind northeast 20 to 30 mph and gusty. Chance of rain is 60 percent.    Interior sections of Puerto Rico:    High wind advisory in effect for higher elevations.    Today... Mostly cloudy and windy with a 70 percent chance of showers. Possible thunderstorms. High from 70 to 75 in the mountains; 80 to 85 in lower elevations. Wind northeast to east at 20 to 25 mph with higher gusts.    Tonight... Mostly cloudy and windy with a 60 percent chance of showers. Low 60 to 70. Wind northeast 15 to 25 mph and gusty.    Wednesday... Mostly cloudy and windy. Showers likely. Chance for thunderstorms. High from 70 mountains to 80 to 85 lower elevations. Wind northeast 20 to 25 mph. Wind 25 to 30 mph higher elevations. Chance of rain is 70 percent.    St. Thomas St. John and the Adjacent Islands-St. Croix:    Heavy surf advisory in effect north and east coasts.    Coastal flood watch in effect north and east coasts.    Today... Considerable cloudiness and windy. Showers are likely. Possible thunderstorms. High 80 to 85. Wind east 15 to 25 mph with higher gusts. Chance of rain is 70 percent.    Tonight... Cloudy and windy with a 70 percent chance of rain. Low 70 to 75. Wind northeast 15 to 25 mph with frequent gusts.    Wednesday... Mostly cloudy and windy. Showers likely. Chance for thunderstorms. High 80 to 85. Wind east to northeast 15 to 25 mph. Chance for rain is 70 percent.    Atlantic waters north and northeast of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands:    Heavy surf advisory in effect.    Coastal flood watch in effect.    Small craft advisory in effect.    This afternoon... Wind east to northeast 20 to 25 kt with higher gusts. Combined seas 8 to 10 ft. Scattered to numerous showers. Isolated thunderstorms.    Tonight... Wind northeast 20 to 25 kt and gusty. Combined seas 9 to 12 ft. Numerous showers. Isolated thunderstorms.    Wednesday... Wind northeast 25 to 30 kt. Combined seas 10 to 14 ft. Numerous rain showers. Isolated thunderstorms.    Caribbean waters south and southeast of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands:    Small craft advisory in effect.    Heavy surf advisory in effect.    Coastal flood watch in effect.    This afternoon... Wind east 20 to 25 kt. Combined seas 7 to 9 ft. Scattered showers. Isolated thunderstorms.    Tonight... Wind east to northeast 20 to 25 kt. Combined seas 8 to 10 ft. Scattered to numerous showers. Isolated thunderstorms.    Wednesday... Wind northeast 25 to 30 kt. Combined seas 9 to 13 ft. Numerous rain showers. Isolated thunderstorms.    Near shore waters of western Puerto Rico:    Small craft advisory in effect.    This afternoon... Wind east 15 to 25 kt. Combined seas 4 to 6 ft. Widely scattered showers. Isolated thunderstorms.    Tonight... Wind northeast 20 to 25 kt. Combined seas 6 to 8 ft. Scattered showers. Isolated thunderstorms.    Wednesday... Wind northeast 25 to 30 kt. Combined seas 8 to 11 ft. Scattered showers. Isolated thunderstorms.    Outlook for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands waters:    Wednesday night through Saturday... Low pressure center southeast of Puerto Rico will move slowly north through Friday. Wind 25 kt or greater. Seas 10 ft or higher. 
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<HTML>    SCHEVENINGEN Netherlands AP  Former Russian premier Victor Chernomyrdin sought to reassure international investors Tuesday that Russia will survive its current economic ills.    Speaking at an international business conference in this North Sea coastal town Chernomyrdin said Russia's economic woes are ``far from desperate'' and that there is no exodus of foreign companies.    ``I can't make the situation better but I think in Russia we have every possibility to overcome the crisis'' he said. ``European companies are still with us. They are not leaving Russia.''    ``We're very ill ... but I believe we will overcome our illness and we're set to be healthy'' he told participants of the two-day Global Panel conference.    The former prime minister's rhetoric was a tough sell: Russia is now mired in its worst economic crisis since the 1991 Soviet collapse. Images of ailing President Boris Yeltsin have also raised worries about his leadership and the country's future.    On Tuesday International Monetary Fund chief Michel Camdessus planned to open two days of talks on Moscow's frozen loan agreement with the IMF.    The country is seeking further installments of an IMF bailout package that was reached in the summer but frozen after the Russian government devalued the ruble and defaulted on some of its debts in August.    Camdessus was not expected to announce any breakthroughs but his visit to Moscow would give Russia an opportunity to make its case and lobby anew for fresh funds.    Chernomyrdin stressed that his government is taking measures to contain the crisis but urged officials to speed up recovery plans.    ``It would be a big mistake to believe that Russia would leave the international financial network even for a short time'' he said.    jc/bk 
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<HTML>    BUCHAREST Romania AP  A former head of Romanian intelligence on Tuesday said Iraq expressed interest in Romania's missile technology three years ago but bilateral talks were inconclusive and did not result in sales to Baghdad.    Reacting to media reports that Romania provided Iraq with missile components Virgil Magureanu who headed the Romanian Information Service between 1990 and 1997 said the two countries held talks in 1995.    ``I don't know how far the negotiations went but they were stopped'' after the United States asked Romania to end them he told the Mediafax news agency. No weapons were sold he reportedly said.    Earlier Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Carmen Podgoreanu denied media reports that diplomats had confirmed Iraq-Romania missile talks. Other government officials refused comment.    mc/gj     
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<HTML>    KIEV Ukraine AP  A court in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson sentenced three men to death for killing two elderly people and a child to steal an old radio and childrens' toys a newspaper reported Tuesday.    Oleksander Krypakov Roman Yakovenko and Oleksander Makarov had decided to rob a Kherson house belonging to an elderly couple but the house turned out to be full of guests Kievskiye Vedomosti reported.    The trio  described as repeat offenders  killed the owner of the house an elderly friend and a 10-year-old girl who also was visiting. The owner's wife and another visitor an 11-year-old boy managed to escape.    The attackers' loot was valued at 69 hryvna dlrs 20 at the current rate Kievskiye Vedomosti said. It did not say when the crime occurred.    The three killers are unlikely to be executed as Ukraine imposed a moratorium on capital punishment last year to meet its obligations as a member of the Council of Europe the continent's leading human rights body. Ukrainian courts have sentenced more than 80 people to death in 1998 though none has been executed.    sms/adc 
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<HTML>    It's time to pick the top news stories of 1998. The Associated Press each year asks its international media subscribers  editors and broadcasters  to vote for their choices. In a separate poll AP's international media subscribers are asked to pick the year's top sports stories. Results are announced in stories transmitted toward the end of December.    AP World Service media subscribers should submit their choices  one ballot per publication or broadcast outlet  by Tuesday Dec. 15.    Ballots should be faxed to: 1998 Top Story Poll International Desk New York x-1-212-621-5449. Subscribers may also submit ballots to their local AP bureau for relay to the pollster.    Votes are needed from all regions of the world to ensure a representative survey.    Each ballot should give the subscriber's top 10 choices in order of importance with 1 being the most important and 10 the last choice. The ballot should include the name and location of the publication or broadcaster.    The list of suggested stories below is in random order. Subscribers may give other choices if they wish.    Reminder: Dec. 15 is the deadline for submitting ballots.    -0-    Ballot for AP's poll of top international news stories of 1998.    Name of publication/broadcast subscriber:     Location of subscriber:     Stories in order of importance:    1.    2.    3.    4.    5.    6.    7.    8.    9.    10.    Suggested stories others may be submitted:    -Economic turmoil spreads in Asia; U.S. stock market tumbles    -President Clinton's fling with intern explodes into impeachment threat    -Hurricane Mitch devastates Central America Georges rips Caribbean    -Israeli-Palestinian land-for-peace deal    -Northern Ireland accord recognized with Nobel Peace Prize    -Bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania provokes U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan Sudan    -Pope John Paul II's visit to Cuba spotlights human rights    -Two Afghan earthquakes kill 10000    -India and Pakistan conduct underground nuclear tests    -Kosovo conflict draws NATO bombing threat    -Iraq-U.N. standoffs over weapons inspections    -Chile's ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet arrested in Britain    -Indonesian unrest leads to President Suharto's resignation    -John Glenn the first American astronaut returns to space at 77    -Viagra first effective pill against impotence sold worldwide    -Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Anwar put on trial    -Rwandan genocide trials executions    -Russia's economic and political problems including Boris Yeltsin's health    -Hajj stampede kills 180 in Mecca    -Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot dies    -North Korea's famine    -Preparations for introduction of Euro currency    -Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha dies sparking unrest    -Swiss banks agree on restitution payments to Holocaust victims    -Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi convicted of bribery corruption    -AIDS spreads globally 33 million infected with HIV    -France upsets Brazil in World Cup final    -Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto resigns    -Papua New Guinea tidal wave kills nearly 3000    -Cambodian elections trouble forming new government    -Floods in China kill more than 2000    -Congo conflict flares up drawing in other countries    -South Africa's truth commission gives amnesty for apartheid-era crimes    -Lesotho mutiny; South Africa Botswana intervene    -Helmut Kohl ousted as German chancellor after 16 years    -Albania unrest    -Nigerian oil pipeline blast kills at least 500    -Crash of Swissair flight off Canada kills all 229 aboard 
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<HTML>    TAIPEI Taiwan AP  The opposition mayor of Taiwan's capital city is locked in the political fight of his life and the strain was visible Tuesday as two rivals ganged up on him in the last campaign debate.    Mayor Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party is running in a statistical dead heat with challenger Ma Ying-jeou of the ruling Nationalist Party as voters prepare to go to the polls Saturday.    Chen's DPP party is expected to make minor gains at most in legislative races the same day so activists are counting on Chen to hang onto the office in Taipei. They hope that will give them a better chance in a presidential contest 16 months away when President Lee Teng-hui plans to retire.    But Chen found himself on the defensive Tuesday as Ma and longshot Wang Chien-hsuan of the tiny New Party accused the mayor of stirring up antagonism between the native Taiwanese majority and the mainland Chinese immigrants who dominated the island's politics until the advent of democracy in the late 1980s.    Ma and Wang warned that Chen supporters could resort to violence if voters throw the mayor out of office.    Chen whose slumped shoulders and sandpaper-rough voice betrayed the wear and tear of a tough campaign did not respond to the accusations. Chen instead played up his career as an opposition lawyer and politician.    He accused Ma of having defended the martial law regime during a 1980 dissident trial and said the DPP placed Taiwan's peace and security above partisan goals.    Ma ``defended the rulers I challenged them'' Chen told the television studio audience.    The Taipei mayoral race is the most closely watched contest in Saturday's elections which also include legislative races and a mayoral campaign in the southern city of Kaohsiung.    Tuesday's debate was the last of five such faceoffs by the Taipei mayoral candidates.    The latest survey results show Chen and Ma in a statistical dead heat. A poll conducted Sunday by the CTN cable station showed Chen with 36 percent support against Ma's 37 percent with 20 percent still undecided.    The survey polled 1122 adults in Taipei and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.    Losing the capital could severely dampen the DPP's hopes of taking the presidency in 2000. That would mean continued rule by the Nationalists with their less confrontational policies towards mainland China.    The DPP of which Chen is a leading member and possible presidential candidate advocates Taiwan's formal independence a move Beijing warns could provoke it to attack. The mainland views Taiwan as a renegade province.    As the televised debate turned nasty Chen accused Ma of halfheartedly cracking down on vice during Ma's term as justice minister that ended last year. Chen vigorously defended his own hard line against video games gambling parlors and the sex industry.    That crackdown has brought a radical decline in juvenile crime in the capital of 3 million people Chen claimed.    Ma said those policies need fine tuning and accused the outspoken mayor of being ``undemocratic'' in pushing his program. Ma also alluded to the high-profile case of a top Chen aide brought down for visiting so-called ``hostess bars'' where clients sometimes pay for sex.    ``If a mayor can't respect the rules what should we teach our children?'' said Ma whose boyish looks and clean record have earned him the nickname ``sonny-boy Ma.''
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<HTML>    Belgium's Petrofina taken over by France's Total creating 6th oil group in world
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<HTML>    BRUSSELS Belgium AP  With just a month to go before the launch of the euro European Union finance ministers reached an 11th-hour agreement Tuesday on who should speak for the single-currency bloc on the world stage.    The agreement resolved months of deadlock between big and small euro-zone nations over who should represent the 11-nation currency bloc at the G-7 group of world economic powers and other international meetings.    Under the compromise the euro-zone's three existing G-7 nations - Germany France and Italy - keep their seats and will take turns to represent the bloc. Details of the deal were sketchy but it appeared that smaller nations would also get a chance to set at G-7 meetings when they holds the six-month euro-zone presidency.    That means German Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine will speak for the euro-zone for the first six months of 1999 to be joined by his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niniisto for second half of the year.    The European Central Bank which will oversee monetary policy in the euro-zone will replace national central banks at G-7 meetings. The EU's executive Commission will offer only ``technical assistance'' to the European delegation.    The launch of the euro as the shared currency of 11 EU nations will create a single bloc that will rival the United States and Japan as a global economic power.    But while U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Japanese Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa can always get on the phone to discuss the world's economic situation nobody was sure who to call when they wanted to speak to the euro-bloc.    The rotating system of euro-zone presidencies should go some way to meeting that need. The deal is set to be confirmed by EU leaders at their year-end summit next week in Vienna Austria.    The issue had provoked a rift between the EU's existing G-7 members who refused to relinquish their seats and smaller euro-zone nations who demanded some sort of representation. There was no immediate reaction to the deal from other G-7 nations - the United States Japan and Canada. Britain the EU's fourth G-7 members is staying out of the euro.    Later Tuesday the ministers were set to review plans to close tax loopholes that cost national treasuries billions of dollars in lost revenue. Officials played down talk of a rift between Britain and Germany over tax plans.    British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown criticized recent ``scare stories'' in the London press about alleged German plans to impose EU-wide taxes. However he repeated British opposition to any such plans.    ``Some people want to argue that there is an inevitability about a single currency leading to a single tax rate'' Brown told the BBC. ``That is not the way that I see it.''    Ministers were to consider a report by a panel of EU tax experts which identified 85 measures used by EU member nations that may violate the Union's new code of conduct on business taxation.    The reports lists the ``potentially harmful'' tax breaks that span all 15 of the EU member nations except Austria. The code of conduct commits EU nations to avoid measures that lure investment from their neighbors by offering favorable tax rates to foreign companies.    A further proposal to impose an EU-wide 20 percent minimum tax on savings is likely to fall foul of opposition from Britain and Luxembourg.  UR; pa-rac
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<HTML>    BONN Germany AP  Interior Minister Otto Schily said Tuesday that Germany must keep its ban on the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK because of the rebel group's potential for violence.    Schily's comments followed an appeal by a Greens politician Angela Beers who argued that the 1993 ban has increased tensions between Germany's Turkish and Kurdish residents.    She urged Germany's new government to lift the ban and to use the opportunity created by the arrest of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan to push for a political solution in Turkey where PKK guerrillas have been fighting for a homeland since 1984.    Ocalan was arrested in Italy on a German warrant but Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has refused to seek his extradition citing fears that a trial in Germany would lead to unrest.    Beers also said the ban has given Turkey justification for its actions against the Kurdish population which has in turn fueled tensions in Turkey and Germany. About 400000 Kurds are among Germany's 2 million Turkish residents.    She and lawmaker Ulla Jelpke of the ex-communist Party of Democratic Socialists are backing an initiative by the Kurdistan Information Center in Cologne which has collected 10000 signatures to lift the PKK ban.    The Interior Minister ruled out lifting the ban saying that many PKK rebels have been convicted of terror crimes and the group uses violence to extort financial donations.    ``The PKK is an organization in which hides an incalculable militant potential for danger'' Schily said.    The opposition Christian Democrats agreed saying lifting the ban would be ``playing with fire.''    Germany banned the party in 1993 after attacks on Turkish consulates and businesses in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.    cb-aet     
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<HTML>    BRUSSELS Belgium AP  European Union and North Korea officials will hold first-ever talks here Wednesday on issues ranging from human rights to food aid to security on the Korean peninsula.    ``We are quite pleased North Korea has agreed to debate a broad agenda of issues'' EU spokesman Nigel Gardner said Tuesday.    He said the EU wants to see if the Europeans can have a regular political dialogue with North Korea.    The EU side will include mid-level officials from Austria Britain and Germany and Percy Westerlund a Swede who is director general at the European Commission's foreign affairs office.    Gardner said the discussion will also touch on efforts by Japan South Korea the United States and the EU to build two nuclear reactors replacing North Korea's own nuclear program that was suspected of developing atomic weapons.    They formed a consortium in 1994 known as the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization that recently approved a new dlrs 4.6 billion estimate for the two reactors.    KEDO was created after North Korea agreed to freeze and eventually dismantle its nuclear weapons program in exchange for two light-water nuclear power plants and 500000-ton annual fuel oil shipments until they are completed.    The reactors are due to be ready for use by 2003 and will replace North Korea's Soviet-developed graphite-moderated reactors that produce greater amounts of weapons-grade plutonium.    The goal of controlling nuclear proliferation has taken on new urgency since India and Pakistan conducted nuclear test explosions in May raising international concern the entire system of international nuclear controls might unravel.  UR; Rw    
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<HTML>    A summary of financial and business news from The Associated Press at 0000 GMT. Stories carry ``f'' or ``i'' category codes and move on this circuit in expanded form:    NEW YORK AP  Blue-chip stocks bounced back Tuesday from a steep slide with the profit-taking behind Monday's sharp downturn easing just as the Dow slipped below 9000. The Dow Jones industrial average initially extended Monday's 214-point plunge by another 128 points but reversed course before midday and finished 16.99 points  or by 0.2 percent  higher at 9133.54. The morning slide had pulled the Dow as low as 8987 and 400 points from last Monday's record mark of 9374.27. US-CLOSING STOCKS    LONDON AP  Share prices dropped sharply on European stock exchanges Tuesday in a swirl of gloom and profit-taking following big falls on Wall Street and in Asian markets. The London Stock Exchange Europe's largest set the pace with a fall of 3.6 percent on the Financial Times-Stock Exchange 100-share index. ``We have seen quite a rally in the last week or so but investors are nervous'' said Tessa Kohn-Speyer investment analyst at Barclays Stockbrokers in London.'' Key indexes were down 5.0 percent in Germany 4.2 percent in Milan and Zurich 4.0 percent in Paris 5.2 percent in Moscow 6.1 percent in Budapest 4.7 percent in Amsterdam 3.4 percent in Oslo 3.2 percent in Dublin and Madrid 2.7 percent Stockholm 2.1 percent in Prague and 1.3 percent in Copenhagen. EUROPEAN-MARKETS    NEW YORK AP  Pulling off the richest corporate takeover in history Exxon will buy Mobil for dlrs 77.2 billion to create the world's largest company and reunite two of the biggest pieces left by the breakup of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil empire. The deal announced Tuesday joins the two largest U.S. oil and gas companies. However despite the massive size of the new Exxon Mobil Corp. a world oil glut caused by overproduction and weak demand is expected to keep pump prices at rock-bottom levels for now. Exxon Mobil will surpass Royal Dutch-Shell Group as the No. 1 energy company and vault past General Motors Corp. as the largest corporation in the world with dlrs 203 billion in combined revenue last year. Exxon is about twice Mobil's size in annual revenue. US-EXXON-MOBIL    BRUSSELS Belgium AP  Bent on surviving a new round of mergers shaking up the global oil industry French petroleum giant Total is buying Belgian refiner Petrofina for dlrs 11.8 billion in a deal that would create the world's fifth-largest oil company. The announcement Tuesday came just hours ahead of news that the top U.S. oil company Exxon Corp. was buying the No. 2 company Mobil Corp. for dlrs 77 billion in the richest corporate takeover in history. The deal between Total and Petrofina Belgium's biggest industrial company would create a new company Total Fina that would be the third-largest oil company in Europe. Investors believing that Total may be paying too much for Petrofina sent Total's shares down 12 percent in Paris trading. Petrofina shares rose 18 percent in Brussels. BELGIUM-PETROFINA-TOTAL    MOSCOW AP  With a dlrs 22.6 billion loan for Russia hanging in limbo International Monetary Fund chief Michel Camdessus launched a new round of talks in Moscow on Tuesday on freeing up the money. Yet Russia's government continued to put off tough financial decisions the IMF says are necessary for releasing the rest of the frozen loan and Camdessus was not expected to announce any breakthroughs. Camdessus met Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov on Tuesday night and is scheduled to hold broader talks with government officials Wednesday. Russia facing mounting debts to workers pensioners and foreign creditors is seeking further installments on a dlrs 22.6 billion IMF-led bailout package reached in the summer. The loan was frozen after Russia succumbed to the Asian economic crisis and devalued the ruble and defaulted on some of its debts in August. RUSSIA-ECONOMY    BRUSSELS Belgium AP  With just a month to go before the launch of the euro European Union finance ministers reached an 11th-hour agreement Tuesday on who should speak for the single-currency bloc on the world stage. The agreement resolved months of deadlock between big and small euro-zone nations over representation of the 11-nation currency bloc at the G-7 group of world economic powers and other international bodies. Under the compromise the euro-zone's three existing G-7 nations - Germany France and Italy - keep their seats and will take turns to represent the bloc. Smaller nations will get to sit alongside them at G-7 meetings when they hold the rotating euro-zone presidency. German Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine will therefore speak for the euro-zone for the first six months of 1999 to be joined by his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niniisto for second half of the year. EU-FINANCE 
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<HTML>    MELBOURNE Australia AP  A helicopter rescue team on Tuesday reached a three-man television crew that had been stranded on a remote Arctic island for more than two weeks rescuers said.    The helicopter sent by international medical emergency company AEA International SOS landed on frozen Wrangel Island at about 0200 GMT said company spokesman Mark Crawford.     UR; MORE
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<HTML>    MEXICO CITY AP  Several alleged associates of a Mexican banker accused of fraud have been detained for investigation of money laundering in the Dominican Republic prosecutors announced.    The weekend detentions  which netted three Italians two Puerto Ricans and two Dominicans  appear to strengthen conjecture that former banking magnate Carlos Cabal Peniche may have engaged in money laundering in addition to charges of bank fraud currently pending against him.    The detentions were related to ``illegal acts committed by Carlos Cabal Peniche in the Dominican Republic'' where he fled after charges were lodged against him in 1994 in Mexico the Attorney General's Office said in a press statement Monday.    The alleged associates were detained by the Dominican National Office of Drug Control for questioning about their possible involvement in forgery and money laundering.    Dominican authorities have also seized properties on the Caribbean island which allegedly belong to Cabal who spent nearly four years on the run before his capture in Australia on Nov. 10.    Prosecutors charged Cabal with violating banking laws after he apparently misappropriated as much as dlrs 700 million from a bank he owned.    Cabal rose from obscurity to the top levels of Mexico's business world mingling with political leaders in the early 1990s and winning control of two formerly state-owned banks Banco Union and Banca Cremi.    Authorities say Cabal made loans to himself from his banks a practice that is subject to strict limits under Mexican law and never paid the money back.    Mexico has said it will seek his extradition from Australia and announced Monday that Australian police have also detained Cabal's brother-in-law Marco Pasini for violating that country's immigration laws.    Pasini faces charges in Mexico relating to Cabal's alleged bank frauds and also faces an extradition hearing.
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