Conference vaxcat::ef97

    AP 24-Jan-1997 1:07 EST   REF5926

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Friday, Jan. 24, 1997
   
    HAWAII-GAY MARRIAGE 

    HONOLULU (AP) -- Hawaii lawmakers are trying to undo state court
    rulings that would allow same-sex marriages. A proposed state
    constitutional amendment to ban such marriages won swift approval
    Thursday in the state House, and now goes to the Hawaiian state Senate.
    Hawaii's Supreme Court in 1993 ruled that denying marriage licenses to
    same-sex couples violates the state Constitution's equal protection
    clause. Last month, a Hawaii judge ruled the state failed to show a
    compelling reason to ban same-sex marriages, but held off his order to
    license them pending the state's appeal. 
   
    MAMMOGRAMS 

    BETHESDA, Md. (AP) -- Cancer experts cannot agree on whether women
    should start having mammograms at age 40 or 50. A panel of experts set
    up to study the issue says patients should decide for themselves. But
    the government's top cancer expert backed mammograms for women in their
    40s in a bid to cut breast cancer deaths. 
   
    TEACHER-REINSTATED 

    DENVER (AP) -- A high school English teacher who was fired for showing
    an R-rated movie to his students was ordered reinstated Thursday by an
    appeals court that said the district had violated his right to free
    expression. The Colorado Court of Appeals also said the school board
    must return Al Wilder to his job at with back pay and benefits and no
    loss in seniority. Wilder was fired in April after showing the movie
    "1900" without the school's permission. Italian director Bernardo
    Bertolucci, who made the 1976 epic about life and social conflict in
    his homeland, testified over a speaker phone on Wilder's behalf. 
   
    UNITED NATIONS-IRAQ 

    UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The United Nations Thursday approved the first
    sales of food to Iraq since agreeing to allow Saddam Hussein to sell
    limited amounts of oil in exchange for humanitarian supplies.
    Australian farmers will be permitted to sell $50 million worth of wheat
    and Thailand may sell $20 million worth of rice. Iraq last month was
    permitted to sell $2 billion worth of oil to lessen effects of U.N.
    sanctions. 
   
    SIMPSON 

    SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) -- A defense lawyer told jurors Thursday that
    photos of O.J. Simpson wearing a killer's shoes are fakes. Plaintiff
    lawyers submitted photos of Simpson they say show him wearing the same
    style Bruno Magli shoes that left bloody footprints near the bodies of
    Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. The case is expected to go to
    the jury Monday. 
   
    CONFEDERATE FLAG 

    COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- The Republican-dominated House turned on GOP
    Gov. David Beasley Thursday, spurning his call to remove the
    Confederate flag from the Statehouse dome. Republicans, joined by
    several Democrats, voted to kill the governor's proposal 72-45. The
    House then voted 85-32 to let citizens decide the flag's fate in a
    special election in November. 
   
    PEPSICO 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- PepsiCo Inc. says it plans to spin off its sluggish
    restaurant business, which includes the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell
    fast-food chains, into a separate company. The company said it would
    give shares in the new fast-food concern to PepsiCo shareholders and
    focus on its faster growing Pepsi soft drink and Frito-Lay snacks
    operations. 
   
    HIJACK-STING 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Forty-seven people -- including the reputed new boss
    of the Gambino organized crime family -- were charged Thursday in a $6
    million scheme to sell computers, VCRs, designer gowns, perfume and
    feather beds stolen in truck hijackings along the East Coast. The
    indictments followed a three-year sting operation in which an
    undercover FBI agent infiltrated a social club in Brooklyn where
    defendants were caught on tape allegedly discussing criminal activity.
    The defendants are charged with extortion, racketeering, trafficking
    stolen property, drug sales and gun charges. Thirty-four people were
    arrested; 13 were either jailed or being sought. 
   
    MARKETS 

    TOKYO (AP) -- The Nikkei dropped 265.22 points to 17,644.24 Friday. The
    dollar traded at 119.09 yen, up 0.08. 
   
    AUSTRALIAN OPEN 

    MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Martina Hingis won her first Australian
    Open title on Friday, even before playing her singles final. Hingis
    contributed her usually reliable groundstrokes and a solid volley to
    the attack as she and Natasha Zvereva of Belarus beat Americans Lindsay
    Davenport and Lisa Raymond 6-2, 6-2 in the women's doubles final. "I
    hope to have a good day tomorrow too," Hingis said in a center court
    victory speech. The match lasted less than an hour, putting little
    strain on Hingis on the eve of her singles final against Mary Pierce. 
   
    AP Newsbrief by LISA M. COLLINS 

    RTw  23-Jan-97 11:04    

    Reuters World News Highlights

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    SEOUL - South Korean Labour Minister Jin Nyum said the government would
    not tolerate any more illegal strikes over a controversial labour law.
    South Korea's ruling party called the opposition shameless for
    rejecting an offer to reopen parliamentary debate over the law, which
    sparked more than three weeks of industrial strife. 

    - - - - 

    KABUL - Afghanistan's Islamic Taleban militia said it was thrusting up
    the Salang Pass and towards the Panjsher Valley after capturing two key
    towns from opposition forces north of Kabul.  A senior officer said
    Taleban forces had captured Jabal-os-Siraj, a garrison town 70 km (44
    miles) north of Kabul, and Gulbahar, about 15 km (nine miles) to the
    northeast. 

    - - - - 

    PARIS - A string of car bomb attacks which has claimed at least 50
    lives in a week has plunged Algiers into a sea of fear as Islamist
    guerrillas step up their campaign against the government. 

    - - - - 

    MOSCOW - Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin said he expected President
    Boris Yeltsin, who is recovering from pneumonia in his country home, to
    return to work in the next few days, Itar-Tass news agency said. 

    - - - - 

    JERUSALEM - Israel stepped up calls for resumption of peace talks with
    Syria. Damascus, still wary of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu,
    demanded the Jewish state first guarantee it will hand back all of the
    Golan Heights. 

    - - - - 

    LIMA - Peru stepped up pressure on Marxist gunmen holding 73 hostages
    at the Japanese ambassador's home and refused to start talks to end the
    37-day crisis unless the rebels dropped demands for the release of
    jailed comrades. 

    - - - - 

    BELGRADE - Non-stop protests by Serbian students stretched into a fifth
    day as Belgrade citizens baffled police with a hide-and-seek strategy
    to evade a ban on marches. 

    - - - - 

    SOFIA - Bulgaria's new president starts work in a country overwhelmed
    by political and economic crisis. Petar Stoyanov took office on
    Wednesday as the Socialist Party threatened to counter opposition
    protests with mass marches of its own unless it is allowed to form a
    new cabinet. 

    - - - - 

    BEIJING - China hit out at Britain, saying London's protests against
    Beijing's proposed amendments to Hong Kong laws after this year's
    handover of sovereignty were unacceptable, unreasonable and unwise. 

    - - - - 

    HANOI - Vietnam's biggest corruption trial opened in Ho Chi Minh City,
    with 20 defendants in the dock on charges of siphoning tens of millions
    of dollars from a company linked to the ruling Communist Party. 

    - - - - 

    ATHENS - Greek seamen ended a crippling 10-day strike that stranded
    hundreds of lorries at ports around the country and caused food and
    fuel shortages on Aegean islands. 

    - - - - 

    OSLO - Two members of a Norwegian motorcycle gang were wounded by
    gunshots, one of them seriously, in the latest incident involving biker
    gangs in the Nordic region, police said. 

    REUTER

    RTw  24-Jan-97 04:34    

    Odds and Ends

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    The following is a collection of human interest stories that have moved
    separately: 

    - - - - 

    Brazilian offers $500 reward for lost chicken 

    BRASILIA - A Brazilian woman is offering a $500 reward for information
    leading to the return of her lost pet Scratchy, a chicken that drinks
    milk and sleeps in a bed, the Globo newspaper reported. 

    It said Irene Azevedo, 41, of Belo Horizonte, was distraught and unable
    to sleep after Scratchy disappeared. 

    "She could be in somebody's pot by now," the newspaper quoted Azevedo
    as saying. "But she's not just a chicken. She's a loving companion, a
    jewel." 

    She has hired a private detective and placed advertisements in local
    newspapers offering a $500 reward. 

    Azevedo said she would easily recognise her chicken. Scratchy drinks a
    saucer of milk every night before retiring to a special cot. 

    - - - - 

    Man takes joy-ride in Siberian train 

    MOSCOW - Russian police are looking for a man who took a locomotive for
    a joy-ride on a major Siberian railway, Interfax news agency reported. 

    It said an unidentified person had introduced himself as a train driver
    to a duty officer on Wednesday at Tynda station on the Baikal-Amur line
    that runs from Lake Baikal to Russia's Far East. He then drove the
    locomotive away. 

    It was found abandoned late at night not far from the station, but
    there are no clues to the identity of the driver. 

    - - - - 

    Burglar caught by footprints in snow 

    SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - An ex-convict who allegedly stole office
    equipment not only left a trail of footprints in the snow but walked
    into a restaurant filled with police officers, authorities said. 

    Saratoga Springs police officer Gregory Santos discovered the burglary
    at an insurance company office on Sunday night, tracked the footprints
    into the woods behind the building and found a coat, hat and tape
    recorders lying in the snow. 

    The trail then took him to the door of a restaurant where hundreds of
    local and state police officers were attending a retirement party for a
    New York State police sergeant. 

    "He tracked him down like a Mountie," police spokesman Robert Flanagan
    said. "When Santos came into the party he asked whether anyone had come
    in without a coat and about 12 officers pointed to a man using a pay
    phone. 

    "Santos tapped him on the shoulder and arrested him." 

    The suspect, Jude Clairmont, was being held without bail on third
    degree burglary charges in Saratoga County jail. 

    - - - - 

    Our brains as big as they'll get, scientists say 

    LONDON - Science-fiction films that depict our descendants as
    big-brained geniuses are off the mark, British scientists said. They
    say our brains are as big as they can be. 

    Chris Winter and fellow researchers at British Telecommunications Plc's
    BT Laboratories say the brain has just about reached top capacity. At
    best, it is within 20 percent of the maximum, they told New Scientist
    magazine. 

    The human brain -- and those of other higher mammals -- packs a lot of
    power into a small area because of the convoluted way it folds up
    inside the skull. 

    Human brains are about three times the size of that of our nearest
    relative -- the chimpanzee. Dolphins and whales have brains of
    comparable size to ours. 

    Scientists say the human skull could not grow any bigger because, as
    any mother can attest, it is already almost too big to go through the
    birth canal. This is one reason human babies are born so early and
    helpless -- any later and their heads would be too big.

    REUTER 

    AP 24-Jan-1997 0:00 EST   REF5868

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Deaf Boy 'Signs' Fire Alert

    AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- A 10-year-old deaf boy cried "Fi! Yah!" and used
    sign language Thursday to alert others to a house fire, helping to save
    a man inside the burning home. 

    Carlos Manor was riding on a school bus when he saw the flames shooting
    from the windows of a house shortly before 7 a.m. 

    He nudged a classmate and used sign language to say, "Tell them, fire,
    fire!" His cries also alarmed the driver, Dot Benson, who stopped the
    bus and saw the fire. 

    The driver's assistant, Judy Lively, jumped off and raced into the
    burning home while Carlos and three other special education students
    stayed on the bus. 

    Ms. Lively's shouts alerted Alfred Hardwick, 85, who was rescued
    unharmed by firefighters. Moments later, the windows exploded. 

    "The fire was awful. It was a hard fire and the glass blew up and went
    everywhere," Carlos said through teacher Beverly Turbyfill, who
    translated his sign language. "The glass almost came on the bus." 

    An electrical short in a bedroom appliance caused the blaze, fire Capt.
    Tommy Cox said. The home did not have smoke detectors, he said. 

    "He has no idea the magnitude of what he did," Ms. Turbyfill said. "He
    notices everything. This a child who is truly a nosy child -- and this
    time it paid off." 

    AP 23-Jan-1997 23:41 EST   REF5772

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Nixon Was Urged To Blackmail LBJ

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Richard Nixon wanted files he believed were at the
    Brookings Institution in order to pressure his predecessor, Lyndon
    Johnson, to support Nixon's policy in Vietnam, according to a recently
    released tape of Nixon's White House Oval office conversations. 

    Nixon and his aides, H.R. Haldeman and Henry Kissinger, in 1971 were
    seeking files regarding Johnson's halting of bombings in North Vietnam
    a few days before the 1968 election, according to the tapes, excerpts
    of which were published Friday in The Washington Post. 

    Republicans considered the suspension of the bombing in 1968 to be a
    political ploy which boosted the candidacy of Democrat Hubert Humphrey.
    Nevertheless, Nixon won the presidential election that year. 

    In his memoirs, Nixon conceded he wanted the Brookings files for
    leverage against Johnson administration officials at odds with his war
    policy. In a recently released Oval Office tape, Nixon discussed an
    illegal break-in to seize the files from the think tank. 

    The new recording reviewed by the Post -- a tape of a June 17, 1971,
    conversation in the midst of the Pentagon Papers controversy -- sheds
    light on why Nixon and his aides wanted the files. 

    "You can blackmail Johnson on this stuff," Haldeman says. 

    "How?" asks Nixon. 

    "The bombing halt file is all in the same file," Haldeman says. 

    "Do we have it?" Nixon asked. "... I asked for it. I said I needed it." 

    Officials working at Brookings at the time said no such files were kept
    there, and that no break-in took place. 

    AP 23-Jan-1997 23:02 EST   REF5480

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    47 Charged in Hijack Sting

    By PAT MILTON

    Associated Press Writer

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Forty-seven people -- including the reputed new boss
    of the Gambino organized crime family -- were charged Thursday in a $6
    million scheme to sell computers, VCRs, designer gowns, perfume and
    feather beds stolen in truck hijackings along the East Coast. 

    The indictments followed a three-year sting operation in which an
    undercover FBI agent infiltrated a social club in Brooklyn where
    defendants were caught on tape discussing criminal activity. 

    The defendants are charged with extortion, racketeering, trafficking
    stolen property, drug sales and gun charges. Thirty-four people were
    arrested; 13 were either jailed or being sought. 

    The ring took in $5 million in electronics, foot massagers and feather
    beds from truck hijackings and another $1 million in designer dresses,
    including some by Donna Karan, in a robbery, FBI Assistant Director
    James Kallstrom said. 

    "The rule was if it had value, they stole it," he said. 

    Details on the robbery were not released. 

    Among those indicted was Nicholas "The Little Guy" Corozzo, 55, who
    authorities believe recently took over the Gambino organized crime
    family from John Gotti, who's serving a life term in prison. 

    Last month, Corozzo was arrested in Florida on federal racketeering
    charges that included allegations of running a South Florida
    loansharking operation. He was being held without bail in Miami. 

    AP 23-Jan-1997 22:29 EST   REF5128

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Fla. Group Won't Push CyberTax

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Web surfers and e-mailers in Florida can
    breathe a sigh of relief: A task force appointed by the governor is
    recommending that access to the Internet remained untaxed. 

    Instead, the task force is proposing that the existing hodgepodge of
    state and local taxes on the telecommunication industry be replaced
    with a single, unified tax levied on all telephone, cellular and cable
    television providers -- but not Internet access providers. 

    The task force was created after business groups objected to a plan
    announced more than year ago by the state Department of Revenue to
    begin collecting taxes on Internet access. 

    After seven months, the 19-member group decided Florida would be
    perceived as "anti-business" if it became only the sixth state to try
    to tax access to computer networks. 

    "The task force believed that taxing anything to do with the Internet
    is premature," said Larry Fuchs, executive director of the Revenue
    Department and a task force member. 

    The exact amount of the unified tax and which industries will be
    subject to it remains to be decided by the Legislature. 

    AP 23-Jan-1997 21:50 EST   REF6071

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Cadet Contests Rape Accusation

    By HOLLY CORYELL

    Associated Press Writer

    WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) -- A West Point cadet accused of raping a female
    classmate testified Thursday that she initiated sex with him, and that
    when he asked afterward if she was upset, she answered no. 

    James Engelbrecht said he went to sleep relatively early while the
    party continued in another room of a New Jersey home. 

    "I felt like I was asleep for a while, and then I felt like there was
    somebody on top of me," Engelbrecht said. "She kissed me, and I kissed
    her back." 

    After fumbling with their clothes, Englebrecht said they briefly had
    consensual sex, which he said ended quickly because he did not want her
    to get pregnant. 

    "The best way to describe it was she was aloof," Engelbrecht said of
    the woman's mood just after the encounter. "I asked her specifically if
    she was upset with me and she said no. We started kissing again." 

    Another cadet, Charles Estes, then entered the room and Engelbrecht
    testified that he asked Estes for a condom, which he didn't have. When
    Estes left, Engelbrecht said he and the woman went to sleep. 

    The next day, Engelbrecht said he helped her find her clothes, and she
    did not appear upset then either, he said. 

    The woman testified that she woke up in pain after Engelbrecht raped
    her during a night of drinking at the Memorial Day weekend party. 

    Engelbrecht, 22, is charged with assaulting and raping the woman on May
    24, 1996, and faces life in prison and dismissal from the Army if
    convicted. 

    Estes testified that when he entered the room to get his things, he saw
    the woman on top of Engelbrecht but didn't see them engaging in sexual
    activity. 

    "As soon as the light hit her, she rolled off to the wall side of the
    bed in an attempt to hide from the light," Estes said. "He was lying
    down flat on his back ... she was just on top of him, straddling him." 

    The defense rested after Engelbrecht's testimony. The military judge
    said deliberations by the seven male officers on the jury could begin
    as early as Friday morning. 

    AP 23-Jan-1997 22:17 EST   REF5083

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Red Cross Murder Link Denied

    MOSCOW (AP) -- A successor to the Soviet KGB denied Chechnya's claims
    that it was behind last month's killing of six Red Cross workers,
    suggesting Thursday that the republic's own separatist authorities
    might be to blame. 

    Masked men using guns with silencers killed the aid workers while they
    slept in a Red Cross hospital compound in the Chechen town of Noviye
    Atagi on Dec. 17. 

    Russia's Federal Security Service said the town was a "carefully
    guarded domain of the militants" and so it was "difficult to believe
    that somebody from the outside could infiltrate so easily." 

    Chechnya's security chief, Abu Movsayev, said earlier this week the
    secret police agency, known by the acronym FSB, was behind the killings
    and that the main suspect was a colonel in the Russian army. 

    "Movsayev and some of the republic's other leaders are literally
    competing to find an 'FSB hand' everywhere," the agency said in a
    statement reported by the ITAR-Tass and Interfax news agencies. 

    The rebels say Moscow wants to discredit the separatist government that
    won control of Chechnya after 20 months of bitter fighting with Russian
    troops. 

    Prompted by the massacre, the International Committee of the Red Cross
    on Thursday took steps to improve its protection of workers. 

    In an unprecedented move, the humanitarian organization recalled all 55
    heads of delegation from conflict zones around the globe for an
    emergency meeting in Geneva, where the delegates agreed on a
    comprehensive overhaul of security procedures. Full analysis of the
    political environment in conflict zones would be undertaken so as to
    better understand the risks from combatants, the group said. 

    The war in Chechnya ended last summer and elections for a president and
    parliament are on Monday. 

    On Thursday, Russia criticized European support for the elections, and
    Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov complained to the Organization for
    Security and Cooperation in Europe about election funding. 

    The Interfax news agency quoted a ministry spokesman as saying Russia
    does not object to the OSCE providing ballot boxes or bringing in
    observers, but it never agreed to the sums the OSCE is spending. 

    Spokesman Gennady Tarasov said the OSCE might wear out its welcome with
    Moscow. "An understanding was reached that after the elections, the
    future of the OSCE mission in Chechnya should be discussed," he said. 

    Russian news agencies say the OSCE is spending more than $300,000 to
    help organize the election and send in teams of international
    observers. 

    AP 23-Jan-1997 21:59 EST   REF5019

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    U.N. OK's Food Sales to Iraq

    UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The United Nations on Thursday approved the
    first sales of food to Iraq since agreeing to allow Saddam Hussein to
    sell limited amounts of oil in exchange for humanitarian supplies. 

    Australian farmers will be permitted to sell $50 million worth of wheat
    and Thailand may sell $20 million worth of rice, the U.N. sanctions
    committee on Iraq decided. 

    The United Nations last month decided to permit Iraq to sell $2 billion
    worth of oil to soften the devastating effects of U.N. sanctions --
    imposed on Saddam Hussein for his 1990 invasion of Kuwait -- on
    ordinary Iraqis. 

    The sanctions committee on Thursday also decided to postpone a decision
    on whether to allow Turkey to resume its once fruitful trade relations
    with Iraq. 

    Turkey will be allowed to sell Iraq spare parts to repair an oil
    pipeline needed to implement the first part of the oil-for-food deal,
    committee chairman Antonio Monteiro of Portugal said at a U.N. press
    conference. 

    AP 23-Jan-1997 21:48 EST   REF6069

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Serbian Police Beat Protesters

    By ALISON SMALE

    Associated Press Writer

    KRAGUJEVAC, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Riot police clubbed protesters who tried
    to blockade this city and opposition activists attempted to block key
    roads throughout Yugoslavia on Thursday in a sign that President
    Slobodan Milosevic and his opponents were headed for a showdown. 

    Minor clashes occurred in Belgrade Thursday night when police prevented
    protesters from marching to the city center. 

    The pro-democracy demonstrations have been largely peaceful, but new
    opposition actions, such as blocking of roads and Milosevic's media
    outlets, could trigger wider police action and violence. 

    As the crisis deepens with no solution in sight, both sides have shown
    increasing signs of nervousness. 

    "Kragujevac is boiling and I don't know what could be the solution,"
    said Borivoje Radic, the new head of city government. 

    Hundreds of policemen barricaded themselves inside the radio and
    television station to prevent its takeover by new city officials in
    Kragujevac, an industrial city about 90 miles south of Belgrade. 

    Thousands of Milosevic's opponents surrounded them and threatened to
    use force to enter. Someone posted a sign on the building: "This is a
    police station, not a radio station." 

    Police prevented an angry crowd of several thousand demonstrators from
    surging into a Kragujevac police station. At least 16 people were
    injured in clashes with police in the city. 

    "Tensions are extremely high," Radic said. "The television has done us
    a lot of harm, and now it can lead us to open clashes with the police." 

    Police detained at least eight opposition activists who attempted to
    block roads in protests all over the country. 

    Police wielding batons beat protesters who parked their cars on the
    main road between Kragujevac and Belgrade. Two people were clubbed to
    the ground and at least one opposition leader was detained. 

    Police hit an Associated Press Television crewman in the stomach as he
    was videotaping the blockade. He and another crewman were detained
    briefly and their footage was confiscated. 

    Kragujevac's new mayor, Veroljub Stevanovic, said residents were
    furious because local policemen had beaten up their own people. 

    "They are like robots: When they get an order they fulfill it," he
    said. "It doesn't matter if the person out there is their brother or
    not." 

    Kragujevac is one of 14 communities won by opposition candidates in
    Nov. 17 elections. Protests, now in their 10th week, erupted when the
    government annulled the vote results, and Milosevic since has allowed
    his opponents to take power in Kragujevac and a few other towns. 

    But he refuses to give up a key tool: the local media he has used to
    criticize his opponents and censor the flow of information throughout
    the country. 

    Milosevic needs to keep control of the media because Serbia will hold
    presidential and parliamentary elections later this year. 

    Police first barricaded themselves inside the Kragujevac station on
    Wednesday, saying they were protecting the studios while a court
    considers an appeal by official Serbian media challenging its handover.

    Ljuba Tadic, a Belgrade actor, urged protesters outside the station to
    remain patient. 

    " We will get the TV station even if it takes two, three or even six
    months," he said. 

    Local opposition leader Aleksandar Radosavljevic said daylong talks to
    negotiate a compromise had failed and protests against the occupation
    would continue. 

    "Obviously, they don't want any agreement and are determined to keep
    control of the media," Radosavljevic said. 

    A statement from the new Kragujevac government accused police of trying
    to provoke clashes and demanded that officers vacate the station. 

    Later, the city's new radio director, Vidosav Stevanovic, said he and
    the new mayor had been invited for talks in Belgrade with the general
    manager of official Serbian TV. 

    The radio director said they would consult the protesters before
    deciding whether to go. "We are their representatives and they are our
    only law," he said. 

    In Belgrade on Thursday, opposition leader Zoran Djindjic urged a crowd
    of about 20,000 protesters to hold their ground. 

    "The whole of Serbia has risen," he said. "We must not lose at any
    front, in Belgrade or anywhere else in Serbia." 

    AP 23-Jan-1997 19:45 EST   REF6008

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Moscow Mafia Chief Gunned Down

    MOSCOW (AP) -- In one of the capital's most daring mob attacks, a mafia
    chief was gunned down Thursday night as he sat in his sports car in
    front of police headquarters. 

    "Moscow gangsters seem to be mocking the police," Russian Public
    Television ORT said. 

    Vasily Naumov, head of a notorious Moscow crime group, the Koptevo
    gang, died of multiple gunshot wounds only feet from the Moscow
    Interior Department. His bodyguard was wounded in the hail of assault
    rifle fire, ORT reported. 

    The gunmen opened fire on Naumov as an awards ceremony for police
    officers was under way inside the ministry building, they said. 

    Naumov's slaying appeared to be part of a long-standing gang war
    between two rival criminal clans, ORT said. 

    Naumov's brother was killed a year ago. Police last month found the
    bodies of three of the gang members cemented into a sauna floor.
    Television on Thursday showed police extracting the bodies from the
    floor. 

    Russian mobsters wage fierce, public wars. Businessmen and bankers are
    often victims in their turf battles. 

    Earlier this week, a gunman killed the owner of a popular strip club in
    Moscow. Last week, a businessman was killed by a powerful bomb in his
    office in the same Moscow building as a local police precinct. 

    American businessman Paul Tatum was gunned down in November near one of
    the city's most expensive hotels. 

    Moscow police chief Nikolai Kulikov said Wednesday that the capital had
    68 contract murders last year. Nationwide, there were 450 last year.
    Few are ever solved. 

    AP 23-Jan-1997 19:41 EST   REF6005

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Egypt: Alleged Satanists Charged

    CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Forty-five students suspected of drinking one
    other's blood and worshiping the devil were charged Thursday with
    scorning religion -- a criminal offense in Egypt. 

    "It's a pity. They are well educated and from good families," Interior
    Minister Hassan el-Alfy was quoted as telling the Middle East News
    Agency. 

    Police detained the students Wednesday, saying they had frequently
    staged orgies in the desert where drugs were taken freely. Police said
    the women in the group wore their nails long and were fond of black
    lipstick. 

    El-Alfy said they drank each other's blood in their rituals. 

    Police released 31 of the youths Thursday, but said they were still
    looking for 20 others. The students, aged between 16 and 20, face up to
    three years in prison if convicted. 

    Some of the students were Coptic Christians, who account for nearly 10
    percent of Egypt's 60 million people. The rest were Muslims, the
    overwhelming majority in Egypt. 

    AP 23-Jan-1997 22:00 EST   REF5022

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Herpes Linked to Alzheimer's

    LONDON (AP) -- The virus that causes cold sores might be associated
    with a higher risk of Alzheimer's disease, British researchers said
    Thursday. 

    If this tentative finding is confirmed in larger studies, then it could
    be possible to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease by suppressing
    the herpes simplex virus with medication, said the report published in
    The Lancet, a British medical journal. 

    The link between Alzheimer's and a gene known as apolipoprotein E, or
    apo E, had been discovered by Dr. Allen D. Roses of Duke University in
    the United States. 

    The gene comes in three varieties -- apo E-2, E-3 and E-4. The E-2
    version is associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's, while E-4 is
    associated with an early onset of the degenerative disease. 

    But, researchers have found that E-4 is neither a sufficient nor
    necessary factor in the development of Alzheimer's disease, so "there
    has to be some other environmental or genetic factor," said Dr. Warren
    Strittmatter, professor of medicine and a colleague of Roses at Duke. 

    Strittmatter said the possible connection between herpes and
    apolipoprotein E-4 was "an exciting idea" worthy of further research,
    "but it is not convincingly or compellingly demonstrated in this
    paper." 

    The report in the Jan. 25 edition of The Lancet was by Dr. Ruth Itzhaki
    of the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory, Department of Optometry and
    Vision Sciences at the University of Manchester in England. It was
    billed as an "early report," emphasizing that the findings were
    tentative. 

    She and her colleagues extracted DNA samples from the brains of 46
    Alzheimer's patients and 44 elderly people who did not have the
    disease. 

    The found that E-4 was much more frequently found in Alzheimer's
    patients who also had the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1). 

    The virus usually infects the skin, causing a cold sore, and then works
    its way into the nerves of the face where it remains for life. 

    The virus is widespread, infecting between 50 percent and 90 percent of
    the population. 

    AP 23-Jan-1997 20:37 EST   REF6042

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    New Dinosaur Species Discovered

    LONDON (AP) -- Geologists uncovered the skeleton of a new species of a
    carnivorous dinosaur that roamed southern England 120 million years
    ago, museum officials said Thursday. 

    The 26-foot-long creature, weighing more than 1,000 pounds and armed
    with razor-sharp teeth and claws 5 inches long, fed on a diet of small
    animals, Steve Hutt, curator of the Museum of Isle of Wight Geology,
    said Thursday. The skeleton is 70 percent complete. 

    "This is the first flesh-eating dinosaur to come out of Europe for the
    last 10 to 15 years," he said. 

    David Norman, director of the Sedgwick Museum of Geology at Cambridge
    University, confirmed it was a new species. 

    Officials said the dinosaur was larger than the velociraptors -- the
    carnivores featured in the film "Jurassic Park" -- but smaller than
    tyrannosaurus rex. 

    "It probably brought its prey down with its feet and hands, and let its
    head behave like a vulture's, disemboweling things," Hutt said. 

    Hutt said dinosaur had a tail more than half the length of its body to
    act as a counterbalance. 

    The dinosaur's remains were found in the eroding cliffs on the Isle of
    Wight, four miles off the southern coast of England. 

    The skeleton will be displayed in a new dinosaur museum being built on
    the island. 

    AP 23-Jan-1997 20:33 EST   REF6039

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Smog Creeps Into U.S. Desert

    By MICHELLE BOORSTEIN

    Associated Press Writer

    PHOENIX (AP) -- From atop Squaw Peak Mountain, Gayle McCann checked out
    her new hometown. With buildings and mountain peaks obscured by a
    cafe-au-lait-colored cloud, it was not the crisp desert vista she
    expected. 

    "We grew up hearing about Arizona and the air and how people would come
    here to get over illnesses," said the 29-year-old who moved from
    Minneapolis last fall. "It kills me to think how much worse the air has
    gotten out here." 

    The days of Phoenix as a clean air haven ended long ago, doomed by the
    booming development that began after World War II which brought
    pollution from smelters, cars and trucks. 

    Still, while the air in Phoenix will never be the same, scientists say
    it is far cleaner today than it was in the 1960s, when doctors in the
    East and Midwest began sending patients with arthritis, asthma and
    other respiratory illnesses to desert cities for the clean, dry air. 

    Air quality records date only to the 1960s, when 500,000 people called
    Phoenix home and the air was considered unhealthful more than 100 days
    each year. Today, there are 2.5 million people, and the bad-air days
    number in the single digits. 

    "A lot of air quality is getting better, yet this is a period of
    incredible growth," said Dr. Robert Balling, director of climatology at
    Arizona State University, who headed a study in the mid-1980s showing
    that, contrary to popular belief, humidity in Phoenix had actually
    decreased since 1960, because buildings and homes have displaced
    irrigated fields. 

    Improving air quality is the trend as well in other fast-growing
    Western cities, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
    Technological advances in cars and fuels have meant cities like Los
    Angeles, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Las Vegas and Denver now experience only
    a fraction of the "bad air" days they did in the 1960s and 1970s. 

    But some air experts say the ability of technology to rein in pollution
    could be waning. Decades of improvements in the amounts of carbon
    monoxide, ozone and other pollutants in the air are leveling off, and
    the air is even getting worse in some cities. 

    "Areas like San Francisco and L.A. and Phoenix are continuing to grow
    and sprawl, and we're concerned that technological improvements may be
    bottoming out and that the curve is starting to go up again," said
    David Howekamp, director of the EPA's air division for California,
    Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii. 

    Ozone readings have shot up 11 percent in Phoenix in the last 10 years,
    and they have either gone up or continued to violate standards in
    cities like San Diego, Las Vegas and Salem, Ore. 

    Even if cities are meeting the EPA's health standards, many
    environmental and health groups -- including the American Lung
    Association -- wonder whether those yardsticks tell the real story. 

    "The standards EPA has adopted do not reflect real air quality
    conditions," said David Baron, assistant director of the Arizona Center
    for Law in the Public Interest. "In many cases in Phoenix, you'll go
    outside on a day when the air is visibly filthy and according to the
    EPA, we're in compliance." 

    The focus of the debate on air quality has shifted to growth management
    to hold down the burgeoning population in the West. 

    "A lot of those newcomers are the ones pushing the body politic, saying
    'This is not the quality of life I came here for,"' said David
    Feuerherd, program director of the Arizona Lung Association. 

    AP 23-Jan-1997 18:57 EST   REF5953

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Researchers KO Tumors in Mice

    By LAURAN NEERGAARD

    Associated Press Writer

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- University of Texas scientists are destroying
    cancerous tumors in mice by engineering blood clots that starve the
    tumors to death, an advance that could be tested in people within two
    years. 

    The therapy, much like killing a plant by cutting its roots, caused
    rapid cancer-cell death within 24 hours, Dr. Philip Thorpe of UT's
    Southwestern Medical Center reports Friday in the journal Science. 

    Two weeks later, tumors had disappeared in 38 percent of the mice and
    had shrunk by more than half in another 24 percent. 

    Much work is needed to prove the treatment could work in people. But it
    could one day offer doctors a less-toxic alternative to chemotherapy
    for breast, lung, ovarian and other cancers. 

    "It would be wonderful," said Dr. James Pluda, a National Cancer
    Institute senior drug investigator. "What this paper demonstrates is
    proof of the concept that ... this kind of therapy can be effective." 

    Said Harvard University professor Dr. Judah Folkman, whose research
    into blood vessels that feed tumors formed a foundation for the
    discovery: "This is very promising and very elegant work." 

    Solid tumors, which represent most major cancers, depend on blood for
    oxygen and nutrients. Blood vessels grow rampantly through the cancer
    mass, often making surgery difficult because of heavy bleeding. The
    vessels eventually snake into other organs and spread the malignancy. 

    Thorpe theorized that by clogging vessels deep inside a tumor would
    make it die from the inside out. The question was how to avoid
    life-threatening blood clots in arteries throughout the body. 

    To create an intravenous drug, Thorpe used a human protein called
    tissue factor, or TF, that is vital in helping people's blood clot. So
    the TF in this drug dose wouldn't coagulate on the way through the
    bloodstream to the tumor, he removed the molecule that would allow it
    to latch onto normal cells. 

    Then Thorpe attached a homing device, an antibody that recognizes a
    substance found only inside the tumor's blood vessels. And once that
    substance hooks TF to these tumor vessels, the TF starts creating blood
    clots inside the tumor. 

    Clogged vessels appeared throughout mice tumors in 30 minutes and
    caused rapid cancer-cell death within 24 hours. Two weeks later, tumors
    large enough to be the equivalent of 2-5 pounds in a person had died in
    38 percent of the mice. 

    Key to making the process work in people is finding the right homing
    device to direct TF to a tumor's blood vessels. Thorpe already has
    engineered drugs that would target one substance, called vascular
    endothelial cell growth factor. 

    A biotechnology firm, Techniclone Corp. of Tustine, Calif., is
    licensing the therapy and plans to begin testing it in people within
    two years. 

    "We give the tumor a stroke," Thorpe said. "We can envision making a
    single drug for treating all types of solid tumors, whereas previously
    we had to tailor to each disease." 

    Before Thorpe's work, scientists were trying to stop the runaway growth
    of new blood vessels that allows cancer to spread, a field pioneered by
    Folkman called "anti-angiogenesis" that recently yielded potential
    drugs to fight metastasis. 

    Thorpe's approach severs the cancer's original blood vessels, using the
    body's own clotting mechanisms instead of a chemical. 

    The two methods are complementary, the cancer institute's Pluda said,
    and it is unclear which would prove best for certain tumors. 

    But unlike chemotherapy, the risk of serious side effects from Thorpe's
    method is low, as is the chance of tumors mutating to resist the
    treatment, Pluda said. 

    The therapy is not a cure-all. Not all the mice responded. And those
    whose tumors shrank, even by huge magnitudes, eventually relapsed
    because cells on the cancer's outer edge got sufficient nourishment
    from neighboring blood vessels to cling to life. 

    Thus, if the therapy works in people, it likely would be used to shrink
    a tumor to make it easier to remove surgically or to require a lower
    dose of chemotherapy, Harvard's Folkman said. 

    "These are speculations," he cautioned, "but that's why I think it is
    an exciting advance." 

    RTw  24-Jan-97 07:08    

    China crackdown on HK civil rights sparks protests

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    By Peter Humphrey 

    HONG KONG, Jan 24 (Reuter) - Hong Kong's democracy movement on Friday
    likened Beijing's plans to curb civil liberties in the territory to the
    brutal purges of China's radical 1966-76 Cultural Revolution. 

    The pro-democracy camp staged a small but noisy protest on Friday
    morning at the office of post-colonial leader Tung Chee-hwa, who will
    succeed British Governor Chris Patten after the handover at midnight on
    June 30. 

    "Protect freedom of assembly. Protect freedom of association," they
    shouted. "Human rights cannot be infringed upon." 

    A handful wore tall hats and hung labels around their necks, harking
    back to the Cultural Revolution when those who were politically
    persecuted were forced to wear dunce caps and hang boards around their
    necks with their names crossed out. They were paraded through the
    streets and beaten. Many died. 

    Pro-democracy activists are campaigning against plans to scrap or amend
    25 Hong Kong laws, some of them crucial to civil liberties, on July 1. 

    Laws facing the axe include parts of the Bill of Rights and laws
    allowing freedom of assembly and association. 

    The Hong Kong group called for an all-night sit-down protest outside
    China's de facto embassy, the Xinhua News Agency branch office,
    opposite the Happy Valley race course. Other protests were planned for
    Sunday. 

    "I don't think we can be masters of our own house," Yeung Sum, deputy
    leader of the Democratic Party, told reporters when asked what the
    latest developments boded for the autonomy that China has promised Hong
    Kong after the handover. 

    "The Chinese Communist Party is master of the house, and Mr Tung is the
    servant of the Chinese Communist party," he said. 

    Democratic Party leader Martin Lee called a news conference for later
    in the day and was due to set off on an eight-nation tour of Europe on
    Sunday to lobby for support for human rights, freedom and democracy in
    post-handover Hong Kong. 

    The reduction of civil liberties was proposed by a China-controlled
    committee last Sunday and would be implemented by a provisional
    legislature that China is installing in July to replace the elected
    Legislative Council. 

    The provisional body was to convene for its first sitting across the
    border in the Chinese city of Shenzhen on Saturday, when it is to elect
    its president and set rules of procedure. 

    Britain is handing Hong Kong back to China, after more than 150 years
    of colonial rule, under a 1984 treaty in which China promised to
    preserve the territory's capitalist system and freewheeling way of life
    for a further half century. 

    Hong Kong's leading English-language newspaper, the South China Morning
    Post, voiced concern that the changes would scrap a habeas corpus law
    that curbs police rights to detain people. 

    "It prevents people from being arbitrarily arrested and held without
    trial, or detained without good reason," the newspaper said. "Habeas
    corpus is one of the greatest safeguards to individual liberty in the
    canon of law." 

    Tung and Patten duelled verbally on Thursday. Tung defended the
    changes, saying they were necessary to strike "the right balance
    between individual rights and social order." 

    Tung said other states required permits for demonstrations and set
    limits on the overseas links of political groups, two of the changes
    that are worrying the pro-democracy camp. 

    Patten heaped scorn on the proposals, which have drawn Britain and the
    United States into a new diplomatic quarrel with Beijing. China has
    rejected their protests as "unwise." 

    REUTER

    RTos 24-Jan-97 05:37    

    Senate Mulls Black English as Teaching Aid

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The bitter debate over whether Ebonics, the
    speech of inner city blacks, is a language that should be used to teach
    urban black children reached the Senate on Thursday. 

    Members of the Oakland, California, school system testified in defense
    of their decision last month to embrace Ebonics as a distinct language
    for teaching purposes, which one senator at an appropriations
    subcommittee hearing called an example of political correctness run
    amok. 

    The decision set off a firestorm that has kept radio talk show hosts
    fuming and editorial writers grappling with cliches to denounce it as
    nonsense. 

    Michael Lampkins, a 17-year-old Oakland student and member of the
    school board, told the panel "teachers must be trained to recognize the
    language patterns students bring into the classroom." 

    "While those language patterns are different than standard English,
    they are not deficient," he said. 

    But Sen. Lauch Faircloth of North Carolina said ebonics was just one
    more foolish plan by educators who should know better. "It's political
    correctness that has gone out of control," the Republican said. 

    Oakland School Superintendent Carolyn Getridge defended Ebonics as a
    way to help black students achieve in school by speaking their
    language. She said she welcomed the attention the controversy has drawn
    to the problems of educating the urban poor but she told the panel that
    instead of debating Ebonics the government should address funding
    longer school years and days, expand pre-school programs for young
    children and provide money to train teachers better. 

    "The media focus on Ebonics diverts our attention from the more
    substantive concerns of English language development and the more
    fundamental issue of minority student achievement in urban school
    systems," she said. 

    A resolution has been introduced in the House of Representatives to
    deny federal funds for Ebonics programs, which the Council of Great
    City Schools, a lobby group, says are also offered in several other
    school districts. 

    Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the
    subcommittee, was more open-minded. He recalled how he grew up in a
    Yiddish-speaking home, adding "and I have been trying to lose my Kansas
    accent all my life." 

    Some linguists trace the speech patterns of inner city blacks to
    languages spoken in West Africa, others to English and Irish dialects
    and others to Caribbean or Creole dialects. 

    Linguists also differ on whether these patterns are a distinct language
    or merely a dialect. For example, some urban blacks use the verb "to
    be" in a unique way, as in "I be gone," or say they want to "ax" a
    question rather than "ask." 

    University of Pennsylvania linguist William Labov told the panel this
    was an African American vernacular English. 

    "Many leaders of the African American community believe that there is
    no distinctive African American English and that dialect described by
    linguists is simply the same bad English spoken by uneducated people
    anywhere," Labov said. But he said he believed Ebonics deserved a fair
    trial as a teaching tool. 

    REUTER

    RTw  23-Jan-97 18:07    

    British Ford (F.N) workers plan strike vote

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    By Giles Elgood 

    LONDON, Jan 23 (Reuter) - Car workers at Ford's British factories will
    be balloted on whether to strike in protest at the motor giant's plans
    to axe 1,300 jobs, a union official said on Thursday. 

    Ford agreed to hold more talks between unions and a senior company
    official, but union leaders made clear they would go ahead with plans
    for a ballot of 30,000 workers. 

    "This is the most serious dispute we have seen in our industry for two
    decades," said Tony Woodley, national officer of the Transport and
    General Workers Union. 

    "We are in dispute with the Ford motor company unless and until they
    reverse their quite disgraceful decision to close partially, if not at
    this juncture totally, the Halewood plant." 

    Ford said last week it planned to axe one in three jobs at its Halewood
    plant in northwest England, raising fears for the future of 20 Ford
    plants across Britain. 

    After closed-door talks with union chiefs, Ford said it was sticking to
    its plans to cut jobs at Halewood. 

    It said Halewood would continue to build the company's Escort model
    until the year 2000, after which it would produce a new, Escort-based
    vehicle. 

    "The actions we have announced for Halewood Assembly Operations give
    the plant a realistic future with an exciting new Escort-based vehicle
    in the medium term, subject to approvals and to performance objectives
    being reached," said Ford's European Vehicle Operations manager, David
    Gorman. 

    Outside the talks, Ford workers from across Britain cheered and waved
    banners in support of strikes, once a regular feature of the British
    landscape but largely stamped out during two decades of Conservative
    rule. 

    Woodley said the unions would act as quickly as possible on the ballot
    but the process might take five or six weeks. "We will be moving to a
    ballot as soon as humanly possible," he said to rousing cheers from the
    crowd. 

    "Our jobs are all we've got," said one angry Ford worker. "And even now
    they've turned the place into a sweat-shop." 

    Mass meetings of Ford workers this week won overwhelming support for
    the unions' position in opposing the company's plans, Woodley said. 

    The ballot paper is expected to ask workers whether they favour a
    strike or industrial action short of a walkout. 

    Ford agreed to the unions' request to hold talks with Jac Nasser,
    president of Ford Automotive Operations and Chairman of Ford of Europe,
    to discuss the situation at Halewood. 

    Unions say the decision to scale back Halewood may threaten the jobs of
    10,000 other workers. They believe Halewood faces closure even though
    Ford says a new car will be built there. 

    "The attack on Halewood is viewed as an attack on all Ford workers in
    Britain. There is no justification whatever for what the company's
    trying to do. We have a plant that is very productive, very efficient
    that is producing cars in a cost-effective manner," said Woodley. 

    The dispute, as politicians gear up for a general election, could prove
    embarrassing for the opposition Labour Party, traditionally considered
    the friend of the worker. 

    Labour is 20 points ahead in the polls but the Conservative government,
    which must hold an election by May 22, may use the Ford dispute to
    awaken old fears of a Labour-ruled nation riven by industrial disputes. 

    REUTER

    AP 27-Jan-1997 0:58 EST   REF5581

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Monday, Jan. 27, 1997
   
    SUPER BOWL 

    NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The Lombardi Trophy is coming back to Titletown.
    The Green Bay Packers' 35-21 Super Bowl victory over the New England
    Patriots Sunday featured a high-powered Pack making big plays,
    especially MVP Desmond Howard. Brett Favre threw for two touchdowns and
    ran for another. Antonio Freeman and Desmond Howard set Super Bowl
    records to highlight the victory. Freeman hooked up with Favre on an
    81-yard scoring play in the first half. Howard highlighted the third
    quarter with a 99-yard kick return for a touchdown after the Patriots
    pulled within six points 17 seconds earlier. 
   
    SUPERBOWL ADS 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- The Fox network said 30 advertisers paid an average of
    $1.2 million for 30 seconds of commercial time in Super Bowl XXXI, in
    which Green Bay defeated New England 35-21 for the National Football
    League championship. Among those companies who ponied up for the ads
    were Holiday Inn, National Pork Producers Council, Budweiser, Nissan
    and Visa. Supermodels Cindy Crawford, Tyra Banks and Bridget Hall
    joined former Sen. Bob Dole in the highly-anticipated spots. 
   
    WESTERN STORMS 

    SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Mudslides blocked roads Sunday as another storm
    drenched Southern California. Saturated ground gave way in Malibu,
    blocking all four lanes of the Pacific Coast Highway for much of the
    day. In northern California, rain pushed creeks over their banks,
    leaving 2 feet of water on a highway and flooding homes. 
   
    COSBY-INTERVIEW 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Bill Cosby said his son's slaying won't change who he
    is. "We have to laugh -- we've got to laugh," Cosby told CBS's Dan
    Rather on Sunday. It was the comedian's first interview since Ennis
    Cosby was slain. Ennis Cosby was shot early Jan. 16 in an apparent
    robbery attempt while changing a tire on a Los Angeles freeway. Police
    say they have good leads, but there have been no arrests. Bill Cosby is
    expected to return to work Monday on his situation comedy on CBS. The
    CBS interview is set to broadcast on Monday. 
   
    OLYMPIC-BOMBING 

    SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- The focus of the Olympic bombing probe has
    reportedly shifted to the Pacific Northwest. Three men charged with
    several bombings and bank robberies there also are being investigated
    for possible links to the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, a newspaper
    reports. Justice Department and FBI officials told The Spokesman-Review
    that the suspects are being investigated in the Atlanta case, but
    cautioned that they have other leads and no solid suspects. 
   
    STRANDED ON ICE 

    BARRIE, Ontario (AP) -- Helicopters ferried 83 fishermen off a Canadian
    lake with unstable ice Sunday, but dozens of others refused to leave
    despite a gaping crack that separated them from shore. Some anglers
    even went out on the ice, apparently ignoring news of the rescue of
    some 300 fishermen the night before. There have been no reports of
    serious injury since hundreds of anglers became stranded on Lake Simcoe
    when a crack opened quickly during a fishing contest yesterday
    afternoon. 
   
    ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS 

    JERUSALEM (AP) -- Members of Israel's Likud and Labor parties have
    agreed on a formula for a final peace settlement with the Palestinians.
    The plan foresees Israel annexing West Bank areas where most Jewish
    settlers live and -- although it would have restrictions -- does not
    rule out defining the final Palestinian entity as an independent state.
    Palestinian officials rejected the proposal, and Israeli Prime Minister
    Benjamin Netanyahu says he is not bound to anything in it. 
   
    FRANCE-JEWISH PROPERTY 

    PARIS (AP) -- France will search for Jewish property seized under the
    pro-Nazi Vichy regime and determine the "scope of pillaging" during
    World War II, Premier Alain Juppe said. Juppe told the Representative
    Council of Jewish Institutions in France on Saturday that a group would
    be set up to establish an inventory of confiscated goods that remain in
    France's possession. Documents recently made public show that the Vichy
    government and occupying German forces systematically confiscated the
    belongings of 75,000 Jews deported from France to Nazi death camps.
    Only 2,500 survived. 
   
    YUGOSLAVIA 

    BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Police beat back pro-democracy
    demonstrators Sunday as tens of thousands marched through Belgrade. The
    10 weeks of protest were sparked when the government of President
    Slobodan Milosevic ignored the opposition's victories in several local
    elections. Violence broke out for the third straight night when
    demonstrators tried to enter the center of the capital to reach
    students who have been facing down police. 
   
    MARKETS 

    TOKYO (AP) -- The dollar was traded at 119.14 yen on the Tokyo foreign
    exchange market at 9 a.m. Monday, down 0.82 yen. The Tokyo Stock
    Average shed 116.39 points to 17,572.97. 
   
    AP Newsbrief by BENITA GREEN 

    RTw  26-Jan-97 11:02    

    Reuters World News Highlights

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    LIMA - Marxist guerrillas holding VIP hostages in the Japanese
    ambassador's residence freed a sick police chief, but his release did
    little to reduce tensions in the 40-day standoff. The Red Cross
    identified the freed hostage as National Police General Jose Rivas
    Rodriguez, who was wheeled out of the compound on a stretcher flanked
    by Red Cross officials and Bishop Juan Luis Cipriani. 

    - - - - 

    SEOUL - The leader of South Korea's outlawed union group, addressing
    the largest protest rally yet against a new labour law, vowed to
    advance the date of fresh strikes unless the bill was scrapped. 

    - - - - 

    LUSHNJE, Albania - Albanian President Sali Berisha called for calm as
    fiery protests against collapsing pyramid investment schemes swept the
    nation and the opposition Socialists vowed to press ahead with a
    protest rally. 

    - - - - 

    JERUSALEM - Israeli justice officials ordered police to probe
    allegations of high-level corruption which politicians have said could
    bring down Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. 

    - - - - 

    HONG KONG - Governor Chris Patten warned that Beijing's proposals to
    water down civil liberties could sow legal confusion in the post-1997
    Hong Kong government. 

    - - - - 

    HONG KONG - Fire inspectors sifted through the debris at a Hong Kong
    karaoke club gutted by fire, killing 15 people, and police said they
    were investigating a possible organised crime link to the suspected
    arson attack. 

    - - - - 

    KHARTOUM - Sudan said it had attacked a rebel base near its southern
    border with Uganda and had killed or wounded many opposition fighters. 

    - - - - 

    ANTANANARIVO - Madagascar authorities mounted a rescue operation after
    100 were feared dead or missing and up to 30,000 homeless after a
    powerful tropical cyclone hit the Indian Ocean island's southern tip. 

    - - - - 

    BOMBAY - Twenty-two illegal immigrants, survivors of a shipwreck in the
    Mediterranean in which around 280 of their companions drowned, arrived
    back in India. 

    - - - - 

    AMMAN - King Hussein of Jordan went into hospital for treatment to a
    painful knee, a palace official said. 

    - - - - 

    BELFAST - An off-duty British soldier was wounded in a suspected IRA
    booby-trap bomb attack in the country town of Ballynahinch in Northern
    Ireland. 

    REUTER 

    RTw  27-Jan-97 05:20    

    Odds and Ends

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    The following is a collection of human interest stories that have moved
    separately: 

    Tough 10 Commandments fox British vicars 

    LONDON (Reuter) - British church officials leapt to the defence of
    priests who cannot rattle off all 10 Commandments, saying it was
    substance not words that counted. 

    A poll by the Sunday Times found only 34 percent of 200 Anglican
    priests polled could recite all 10 without help. 

    "When people are put on the spot like this of course they can't
    remember," a Church of England spokesman said. "Given time they would
    recall them." 

    The poll found that most clergy knew the commandments prohibiting
    adultery and coveting one's neighbour's wife, but got a little fuzzy on
    the details of some of the other eight. 

    John Redwood, an outspoken Conservative Member of Parliament, said he
    was amazed at the clergy's ignorance. "It's their job to remind us of
    the laws of Christianity," he said. 

    - - - - 

    Germans faithful to unflattering surnames 

    BONN (Reuter) - Thousands of Germans are keeping unfortunate surnames
    such as Kotz (Vomit), Moerder (Murder), Brathuhn (Roast chicken) and
    even Hitler, even though they could legally change them, a magazine
    reported. 

    The German phonebook lists hundreds of people with the surname Faul
    (Lazy), Fett (Fat), Dreckmann (Filth-man), Dumm (Stupid) and Schwein
    (Pig), the weekly Focus magazine said in an advance release ahead of
    publication. 

    Unflatteringly named Germans said that they mainly had problems with
    their names as children and that later in life they had decided not to
    bow to social pressure to change them. 

    "Why should I have a different name from my father and grandfather?"
    said one Herr Schwein. 

    - - - - 

    Mexican family takes out ad asking not to be robbed 

    LEON, Mexico (Reuter) - A Mexican family took out a newspaper
    advertisement asking crooks to please stop robbing the family. 

    "Mister robbers, you have cleaned us out ... please do not visit us
    anymore, it's not worth your while," the Robles family wrote in a
    newspaper ad in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato. 

    The ad recounts how the Robles family was held up in a local restaurant
    on December 27, losing their money and jewels. A month later, two armed
    robbers held up the family again in their home, taking nearly
    everything of value. 

    "The only things we have left is our refrigerator, our television set
    and a VCR," the family said. 

    - - - - 

    REUTER

    AP 26-Jan-1997 23:56 EST   REF5571

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    State Dept. To Criticize Germany

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- The State Department in its annual worldwide survey
    of human rights violations, will criticize Germany for its restrictions
    on the Church of Scientology, the Washington Post reported Monday. 

    The newspaper said that the report, due out Wednesday, will chastise
    Germany for an administration official characterized as "a campaign of
    harassment and intimidation" against the controversial church. 

    The United States has expressed concern about Germany's policies toward
    the church and its members, but also has been told by the German
    government through diplomatic channels not to interfere. 

    Emotions have been raised over the issue because the Scientologists
    have likened Germany's treatment of the church to the Nazis'
    persecution of the Jews. The German government has said it is trying to
    rein in what it considers a subversive cult organization . 

    The church, founded in the 1950s by L. Ron Hubbard, claims 8 million
    members worldwide including about 30,000 members in Germany. It has
    fought for years to be accepted as a church. It has had legal status as
    a church in the United States since 1993. 

    AP 26-Jan-1997 23:38 EST   REF5556

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Bill Cosby: 'We Have to Laugh'

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Bill Cosby said his son's slaying won't change who he
    is. "We have to laugh -- we've got to laugh," Cosby said Sunday. 

    In his first interview since Ennis Cosby was slain, Cosby told CBS that
    his wife, Camille, can't accept that her son's killer hasn't been
    found. 

    "She wants him now. She refuses to accept the fact that this "thing" is
    still out there." Cosby said in an interview with Dan Rather. "She
    doesn't accept the fact that nobody comes forward to help with the
    truth." 

    Ennis Cosby was shot early Jan. 16 in an apparent robbery attempt while
    changing a flat tire on a deserted freeway access road in Los Angeles.
    Police say they have good leads, but there have been no arrests. 

    Bill Cosby was expected to return to work Monday on his situation
    comedy on CBS. Last Monday night's episode opened and closed with a
    tribute to Cosby's 27-year-old son. A picture of Ennis Cosby flashed at
    the end with the message, "my hero, my son." 

    The Cosbys also have four daughters. 

    CBS released a few excerpts of the interview, set for broadcast Monday. 

    "I think it's time for me to tell the people that we have to laugh --
    we've got to laugh," Cosby said. "But I just want the people to know -
    those who watch me, those who are with me -- it's over for looking at
    me to do anything but go back to that which I am." 

    AP 26-Jan-1997 22:44 EST   REF5079

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    3 Probed in Olympic Bomb Case

    SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- Three men charged with several bombings and bank
    robberies in the Pacific Northwest also are being investigated for
    possible links to the Olympic park bombing in Atlanta, a newspaper
    reported Sunday. 

    However, while anonymous Justice Department and FBI officials told The
    Spokesman-Review that the Spokane bombing suspects are being
    investigated in the Atlanta case, they cautioned that they have other
    leads and no solid suspects. 

    "At this point, they are our strongest lead in the Olympics bombing,"
    one Justice Department official told the newspaper. "But there's a lot
    more work to do, and it's really early on in the investigation." 

    The three men are being held without bail on charges of robbing banks
    and bombing one of the banks, an abortion clinic and an office of The
    Spokesman-Review. 

    FBI spokesman Ray Lauer said it was logical to investigate the men for
    the Olympic park bombing. 

    "If you are looking for a bomber, you look at known suspected bombers,"
    Lauer said from Seattle. "To label them as suspects (in the Olympic
    park bombing) would be too harsh of a step at this time." 

    They were arrested Oct. 8 near Yakima, Wash., after a military surplus
    dealer, encouraged by a $130,000 reward, reported that he recognized a
    parka worn by a masked gunmen in a bank surveillance photo. 

    The dealer, from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, told the FBI he sold two of the
    men a military backpack and spoke with them about time-delay
    detonators, and also told them how to wash fingerprints off the
    backpack, the newspaper said. 

    The Olympic bomb -- which killed a woman and injured 111 people on July
    27 -- was hidden in a military backpack and triggered by a
    battery-operated timer. 

    The bombs in Spokane and Atlanta have some similarities: They were made
    with galvanized steel pipe and, apparently, black powder. But while the
    Atlanta bomb used a timer, the Spokane bombs were set off by fuses lit
    by matches, the newspaper said. No one was injured by the three Spokane
    pipe bombs. 

    Telephone records may place one of the Spokane suspects, Charles Barbee
    of Sandpoint, Idaho, near Atlanta about the time of the Olympic
    bombing, the newspaper reported. 

    One federal official said there are "some real interesting" connections
    between the Atlanta bombing and the Spokane suspects, the newspaper
    said. 

    "They certainly haven't been eliminated," the official said. 

    Officially, the 100-member task force investigating the Olympics
    bombing would not talk about any possible connection to the Spokane
    bombings. 

    On Sunday, Justice Department spokesman Bill Brooks in Washington,
    D.C., told The Associated Press he could not comment. 

    After the Olympic bombing, unidentified federal sources wrongly named
    Olympics security guard Richard Jewell as a suspect, subjecting him to
    a media frenzy that ended when officials formally said he was no longer
    under investigation. 

    The other suspects in the Spokane bombings are Robert S. Berry, 42, and
    Verne Jay Merrell, 51, also from Sandpoint. They have been linked to
    anti-government, white separatist sects based in northern Idaho. 

    Agents say the men fit one theory of the bombing: that it was committed
    by a domestic terrorist, most likely someone involved in militia-style
    or hate groups, the newspaper said. According to sources, the FBI also
    is investigating such groups in the South and Southwest. 

    Other theories about the Olympics bomber include a disgruntled employee
    or a lone sociopath. 

    The Atlanta bomb exploded in the AT&T Global Village, part of the
    Centennial Olympic Park. 

    Barbee, 42, worked for AT&T in Georgia, Florida and Idaho. In a 1995
    interview with The Spokesman-Review, he called AT&T an immoral
    corporation that mistreated Christian white men. 

    "Half the people I worked with were women," Barbee said. "They were
    working instead of being helpmates to their husbands, as God requires."

    The three men are scheduled to stand trial Feb. 10 in federal court in
    Spokane. 

    They are charged with the bombings of a suburban office of The
    Spokesman-Review and a nearby U.S. Bank branch, which also was robbed.
    They are also charged with bombing a Planned Parenthood clinic and
    robbing the same bank branch two weeks before the Olympics bombing. 

    They face 12 counts involving bank robberies, use of pipe bombs, auto
    theft and conspiracy. If convicted of all charges, they face life
    imprisonment without the possibility of parole. 

    In Atlanta, meanwhile, federal investigators said they have narrowed
    the time frame when the bomb was planted in Centennial Olympic Park. 

    FBI spokesman Jay Spadafore told The Associated Press that the time
    frame was less than 20 minutes, but he would not specify any further. 

    The time frame was pinpointed after investigators painstakingly pieced
    together and synchronized more than 4,600 still photographs and nearly
    1,000 videotapes taken by spectators in the park more than two hours
    before the 1:20 a.m. blast until just after the explosion, said Woody
    Johnson, the agent in charge of the Atlanta FBI office. 

    The photos were correlated with the videotapes and timed, he said. 

    AP 26-Jan-1997 21:33 EST   REF5531

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Carter: Helms Burton is Mistake

    KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) -- Former President Jimmy Carter lambasted a
    U.S. law tightening the economic embargo on Cuba, saying it allows
    Fidel Castro to play the martyr while doing little to enhance democracy
    in Cuba. 

    "The Helms-Burton Act is one of the worst mistakes my country has ever
    made," Carter said during a news conference Saturday night in Kingston. 

    The law is designed to deter foreign investment in Cuba. With
    governments worldwide condemning it, President Clinton has suspended at
    least until July a provision that would allow Americans to sue
    foreigners doing business in Cuba on property confiscated from
    Americans during Castro's rule. 

    Carter said Helms-Burton, intended to foster opposition to Castro
    within Cuba, gives the Cuban president "an undeserved excuse for his
    own economic and political failures and for his inability and
    unwillingness to grant the Cuban people the freedom and democracy that
    they deserve." 

    Carter also criticized the U.S. trade embargo imposed after the 1959
    revolution, saying it makes Castro appear to be a hero to some people. 

    During his four years in office, Carter established limited diplomatic
    ties with Castro and lifted the ban on Americans traveling to Cuba.
    Carter met with Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson as part of his
    trip through the Caribbean and South America. 

    AP 26-Jan-1997 21:00 EST   REF5519

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Filings: Suit Didn't Stop Pranks

    TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Executives at Publix Super Markets tried to
    discredit a sex discrimination lawsuit before they agreed to an $81.5
    million settlement, according to court records. 

    The Lakeland-based grocer admitted no wrongdoing Friday in settling the
    lawsuit. Publix is Florida's largest private employer with stores also
    in Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama. 

    Court documents show problems allegedly continued and even intensified
    after the lawsuit was filed in 1995 by 12 former and current female
    employees. The case became a class action involving about 150,000
    women. 

    Plaintiff filings contend that managers and co-workers openly chided
    and harassed women affiliated with the case. One Publix executive
    distributed a parody of two Christmas poems mocking the lawsuit. 

    "How the Grinch (Almost) Stole Christmas" was distributed widely on the
    company's electronic mail system and was posted in many stores after
    the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission intervened in the lawsuit
    in 1995. 

    "They're just too darn happy, too happy for me, moaned the Miami office
    of EEOC," the poem said in part. 

    Clayton Hollis, Publix' vice president of public affairs and the son of
    the company's former president, said he regrets distributing the poem. 

    "Looking back, it wasn't the right thing to do," he said. "We needed a
    light moment. It was a light poem." 

    A company videotape took a more serious tone, featuring company
    spokeswoman Jennifer Bush talking about small cash settlements in
    another sex bias case and implying it would not pay to be a member of
    the class action. 

    When plaintiffs' attorneys brought such actions to the attention of
    U.S. District Judge Henry Lee Adams Jr, he ordered the chain to
    distribute a notice he wrote about the case. Publix settled the lawsuit
    before the deadline for distributing the notice. 

    AP 26-Jan-1997 20:09 EST   REF5489

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- More freshmen at The Citadel have quit already
    this academic year than during all of last year, one of the highest
    dropout rates at the military academy in the past decade. 

    "I wish I could put my finger on the reasons why," interim President
    Clifton Poole said. "Whatever it is, we need to do something to turn
    that around." 

    Four women were among the 581 freshmen who enrolled in August, the
    first female cadets ever at the 153-year-old school. Since then, 113
    cadets have dropped out, including two of the women who said they were
    leaving because of sexual harassment and hazing. 

    Last year's freshman class lost 102 students by May, or 16.2 percent. 

    So far this year, 19.4 percent of freshman have left, the
    second-highest dropout rate by January in the past 10 years. The
    highest was 20 percent in the 1994-1995 school year. 

    The rate is "very high," said James Bradin, a former Citadel commandant
    and school board member. "My guess is that there's something that
    caused that. It's something in the barracks." 

    The female cadets who quit, Jeanie Mentavlos and Kim Messer, said male
    cadets set their clothes on fire and washed out their mouths with
    cleanser. Two male cadets were suspended, and 11 face disciplinary
    action. 

    The women were admitted following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year
    that a similar all-male policy at Virginia Military Institute was
    unconstitutional. The first woman to enroll at The Citadel, Shannon
    Faulkner, dropped out after less than a week, citing stress and
    isolation. 

    In the past 10 years, the academy's dropout rate at the end of the
    first year has ranged from 17 percent to 24 percent. 

    "Maybe what we're seeing now is that times have really changed," Poole
    said. "Kids are just different today. Maybe the fact it's a coed corps,
    the culture needs to change and will change even more." 

    AP 26-Jan-1997 19:45 EST   REF5471

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Attorney Questions Rape Trial

    By HOLLY CORYELL

    Associated Press Writer

    WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) -- Defense attorneys contend West Point ordered a
    court-martial for a cadet accused of raping a drunken classmate with a
    shaky memory because they feared accusations of a cover-up. 

    Attorney James Fitzgerald said the case never should have gone to trial
    because there were so many inconsistencies in the 20-year-old woman's
    story. 

    "When your case consists of a person who says 'I don't recall what I
    didn't recall,' you've got problems," Fitzgerald said. 

    Cadet James Engelbrecht, 22, of Conroe, Texas, was acquitted Friday of
    raping the cadet at a Memorial Day weekend party. He is expected back
    in class on Monday and is scheduled to graduate this spring. 

    His accuser, a junior, has been on medical leave since December. She
    was the first to bring rape charges against a classmate since women
    were admitted to West Point 20 years ago. 

    The prosecutor had said the charges were warranted by the evidence, and
    a West Point spokesman stood by that decision Sunday. 

    "The idea that (the decision was based on) the political climate or
    political correctness or those other things is not true," said Capt.
    John Cornelio, a West Point spokesman. 

    But attorney Michael Diederich Jr. said leaders at the U.S. Military
    Academy were primarily concerned about the reputation of West Point and
    the Army when they pursued the case last fall. 

    "Engelbrecht and the woman were secondary," said Diederich, who
    represented Engelbrecht before the trial. "It was clear to everybody
    that they didn't want to be seen as covering up anything." 

    The academy's superintendent, Lt. Gen. Daniel Christman, ordered the
    trial, even though a West Point investigator recommended that the rape
    charge be dropped. The investigator had determined there was sufficient
    evidence to support only a lesser indecent act charge; he recommended
    that it be handled administratively. 

    "Through a more extensive review of the evidence and through a more
    thorough investigation of the charges, the superintendent determined
    that a court-martial was warranted," Cornelio said. 

    Diederich likened the decision to a district attorney prosecuting a
    case without a grand jury's indictment. "It's not impartial," he said. 

    But Cornelio said the investigator is an Army officer who has no
    professional background in investigations, and his recommendation is
    only part of the process. 

    "He's a fact finder," Cornelio said. "The superintendent is the
    ultimate decision maker." 

    The seven-member, all-male jury of U.S. Army officers acquitted
    Engelbrecht of rape and committing an indecent act. The senior cadet
    could have faced life in prison and a dishonorable discharge from the
    Army if he had been convicted of the charges. 

    The female cadet testified during the trial that she became "highly
    intoxicated" and later awoke to the pain of Engelbrecht having sex with
    her in a bunk bed. He claimed the woman climbed into the top bunk where
    he was sleeping and initiated sex. 

    West Point prosecutors said the woman was too intoxicated to consent. 

    Engelbrecht will become an Army officer after graduation. 

    "Only James Engelbrecht will impact his promotion," Cornelio said. "As
    far as the trial goes, the book is closed... That's the way the Army
    system works: You are judged by performance and potential." 

    Other cadets said the incident has resulted in more attention to the
    dangers of drinking. 

    "They've been having classes about binge drinking and alcohol abuse
    because a lot of people, they sometimes tend to get a little carried
    away, and it happens at every school," said Alan Parson, 19, of
    Fremont, Calif. 

    AP 26-Jan-1997 16:59 EST   REF5131

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Bomb Damages Teller Machines

    VALLEJO, Calif. (AP) -- An explosion outside a bank damaged three
    automated teller machines early Sunday, the second bomb found in this
    northern California city in as many days. No one was injured. 

    No money was taken from the ATMs at the Wells Fargo Bank after the
    explosion at about 3 a.m., police said. They offered no possible
    motive, but said robbery was a possibility. 

    "If that was the intent -- to get the money -- he failed to do so," Lt.
    Reggie Garcia said. 

    Police said the device was powerful enough to have caused injuries. 

    "It was loud ... one big thump," one unidentified neighbor told KCBS
    radio. "I woke my wife up and I told her, 'That's a bomb."' 

    On Saturday, children playing near a library three miles from the bank
    found 30 sticks of dynamite and some wires. Authorities evacuated a
    post office and restaurant and briefly closed a highway before
    dismantling the device. 

    Had it gone off, the bomb would have heavily damaged the library and
    restaurant and injured those inside, a police statement said. 

    The motive was unclear, but authorities said the lower floor of the
    library is also the evidence section for the police department in
    Vallejo, a city of 112,000 about 25 miles east of San Francisco. 

    Also Saturday, a man who said his truck was packed with 5,000 pounds of
    dynamite forced workers to evacuate Paramount Studios in Los Angeles
    for nearly near the library was found, 4 1/2 hours. No explosives were
    found. 

    AP 26-Jan-1997 22:45 EST   REF5099

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Ice Fishers Rescued From Ice

    BARRIE, Ontario (AP) -- Helicopters ferried 83 fishermen off a Canadian
    lake with unstable ice Sunday, but dozens of others refused to leave
    despite a gaping crack that separated them from shore. 

    Some anglers even went out on the ice Sunday, apparently ignoring news
    of the rescue of some 300 fishermen the night before. 

    "We still have people heading back out on the lake," Sgt. Dan Yoisten
    of the Ontario provincial police said Sunday. "They're determined ice
    fishers." 

    There have been no reports of serious injury since hundreds of anglers
    became stranded on Lake Simcoe when a crack opened quickly during a
    fishing contest Saturday afternoon. 

    The crack left an open-water rift as wide as 320 feet at some points
    and stretching about 20 miles across the lake, located about 30 miles
    north of Toronto. 

    Six military helicopters, a hovercraft and several boats rescued about
    300 people Saturday, but were forced to suspend operations at nightfall
    due blinding snow and winds reaching 55 mph. 

    Some 200 people remaining on the ice sought shelter in heated fishing
    huts as temperatures plunged to 11 degrees below zero. 

    The rescue resumed Sunday and officials brought 83 people to shore, but
    the others decided to stay and continue fishing, authorities said. 

    "A lot of these people didn't know they were in any danger," military
    spokesman Capt. Robert Frank said Sunday. 

    Fisherman Tom Slade said he and his party were about 1 1/2 miles from
    shore when they heard about the crack. His group decided it was best to
    stay in their fishing hut. 

    "We saw the helicopter fly over. We saw the news report about the ice
    floe. We figured we are safer where we are," Slade said. 

    Many enthusiastic fishermen ignored authorities warnings on Sunday not
    to go out on the frozen lake to fish. A thin sheet of ice had formed
    over some gaps overnight creating a false appearance of security. 

    One group even used a minivan, the front of which crashed through the
    ice and forced its six passengers to scramble out the back door. 

    Yoisten said there was no law stopping people from going out on the
    ice. 

    "There's nothing to protect people from themselves," he said. "We can
    only pick them up when they do something stupid to themselves." 

    AP 26-Jan-1997 22:34 EST   REF5049

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Egypt Warns Against Intervention

    RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- Egypt will "not stand idle" if foreign
    powers intervene in the conflict in Sudan, Egyptian Foreign Minister
    Amr Moussa warned Sunday. 

    Sudanese rebels said Sunday that Iran supplied Sudan's Islamic
    government with tanks and warplanes. They also reported rebel forces
    made gains in the east and southeast of the country. 

    "Reports that Sudan has sought help from Iran have not yet been
    substantiated," Moussa told The Associated Press after meeting with
    Saudi King Fahd. 

    Moussa did not elaborate on his threat that Egypt "will not stand idle
    in case of any foreign interference in Sudan." 

    The Sudanese government has called a general mobilization to fight the
    rebels and is pressing Islamic countries for help. 

    Earlier this month, Egypt said it would not help Sudan's government
    stem the rebel advance. 

    Last year, Sudan's National Democratic Alliance joined forces with the
    Sudan People's Liberation Army -- a rebel group fighting successive
    Khartoum governments in south Sudan since 1983. 

    The alliance has made gains in eastern and southeastern Sudan during
    the past two weeks. 

    On Saturday, the official Sudanese news agency SUNA reported from
    Khartoum, Sudan, that Sudanese warplanes bombed rebel positions near
    the eastern border with Ethiopia. 

    Also, the Sudanese government's official newspaper reported that
    government soldiers killed 17 rebels and destroyed a number of vehicles
    in clashes in the east. It did not say when the fighting took place. 

    The warplanes bombed areas where rebels of the National Democratic
    Alliance have been fighting government soldiers since Jan. 12. 

    AP 26-Jan-1997 22:17 EST   REF5044

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Tokyo Runway Closes Temporarily

    TOKYO (AP) -- A Northwest Airlines jumbo jet carrying 363 people
    aborted takeoff after developing engine trouble, forcing Narita
    international airport to temporarily close its runway, officials said
    Monday. 

    One of the jet's four engines ruptured Sunday, blowing off its external
    cover and scattering other parts across the runway, airport officials
    said. 

    There were no reports of injury. 

    RTw  27-Jan-97 04:48    

    Selfish instincts build economy - Ugandan leader

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    LONDON, Jan 27 (Reuter) - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said on
    Monday he had found the best way to build a strong economy was to
    appeal to people's selfish instincts. 

    "We looked at central planning and found its limitations -- the absence
    of motivation," Museveni told the Financial Times in an interview. 

    "That leads us to understanding human nature -- are they selfish or
    altruistic? We came to the conclusion that they are selfish. So we let
    loose their selfish instincts to work day and night to fulfil their
    selfish interests -- and in that way they build our economy." 

    Uganda has been trying to resuscitate its economy after 20 years of
    dictatorships and war, partly by exploiting its rich natural resources
    and by offering tax holidays to foreign investors.

    But it still faces a war with Christian fundamentalist rebels in the
    north and regular trouble along its borders, notably with Rwanda and
    from Zaire-based Ugandan rebels. 

    Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986, said he did not believe his
    country was ready for full democracy. 

    Societies were like butterflies and African societies were still in the
    caterpillar stage, he said. 

    REUTER

    RTw  27-Jan-97 03:34    

    FEATURE - Northern Ireland literary terrorist ...

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    FEATURE - Northern Ireland literary terrorist runs riot 

    By Andrew Hill 

    BELFAST, Jan 27 (Reuter) - In a small room near Belfast, a fanatic
    reared on cider and the Sex Pistols is assembling Northern Ireland's
    latest explosive device. 

    The target is a province at war with itself for nearly 30 years. The
    warhead is black humour. And the effect, say respected international
    authorites, is devastating. 

    Meet literary terrorist Colin Bateman, a 34-year-old writer with three
    wildly funny and fast-selling books behind him, two more in the works
    and two feature films in the offing. 

    The background to his work is Northern Ireland's 27-year conflict
    between pro-Irish Catholics and pro-British Protestants. The "Troubles"
    have killed 3,200 and created a unique black humour on the province's
    battered streets. 

    The Sunday Times said of "Divorcing Jack," his 1995 first novel: "As
    sharp as a pint of snakebite...manages to say more about the Troubles
    in 280 vivid pages than reams of earnest reportage ever could." 

    It is a typically crazy Bateman plot: journalist Dan Starkey and his
    wife Patricia love alcohol a lot but their partnership is strained.
    Then Dan kisses a beautiful young student, Margaret at a party. She
    gets murdered, his wife gets kidnapped. 

    AS SHARP AS SNAKEBITE 

    The rest is mayhem. The cast includes a smooth, self-styled
    middle-of-the-road politician called Brinn and thugs of both Protestant
    and Catholic persuasions with names like Cow Pat Coogan and Mad Dog. 

    No-one is spared Bateman's satire. He uses humour to debunk the pompous
    and the pretentious but most of all to ridicule the bigots whose
    attitudes hold the province a hostage to war. 

    The Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Catholic-backed guerrilla force
    fighting to end British rule, and its Protestant Loyalist adversaries,
    such as the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), are set up and then
    demolished. 

    "Sorry to hear that three IRA men died earlier today," says one
    character in Divorcing Jack. "Their car left the road and hit a tree.
    The UVF said they planted it." 

    "Cycle of Violence," his second novel, is set in a border village
    called Crossmaheart to which a young journalist known only as Miller is
    sent from to replace a reporter who has disappeared. Lots of people
    disappear here, the reader learns. 

    Miller has no driving licence because of a drunk-driving offence. "His
    bike was known in the newsroom as the Cycle of Violence. When Miller
    fell into a drinking spree and failed to return, the bike was known as
    the Endless Cycle of Violence." 

    Bateman's literary training ground was the so-called Gold Coast of
    Northern Ireland, a seaside strip outside Belfast which is home to some
    of the province's wealthier Protestants. 

    He worked from the age of 17 as a junior reporter, "doing everything,"
    on the County Down Spectator, a small weekly paper, of which he was
    deputy editor until about six months ago. 

    NEVER MIND THE B........... 

    The defining moment which transformed him from newspaperman to novelist
    was the banning in the United Kingdom of an album by Britain's
    foul-mouthed punk rock pioneers the Sex Pistols. 

    The album was called "Never Mind the Bollocks." Six months after its
    banning, it started to appear in record shops as soon as the initial
    row over its title had faded. 

    Bateman wrote a column about the album's re-emergence. It was headlined
    "Never Mind the B......." The offending word was not spelled out in
    deference to the newspaper's middle class, Protestant readership. 

    But his editor, "a prim, school-mistress, Sunday School teacher type
    called Annie Raycroft asked me what the headline meant," says Bateman.
    "I told her why I couldn't use the full word. She told me I could," he
    told Reuters in an interview. 

    "That unchained me. From that moment on I started writing a column. I
    wrote anything that came into my head. Satire was too good a word for
    it. I was just taking the piss," Bateman said. 

    "I was a cider-swilling punk rocker. Once I wrote that I had been to
    the United States to buy weapons for the Boys Brigade and that they
    were going to have paramilitary coffee mornings with armalites in one
    hand, jaffa cakes in the other. There were three libel actions against
    the paper for that one....." 

    ENDLESS CYCLE OF VIOLENCE 

    He began writing books. He hasn't stopped. Divorcing Jack was refused
    by every small publishing house so he sent it to a big one, Harper
    Collins. It sent "a very bad photocopy" to the panel of London's Betty
    Trask prize for first novels. It won. 

    "Of Wee Sweetie Mice and Men," his third book, stars a no-hope
    Protestant boxer, his Catholic wife, his opponent for the world title
    Mike Tyson, promoter Don King, the IRA, the UVF and a fanatical Moslem
    group called the Sons of Mohammed. 

    Bateman is in Belfast, watching the filming of a television sreenplay
    he has written called "Jumpers." "It's about three people who meet on
    the window ledge where they are about to commit suicide. One of them is
    Father Christmas." 

    It is a typically grim, dank Belfast day. Police in flak jackets
    carrying automatic rifles are patrolling the streets outside the office
    where the film is being made. Shoppers are hurrying from the New Year
    sales under umbrellas. 

    The scene feels like the opening paragraph of Bateman's third book.
    "Peace had settled over the city like the skin on a rancid custard.
    Everbody wanted it, just not in that form. The forecast remained for
    rain, with widespread terrorism.

    REUTER

    AP 28-Jan-1997 1:00 EST   REF5766

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Tuesday, Jan. 28, 1997
   
    AMERICAN AIRLINES PILOT 

    DALLAS (AP) -- Members of the Allied Pilots Association are scheduled
    to start walking picket lines Tuesday at airports in Dallas-Fort Worth,
    Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington D.C.,
    Newark, N.J., and Seattle, a union spokesman said. The union has vowed
    to strike if American Airlines' parent company AMR Corp. doesn't come
    up with a contract offering job security and better wages. Earlier this
    month, 61 percent of the union's members rejected a four-year deal
    offered by AMR. Soon after, the two sides entered a cooling-off period
    that expires Feb. 15. No negotiations are scheduled until Feb. 10 in
    Washington. 
   
    SIMPSON 

    SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) -- The jury in the O.J. Simpson civil trial
    is likely to get the case Tuesday after plaintiff attorneys wrap up
    their rebuttal arguments and the jury receives instructions from the
    judge. Simpson's lawyer, Robert Baker, urged jurors Monday to embrace
    Simpson as an innocent man. Baker said there was neither a motive nor
    time for Simpson to slash Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman to
    death on June 12, 1994. Plaintiff attorney Daniel Petrocelli said it is
    beyond belief that police officers and scientific investigators would
    conspire to frame Simpson. 
   
    COSBY-SON 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Bill Cosby denies he is the father of a 22-year-old
    woman who is accused of trying to extort money from him. But in an
    interview with CBS' Dan Rather, Cosby admits to having had an affair
    with Autumn Jackson's mother. Cosby said: "On the birth certificate,
    it's not my name." Prosecutors charge that on the day Cosby's son
    Ennis, 27, was shot and killed, Ms. Jackson and Jose Medina, 51, sent a
    fax to Cosby's representative demanding money. She and Medina were
    arrested. 
   
    ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS 

    JERUSALEM (AP) -- Yasser Arafat has said he will not declare a
    Palestinian state ahead of a final peace agreement with Israel, a
    newspaper reported Monday. Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
    said he had a contingency plan if Arafat unilaterally declared
    statehood. Israeli news media said that plan includes Israeli troops
    resuming their occupation of West Bank rural areas, leaving Arafat with
    control over seven West Bank cities. But Arafat said he would not move
    on statehood until a final accord wraps up years of Israel-Palestinian
    peacemaking. 
   
    AOL REFUNDS 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Faced with frustrated cyberspacers who have trouble
    signing on, America Online says it is selectively offering refunds to
    customers who call complaining they can't get the service they paid
    for. America Online is facing criticism from customers and
    consumer-protection officials who say it oversold a product that it
    couldn't reliably deliver. With users swamping the service's lines in
    response to the new pricing plan, subscribers trying to log on during
    high-use periods often get busy signals. 
   
    COLOMBIA-KIDNAPPING 

    BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- The president of the Bogota Stock Exchange was
    kidnapped by gunmen at his country home outside the capital, a police
    source said Monday. Several armed men kidnapped Carlos Caballero Argaez
    in the town of Granada on Saturday, a source in the anti-kidnapping
    police said. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the largest
    and oldest guerrilla group fighting the government, was believed
    responsible, but so far there had been no claim of responsibility for
    the kidnapping, the police source said. 
   
    AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS 

    LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Four months after he was gunned down, Tupac Shakur
    was named favorite rap-hip hop artist at the American Music Awards.
    Alanis Morissette and Toni Braxton were double winners but Mariah
    Carey, nominated for five awards, went home empty-handed. Shania Twain
    was country's favorite female artist and Brooks & Dunn were honored as
    country's top band, duo or group. New Edition returned to the winner's
    podium for the first time in 10 years, claiming the favorite soul-R&B
    honor. Newcomer Jewel was named favorite new pop-rock artist and
    teen-ager LeAnn Rimes was rewarded as country's favorite new artist.
    Metallica won hard rock-heavy metal artist. 
   
    MARKETS 

    TOKYO (AP) -- The dollar was traded at 119.76 yen on the Tokyo foreign
    exchange market Tuesday, up 0.52 yen. The Nikkei Average rose 32.64 to
    1,7367.54. In New York, the Dow industrials closed at 6660.69, down
    35.79. NYSE decliners led advancers 1,655-811. The Nasdaq was at
    1352.81, down 11.02. 
   
    MIGHTY DUCKS-BLUES 

    ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Teemu Selanne scored two goals and Guy Hebert made 38
    saves to lead the Anaheim Mighty Ducks to a 4-1 win over the St. Louis
    Blues Monday night. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the
    Blues, 6-3 since Joel Quenneville was named coach on Jan. 6. 
   
    AP Newsbrief by BENITA GREEN 

    RTw  28-Jan-97 03:15    

    Reuters World News Highlights

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    LIMA - Guerrillas holding 72 hostages for a 41st day fired at police
    for the first time as security forces circled the besieged Japanese
    ambassador's residence in a display of strength designed to weaken
    rebel resolve. 

    - - - - 

    BELGRADE - Serbia's opposition, vowing to keep up protests against
    election fraud, headed for a confrontation with ruling Socialists as
    both sides prepared to form rival councils in a provincial town. 

    WASHINGTON - The United States is considering participating in a
    commando-type international police force to capture accused Bosnia war
    criminals and bring them to trial, the White House said. 

    - - - - 

    GROZNY, Russia - Chechnya's war-weary voters waited to find out who had
    won presidential and parliamentary elections as ballots were collected
    and counted across the mountainous Moslem region. 

    - - - - 

    TIRANA - Albania's ruling right-wing Democrats, seeking to deflate
    public anger over the collapse of hugely popular pyramid investment
    schemes, called a rally for Tuesday to denounce rioting which has swept
    the country. 

    - - - - 

    SOFIA - Bulgarian President Petar Stoyanov has called on the ruling
    Socialists to accept demands for quick elections by returning the
    mandate he will give them on Tuesday to try to form a new government. 

    - - - - 

    BUCHAREST - Romania, seeking to boost its chances of early admission to
    NATO, wants to develop a new partnership with Hungary and Poland and
    has put improved ties with Ukraine at the top of its foreign policy
    agenda. 

    - - - - 

    NEW YORK - An embarrassed Switzerland sent a special envoy to reassure
    Jews that it will set up a multimillion dollar fund for Holocaust
    victims despite comments by a top Swiss diplomat that his country was
    in a public relations "war" with Jews. 

    - - - - 

    SANTA MONICA, Calif - A plaintiffs' attorney in O.J. Simpson's civil
    trial implored jurors to find him responsible for the deaths of his
    ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, saying, "One blood drop
    is enough; one shoeprint is enough." 

    - - - - 

    WASHINGTON - A briefing for North Korea on proposed Korean peninsula
    peace talks has been postponed one week to Feb. 5 while Pyongyang tries
    to complete a grain deal with a U.S. firm to feed its famished people,
    the State Department said. 

    - - - - 

    SEOUL - South Korean police raided offices of the troubled Hanbo Group
    following allegations of misconduct in a loan scandal centred on the
    company's failed steel unit, state radio said. 

    - - - - 

    WASHINGTON - The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency taught torture
    techniques in the early 1980s, including ways to break a prisoner's
    will through sensory deprivation and inducing strong fear, a newly
    declassifed CIA training manual showed. 

    - - - - 

    WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Fund's executive board agreed
    to establish a $48 billion war-chest to help the lending agency fight
    economic crises so serious they threatened the global monetary system. 

    - - - - 

    LONDON - Prime Minister John Major won the backing of his cabinet to
    delay an election until May 1, the last practical date on which he can
    face the voters. 

    - - - - 

    REUTER 

    RTw  28-Jan-97 06:46    

    Odds and Ends

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    The following is a collection of human interest stories that have moved
    separately: 

    Workers facing layoffs win $46 million in lottery 

    JACKSON, Michigan (Reuter) - A group of Michigan factory workers who
    were preparing for impending layoffs reported to work as usual on
    Monday, even after a lottery ticket they bought won a $46 million
    jackpot on Friday. 

    Shirley Johnson said she and her 16 previously unlucky co-workers would
    continue "to work until we get our pink slip." 

    Kellogg Industries Co, a surgical and orthopedic supplies plant in
    Jackson, Michigan, that was scheduled to close in June, notified its 85
    workers last November that it would close the 90-year-old factory and
    transfer production to a newer plant in California. 

    Two weeks ago, some of the workers formed a lottery club and bought 19
    tickets for Friday's "Big Game" multi-state lottery. 

    - - - - 

    Menem wants powerboat champion Scioli in Congress 

    BUENOS AIRES (Reuter) - Argentine President Carlos Menem said he was
    proposing world powerboat champion Daniel Scioli to stand for Congress
    for the ruling Peronist Party in mid-term elections in October. 

    Menem described Scioli as "a sportsman who has triumphed at home and
    abroad and made the Argentine flag fly proudly." 

    The 39-year-old Argentine has won six world titles in 11 years' racing,
    despite having to compete with one false arm since 1989, when he lost
    his right arm in a race. 

    Menem said the party was free to accept or not his choice to head the
    list of candidates for the Chamber of Deputies for Buenos Aires. 

    - - - - 

    Conservatives plan to privatise UK taxmen - paper 

    LONDON (Reuter) - Britain's ruling Conservatives are drawing up plans
    for the privatisation of the tax-raising Inland Revenue, the Guardian
    newspaper said. 

    The Guardian said the plan, which would involve the sale of 450 tax
    offices and the introduction of private contractors to assess tax
    returns, was being prepared for the Conservative election manifesto.
    Prime Minister John Major wants to hold the election on May 1. 

    The privatisation is aimed at raising 250 million sterling ($402
    million) a year, the paper said. 

    The Guardian said the plan would mean job losses at the Inland Revenue,
    which employs 60,000 people. 

    REUTER

    AP 28-Jan-1997 0:32 EST   REF5760

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Paper: FBI Probing Fake Art

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Some prominent art dealers charge a Florida auctioneer
    plans to sell dozens of fakes that are attributed to such well-known
    artists as Piet Mondrian, Georgia O'Keeffe and others, The New York
    Times reported. 

    "It looks like virtually nothing in the catalog is authentic," said
    Robert C. Graham Jr., president of James Graham & Sons, a Manhattan
    gallery. 

    Law enforcement officials told the Times they are investigating, but
    the auctioneer insists all 294 works he plans to offer Sunday are
    authentic. 

    "We are looking into allegations to determine if there are any that are
    criminal in nature," said Scott Dressler, a Florida assistant state
    attorney who is head of Broward County's Economic Crimes Division. "We
    are coordinating our efforts with the FBI." 

    Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is also
    investigating, Dressler said. 

    The auctioneer, C.B. Charles, said all the works are authentic and the
    sale will go on. The 70-year-old auctioneer, who has a gallery in
    Pompano Beach, Fla., is known for having handled auctions of furniture,
    clothing, jewelry and other items belonging to such departed
    celebrities as Mary Pickford, Orson Welles, Mae West and Audrey
    Meadows. 

    Charles said he has heard complaints from some art dealers about some
    of the paintings he is to offer on Sunday. But he said those dealers
    were simply upset because his offerings are estimated to sell at much
    lower prices than paintings in their inventories. 

    "It's like putting my hand in their pocket," Charles said. 

    AP 28-Jan-1997 0:28 EST   REF5759

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Child Pornography Law Disputed

    SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A new law aimed at child pornography could result
    in prison terms for people who own videotapes of "The Exorcist" or
    "Dirty Dancing," according to plaintiffs who sued the federal
    government on Monday. 

    The law, introduced last year by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is so badly
    written that it converts hundreds of mainstream movies into "child
    pornography," said Jeffrey J. Douglas, a criminal defense attorney and
    chairman of the Los Angeles-based Free Speech Coalition. 

    The group asked for a federal injunction against enforcing parts of the
    law which make it illegal to film adults pretending to be minors
    depicting sexual intimacy on film. 

    The Child Pornography Prevention Act, signed by President Clinton on
    Oct. 1, provides penalties of 10 years to life in prison for people who
    possess such material. 

    Its definition of child pornography makes unknowing criminals of
    thousands of people, Douglas claimed. 

    "If you have a 27-year-old appearing to be 17, that is now exactly the
    same, criminally, as filming the rape of a 17-year-old. It's not only
    unconstitutional, it's insane. It's horrible," Douglas said. "It
    demeans the actual crime of child rape." 

    A spokeswoman for Hatch called the lawsuit "a red herring," since the
    law specifically allows producers to defend themselves by proving that
    the person portraying a minor in the film is an adult. 

    "It's ludicrous to suggest that legitimate mainstream movies are at
    risk under the law if an adult plays a 14-year-old," said Jeanne
    Lopatto in Washington. 

    The coalition cited these films as now criminal to own: "Sleepers," "A
    Clockwork Orange," "Halloween," "Big," "Fast Times at Ridgemont High,"
    "Blue Lagoon," "If," "Risky Business," "Bull Durham," "Blow-Up" and
    "Dirty Dancing." 

    But Hatch's spokeswoman said it was unlikely that legitimate movies
    would face legal action. 

    "Federal prosecutors in the past have not pursued such movies as "Romeo
    and Juliet' and "Lolita" and there's no reason to believe they will do
    so now," Lopatto said. 

    AP 27-Jan-1997 22:56 EST   REF5368

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Jet Crew Threatened Over Cigarette

    MIAMI (AP) -- A passenger on a no-smoking flight from Europe claimed to
    be a terrorist and threatened to blow up the airplane when she wasn't
    allowed to smoke, investigators said. 

    An American Airlines crew told the FBI that the passenger requested and
    was denied permission to smoke during an eight-hour flight from Madrid,
    Spain, to Miami on Friday. 

    The passenger became abusive, shoving or pushing two attendants and the
    captain, a criminal complaint said. She allegedly said "that she was a
    'terrorist,' that she was 'going to blow up the plane,' that she was
    going to 'gun' one of them 'down."' She called the attendants "American
    fascists." 

    The passenger, Sally Ann Stein, 57, an American who lives in Seville,
    Spain, was arrested and charged with interfering with the duties of a
    flight attendant and flight engineer. She made no comment when she
    appeared before a federal magistrate Monday and was freed on personal
    bond. 

    AP 27-Jan-1997 22:36 EST   REF5178

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Ohio Man: Bank Robbery a Joke

    AKRON, Ohio (AP) -- A man who said he jokingly asked a bank teller for
    all her money was arraigned Monday on a robbery charge. 

    Michael W. Johnson, a 33-year-old freshman at the University of Akron,
    said the trouble began at the campus branch of the FirstMerit First
    National Bank on Friday. 

    "When the teller asked if she could help me, I said, 'Yeah, give me all
    of your money,' and I laughed," he said. "Then I handed her my MAC card
    and said, 'I need to take $10 out of my account.' I got my money. She
    gave me a receipt. And I went on my way." 

    But university spokesman Paul Herold said the police report says
    Johnson demanded all the teller's money in small bills before asking
    for his $10. "She told police that she was sure it was a stickup,"
    Herold said. 

    Johnson faces up to five years in jail and a $10,000 fine if convicted. 

    Johnson's appearance might have something to do with his arrest, said
    his sister, Deborah Loudin. 

    "His right side is paralyzed. He walks with a limp and he carries his
    arm in front of him, upright and bent," she said. "He has a big shaggy
    beard and sometimes looks unkempt. I guess you could think he is a
    weirdo, if you don't know him." 

    AP 27-Jan-1997 21:39 EST   REF5730

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Cosby Admits To Affair

    By VERENA DOBNIK

    Associated Press Writer

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Bill Cosby, TV's most beloved family man, acknowledged
    in a television interview Monday night that he had an affair with the
    mother of a 22-year-old who claims to be his illegitimate daughter. 

    Cosby denied to Dan Rather on "The CBS Evening News" that he is the
    father of the young woman, Autumn Jackson. But in a portion airing
    Sunday on "60 Minutes," Rather asked if there was a possibility he
    could be. 

    "There is a possibility," Cosby said in a transcript. "If you said,
    'Did you make love to the woman?' the answer is yes. 'Are you the
    father?' No." 

    "On the birth certificate, it's not my name," Cosby explained in part
    of the interview aired Monday night. "I had not spoken to the mother
    during her pregnancy nor her delivery nor some 14 months until we
    finally spoke." 

    "Never -- she never called me and then one day when I called her for a
    second rendezvous, she came and she made the announcement." 

    Cosby, who has been married to his wife, Camille, for 33 years, went
    back to work Monday on his CBS show "Cosby" for the first time since
    the Jan. 16 slaying of his 27-year-old son Ennis. He entered the Queens
    studio by a back door and made no comment. 

    Federal prosecutors charge that on the day Ennis Cosby was shot to
    death changing a flat tire in Los Angeles, Ms. Jackson and Jose Medina,
    51, sent a fax to Cosby's representative demanding money. She and
    Medina were arrested in Cosby's lawyer's office after allegedly trying
    to negotiate a $24 million payoff. 

    Ms. Jackson was freed from jail Monday evening, after two Californians
    guaranteed the $250,000 bond that Magistrate Andrew Peck set as a
    condition for her release. 

    "It's nice," were the only words she spoke as she left U.S. District
    Court in Manhattan, dressed in a light blue sweater and black trousers.

    Her lawyer, Robert Baum, described the people who guaranteed Ms.
    Jackson's bond, Richard Jesperson and Lois Mayfield, as "two people who
    care about her, believe in her and trust in her." 

    He called Cosby's acknowledgement of an affair with Ms. Jackson's
    mother a "substantial change from critical comments that came from
    Cosby representatives earlier." 

    In the past, Cosby representatives have denied that he was Ms.
    Jackson's father and described her as merely one of several young
    people who have received tuition aid from Cosby. 

    In his first interview since Ennis Cosby was slain, Cosby told Rather
    his life must return to normal. 

    "I think it's time for me to tell the people that we have to laugh --
    we've got to laugh," Cosby said. "But I just want the people to know --
    those who watch me, those who are with me -- it's over for looking at
    me to do anything but go back to that which I am." 

    Cosby, who got his start as a comedian by humorously describing his
    life as a child, continued to gather material for his stand-up stories
    from his wife, son and four daughters. Through his former television
    alter ego Cliff Huxtable and in the real-life depictions that filled
    his best-selling book "Fatherhood," Cosby seemed the ultimate family
    man. 

    Outside the studio in Queens, a Bronx teacher, Lonnie Tait, said that
    despite Cosby's admission he had an affair, he is still "a great role
    model for black children." She delivered a large, hand-decorated
    sympathy card from 12 children enrolled in an after-school program. One
    child wrote: "You're our hero." 

    No arrests have been made in the slaying. Los Angeles police said they
    were fielding hundreds of tips. 

    AP 27-Jan-1997 21:19 EST   REF5726

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Calif. Teacher Asks Kids for Pot

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- A high school teacher who asked a student to
    bring some marijuana to school for a science experiment with a goldfish
    was charged Monday with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. 

    Authorities caught wind of the incident when some of science teacher
    Norrita Barrios' students decided there was something fishy about the
    request. 

    Police spokeswoman Pam Alejandre said science teacher Norrita Barrios
    asked a class at Hiram Johnson High School if anyone could bring in
    marijuana for an experiment in which THC extracted from the pot would
    be placed in a bowl with a goldfish so the class could study the
    effects on the fish. 

    Alejandre said Barrios later paid $30 to one of her students who
    brought in two small bags of marijuana. 

    "It appears that the experiment was never conducted and the incident
    was brought to the attention of the principal by some students,"
    Alejandre said. 

    AP 27-Jan-1997 21:07 EST   REF5714

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    FBI Removes Crime Lab Workers

    By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN

    Associated Press Writer

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- The FBI has suspended a scientist-agent whose
    charges led to a still-secret Justice Department report critical of the
    FBI crime laboratory. Three other lab workers were removed from their
    positions because of the report. 

    A Republican senator said Monday the suspension of whistleblower
    Frederic Whitehurst "appears to be a reprisal." An FBI statement
    released Monday night denied the actions were taken "in retaliation for
    the actions of any employee." 

    The FBI statement did not identify any of the employees by name and
    said only that, based on the inspector general's findings, four lab
    employees "who had major responsibilities in explosives investigations
    have been removed from their positions." They continue to receive pay
    and benefits while the bureau decided whether or not they engaged in
    misconduct. 

    The three employees, other than Whitehurst, were transferred out of the
    FBI lab but not suspended, according to several officials, who
    requested anonymity. 

    The FBI said it "does not believe any of the problems cited by the
    inspector general will preclude anyone from receiving a fair trial" and
    disputes those who say the problems "have compromised any past, present
    or future prosecutions." 

    Whitehurst, once an FBI crime lab supervisor, was placed on
    administrative leave with pay Friday afternoon and barred from entering
    any FBI building, even as a guest, according to a letter from acting
    lab Director Donald W. Thompson Jr. The FBI took Whitehurst's badge and
    gun, said his lawyer, Stephen Kohn. 

    The action came just days after FBI Director Louis J. Freeh received a
    report from the Justice Department's inspector general that officials
    said criticizes the work of some FBI lab employees and a report from a
    special investigative counsel who looked into an alleged press leak by
    Whitehurst. 

    Thompson's letter said only that Whitehurst was suspended "pending our
    review of information in the possession of the Department of Justice"
    and added that the move "does not indicate that you have engaged in any
    inappropriate conduct." 

    Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of a Judiciary subcommittee on
    administrative oversight, wrote Freeh on Monday to demand that FBI
    officials appear Tuesday in his office to justify the action against
    Whitehurst. 

    "Recently, a Department of Justice official knowledgeable about the
    IG's investigation told me privately that Dr. Whitehurst had done a
    service for his country in bringing forth his information," Grassley
    wrote. 

    "The action taken by the FBI implies that he is being punished for
    'committing truth.' It appears to be a reprisal for his disclosures,"
    Grassley wrote. 

    Kohn said that after Whitehurst's allegation about lab misconduct
    became known "he became a lighting rod for other employees to funnel
    information to the inspector general." Kohn said FBI officials became
    "very, very angry" when they received the inspector general's report
    and learned that "Whitehurst funneled information directly from other
    FBI employees to the inspector general and the investigation mushroomed
    beyond what they had expected." 

    Kohn said that was why Whitehurst, once rated by the FBI as its top
    expert on bomb residues, was barred from entering FBI buildings and
    from getting information from other employees. 

    The still-secret inspector general's report is being reviewed by FBI
    officials to determine whether any lab employees will be disciplined. 

    The inspector general hired a panel of outside scientists to evaluate
    the work of the lab after Whitehurst alleged in late 1995 that a
    pro-prosecution bias and mishandling of evidence may have tainted crime
    lab work or testimony on several high-profile federal cases. These
    include the World Trade Center bombing, the mail-bomb killing of a
    federal judge and a civil rights lawyer, and the Oklahoma City federal
    building bombing. 

    Prosecutors have decided not to use at least one lab employee as a
    witness in the Oklahoma City bombing case and in a bank robbery case in
    Ohio, sources said Monday, apparently to prevent defense attorneys from
    using the inspector general report to undermine any testimony by the
    employee. 

    Stephen Jones, counsel for Timothy McVeigh, who is charged in the
    Oklahoma City case, has deposed Whitehurst and indicated he may be
    called as a defense witness. 

    Nearly a year ago, Whitehurst was called to an interview by Special
    Investigative Counsel Joseph C. Hutchison, who was brought here from
    the Connecticut U.S. attorney's office to conduct the leak
    investigation. 

    Hutchison wrote Whitehurst's lawyers that "there is substantial reason
    to believe that your client ... is responsible for the unauthorized
    release of work-related information to Jeff Stein," a freelance writer
    who produced an article intended for publication in Playboy magazine. 

    At that time, Carl Stern, then Justice Department spokesman, said
    Playboy wrote the department to check the article's facts, which
    allowed officials to learn that the article would contain information
    and allegations about FBI employees that are protected from public
    release by the Privacy Act. 

    Stern said, "There is no criminal investigation looking into the
    conduct of Frederic Whitehurst. There's an administrative inquiry in
    connection with the leak of Whitehurst's communications with the
    department to a writer from Playboy magazine." 

    AP 27-Jan-1997 20:50 EST   REF5707

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Du Pont Was Insane, Lawyer Says

    By MARIA PANARITIS

    Associated Press Writer

    MEDIA, Pa. (AP) -- John E. du Pont was living in "the abyss of
    insanity" on the day he fired three shots into an Olympic wrestler, his
    lawyer told jurors Monday in the opening of the millionaire's murder
    trial. 

    "This case is about a killing, for no reason whatsoever, at the hands
    of a man with a mental disease that took away his ability to know what
    he did was wrong," said defense attorney Thomas Bergstrom. He
    maintained du Pont suffered from paranoid schizophrenia for three years
    prior to the slaying. 

    On Jan. 26, 1996, the day of the shooting, the defense lawyer said,
    "John du Pont drove his car out of the front gates of his estate and
    into the abyss of insanity." 

    But prosecutors said the 58-year-old chemical heir knew exactly what he
    was doing and was motivated by fear, anger and envy the day he fatally
    shot David Schultz in his driveway. 

    Prosecutor Joseph McGettigan told jurors du Pont was deliberate in all
    his actions that day, going so far as to place the murder weapon on a
    high shelf in his mansion during the two-day standoff that followed the
    shooting. 

    Du Pont asked police negotiators more than 100 times to get his
    personal lawyer and made repeated demands -- including a request for a
    presidential pardon, the prosecutor said. 

    On the day he was killed, Schultz, 38, was tinkering with his car radio
    in the driveway of a home where he, his wife and their two children
    lived on du Pont's Newtown Square estate the day he was killed.
    Schultz, who won a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics, had been training
    at du Pont's elaborate Foxcatcher amateur center. 

    The wrestler's widow, Nancy, choked back tears as she told jurors she
    was washing dishes when she heard the first shot. She ran to her front
    door, heard a second shot and looked outside to see du Pont pointing a
    gun at her husband. 

    Du Pont turned the gun toward her, Mrs. Schultz testified, and she took
    a step back inside her front door. Then, du Pont fired a third and
    final bullet into her husband's back, she said. 

    "I remember thinking that he must be dead already because his hands
    didn't move and his feet didn't move," said Mrs. Schultz, the first
    person to testify. "I could see his body shake from the impact, but
    nothing else moved." 

    Du Pont then drove away in his Town Car and holed up in his mansion,
    starting the two-day standoff that ended when police captured him on
    his estate. 

    Defense lawyers asked Mrs. Schultz about a 911 call she made shortly
    after the shooting in which she said du Pont had killed her husband
    because "He's insane." 

    They also asked her to read back a statement she gave at police
    headquarters two hours after the shooting. 

    "John du Pont is about 55 years old, silver hair, cut short, very thin,
    he's mentally insane, he hallucinates, he talks about things that he
    hears and sees," Mrs. Schultz read. "He thinks he's the 'dalai lama,'
    but the last year, he's been consistently under the impression that he
    is the 'dalai lama,' and usually dresses in all red." 

    On cross-examination, Mrs. Schultz told prosecutors she had never heard
    du Pont say or do any of those things but had been told many stories by
    many people. 

    Du Pont is in Norristown State Hospital, where he has been taking
    anti-psychotic drugs since September. His hair is now long and scruffy
    and he has grown a beard. 

    Du Pont arrived in court in a wheelchair. Common Pleas Court Judge
    Patricia Jenkins said du Pont's left leg was in a brace because he hurt
    his knee at the psychiatric hospital where he is imprisoned. 

    AP 27-Jan-1997 23:35 EST   REF5483

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Indian Bribery Scandal Widens

    NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- Reopening a scandal that brought down India's
    government in 1989, Switzerland has turned over confidential banking
    documents that may reveal more about alleged payoffs to high officials. 

    India's Central Bureau of Investigation is expected to keep the Swiss
    bank documents confidential for several days as it examines them for
    clues in the scandal involving the Congress Party and the now-defunct
    Swedish arms manufacturer Bofors. 

    The head of the investigation bureau met with Prime Minister H.D. Deve
    Gowda over the weekend to discuss the case, newspapers reported. 

    The three folders of banking documents were unsealed Friday in a New
    Delhi judge's chambers. Their arrival comes as Congress is trying to
    present itself as reformed and amid indications its leaders are
    preparing to challenge the prime minister's governing coalition. 

    Any bid to lead the country is sure to be damaged by renewed interest
    in the Bofors affair. Newspapers in recent days have been filled with
    speculation as to what the bank documents will reveal, and
    recapitulations of allegations that Bofors paid more than $50 million
    in bribes to several officials, businessmen and Indian politicians in
    1986 to close the sale of 155-mm artillery guns. 

    The Bofors investigation brought down the Congress government of the
    late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1989, but has since bogged down. 

    An official Swedish inquiry said in 1987 that commissions in the sale
    of the guns were deposited in secret Swiss accounts. Indian request to
    examine Swiss bank accounts are only now being met after years of
    wrangling in court. 

    AP 27-Jan-1997 22:30 EST   REF5085

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Ex-Policemen Admit Killing Biko

    By ALEXANDRA ZAVIS

    Associated Press Writer

    JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) -- Five former police officers plan to
    seek amnesty for the 1977 killing of activist Steve Biko, whose death
    galvanized apartheid's opponents and revealed to the world the
    brutality of the white-led government. 

    The officers will petition South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation
    Commission, the panel led by retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu
    and charged with investigating apartheid-era crimes. 

    Reports that five men planned to file an amnesty petition were
    published Monday in The Port Elizabeth Herald. Truth Commission
    spokeswoman Christelle Terreblanche confirmed that the panel was
    expecting amnesty applications related to Biko's killing. 

    Biko, 30, died of untreated head injuries in a Pretoria prison on Sept.
    12, 1977. The death -- the apparent result of a beating by police,
    although they denied it -- impassioned the anti-apartheid movement
    inside and outside South Africa, giving the cause its best-known
    rallying point after then-imprisoned activist Nelson Mandela. 

    A source close to the five former police officers, speaking on
    condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that the amnesty
    applications would assert that Biko was "handled robustly," but that
    there never was any intention to kill him. 

    The Herald identified the former officers as Col. Harold Snyman, who
    led the team that interrogated Biko; Lt. Col. Gideon Niewoudt, a
    detective sergeant at the time; Ruben Marx, a warrant officer; Daantjie
    Siebert, a captain; and Johan Beneke, a warrant officer. 

    Detained without charge as a terrorist in Port Elizabeth on the Indian
    Ocean coast, Biko suffered head injuries there that left him frothing
    at the mouth and speechless. Despite his wounds, he was denied medical
    care and driven in the back of a police van nearly 700 miles to
    Pretoria, where he died three weeks after his arrest. 

    The charismatic black leader had developed a wide following during the
    early 1970s, urging South African blacks to take pride in their culture
    and to fight for control of their country. 

    At his funeral, pictures of his battered body were widely distributed
    and later published around the world. 

    "He was very broad-minded and working to unify all the black
    organizations," said Donald Woods, a white former newspaper editor
    whose friendship with Biko was depicted in the 1987 British film "Cry
    Freedom." 

    "It was a great tragedy that he was killed, but his death had enormous
    impact overseas," Woods said. 

    Soon after, the United States imposed an oil and arms embargo on South
    Africa. 

    The Truth Commission will investigate the death and decide whether to
    grant amnesty to the former police officers. The panel was given the
    power to grant amnesty in order to promote reconciliation after decades
    of white-minority rule, which ended in 1994 with all-race elections
    that made Mandela president. 

    Biko's widow wants justice for her husband's killers, not forgiveness.
    Last year, she and the families of two other apartheid victims went to
    South Africa's highest court to challenge the commission's right to
    forgive certain crimes. 

    The court rejected their application, saying amnesty was essential to
    learning the full truth about apartheid. 

    Former members of the police and army were reluctant to come forward
    with what they knew until last year, when the Truth Commission pardoned
    a white former police officer convicted in a criminal court of 11
    political murders and sentenced to 30 years in prison. 

    The commission since has been inundated with new amnesty applications. 

    "In the absence of evidence that would enable a prosecution, I prefer
    to see the truth come out at the Truth Commission," Woods said. 

    No one was convicted in Biko's death, although an inquest concluded he
    probably had received fatal head injuries while being questioned by
    police. 

    Woods, who accompanied Biko's widow to identify the body, recalled that
    it was covered with cuts and bruises. "It was awful," he said. 

    AP 27-Jan-1997 21:10 EST   REF5719

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Protesters Flood Belgrade Streets

    By DUSAN STOJANOVIC

    Associated Press Writer

    BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- In solemn silence that contrasted with
    months of raucous political protests, more than 100,000 people marched
    Monday in a religious procession with strong anti-government overtones.

    Riot police quietly withdrew to allow the head of the Serbian Orthodox
    Church, Patriarch Pavle, to lead the early morning procession through
    Belgrade's frost-topped streets. 

    Pavle has supported demonstrations against President Slobodan Milosevic
    and wanted to see if his procession could pass through a police cordon
    that has blocked students from marching in the center of the capital
    for a week. 

    It succeeded, and students joined the group chanting "Victory,
    Victory!" 

    The outpouring of national and religious sentiment followed 10 weeks of
    protest against Milosevic for annulling Nov. 17 opposition victories in
    local elections in 14 cities. 

    The Orthodox Church is closely linked to Serb identity, and the
    procession -- marking the holiday of St. Sava, the Serbian church's
    founding father -- was the Serbian capital's largest religious
    procession since World War II. 

    Later in the day, a Belgrade district court for the second time
    overturned an electoral commission ruling that the opposition won an
    overwhelming majority on the capital's city council. Serbian courts are
    believed to be controlled by Milosevic. 

    "The ruling represents another game played by Milosevic with Serbian
    citizens and the international community," said opposition spokesman
    Slobodan Vuksanovic. No appeal is possible. 

    In Washington, State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns called the
    ruling "a step in the wrong direction." Burns said the U.S. Embassy in
    Belgrade has lodged a protest with the Serbian government against the
    court's decision and the use of force against demonstrators over the
    weekend. 

    "The Serbian government made a pledge that it would not use force
    against the people who are demonstrating peacefully," Burns said. "It
    has now reneged on that pledge." 

    Through most of Monday's procession, the only sounds were the chanting
    of St. Sava's liturgy by dozens of Orthodox priests in flowing black
    and gold-embroidered robes and bursts of applause for the aged
    patriarch. 

    In St. Sava Cathedral, the biggest Orthodox church in the Balkans,
    Pavle praised demonstrators' "democratic expression of their will." 

    "Today, eyes are watching us from the sky and ground and telling us to
    endure on the holy and righteous road," he said. 

    Pavle has urged modern democratic reforms. He has blessed students
    during their rallies, reinforcing the message that the church has
    broken with tradition to side with the opposition. 

    The demonstrations, which have spread to some 50 towns across Serbia,
    constitute the biggest challenge to Milosevic since he took power in
    1987. 

    The authoritarian president has conceded Serbia's second-largest city
    of Nis and five other towns to the opposition Zajedno coalition, but he
    refuses to give up Belgrade and the rest. 

    In Nis, non-Communists took power Monday for the first time in 50
    years. A traditional Serb anthem, "God Give Us Justice" -- never played
    under the Communists or Milosevic -- opened the ceremony. 

    Zoran Zivkovic, the new mayor, accused Milosevic's Socialist Party of
    leaving him "a totally ruined city." 

    Zoran Djindjic, a Zajedno leader, said the industrial city was a bright
    point in the struggle for democracy. 

    "But problems will deepen elsewhere in Serbia, especially in Belgrade,
    because (Milosevic's) government has cornered itself," Djindjic said.
    "Either it will impose total dictatorship, or it will climb down from
    power. We'll do everything to break its teeth." 

    Many Serbs joining Monday's procession saw the St. Sava march as a way
    to express national unity. 

    "These are difficult times," said Mirjana Baltic, 61. "And this is
    where we can find spiritual strength." 

    Later Monday, tens of thousands of opposition supporters gathered for
    their 69th daily protest against Milosevic. Riot police were back on
    the streets, preventing the demonstrators from marching. 

    Police have intervened in the protests in the past three days, clubbing
    demonstrators and injuring at least 25 protesters. 

    AP 27-Jan-1997 18:14 EST   REF5590

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Survey: Patients Unhappy With Care

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- About one-third of hospital patients feel poorly
    prepared to go home, have trouble getting questions answered or feel
    they don't have enough input on their treatment, according to a survey
    released Monday. 

    "This report is a resounding cry for help from patients who feel
    uninvolved in the decisions about their care and feel lost in a health
    care maze," said a statement from Susan Edgman-Levitan, director of the
    Boston-based Picker Institute, which conducted the study. 

    Picker, a health care consumer research firm, surveyed 23,763 hospital
    patients and 13,363 patients in clinics or doctors' offices around the
    country in 1996. 

    Its findings were echoed by focus groups conducted by the American
    Hospital Association, which the results at its annual meeting here. 

    The focus groups, including 300 people from 12 states, showed patients
    find the health care system "confusing, expensive, unreliable and often
    impersonal," the association said. 

    While patients may tell pollsters they are satisfied with their care,
    their concerns emerge when they are asked to discuss their experiences,
    according to the report, "Eye on Patients." 

    "Few people ... perceive there to be a planned system of health care
    that operates in their behalf," the report concluded. "If a system is
    in operation at all, it is seen as one designed to block access, reduce
    quality and limit spending for care at the expense of patients." 

    The Picker survey found: 

    --30 percent of hospital patients said they were not told about "danger
    signals" to watch for after they went home. 

    --21 percent of clinic patients said they were not as involved in
    decisions as they wanted to be. 

    --36 percent of hospital patients said they did not have enough say
    about their treatment. 

    AP 27-Jan-1997 17:10 EST   REF5328

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Snacking Teens Face Heart Disease

    By JAMES ROWLEY

    Associated Press Writer

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Teen-agers may increase their risk of heart disease
    later in life by smoking or eating fatty foods, according to a study of
    autopsy results that found artery blockage in young people who died
    accidentally. 

    The study found dramatic differences in the severity of fatty deposits
    on the arteries of teen-agers and other young people, depending on
    whether they smoked or ate diets rich in fat. 

    Fatty deposits and lesions were found in the major arteries of young
    people with high levels of cholesterol in their blood, according to the
    autopsies performed on 1,079 men and 364 women between the ages of 15
    and 34. 

    The amount of fatty deposits increased with age, and the difference
    between subjects with high and low cholesterol showed up as early as
    age 15, according to the study published in the January issue of
    Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology. 

    Although studies based on autopsies of American soldiers killed during
    the Korean and Vietnam wars found similar results, this is first large
    sample of data from young women, said Dr. Basil Rifkind, of the
    National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which sponsored the research.

    The researchers said their study disproves the notion that women, who
    generally have heart attacks 10 years later then men, do not have to
    alter their diets as early in life as men. 

    "It pretty firmly adds another large piece to the jigsaw puzzle and
    says the problems of diet and heart disease is something that starts
    off early in life," Rifkind said. 

    A childhood diet rich in fatty foods can begin the progression toward
    heart disease later in life, the researchers concluded. 

    Children who eat a lot of cheeseburgers and milkshakes increase their
    risk of heart attacks if they do not change their dietary habits by
    young adulthood, researchers said. 

    "The saturated fat intake and the calories a single meal of that sort
    provides is tremendous and make you use up your daily rations in one
    meal," Rifkind said. 

    The heart institute's National Cholesterol Education Program recommends
    that all children over the age of 2 keep fat consumption under 30
    percent of daily calories and saturated fat under 10 percent. 

    But there has been a debate among scientists about how early dietary
    changes are needed to reduce the risk of heart disease later in life. 

    Begun in 1985, the study's findings were extended for the first time to
    women. 

    The study found a high correlation between cholesterol levels and fatty
    deposits in girls and young women as well as boys and men. The same
    patterns were found in whites and blacks. 

    Blood-serum cholesterol tests were performed during the autopsies,
    which also tested for the presence of the chemical thiocyanate, an
    indicator of smoking. 

    Subjects with high levels of low-density (LDL) cholesterol, the bad
    cholesterol, also had streaks of fat or raised lesions on the inner
    surfaces of the aorta and the right coronary artery. 

    Fewer deposits of fat were found among subjects with high levels of
    high-density (HDL) cholesterol, which is credited with helping clear
    the arteries, and low levels of LDL cholesterol, the study found. 

    As fat deposits build up in the arteries, the risk of blockage and
    heart attack increases. 

    Fifteen centers around the country collected data from autopsies
    performed on young people who were victims of homicide, suicide or
    accidental deaths. Tissue samples and blood were analyzed at the
    Louisiana State University Medical Center in New Orleans. 

    AP 27-Jan-1997 1:57 EST   REF5589

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    World's 1st Atom Laser Created

    By MATT CRENSON

    AP Science Editor

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Physicists have achieved a long-sought goal by
    creating the world's first atom laser, a pulse of matter analogous to
    the concentrated light beams that illuminate rock concerts, scan
    supermarket bar codes and play compact disks. 

    At 3 a.m. on Nov. 16, physicists at the Massachusetts Institute of
    Technology saw definite signs that their experimental apparatus had
    emitted a confined beam of atoms in a single quantum state -- the
    matter equivalent of a laser. 

    "It's just the ultimate control you can have over atoms," said Michael
    Andrews, a graduate student in the Cambridge, Mass., lab where the feat
    was accomplished. 

    Because control over the physical world is what technology is all
    about, physicists are optimistic about the practical possibilities of
    atom lasers. Atom lasers could revolutionize atomic clocks and other
    precision measuring devices, and be used to construct ultrasmall
    machines made of just a few atoms. 

    "It's fantastic. It's really one of the most exciting things in atomic
    physics that I've seen in the last 10 years," said John Doyle, a
    professor at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. 

    Progress toward an atom laser began in July 1995, when Colorado
    researchers announced that they'd produced a bizarre substance that had
    never existed before in the history of the universe. The Bose-Einstein
    condensate was sort of a superatom, an agglomeration of individual
    particles that had lost their separate physical identities. 

    After playing with the new material for more than a year, the MIT
    physicists found they could create an atom laser by allowing
    million-atom chunks of Bose-Einstein condensate to fall in pulses from
    a larger clump of the material. 

    "It's just sort of atoms dripping out of a faucet," Andrews said. 

    The MIT team, led by professor Wolfgang Ketterle, reports its
    achievement in a pair of articles being published this week. A paper in
    the Jan. 27 issue of Physical Review Letters describes the atom laser
    device, and a second paper in the Jan. 31 issue of Science explains why
    the researchers believe their experiment represents the first atom
    laser. 

    An image produced in the Nov. 16 experiment, which shows two atom laser
    beams interfering with one another to form a regular light-dark
    pattern, is a brilliant demonstration of the subatomic realm of quantum
    physics, Doyle said. It shows that in some sense the atoms are
    propagating through space like a single wave, just as laser light does.

    "It implies the property that the atoms are marching in lockstep,"
    Ketterle said. 

    One of the most promising future applications of atom lasers might be
    in atomic clocks, where the devices could provide an even more precise
    way of counting time than current methods. The superprecise clocks are
    already used in aircraft navigation devices, the tracking of financial
    transactions and other realms where microseconds count. 

    Such promise has kept physicists pursuing the atom lasers for decades.
    And although the MIT experiment shows that the anticipated benefits of
    the technology are realistic, the technology still needs many
    improvements. 

    "You would have to have more atoms if you were going to do anything
    serious with it," Andrews said. "I think it will be a long time before
    people will start to even think about using it practically." 

    RTw  28-Jan-97 06:26    

    Dark clouds hang over South Korean industrial city

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    By Andrew Browne 

    ULSAN, South Korea, Jan 28 (Reuter) - In his grand vision for Ulsan,
    general-turned-president Park Chung-hee spoke dreamily of a polluted
    city, of "black smoke belching into the sky to end South Korea's
    famine." 

    That was back in 1962 when memories of wartime famine and destruction
    were still fresh, and Ulsan was being transformed from a sleepy whaling
    port into an industrial hub. 

    A haze of pollution now lingers over the world's biggest petrochemical
    plant, the grandest shipyard of all time and the nation's largest
    autoworks. 

    But darker clouds lie on the horizon. 

    The industries that make Ulsan the country's premier industrial city
    are in trouble, and their armies of workers face an uncertain future. 

    With cities such as Ulsan in mind, the South Korean government last
    month tried to force through parliament a new labour law that would
    give firms greater power to hire and fire, making it easier for them to
    shed sunset industries and embrace new technologies. 

    Unions in Ulsan and elsewhere were furious and launched almost four
    weeks of strikes that helped persuade President Kim Young-sam to send
    the bill back to parliament for revision. 

    Ulsan Mayor Shim Wan Gu is one of Kim's closest political associates,
    and is related to the president through marrriage. 

    "I worry that Ulsan could walk down the same road as Pittsburgh in the
    U.S., or Glasgow or Newcastle in Britain," said Shim, ticking off
    several cradles of the Industrial Revolution that slid into decline. 

    Shim boasts that when factory whistles blow in Ulsan to signal the end
    of the working day, more workers pass through factory gates than in any
    Asian city bar those in China. 

    Hyundai Heavy Industries employs 27,000 workers at its shipyard that
    operates a million-tonne capacity dry dock and is able to build 23
    ships of various sizes simultaneously. 

    Its sister company, Hyundai Motor, has 29,000 workers on production
    lines. 

    Down the coast, Yukong Ltd daily spurts out 800,000 barrels of oil
    products with 4,000 workers. 

    But prices of ships are plummeting, South Korea's car market is
    saturated and Asian petrochemical markets are swamped with excess
    capacity. Other Asian producers with cheaper labour costs are quickly
    catching up with South Korea. 

    As he maps out plans for Ulsan into the next century, Shim sees
    manufacturing industry in decline. In its place will rise new
    industries in information, telecommunications and electronics. 

    "We hope Ulsan will emerge as the centre of the Pacific Rim in the 21st
    century," said Shim. 

    Ahead lies wrenching industrial restructuring. 

    "We have already started to move some workers in shipbuilding to other
    departments in the company," said Chung Jae-hun a spokesman for Hyundai
    Heavy, which is moving into higher-technology production in areas such
    as engine turbines where its skilled workforce can create more value. 

    "Since 1993 shipbuilding has been suffering as orders for tankers have
    gone down," Chung said. 

    None of Ulsan's large companies will admit to any plans to trim their
    workforces. 

    "We're short of staff as it is," said Chung Jae-hun, a Hyundai Heavy
    management official. "We can move workers around within the company." 

    Ulsan workers profess not to be worried. "The company had ways to lay
    off workers even before the new law," said Hyundai Motor Co union
    leader Kim Ki-hyuk. 

    But such complacency may be misplaced. 

    Last week, South Korea's second largest steelmaker collapsed under a
    mountain of debt. Thousands of jobs are now in the balance at Hanbo
    Steel and its suppliers as banks desperately put together a rescue
    package. 

    REUTER

    RTw  28-Jan-97 03:40    

    FEATURE - Soviet Army deserters in Germany fear ...

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    FEATURE - Soviet Army deserters in Germany fear for future 

    By Kevin Liffey 

    BONN, Jan 28 (Reuter) - During the Cold War, Vladimir Nedovinchanny
    would probably have been welcomed with open arms in the West as a
    defector with information on Soviet nuclear technology and electronic
    communications. 

    In Germany in 1997, the former Soviet Army officer says he does not
    know from one week to the next whether he might soon be standing in
    front of a Ukrainian military prosecutor on treason charges, and facing
    a sentence in a penal camp. 

    Nedovinchanny is one of around 600 officers who deserted after 1991
    from the Soviet garrison of 340,000 men gradually pulling out of former
    East Germany after German unification. 

    He and others like him say Western intelligence officers interrogated
    them at the Federal Office for Asylum Applications in Nuremberg, when
    they were applying for political asylum, and told them it would improve
    their chances of success. 

    "The German official at the asylum office told me to go to each of
    three rooms. She said without a rubber stamp from each one, my asylum
    request wouldn't go forward," Nedovinchanny said. 

    The rooms were occupied by U.S., German and British intelligence
    officers respectively. 

    "No one told me intelligence services were going to ask for military
    information. The American said: "This is your future'." 

    Nedovinchanny's asylum application was rejected last year, and he was
    told last week that his latest monthly leave to stay was not being
    extended. 

    "I feel like I'm just being thrown away," he said. 

    DESERTERS SAY RUSSIA VIEWS WESTERN CONTACTS AS TREASON 

    It is unlikely that the deserters were able to provide much valuable
    information to Western intelligence. 

    But they say any such contact will be seen at home as treason, and that
    under the Russian military justice system they will be tried behind
    closed doors without a civilian lawyer. 

    Russian law prescribes a sentence of up to 10 years for desertion and
    up to 20 years for treason. 

    "They're going to tear me to pieces," said Rif Akhmetganeyev, the
    47-year-old Russian ex-commander of a tank unit near the Polish border
    who also served at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in Central Asia. 

    The Frankfurt-based International Society for Human Rights (IGFM),
    campaigning to help the deserters, says two have already been deported,
    and that there is ample evidence that both Russia and Ukraine will
    prosecute them. 

    It says at least 12 deserters were abducted from German territory by
    KGB snatch squads before the troops pulled out, and that some are now
    serving time in the Perm-35 penal camp. 

    BONN SAYS NO EVIDENCE OF RUSSIAN MEASURES AGAINST DESERTERS 

    But for the German government, desertion alone is not a reason for
    political asylum to be given, nor is mere contact with Western
    intelligence services. 

    In a statement this month, it said deserters were told who was
    questioning them, that they were free not to cooperate, and that their
    answers would not influence their asylum requests. 

    It also says it has no evidence that any measures have been taken in
    Russia against deserters. 

    It says 63 deserters and 55 family members have been given asylum, and
    1,025 rejected, and that each application is assessed for likely
    persecution at home or the threat of inhumane treatment, execution or
    torture. 

    All this is little comfort for Nedovinchanny, who commanded an
    electronic communications and intelligence station of the 20th division
    of the Western Group of Forces in Grimma near Leipzig, and led a
    commission on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. 

    His parents wrote saying they had been interrogated several times by
    Ukrainian security services. 

    "They told us you would be placed before a military tribunal in Ukraine
    and then extradited to Russia...which accuses you of treason, espionage
    and stealing secret documents... 

    "They told us if we didn't help to catch you, we would be convicted for
    complicity and cooperating with Western intelligence services." 

    IGFM cites letters from Ukrainian prosecutors to the parents or lawyers
    of two former Soviet army officers, Oleg Chabanov and Andrei Adamenko,
    who have both been refused asylum in Germany. 

    UKRAINE SAYS IT NOT LOOKING FOR DEFECTORS 

    The top Ukrainian military prosecutor's office told Reuters that
    Ukraine had not prosecuted any officers for deserting, and they were
    not even being looked for. 

    But the letters say Chabanov, former deputy commander of an air
    reconnaissance and electronic intelligence battalion outside Berlin, is
    being sought by Dnepropetrovsk's military prosecutor for desertion and
    treason, and Adamenko is being sought by the Ukrainian state
    prosecutor's office for passing state secrets. 

    The deserters cite a variety of reasons for defecting. Nedovinchanny
    says he was being persecuted for having refused to support the
    hard-line Moscow coup in 1991 and for attacking corruption among his
    superiors. 

    Akhmetganeyev, who served at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in
    Central Asia, says he deserted in 1991 with his wife and three children
    because he was under pressure from the KGB for refusing to recruit
    Western military friends as informants. 

    He says U.S. and German intelligence officials in Nuremberg told him he
    would get asylum if he cooperated, and he did. 

    "I made a terrible mistake," he said. "The Americans told me they would
    take me in, but I said I wanted to stay in Germany." 

    Akhmetganeyev has founded an association called Nadezhda -- "hope' in
    Russian -- to help the deserters. He also believes many may have
    received shelter in the United States, Spain, France or the
    Netherlands, or joined the French Foreign Legion. 

    His own asylum application was turned down last year but he has leave
    to stay until May while a court rules on his appeal. 

    To Wanda Wahnscheider of the IGFM, the uncertain fate of the deserters
    is a reflection of the new post-Cold War world. 

    "They're the flotsam and jetsam of big power politics," she said. "Bonn
    doesn't want them to get in the way of its new-found good relations
    with Russia, NATO doesn't want them to be an issue as it argues with
    Russia about eastward expansion." 

    Cold War veteran Akhmetganeyev put it another way: "I don't understand
    the West at all." 

    REUTER

    RTos 28-Jan-97 02:44    

    U.S. Slams Swiss Diplomat on Holocaust Funds

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    WASHINGTON (Reuter) - U.S. officials sharply criticized the Swiss
    ambassador Monday over remarks that his country should wage a public
    relations "war" against Jewish groups and others seeking compensation
    for Holocaust victims. 

    State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns and Senate Banking Committee
    Chairman Alfonse D'Amato, a flag-bearer for holocaust victims in the
    case, denounced the comments as wrong-headed and a disservice to the
    people of Switzerland. 

    Ambassador Carlo Jagmetti resigned after a Swiss newspaper published
    the remarks Monday. They were in a confidential strategy paper he sent
    to Berne last month on how to handle a dispute over dormant accounts of
    Nazi victims in Swiss banks. 

    "If it's true the Swiss ambassador made these remarks it betrays a
    fundamental lack of understanding of the commitment the United States
    government has to its own citizens and of the search for justice for
    people who had their human rights fundamentally violated during the
    Second World War. It is very troubling," Burns told reporters. 

    He said he hoped the quotes were not accurate "because any ambassador
    in Washington who advocates waging a public relations campaign against
    American Jewish groups and against Holocaust survivors is just
    wrong-headed." 

    D'Amato called on the Swiss government to repudiate the remarks and, in
    an apparent reference to the Nazi era, said, "We have heard this
    language and sentiment all too often in the not so distant past. It is
    frightening." 

    But the World Jewish Congress, which has been negotiating with the
    Swiss and was the group Jagmetti's comments seemed  directly aimed at,
    did not join in the chorus of criticism. 

    WJC executive director Elan Steinberg called the remarks an
    "unfortunate incident." He added, "We chose to look forward now and
    seek to build upon the expressions of good faith that have been uttered
    in recent days." 

    One Jewish leader close to the controversy called Jagmetti's comments
    "foolish" but added that in negotiations, there had been no sense the
    ambassador was anti-Semitic, a charge that the ambassador himself was
    at pains to deny. 

    D'Amato and others had called on Switzerland to create a fund to help
    Holocaust victims while a historical commission determined whether the
    country's banks held on to the dormant accounts deposited there by
    Holocaust victims. 

    But while Jagmetti favored a payment to silence his country's critics,
    he wrote in the strategy paper: "This is a war that Switzerland must
    wage and win on the foreign and domestic front ... You cannot trust
    most of the adversaries." 

    Burns vigorously defended D'Amato, saying he was "doing the Lord's
    work" and that the Clinton administration fully supported his efforts
    to "get to the bottom of this question." 

    The spokesman said he did not believe the United States applied
    pressure to have the ambassador resign, adding: "I think it's a
    unilateral Swiss decision." 

    After months of international criticism, Switzerland last week agreed
    in principle to establish a compensation fund for Holocaust victims.
    Burns welcomed this move as "an important first step in coming to terms
    with the past." 

    The State Department has undertaken its own study to establish what the
    U.S. government knew or did not know in the years following the war.
    Burns said this review would be completed in a couple of weeks. 

    Meanwhile, there was growing anger among Jewish leaders at
    Switzerland's turning over of what it said were 53 dormant and heirless
    accounts of mostly Jewish Polish citizens to Poland in 1975, worth
    about 500,000 Swiss francs. 

    The anger came because many of the names on the accounts -- finally
    made public last week -- listed heirs. 

    Kalman Sultanik, a WJC vice president, said one heir was located in
    Britain within 10 minutes of receiving the person's name and address.
    "You didn't need to be Sherlock Holmes to find the heir. You needed a
    London phone book," he said. 

    The account, worth about 3,500 Swiss Francs in 1946, belonged to a
    Danzig resident Walter Loevy. He listed a Hilda Sorkin of north London
    as his heir. Now 83 years old, Mrs. Sorkin said Loevy was her uncle and
    she never knew about his account. 

    REUTER

    RTw  28-Jan-97 02:28    

    Britons object to paying for new royal yacht-poll

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    LONDON, Jan 28 (Reuter) - Britons oppose by a margin of three to one
    the government's plan to fund a new royal yacht from taxpayers' money,
    according to an opinion poll published on Tuesday. 

    An ICM poll in the Guardian newspaper asked members of the public if
    they approved or disapproved of the government's decision to spend 60
    million pounds ($100 million) of public money on a replacement for the
    present royal yacht, Britannia. 

    In reply, 72 percent said they disapproved, with only 24 percent
    approving. 

    Queen Elizabeth was said on Monday to be dismayed at being dragged into
    party political squabbling over the new yacht. 

    Britannia is on its last voyage before being taken out of service after
    44 years. 

    The government had put off for two years a decision over whether it
    would be replaced before a surprise announcement last week -- widely
    seen as an election ploy. 

    Labour, which has a 20 point lead ahead of elections that must be held
    by May, said on Sunday it would not finance a new yacht when health and
    education badly needed public funds. 

    REUTER

    RTw  28-Jan-97 01:43    

    Conservatives to privatise UK taxmen - paper

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    LONDON, Jan 28 (Reuter) - Britain's ruling Conservatives are drawing up
    plans for the privatisation of the tax-raising Inland Revenue, the
    Guardian newspaper said on Tuesday. 

    The Guardian said the plan, which would involve the sale of 450 tax
    offices and the introduction of private contractors to assess tax
    returns, was being prepared for the Conservative election manifesto. 

    The privatisation is aimed at raising 250 million pounds a year, the
    paper said. 

    Major and cabinet ministers held talks on Wednesday to thrash out
    details of the Conserative Party's election manifesto. Major wants to
    hold the election on May 1. 

    The Guardian the plan would mean job losses at the Inland Revenue,
    which employs 60,000 people. 

    The new proposals were revealed in a confidential letter dated this
    month, the Guardian said. 

    REUTER

    RTw  28-Jan-97 03:28    

    FEATURE - Austria fetes 200 years of Schubert's genius

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    By Elizabeth Fullerton 

    VIENNA, Jan 28 (Reuter) - "My brightest hopes have come to nothing,
    love and friendship have nothing to offer," a desperate Franz Schubert
    wrote to a friend in 1824 as he battled with the debilitating effects
    of syphilis. 

    Four years later, at the age of 31, it destroyed him. 

    Two hundred years after his birth, Schubert, who composed 1,000 works
    in just 19 years, including 600 songs, is credited with works of genius
    for chamber music, full orchestra and especially voice. 

    Vienna is gearing up for a year-long string of concerts and exhibitions
    and even a Schubert singing contest to celebrate the composer's
    bicentenary. 

    "He was probably the greatest melodist ever in classical music," said
    Schubert scholar Nicholas Rast of Britain. "His contributions to lieder
    (songs) are probably unchallenged." 

    Beethoven, whom Schubert adored, is said to have described the
    precocious genius as "touched with a divine spark." 

    The conventional image of Schubert was of an easy-going popular
    composer who wrote light-hearted, frothy songs for Viennese
    aristocratic salons. 

    DARKER SIDE OF PERSONALITY 

    But scholars say he was also a manic depressive, who drank and smoked
    heavily, and frequented brothels in the louche quarters of Vienna. 

    Elizabeth McKay, who has written a biography of the composer, says
    Schubert inherited a cyclical form of manic depression, which sent his
    morale plummeting every six months. 

    "His lifestyle, the fact he was inclined to smoke heavily and drink
    when he got ill, worsened the depression," she says. 

    Vienna was a haven for musical stars in the 18th century, home to
    German-born Beethoven, and Austrians Haydn and Mozart for a time.
    Schubert only left the city for short spells. 

    Schubert, author of such melancholic masterpieces as "The Trout" and
    "The Unfinished Symphony," "Death and the Maiden" and the "Winterreise"
    songs, was not blessed with an easy life. 

    Scholars say he was a Jekyll and Hyde figure. 

    "That soft veneer is toughened by the fierce intellect of a man who
    could express volcanic eruptions in his music," says Rast. "The
    "Winterreise' song-cycle reveals the tragedy and darkness of genuine
    emotion." 

    Schubert was born on January 31, 1797, in a cramped two-room apartment
    in Vienna, then capital of the huge Austro-Hungarian empire. The son of
    a schoolmaster, he was one of 12 children, of whom only five survived. 

    At the age of 11 he won a scholarship that gained him a place in the
    choir of the imperial court chapel and at the Imperial and Royal City
    College, where he was taught by the composer Antonio Salieri, a
    contemporary of Mozart. 

    By 14, Schubert was already exhibiting an extraordinary talent and had
    composed his first song, several orchestral overtures and three string
    quartets. 

    Schubert's songs became enormously popular, thanks to his friends, who
    commissioned his works and paid for them to be printed when no
    publishers were interested. 

    It became fashionable for wealthy families to hold concert parties,
    known as Schubertiaden, entirely devoted to them. 

    However, Schubert failed to gain the sort of lucrative aristocratic
    patronage Beethoven enjoyed because he would often arrive drunk at
    playing engagements or forget to turn up. 

    He only ever gave one public concert in 1828 and had to haggle with
    publishers to print his work, although his career was beginning to take
    off shortly before his premature death. 

    "He felt very much in Beethoven's shadow, but had a fierce belief in
    his own worth," Rast says. 

    SCHUBERT PAVED WAY FOR LATE ROMANTICISM 

    Schubert has mistakenly been regarded as shy and self-effacing, but
    scholars suggest he was in fact arrogant. 

    Rast tells of an occasion when members of the Vienna Philharmonic
    Orchestra asked Schubert to write a piece for them. "You're just
    blowers and scrapers. I'm Franz Schubert," he is supposed to have told
    them. 

    Less than five foot tall, plump, with curly unkempt hair and delicate
    steel-framed glasses, Schubert was unremarkable to look at. But in his
    dynamic circle of friends, which comprised artists, playwrights and
    musicians, he shone. 

    Reams have been written on his ambiguous sexuality and visits to
    prostitutes, but there is little concrete evidence. 

    The consensus is he was probably bisexual, although Schubert's
    unrequited adolescent love for a woman called Therese Grob, was no
    secret. 

    "It was a great disappointment in his life. His songs are obsessed with
    jilted lovers," says scholar Nicholas Toller. 

    Schubert's syphilis, contracted in 1822 when he was 25, cast a pall
    over his life. 

    But he continued to write with obsessive zeal, rising daily at dawn,
    clearly aware his was a race against time. Schubert's prolific output
    is still a source of wonder to scholars. 

    He died in 1828 at the home of his older brother Ferdinand. His total
    effects amounted to 63 gulden ($2,000), substantially less than the
    cost of his funeral, medical bills and debts. 

    But his legacy is monumental. 

    "I think he prepared the way for late romanticism," says Britain's
    Rast. "The experiments he made with form and his whole approach to
    tonality changed the shape of music." 

    His epitaph by Austrian playwright Franz Grillparzer reads: "The art of
    music here entombed a rich possession, but even fairer hopes.

    REUTER

    RTos 27-Jan-97 23:17    

    Balloonist to Try Round-the-World Trip Again

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    WASHINGTON (Reuter) - Steve Fossett said Monday he plans to try again
    to circle the earth in a "low tech" balloon that carried him a record
    10,000 miles in six days, eight hours before a bumpy landing dropped
    him in India last week. 

    "It certainly was an uplifting experience," Fossett told a news
    conference at the National Geographic Society, saying he was encouraged
    by his voyage even though his around-the-world attempt ended in
    failure. 

    He said that next time he would carry more propane fuel to steer his
    balloon and heat his cabin when he lifts off sometime in November from
    a yet-to-be decided U.S. takeoff point. Balloons fly best in winter
    when the wind currents are strongest and thunderstorms are less likely,
    he said. 

    "It was encouraging to me and my team but also to my competitors,"
    Fossett said of the attempt in his balloon named "Solo Spirit" that
    left St. Louis, Missouri and ended in India, bettering his own world
    record for distance travelled. 

    "We can now see some confirmation that these distances can be
    approached," the 52-year-old former Chicago commodities broker said.

    He is in a friendly competition with British billionaire Richard
    Branson and the Swiss-Belgian team of Bertrand Piccard and Wim
    Verstraeten to become the first round-the-world balloonists. Both their
    attempts this year also ended in failure. 

    "Richard Branson set the standard for sportsmanship in this
    competition," Fossett said of his rival, flying to St. Louis to see him
    off and helping him win permission to fly over Libya. 

    Fossett flew his $300,000 balloon beyond its supposed altitude ceiling
    of 18,000 feet, pushing it as high as 26,300 feet to catch faster winds
    in the jetstream. At times, the balloon reached speeds over 100 miles
    per hour. 

    But flying higher meant it was bone-chilling cold in his cramped,
    unpressurized gondola, especially at night when the sun set. 

    Fossett said he was not too bothered by the cold. "I had plenty of warm
    weather gear from my Iditarod days," he said, recalling his 1992 entry
    into the 1,165 mile dogsled race from Anchorage to Nome. 

    He said the greatest fear he had came when he was passing over the
    Sahara and he saw "sand dunes like a French Foreign Legion movie." 

    "I thought that if I had to land there in one of the most remote parts
    of the world, there would be no hope of recovering my equipment," he
    said. "It would be all they could do to recover me." 

    He is having his damaged balloon shipped back from India. 

    REUTER

    RTos 27-Jan-97 23:15    

    British Ministers Look to May 1 Election

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    LONDON (Reuter) - Prime Minister John Major won the backing of his
    cabinet Monday to delay an election until May 1, the last practical
    date on which he can face the voters. 

    Health Secretary Stephen Dorrell confirmed the decision to reporters as
    a day-long cabinet meeting at Major's official country home, Chequers,
    broke up. 

    "We have a five-year mandate and we intend to plan on the basis of
    completing that mandate," he said. The Conservatives won a fourth
    consecutive general election victory in April 1992, but are allowed to
    delay a poll until May this year. 

    But as ministers returned to London, the Conservatives lost a vote in
    the House of Commons by 273 to 272 on an amendment to the Education
    Bill. 

    The issue was not of a kind that would prompt a vote of confidence,
    which could push the government out of power if the Conservatives lost. 

    But it proved how difficult Labor can make it for the Conservatives to
    keep the upper hand in the House of Commons. 

    Recent polls have shown the Conservatives trailing some 20 points
    behind the opposition Labor Party but the media have speculated that
    Major could set an election date in April or even March. 

    A May date would allow time for a by-election in late February or early
    March in Wirral South, near the north-western port of Liverpool.
    Opinion polls suggest Labor will win the seat, which would put the
    Conservatives in a minority of one in the House of Commons, and send
    their opponents into the election fray with their tails up. 

    Critics say the Conservatives have run out of ideas after almost 18
    years in power. 

    But Dorrell said ministers had agreed an election manifesto "that will
    build on 18 years of reform." This, he said, would involve continuing
    with economic and social reforms intended to increase opportunities for
    all. 

    Dorrell said the Conservatives would expand ownership, choice and
    opportunity by, for example, improving the National Health Service. 

    He said the cabinet had also discussed parts of the public sector which
    might be earmarked for future privatization and the next stage of the
    Conservatives' agenda to deregulate British business. 

    On economic policy, he said ministers had reaffirmed the twin goal of
    reducing public spending to below 40 percent of gross domestic product
    and moving toward a basic income tax rate of 20 percent, from the
    current 23 percent. 

    REUTER

    RTw  27-Jan-97 19:36    

    Scottish food poison outbreak claims 18th victim

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    GLASGOW, Scotland, Jan 27 (Reuter) - A food poisoning outbreak in
    Scotland, one of the worst caused by the E coli bacteria, has now
    claimed 18 lives, health officials said on Monday. 

    The deadliest outbreak was in Canada in 1985 when 19 old people died. 

    Scotland's latest victim, an 86-year-old woman, died in a hospital in
    the town of Airdrie, near Glasgow. E coli infecton was found to be a
    contributory factor in her death. 

    Since the outbreak started in November, more than 400 victims have been
    treated for poisoning by E coli, a normally harmless digestive bacteria
    that has developed a virulent form identified 15 years ago. 

    It gets into food via improper slaughtering and hygiene techniques or
    when manure is used as fertiliser. 

    Most of the Scottish cases have been traced to a prizewinning butcher's
    shop. 

    E coli can make a healthy adult ill but small children and the elderly
    can succumb to kidney failure and brain damage. 

    There have been hundreds of cases of E coli infection in the United
    States and Canada, linked to apple juice, but few deaths. 

    The British government said earlier this month it would back urgent
    research into the causes of E coli and would check whether food
    handling and licensing laws needed tightening. 

    REUTER

    AP 29-Jan-1997 0:59 EST   REF5608

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Wednesday, Jan. 29, 1997
   
    RICHARDSON-CONFIRMATION HEARING 

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. Rep. Bill Richardson will face the
    Republican-led Senate Wednesday for his nomination as U.S. ambassador
    to the United Nations. A speedy confirmation is expected for the
    seven-term New Mexico Democrat despite running afoul of Senate Foreign
    Relations Committee chairman Jesse Helms on key votes concerning Cuba.
    Senate aides say they expect the confirmation hearing to focus on U.N.
    reform strategies rather than differences over Cuba. Richardson was one
    of just 86 House members who voted last March against Cuba sanctions
    legislation co-authored by Helms. The measure won overwhelming approval
    in both houses and was signed by President Clinton. 
   
    SIMPSON TRIAL 

    SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) -- In possible anticipation of victory,
    plaintiffs in the O.J. Simpson civil trial have filed documents asking
    for an update on Simpson's financial status. Jurors got the case
    Tuesday afternoon after a highly emotional plaintiff rebuttal argument
    and about 40 minutes of instructions from the judge. But they adjourned
    for the night without reaching a verdict after about two hours of
    deliberations. 
   
    COSBY-EXTORTION 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- The boyfriend of a woman who says she is Bill Cosby's
    illegitimate daughter has pleaded guilty to aiding in the attempted
    extortion of the TV star. Prosecutors had not previously revealed
    Antonay Williams' arrest. He pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain
    in which he promised to testify in court. His girlfriend, Autumn
    Jackson, and another man have also been charged in the case. The
    alleged extortion involved a $40 million threat to take the
    illegitimacy story to the tabloids unless Cosby paid. 
   
    CLINTON 

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Clinton says Republicans and Democrats
    alike have to fix a campaign finance system that has not been updated
    since Watergate-era reforms 20 years ago. At a news conference, Clinton
    said the huge costs of campaigns have produced an inevitable race for
    cash. He called on Congress to support his campaign spending reforms.
    Also, Clinton admitted, "in retrospect," it was a mistake to have had
    the top federal banking regulator at one of his White House sessions
    with major bankers. 
   
    IRAQ-FOOD 

    BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Iraq complains that extra rations of flour, rice
    and sugar will not reach Iraqis until April under the U.N.'s
    "oil-for-food" plan. The Iraqi trade minister complained U.N.
    bureaucracy was to blame. "We can't distribute food for the people
    unless there is at least one commodity sufficient for the whole
    population," Mohammed Mehdi Saleh told The AP. 
   
    OLYMPIC BOMBING 

    ATLANTA (AP) -- Richard Jewell sued The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
    and the college where he once worked as a security guard, accusing them
    of libeling him in the Olympic bombing probe. Jewell's lawsuit seeks
    unspecified damages. "Noticeably lacking is any explanation of what is
    false about what we reported," said Journal-Constitution publisher
    Roger Kintzel. 
   
    BOULDER-SLAYING 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- A former FBI agent hired by the parents of JonBenet
    Ramsey says he doesn't think they killed their 6-year-old daughter. In
    a "Dateline NBC" interview, John Douglas said he spent about four or
    five hours with John and Patricia Ramsey and visited their home in
    Boulder, Colo., where their daughter was found dead on Dec. 26. Douglas
    is the former head of the FBI's behavioral science unit. 
   
    ORACLE CASE 

    REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) -- A former Oracle Corp. employee was
    convicted of forging an e-mail message to support her claim that she
    was fired for breaking off a relationship with the company's chairman.
    Larry Ellison, Oracle's CEO and one of America's richest people with an
    estimated net worth of $4.2 billion, praised the verdict as "a sign of
    great progress in our society." Adelyn Lee, 33, could spend up to six
    years in prison. 
   
    FLU-DRUG 

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- A new compound that taken as a pill could be used as
    a preventative or treatment for influenza infections has been developed
    by California researchers. The compound, known as a neuraminidase
    inhibitor, blocks an enzyme necessary for replication of the flu virus
    and may decrease the length and severity of flu systems and prevent the
    disease in people exposed to it, the researchers said Tuesday. 
   
    MARKETS 

    TOKYO (AP) -- The dollar rose steadily against the yen on Wednesday in
    Japan. The dollar was at 121.23 yen, up 0.87. The Nikkei fell 67.68 to
    17,728.89. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average closed at
    6,656.08, down 4.61, its fifth straight loss. The Nasdaq was at
    1,354.37, up 1.56. 
   
    CELTICS-KNICKS 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Chris Childs made a 3-pointer with 8.4 seconds left
    for his only basket of the game as the New York Knicks beat the Boston
    Celtics for the 18th straight time, 109-107. For the Knicks, Allan
    Houston scored 25 points, Charles Oakley had a season-high 20 and
    Patrick Ewing had 18. 
   
    AP Newsbrief by BENITA GREEN 

    Updated at Tuesday, January 28, 1997, at 8:00 pm Pacific time.

    Reuters World News Highlights 

    GROZNY, Russia - Aslan Maskhadov, who has claimed victory in Chechnya's
    presidential election, wants Russia and the world to recognise his
    nation's independence and help rebuild it after two years of war. 

    WASHINGTON - U.S. President Bill Clinton said he expects to meet in
    March with Russian President Boris Yeltsin as planned, although
    officials said the summit might be in a third country due to the
    Kremlin leader's health. 

    WASHINGTON - President Bill Clinton defended U.S. policy toward China
    and predicted the ``spread of liberty'' will grow in the communist
    state, saying: ``I just think it's inevitable, just as the Berlin Wall
    fell.'' 

    WASHINGTON - A U.S. delegation is in Beijing seeking concessions on
    human rights that could make it unneccessary this year for the United
    States to sponsor a U.N. resolution faulting China's policy, officials
    said. 

    WASHINGTON - President Bill Clinton said ``mistakes were made'' in
    raising money for his re-election campaign, but insisted contributors
    did not buy influence with him and the system is not corrupt. 

    WASHINGTON - Iraq's President Saddam Hussein has put his wife under
    house arrest and his son, wounded in a Dec. 12 shooting in Baghdad, may
    lose a leg to gangrene, a senior U.S. military official said. 

    PARIS - In a defiant challenge to Algerian President Liamine Zeroual,
    gunmen shot dead one of his main political backers, trade union chief
    Abdelhak Benhamouda. 

    BELGRADE - Triumphant Serbian demonstrators said they had won back the
    streets of the capital Belgrade after riot police apparently gave up
    pushing them onto pavements to enforce a ban on marches. 

    SOFIA - Bulgaria's ruling Socialists start efforts to form a new
    government on Wednesday, rejecting calls by President Petar Stoyanov
    for immediate elections to help pull the country from a deep economic
    crisis. 

    Copyright 1997 Reuters. 
                            

    RTw  29-Jan-97 06:33    

    Odds and Ends

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    The following is a collection of human interest stories that have moved
    separately: 

    New Zealander wrestles shark on a whim 

    WELLINGTON - New Zealand has produced its own answer to Australia's
    "Crocodile Dundee." 

    Newspapers and radio said that a man jumped off a boat to wrestle a
    four-metre (12-foot) shark in the popular South Island tourist spot of
    Milford Sound. 

    Grant Lightfoot leaped in, tussled with the large thresher shark and
    killed it with a knife. 

    "I don't know why I did it. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing," said
    Lightfoot, who added that he had previously wrestled conger eels and
    octopuses. 

    The incident on Tuesday matched the feat of Crocodile Dundee, the
    fictional crocodile-wrestling Australian outback hero played by Paul
    Hogan in the film of the same name. 

    - - - - 

    Princess Diana plans gala dress sale for charity 

    LONDON (Reuter) - Princess Diana is planning to donate her wedding
    dress to a British museum and to sell 65 evening dresses for charity, a
    newspaper said. 

    The Daily Telegraph said the ex-wife of heir-to-the-throne Prince
    Charles is determined to redefine her image and "pursue a new role
    outside the conventional royal mould." 

    "Next month, she will announce that she intends to give the dress which
    stunned the world in 1981 to the Victoria & Albert Museum for permanent
    public display," the newspaper said. 

    "At the same time, she will announce the most glamourous second-hand
    clothes sale in history with a proposed auction of 65 evening dresses
    in June." 

    The charity sale, expected to be held at Christie's auction house,
    could make more than one million sterling ($1.61 million) for her
    favourite charities. 

    - - - - 

    Youth robbers use chewing gum as tool to loot cars 

    MEXICO CITY (Reuter) - Young robbers in a Mexico City suburb are using
    chewing gum as their main tool to plunder cars at stoplights. 

    Dozens of hapless drivers waiting for the lights to turn green in
    Nezahualcoyotl have been robbed after chewing gum has been stuck to
    their windows, effectively making them marked cars, TV reports and
    authorities said. 

    Young gang members wander around idling cars and mark those with booty
    inside. At following lights, older members look out for the tell-tale
    gum sign and carry out smash and grab robberies. 

    - - - - 

    Virginia to "retire" racially offensive state song 

    RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuter) - The Virginia Senate has voted to retire
    the official state song after charges that its references to "darkey"
    and "old massa" were racially offensive. 

    The Senate voted 24-15 to make "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" the
    "official state song emeritus," a compromise for those who wanted the
    song junked entirely. It also voted to set up a committee to find a new
    state song. 

    Debate over the song has raged for several years and blacks and whites
    bridled at lines like: "There's where the old darkey's heart am longed
    to go. That's where I laboured so hard for old massa." 

    REUTER

    AP 28-Jan-1997 23:56 EST   REF5589

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Kidnapped Baby Returns Home

    LYNWOOD, Calif. (AP) -- A newborn baby abducted by a woman masquerading
    as a hospital volunteer was returned to her parents Tuesday after
    deputies found the alleged kidnapper and the infant. 

    Maria Guadalupe Ramos, 22, was videotaped by a hospital security camera
    and tracked to a home in Lynwood, where she was arrested for
    investigation of kidnapping, said Los Angeles Sheriff Sherman Block.
    The baby was unharmed. 

    The one-week-old infant, Cindy, was taken from her parents Monday
    afternoon by a woman who persuaded them to go to Kaiser Foundation
    Hospital-Bellflower under the guise of getting them a crib and some
    coupons for "baby needs." 

    The woman told the baby's father to drive his car to the front of the
    hospital and then asked the mother if she could take the baby to show
    some friends inside, Block said. 

    She never returned, and the parents contacted police about two hours
    later. The suspect had no connection with the hospital, authorities
    said, and the baby's mother said she didn't know her either. 

    The baby's mother, Fabiola Ramos, and father, Roberto Arciga, attended
    a news conference with their baby. Mrs. Ramos said she "had faith all
    the way" that she would be reunited with her child. 

    In fact, the accused kidnapper called the couple's home several times
    after the child was taken and said the infant was safe and well, she
    said. 

    "I asked her if the baby was OK and she said, 'yes,"' Mrs. Ramos said. 

    Maria Ramos has other children and had told the baby's mother she was
    seven months pregnant, Block said. He said he did not know if the
    suspect actually was pregnant. She was ordered held on $500,000 bail. 

    AP 28-Jan-1997 23:38 EST   REF5581

    2 Toddlers Tossed Out Window

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    TACOMA, Wash. (AP) -- Two toddlers were hurled out a third-floor
    apartment window as police responded to a domestic dispute. The infants
    landed on the hood of a car, but were expected to survive, police said
    Tuesday. 

    The children's father, the subject of several domestic violence
    complaints, has been arrested for investigation of two counts of
    assault, spokeswoman Corina Hopkins said. 

    The 2-year-old girl was in critical condition with head and internal
    injuries; her 1-year-old brother was in serious condition with bruises
    and minor internal injuries, said hospital spokesman Todd Kelly said. 

    Apartment manager Pat Hutson said another tenant saw it happen. 

    "They thought someone was throwing trash out of the window at first,
    and then the one baby landed on the car and bounced off," she said.
    While the tenant was comforting the child "the other baby came out the
    window." 

    Ms. Hutson said two homeless people stripped from the waist up and used
    their clothing to keep the children warm until help arrived. 

    The police spokeswoman said officers responding to a domestic dispute
    early Tuesday were met by a 21-year-old woman who said her 28-year-old
    husband had tried to kill her with a hammer. 

    When the officers arrived, the man disappeared into a bedroom and came
    out seconds later. An officer looked out an open bedroom window and saw
    the children on the hood of a parked car. They arrested him and
    confiscated a hammer. 

    AP 28-Jan-1997 23:37 EST   REF5580

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Ex-FBI Man: Family Not Guilty

    NEW YORK (AP) -- A former FBI agent hired by the parents of JonBenet
    Ramsey says he doesn't think they killed their 6-year-old daughter. 

    In a "Dateline NBC" interview, John Douglas said he spent about four or
    five hours with John and Patricia Ramsey and visited their home in
    Boulder, Colo., where their daughter was found dead on Dec. 26. 

    He also saw a limited amount of evidence, including a photocopy of a
    purported ransom note, and he was briefed on the autopsy report, NBC
    said. 

    "What I've seen and experienced, I'd say they were not involved," said
    Douglas, according to a transcript of the interview released in advance
    of the Tuesday night broadcast. 

    Douglas is the former head of the FBI's behavioral science unit. He was
    the inspiration for an investigator in "The Silence of the Lambs" and
    he drew up the Unabomber's profile when the bombings began. 

    The body of JonBenet, a former National Tiny Miss Beauty, was found in
    her basement, eight hours after her mother called 911 to report she had
    found a ransom note and her daughter was missing. 

    Authorities have released little about their investigation; no arrests
    have been made. Police have said JonBenet was strangled but they have
    refused comment on reports that she was sexually assaulted and her
    skull fractured. 

    Douglas said he suspected JoBenet's parents at first. When someone is
    killed in a home, "the primary suspects will always and should be
    family." 

    His investigation convinced him otherwise, Douglas told NBC. 

    JonBenet's body was found by her father and Douglas noted, "Generally,
    if a parent kills a child, they don't want to be the one who finds the
    child," 

    He said they also "usually place their child with a very peaceful type
    of look to it. They stage the crime scene." 

    Douglas considers the ransom figure -- $118,000 -- significant. That
    was the amount Ramsey received as a bonus in 1996 from his computer
    company. 

    "Is that just a fluke? I don't think so," said Douglas. "I think it is
    very, very significant. And you cannot ignore that." 

    NBC said Boulder Police spokesman Kelvin McNeill confirmed receiving
    information from Douglas, but police haven't said if it influenced
    their probe. 

    AP 28-Jan-1997 23:22 EST   REF5469

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Jokes Galore at Congress Dinner

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Freshman Rep. Dennis Kucinich said his constituents
    sent him to bring civilization from Cleveland to the capital after they
    learned about House Speaker Newt Gingrich's activities. 

    "People just hated it when they found out he violated all those
    ethnics," Kucinich punned at an annual dinner for congressional
    correspondents Tuesday. 

    Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and Secretary of State
    Madeleine Albright were among the guests gathered Tuesday night at the
    Washington Press Club Foundation's 53rd annual congressional dinner. 

    The theme? "Making Nice." 

    As at all such dinners at which journalists mingle with the politicians
    they cover, the speeches were full of jokes. Some were even funny. 

    "Teen-agers and Democrats are always happy spending someone else's
    money," said freshman Rep. Anne Northrup, R-Ky. "But teen-agers grow
    up, and when they have to spend their own money they become
    conservatives." 

    NBC's Tim Russert was the emcee, and Kucinich, D-Ohio, and Northrup
    were joined at the podium by freshmen Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and
    Sam Brownback, R-Kan. 

    Brownback may be overly optimistic about the prospects for
    bipartisanship in the capital. 

    "I can just see it now," he said, imagining a few dream tickets for the
    2000 presidential race. "Al and Al; Gore and D'Amato, going after the
    angry senator vote." 

    How about Pat and Pat; Moynihan and Buchanan, going after "the angry
    white male Ph.D. vote?" Or Jesse and Jesse; Helms and Jackson. "Just
    going after the angry, angry vote," Brownback said. 

    Landrieu, whose challenger has accused her of turning to vote fraud to
    win a close race, said it wasn't true: All of the voting machines that
    made Louisiana elections notorious have been sold to Mexico. 

    "However, they're still trying to figure out how Earl Long got elected
    mayor of Cancun," Landrieu said. 

    To civilize Washington, Kucinich said he would rely on three items
    close to Cleveland's heart: kielbasa, the polka (to fight the Macarena)
    and bowling. 

    Why bowling? Take the parties' differences over campaign finance
    reform: 

    "Right now, we have a split on Capitol Hill -- a 7-10 split, if you
    will -- over how to stop the special interests from controlling the
    lanes of Congress," he said. 

    If only they would bring back bowling to the House gym, lawmakers could
    develop the skills they need "to keep our government from rolling into
    the gutter," Kucinich said. 

    AP 28-Jan-1997 22:51 EST   REF5304

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Post-Castro U.S. Aid Promised

    By GEORGE GEDDA

    Associated Press Writer

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Cuba can expect to receive between $4 billion and $8
    billion from the United States and other outside donors during the
    first six years after Cuba's communist system gives way to a transition
    government, a White House report says. 

    The United States is likely to be the "predominant bilateral provider,"
    the study said, because of Cuba's proximity and the U.S. national
    interest. 

    But, it said, contributions also can be expected from other
    governments, the European Union, agencies of the United Nations, the
    World Bank and other international financial institutions. 

    Draft copies of the report were made available to The Associated Press
    and other news organizations. 

    In Havana, President Fidel Castro strongly rejected what he called the
    U.S. transition plan and reiterated that Cuba was committed to
    Communism. 

    "Let them not make a mistake, our imperialist enemies should not
    underestimate us," Castro said in a speech at a ceremony honoring the
    144th anniversary of the birth of Jose Marti, Cuba's national hero. 

    "What infuriates us most is that they're trying to buy us the day we
    start wavering," he said. 

    The Cuban president's comments were contained in a dispatch from
    Havana, monitored in Mexico City, by the Mexican government news agency
    Notimex. 

    The White House study predicted a surge in the amount of money Cuban
    exiles in the United States send to relatives in Cuba once a transition
    takes place, as well as "dramatic increases" in foreign investment. 

    The report also raises the possibility that the Guantanamo Naval Base,
    the U.S.-run base in Cuba, could be returned to Cuba or the agreement
    governing its use renegotiated once a transition occurs. 

    Titled "Support for a Democratic Transition in Cuba," the report was
    required by the 1996 Helms Burton law that imposes sanctions against
    Cuba. 

    The law, among other features, seeks to punish foreign investors who do
    business on property confiscated from Americans in the early years of
    the revolution. 

    The premise of the report is that communism in Cuba is a transitory
    phenomenon and that democracy will take hold in Cuba once Castro, 71,
    passes from the scene. 

    Cuban officials often have disputed that premise, contending that the
    system Castro has in place will survive his passing. 

    White House press secretary Mike McCurry said Tuesday he disagrees with
    that view. 

    "The sweep of history teaches us a profound lesson -- that the
    totalitarian, Marxist ... economies fail. And this one is destined for
    failure because they cannot sustain themselves," he said. 

    "Sooner or later, Cuba will be on the right side of history. And sooner
    or later, Fidel Castro will understand that or he won't." 

    The report predicts a surge in remittances from the United States to
    Cuba during the early transition period. 

    "Projections based on remittance flows from other immigrant communities
    in the United States suggest that remittances to Cuba following a
    transition could exceed $1 billion per annum," the report said. 

    "The amount of available financing, official and private, for Cuba's
    transition appears to be quite large, certainly larger than what was
    available on a per capita basis to any of the countries of the former
    Soviet Union." 

    Accounts of the study in The Washington Post and The Miami Herald
    quoted Rep. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., as saying the report is intended
    largely as a signal to the Cuban people that the United States stands
    ready to help once a democratic government is in place. 

    AP 28-Jan-1997 22:32 EST   REF5111

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Selena's Killer Denied New Trial

    CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) -- Yolanda Saldivar, the woman convicted of
    killing Tejano singing star Selena, does not deserve a new trial
    because records she claimed are missing were never admitted into
    evidence, the judge who presided over her trial said. 

    "All exhibits which were properly marked, offered and admitted into the
    record are accounted for and are in the custody of the 14th Court of
    Appeals," State District Judge Mike Westergren said Tuesday. 

    The judge, responding to a request from the 14th Court of Appeals, said
    he told a court employee to make a box of documents subpoenaed from the
    singer's father part of the trial record even though he did not allow
    them into evidence. 

    His instruction, however, was not followed and the judge said none of
    the court clerks or court reporters recalls receiving such directions. 

    Westergren said it was up to Ms. Saldivar, serving a life prison term
    for the March 1995 shooting of Selena Quintanilla Perez, 23, to make
    sure a sufficient record was presented to show her case should be
    overturned. 

    He noted Ms. Saldivar never made the documents part of the trial record
    for review by the appeals court, and that most of the papers that
    remained in the courtroom after trial were delivered to her lawyers. 

    The appeals court, which is reviewing Ms. Saldivar's conviction and
    sentence, asked for an explanation about the claims of missing records,
    prompting Westergren to hold an evidentiary hearing earlier this month
    in Houston. 

    Ms. Saldivar, 36, fatally wounded the Grammy-winning singer March 31,
    1995 during a confrontation at a Corpus Christi motel. The former head
    of the singer's fan club and manager of her boutique contended she
    fired the .38-caliber revolver by accident. 

    AP 28-Jan-1997 21:06 EST   REF5996

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    McVeigh's Kin Says He Robbed

    IDABEL, Okla. (AP) -- Timothy McVeigh's sister told FBI agents he once
    gave her $300 he said he got from a bank robbery and asked her to
    exchange it for clean money, a newspaper reported Tuesday. 

    She said their transaction was in December 1994, a time when
    prosecutors have said McVeigh and co-defendant Terry Nichols were
    financing a plot to bomb the Oklahoma City federal building. 

    Jennifer McVeigh said in the sworn statement to federal agents that her
    brother told her he helped plan, but did not participate in, the
    robbery, the McCurtain Daily Gazette reported. 

    Ms. McVeigh told the agents that her brother had "an undetermined
    quantity of $100 bills, of which he provided me a small portion," the
    paper reported. 

    The Gazette did not detail how it obtained the information, but said
    Ms. McVeigh gave the sworn statement on May 2, 1995, weeks after the
    Oklahoma City explosion that killed 168 people. 

    Justice Department spokeswoman Leesa Brown in Denver said the
    department had no comment on the newspaper report. 

    Defense attorney Stephen Jones said there is no evidence "from any
    source that Tim McVeigh was ever involved in a bank robbery." 

    Jones said McVeigh's sister apparently misunderstood her brother's
    joke, and that he was being facetious when he said the money came from
    a robbery. 

    Jones said the sister's statement was probably leaked by someone in
    federal government bent on distracting public attention away from
    problems with the FBI's crime lab in Washington. 

    The agency has removed three senior FBI agents who evaluated evidence
    in the bombing case, as well as an FBI whistle-blower, from its crime
    lab while it evaluates a Justice Department report critical of the
    lab's work. 

    Federal prosecutors have decided against calling one of the
    investigators as an expert witness when McVeigh goes on trial in March.
    Nichols will be tried later. 

    The newspaper said Ms. McVeigh told agents about the money after they
    returned to her and said her original affidavit would need to be
    verified by a polygraph examiner. 

    She then said her brother gave her three $100 bills and asked her to
    circulate the money, the Gazette reported. She gave him about $300 in
    exchange and deposited the money he gave her in a federal credit union.

    She also told agents that her brother wrote her in December 1993 that
    bank robbers might not be criminals at all, that banks were the real
    thieves and that income tax is illegal, the newspaper reported. 

    Ms. McVeigh also said her brother wrote a letter highly critical of the
    government's raid on the Branch Davidian complex and mailed it to the
    federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms with a note saying,
    "You ... are going to hang," the newspaper reported. 

    AP 28-Jan-1997 21:05 EST   REF5995

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Ex-Security Guard Sues Paper

    By LEONARD PALLATS

    Associated Press Writer

    ATLANTA (AP) -- Richard Jewell sued The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
    and the college where he once worked as a security guard on Tuesday,
    accusing them of libeling him in stories linking him to the Olympic
    bombing. 

    Jewell's lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, accuses the
    newspapers of portraying him as a man with "a bizarre employment
    history and an aberrant personality" who likely was guilty of placing
    the bomb. 

    Those stories quoted Piedmont College President Ray Cleere as
    describing Jewell as a "badge-wearing zealot" who "would write epic
    police reports for minor infractions," the lawsuit said. 

    Lin Wood, a lawyer for Jewell, called the lawsuit "the first step in
    what will be a long and hard-fought battle against a billion-dollar
    corporation that tried and convicted Richard Jewell for a crime he did
    not commit." 

    Journal-Constitution publisher Roger Kintzel on Tuesday defended his
    newspapers' coverage of the bombing as "fair, accurate and
    responsible." 

    "Noticeably lacking is any explanation of what is false about what we
    reported," Kintzel said at a news conference. 

    The newspapers will fight the lawsuit, he said. "There has been no
    discussion of any settlement." 

    In December, the newspapers refused Jewell's demand to print a
    retraction to three stories about him while he was a suspect. 

    Meanwhile, Jewell and his mother settled a complaint against CNN for an
    undisclosed amount, according to a joint statement issued by CNN and
    Jewell's lawyers. 

    "CNN continues to believe that its coverage was a fair and accurate
    review of the events that unfolded following the Centennial Olympic
    Park explosion," the Atlanta-based network said in a statement. 

    Jewell, in an interview Tuesday with Atlanta radio station WGST-AM,
    said he was "very satisfied" with the CNN settlement. 

    "I'm not doing this just for me ... I want them to think about what
    they did to me and my mother and my attorneys," Jewell said about the
    lawsuits filed Tuesday. "I want them to get the story 100 percent
    before they put it out. I'm doing it so this won't happen to anybody
    else." 

    Last month, Jewell reached a settlement with NBC over comments
    anchorman Tom Brokaw made on the air about Jewell shortly after the
    bombing. The Wall Street Journal reported the settlement was worth
    $500,000. 

    Jewell, 34, was working as a private security guard in Centennial
    Olympic Park when a pipe bomb exploded before daybreak on July 27,
    killing one person and injuring more than 100. 

    He initially was praised as a hero for spotting the bomb in the Olympic
    park and helping to move people out of the way before the blast. 

    Three days after the bombing, an extra edition of The Atlanta Journal
    identified Jewell as a suspect. Jewell came under intense media
    scrutiny for three months, until federal prosecutors cleared him in
    October. 

    The Journal report linking Jewell to the bombing was leaked by an FBI
    agent and confirmed by unidentified members of the Atlanta Police
    Department, the lawsuit said. 

    Nine reporters or editors of the newspapers and officials of Piedmont
    College in Demorest also are named as defendants in the lawsuit. 

    Wray Eckl, a lawyer for the college, had no comment. 

    No one has been charged in the bombing. 

    Also Tuesday, ABC's "World News Tonight" interviewed a witness who
    claims to have seen a man carrying two knapsacks in his hand and one on
    his back in Centennial Olympic Park before the bombing who resembles a
    defendant later arrested in a series of bombings at Spokane, Wash. 

    The witness, an Atlanta architect who did not want to be identified,
    said he told the FBI twice about the man but never heard back from
    agents. 

    He called the Spokesman-Review of Spokane, which also reported on the
    architect Tuesday, after seeing a television report on three men who
    are charged with robbing a bank and setting off several bombs last year
    in Washington state. 

    "I was just dumbfounded to see one of the people in the photo resembled
    my sketch quite a bit," he told ABC. 

    He said the man he saw had a deformed right eye and "dirty
    blondish-type curly hair." 

    FBI Deputy Director Weldon Kennedy said he could not comment on any
    connection between the Olympic bombing and the Washington case "except
    to confirm that it is being thoroughly explored along with every other
    possibility." 

    AP 28-Jan-1997 20:48 EST   REF5985

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Guilty Plea In Cosby Extortion

    By LARRY NEUMEISTER

    Associated Press Writer

    NEW YORK (AP) -- The boyfriend of a woman who says she is Bill Cosby's
    out-of-wedlock daughter pleaded guilty Tuesday to helping in a $40
    million attempted extortion plot on the famous comedian. 

    Antonay Williams, 26, of Perry, Fla., pleaded guilty in U.S. District
    Court in Manhattan to conspiracy and aiding and abetting an extortion. 

    The plea by Williams, who prosecutors had not previously said was
    arrested in the case, was announced after he had already entered the
    plea. He was released on a $250,000 personal recognizance bond pending
    sentencing. 

    Autumn Jackson, 22, and Jose Medina, 51, have been charged with
    participating in a scheme to extort money from Cosby, whom Jackson
    claims is her father. The entertainer admits having had a one-night
    stand with Jackson's mother and said there is a possibility she is her
    father. 

    During the plea before U.S. District Judge John S. Martin, Williams
    said he helped the plot by doing research on Cosby and Cosby's
    corporate sponsors. 

    He also admitted he received a document from a representative of the
    newspaper, "The Globe," and helped take Jackson and Medina to the
    airport for their flight to New York to meet Cosby's representatives. 

    In court papers, prosecutors said Jackson began calling a Cosby
    representative last month and early this month to ask for money. 

    On Jan. 7, Jackson said if she was not provided the money "to live on,"
    she would go to the news media, the court papers said. 

    In a campaign to increase the pressure on Cosby, she and Medina sent
    letters to CBS and other entities threatening to reveal Jackson's claim
    that Cosby was her father, the papers said. 

    An attachment to a letter to CBS included an unsigned "source
    agreement" among Jackson, Medina and the publisher of a tabloid
    newspaper calling for the publisher to pay money for the rights to
    Jackson's story, the court papers said. 

    On the day Cosby's 27-year-old son, Ennis, was slain while trying to
    change a tire in California, she sent a facsimile from Burbank, Calif.,
    to Cosby's representative in New York City including a copy of the
    "source agreement" and a letter signed by Jackson, prosecutors said. 

    In the letter, Jackson said "it was urgent that you contact me to make
    certain arrangements," that "I need monies and I need monies now" and
    that "I don't want to do anything to harm my father in any way, if at
    all possible to avoid," prosecutors said. 

    The court papers alleged that in a telephone conversation the same day,
    Jackson told Cosby's representative that if Cosby did not pay her $40
    million, she would sell "her story" to the tabloid newspaper "and
    others." 

    Prosecutors said that on the morning of Jan. 18, Jackson and Medina met
    with Cosby's representative in New York City and each signed an
    agreement that called for $18 million to be paid to Jackson and $6
    million to Medina. 

    In exchange, prosecutors said, Jackson and Medina were to refrain from
    providing any information about Cosby to third parties, including the
    tabloid newspaper with whom Jackson and Medina had previously
    negotiated. 

    Jackson and Medina were both arrested last week in Cosby's lawyer's
    office, where they allegedly tried to negotiate a payoff. Jackson was
    released on bail Monday. Medina remains in prison. 

    The charges against Williams carry a maximum sentences of five years
    and two years. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000. A
    sentencing date has not been set. 

    AP 29-Jan-1997 1:17 EST   REF5622

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Serb Free Presses Defy Gov't

    By GEORGE JAHN

    Associated Press Writer

    BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Djordje Todorovic is working on faith
    alone. 

    The young reporter hasn't been paid since November, when he defected
    from another paper to found the independent Demokratija daily, which
    has just four other reporters. 

    With President Slobodan Milosevic dependent on the state news media to
    wage his propaganda campaign against pro-democracy protesters, staff
    members of Serbian state TV and pro-regime papers always get their
    salaries -- even when other wages and pensions are delayed for months. 

    But Demokratija is on the other side. It tells the story the state
    media twists or ignores -- how Milosevic's Socialists annulled
    opposition election victories in Belgrade and 13 other cities, sparking
    daily street protests for the past nine weeks. 

    Newsprint and printing are expensive, and the cover price of
    Demokratija is half that of government-run dailies. It stays afloat
    only because the staff works for nothing. 

    "This paper is fueled by enthusiasm, not money," Todorovic said,
    parking his coffee cup amid overflowing ashtrays, an empty bottle of
    whisky and scattered newspapers. 

    Demokratija and a handful of other independent newspapers are the only
    alternative to state news media that Milosevic's Socialists seem
    prepared to tolerate. 

    State television, intensely pro-government, remains the main source of
    news, particularly in rural areas, home to most of the 43 percent of
    Serbians considered functional illiterates. 

    Newspapers are not overtly harassed. But independent journalists
    interested in reporting both sides of the story are not welcome at
    government news conferences. None can use state printing or
    distribution networks. 

    The only choice is delivery outside Belgrade by private car, bus or
    train. Radovic says about a quarter of his newspaper's daily 80,000
    copies are distributed outside the capital. 

    Two independent dailies, Dnevni Telegraf and Nasa Borba, have been
    around for some years -- the government apparently has tolerated their
    limited circulation rather than risk international condemnation by
    shutting them down. 

    Demokratija and Blic, both tabloids, are newcomers, launched around the
    time of the current turmoil. Demokratija's masthead proudly proclaims
    "ab ovo" -- Latin for "from the egg," an allusion to the thousands of
    eggs thrown by anti-Milosevic protesters at buildings housing the state
    news media. 

    The four independent newspapers report what government dailies don't --
    the daily protests drawing tens of thousands to Belgrade streets; the
    fight over who runs television; the foreign pressure on Milosevic to
    make him give up all the cities the opposition won. 

    Fed by the need to know in times like these, circulation is healthy --
    together, the four dailies sell more than 300,000 copies a day, and
    their staffs estimate readership is at least double that. The newcomers
    sell for one dinar -- 25 cents -- and grab readers with splashy
    layouts. 

    "By getting this large circulation and creating a large audience, we've
    dented Vecernje Novosti and Politika," said Blic's chief editor,
    Manojlo Vukotic, referring to two major state-run dailies. "We are
    opening people's eyes." 

    As evidence, Blic has letters from the countryside. 

    Vladan Spremic, from the small town of Jagodina, urged Blic to "fight,
    in the name of truth and justice." From the southern town of Istok,
    four readers urged Vukotic "not to cave in." 

    Managers of the independents acknowledge that the turmoil has helped
    them, but they expect to survive and compete in what they hope will be
    an opening news market. 

    "The truth will still need to be told," said Vukotic, who was chief
    editor of the Borba daily newspaper until it was forced to toe the
    government line. "The elections are just one farce that need to be
    exposed. There are so many other frauds." 

    AP 28-Jan-1997 21:07 EST   REF5998

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Yeltsin Returns to Kremlin

    By SERGEI SHARGORODSKY

    Associated Press Writer

    MOSCOW (AP) -- A trimmer, more vigorous Boris Yeltsin was shown working
    in the Kremlin on Tuesday in the first pictures released of the Russian
    president in more than three weeks. 

    Yeltsin spent nearly three hours at work in his first trip to the
    Kremlin since a brief visit Jan. 22 after getting out of the hospital,
    where he was treated for pneumonia. He since has been resting at home. 

    Photos and film released by the Kremlin showed a smiling but slightly
    pale Yeltsin greeting Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and then
    sitting at a table, gesturing with his hands. 

    Yeltsin clearly had lost weight since his heart bypass in November but
    was moving more vigorously than he had in months. 

    The Russian leader met with Chernomyrdin and Ivan Korotchenia,
    secretary of the Commonwealth of Independent States, presidential aides
    said. 

    He also worked on government documents before returning to his country
    house west of Moscow. Yeltsin, who turns 66 on Saturday, plans to
    celebrate his birthday there with his family, aides said. 

    The president had fallen ill Jan. 6, just two weeks after returning to
    work after the surgery, and hadn't been seen on television or in person
    since. Doctors maintain Yeltsin is making a gradual, steady recovery
    from pneumonia that had nothing to do with his history of heart
    problems. 

    Presidential spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky said Yeltsin might go to
    the Kremlin again this week, but that it was too early to talk about
    him returning to work full time. 

    "There has been an obvious improvement in his health, although I say
    that with caution," Yastrzhembsky said at a news briefing. 

    "The difference between his previous trip to the Kremlin and that today
    is significant," he said. "The president is going to build up his
    physical activity and activity at work." 

    Yastrzhembsky said Yeltsin inquired about discussions on the 1997
    budget in parliament. He and Chernomyrdin also discussed the painful
    question of unpaid wages for state workers, and the president noted
    that the government has failed to ease the situation, the spokesman
    said. 

    There is widespread debate about the state of Yeltsin's health after
    six months of illness that have sidelined the president. Aides insist
    he is gradually recovering, while critics claim he is more ill than the
    government will admit. 

    In parliament recently, opposition deputies unsuccessfully tried to
    oust the president, citing poor health and inability to govern. 

    New doubts were raised Monday after officials called off his trip next
    week to the Netherlands for consultations with European Union leaders. 

    The Kremlin, however, said plans were going ahead for a weekend meeting
    with French President Jacques Chirac in Moscow, Yeltsin's March summit
    with President Clinton and an April summit in Moscow with Chinese
    President Jiang Zemin. 

    In Washington, Clinton said he has no reason to believe that Yeltsin is
    in worse shape than the Russian government says he is and expects to go
    ahead with the U.S.-Russian summit in March. 

    "I expect it to be an important one and, I hope, a successful one,"
    Clinton said. 

    U.S. officials in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, had
    said the summit could be postponed until April and held outside
    Washington. Chernomyrdin travels to the United States on Feb. 5. 

    AP 28-Jan-1997 20:33 EST   REF5981

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    South Korean Novelist Under Fire

    SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korean prosecutors demanded a
    seven-year prison term Tuesday for a novelist who illegally visited
    communist North Korea last summer. 

    Kim Yong, better known by his pen name Kim Ha-ki, has maintained that
    he unknowingly entered North Korea while drunk. But the prosecutors
    said Kim's visit was deliberate. 

    The two Koreas are technically still at war, having signed no peace
    treaty after the 1950-53 Korean War. Government permission is necessary
    for South Koreans to visit North Korea. 

    "Considering his past activities as a North Korean sympathizer and the
    circumstances of his visit, it is believed that Kim deliberately
    entered the North," prosecutor Choi Sang-kwan said. 

    Prosecutors said Kim, 38, divulged information about South Korea's
    political situation and the condition of its prisons while in the
    North. 

    Kim had been touring Yanji, a Chinese town near the North Korean
    border, when he disappeared from a restaurant on July 30. He was found
    in North Korea the next day. Expelled by North Korea, Kim returned to
    South Korea in August. 

    Kim is best known for a series of award-winning novels about the lives
    of anti-government student activists and North Korean spies imprisoned
    in South Korea. The novels were written after his release from a
    seven-year sentence for alleged anti-government activities when he was
    a student. 

    AP 28-Jan-1997 20:07 EST   REF5970

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Bulgarian Economic Protests Rise

    By VESELIN TOSHKOV

    Associated Press Writer

    SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) -- The Socialist Party accepted a grudging offer
    to govern Bulgaria on Tuesday, sparking a new outburst of street
    protests over the economic misery they are accused of causing. 

    On the 22nd day of protests against the Socialists, the renamed
    Communist Party, up to 50,000 people rallied in protests far bigger
    than those of previous days. In sharp contrast to the festive
    atmosphere of the past week, the mood was tense, with chants of
    "Resign!" "Red garbage!" and "Elections!" 

    The leaders of Bulgaria's three major trade unions called a nationwide
    strike beginning Wednesday. 

    "The country will be closed down as from tomorrow," vowed Vesko
    Mihailov, member of a joint coordinating committee of the protests. 

    The Socialists are blamed for rampant inflation, a plunge in living
    standards and failure to institute economic reform. Their government
    resigned last month, bringing on a political impasse intensified by
    street protests. 

    Many had hoped Bulgaria's new president, Petar Stoyanov, would find a
    way to ease them from power entirely. 

    But the Socialists, who have the most seats in Parliament, accepted
    Stoyanov's offer Tuesday to form a new government. As president,
    Stoyanov is obligated to ask the largest party to form a government. 

    The president had hoped the Socialists would refuse the offer as a step
    toward resolving the country's deepest crisis since the end of
    communism, and open the way for new elections. Elections must be held
    by December 1998. 

    Later Tuesday, the Socialist party leadership offered continued
    negotiations with the opposition on forming a coalition government and
    elections next fall. There was no immediate reaction, but the
    opposition had previously rejected a coalition. 

    The Socialists also offered to discuss the possibility of replacing
    premier-designate Nikolai Dobrev, the country's current interior
    minister, whom the opposition opposes. 

    Ivan Kostov, head of the main opposition, the Union of Democratic
    Forces, said his party was ready to end its 2 1/2-week boycott of
    parliament to help adopt emergency measures. 

    "If there is the will and consensus, Parliament can endorse in a short
    term the necessary laws, and early elections can be called," Kostov
    said. 

    Stoyanov had proposed he appoint a caretaker government and call
    elections in May. 

    Opposition leaders, supported by the protesters, vowed at Tuesday's
    rally to fight for new elections. 

    Stoyanov, who greeted students marching past his office, said the
    situation was "explosive." 

    Stoyanov talked with British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind on
    Tuesday and was later to leave for Brussels on a trip underlining
    Bulgaria's desire to join the European Union and NATO. 

    Protesters worried the crisis could worsen. 

    "At the moment, the intelligentsia are at these rallies," said Elena
    Altimirska, a student. "When the situation becomes worse, the factory
    workers will go out because the situation is the worst ever, maybe in
    the history of Bulgaria. Then it will be very bad for everybody." 

    Bulgarians today, she said, "have to choose between being warm and
    eating." 

    RTw  29-Jan-97 04:04    

    FEATURE-Cyberauthor Gibson unbound by sci-fi themes

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    By Cynthia Osterman 

    VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan 29 (Reuter) - Sipping coffee in a
    gloomy Internet cafe on a winter afternoon, science fiction guru
    William Gibson -- the man who coined the word "cyberspace -- confesses
    he finds the computers around him, well, boring. 

    "This technology, it's all obsolete. Computers are like ice sculptures
    in terms of obsolesence," the 48-year-old author said, watching people
    tapping intently on keyboards. 

    Idolised by Internet groupies, Gibson invented the term "cyberspace" in
    a 1982 short story and vaulted to cult status with his award-winning
    first novel "Neuromancer" in 1984. 

    Although his books have sold millions of copies, he is no sci-fi hack.
    Critics have lavished praise on him and many technophiles view him as
    one of the digital age's most visionary thinkers, alongside Microsoft
    founder Bill Gates. 

    Gibson, whose short story "Johnny Mnemonic" was made into a 1995 movie,
    published his latest book "Idoru" last year and is now writing a
    screenplay for "Neuromancer." After that, he plans to start his sixth
    novel. 

    Although technology is at the heart of the often-bleak future world of
    his stories, Gibson keeps it at arm's length. He wrote "Neuromancer" on
    a clunky 1927 typewriter and only recently graduated to writing on a
    computer. He shuns e-mail. 

    "I was really lucky when I started writing because I knew nothing about
    computers," the Vancouver-based writer told Reuters. "I didn't have a
    lot of preconceptions." 

    IMAGINATION ROAMS FREE 

    This has allowed his imagination to roam free. 

    Gibson's early work envisioned global computer networks, virtual
    reality, hackers, pirated software and electronic cash before any of
    them actually existed. He had little inkling how computer networks
    would take the world by storm when he coined the term "cyberspace" 14
    years ago. Now in the Oxford English Dictionary, it describes the
    digital world of computers and electronic communication where geography
    no longer exists. 

    The word "has the currency it does because it turned out to actually
    describe something people need to describe every day. Cyberspace is
    where the bank keeps your money or where you 'are' during a phone
    call," Gibson said. "It's increasingly where a large part of what
    passes for civilised activity these days actually happens." 

    "Idoru," his new book, is set in the twilight urban landscape of a
    post-earthquake Tokyo and includes buildings that construct themselves,
    a romance between an ageing Chinese-Irish rock star and a
    computer-generated beauty and an experimental drug that compels users
    to murder only celebrities and politicians. 

    NOT JUST ESCAPIST FANTASY 

    For all his mind-bending images of the future, Gibson does not intend
    his work to be merely escapist fantasy. He aims instead to prod readers
    to ponder the chaotic world of today. 

    The tall, lanky author leans forward in his chair, staring fixedly into
    his coffee cup, as he searches for the right words to describe his
    mission. 

    "I often think that in my work I am actually attempting to explore an
    unthinkable present. We have to ask ourselves what is holding the world
    together," he said, his faint accent betraying his origins in the
    American South. "I am trying to induce a vertigo ... so that for a few
    hours people will walk outside and see things a little differently." 

    Born in South Carolina, Gibson grew up in the mountains of southwestern
    Virgina with his widowed mother and attended boarding school in
    Arizona. He left the United States at 19 for Canada to avoid the
    Vietnam War draft. Married, with two teenage children, he has lived in
    Vancouver since 1972. 

    He admits to being more than a little puzzled by today's world where
    the artificial seems increasingly to supplant the real. This confusion,
    he says, is an important theme in his work. 

    "The nature of reality in a hyper-mediated world is something I keep
    coming back to. It's all increasingly fuzzy, what is real and what is
    Memorex," he said. "If I could define reality, I would have run out of
    ideas for writing these books." 

    REUTER

    RTw  29-Jan-97 01:05    

    Britain's Millennium Exhibition gets go ahead

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    LONDON, Jan 28 (Reuter) - Plans for the construction of the world's
    largest dome which will be the centre of Britain's Millennium
    Exhibition were given the go ahead on Tuesday. 

    The local council in Greenwich -- home of the zero line of longitude,
    source of Greenwich Mean Time -- where the 130-acre (50-hectare) site
    is situated, gave planning permission after consulting more than 80,000
    residents. 

    In addition to the dome which will be a kilometre (more than half a
    mile) round, the exhibition will include a park, gardens, a plaza and
    performance area and a variety of transport and parking facilities on
    the site near the River Thames. 

    The exhibition is due to open on December 31, 1999, and will last a
    year. 

    "This is brilliant news. Over the next two to three months we will be
    building a detailed budget and business plan for the project," said
    Jennifer Page of the Millennium Central which is organising the
    project. 

    The dome will have glass sides and a white fabric roof supported by 12
    giant masts. It is expected to attract up to 12 million visitors. 

    Funding for the project will be provided by a 200 million pound grant
    ($333 million) from National Lottery funds, as well as money from
    private donations. 

    Construction of the exhibition is expected to provide 2,000 jobs and
    the exhibition will employ 5,000 people. 

    REUTER

    RTw  29-Jan-97 00:47    

    Britain rejects joint control of Gibraltar

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    LONDON, Jan 28 (Reuter) - Britain has rejected a Spanish proposal to
    share sovereignty of Gibraltar for the next 100 years and then give
    control of the colony to Madrid, the Foreign Office said on Tuesday. 

    Spanish Foreign Minister Abel Matutes presented his British counterpart
    Malcolm Rifkind with the proposal last week during a visit to Madrid. 

    "The Spanish foreign minister did raise it informally last week as he
    had done on previous occasions. The foreign secretary rejected the idea
    because such a proposal did not have the concern of the people of
    Gibraltar," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said. 

    "Our constitutional position on Gibraltar is very clear," she added. 

    Britain and Spain have wrangled over the sovereignty of the 5.8 square
    km (2.2 square miles) colony at the tip of the Iberian peninsula for
    many years. 

    Britain seized the colony from Spain in 1704. It was ceded by Spain in
    perpetuity under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. 

    Spain's insistence that it is disputed territory has soured relations
    between the two countries for decades. 

    In a referendum in Gibraltar in 1967, 99 percent of the people voted to
    remain British. 

    Britain has insisted that the people of Gibraltar must be consulted on
    any change in the sovereignty of the colony. 

    REUTER

    RTos 28-Jan-97 23:11    

    Gandhi's Ashes Make Final Pilgrimage

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    CUTTACK, India (Reuter) - To the cry "Long live Mahatma Gandhi," the
    great grandson of modern India's founding father Tuesday took his ashes
    out of a bank vault on a final pilgrimage to the sacred Ganges River. 

    Tushar Arun Gandhi emerged from the State Bank of India in the eastern
    city of Cuttack, carrying on his head a reddish wooden box containing
    what he said were his great grandfather's ashes. 

    About 1,000 onlookers sang and chanted as the chief minister of Orissa
    state, J.B. Patnaik, placed garlands around Tushar Arun Gandhi's neck
    and the box, which was placed on the back of an open truck with two
    police guards. 

    After a fast and much media attention, Tushar Arun Gandhi won control
    in November of the box, which had lain in a vault in the bank since
    1950. 

    "No Hindu will ever like the ashes of his forefathers to be kept in a
    museum let alone a bank locker," he told Reuters in nearby Bhubaneswar
    city earlier Tuesday. "Which is why I had to battle it out." 

    Gandhi was shot dead by a Hindu fanatic on January 30, 1948, five
    months after India, spurred by the apostle of non-violence, won
    independence from Britain. He was cremated in Delhi. 

    The box contains an urn which measures 18 inches by 18 inches by 20
    inches and bears the inscription "It contains the ashes of Mahatma
    Gandhi." 

    But some state authorities have called the claims that the box contains
    Gandhi's ashes a hoax. 

    Tuesday evening, the sealed wooden box was to be placed on a podium in
    a special railway carriage, which would then leave on a 19-hour train
    ride through four states to the banks of the mighty Ganges, the Hindu
    religion's most sacred river. 

    The ashes were to be immersed in the Ganges at Allahabad city on
    January 30, the 49th anniversary of the assassination of the Mahatma. 

    "In the wildest of my dreams, I never thought that I would be part of
    Bapuji's last rites," Gandhi's great grandson told Reuters, using a
    common term of endearment for the Mahatma. 

    The 38-year-old graphic artist said he was interested in entering
    politics. 

    "At the moment, I cannot identify myself with any political party," he
    said. "I'm doing this immersion as a responsibility toward my great
    grandfather. I will not use Gandhi's name as an entry into politics." 

    REUTER

    RTos 28-Jan-97 23:11    

    French Railways Brace for Widespread Strike

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    PARIS (Reuter) - France's SNCF state railways said Tuesday a 36-hour
    strike against proposed government legislation could hit up to
    two-thirds of train services from Wednesday evening. 

    The strike, from Wednesday until Friday, could prove the most
    disruptive since 1995 when a stoppage by rail workers spread across the
    public sector and crippled the country for several weeks in November
    and December. 

    SNCF said Eurostar intercity train services through the Channel Tunnel
    from Paris and London and high-speed services to Belgium should run
    normally but intercity services within France could be reduced by 30 to
    70 percent. 

    The Communist-led CGT and Socialist CFDT unions, with a majority of the
    180,000 rail staff, have called the strike over a law which they say
    will break up the SNCF, threatening the rail monopoly and jobs. 

    Transport Minister Bernard Pons has proposed legislation which would
    create a state holding company to take over 132 billion francs ($23.67
    billion) in debt out of more than 200 billion ($35.86 billion) run up
    mainly in developing the SNCF's high-speed TGV train system. 

    But his plan to make the holding company the owner of the rail network
    and allow it to charge the SNCF to use the system has run into stiff
    resistance from the powerful CGT and CFDT. 

    Pons shelved the reform law in the face of union disquiet in November
    but has since vowed to push it through parliament with backing from
    other unions on grounds that the SNCF would otherwise buckle under its
    debts and soaring interest payments. 

    The CGT said Tuesday the national strike notice it issued last week had
    been heavily backed by members. CFDT spokesman Bruno Dalberto said he
    was expecting a big response from his union members. 

    In a separate development, the CGT and Force Ouvriere (FO) urban
    transport workers union called for a nationwide strike on the metro
    (underground railway), bus and other urban transit systems on February
    6 to press for shorter working hours and the lowering of the retirement
    age to 5 [I assume this is a typo and should be 55 - Jamie]

    REUTER

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 29 January 1997

    Tories defy Major over vote to bring back cane
    
    By Robert Shrimsley and George Jones 

    ALMOST 100 Tory MPs - close to half the party's backbenchers - defied
    the Government last night by backing an unsuccessful move to bring back
    caning in schools.

    Although the proposal was heavily defeated by a combination of
    ministerial and Labour votes, 101 MPs supported an amendment to allow
    the cane to be used with parental consent.

    Most of the move's supporters were Tories, including John Redwood,
    although four Ulster Unionists also backed the amendment. The proposal
    to restore caning was defeated by 376 votes to 101, a Government
    majority of 275. So great had been the demand for the re-introduction
    of the cane among Tory MPs that the Government had been forced to
    concede a free vote to its backbenchers in order to avoid a major
    revolt.

    It had been embarrassed last year after Gillian Shephard, Education and
    Employment Secretary, had admitted that she personally supported the
    re-introduction of corporal punishment. She was very publicly
    over-ruled by the Prime Minister. The scale of support for yesterday's
    amendment was a further shock for ministers, who had expected it to be
    no more than half its final tally.

    As the debate began, Tories lined up to support the re-introduction of
    corporal punishment. John Carlisle, MP for Luton North, talked of the
    deterrence value of a "good sound thrashing". 

    James Pawsey, chairman of the Tory backbench education committee,
    proposed the amendment to the Education Bill, saying that where a child
    had been so badly behaved as to face permanent exclusion from school,
    they could, as an alternative, be caned, if the parents gave their
    consent. Proposing the amendment, Mr Pawsey asked: "What does the
    greater damage to a child: exclusion or being caned? It is a powerful
    deterrent and . . . an aid to class discipline."

    But there were Tories equally forceful in their opposition to the
    proposals. Lady Olga Maitland called it barbaric to cane girls, and
    Patrick Nicholls mocked the entire amendment. For the Government, Eric
    Forth, education minister, hinted at his own instinctive support for
    the idea, saying that he opposed the amendments "with some regret".

    But he described both amendments as unworkable. He said Mr Pawsey's
    plan to allow caning with parental consent would create "two categories
    of children" and said those parents ready to sanction punishment were
    likely to be those whose children least required it. He said that there
    was not much proof that it worked as a deterrent.*

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 29 January 1997

    Girl called Animal tells of four days in protest tunnel
    
    By Sean O'Neill and Caroline Davies 

    A GIRL who calls herself "Animal" explained yesterday why she chose to
    spend four days in a cramped tunnel under a new stretch of the A30 in
    Devon rather than study for A-levels.

    "It was actually quite a difficult decision," she said. "A-levels still
    have a lot of promise to me, but I feel at this time in my life that
    direct action is the right thing to do. I can return to education at a
    later date. My parents support me. It took a bit of time for them to
    get used to me not going to college, but now they support me totally."

    Animal, who will be 17 on Friday, is Ellenor to her family in
    Colchester. She is the youngest of five people whose protest has
    delayed work on the A30, gained publicity for the anti-roads cause and
    cost the taxpayer tens of thousands of pounds. She was arrested on
    Monday by contractors and bailiffs and her full name cannot be given
    because she is a juvenile facing a criminal charge. Animal said she
    visited the scene of a protest against the Newbury bypass in Berkshire
    the day after she finished her GCSEs last June.

    In October, after gaining five GCSEs and being offered a place at
    Colchester sixth-form college, she took up residence at Fairmile, one
    of three camps along the planned route of the Honiton-Exeter dual
    carriageway. "I went to see what Newbury was like, originally with the
    idea of doing something interesting for my summer holidays," she said.
    "But it got a lot bigger than that. I came to feel for the land and the
    environment in a deep way and I ended up being too committed to it to
    go back to college."

    Animal said she had telephoned her parents since her arrest. "They are
    very proud of me and relieved I am out." Animal said that she and her
    fellow protesters rushed to the tunnels last Thursday when police
    raided the Fairmile camp. "We chained and bolted the front door of Big
    Mama, the main tunnel," she said. "We nailed in place two inner doors
    and sat down to wait to be evicted."

    The protesters divided themselves into two groups and occupied separate
    chambers. Animal's four days in the tunnel, which she spent with John
    Woodhams, 42, a builder who left his family behind in Wales to join the
    protest, were "cramped but cosy". She said: "It was warm, damp and
    sandy and lit by candles. We ate mostly tinned food, along with muesli,
    chocolate and orange juice. Tunnel life was leisurely and there was
    plenty of time to reflect upon the road we had pledged to fight."

    She said the road was being built by multinationals with "dubious human
    rights records", would cost the public �200 million and breach the 1765
    Enclosures Act, protecting hedgerows, and the 1992 Badgers Act.

    In her final hours in the tunnel she had handcuffed herself to a metal
    bar buried in the ground to make eviction more difficult. When she was
    found, she was happy to go quietly. "They were as gentle as possible in
    getting me out and, by the time they did, my arm was really aching and
    I was absolutely exhausted. It was a relief to be out."

    Animal's father, Addrian, a professional magician, and her mother,
    Susan, who live near Colchester barracks, confirmed their backing last
    night. "She has my support," said her mother, as she cycled from the
    house. Addrian said: "We do not object to her actions." The family does
    not own a car, grows its own vegetables and supports environmental
    campaigns.

    At the local Sir Charles Lucas school, staff said that Animal was a
    bright pupil, but not a rebel. Her former maths teacher, Sean Hayes,
    said: "There were never problems with her behaviour and she certainly
    didn't spend her time getting other pupils to sign petitions or join
    protests."

    Three protesters, Dave, Ian and Swampy, remained in the tunnels last
    night. Trevor Coleman, the Under-Sheriff of Devon, who hailed the
    seizure of Fairmile last Thursday as a victory, admitted that it could
    take weeks to evict them.*

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 29 January 1997

    Sorry Mum, I love you, said the killer son
    
    By Paul Stokes 

    A TEENAGER cried yesterday as he told a court how he bludgeoned his
    "domineering" mother to death with a stonemason's hammer.

    The jury at Leeds Crown Court was told that Glenn Howells said, "Sorry
    Mum, I love you" as he attacked her in the living room of the family
    home. Glenn Howells was 15 when, he claims, he was driven to kill
    Evelyn Howells, a history teacher, because she "deprived me of a life"
    during a childhood of mental cruelty. He said he chose the weapon after
    watching a BBC Crimewatch programme which indicated that the victim of
    such an attack had not felt anything. "I didn't want my Mum to feel a
    thing or suffer," Glenn Howells told the jury.

    He claimed that he took the hammer from the garage at his home and put
    it in his bedroom while the rest of the family were out on the morning
    of the killing. That evening he went to a local club with his father,
    David Howells, 48, and younger brother, John, then 14, before returning
    to the family bungalow at 8.20pm.

    When he arrived, John was already there with his mother in the living
    room. It was part of a Thursday ritual in which she had cream rubbed
    into her feet by her son, the court was told. The two boys took the
    family's dog out at her request but sat on a wall nearby for 15 to 20
    minutes instead.

    When they returned, Glenn Howells said his mother stood up and turned
    round and said to them: "You two haven't walked the dog properly. You
    lazy idle *****, take it for a proper walk. When you get back brush
    your ******* teeth and go to your room and don't make a sound. You're
    spoiling my night and I don't like you."

    Glenn told the court: "I went in my room, I was angry. I changed my
    clothes. I thought, 'This has got to stop'. I got the hammer, I went
    through to the lounge. I didn't think of anything, my mind just wasn't
    working right. John was in the bedroom. I just looked at my Mum, got
    loads of flashbacks. My mind exploded, I just struck out."

    Asked by his counsel, Gary Burrell, QC, what kind of flashbacks they
    were, he said: "Bad stuff, you know, I can't describe it. Something
    went in my head and I just struck out. I heard my brother screaming and
    shouting. He was shouting 'No!' because I had hit my Mum. I told him to
    get out, I told him to get hold of the dog, just get out. I didn't want
    him to see it. I realised what I was doing.

    "I said 'Sorry Mum, I love you, I can't believe it'. I heard her making
    some noise but I didn't want her to come round and know I did it and so
    I hit her in the neck. I went through to my room and I couldn't believe
    what I had done. I didn't realise what I had done until I had seen her.
    I wanted my Mum back straight away."

    He said he was weeping and asked John to put the bloodstained clothes
    he was wearing into a bag and dispose of them and the weapon. Asked why
    he had immediately wanted his mother back he replied: "Because she was
    my Mum - I loved her."

    At that point he began crying in the witness box and broke from giving
    evidence. After resuming his composure he went on to tell how he had
    pulled a bureau over and thrown a teapot and glass coffee jug on to the
    floor in an attempt to make it appear that there had been a burglary.

    Glenn Howells, now 17, John, 15, and their father all deny murder.
    Glenn Howells's plea of guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of
    provocation has not been accepted by the Crown. The prosecution claim
    that all three were involved in planning the killing, with David
    Howells standing to inherit his wife's �155,000 estate on her death.

    Mrs Howells brought her sons up in a regimented way and had pulled them
    home by their hair and wrists in front of friends when they were out
    playing, the court was told. Glenn Howells recalled how she threatened
    to put him and his brother into care, separately so that they would
    never see each other again. He said she "always screamed, shouted and
    swore" at them.

    The boy, who was taking 10 GCSEs in his final year at high school, said
    his mother had told him that "I was thick and would not get a job or
    get married or something like that and that I would be on the street, a
    street brat, and she would not help me". 

    He said she used to threaten to burn his favourite teddy bear, named
    Robert, and a toy tiger she had made for John. On one occasion she had
    repeatedly challenged him over a spelling in his homework and when he
    showed her that he was right by producing a dictionary she "blamed me
    for making her unhappy".

    Her cursing and criticism were said to have become more acute when the
    family moved to their bungalow in Dalton, Huddersfield, West Yorks.
    When the boys used the telephone they were charged and when the
    itemised bills arrived any calls which they had not paid for were
    deducted from their pocket money.

    Glenn said that he and John used to hide food which they did not like
    on a ledge under the table. When his mother discovered sprouts they had
    put there a week earlier, she made John eat them. She put a lock on the
    refrigerator and they had to ask her for drinks when they came in from
    playing.

    Glenn was also required from the age of 12 to massage his mother's
    shoulder, scalp and back when she was naked in her bedroom. When she
    once asked him to get her headache pills for her he inadvertently
    brought the wrong type. "She chewed them and spat them in my face and
    said they were aspirin and they would kill her and said I was trying to
    kill her," he said.

    He told of suicide attempts by both himself and his mother, and of an
    occasion when she said she had held a knife to his father's throat when
    he was asleep. At the time of the killing, he said, it had become
    "unbearable". He told the court: "I wanted to be a normal kid. I never
    wanted to hurt my Mum. I just used to wish that my Mum would just be
    nice."

    Glenn Howells said his brother's involvement in the killing was purely
    to get rid of the clothing and weapon. He said that his father had had
    nothing to do with planning the killing and was playing darts two miles
    away at the time. He told him the truth "in bits and pieces" over
    several days afterwards. Glenn Howells said he had spoken to his father
    about killing Mrs Howells but added that his father would not be
    involved because "he couldn't, he wouldn't, he loved Mum".

    Of his motivation for the killing he said: "I couldn't handle it
    anymore, I wanted everything to stop. The only way to do that was to
    get rid of the problem. I wanted my Mum but not what she was doing to
    me."

    Under cross-examination by Franz Muller, QC, prosecuting, he was asked:
    "Are you saying you would have been willing to kill your mother without
    the approval of your father? Deprive him of a wife?" He responded: "My
    Mum deprived me of a life." Mr Muller put it to him that there had been
    other ways of dealing with the situation, to which he replied: "Yes, I
    can see that now. I've made a big mistake."

    The hearing continues.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 29 January 1997

    I didn't kill Naomi, says accused man

    THE man accused of murdering 15-year-old Naomi Smith said yesterday
    that he had not done it.

    Edwin Hopkins, 20, told Birmingham Crown Court that he had not seen
    Naomi on the night in September 1995 when she died. He said he had been
    drinking and playing a computer game at the home of his sister, Julie,
    in Ansley Common, Warks, where he and Naomi also lived.

    At about 9.30pm on Sept 14 he had gone on his bicycle to buy lager and
    crisps from an off-licence. He said the round-trip had taken about 30
    minutes, adding that he could not recall seeing anyone on the way.

    Hopkins's sister has told the court that he was gone longer than half
    an hour. She said he was away so long that she feared for his safety.
    She said that when he returned, he had changed his trainers, though
    Hopkins denied this.

    Naomi was murdered after going to post a letter for her mother
    Catherine. Her body was left under a slide on a recreation ground near
    their home. Her throat had been cut and she had been sexually
    assaulted. The court has heard that she left home at about 9.40pm, and
    was found later.

    James Hunt, QC, defending, referred to bite marks and DNA samples from
    saliva on Naomi's body which identified Hopkins. He asked the defendant
    what he had to say about it. Hopkins replied: "I have no explanation
    for it." Asked if he had killed Naomi, Hopkins said: "No, I did not."

    The case continues.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 29 January 1997

    Double killer who defied court gets life
    
    By Nigel Bunyan 

    A MAN who refused to attend his own trial was given two life sentences
    yesterday for the murders of a car dealer and his colleague.

    Terence Clifton, 26, beat Antonio Marocco, 48, to death with a wrench
    three weeks after agreeing a deal with him over a second-hand car. A
    few minutes earlier he had stabbed Mr Marocco's colleague, Paul
    Sandham, 29 times. 

    Clifton left the scene of the murders near Morecambe, Lancs, in a white
    MG Metro Turbo stolen from Mr Marocco's garage, TM Motors.

    Preston Crown Court heard that he probably killed them because he was
    dissatisfied with a Honda Prelude he accepted for his BMW.

    Clifton, a self-styled "Muslim proselyte and zealot", of Erith,
    south-east London, had to be carried to the dock and pinned down by six
    prison officers to be sentenced.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 29 January 1997

    Dog mauls pupils in playground
    
    By Carole Cadwalladr 

    SIX pupils and their headmaster were injured yesterday when they were
    attacked by a dog in their playground.

    The dog, a German shepherd, attacked boys playing football at St
    Peter's School in Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, shortly before 11am yesterday.
    Ian Thompson, the headmaster, tried to usher the children, aged between
    seven and 10, inside and was bitten on the leg. The boys suffered bites
    to their arms, legs and bodies.

    Mr Thompson, 51, said: The dog seemed fine at first but with all the
    excitement and noise its mood quickly changed and it started biting the
    children."

    Lesley Burn, 26, owner of the dog, called Fuhrer, said it would be put
    down. She said: "My husband is a bit of an Adolf Hitler fan so he named
    the dog after him. He gets on all right with my kids and when he goes
    out in the street he never touches anyone. He is a boisterous pup and
    he shouldn't have been out but the rent-collector left my gate open."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 29 January 1997

    Coroner calls for checks on doctors after baby's death

    THE death of a premature baby who was given a massive overdose of
    morphine prompted a coroner yesterday to call on the General Medical
    Council to require doctors to show "competence in basic arithmetic".

    Dr Hilary Evans, a junior doctor who prepared a dose 100 times greater
    than normal, wept as an open verdict was recorded on Louise Wood.
    Louise, a twin born two months prematurely, died at Rotherham District
    General Hospital in 1995 after being injected with 15 milligrams of
    morphine because of breathing difficulties. The correct dose would have
    been 0.15 milligrams.

    Stanley Cooper, the Rotherham coroner, said that although he believed
    that Louise's death was caused by the overdose, he could not say this
    was "beyond reasonable doubt", the test required for a verdict of
    unlawful death. He said: "It is not up to me to say what will be the
    professional future of Dr Hilary Evans but I strongly hope that she
    does not practise medicine again until she demonstrates competence in
    basic arithmetic."

    He said he would recommend to the GMC that no one go on the Medical
    Register until they demonstrated 'a tolerable ability'. He is also
    recommending that all drawing up of drugs should be double-checked.

    Dr Evans is now a senior house officer in psychiatry at the hospital
    following "rigorous" retraining after Louise's death.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 29 January 1997

    One shop attack for every minute
    
    By John Steele, Crime Correspondent 

    VIOLENT attacks on shop staff rose last year and crime cost retailers
    nearly �1.9 billion in losses and security measures, an equivalent of
    �85 per household, according to a new survey.

    Every minute of a typical shopping day, a shop staff member is
    assaulted or intimidated with small, independent shops more likely to
    be targeted. More than 9,000 staff were physically assaulted, with
    another 167,000 threatened with violence. Off-licences, chemists and
    petrol stations were the worst hit. There was a five per cent increase
    in the number of victims of physical violence.

    Though total losses, at �1.42 billion, were slightly down on the
    previous year's total of �1.5 billion, shops were forced to spend �450
    million on crime prevention.

    Physical attacks showed an increase to what the British Retail
    Consortium described as "appallingly high levels". Releasing its study
    of crime in 1995-96 in 48,000 outlets, the consortium highlighted a
    growth in robberies and assaults on staff trying to arrest thieves,
    whose use of knives was a concern.

    The Crime Costs Survey also showed that thieves repeated raids on the
    same shops. Michael Schuck, assistant director of the consortium's
    crime initiative, said shops had acted on areas they could control such
    as using security to cut down burglaries but were suffering
    society-wide problems of violence.

    "Part of that is the tendency of some people, if an argument is going
    against them, to resort to a knife."

    The consortium - which found that retailers suffered 5.3 million
    crimes, an average of 18 for every shop - said that only about 116,000
    of the criminals referred to police were being dealt with by the
    courts. It called for changes in the law to allow retailers to bring
    cheap, "fast-track" actions for civil recovery of losses against
    thieves.

    Mr Schuck said the consortium understood that the criminal courts could
    not cope with the million people referred to police but added:
    "Stealing from shops should not be punishment-free."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 29 January 1997

    Vicar found dead after losing wife
    
    By A J McIlroy 

    A VICAR who was found drowned after his wife left him for another man
    sent her a letter containing his wedding ring on the day before he
    disappeared, an inquest was told yesterday.

    Peter Lewis, 56, a father of four, had told friends that he was
    shattered as his marriage of 28 years was over. His estranged wife,
    Christine, 52, had walked out of the vicarage in Little Paxton, Cambs,
    to live with a family friend and local magistrate.

    She said at an inquest in Huntingdon: "He stated his intention to carry
    on as vicar and stay in Little Paxton without me. He was coping quite
    well with the support of family and friends. I had left the house about
    three weeks previously. Over the last few years our relationship had
    deteriorated."

    Mr Lewis was found in a gravel pit. His border collie, Lark, sat on the
    bank as police recovered the body. Mr Lewis's youngest son, George, 15,
    raised the alarm when his father failed to take a carol service at
    church.

    Alfred Cousins, a churchwarden, told the inquest: "Prior to Peter's
    death, I was aware he had marital problems. He was low in spirits, but
    I believed he would get over his problems. He said he was beginning to
    pick up and that George had stopped crying, and that this was helping
    him."

    Dr Colin Lattimore, the deputy coroner, recorded a verdict of
    accidental death. Referring to the letter Mr Lewis wrote on the night
    before he died, he said: "He shows a degree of distress in his writing,
    and possibly anger, at what had happened.

    "I think, on the balance of probabilities, that he performed a
    deliberate act in going to the gravel pit and that he went in. I am not
    convinced beyond all reasonable doubt that the Rev Lewis took his own
    life."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 29 January 1997

    W G Grace statue is given out
    
    By Michael Fleet 

    THE cricketer W G Grace has become embroiled in a dispute more than 80
    years after he died.

    Councillors in Hastings, East Sussex, want to erect a statue of him in
    a shopping centre built on the ground where he scored a double century
    against Australia.

    But Boots Properties, which built the Priory Meadow centre, prefers a
    statue of two unidentified cricketers. The council has now withdrawn a
    grant of �30,000.

    Grace, who made 126 centuries, played several times at the Hastings
    Central ground. It was demolished three years ago and the �50 million
    shopping centre is due to open in March.

    Godfrey Daniel, a councillor, who suggested the statue, said: "For some
    reason, Boots just want two nondescript cricketers who mean nothing to
    anyone."

    Boots Properties confirmed that it wanted a more general link to
    cricket.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 29 January 1997

    Boy lost for words gives clue to how brain works
    
    By Roger Highfield, Science Editor 

    A 14-year-old boy of normal intelligence who is almost as poor at
    grammar as a three-year-old has provided new evidence of how the brain
    deals with language.

    A study of the boy, known as AZ, carried out at Birkbeck College,
    London, is to be presented at a conference on specific language
    impairment (SLI) to be held on Friday near Frankfurt, Germany.

    The condition affects 500,000 children in Britain, said Dr Heather van
    der Lely of Birkbeck, who studied AZ. "SLI affects reading and writing
    and hampers job prospects," she said..

    AZ's impairment suggests that grammatical ability is dominated by
    genetics, rather than upbringing. He can say individual words and
    construct simple sentences but consistently fails on a number of basic
    grammatical tasks.

    However, he does have a high IQ - of around 135 - suggesting
    dissociation between linguistic ability and other cognitive skills.
    This is strong evidence that AZ's deficit is language specific,
    suggesting that this cognitive skill was specialised before birth as a
    result of genetic factors.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 29 January 1997

    Pickle driver was fairly dismissed
    
    By Sean O'Neill 

    A FORK-lift truck driver, who was sacked after claiming that he was
    injured when his vehicle span out of control on a patch of spilt
    pickle, has lost a claim for damages at an industrial tribunal.

    John Ashby, 31, took sick leave from the Nestl� depot in Chepstow,
    Monmouthshire, claiming that he had injured his shoulder. It was his
    26th accident claim in five years and the company became suspicious
    when a medical examination found no signs of injury.

    It conducted tests, smashing jars of Branston Pickle on a warehouse
    floor and driving fork-lift trucks through the resulting slicks at
    various speeds. No other trucks suffered wheel spin or lost control and
    the company decided that Mr Ashby had fabricated his story and sacked
    him for gross misconduct.

    Michael Bird, chairman of the Cardiff tribunal, ruled in favour of
    Nestl�.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 29 January 1997

    Open University challengers are older and wiser
    
    By Nigel Reynolds, Arts Correspondent 

    IN a triumph for grey power over callow youth, an Open University team
    has recorded what is believed to be the highest score in the 27-year
    history of University Challenge.

    The four-strong team, captained by a 50-year-old and including a
    72-year-old former pharmacist, the programme's oldest contestant, beat
    University of Wales, Swansea by 395-85. The first-round contest, shown
    on BBC2 on Monday night, was a spectacular humiliation for Swansea,
    whose team included a student called John Thick.

    The difference was not all down to age. Martin Heighway, 33, a
    Cambridge teaching graduate and science teacher at Cowplain School,
    Portsmouth, was consistently first to the buzzer with correct answers.
    "He was always there first. He was so fast," said team captain Mrs
    Harriet Courtney, an analyst programmer from Cheltenham, Glos, studying
    Earth Sciences. Other members were Ida Staples, 72, from Huntingdon,
    Cambs, who is studying for a BSc in Earth Sciences, and Mr Peter
    Bissett, 47, from Glasgow, who left school with one A-level but
    recently gained an arts BA.

    The Swansea team's shame was complete when they failed to answer the
    question: "To what tune is the hymn Guide Me, Oh, Thou Great Jehovah,
    normally sung?"

    "Don't know," replied Kevin Finn, the captain. "Cwm Rhondda," said the
    chairman Jeremy Paxman with a faintly-disguised sneer. "You of all
    people should know that."

    Paul Edwards, president of the Swansea students' union, said
    responsibility lay with the selection policy of his predecessor. "I
    think he chose the team by testing them from the Traveller's Book of
    Trivial Pursuits. We're blaming it on a mix-up. We sent the wrong team
    to University Challenge. They were supposed to be the team for
    Supermarket Sweep but we sent them to the wrong place."

    International News Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 29 January 1997

    Suharto's children vie for �12bn gold find
    
    By Richard Savill, South East Asia Correspondent 

    THE two eldest children of President Suharto of Indonesia are said to
    have the Midas touch after the success of their business empires: their
    latest venture has turned, literally, to gold.

    Sigit Harjojudanto, 45, the eldest son, and Siti Hardijanti Rukmana,
    47, the eldest daughter, who have a joint fortune of about �1.8
    billion, are involved in one of the world's richest gold finds. The
    spectacular Busang gold deposit, in a jungle area of Indonesia's East
    Kalimantan province in Borneo, is thought to contain at least 57
    million ounces of gold, worth more than �12 billion.

    Experts say it could be the largest gold discovery this century. The
    Suharto sibling rivalry that recently caused friction between two other
    offspring, brothers Bambang Trihatmodjo, 43, and Hutomo Mandala Putra,
    34, over Indonesia's national car, has resurfaced in the race to gain a
    stake in owning and operating the Busang deposits.

    Mr Suharto's family is reported to have amassed a fortune of at least
    �5 billion, controlling many of the biggest government-sponsored
    projects including toll roads, power plants, shipbuilding, airports,
    gas pipelines, ports and railways.

    Two Canadian mining companies, Barrick Gold Corp and Bre-X Minerals,
    are the key protagonists in the competition to exploit the Busang
    deposits. Bre-X, a small company which discovered the Busang gold,
    naively trumpeted the discovery before securing a contract from the
    government, say business analysts. This enabled the much larger Barrick
    to become involved.

    Barrick teamed up with Siti Hardijanti Rukmana, who plays a prominent
    role in the ruling Golkar party. Her vast empire includes toll roads,
    broadcasting and telecommunications. Since the death of her mother in
    April, she often appears at her father's side.

    Bre-X then formed an alliance with Sigit's Panutan Duta group. It was
    reported that Bre-X offered Sigit's company �700,000 per month for 40
    months and a cut in the Busang stake in return for its services as the
    mining company's consultant.

    Bre-X and Barrick officials have submitted a proposal to the Indonesian
    government for a joint venture to mine the gold. Indonesia will have a
    direct 10 per cent stake in the deposit.

    International News Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 29 January 1997

    Annulments too easy, says Pope
    
    By Bruce Johnston and Victoria Combe 

    THE Pope has complained that marriage annulments are being given away
    too easily to Catholic couples experiencing the ordinary difficulties
    of married life.

    He told the Vatican's Sacred Rota tribunal - the Vatican court for
    annulments - to be more severe in its judgments and only to consider
    cases where there was a "real incapacity to carry out one's marital
    duties". He said he feared that tribunal judges were being influenced
    by the social trend of individualism and the growing perception of
    marriage as a mere contract.

    "The Canon law is only the expression of an underlying anthropological
    and theological reality," he said, adding that a subjective outlook of
    the world ignored Man's metaphysical nature. Couples, he said, had to
    accept that staying together meant making sacrifices and enduring times
    of unhappiness and strife.

    The Sacred Rota handles applications from all over the world which have
    not been resolved in the two compulsory hearings carried out in the
    dioceses. It has 814 cases outstanding.

    Thousands of cases are heard in Britain every year in closed marriage
    tribunals of three judges, usually priests who are qualified canon
    lawyers. Cases are only passed to the Vatican court if the judgment of
    the first hearing is in favour of annulment and the court of appeal -
    which happens automatically - comes out against.

    Annulments are particular to the Roman Catholic Church which does not
    recognise divorce and will only allow its faithful to remarry if they
    can prove that the sacrament of their existing marriage was invalid.

    The Rota has been too liberal in the Pope's eyes and in 1985 - the last
    year that records were published - it granted annulments to almost half
    the couples who applied. The reasons were not always convincing. One
    Italian couple's marriage was dissolved because they argued about
    politics. 

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 29 January 1997

    �120,000 a family to rehouse inner city council tenants
    
    By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor 

    A GOVERNMENT scheme to turn a run-down inner city estate into
    traditional streets will cost more than �120,000 for each family
    rehoused, auditors have found. The National Audit Office reports today
    that an experiment in transferring council tenants to housing trusts
    was financed at "a high cost to the taxpayer".

    More than �1 billion will be spent on 16,672 homes on estates in three
    London boroughs, and in Hull, Liverpool and Birmingham. To test the
    scheme's value for money, the audit office took Waltham Forest, east
    London, where 1,854 tenants and their families are to be rehoused by
    2001.

    Under powers in the 1988 Housing Act, the tenants agreed in a ballot to
    move out of council control and into a housing action trust. Their
    rents were frozen at 1991 levels of �39 a week, including heating and
    water. When they are rehoused, rents will almost double, yet more than
    half rely on housing benefit to pay their rent and many are in arrears.
    They have security of tenure and can transfer to a public sector
    landlord or buy their homes when the trust is wound up.

    The scheme involves the demolition of tower blocks and their
    replacement with low-rise houses. The cost of renovation was judged too
    great for Waltham Forest borough council and was transferred to the
    trust in 1992.

    The trust is to knock down the tower blocks, rehouse the tenants within
    10 years and involve the community in managing its own affairs. By last
    March, the trust had received �107 million in government grants. The
    trust said it would need �300 million as more tenants than it expected
    planned to stay on the estates. In his last Budget, Kenneth Clarke, the
    Chancellor, set a target of �227 million for the work - �122,400 for
    each secure tenant family rehoused. This includes social and
    environmental work, such as helping tenants to find jobs, anti-crime
    strategy and consultation costs, as well as the cost of the new
    properties.

    The trust has spent more than �11 million repairing homes while tenants
    await rehousing, at a cost of �1,430 each. The audit office said this
    was "well in excess" of the London average, partly because an emergency
    lift replacement cost �550,000.

    More than �7 million was spent on consultants' fees for the first
    phase. The properties were built to "high space standards", as the
    tenants were used to living in large flats and "the trust considered
    they would find it too difficult to adjust to smaller homes".

    Each house cost an estimated �73,500 to build - or �89,200 if the costs
    of clearing and preparing the sites were included. However, each has
    been given an assumed market value of �25,000.

    High design specifications added �4,500 to the average cost of each
    house. Tenants were allowed to choose fixtures and fittings up to a
    cost of �1,500. Garden sheds were provided and insulation is of a
    higher standard than required under building regulations. Power showers
    were dropped after the Environment Department said it did not consider
    them appropriate.

    In 1995, too few homes were ready to house the tenants due to move
    under phase one and �1,500 compensation was paid to 31 who agreed to
    wait. Another 23 were housed in properties bought on the open market at
    an average cost of �82,700.

    The trust provides advice and counselling, two training centres and
    gives funds for child care and a health centre. Rent arrears exceed �1
    million.

    The audit office says that the trust had made "good progress" in
    regeneration but at high cost.

    AP 30-Jan-1997 1:07 EST   REF6102

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Thursday, Jan. 30, 1997
   
    HUMAN RIGHTS 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Human rights conditions worsened in several countries
    last year, including China, Nigeria, Cuba and Myanmar, according to a
    Clinton Administration report, The New York Times reports in Thursday's
    editions. The report says a general assessment of Russia's record was
    mixed. That was because the relatively free Russian presidential
    elections and the withdrawal of troops from Chechnya were offset by
    discrimination against minorities, uneven legal reforms, hazing of
    military recruits and a worsening of already harsh prison conditions,
    the report says. 
   
    OKLAHOMA BOMBING 

    DENVER (AP) -- The Justice Department says the man in the sketch of
    John Doe No. 2 in the Oklahoma City bombing case has been identified as
    an Army private who had no role in the attack. Prosecutors say Pvt.
    Todd Bunting rented a truck at a Junction City, Kan., body shop the day
    after suspect Timothy McVeigh rented the truck believed to have been
    used in the bombing, which killed 168 and injured more than 500.
    Prosecutors are still looking for another person who may have been with
    McVeigh. 
   
    SIMPSON TRIAL 

    SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) -- The O.J. Simpson civil jury has adjourned
    after a second day of deliberations. The panel deliberated for two
    hours Tuesday, and for six hours Wednesday -- already more than twice
    as long as the jury that acquitted Simpson of murder 16 months ago. The
    jury must decide whether Simpson is financially liable in the June 12,
    1994, slashing deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. 
   
    COLON CANCER 

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- An easy take-home test for colorectal cancer could
    lower the cost and unpleasantness that deter many Americans from being
    examined for the nation's second-leading cancer killer, say new medical
    guidelines being released this week. Taking those simple tests to
    detect blood in stool samples every year after age 50 could cut
    colorectal cancer deaths by a third, making them about as effective as
    mammograms are for breast cancer, say the guidelines, endorsed by the
    American Cancer Society and seven other medical groups. 
   
    COLOMBIA-BOMBING 

    BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- A bomb ripped apart the offices of a community
    association in downtown Medellin Wednesday, killing at least four,
    injuring 18, and hurling debris down onto passers-by in the street
    below. Police say they had no information on a possible motive.
    However, the association includes various nongovernmental groups that
    are struggling for control. 
   
    TWA OFFER 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- A New Jersey-based investment group, teaming with
    Russia's second-largest airline, has offered to take control of
    struggling Trans World Airlines, USA Today reports for Thursday's
    editions. Transaero wants to use TWA to create a global airline, the
    Russian carrier's vice chairman, Gregory Gurtovoy, has told the
    newspaper. TWA spokesman John McDonald says he has no knowledge of the
    proposal. The report says representatives of Strategic Capital Group
    presented the plan to TWA's board at a meeting Tuesday. 
   
    AMERICA ONLINE 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- America Online has agreed to give refunds to customers
    unable to get online, offering cash or free online access to settle
    complaints that it sold people a product it couldn't reliably deliver.
    AOL also will cease advertising its high-volume online service in
    February and add a new disclaimer to ads saying that people may
    encounter delays logging on. 
   
    MARKETS 

    TOKYO (AP) -- The dollar is lower against the yen in early Thursday
    trading. Stock prices edged lower. In New York, the Dow snapped a
    five-day slide, gaining 84.65 to close at 6,750.74. 
   
    SHARKS-OILERS 

    EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) -- Andrei Kovalenko scored the game-winning goal
    late in the second period as the Edmonton Oilers won their third
    straight game with a 3-1 decision over the San Jose Sharks. Edmonton
    has won seven of its last 11 games while the Sharks suffered their
    third consecutive defeat. 
   
    PARCELLS-FUTURE 

    FOXBORO, Mass. (AP) -- If Bill Parcells wants to coach another NFL team
    in 1997, it must be on the New England Patriots' terms. Commissioner
    Paul Tagliabue's ruling in favor of New England owner Robert Kraft
    doesn't mean Parcells won't leave the team, but he must first get the
    Patriots' permission. 
   
    AP Newsbrief by AMY FINKELSTEIN 

    RTw  30-Jan-97 03:17    

    Reuters World News Highlights

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    LONDON - The head of Japanese carmaker Toyota stirred up a pre-election
    row among Britain's ruling Conservatives by seeming to rule out
    building new factories in the country if it stayed out of Europe's
    single currency. The reported comments by Toyota president Hiroshi
    Okuda plunged the Conservatives into fresh arguments over Europe and
    whether Britain should sign up for the first stage of Economic and
    Monetary union (EMU) in 1999. 

    - - - - 

    WASHINGTON - Leaders of Israel, the Palestinians, Egypt and Jordan will
    hold separate meetings with President Bill Clinton in the next two
    months, the White House announced. 

    - - - - 

    KINSHASA - Rebel fighters holding towns and territory in eastern Zaire
    are advancing towards the mineral-producing province of Shaba and
    Kalemie, home town of rebel leader Laurent Kabila, sources on both
    sides said. 

    - - - - 

    BELGRADE - Serbian opposition leaders vowed to persist in street
    protests against election fraud and dismissed any prospects of dialogue
    with President Slobodan Milosevic until his ruling Socialists
    reinstated the results of local polls. 

    - - - - 

    SOFIA - Bulgaria's ruling Socialists appealed for talks with angry
    opposition parties to set a date for early elections, saying the Balkan
    country's political and economic crisis was "alarming, tense and
    explosive." 

    - - - - 

    WASHINGTON - Gulf War commander Norman Schwarzkopf said it was possible
    that allied carpet bombing exposed U.S. troops to Iraqi war gas, but
    said he got no report of any such exposure throughout the 1991 war. 

    - - - - 

    WASHINGTON - The Clinton administration unveiled a plan to clear up
    about $1 billion in U.S. arrears to the United Nations but ran into
    criticism from Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms. 

    - - - - 

    WASHINGTON - A U.S.-funded radio station will begin beaming short-wave
    broadcasts to Burma and Vietnam next month despite complaints from Asia
    that the news services represent propaganda and violate other nations'
    independence. Radio Free Asia, created by Congress as an Asian
    counterpart to the anti-communist Radio Free Europe and set up as a
    private corporation, will start service to Burma on February 4 and
    Vietnam on February 6. 

    - - - - 

    SANTA MONICA, California - Jurors in O.J. Simpson's civil trial
    deliberated for a full day without reaching a verdict. It took jurors
    in the criminal trial less than four hours in October 1995 to acquit
    Simpson of charges of murdering his ex-wife Nicole and a friend. 

    - - - - 

    NEW YORK - A U.S. federal judge sentenced Vyacheslav Ivankov, 56, the
    reputed "Godfather" of Russian organised crime in the United States who
    was convicted of extortion and marriage fraud, to 115 months in prison. 

    - - - - 

    CHARLOTTE, North Carolina - Convicted serial killer Henry Louis Wallace
    was given nine death sentences -- one for each woman he confessed to
    strangling. The jury returned the recommendation of death after
    deliberating for four days. 

    - - - - 

    NEW YORK - Blue-chip stocks rebounded sharply on Wednesday from their
    weeklong losing streak, propelling the market to its biggest rally in
    nearly four weeks. The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 84.66
    points at 6,740.74, its best gain since Jan. 3, when it surged 102
    points. 

    REUTER

    RTw  30-Jan-97 06:18    

    Odds and Ends

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    The following is a collection of human interest stories that have moved
    separately: 

    To neighbours' dismay, Muscovite has 52 dogs 

    MOSCOW - Veronika Borash, 59, a retired engineer, has as many as 52
    dogs in her one-room apartment on the outskirts of Moscow and it can
    get a bit noisy at times. 

    Her neighbours hate her for it and are not shy about expressing their
    feelings. 

    "At 2 a.m. everybody in the building is awoken by her dogs!" one
    neighbour complained aloud as Borash passed by to enter her apartment
    building. 

    Borash has made her apartment into a kennel for stray dogs and says
    they are like family. She seems not to notice the overpowering stench
    or the tiny insects that have taken hold. 

    Many of the dogs sleep on the bottom two rungs of a three-level bunk
    bed and she devotedly collects leftovers from local schools to feed
    them. 

    As Muscovites have suffered through tough economic times, the number of
    stray animals has risen and it has devolved on animal lovers to take in
    the rejects or find them new homes. 

    When takers are few, the number of dogs grow in the home kennels. Last
    summer Borash had as many as 114 dogs. 

    - - - - 

    NY man accused of hiding lottery winnings 

    CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. - A New York man, whose colleagues trusted him to
    buy their weekly lottery tickets, was accused on Wednesday of winning
    more than $700,000 and not sharing the news -- or the money -- with his
    co-workers. 

    Hector Ospina, who bought one of five winning tickets in the state's
    Dec. 21, 1996, Lotto drawing, faces charges of grand larceny and up to
    25 years in prison if convicted. 

    Nine of Ospina's co-workers at an Estee Lauder factory in suburban
    Melville, New York, gave him $5 apiece to buy lottery tickets each
    week, authorities said. 

    He bought 10 tickets for the Dec. 21 drawing and won $1.4 million which
    he split with a friend, authorities said. 

    But he told some co-workers he hadn't bought any tickets, and he told
    others he used his own money, authorities said. 

    When Ospina was arrested at his home in Huntington, New York, late on
    Tuesday, he was carrying an airplane ticket for a Wednesday flight to
    Colombia in his pocket, authorities said. 

    - - - - 

    Suspected car thief rescued from U.S. river 

    ELLICOTT CITY, Md. - A suspected car thief was hoisted to safety by
    daring rescuers off a tiny river island in Maryland on Wednesday after
    five hours of battling hypothermia, police said. 

    Police in Howard County, Maryland, outside Baltimore, said four
    suspects, including the driver, David Cook, 22, had fled from a stolen
    car after running into a dead-end street during a police chase early on
    Wednesday. 

    Although two suspects were immediately arrested, the other two got
    away. But police soon got a call that a man, who turned out to be Cook,
    was trapped on the island in Potapsco River and yelling for help. 

    Howard County Police Sergeant Dave Richards said a police officer and a
    fire fighter tried to wade out to Cook in cold, turbulent waters. 

    The officer made it but the firefighter got caught in the rope
    underwater, was cut free, and then floated downstream for about a
    quarter of mile until he was pulled out unconscious, said county Fire
    and Rescue Lieutenant Chris Cangemi. 

    Five hours later, Cook was hand-pulled across the river with a rope
    before he was taken into custody. 

    - - - - 

    Man wins C$250,000 after flu mistaken for cancer 

    VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A Canadian man won $246,500 Canadian
    ($182,600 U.S.) in damages after his doctor misdiagnosed an apparent
    case of the flu as terminal cancer, the man's lawyer said on Wednesday. 

    British Columbia Supreme Court awarded the damages to David McBeth, a
    55-year-old former ship fitter from Vancouver, against Dr. Werner
    Boldt, lawyer Derek Miura said. 

    Boldt, a hematologist, told McBeth in 1991 that he suffered from a rare
    bone marrow cancer and put McBeth on an experimental cancer drug that
    resulted in rashes, weight loss and other side effects. 

    After further testing a year later, it was discovered McBeth never had
    the disease, Miura said. Evidence presented at the trial showed Boldt
    did not follow standard testing procedures when he made the original
    diagnosis, he said. 

    REUTER

    AP 30-Jan-1997 0:14 EST   REF6076

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Environmental Group Targets Ohio

    By JOHN McCARTHY

    Associated Press Writer

    COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A coalition of environmental advocates has asked
    the federal government to step in and enforce clean air and hazardous
    waste laws in Ohio. 

    The coalition, which includes Rivers Unlimited and the Sierra Club,
    said the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency cannot do the job since
    the Legislature passed the environmental audits bill late last year. 

    The new law allows companies to keep from the public certain records
    related to cleaning up environmental problems if they do the job
    themselves. It also offers those companies immunity from certain EPA
    penalties. 

    "Passage of the pollution secrecy act in Ohio places our state among
    the leaders in the race to the bottom to eliminate environmental
    safeguards designed to keep polluters in check," said Jeff Skelding,
    executive director of Rivers Unlimited. 

    Skelding was joined at a news conference by other members of the
    coalition and Cincinnati lawyer David Altman, who sent the petition to
    the federal Environmental Protection Agency. 

    Altman said groups in other states, including Colorado, Michigan, Idaho
    and Texas, are considering similar petitions. 

    The Ohio and federal EPA offices did not immediately return calls
    seeking comment. 

    Mike Dawson, a spokesman for Gov. George Voinovich, said the new Ohio
    law had no effect on the EPA's capacity to enforce the law. 

    AP 30-Jan-1997 0:02 EST   REF5662

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Drugs, Fast Food Connection

    MONROE, Conn. (AP) -- A McDonald's employee was arrested for allegedly
    dealing marijuana through the drive-through window, taking orders with
    a beeper and handing out the drugs along with hamburgers and fries. 

    Mence Powell, 19, of Monroe, was arrested Monday on charges including
    selling the drug within 1,500 feet of a school. The corporate-owned
    McDonald's where he worked is across the street from an elementary
    school. 

    "You drive up to a window and you place your order, whether it be a Big
    Mac or a Quarter Pounder with cheese, and he would put a quantity of
    marijuana in the bag," Officer Daniel Brennan explained Wednesday. "If
    they did not order any food, he would put it in a Happy Meal." 

    Powell was being held in lieu of $20,000 bond Wednesday. McDonald's
    said it suspended him from his job. 

    "Obviously, this is something we will just not tolerate," said Jane
    Hulbert, a spokeswoman at the chain's headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill. 

    AP 30-Jan-1997 0:00 EST   REF5657

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Suspected Illegal Aliens Nabbed

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal agents arrested 19 suspected illegal
    immigrants in a pre-dawn raid Wednesday on the new football stadium
    being built in suburban Maryland by the Washington Redskins. 

    The workers -- from Mexico, Bolivia and El Salvador -- were taken to
    Baltimore and held at an Immigration and Naturalization Service
    detention facility, said INS spokesman John Shallman. 

    The workers will be allowed to leave the U.S. voluntarily and return to
    their native countries, Shallman said. Those who don't voluntarily face
    deportation, he said. 

    Clark Construction Co., the contractor for the 78,660-seat stadium,
    said it had not knowingly hired illegal immigrants and was cooperating
    fully with the INS. 

    Penalties for hiring an unauthorized worker can range from $250 to
    $2,000 per worker. Penalties for verification violations range from
    $100 to $1,000 per worker. 

    Clark employs 175 of the 600 workers building the stadium. About 20
    subcontractors also are involved in the stadium construction. 

    AP 29-Jan-1997 23:59 EST   REF5626

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Gas Leak Causes Fla. Mall Blast

    ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Two workers at a restaurant in an outlet mall
    accidentally opened a gas valve, sparking an explosion Wednesday night
    that sent hundreds of panicked shoppers fleeing the building. 

    The two workers were in critical condition at Orlando Regional Medical
    Center. Their names were not released. There were no other injuries
    reported. 

    Through the smoke, shoppers at Belz Factory Outlet World saw one worker
    at the Sbarro Italian Eatery with her clothes on fire. 

    "It seemed like it lasted forever and you couldn't do anything for
    her," said Jennifer Croening, an employee at the shop next door, told
    The Orlando Sentinel for Thursday's paper. 

    A restaurant worker who was cleaning near the oven knocked open a valve
    on a gas pipe that wasn't connected to anything. A second worker opened
    a hot oven to check on a food order, igniting a fireball. 

    "It was accidental," said Randy Tuten, assistant chief of Orlando Fire
    Department. "You had people trying to do their jobs as best they
    could." 

    AP 29-Jan-1997 23:57 EST   REF5590

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    New Blood In Olympic Bomb Probe

    By LEONARD PALLATS

    Associated Press Writer

    ATLANTA (AP) -- The head of the FBI's Chicago office has been brought
    in to handle the Olympic Park bombing investigation, a common practice
    in high-profile cases and not a sign of dissatisfaction with the
    Atlanta bureau, Assistant FBI Director Robert Bryant said Wednesday. 

    "It's common with major investigations to send in an inspector to give
    his total effort to the case and assist the local office," Bryant said. 

    The Jan. 16 bombing at an abortion clinic in Atlanta that injured seven
    spurred the decision to reassign Jack Dalton from Chicago to the
    Olympic bombing case, Bryant said. 

    A federal law enforcement official who requested anonymity described
    Dalton as "a hard charger, and the director wanted someone who had
    nothing else to worry about." 

    Woody Johnson, in charge of the Atlanta office, remains responsible for
    the office's other cases. 

    Bryant said 100 FBI employees are still working on the July 27 Olympic
    bombing, which killed one and injured more than 100, and a somewhat
    smaller number are assigned to the abortion clinic blasts that injured
    seven. No arrests have been made in either case. 

    Appointing an outside agent to take charge of a major investigation is
    not unusual for the FBI, Bryant said, pointing to major civil rights
    investigations in the 1960s and other cases in the 1980s, including the
    killing of two federal judges, one in Texas and the other in Alabama. 

    On Tuesday, ABC's "World News Tonight" interviewed an Atlanta architect
    who claims to have seen a man carrying two knapsacks in his hand and
    one on his back in Centennial Olympic Park before the bombing. He said
    the man resembles one of three men later arrested in a series of
    bombings at Spokane, Wash. 

    A federal law enforcement official who requested anonymity said FBI
    agents in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday interviewed the architect's
    daughter, who was with her father in the park about an hour before the
    bomb exploded. 

    She was shown pictures of a backpack believed to be similar to the one
    that held the Olympic bomb. The pictures had been released at a news
    conference last late year. The official said her answers were
    inconclusive. 

    AP 29-Jan-1997 23:54 EST   REF5563

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Student Cracks High-Level Code

    SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- It's the most secure encryption code the United
    States has allowed to be exported -- and it took a graduate student
    only 3 1/2 hours to break it, industry officials said Wednesday. 

    "It shows you that any kid with access to computers can crack this kind
    of cryptography," said RSA Data Security Inc. spokesman Kurt
    Stammberger, whose company had offered the challenge. "The cryptography
    software that you are allowed to export is so weak as to be useless." 

    The company put its challenge on the Internet Monday, offering $50,000
    in prizes to crack various levels of encryption codes with electronic
    key lengths ranging from 40 to 256 bits. 

    The federal government, worried about security, has barred exports of
    codes higher than 40 bits. Devices with larger numbers of bits are
    stronger and harder to decode. 

    Last month, the Clinton administration began allowing companies to
    export encryption devices with 56-bit keys -- but only if they have a
    way for law enforcement officials to crack the code and intercept the
    communications. Most computer companies have rejected that demand. 

    Meanwhile, Ian Goldberg, a University of California-Berkeley graduate
    student, took on RSA Data Security's challenge by linking together 250
    idle workstations that allowed him to test 100 billion possible "keys"
    per hour. 

    That's like trying every possible combination for a safe at high speed,
    and many students and employees of large companies have access to such
    computational power, the school said. 

    In 3 1/2 hours, Goldberg had decoded the message, which read, "This is
    why you should use a longer key." 

    Goldberg, who won $1,000 with his effort, says the moral is clear. 

    "This is the final proof of what we've known for years -- 40-bit
    encryption technology is obsolete," the student said. 

    That puts software exporters in a quandary, said Stammberger. 

    Almost all business software now requires built-in encryption, a
    necessity for any company doing business over the Internet. 

    But no one will buy U.S. software that can be cracked by a student in 3
    1/2 hours, he said. 

    "You're talking about the U.S. giving up its global dominance in
    software because of some outdated Cold War spy agencies," Stammberger
    said. "People in the industry are pretty angry ... The market is
    enormous, literally in the hundreds of billions of dollars." 

    As of Wednesday afternoon, no one had broken any of the codes higher
    than 40 bits, Stammberger said. 

    AP 29-Jan-1997 23:16 EST   REF5496

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Victory for Alabama Inmates

    By JESSICA SAUNDERS

    Associated Press Writer

    MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- A federal magistrate Wednesday ruled against
    Alabama's use of "hitching posts" to restrain prison inmates, rejecting
    the state's claim that it wasn't intended as punishment. 

    "Short of death by electrocution, the hitching post may be the most
    painful and tortuous punishment administered by the Alabama prison
    system," U.S. Magistrate Vanzetta Penn McPherson wrote. 

    The decision settles the last remaining practice cited in a lawsuit
    challenging Alabama's 1995 return to chain gangs as illegally cruel. 

    In June, inmates' lawyers, state prison officials and Gov. Fob James
    agreed that prisoners will continue to work with chained legs but will
    not be chained to other inmates. 

    The chest-high silver rails known as hitching posts have been used at
    Alabama prisons since 1986 to detain inmates who refused to work. The
    practice had been challenged unsuccessfully before the prison system
    revived chain gangs amid international attention. 

    "In the absence of physically violent behavior which threatens the
    safety of officers or other inmates, it is excessive to shackle a man
    by his arms and legs to a post for several hours ... in the heat of the
    Alabama sun because he announces his refusal to work, sits down at work
    or disobeys an officer's direct order to work," McPherson said. 

    Rhonda Brownstein, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center,
    which sued to block the chain gangs, said several prisoners were forced
    to defecate and urinate in their pants and were teased by guards and
    other inmates. 

    The state Department of Corrections plans to file an objection to
    McPherson's recommendation, which goes to a federal judge for final
    review. 

    Alabama became the first state to revive chain gangs in May 1995.
    Florida, Arizona, Wisconsin and Iowa have adopted forms of the
    leg-ironed work crews. 

    AP 29-Jan-1997 21:45 EST   REF6063

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Plane Skids Off JFK Runway

    NEW YORK (AP) -- An Air China jumbo jet landing at Kennedy
    International Airport Wednesday night skidded off a runway before
    coming to rest in a grassy area between landing strips, police said. No
    one was reported injured. 

    The plane, with 197 people on board, was landing at 8:40 p.m when it
    slid off the runway, into the grassy area where it became stuck in mud,
    said Sgt. John Mariano, a Port Authority police spokesman. 

    The Boeing 747's emergency escape chutes were not deployed, Marino
    said. A that a stair truck was dispatched to remove passengers from the
    plane, he added. 

    Marino did not know where the flight originated. 

    No further details were immediately available. 

    AP 29-Jan-1997 20:51 EST   REF6035

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Saddam Puts Wife Under Arrest

    CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Saddam Hussein put one of his wives under house
    arrest after she opposed his plan to forgive the killers of his two
    sons-in-law, Iraqi dissidents said Wednesday. 

    Saddam has also ordered training exercises for his troops and is
    pondering invading Kuwait again, a senior U.S. military officer said in
    Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

    National Security Adviser Sandy Berger later confirmed that Iraq has
    been conducting military exercises, but presidential spokesman Mike
    McCurry said he was unaware "of anything that would suggest any
    offensive designs." 

    The Iraqi president increasingly has relied on a dwindling inner circle
    of close family members since the end of the Persian Gulf War, when a
    U.S.-led alliance forced him to withdraw his troops from Kuwait.

    Dissidents say he wants relatives of his sons-in-law to forgive the
    killers as a way of reuniting his feuding clan. But Sajida Talfah,
    Saddam's first wife, insisted that those who took part in the killings
    must be punished before there can be a family reconciliation, the
    dissidents said. 

    McCurry said Wednesday there appeared to be "complicated internal
    struggles for power" going on in Iraq, citing as evidence an attempt
    last month on the life of Saddam's eldest son and heir apparent, Odai. 

    Odai appeared on Iraqi television Wednesday night, lying on his
    hospital bed while chatting with senior government officials.
    Television footage of the reception at Ibn Sina hospital was shown on
    Youth Television, the TV station owned and run by Odai. 

    Odai, in his early 30s, was wearing a white hospital shirt. He was
    moving his right arm freely, but there was no visible movement in his
    left arm. 

    The U.S. military official in Washington said Odai may be paralyzed and
    could lose a leg to gangrene. 

    The house arrest of Saddam's first wife apparently is linked to the
    deaths of Lt. Gen. Hussein Kamel al-Majid and his brother Saddam. They
    were killed by family members after returning to Iraq in February from
    Jordan, where they had defected. 

    Hussein Kamel al-Majid had been in charge of Iraq's secret weapons
    program and Saddam Kamel al-Majid was deputy head of the Iraqi leader's
    palace guard. They were married to Saddam's daughters Raghda and Rana,
    and their defection was a major embarrassment to his regime. 

    At the time, Saddam blessed the killings and called the two men
    traitors. 

    Haroun Mohammed, a spokesman for the Iraqi National Accord, a dissident
    group based in Jordan, said Saddam now hoped to repair the brothers'
    reputations and forgive their killers as a way to unite his clan. 

    Mohammed said Saddam decided to give the al-Majid family the equivalent
    of $750,000 in blood money so the killers of his sons-in-law could be
    forgiven. 

    According to Islamic law, blood money should be paid by the killer to
    the family of the victims to ask forgiveness. Families who refuse the
    money usually seek revenge. 

    Mohammed said Sajida has insisted that all those who participated in
    the slayings must be punished. 

    Sajida is Odai's mother. He once reportedly bludgeoned a servant to
    death in 1988 to defend his mother's honor, because the servant was
    arranging romantic liaisons for his father. 

    Saddam and Sajida have another son and three daughters. Since the
    slayings, Sajida and her two daughters have reportedly had a falling
    out with Saddam. 

    Saddam is believed to have married a second wife, whom he has since
    divorced, and then to have taken another wife. 

    The senior U.S. military officer, speaking Tuesday with Pentagon
    reporters on condition of anonymity, quoted unidentified intelligence
    sources as saying Saddam "comes in every morning and makes a decision"
    on whether his forces should move toward Kuwait. 

    He said Iraq's air and ground forces have maintained a rapid pace of
    training over the past several weeks, presumably to educate new
    commanders put in place after a recent military purge. 

    American planes patrol southern Iraq to enforce a "no-fly" zone set up
    after the Gulf War to protect Shiite Muslims, and would presumably be
    immediately aware of any Iraqi move toward Kuwait. 

    AP 29-Jan-1997 20:48 EST   REF6031

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Historic Newspapers Given Away

    LONDON (AP) -- The British Library is offering up tens of thousands of
    foreign newspapers dating back to coverage of the Crimean War,
    thrilling historians elsewhere in Europe. 

    After making sure it has microfilm copies of the newspapers, the
    library is cleaning house -- literally. Newspapers, especially when
    printed on the cheapest wood-pulp paper, are difficult to keep in good
    condition even when they are bound. 

    "They first start to go at the edges and at the end of a day the floors
    around the readers' desks tend to look as if confetti had been
    dropped," said Stephen Lester, collections officer at the library's
    newspaper collection in north London. 

    The newspapers are all printed in European languages after 1850, a
    decade whose big news included the Crimean War and the famed charge of
    the Light Brigade. They are first being offered free to the national
    libraries in the countries of publication, although takers will have to
    pay the shipping costs. 

    Among the first to benefit when microfilming started was the Prussian
    State Library in Berlin, which sent two large trucks to collect German
    newspapers. German libraries and newspaper companies lost many files in
    World War II. 

    Belgium's National Library was also eager. "They wanted to collect
    right away," Lester said. 

    Any papers not claimed by libraries will be offered to dealers, and any
    left after that will be pulped. 

    Old newspapers have become big business in recent years, with dealers
    charging up to $40 for a copy issued on the buyer's birth date.

    The Newspaper Library holds more than 100,000 newspaper titles in
    Western languages going back to the 17th century. Oriental titles are
    kept separately by the parent British Library. 

    All pre-1850 newspapers in the library are being retained whether or
    not they are on microfilm. 

    AP 29-Jan-1997 20:43 EST   REF6022

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    40-Year-Old Message Delivered

    ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) -- A disgruntled crew of mountain climbers
    repairing the spire of a historic cathedral concealed their written
    complaints inside the bronze figure of an angel, 400 feet above the
    ground. 

    Nearly 40 years later, another crew of climbers discovered the letter,
    hidden in a lemonade bottle inside the weather vane, The Moscow Times
    reported Wednesday. 

    "The job is done badly because the bosses did not care about us," the
    letter said. "They paid little. The deadlines were short." 

    The first team was sent to the top of the spire above St. Petersburg's
    Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in 1957 to repair the angel's gold
    leaf and the weather vane mechanism. 

    In their letter to "future climbers," the six workers complained that a
    strict deadline imposed by city authorities made it impossible to
    remove the 12-foot-high angel and make the repairs on the ground. 

    In 1991, the second set of climbers scaled the spire to remove the
    angel for restoration. While dismantling the figure, they discovered
    the hidden lemonade bottle, the English-language daily said. 

    Taken with the idea of using the angel as a messenger, the contemporary
    climbers hid their own message in a bottle in the angel when they
    replaced it in 1995. 

    Elvira Degmirova, a spokeswoman for the Peter and Paul Fortress, where
    the cathedral is located, said the contents of the second letter will
    remain a secret until the next time the figure is dismantled. 

    AP 29-Jan-1997 17:01 EST   REF5239

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Medical Journal Backs Marijuana

    By DANIEL Q. HANEY

    AP Medical Editor

    BOSTON (AP) -- The New England Journal of Medicine has come out in
    favor of allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana for medical purposes,
    calling the threat of government sanctions "misguided, heavy-handed and
    inhumane." 

    "Whatever their reasons, federal officials are out of step with the
    public," Dr. Jerome P. Kassirer, the journal's editor, wrote in an
    editorial in Thursday's issue. The journal is one of the world's most
    prestigious medical publications. 

    After voters in Arizona and California passed propositions letting
    doctors prescribe pot for medical uses, Attorney General Janet Reno
    said doctors who do this could lose their prescription-writing
    privileges, be excluded from Medicare and Medicaid and even be
    prosecuted. 

    Some doctors believe marijuana can relieve internal eye pressure in
    glaucoma, control nausea in cancer patients on chemotherapy and combat
    the severe weight loss seen in AIDS patients. However, administration
    officials note that such uses of marijuana have not been proved. 

    Kassirer said marijuana is safer than some drugs used legally for some
    of the same conditions, such as morphine. 

    Furthermore, he said experiments to prove marijuana's value would be
    hard to do because of the difficulty of measuring nausea and other such
    sensations. 

    "What really counts for a therapy with this kind of safety margin is
    whether a seriously ill patient feels relief as a result of the
    intervention, not whether a controlled trial 'proves' its efficacy,"
    Kassirer wrote. 

    In a written response, retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, director of
    the Office of National Drug Policy, said marijuana might someday be
    approved for specific medical purposes. 

    "But up to this point, smoke is not a medicine," McCaffrey said. "Other
    treatments have been deemed safer and more effective than a
    psychoactive burning carcinogen self-induced through one's throat." 

    RTw  30-Jan-97 05:59    

    Researchers explore surgery cure for stutterers

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuter) - Researchers are exploring the use of brain
    surgery to cure stutterers, the New Scientist magazine reported on
    Thursday. 

    It said scientists at the University of Texas in San Antonio would run
    tests this year aimed at interrupting the faulty circuit in the brain
    they think causes stuttering. 

    "They will start by temporarily paralysing parts of the brain with
    localised magnetic pulses. If that goes to plan, they may try something
    more permanent -- brain surgery," the magazine said. 

    When a stutterer stumbles over words, the brain functions in an unusual
    way. Regions switch on that are supposed to be dormant and connections
    are made when there are supposed to be none. Stuttering may therefore
    lend itself well to the treatment since it can be switched on and off
    easily, said the New Scientist. 

    Neurosurgery could also be used to help conditions as diverse as
    migraine, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, it said. 

    "Such treatments are still highly experimental. It could be some years
    before the first operation for stuttering is actually performed. But
    the pendulum that swung away from the idea of surgical intervention for
    neurological diseases over the past few decades is now swinging back,"
    the magazine quoted neurologist Mahlon DeLong as saying. 

    Despite the huge potential, some scientists remain uneasy about brain
    surgery, saying it is too radical to remove part of the brain for
    disorders such as stuttering. 

    The team says it is proceeding with extreme caution as it begins the
    preliminary tests on stutterers this year. 

    "It's a long way from finding the pieces that make up the puzzle to
    understanding how they all fit together -- let alone which pieces you
    can take away to improve the picture," said the New Scientist. 

    "Before they can contemplate surgery, the scientists have to work out
    where to intervene." 

    REUTER

    RTw  30-Jan-97 02:13    

    Fuel of the future lies locked in the earth

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    LONDON, Jan 29 (Reuter) - American scientists said on Wednesday that
    they had found a tantalising new energy source in vast stores of
    methane locked beneath the ocean floor. 

    Writing in the science journal Nature, the scientists said they had
    found a reservoir of methane in the form of a solid gas hydrate
    equivalent to around 15 billion tonnes of carbon at Blake ridge in the
    Western Atlantic. 

    Underneath that, to their surprise, they found the same amount or even
    more methane in the form of gas bubbles amid the sediment. 

    "The 35 billion tonnes of methane carbon on the Blake ridge is a
    quantity of methane that could meet the 1996 United States' natural gas
    consumption rate for the next 105 years," said Gerald Dickens of the
    University of Michigan. 

    Theoretically, methane in hydrate form could be used as natural gas.
    Unfortunately, the scientists have not yet found a way of getting the
    methane out of the earth in a useable form. 

    At the low temperatures and high pressure under the surface of the
    earth, the methane stays in solid hydrate form, which looks much like
    ice. 

    But when it is raised to the surface, the higher temperature and lower
    pressure make the hydrates melt. 

    Dickens said he and his team probably lost about 99 percent of the
    hydrate from the sediment cores they drilled out in their
    investigations at Blake ridge. 

    "It will take some technological advances before hydrate can be
    recovered economically," he told Reuters. 

    Nevertheless, he said the team's investigations indicated that methane
    reserves could make up the earth's biggest store of fossil fuel. 

    Previous surveys had concentrated on the amount of methane stored in
    hydrate deposits, but the team's findings suggest that there is at
    least as much again stored in free gas beneath the hydrate zone. 

    "The distribution of methane in a hydrate reservoir can be
    enormous...we had assumed that most of the methane was as hydrate and
    not as bubbles," said Dickens.

    REUTER

    RTw  30-Jan-97 01:51    

    Internet as good as classroom for learning - study

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuter) - Students learning on the Internet can do as
    well as or better than pupils in a conventional classroom, a British
    scientific journal reported on Thursday. 

    New Scientist magazine said an experiment with 33 sociology students at
    a U.S. university found that students who learned on the Internet
    scored 20 percent higher in examinations than those taught in the
    classroom. 

    Jerald Schutte, a professor at California State University in
    Northridge, found after dividing his statistics class into two groups
    -- traditional and online -- that the online group also spent more time
    on classwork, understood the material better and collaborated more. 

    None of the students knew they were part of an experiment. 

    "I would say the collaboration resulted from the panic of having no
    face-to-face interaction," Schutte told the magazine. 

    The traditional group was taught each Saturday for 14 weeks while the
    online students only met for examinations at the beginning and the end
    of the course. But the Internet students used electronic mail to
    collaborate in groups and had weekly discussions on the Internet with
    Schutte. 

    He stressed that his class was just a small experiment and larger
    studies on the benefits or drawbacks of learning on the Internet are
    now needed. 

    "We believe you can't dispense with the intervention of a teacher, at
    least in schools, though the results are perfectly plausible for
    university-age students," Jeff Morgan, director of communications at
    the UK National Council of Educational Technology, told New Scientist.

    REUTER

    RTw  29-Jan-97 21:25    

    Researchers find gene that helps grow nerves

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    By Maggie Fox 

    LONDON, Jan 29 (Reuter) - A gene that can help tumours grow could be
    put to good use to re-grow damaged nerves, offering hope to millions of
    people paralysed by damaged spinal cords, U.S. researchers reported on
    Wednesday. 

    The gene, bcl-2, is normally suppressed by chemicals in the body. But
    the researchers, reporting in the scientific journal Nature, said it
    could possibly be turned back on. 

    Susumu Tonegawa, Dong Feng Chen and colleagues at the Massachusetts
    Institute of Technology (MIT), working with Glaxo's Institute for
    Molecular Biology, bred two kinds of mice -- one lacking the gene, and
    one genetically engineered to have an extraordinarily active gene. 

    The bcl-2 gene directs cells to produce a protein that is known to
    interfere with apoptosis, the "voluntary" suicide by old or damaged
    cells. When this fails to happen and cells keep on dividing out of
    control, it can be a first step to cancer. 

    Tonegawa's group found bcl-2 also helped regenerate axons in the
    retina, both in test tubes and in laboratory mice. Axons are the long
    threadlike arms that link neurons -- brain cells and nerve cells. 

    "We believe this applies to all of the neurons in the central nervous
    system, including not only the brain, but also the spinal cord,"
    Tonegawa, director of MIT's centre for learning and memory, said in a
    telephone interview. 

    The mice genetically engineered to lack the gene had 80 percent fewer
    retinal axons than normal mice, even at the embryonic stage. 

    In the other group of mice, expression of bcl-2 protein was high all
    their lives, and experiments showed their neurons re-generated. 

    "We believe that the level of expression of bcl-2 is essential in
    dictating ability to re-generate," Tonegawa said. 

    "In normal animals, and also probably in humans, expression of bcl-2 is
    high in the embryonic stage but it becomes low around the time of
    birth." 

    If chemicals could be found that allowed the body to keep bcl-2 turned
    on, they could help repair damaged nerves, he said. 

    "It provides a basis for the design of new therapeutic strategies for
    treatment of brain and spinal injuries, as well as many
    neurodegenerative diseases," the report in Nature added. 

    Gene therapy was a distant possibility, Tonegawa added. What his group
    would pursue was finding drugs that helped control production of bcl-2. 

    This would best be done locally, as turning the gene on all over the
    body could result in tumours. Doctors would want only a very localised
    effect. 

    "Our goal will be to temporarily and regionally in the brain or where
    the injury occurred, to boost the expression of bcl-2," Tonegawa said.
    Each year, 700 people in Britain and 10,000 people in the United States
    injure their spinal cords. 

    REUTER

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    No EMU, no more cash, says Toyota
    
    By George Jones and Roland Gribben 

    TOYOTA, the Japanese car manufacturer, yesterday re-ignited the
    political row over a single currency by warning that future investment
    might go to continental Europe if Britain decided against joining
    monetary union.

    Hiroshi Okuda, Toyota's president, told reporters in Tokyo that the
    company's future strategy in Britain would be affected by whether or
    not it was part of monetary union.His comments overshadowed John
    Major's attempts to highlight Britain's attractiveness to overseas
    companies by digging the first turf on the site of the biggest inward
    investment in Europe - a �1.7 billion, 6,000-job electronics factory
    being built at Newport, Gwent, for the Korean firm LG.

    Mr Okuda is the most senior foreign businessmen to suggest publicly
    that the single currency could be a factor in future investment in
    Britain. Toyota has invested almost �1 billion in a car plant at
    Burnaston, Derbyshire, and an engine plant in Deeside, North Wales.
    Last year, it built 117,000 cars.

    Questioned about Toyota's global investment strategy, Mr Okuda said
    that regardless of whether Britain joined the single currency he felt
    it would be "excessive" if it made additional investments in the UK.
    But he suggested that Toyota's future strategy would change depending
    on whether Britain opted out.

    Asked if the Toyota's investment would decrease, Mr Okuda said: "Rather
    than decreasing the amount, we will leave investments as they are now.
    But if we were to make fresh investments, we would prefer to make them
    in continental Europe rather than Britain." He said Toyota was not
    reviewing its investment strategy in Britain as "everything is still up
    in the air regarding the future of a single European currency".

    Edwina Currie, the Tory MP whose Derbyshire South constituency includes
    the Toyota plant, said executives were getting "very twitchy" as a
    result of the Government's increasingly critical remarks about Europe.
    "The company has told me privately of their anxieties and now the
    president of Toyota has blasted the issue into the open," she said.

    Downing Street sought to play down the significance of the remarks. A
    spokesman said that Toyota had recently given a "vote of confidence" in
    Britain by announcing it was planning to expand capacity at Burnaston.

    "The UK is the place to be and will remain so," the spokesman said.

    Gordon Brown, the shadow chancellor, said it was the first sign of
    industry reacting to Tory disunity over Europe. "The Tories are now
    putting British jobs at risk and 3.5 million jobs depend on Europe," he
    said.

    Hugh Dykes, Tory chairman of the Commons European Movement, said it was
    a serious warning from one of the world's most important companies,
    "and we ignore it at our peril".

    But Tory Euro-sceptics voiced their anger at what they saw as an
    attempt by overseas businessmen to interfere in the election. Norman
    Lamont, the former Chancellor and a prominent Euro-sceptic, said Toyota
    should not get mixed up in British politics. 

    The other two principal Japanese manufacturers in Britain - Honda and
    Nissan - distanced themselves from Toyota's comments. "We have shown
    our commitment to Britain by our recent announcement of a further �215
    million investment in our Sunderland plant," said a Nissan spokesman.
    "We think Britain is the right place to be."

    Honda said it was totally committed to Britain. "We operate in some 140
    different countries and are quite used to dealing with currency changes
    and fluctuations."

    But the declaration from Mr Okuda caused unease in motor industry
    quarters and raised the stakes in the Euro-debate and its impact on the
    flow of inward investment.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    Blair backs Holocaust denial law
    
    By Robert Shrimsley, Chief Political Correspondent 

    TONY Blair yesterday backed moves to create a criminal offence of
    denying the Holocaust.

    The Labour leader said he saw a "very strong case" for making it
    illegal to say that Hitler's extermination of six million Jews did not
    take place. Opening an exhibition dedicated to Anne Frank, Mr Blair
    pledged that a Labour government would give "active consideration"
    towards legislation.

    His comments came as a cross-party backbench Bill to create an offence
    of Holocaust denial cleared its first Commons hurdle. The Bill,
    introduced by Mike Gapes, Labour MP for Ilford South, received an
    unopposed First Reading but lack of Commons time means it is unlikely
    to pass into law. The Bill could lead to the imprisonment of those who
    publish material denying the existence of the death camps.

    Mr Gapes said there was a loophole in the law which banned material
    likely to incite racial violence or hatred because no one had been
    prosecuted for debying the Holocaust. He said: "We are told that though
    this material is offensive it is not insulting." He said there were
    laws against Holocaust denial in many other nations, and rejected
    criticism that the move infringed free speech. 

    Mr Blair's visit to the Anne Frank exhibition at Southwark Cathedral,
    south London, marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of the
    teenager's diary. Anne Frank recorded how she, her elder sister,
    Margot, her parents, Otto and Edith, another family and a dentist hid
    from the Nazis in the attic of a house in Amsterdam. Two years later
    those in the annexe were sent to concentration camps where Anne, her
    sister, and mother died.

    The Reform Synagogues of Great Britain welcomed the Bill, saying that
    those who denied the Holocaust "wish to rehabilitate fascism".

    International News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    Scientists hunt 60ft leviathan of seamen's legends
    
    By Paul Chapman in Wellington 

    A TEAM of scientists and adventurers are about to set sail in quest of
    the giant squid, a monster of mythological proportions and one of the
    last great ocean mysteries.

    The international group will shortly leave Wellington on a six-week
    trip to waters over the deep trenches off New Zealand's South Island.
    The squid is a leviathan, believed to measure more than 60ft in length,
    with eyes as big as dinner plates and a powerful, bird-like beak. It
    has tentacles as big as tree trunks and covered with suction cups. It
    is the largest aquatic invertebrate and is believed to weigh up to two
    tons.

    Although the creature has been woven into seafarers' tales for
    centuries, the only giant squid with which scientists have had close
    encounters are dead ones. There has never been a recorded sighting of a
    live one. Seafarers' accounts have become the stuff of legend: the
    fabulous sea monster Kraken, which was said to have dragged down ships
    off Norway; the behemoth with which Jules Verne's Captain Nemo did
    battle in the submarine Nautilus; and the creatures encountered in
    Herman Melville's Moby Dick.

    The two-boat expedition, sponsored by National Geographic magazine and
    television productions, will be using the latest equipment. Undersea
    digital video cameras with canisters of slow-release fishbait attached
    will be suspended from the boats. The cameras can be lowered 10,000ft,
    although the expedition organisers are hoping to find squid at only
    1,000ft below the surface. A computer-directed submersible built by the
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology will also be used.

    The waters off Kaikoura are a feeding ground for whales, among the few
    creatures prepared to do battle with the giant squid, on which they
    prey. In a controversial move, further cameras called Crittercams will
    be attached to some of the whales using tags and biodegradable straps.

    One of the expedition's leaders, Dr Clyde Roper of Washington's
    Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, said: "It is a
    staggering phenomenon that this big animal exists and we don't know
    much about it. More is known about the dinosaurs. The only creatures
    who know where they live are sperm whales, so we will let the whales be
    our hound dogs and lead us to them."

    Dr Roper said if the expedition was a success, a second one might
    follow next year, using a crewed submersible.

    Robert Uhlig, Technology Correspondent, writes: A small group of whales
    that can barely open their mouths has been found to eat by pouting
    their lips and sucking in squid and fish.

    Examinations of beaked whales by John Heyning, of the Los Angeles
    County Museum of Natural History, and James Mead, of the American
    National Museum of Natural History in Washington, disclosed a very
    loose tongue attached to the base of the mouth via exceptionally large
    muscles and bones. 

    "The tongue slides back with extreme ease and very quickly in a kind of
    piston action to suck in their prey," Dr Heyning says in today's New
    Scientist.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    Labour has scope for tax rises despite pledge
    
    By George Jones, Political Editor 

    AN incoming Labour government could increase taxation despite the 
    promise not to raise the basic or top rates of income tax, two senior
    frontbench spokesmen said yesterday.

    Nick Brown, the deputy chief whip, said Gordon Brown, the shadow
    chancellor, had "room for manoeuvre" on 200 different tax allowances.
    These could include mortgage tax relief, relief on pension
    contributions and the current ceiling on National Insurance
    contributions. Michael Meacher, the party's Left-wing environment
    spokesman, emphasised that commitments not to raise tax related to
    income tax rates - and admitted that there was pressure in the party to
    raise other taxes.

    Interviewed in the New Statesman, Mr Meacher said the shadow chancellor
    was "very careful to exclude other forms of tax. There's capital gains
    tax, inheritance tax, and all the allowances and the share option
    schemes. So it isn't quite as bleak as it seems. And I do think the
    pressure to achieve fairness in practice is something we are all agreed
    on."

    Earlier, Nick Brown, interviewed on Tyne Tees Television, emphasised
    that the shadow chancellor's commitment applied to the 23p basic and
    40p top rates. "There are something like 200 different allowances and
    he's not going to go through them all setting them now before coming
    into government," he said. "He's got to have some room for manoeuvre."

    Kenneth Clarke, the Chancellor, seized on their comments, claiming that
    the MPs had "let the cat out of the bag" on Labour's tax plans. Mr
    Major said Labour could raise taxation by restricting allowances or
    lifting the ceiling on National Insurance contributions. Speaking in
    Wales, Mr Major said that if Labour's plans were to be paid for there
    would have to be some rise in taxation. "Whether that is in allowances,
    whether it is in uncapping National Insurance contributions, or
    whatever else there may be, perhaps on company taxation, there are a
    range of options that certainly haven't been excluded in anything
    Gordon Brown has said."

    Tory officials produced a list of 80 tax reliefs and allowances thought
    to be among those being reviewed by Labour's Treasury team. There is
    growing speculation that Mr Brown may decide to phase out mortgage tax
    relief - which could save the Treasury �2,200 million - and reduce tax
    relief for pensions, which costs �8,000 million. The married couple's
    allowance for the better off could also be cut and VAT introduced on
    private health and education.

    Peter Lilley, the Social Security Secretary, claimed that a future
    Labour government could "tax or means test" child benefit.

    When Mr Brown announced 10 days ago that he would not put up the main
    tax rates over the lifetime of a Labour government, he said he could
    not make commitments about the 200 tax exemptions, relief and
    allowances until he knew the true state of the public finances.

    However, the comments of his colleagues confirm the limited nature of
    the party's tax pledge, and there is a strong possibility that the
    overall level of personal taxation will go up because of cutbacks on
    reliefs and allowances.

    Mr Brown's promise to keep to the present Government's public spending
    targets for the next two years was also challenged by the Tories
    yesterday.

    William Waldegrave, the Treasury Chief Secretary, claimed a "major
    hole" had emerged in Labour's sums because of the party's commitment to
    allow the phased release of the capital receipts of local authorities
    to build and renovate homes.

    Under present rules, the release of the money would be classed as
    public spending - amounting to �2.8 billion a year over the next five
    years - undermining Mr Brown's promise not to increase spending above
    planned levels.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    Bride may sue over wedding that never was
    
    By Nigel Bunyan 

    A COUPLE who discovered that their marriage was invalid because the
    Church of England ceremony had been conducted by an unordained teenager
    are threatening legal action.

    Shirley Wilson and her fiance, Rod Earnshaw, spent more than �8,000 on
    their wedding. But a week later they were informed that they were not
    officially married. Because of a mix-up over timings, the vicar due to
    take the service, the Rev Robin Townsend, had not turned up by the time
    Miss Wilson walked down the aisle at St John the Evangelist in Golcar,
    Huddersfield, West Yorks.

    But when he arrived an hour later, the ceremony was over and the
    "newlyweds" were signing the register. It was only later that Mr
    Townsend, who was standing in for the parish priest, realised that the
    person who had performed the marriage and whom he had taken to be a
    curate was an 18-year-old university student who normally acted as a
    server.

    The teenager is thought to have volunteered to conduct the service to
    prevent spoiling the couple's wedding day. Miss Wilson, 25, of Golcar,
    said yesterday: "I couldn't believe it. It is not something you would
    consider happening. The biggest day of our lives was just shattered. We
    can never recreate it."

    Her "husband", Rod, 25, a night-shift worker, added: "I am totally
    confused. I thought the lad looked a bit young, but he was incredibly
    believable and we had no reason to doubt him. It's a very bizarre
    situation."

    The mix-up happened last August, while the vicar of St John's, the Rev
    Martyn Crompton, was away. It was arranged that Mr Townsend, from St
    James's Church at nearby Slaithwaite, would take his place, but he was
    unaware that the couple had asked for the service to be brought forward
    by an hour.

    Mr Townsend said: "To say I was surprised that the wedding had gone
    ahead is an understatement. But everybody concerned was doing their
    best to try to help in the difficult situation. The whole thing is very
    unfortunate and I am very sorry for the couple. I hope that things will
    be settled amicably."

    A spokesman for the Church of England said that under the laws
    governing litigation it was not possible to sue the Church itself.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    Home is where no one else is
    
    By David Fletcher, Health Correspondent 

    AS many people will be living alone as sharing a home within marriage
    by the year 2016, Government statisticians predict today.

    The trend for solitary living stems partly from a wish for independence
    by young people who stay single longer after leaving home and setting
    up on their own, said Social Trends, the annual portrait of the nation
    published by the Office for National Statistics. It is reinforced by
    increases in elderly widows living alone and boosted by increasing
    levels of divorce - leading couples to seek two homes in place of one -
    plus the growth of single parents.

    The result is that the proportion of one-person homes, only 18 per cent
    of total households in 1971 and now 29 per cent, will be up to 36 per
    cent by 2016. At the same time, married couple households, 71 per cent
    25 years ago and already down to half of all homes, are set to drop to
    just 42 per cent.

    The averge size of households has almost halved since the beginning of
    the century. It currently stands at 2.4 people per household and is set
    to fall further. As a result, the number of homes is forecast to rise
    from the present total of 20 million to 23.5 million by 2020.

    Looking even further ahead, the report predicts that the number of
    retired people will increase by 50 per cent by 2034 but that the number
    of children will fall by 15 per cent. Although people are living
    longer, the report suggests that the extra years are likely to be spent
    in illness and disability rather than in enjoyment of a healthy
    retirement.

    Life expectancy rose to 73.7 years for men and 79.2 years for women in
    1992 - an increase of more than three years - but statistics show no
    comparable increase in recent years in the length of healthy life.
    Statistics for "healthy life expectancy" - the average age at which
    illness and disability starts to affect life - show that men can expect
    to live healthily until the age of nearly 60 and women to nearly 62.

    "This suggests that the extra years of life gained by elderly people
    are extra years with a disability, not extra years of healthy life,"
    said the report. The popularity of living in rural areas at the expense
    of inner city and industrial areas was due partly to what Jenny Church,
    editor of the report, called "the Laura Ashley factor" for chintzy,
    rustic cottage styles and decor.

    A total of 10.4 million people now live in rural areas, a fifth of the
    population, compared with less than nine million in 1971. By contrast,
    people are moving out of mining and industrial areas - population down
    from 13 million to 12.1 million - and inner London, down from 4.1
    million to 3.6 million.

    Despite the move to the countryside, people are walking less. Average
    distances walked per person fell by a fifth over 20 years to 321
    kilometres a year in 1995. Other figures show that the proportion of
    single women, aged 18-49, who co-habit has doubled since 1981 to 25 per
    cent of the age group.

    The number of marriages in 1971 totalled 208,000, two-fifths fewer than
    in 1971, while the divorce rate is the highest in Europe. It also said
    that average gross weekly earnings last April were highest in Greater
    London at over �450 and lowest in Blaenau, Gwent, at �255. Almost a
    quarter of employees earned less than �4 an hour.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    Euro-sceptic Gardiner faces vote to oust him
    
    By Rachel Sylvester, Political Staff 

    NEARLY a third of the membership of the Reigate Conservative
    Association have signed a motion of no confidence in Sir George
    Gardiner, their Euro-sceptic MP. 

    Tonight Tories in the Surrey constituency will try to oust him as their
    MP for the second time. Sir George survived a deselection bid last
    June, when 311 members of the association supported him and 206 voted
    against him.

    But the number of his opponents has nearly doubled. A petition signed
    by 382 members of the association saying they have no confidence in
    their MP has been sent to the chairman, Maj-Gen Michael Steele.

    Although Sir George's opponents pledged to rally round him after he won
    the confidence motion last summer, they were angered by an article he
    wrote in the Sunday Express in December saying that John Major had
    become Kenneth Clarke's "ventriloquist's dummy" because of his refusal
    to rule out joining a single currency.

    The second attempt to oust the Reigate MP was launched on Jan 3 when 50
    association members wrote to Maj-Gen Steele asking him to call a
    meeting. About 650 activists - half of the membership of the
    association - are expected at the special general meeting tonight to
    vote on the no confidence motion. If it is carried, they will vote on a
    motion to deselect Sir George. Insiders say some of those who supported
    Sir George in the previous vote have turned against him.

    The MP will also be undermined by the fact that 81 of his opponents
    rejoined the association in December, making them eligible to vote
    tonight. Maj-Gen Steele said feeling was "running high" in the
    constituency. "Sir George has been the MP for 23 years and there are
    some people who feel very, very loyal to him - and similarly there are
    some who feel very, very strongly opposed to him. Both groups are very
    vociferous," he said.

    Douglas Simpson, the former chairman of the association and a supporter
    of Sir George, said a "bitter vendetta" was being waged against the MP.
    Sir George has not threatened to resign and force a by-election as he
    did last time. Earlier this week he wrote to association members
    apologising "unreservedly", but he condemned the deselection bid as a
    "suicide exercise". He wrote: "The damage being done to our party, both
    locally and nationally, by this public display of Tory clawing at Tory
    is incalculable."

    Last night he said he would fight the attempt to oust him, saying: "I'm
    being arraigned for pressing a policy over joining a European single
    currency which the Cabinet has now adopted. "I fought the wreckers off
    before and I'm determined to fight them off again."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Wednesday 29 January 1997

    Senior Tory's son leapt to death after taking ecstasy
    
    By Colin Randall, Chief Reporter 

    THE son of a senior Government education adviser jumped more than 80
    feet to his death after taking ecstasy at an illegal rave party, an
    inquest was told yesterday.

    Alexander Balchin, 21, a student about to start a course at Brighton
    University, had asked three friends to join him in making the jump,
    saying he wanted to "make the world more beautiful".

    His father, Sir Robert, 54, a prominent Conservative and chairman of
    the Grant-Maintained Schools Foundation, told the inquest in Southwark,
    south London, that his son had no history of drug-taking. "We are
    teetotal and Alex hardly touched alcohol at all," he said. His death
    had been a "bolt from the blue". Sir Robert added: "Alex was a very
    fun-loving person who brought a lot of joy to us all and to his friends
    and to all those he knew."

    His son, who divided his time between his family's 16th-century home in
    Lingfield, Surrey, and a commune in Brighton, was among 2,000 people at
    the all-night rave on Nov 30 in an annexe to County Hall, the old GLC
    headquarters.

    Leaflets advertising the event, staged as a "farewell rave" for
    squatters who had been occupying the building for a few weeks, had been
    distributed. Seven sound systems were used and the party was still in
    progress when Mr Balchin jumped from the roof at 4.30am. Death was from
    severe head injuries and a post-mortem examination showed that he had
    taken ecstasy and cannabis.

    Gary Bunch, who had known Mr Balchin for about a month, told the
    inquest he joined his friend and other revellers on the roof with a
    three-feet-high ledge. "As soon as we got on the roof, Alex said 'I
    want the world to be more beautiful' and 'What have we done?' He was
    looking over the edge." He said Mr Balchin seemed to be under the
    influence of drugs with his eyes "bulging out of his head". He climbed
    on top of the wall, got down again at the request of his friends but
    then "ran and jumped over the edge".

    John Blythe, 19, another friend, said all "dance drugs" were available.
    He said Mr Balchin "appeared to be tripping on psychedelic drugs". When
    they were on the roof, he said: "Gary said 'come down', and he looked
    as though he was going to but he turned around and, at a run, leapt
    over the edge."

    Dr Vesna Djurovic, a pathologist, said Mr Balchin had consumed no
    alcohol and said the amount of ecstasy he had taken was "not large".

    Sir Montague Levine, the coroner, recording a verdict of misadventure,
    said: "Ecstasy has accounted for his very strange and bizarre
    behaviour. A lot of people might think ecstasy never causes this but,
    as the pathologist says, reaction of drugs varies from person to
    person. It is quite clear he was acting strangely. The words 'tripping,
    high and agitated' have been used."

    There was no suggestion he was suffering from depression or had wanted
    to end his life. "The fact is he was under the influence of drugs,"
    said Sir Montague.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    'Miracle cure' of wheelchair man 'part of fraud'

    A SUPPOSEDLY brain-damaged man staged a "miracle" by rising from his
    wheelchair during a church service in order to prove how gullible
    Christians are, a court was told yesterday.

    Paul Redhead, 28, and his "carer" Peter Callister, 24, devised the plan
    in 1995 after Redhead had been lent a wheelchair while being treated
    for epilepsy. Redhead, formerly of Coventry, where he lived with
    Callister, appeared at Birmingham Crown Court charged with conspiracy
    to defraud, to which he pleads not guilty.

    The court heard that he began being wheeled around the town by
    Callister and would grunt at people and laugh as he pretended to have
    the mental capabilities of a six-month-old baby.

    The pair told concerned neighbours and friends that Redhead had been
    involved in a car crash as a child, but to other people they changed
    the story , saying that Redhead had been starved of oxygen at birth,
    resulting in severe brain damage.

    Local people began fund-raising after hearing a story that burglars had
    stolen money put aside for a new wheelchair. That money, believed to be
    about �400, was then allegedly withdrawn from a charity account, called
    the Paul Redhead Wheelchair Fund, and used to pay for the men's way of
    life.

    It was only when a local newspaper reporter became suspicious and
    Redhead became fed up with being wheelchair-bound that the fraud came
    to light, the court was told. During a church service at Coventry's
    Elim Pentecostal Church, Redhead sprang from his wheelchair and told
    the congregation that God had cured him.

    David Iles, prosecuting, said: "He suddenly started speaking in
    tongues, a recognised occurrence in a Pentecostal church, when a person
    is overtaken by the Holy Spirit. He suddenly pulled himself out of his
    wheelchair, began looking around and he walked unaided. The devout
    congregation believed they were witnessing a miracle."

    Redhead's "cure", however, focused more attention on them. Eight days
    after the "miracle" Callister and Redhead were confronted by Linda
    Green, a reporter for the Coventry Evening Telegraph, who became
    suspicious after a tip-off from a reader. Mr Iles said they readily
    admitted to the reporter that it had been a sham.

    The defendant said: "It was nothing to do with the money. I was in a
    wheelchair anyway because of drugs I was taking for my epilepsy. People
    started to help me and care for me. I felt the world owed me something
    for a change."

    The trial continues.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    Book war 'poses a cultural threat'

    BRITAIN'S culture would be "degraded" and its education threatened by
    the scrapping of re-sale price maintenance on books, Sir David Steel,
    the former Liberal leader, said yesterday.

    Sir David, opposing the Office of Fair Trading's "public interest" bid
    to finally kill off the price-fixing allowed under the Net Book
    Agreement, told the Restrictive Practices Court that "books should not
    be treated like soap powder".

    He said: "The public interest is more than just whether you can get
    books at the cheapest price. It is a question of the long-term future -
    whether you want to maintain cultural diversity and cultural depth."

    Making the NBA illegal would lead to a reduction in the number of
    stockholding bookshops and a rise in the price of most books other than
    best-sellers. "Fewer titles would be published, and those which failed
    to find a publisher would include works of probable literary or
    scholastic value," he told a tribunal headed by Mr Justice Ferris.

    Sir David was called as a witness by groups concerned with the supply
    of books to libraries. They are opposing an attempt by the Director
    General of Fair Trading to block a reintroduction of the suspended NBA.

    He said the disastrous repeal of a similar pricing system in France,
    and its subsequent reinstatement, "should alert us to the danger of
    outlawing the NBA too soon".

    The hearing continues.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    Bishop bans 'harmful' religious movement
    
    By Victoria Combe, Churches Correspondent 

    A ROMAN Catholic bishop announced measures yesterday to halt the
    activities of a religious movement which he claimed was harmful to
    individuals and parish life.

    The Rt Rev Mervyn Alexander, Bishop of Clifton, has removed two priests
    who belong to the arch-traditionalist movement - the Neo-Catechumenal
    Way - from their parishes and a third member agreed to resign. His
    intervention follows a year-long investigation into the
    Neo-Catechumenal Way's activities in the parishes of St Nicholas of
    Tolentino, Bristol, Sacred Hearts, Cheltenham, and St Peter's,
    Gloucester. In November the bishop ordered the priests to stop
    recruiting and to be more open to non-members within the parishes.

    "The measures I am implementing should not be seen as criticisms of the
    Way. They are designed to improve the situation for all the parish
    family."

    Canon Michael English and Fr Tony Trafford will both be shifted to "new
    pastoral situations" in the diocese and Canon Jerry O'Brien, 75, has
    resigned. The bishop said the move was not a "criticism of any of the
    priests".

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    Schoolboy athlete died after collapsing in race
    
    By Nigel Bunyan 

    A BOY collapsed as he neared the end of a race at an inter-school
    sports event, an inquest heard yesterday.

    Philip Green, 12, a pupil at Grange School, Hartford, Cheshire, was
    within sight of the finishing line when he fell to the ground. His
    father, David, who had been taking photographs of the race, tried to
    revive him but he was pronounced dead in hospital 75 minutes later.

    Philip, of Wincham, Cheshire, suffered a similar collapse a year
    earlier, the hearing in Manchester was told. Medical tests carried out
    at the time uncovered no sign of heart problems.

    On June 19 this year he was chosen to represent his school at the North
    West Area Championships in Stretford, Manchester. He had already taken
    part in the triple jump, shot put and 100-metre relay, and was part-way
    through the 200m race when he collapsed.

    Mr Green, 39, a contract manager, said: "He looked a little tired and I
    said to him 'Go and sit down and have a drink'. That was all. There was
    no problem. He then took part in the 200 metres final. He'd gone about
    150 metres and was well in the lead when he collapsed. He was on the
    finishing straight and I was stood at the end of the straight taking
    pictures. When I got to him he was breathing erratically, gasping for
    breath."

    Mr Green began giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, while the school's
    head of physical education, Thomas Tindale, administered chest
    compression. Philip was taken to the casualty department of Withington
    Hospital where he died.

    Recalling the incident a year ago, Mr Green said his son had collapsed
    while warming up for another 200 metre event. "When he was taken to
    hospital they thought he may have had a fit or fainted. But, after
    tests, he was given a clean bill of health. Cardiologists' tests showed
    nothing. Philip was supremely fit. There was nothing to give the
    slightest hint of anything wrong."

    Questioned by the Manchester coroner, Leonard Gorodkin, Mr Tindale said
    that he felt it was within Philip's capabilities to be in so many
    events.

    Dr Fiona Knox, the pathologist who carried out a post mortem
    examination, said she was unable to decide upon a positive cause of
    death but it seemed most likely that Philip died of a cardiac
    arrhythmia. She agreed with Mr Gorodkin that it was "the same type of
    situation" as sudden infant death syndrome.

    Recording a verdict of death by natural causes, Mr Gorodkin said it was
    tragic that a young, healthy boy should suddenly collapse in such a
    situation.

    After the hearing, Mr Green, who has a surviving son aged 10, said he
    and his wife, Helen, were hoping a sporting memorial could be
    established in Philip's name. "He excelled academically and sportingly,
    and we miss him terribly. On the day everyone did what they could," he
    said.

    Philip's head teacher, Scott Marshall, said: "This is a sad loss.
    Philip was very able academically, one of the most talented pupils the
    school has ever had."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    Couple refuse to destroy attack dog
    
    By Carole Cadwalladr 

    THE owners of a German shepherd dog which attacked and injured six
    pupils and their headmaster in a school playground have refused to have
    it destroyed and have sent it into hiding.

    Seven-month-old Fuhrer wandered into the grounds of St Peter's School
    in Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, on Tuesday and started biting six boys aged
    between seven and 10. Ian Thompson, the headmaster, tried to shield the
    children from the dog, and was also bitten. All seven required hospital
    treatment.

    But despite agreeing with Northumbria police that the dog should be
    destroyed, Gordon and Lesley Burn, announced yesterday that it had been
    hidden. Mrs Burn, 26, said: "After we saw the damage we decided it was
    not bad enough to justify having Fuhrer put down."

    Mrs Burn explained that the dog was named after Adolf Hitler, of whom
    her husband is an admirer. The animal was traced to a house in South
    Shields where it was being looked after by Gary Spour. But when police
    returned with a magistates' warrant to recover the dog, there was no
    sign of Mr Spour or Fuhrer.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    Justice for hero's widow after 30 years
    
    By Sue Clough, Courts Correspondent 

    A WIDOW whose husband was shot dead by a bank raider 30 years ago saw
    his killer brought to justice yesterday.

    Anthony Fletcher was labelled Britain's first "have a go" hero after
    the incident in Chelsea when he cornered the gunman and was hit in the
    chest at point blank range. He was awarded the George Cross
    posthumously. The killer, Arthur Jackson, fled to America where he was
    eventually jailed for stalking and repeatedly stabbing a Hollywood
    actress.

    While in a Californian prison cell, he confessed to the 1962 killing
    and extradited back to Britain for trial. Jackson has never expressed
    remorse, telling police: "The only pity I felt was when I pulled the
    trigger and saw the look in his eyes of impending doom."

    Valerie Fletcher and her three children sat in court at the Old Bailey
    yesterday as Jackson, now 61, denied murder but admitted manslaughter
    on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Jackson, said to represent
    a continuing danger to the public and "those who fall prey to his
    psychotic fascinations", will be sentenced next week when a bed in a
    secure hospital becomes available.

    But Martin Fletcher, 39, the victim's eldest son, later called for the
    reintroduction of the death penalty, saying: "He should have been
    hanged. He robbed my mother of a devoted husband and we all lost a
    great Dad. He was a pal and is always in my thoughts. Jackson is a very
    clever and devious man who knows what he wants and knows how to
    manipulate people. Now he has pleaded guilty, we can say what this man
    has done to me and my family. I will be pleased if the judge puts him
    away for life so he cannot do anyone else any harm. But nothing will
    bring my father back."

    Jackson has a history of "severe and intractable paranoid
    schizophrenia" which began when he was 12 and had problems with the
    occult and a "voodoo jinx". The friendless and solitary figure suffered
    "bizarre and delusional fantasies". In the 1950s he served in Germany
    with the American Army and formed an obsession for a fellow soldier he
    described as "Angel adonis, chic mystique".

    Just before killing Mr Fletcher, he had a fixation about a Scottish
    woman he called "Enchantress and femme fatale" and made his way to
    Italy to get a gun to kill her and then commit suicide. That gun was
    used to kill Mr Fletcher. He became obsessed with Theresa Saldana, an
    actress who starred with Robert De Niro in the flim Raging Bull, and he
    went to California in 1982 on a "divine mission" to kill her and then
    commit suicide so they could be together in heaven.

    Jackson confronted the actress near her home and stabbed her
    repeatedly. Had it not been for a bystander, she would have died,
    Orlando Pownall, prosecuting, told the Old Bailey. She needed 26 pints
    of blood and extensive surgery and is in fear of Jackson to this day.

    In America, Jackson was jailed for 12 years and told by the judge he
    had "a tortuous and tortured" mind. "A man with his mental state should
    never see the light of day."

    Five years later, from his cell, Jackson wrote to the Commissioner of
    the Metropolitan Police confessing: "I am the person responsible for
    those tragic incidents - the killing of Anthony Fletcher. I am prepared
    to sign a confession and offer full co-operation on condition
    extradition proceedings to bring me back to England begin immediately."

    Mr Pownall said: "His reasons had little if anything to with remorse"
    but were connected with changes in the American penal code which would
    have extended his time in jail.

    British police visited Jackson along with an FBI agent and recorded his
    confession. He told them he knew where the gun was, describing it as
    his "prize" but refused to disclose its whereabouts unless they met
    "preposterous conditions" to grant him an amnesty.

    Jackson's parole was delayed after he went on a prison rampage and sent
    further threats to Miss Saldana. He received a further five years. Last
    year he was returned to Britain. Stephen Leslie, QC, his counsel, said
    Jackson wanted the royalties from any books and films about him to go
    to his victim's family as compensation.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    Family 'discussed ways of killing mother'
    
    By Paul Stokes 

    A BOY told a jury yesterday of his involvement with his father and
    brother in a plan to kill their mother in a hammer attack.

    John Howells, who was 14 at the time, claimed that they had previously
    discussed pushing her off a cliff, under a vehicle or off a hotel
    balcony. He recalled the idea of using a hammer being mooted two to
    three weeks before Evelyn Howells, 48, a history teacher, was
    bludgeoned to death.

    It had been agreed that it should be made to appear that the motive had
    been a burglary that went wrong, he said. He told the jury that he, his
    brother Glenn, then 15, and their father David, 48, had talked about
    the choice of weapon but he said that he could not remember whose idea
    it was. "I don't really know. I don't know if it was my Dad or not,"
    John Howells told Leeds Crown Court.

    He admitted that they had talked about killing Mrs Howells on a
    Thursday night, a time that she always spent relaxing at home while her
    husband played for a darts team. It had been suggested that he would
    help Glenn by getting rid of the murder weapon and a date was initially
    fixed for the killing to take place.

    After that day passed he thought "it had just evaporated" but the fatal
    attack was delivered by Glenn a week later on Aug 31, 1995, he said. He
    and Glenn had returned to their home in Dalton, West Yorks, that night
    after taking the family dog for a walk.

    John Howells said his mother began shouting and swearing at them to
    take the dog back out for a proper walk. He said she had spoken to them
    in a "very loud, shrieking voice" and he recalled going into the
    bedroom before seeing Glenn changing his clothing.

    "I cannot honestly remember me passing the hammer to Glenn or him
    getting it himself," he told the jury. He saw Glenn leave the bedroom
    and the next thing he remembered was hearing "a noise, like a bang".
    John said: "I went through to the lounge. I saw Glenn striking Mum. I
    was asking Glenn to stop. I was saying 'No, No'. Vaguely I remember
    saying I would kill her in some different way." Asked by his counsel,
    Aidan Marran, QC, what other method he had considered for disposing of
    his mother he replied: "Poisoning."

    Glenn asked him to take a bag containing his blood-stained T-shirt, a
    pair of jeans and the murder weapon away on his bicycle and he dumped
    them at a rubbish tip. About a week later he went to move the T-shirt
    and the hammer, with his father's knowledge, after learning that police
    were searching in that area.

    At the time of his mother's death he kept a photograph of her in his
    wallet and told the jury: "I loved her, but then again I also disliked
    her - I hated her. We just wished that she wasn't there. She just got a
    lot worse and we thought how it would be better if she wasn't around
    us." 

    Asked if his father was engaged in that conversation he responded:
    "Just a little bit." He added that he had talked with his father and
    brother "quite a few times" about Mrs Howells being dead a year before
    the killing took place.

    "It made me feel easier," he said. "I disliked my Mum very much. I just
    wished she would just disappear. I love my Dad, I still love my
    brother."

    David Howells, a maintenance engineer, Glenn Howells, now 17, and John
    Howells, now 15, all deny murder. Glenn Howells admits manslaughter on
    the grounds of provocation, a plea not accepted by the Crown.

    The hearing continues.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    Recycling rebels face heavy fines
    
    By Tim King. 

    HEAVY fines will be imposed on businesses that fail to recycle
    packaging, the Department of the Environment said yesterday. 

    Regulations requiring companies to meet recycling targets were laid
    before Parliament yesterday. Companies will have to provide an estimate
    of their use of packaging and then certify how much has been recycled. 

    Yesterday, department sources said that "some significant fines" would
    be needed to convince firms to take the legislation seriously.
    Convicted companies would face fines of up to �20,000 in magistrates
    court or unlimited fines in higher courts.

    Initially, the law will apply to about 4,000 firms with a turnover of
    more than �5 million and which handle more than 50 tons of packaging
    each year. A further 5,000 companies will be involved from the year
    2000 when the threshold is lowered to �1 million.

    By 2001, under the terms of a European directive, Britain must be
    recycling half of its packaging waste. At present, 27 per cent of
    almost nine million tons of packaging is recycled each year.

    The department estimated that the annual cost of complying with the
    legislation would be up to �564 million a year with initial
    administration costs of �41 million. It estimated that the cost of
    retail goods would rise by about 2p in every �10 of shopping.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    Anger at road plan
    
    By Paul Marston, Transport Correspondent 

    THE Government was accused of "appalling arrogance" yesterday after
    agreeing more improvements on the road where work is being delayed by
    tunnelling protesters.

    Ministers approved 14-miles of dual carriageway on the A30/A303 from
    Honiton, Devon to Ilminster, Somerset. The Department of Transport said
    the timing of the announcement was unrelated to the tunnel protest. But
    the Council for the Protection of Rural England said: "This is a
    dreadful decision. We can't think of a more provocative action the DoT
    could have taken."

    It forecast that the route, running through the Blackdown Hills, a
    recently designated area of outstanding natural beauty, would severely
    damage the landscape and generate as much opposition as the M3 Twyford
    Down project, one of the most protracted roads protests, in Hampshire
    five years ago.

    Friends of the Earth said the dual carriageway, most of which will be
    built closely parallel to the existing road, would destroy part of the
    Longlie Hill site of potential special scientific interest, damage
    ancient bluebell woodland and wildlife sites and require the relocation
    of badger setts and dormice.

    A spokesman said: "It is appalling arrogance of the Government to give
    the go-ahead for yet more destructive road schemes while protesters are
    braving their lives in nearby tunnels to defend the countryside."

    Tunnel specialists attempting to evict the Fairmile activists said that
    part of the underground network had collapsed. The cave-in occurred in
    the chamber where two protesters were caught on Monday. Three others
    spent yesterday in another part of the system, which is reached by an
    18-foot unshored vertical shaft.

    A spokesman for Trevor Coleman, Devon under-sheriff who is leading the
    eviction, said the collapse showed the system's danger and instability.
    The eviction team, still shoring up the complex, were in voice contact
    with the three protesters, who ignored pleas to come to the surface.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    Vice squad investigate the ice man
    
    By Carole Cadwalladr 

    A COUNCIL'S attempt to bring modern art to the masses has outraged one
    of its members and led to a vice squad investigation.

    Among the sculptures to be displayed at the Walsall Museum and Art
    Gallery in the West Midlands are an ice version of Epstein's Adam,
    missing everything except his highly-stylised genitalia, and a six-foot
    high lump of marzipan which visitors can lick.

    Councillor Melvin Pitt said the exhibition, that opens on Saturday, was
    indecent and asked the West Midlands Police to look at the iceman. But
    they decided that none of the exhibits was pornographic.

    "The sculpture is obscene, not just because of what it is portraying
    but also because it is a huge waste of public money," said Mr Pitt.

    Deborah Robinson, the gallery's senior exhibitions officer, said: "The
    marzipan was produced by a partially sighted artist who plays with
    smell and texture to evoke memories."

    The ice sculpture, by Hermione Wiltshire, had been left anatomically
    abstract so that people could "project their own sexuality on to it".

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    Evans 'went too far' with tasteless joke
    
    By Alison Boshoff, Media Correspondent 

    CHRIS Evans, the former Radio 1 disc jockey, has been criticised again
    by the Broadcasting Standards Council for making tasteless jokes
    on-air.

    Evans, 30, who left the station this month, was the subject of six
    complaints to the watchdog in one month - and more are being
    investigated, said a spokesman.

    In all but one, the council said that his humour was juvenile but did
    not go beyond acceptable limits. However, his jokes about violence to
    women and inviting his team to join him in apparently kicking Holly
    Samos, a female team member, went too far.

    A complaint about Radio 4's Desert Island Discs was not upheld. Fran
    Landsman, a poet, chose cannabis seeds as her luxury item. The council
    said that a fantasy choice did not promote drugs.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    Are you suited for a parking permit?
    
    By Michael Smith 

    COUNCIL investigators who suspected that a businessman was using his
    resident's parking permit illegally monitored his movements before
    asking to check his wardrobe to ensure that he was a resident.

    The private contractors demanded right of access to Peter Sarony's
    house to check that he lived there and said they might need to ensure
    his clothes were in the wardrobe and his bed had been slept in. Mr
    Sarony, 55, an architect, who had lived in Westminster for 33 years,
    held a parking permit for 15 and is up to date with his council tax. He
    wouldn't admit them.

    "I thought it was a wind-up at first," he said. "But then I realised
    they were serious. I told them this was something you would expect in
    Hitler's Germany, not in modern-day London."

    But the Westminster city council investigators said they were retired
    police officers and advised him to look at the small print of his
    parking permit application form. There Sub-section 4 states: "I
    understand and accept that the city council may request my permission
    to inspect the address given as my place of residence before or after
    the issue of a permit, and that, should I refuse that permission, it is
    likely that the permit will not be granted or will be withdrawn."

    Like many residents of Westminster, Mr Sarony had ticked the box
    alongside this clause without realising quite what it might entail. Not
    even his presence on the electoral roll was sufficient for the
    investigators, as he might have moved out since his name was
    registered. A look around his home, and if necessary a sweep through
    his wardrobe, was all that would do.

    The council said Mr Sarony's problems came about because he lived and
    worked in the same parking zone. Investigators checked the parking bay
    outside his office at 7am on successive mornings and his car was not
    there. When it was there at 11am, they concluded that he was not a
    resident and not entitled to his pass. James Hood, chairman of the
    council's traffic sub-committee, said: "I'm looking into the
    procedures."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    Computer weighs pigs at a glance
    
    By Robert Uhlig, Science Correspondent 

    A MACHINE that can accurately tell the weight of a pig simply by
    looking at it has been developed by British scientists.

    The machine, called "Watch 'em Grow", uses a camera mounted above the
    pig's trough to take a picture from which the animal's size is
    calculated. Computer software analyses the image and compares it with a
    record of other pigs of known size and weight to determine the animal's
    heaviness.

    "It's as effective as a conventional farm weighing crate," said Paddy
    Schofield, a research scientist who has developed the system at the
    Silsoe Research Centre, a food and agriculture institute. "If you knew
    the breed of the pig at a county show and could place the camera in the
    right place above the pig then you could certainly win the 'Guess the
    pig's weight' competitions."

    The next stage of the system will be able to tell the slaughter
    properties of each animal. Mr Schofield said: "We should be able to
    know how much of the pig will be ham, bacon, chops and pork joints."

    International News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 30 January 1997

    Mars 'crater of life' pinpointed
    
    By Roger Highfield, Science Editor 

    A CRATER on Mars where life may have thrived millions of years ago has
    been pinpointed, a meeting of space scientists will be told.

    The claim will be made by James Rice of Arizona State University at the
    28th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in March. A summary on the
    Internet yesterday reveals that Mr Rice believes he has identified the
    crater that yielded the potato-sized Martian meteorite ALH 84001.

    The meteorite was found in Antarctica and last year a team of Nasa and
    Open University scientists said it may have once hosted bacteria. The
    6.2 mile-diameter crater, positioned at 5 deg S and 146 deg W, is in
    the Memnonia region of Mars, near the planet's equator. It has an
    oblique debris blanket, suggesting the impact occurred at an angle.

    Mr Rice said: "This oblique impact would have facilitated the ejection
    of material off the Martian surface and into space. This region of Mars
    contains numerous valleys and canyons where water once flowed from the
    southern cratered highlands of Terra Sirenum to the lowland volcanic
    plains of Amazonis Planitia, billions of years ago."

    The igneous rock in the 4.2lb meteorite has been dated to about 4.5
    billion years, when the planet formed. Mr Rice said: "It seems quite
    reasonable to assume that the rock formed in an ancient region
    (Noachian Age) of the Martian surface, namely the cratered highlands."

    He then searched Viking Orbiter images to find a crater which was
    formed 16 million years ago - exposure of ALH 84001 to cosmic rays
    suggest this was the time it was ejected by a comet or asteroid. "This
    would result in a very fresh and young crater," said Mr Rice. "Young
    craters on Mars are defined as having sharp, complete, well-preserved
    rims, steep walls, deep and rough floors."

    The conference, sponsored by Nasa and held at the Johnson Space Centre
    and the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas, will be
    dominated by the debate over whether ALH 84001 did contain evidence of
    life.

    One team from the University of Hawaii will present a series of
    mechanisms using inorganic - non-living - processes to explain some of
    the finds. Others will question whether there are "biofilms" in the
    meteorite, a covering of organic matter that was thought to have been
    deposited by biological processes.

    Roger Highfield, Science Editor of The Telegraph, won the 1996 Chemical
    Industries Award yesterday for his outstanding personal contribution to
    increasing the public understanding of science. At an awards ceremony
    in London, Robin Paul, president of the Chemical Industries
    Association, commended Dr Highfield and The Daily Telegraph for their
    "manifest commitment and constant approach" to science and technology
    coverage. The award was presented for a series of articles including
    those on drug use at the Atlanta Olympics, sleep and dream patterns and
    genetic engineering.

    AP 31-Jan-1997 1:03 EST   REF5842

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Friday, Jan. 31, 1997
   
    CLINTON-FEDERAL AID 

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Clinton released $39 million in federal
    aid Thursday to restore public facilities damaged last year in natural
    disasters. The money, which is headed for 30 states, the Virgin
    Islands, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, will pay for repairs
    and construction on lands maintained by five federal agencies: the Fish
    and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land
    Management, U.S. Geological Survey and National Park Service. The
    facilities sustained damage from last year's Midwest and Southeast
    flooding, and from hurricanes. The Western and Mountain states also
    suffered from forest fires last year. 
   
    OBIT-TEJEDA 

    SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Texas Congressman Frank Tejeda died Thursday night
    at his home at age 51. The San Antonio Democrat had battled a malignant
    brain tumor since September 1995, undergoing surgery, radiation and
    chemotherapy treatments. Tejeda was a high school dropout who later
    earned distinction on the battlefields of Vietnam and Ivy League
    campuses. 
   
    CHINA-US TRADE 

    BEIJING (AP) -- China and the United States worked Thursday toward
    ending a key trade dispute and said U.S. secretary of state Madeleine
    Albright would make a trip to Beijing in late February. Chinese Foreign
    Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang said Beijing was ready to work with
    Washington to ease tensions and settle disputes. Both countries have
    signaled their eagerness to mend relations, frayed by hard feelings
    over Taiwan, trade disputes and U.S. criticism of China's human rights'
    record. 
   
    WALL COLLAPSE 

    HOUSTON (AP) -- Rescue crews in Houston have recovered the bodies of
    three women killed Thursday when a wall collapsed in a shopping center.
    Authorities say they're afraid as many as six other people may be
    missing. The wall at the Northline Mall was being torn down to make way
    for a movie theater. Rescuers have been using dogs to hunt for victims,
    and cranes were brought in to move rubble. 
   
    AIR-BAGS 

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Domestic car makers are making the case for less
    forceful air bags. The companies say their proposal for modified air
    bags would save hundreds of lives and should be adopted quickly. The
    letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration disputes
    the idea that hundreds of other lives would be put at risk if air bags
    are "depowered." 
   
    SIMPSON-JURY 

    SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) -- Jurors in the O.J. Simpson civil trial
    have gone home after completing their second full day of deliberations.
    Thursday, they watched video of police activity around the scene of the
    killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman and asked for DNA test
    strips and photos indicating whether blood could have been planted or
    contaminated. 
   
    BOMBING TRIAL 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- A videotape from a McDonald's restaurant security
    camera places Timothy McVeigh near the shop that rented the truck used
    in the Oklahoma City federal building bombing, CBS News reported. The
    videotape shows McVeigh for about two minutes buying a hamburger, only
    minutes before he allegedly rented the Ryder truck from the nearby
    Elliott's Body Shop in Junction City, Kan., CBS said, citing
    unidentified sources. 
   
    PERU HOSTAGES 

    LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Police hunted Thursday for a small band of leftist
    rebels thought to be acting as a liaison between guerrillas holding 72
    hostages in Lima and their comrades in the remote jungle. The search
    comes as President Alberto Fujimori and Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro
    Hashimoto prepare for a weekend summit that could renew negotiations to
    free the hostages. Fujimori's younger brother is among the captives. 
   
    COMPUSERVE ORDERS 

    COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- CompuServe said Thursday that new orders have
    jumped fivefold after the company's Super Bowl commercial promoting its
    reliability. The new orders come as customers of rival America Online
    are having well-publicized trouble logging on because of clogged phone
    lines. AOL on Wednesday reached a multi-state agreement to give
    millions of dollars worth of credits and refunds to customers. 
   
    JAPAN MARKETS 

    TOKYO (AP) -- The Nikkei rose 570.68 points to 18,434,72 points at the
    end of the morning session. On Thursday, the average lost 471.26
    points. At late morning, the dollar traded at 121.84 yen, up 0.48 yen. 
   
    NBA-LAWSUIT 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- In a defeat for the National Basketball Association, a
    federal appeals court ruled that STATS Inc. and Motorola may transmit
    real-time scores over the Internet and hand-held pagers. It overturned
    a lower court decision that barred the two companies from transmitting
    live updates from NBA games taken from television and radio broadcasts.
    News organizations, including The Associated Press, had filed briefs
    supporting the companies' right to provide the scores.
   
    REDS-SANDERS 

    CINCINNATI (AP) -- NFL star Deion Sanders is returning to major league
    baseball. He will rejoin the Cincinnati Reds this season. Sanders will
    continue to play football for the Dallas Cowboys. 
   
    AP Newsbrief by BENITA GREEN 

    RTw  30-Jan-97 20:42    

    Reuters World News Highlights

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Syria
    to stop Hizbollah guerrilla attacks on Israeli forces in Lebanon after
    a roadside bomb killed three soldiers. Netanyahu also urged Syria to
    restart peace talks with Israel suspended for nearly a year. 

    GAZA - Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has asked the United States
    to refrain from extraditing a top leader of the Islamic militant Hamas
    group to Israel, an aide said. 

    HEBRON, West Bank - Jewish settlers in Hebron dug foundations in
    preparation for the expansion of an enclave in the Israeli-ruled part
    of the West Bank town, witnesses said. 

    - - - - 

    MOSCOW - Russian President Boris Yeltsin returned to the Kremlin for
    talks intended to show demonstrate he is retaining command of the ship
    of state while recovering from pneumonia. 

    - - - - 

    BELGRADE - Pro-democracy demonstrators, their enthusiam unbowed in a
    waiting game with the Serbian government, marched through Belgrade in a
    75th straight day of protests. The capital was rife with rumours of a
    cabinet reshuffle and hints that authoritarian Serbian President
    Slobodan Milosevic would offer dialogue with opposition parties in a
    marathon dispute over annulled municipal elections. 

    - - - - 

    WASHINGTON - Human rights will remain a "key element" in U.S. foreign
    policy, new Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said after her
    department issued its annual human rights report. 

    - - - - 

    BAGHDAD - Shoppers in Baghdad cursed U.S. President Bill Clinton and
    said Washington was reviving its vendetta against President Saddam
    Hussein to scupper Iraq's oil-for-food deal with the United Nations. 

    NICOSIA - Iraqi dissidents said that recent U.S. statements on Iraq
    gave an accurate account of rifts in Saddam Hussein's inner circle. 

    GENEVA - U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said that he expected the
    Security Council to renew Iraq's oil-for-food deal for another six
    months in June. 

    - - - - 

    ZURICH - The head of a Clinton administration probe into Nazi assets
    said a boycott of Swiss banks would be counter- productive to
    Switzerland's efforts to clear up its World War Two financial role.
    Commerce Undersecretary Stuart Eizenstat, chairman of a United States
    interagency task force, said damage to the Swiss banking system would
    not be in the U.S. or world interest. 

    GENEVA - The new U.N. chief Kofi Annan  called Switzerland's dispute
    with Jews over the fate of unclaimed bank accounts a public relations
    disaster and urged a fair settlement. 

    BONN - Germany has been paying supplementary "victims' pensions" worth
    billions of marks (dollars) each year to thousands of Nazi war
    criminals, a German television network said . 

    - - - - 

    SOFIA - Roadblocks and strikes around Bulgaria showed protesters' firm
    rejection of the ruling Socialists' latest compromise offer for early
    elections on the 25th day of protests fuelled by an economic crisis. 

    - - - - 

    PARIS - Moslem rebels killed an Algerian former army general  in the
    western Algerian city of Oran, Algerian security forces said. 

    - - - - 

    GROZNY, Russia - Chechen guerrilla leader Aslan Maskhadov, acclaimed
    winner of Sunday's post-war election in the breakaway region, sought to
    bring his main presidential rival into a future government. 

    - - - - 

    KINSHASA - Zaire's counter-offensive against rebels has run into
    difficulty with the mercenary-backed government army on the defensive
    on many fronts, government and military sources said. 

    - - - - 

    MUSANZE, Rwanda - Hutu extremists killed about 20 Tutsi civilians and
    wounded at least nine in a village in northwestern Rwanda at the
    weekend, aid and hospital officials said. They told Reuters that the
    Tutsi-dominated army killed an unknown number of Hutus in reprisal. 

    - - - - 

    PARIS - France denied any change in nuclear doctrine after German
    Defence Minister Volker Ruehe fuelled uproar in Paris by saying the
    French had for the first time accepted the supremacy of NATO's U.S.
    nuclear deterrent. 

    - - - - 

    BELFAST - The British government agreed to create a commission to try
    to defuse sectarian tension sparked by the annual parade season in
    Northern Ireland. But Northern Ireland Minister Patrick Mayhew said it
    needed more time to decide whether the commission, as recommended by an
    independent review body, should have legal powers to decide whether
    disputed parades by the Protestant majority go ahead. 

    REUTER 

    AP 31-Jan-1997 0:30 EST   REF5676

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    IRS Rethinking Tax Processing

    NEW YORK (AP) -- After spending $4 billion developing computer systems
    that "do not work in the real world," the Internal Revenue Service says
    it is considering hiring an outside contractor to process paper tax
    returns. 

    The agency has found that its customer service representatives must use
    as many as nine different computer terminals, each of which connects to
    several different data bases, to resolve problems, The New York Times
    reported. 

    "Dysfunctional as some of these systems may be today," said Arthur
    Gross, the IRS's assistant commissioner, the agency "is wholly
    dependent on them" to bring in $1.4 billion in taxes. What's more,
    Gross said, it is doubtful the IRS has the capability of developing
    workable computer systems. 

    The problem with the current systems, the Times quoted Gross in
    Friday's editions, is that they "do not work in the real world. 

    Saddled with such problems, the IRS is planning to survey private
    companies about building and operating a system to process
    approximately 200 million tax returns each year, The Washington Post
    reported Monday. 

    In a 43-page report sent last week to the House and Senate
    appropriations subcommittees that oversee the Treasury Department, the
    IRS said contracts could begin about four years after the agency
    evaluates the companies' replies. 

    Any move to out source the processing of taxpayers' returns is likely
    to draw complaints from people concerned about privacy. The Post
    reported that agency lawyers were reviewing statutes regarding which
    government functions cannot legally be entrusted to the private sector.

    The Post reported some of the agency's problems are related to its
    aging computer systems, noting the system used to enter data for
    processing and posting to a taxpayer's file is 12 years old and a
    system that routes payments for deposit is 19 years old. 

    The Times added that efforts to modernize the system have also met with
    serious problems. The IRS has already killed one modernization project,
    a plan to turn paper tax returns into electronic images, after paying
    $284 million to develop it, the Times said. 

    Twelve other modernization projects are under review, the Times said,
    quoting an agency spokesman as saying the cost of shutting those down
    would be astronomical. 

    AP 31-Jan-1997 0:26 EST   REF5663

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    CBS Yanks Bill Cosby Interview

    NEW YORK (AP) -- CBS News won't air the rest of Dan Rather's interview
    with Bill Cosby on Sunday, including the entertainer's admission that
    he had an affair with the mother of a woman who claims to be his
    illegitimate daughter. 

    Facing criticism that the network was parceling out its exclusive to
    bolster ratings, CBS News president Andrew Heyward and "60 Minutes"
    producer Don Hewitt decided not to broadcast the rest of the interview,
    portions of which aired Monday on "The CBS Evening News." 

    "I suggested to Dan and ... Heyward that maybe too many people had
    picked over the interview and there wasn't as much left as we thought
    there would be," Hewitt said in a statement issued Thursday. 

    "And furthermore, none of us could disagree all that much with
    columnists who said this story was being exploited." 

    Cosby has not given interviews to anyone but Rather since his son,
    Ennis, was shot to death while changing a flat tire along a Los Angeles
    freeway on Jan. 16. There have been no arrests. 

    Cosby returned to work this week on his CBS sitcom, "Cosby." 

    According to a transcript of the portion of the interview that was
    intended for "60 Minutes," Cosby admits having an affair with Shawn
    Thompson in the mid-1970s. 

    "If you said, 'Did you make love to the woman?' the answer is yes. 'Are
    you the father?' No," Cosby said. 

    But when pressed by Rather if there's a chance he could be the father
    of Ms. Thompson's daughter, Autumn Jackson, Cosby replied: "There is a
    possibility." 

    Ms. Jackson, 22, and an accomplice are charged with trying to extort
    millions from the entertainer by threatening to publicly allege that he
    is her father. 

    AP 30-Jan-1997 23:54 EST   REF5612

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Mont. Senator Comes Under Fire

    By SUSAN GALLAGHER

    Associated Press Writer

    HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- At least seven people claim a state senator who
    wants to repeal the ban on corporal punishment in Montana's schools
    beat and abused students when he was a high school gym teacher in the
    1960s and 1970s. 

    Casey Emerson, 71, a Republican from Bozeman, denies the accusations,
    saying they contain "obvious lies." And some other former students
    contacted by The Associated Press recalled Emerson as strict, but not
    abusive. 

    The seven men and women, some in their 40s, want Emerson removed from
    the Senate's education committee, but senators are resisting, saying
    there's no evidence to support the allegations. 

    Emerson mostly taught physical education from 1965 to 1975 at Bozeman
    Junior High School. 

    After he unsuccessfully introduced a bill to repeal the ban on school
    corporal punishment earlier this month, former students began writing
    legislators with tales of abuse. 

    "I saw Casey hold a student's head in the urinal and flush it," wrote
    Alvin Huntsman III of Corvallis, Ore. "I myself was paddled on one
    occasion." 

    Craig Menzel of West Yellowstone said he recalled "a huge wooden paddle
    about 4 feet long with holes drilled throughout its length, which he
    used to beat me on two separate occasions." 

    Terri Sullivan of Bozeman told legislators Emerson pushed her down a
    school staircase in the late 1960s. 

    Sullivan said this week that news coverage of her remarks and Emerson's
    denial brought many calls from former students claiming abuse. 

    However, other former students and former Bozeman Junior High Principal
    Francis Olson said in phone interviews that Emerson imposed strict
    discipline, but they didn't recall any abuse. 

    "I don't have anything but positive recollections of Casey as a teacher
    and a coach," said Ron Aasheim of Helena. 

    Gary Litle of Bozeman said Emerson "commanded respect and discipline,
    and I think that's necessary." 

    "They had a paddle that hung on the wall -- I think they called it
    Bertha. If you screwed around, you got a swat with Bertha. I'm sure I
    received a swat or two. It's not something that hurt," he said. 

    Emerson said the allegations of abuse are part of a campaign to derail
    his legislative career because he is an unflinching conservative. 

    "This stuff is totally political because I won't give an inch," Emerson
    said. "They intend to get me." 

    AP 30-Jan-1997 23:45 EST   REF5581

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    3 Killed in Texas Mall Collapse

    By MICHELLE KOIDIN

    Associated Press Writer

    HOUSTON (AP) -- A wall collapsed at a shopping mall Thursday morning,
    killing three people, injuring seven and sending dozens of elderly
    "mall walkers" scrambling for their lives. As many as six others were
    feared missing under tons of concrete and steel rubble. 

    The wall was being torn down to make room for a Magic Johnson movie
    theater complex when it caved in. 

    "It just all of a sudden went crackling. I ran," said Dorothy McCann,
    who was among those who exercise daily by walking laps inside the
    Northline Mall. 

    Rescuers using dogs searched through the debris for victims. Cranes
    were brought in during the afternoon to move rubble, and a mall
    security videotape was being reviewed to see if it could shed light on
    what happened. 

    The bodies of three women were retrieved from the rubble late Thursday,
    more than 10 hours after firefighters and paramedics descended on the
    site. Four to six others were believed to be missing. 

    "We're pretty certain there may be other people under the debris," Fire
    Chief Eddie Corral said. "We won't really know until we get in there
    and pull it off. Some of it is rather large and heavy." 

    Authorities continued searching late into the night with hope that
    those missing could still be alive. 

    "That's always a possibility," Corral said. "We're not going to say no.
    A lot of miraculous things happen." 

    Demolition crews were removing the last sections of an old department
    store when a wall shared by the store and the mall caved in at about
    the time the mall opened at 9 a.m. Authorities described the wall as
    about 20 feet high. The fallen section was said to 150 to 200 feet
    long. 

    "I just heard a loud rumble," said Mary Shields, 59, who was inside the
    mall. "I could see dust flying. I turned around and looked back. I saw
    people running out of the offices saying somebody got hurt. The dust
    was so thick. You couldn't see." 

    It was not immediately known whether those killed were construction
    workers or mall employees or visitors. 

    Six of the injured were "mall walkers," most of them in their 60s and
    70s, including a man who ran through a window to flee the avalanche of
    debris and a couple who were pushed to the ground by the force of the
    collapse. 

    The most seriously injured was a 67-year-old woman with a broken ankle. 

    Like many malls around the country, Northline is a popular place for
    people, especially the elderly, to exercise each day by walking laps
    before the stores open. 

    Mayor Bob Lanier said the search for victims was slowed by the need to
    make certain the rescue crews were in no danger. "They've got to make
    it safe," he said. "When they do, we think they will find some more
    (bodies)." 

    In 1995, Johnson, the former basketball star, broke ground on his chain
    of movie theaters with a promise to provide jobs and good service to
    minority urban areas. The mall is about five miles north of downtown
    Houston. 

    AP 30-Jan-1997 23:44 EST   REF5568

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Man Arrested for Harassing Notes

    By KAREN MATTHEWS

    Associated Press Writer

    NEW YORK (AP) -- An ex-convict was arrested for blanketing the
    windshields of Russian diplomats' cars with harassing notes such as
    "Russki scofflaws, get out and go home," police said Thursday. 

    The arrest of James Cohen, who lives near the Russian mission to the
    United Nations, came hours after Police Commissioner Howard Safir told
    diplomats Wednesday that he sympathized with their parking woes. 

    Last month, Russian and Belarussian envoys claimed they were manhandled
    by New York City police who had ticketed their car. A Russian newspaper
    reported Thursday that the Moscow city government has retaliated by
    declaring foreign drivers, mainly Americans, a hazard. 

    Police said Cohen, 60, left at least two dozen computer-printout notes
    on the windshields of Russian diplomats' cars parked near their U.N.
    mission. He was arrested on a charge of aggravated harassment. Cohen
    was convicted twice of attempted grand larceny in 1984, but police
    didn't say whether he served any jail time. 

    Dmitri Feoktistov, deputy press secretary of the Russian mission, said
    he got three of the notes himself. 

    The first one, Feoktistov said, read: "You are disgusting and no
    diplomat. You are holding parking spots meant for ordinary people. You
    should be ashamed of yourself." 

    The second one said: "Russki scofflaws, get out and go home." He
    declined to read the third note aloud "because it has strong language."

    Cohen's phone number is unlisted. 

    Diplomats, whose cars bear identifying plates, are supposed to park in
    designated spots but often park elsewhere and ignore the tickets they
    collect because of diplomatic immunity. Their perceived cavalier
    attitude has at times engendered hostility in a city of scarce parking.

    Russian diplomats owe at least $722,000 in outstanding parking fines,
    according to the city. 

    Feoktisov said the Russian mission does not have enough parking spaces.
    "We try to obey the law." 

    AP 30-Jan-1997 22:53 EST   REF5367

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Probe Focuses on O.J. Jury

    By MICHAEL FLEEMAN

    Associated Press Writer

    SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) -- Two jurors from the first O.J. Simpson
    trial and an entertainment agent are under investigation for allegedly
    contacting jurors in the civil trial, sources said Thursday. 

    An angry Superior Court Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki ordered the probe after
    two civil-trial jurors reported receiving a letter at their homes from
    criminal trial jurors Brenda Moran and Gina Rosborough, sources told
    The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. 

    In the handwritten letter, Moran and Rosborough praise the civil trial
    jurors and urge them to consider contacting an entertainment
    agent-publicist named Bud Stewart offering to represent them in media
    deals, the sources said. 

    "Congratulations on successfully surviving a trying experience," says
    the letter, which apparently was written by Moran and refers to Gina
    Rosborough, who had a joint book deal with Moran. It was unclear if
    both women signed the letter. 

    The women say they would "respect your verdict and look forward to
    meeting you" for coffee or dinner, according to the letter, which was
    read to the AP. 

    "We would like to make sure that you're aware that if you listen to
    professionals who know the media business you have a great opportunity
    to protect your rights," the letter says. 

    Sheriff's deputies descended on Moran's home in a neatly kept
    working-class neighborhood in south-central Los Angeles Thursday night,
    searching cars and shutting themselves in the house with Ms. Moran and
    her parents while reporters camped outside. 

    "They wouldn't even let me in," said James Moran Jr., the brother of
    the ex-juror. "I don't know what's going on." 

    Through their attorney, the women denied wrongdoing and contended they
    were merely trying to help the new Simpson jurors cope with the
    inevitable media avalanche that awaits them after the verdict. 

    "There was absolutely no attempt in the world to interfere with the
    jury, and the letter really is innocuous," said attorney Jeff Brodey. 

    Brodey said the women wrote the letter themselves and handed it over to
    Stewart, who is linked to a publishing house, Lincoln Press, which is
    publishing a book by Moran and Rosborough. 

    "They didn't send it out. Somebody else sent it out," Brodey said. 

    Brodey said he didn't know who sent the letter, or how the person who
    sent it figured out where the civil trial jurors lived. The judge has
    kept the jurors' identities secret. 

    Moran and Rosborough refused to comment. Stewart didn't return messages
    left on his answering machine. 

    It was this letter that caused Tuesday's court session to be delayed
    about an hour while the judge interviewed all of the jurors, sources
    said. None of the jurors was bounced from the panel, and deliberations
    began that afternoon. 

    Fujisaki had imposed an order forbidding anyone from contacting the
    jurors. The panelists aren't sequestered. 

    Brodey said the women had not yet been contacted by authorities, only
    media. 

    It was not entirely clear who Stewart is. The Moran-Rosborough book
    deal was announced just days after the criminal trial ended in October
    1995 by a Bud Stewart, who gave a Wilshire Boulevard address in Beverly
    Hills that is a mail drop in a pharmacy. 

    At the time, the book title was said to be "Inside the Simpson Jury
    (The Parallel Universe)" and the publisher was listed as Los
    Angeles-based Advanced Books. 

    The address that Stewart gave is also listed in state records as
    Jackson Music Co., with a phone number that has since been
    disconnected. The owner of Jackson Music is listed as a Bary Gorden. 

    On Thursday, the New York Post quoted a man with the name Barry Gordon,
    with this different spelling, who identified himself as a
    representative for Moran and Rosborough and who was able to get a Post
    columnist in touch with Moran. 

    The Barry Gordon quoted in the Post also had information about the
    letter to the civil-trial jurors, and said that it was written by
    Moran. 

    AP 30-Jan-1997 22:39 EST   REF5104

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Mass Transit in Grand Canyon?

    By MICHELLE BOORSTEIN

    Associated Press Writer

    PHOENIX (AP) -- Besieged by escalating traffic and scarce parking,
    Grand Canyon National Park officials have come up with a way to cut
    back on cars in the park -- mass transit. 

    Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt planned to unveil several transit
    options Friday at the canyon, including a light rail system and
    alternative-fuel buses that run on electricity and liquid methanol. 

    Under the plan, cars will be banned from the park by the summer of
    2000, except for people driving along state Route 64, staying at hotels
    or camping. Other visitors would have to leave their cars in nearby
    towns or at a massive lot to be built outside the park, then shuttle in
    by bus or rail. 

    Officials estimate the plan will eliminate 80 percent of the 1.5
    million cars that enter the park each year. 

    "The goal is to give people relief from the current problem, which is
    you're driving around looking for a parking place all day," said Susan
    Finley, sales director for the Grand Canyon National Park Lodges, the
    park's concessionaire. 

    The transportation proposal is part of a $350 million Park Service plan
    to improve the park for visitors, which numbered about 5 million last
    year. It includes building a central bus station/information center,
    improving employee housing and constructing an 11-mile bike trail. 

    "The park's roads and facilities in the developed areas were never
    designed to handle the current volume of vehicles. The result is that
    resources are being damaged and the quality of the experience is being
    downgraded," said Robert Arnberger, park superintendent. 

    Officials must complete an environmental impact assessment for both
    buses and trains before they can finalize plans. And questions remain
    about funding. 

    While the Park Service has access to income from a recent hike in park
    fees as well as fund-raising revenues, it is depending on finding
    private contractors for much of the project. 

    AP 30-Jan-1997 22:24 EST   REF5075

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    'Depowered' Air Bags Argued for

    By CATHERINE O'BRIEN

    Associated Press Writer

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Domestic automakers told federal regulators in their
    most strongly worded letter to date that the companies' proposal for
    less forceful air bags would save hundreds of lives and should be
    adopted quickly. 

    The detailed letter, sent Thursday to the National Highway Traffic
    Safety Administration, also said a recent government suggestion that
    hundreds of lives would be put at risk if air bags are "depowered" was
    vastly overstated. The assertion is based on a lot of incorrect
    assumptions, the letter said. 

    The agency needs to "go forward with a final rule on depowering as
    quickly as possible," said Barry Felrice of the American Automobile
    Manufacturers Association, which sent the letter in behalf of the Big
    Three automakers. 

    Air bags inflating at speeds up to 200 mph have been blamed for the
    deaths of 34 children and 20 adults in low-speed accidents they
    otherwise would have survived. Most of the adults were smaller women,
    and about one-third were elderly. 

    Air bags have saved more than 1,600 lives in higher-speed accidents.

    Less forceful air bags would save 327 to 446 additional lives annually
    when every car in America is equipped with the devices in the next
    century, the manufacturers' letter said. 

    Most of those saved would be of the same two categories that government
    investigations show have been vulnerable to deploying air bags in
    low-speed accidents, smaller adults not wearing seat belts and
    children. 

    The tradeoff is that less powerful air bags could result in death for
    seven to 47 unbelted adults who would have survived if air bags
    continue to deploy as they do today, the letter said. 

    The automakers' estimate is considerably lower than the government's.
    It said 122 to 969 adults who would have survived might die if air bags
    were made less forceful. 

    Phil Recht, deputy administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety
    Administration, said the government analysis "was not meant to be
    rigid" but rather to serve as an indicator of what tradeoffs could be
    involved. 

    "We have reason to believe, based on some limited real-world
    experience, that the results may be more optimistic than the charts
    indicate," Recht said. Government documents briefly mention the
    possibility of no adult lives being lost. 

    Last fall NHTSA agreed to installation in new cars of air bags 20 to 35
    percent less powerful than they are now, reflecting a higher priority
    on protecting children. 

    "We are committed to moving forward with depowering," said Recht. "We
    think it is an important part of the interim solution." NHTSA officials
    are reviewing public comments before issuing a final rule on less
    forceful air bags in February. 

    "We are willing to give up some of the gains that we have seen in the
    recent past with respect to unbelted occupants to eliminate or reduce
    risk for children and adults who are at risk," Recht said. 

    Automakers argue their proposal is the only comprehensive one because
    it would allow all new cars to have less forceful air bags and would
    allow installation to begin within nine months. The changeover would be
    completed in two years. 

    An agency-designed proposal would allow less forceful air bags only on
    31 percent of vehicles and would take up to four years, the letter
    said. 

    "Under the agency's proposal, we couldn't depower most of the vehicles
    at all, ever," the association's Felrice said. 

    In a strong rebuke of the government estimates of fatalities as
    compared with lives saved, the association's letter said one government
    analysis was "fraught with error" and a second extrapolated from sparse
    data to arrive at unsubstantiated conclusions. 

    The letter said, among other errors, the government: 

    --Plugged in the wrong numbers in two key instances. Those errors alone
    caused an estimate in the risk of death from depowering to be 10 times
    what the figure should have been. 

    --Based fatality estimates for all occupants under their proposal on a
    study that involved only drivers who were wearing seat belts. 

    AP 30-Jan-1997 21:46 EST   REF6014

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    OJ Jurors Finish Third Day

    By LINDA DEUTSCH

    AP Special Correspondent

    SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) -- Seemingly intent on doing their own
    scientific sleuthing, the jurors deliberating in the O.J. Simpson case
    Thursday asked to see DNA test strips, photos and videotapes focusing
    on whether blood could have been planted or contaminated. 

    Jurors, who quit for the night after a third day of deliberations,
    appeared relaxed and cheerful when they came into court to watch video
    reruns of police activity around the crime scene. 

    Two of the tapes showed criminalist Dennis Fung and his assistant
    Andrea Mazzola handling critical pieces of evidence -- Simpson's blood
    sample and a bag containing a bloody glove found behind Simpson's
    estate. 

    Another video was notable for its absence of evidence -- a scene shot
    in Simpson's bedroom. Police said they found bloody socks at the foot
    of the bed, but the police videotape made that same day showed no sign
    of such socks. Defense lawyers say that is proof the socks were
    planted. 

    One tape showed Detective Philip Vannatter striding into Simpson's
    front door with an envelope in one hand and a duffel bag in the other.
    Vannatter has said the envelope contained Simpson's blood sample. His
    admission that he carried the blood vial around in an unsealed envelope
    is cited by the defense as proof the blood could have been used for
    planting. 

    The jury's appearance in the courtroom drew an instant audience of
    media and spectators who had been waiting nearby for any word that a
    verdict might be near. 

    Attorneys also rushed to the courtroom but the jury requests appeared
    to leave them puzzled. They left court shrugging and declined to
    interpret the developments. 

    Earlier, the jurors asked for photo boards illustrating several key
    pieces of evidence, including the rear gate and walkway at Nicole Brown
    Simpson's condominium, the grounds at Simpson's estate where the glove
    was found and the interior of Simpson's Bronco. 

    They also asked to see DNA test strips used by the state crime lab to
    analyze specific blood drops, among them a single drop lifted from the
    back gate of Ms. Simpson's condo. The drop contained Simpson's DNA
    type. 

    Using specific exhibit numbers, the jury also wanted to know
    "development times" on some of the DNA tests. 

    The only piece of testimony jurors asked to hear again was from state
    crime lab biochemist Gary Sims on the subject of cross-hybridization of
    DNA samples during testing. 

    The jurors' note asking for Sims' testimony specified they were
    interested in "contamination." 

    During the videotape showing of Simpson's bedroom -- which jurors
    watched twice in slow motion -- three jurors took active notes and
    seemed to be looking at each other as if confirming something. 

    At one point, the judge stopped the video show and summoned lawyers to
    his bench for a brief conference. While they had their backs turned, a
    number of the jurors began whispering to each other as if discussing
    what they had just seen. 

    A court bailiff quickly told them to stop talking and save their
    remarks for the deliberation room. 

    Legal experts said it was too soon to guess about a verdict based on
    the jury's requests. They noted the jurors appeared to be taking pains
    to do a thorough job, in part because they know they will be expected
    to justify their decision. 

    "I think they want to be so sure of the verdict when they face the
    public that they want to cross every 't' and dot every 'i,"' said
    Laurie Levenson, associate dean of the Loyola University law school. 

    The length of deliberations isn't a cause for concern yet, but if they
    drag on through the end of the day Friday, it might be time to start
    worrying about a serious split, said Robert Pugsley, a law professor at
    Southwestern School of Law in Los Angeles. 

    The slew of requests began shortly after The Associated Press confirmed
    the jurors had chosen as their foreman the most meticulous notetaker
    among them, a policeman's son who said during jury selection he admired
    Simpson but believed he was probably guilty at his murder trial. 

    The man, in his late 50s or early 60s with a white handlebar mustache
    and beard, has a background working with technical information and is
    believed to have retired from a corporate job to do consulting. 

    The foreman paid close attention when evidence was passed around for
    inspection during the trial and was the only juror who tried on both of
    the alleged murder gloves when they were handed to him for inspection. 

    The seven-woman, five-man panel consists of nine whites, one black, one
    Hispanic and one person of black and Asian ancestry. 

    On Wednesday, the panel asked for a special magnifying glass often used
    to examine photographs. They also asked to see a picture of a
    purple-topped test tube like the one used to store Simpson's blood
    sample. 

    Ever since Simpson was arrested on charges of murdering Ms. Simpson and
    Ronald Goldman, controversy has swirled around the Los Angeles Police
    Department's handling of evidence. Simpson's acquittal 16 months ago
    came after a high-powered defense team, including DNA experts, argued
    he was the victim of police corruption, contamination and conspiracy. 

    Relatives of Ms. Simpson and Goldman are now suing Simpson for wrongful
    death, claiming the football great should be held responsible for the
    June 12, 1994, killings and stripped of his fortune as punishment. 

    AP 30-Jan-1997 21:03 EST   REF5993

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Report: McVeigh Seen in Video

    NEW YORK (AP) -- A videotape from a McDonald's restaurant security
    camera places Timothy McVeigh near the shop that rented the truck used
    in the Oklahoma City federal building bombing, CBS News reported
    Thursday. 

    The videotape shows McVeigh for about two minutes buying a hamburger,
    only minutes before he allegedly rented the Ryder truck from the nearby
    Elliott's Body Shop in Junction City, Kan., CBS said, citing
    unidentified sources. 

    The tape provides prosecutors with physical evidence of McVeigh's
    presence at the time, and that's important because of conflicting
    testimony among witnesses who said they saw McVeigh at the shop, CBS
    said. 

    In the McDonald's video, McVeigh appears to wear clothes different than
    those described by witnesses at Elliotts, CBS noted. 

    McVeigh lawyer Steve Jones criticized the report, telling CBS that news
    of the tape only indicates prosecutors are trying to "rearrange deck
    chairs on the Titanic. They acknowledge their witnesses are confused."

    AP 30-Jan-1997 23:39 EST   REF5538

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    N. Ireland Wants Parade Control

    By SHAWN POGATCHNIK

    Associated Press Writer

    BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) -- Britain should form a commission to
    supervise Northern Ireland's Protestant parades, which sparked
    widespread rioting last summer, a government-commissioned panel
    recommended Thursday. 

    The British government shied from fully endorsing the three-volume
    report it commissioned from an English academic, a Protestant minister
    and a Catholic priest. 

    Their chief suggestion was creating a five-member Parades Commission
    that would mediate between Protestant marchers and Catholic protesters
    and have the power to restrict marching routes. 

    The British minister responsible for governing Northern Ireland, Sir
    Patrick Mayhew, told the House of Commons in London he supported the
    commission's expected "mediation, conciliation and educational roles,"
    but would suspend judgment on whether the panel should take
    parade-route decisions away from police. 

    Hard-liners on both sides -- the people on the front lines of parade
    battles -- attacked the report, setting the scene for another volatile
    summer. 

    The epicenter is likely again to be the Drumcree fields north of the
    mostly Protestant town of Portadown. 

    Last July, riot police barred Protestant Orangemen from marching
    through Portadown's main Catholic enclave for four increasingly violent
    nights, as tens of thousands of Protestants massed behind barbed-wire
    barricades. 

    When police commanders relented, Catholic areas erupted in four nights
    of worse rioting. 

    The violence cost two lives, scores of injuries, and at least $50
    million in damage. Both sides' extremists blamed a system in which the
    police held most power to stop or push through disputed marches. 

    AP 30-Jan-1997 22:13 EST   REF5012

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Surgery a Risk for Saddam's Son

    By JAMAL HALABY

    Associated Press Writer

    AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- Saddam Hussein's oldest son risks total paralysis
    if he opts for surgery to remove bullets lodged in his pelvis and near
    his spine since an assassination attempt, sources said Thursday. 

    Odai, widely considered Saddam's heir apparent, has been partially
    paralyzed since being shot Dec. 12 during an attack in an upscale
    Baghdad suburb, they said. 

    Odai, 32, was thought to have suffered some paralysis based on
    appearances on Iraqi television in which he was shown not moving his
    legs. But the sources Thursday gave the most detailed description yet
    of Odai's condition. 

    In the Iraqi capital Baghdad, Iraq's information minister, Hamed Yousef
    Hamadi, denied suggestions that Odai was paralyzed or was at risk of
    losing a leg to gangrene. 

    "I have seen him," Hamadi told The Associated Press. "He is
    convalescing. He was hit by eight bullets. That is not a small thing." 

    The speculation on Odai's condition followed accounts of turmoil in
    Saddam's inner circle and coincided with reports by dissident groups
    that 6,000 Iraqi troops have been sent near the border with Kuwait,
    site of the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War. 

    Speaking from Jordan's capital, Amman, the dissidents said at least two
    brigades of special forces were sent to the southern city of Basra over
    the past few days and were deployed in palm tree groves just outside
    the city. 

    The groves' landlords, workers and their families have been asked to
    leave the area along the strategic Shat Al-Arab waterway in the
    northern tip of the Persian Gulf. 

    Opposition groups in London said the deployment could be linked to a
    recent surge in rebel attacks against government and security officials
    in Basra, 300 miles south of Baghdad. 

    The United States said this week that Saddam had launched extensive
    military exercises that again could threaten Kuwait. Iraq denied the
    charges Thursday, describing them, together with reports of unrest
    within Saddam's inner circle, as lies. 

    Quoting an Iraqi opposition group, the sources speaking in Amman about
    Odai's condition said two French physicians who arrived in Baghdad last
    month to check on him returned home this week. 

    "They did what they can, but Odai's condition is very complex," said
    one of the sources, whose government was well-informed on the
    physicians' experiences in Baghdad. 

    The source said the doctors, whom he declined to identify, operated
    three times on Odai and removed several bullets. 

    "But they were unable to remove one or two bullets that lodged in a
    sensitive area in the lower part of the spinal cord because that
    surgery could lead to total and permanent paralysis," the source said. 

    Another source, who maintains close contacts with the Iraqi regime,
    said "it's pretty bad that he's left with no choice but to undergo a
    very sensitive surgery that could leave him paralyzed forever." 

    The sources insisted they not be identified further. 

    Iraq has sought to disparage reports that Odai was seriously wounded.
    He has made several appearances on Iraqi television in the past few
    weeks, lying in bed in Baghdad's Ibn Sina hospital with his legs and
    much of his torso covered. 

    The most recent appearance was in 10 minutes of footage Wednesday,
    showing Odai smiling and chatting with his guests, who included Cabinet
    ministers and security officers. 

    The scenes apparently were filmed at different times since Odai
    appeared with a beard at one point, then without the beard. 

    He was wearing a white hospital shirt and his right arm and right leg
    were seen to move. There was no visible movement in the left arm. His
    left hand rested on his stomach and the fingers moved slightly. 

    Iraq has sought to blame the attack on Odai on neighboring Iran, with
    whom it fought an eight-year war in the 1980s. Iran has denied any
    involvement. 

    AP 30-Jan-1997 19:25 EST   REF5945

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Funding Cuts Hurt Brit. Health

    By MICHAEL WEST

    Associated Press Writer

    LONDON (AP) -- Hospitals subsidized by the national health care system
    are struggling with an onslaught of winter patients that some say they
    are ill-equipped to handle because of funding cuts. 

    "We're currently facing what is probably the biggest crisis in accident
    and emergency in this hospital that I can remember in 12 years of being
    a consultant here," Dr. Lawrence Jaffey, clinical director of Royal
    Liverpool Hospital's accident and emergency department, said in a BBC
    documentary. 

    In his department, the workload is up by 50 percent in five years while
    funding has not increased, according to the documentary, broadcast
    Thursday. 

    With a national election due by May, the National Health Service is one
    of the biggest issues between the Conservatives and the opposition
    Labor Party. 

    The government says that the first weeks of January are always
    difficult because cold weather exacerbates some chronic ailments and
    people tend to put off medical care. On the whole, however, the public
    health system is getting more resources and performing better every
    year, the government insists. 

    "It is true that, since Christmas, the National Health Service has been
    under pressure," Health Secretary Stephen Dorrell said in a House of
    Commons debate Jan. 21. "I do not seek to deny that. It regularly
    happens during the first few weeks of the year." 

    Dorrell refused to discuss specific incidents, but named a list of
    cities and regions where the number of emergency beds had been
    increased. 

    The government says it has increased spending on the health service
    every year in real terms, and says its injection of market-style
    reforms in the system have shortened waiting times for non-emergency
    care. This year the NHS budget is $73 billion. 

    A commentary published last week in The Lancet, a British medical
    journal, took a sanguine view of recent events. 

    "It looks as though the government has escaped from its biggest
    electoral threat -- a media united in its belief that the National
    Health Service is being starved of the necessary funds to provide the
    extra care needed in winter," the article said. 

    The Office for National Statistics noted a significant increase in
    deaths from all causes in the new year -- 19,553 in the week ending
    Jan. 10 and 17,496 in the week following, compared to the January
    average of 13,000-14,000 a week. There were 103 deaths from flu in the
    first week and 60 in the second. 

    A poll conducted by The Gallup Organization late last year found that
    health was rated the nation's second-most urgent issue, behind
    unemployment. Another Gallup survey found that three-fifths believed
    the Health Service would get worse if the Conservatives won
    re-election. 

    Set up in 1948 by a Labor government, the National Health Service
    provides treatment to all, free of charge. Those who can afford it have
    the option of buying private care. 

    AP 30-Jan-1997 17:01 EST   REF5350

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Study Cites Weight-Gain Hormone

    By MALCOLM RITTER

    AP Science Writer

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Bolstering hopes of one day developing a new obesity
    drug, scientists have uncovered the first direct evidence that people
    with low levels of the hormone leptin may be prone to weight gain. 

    A study reported in the February issue of the journal Nature Medicine
    found that people who gained an average of 50 pounds over three years
    had started out with lower leptin levels than did people who didn't put
    on any weight. 

    While the study doesn't prove low leptin levels lead to weight gain, it
    strongly suggests that, said one of the researchers, Eric Ravussin, a
    visiting scientist at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive
    and Kidney Diseases. 

    The finding supports the tantalizing idea that giving leptin might help
    some fat people slim down. Ravussin said some 10 percent of overweight
    people might be leptin-deficient. 

    Leptin made headlines in 1995 when scientists reported that it could
    melt weight off mice. It is made by fat cells and appears to tell the
    brain how much fat an animal is carrying. 

    The mouse brain is thought to have a leptin thermostat. If it senses a
    lot of leptin, which indicates a lot of fat, it tells the animal to eat
    less and be more active. If there's too little leptin, it signals the
    mouse to put on weight. 

    People have leptin in their blood too, but it's not clear whether it
    affects their weight. Studies of injecting leptin into people have
    already begun. 

    Scientists launched the new study after noticing that some people have
    less leptin than would be expected from their degree of fatness. 

    Ravussin and colleagues turned to records from a long-running study of
    Pima Indians, who are prone to obesity. The researchers identified 19
    men and women who had gained at least about seven pounds a year and 17
    whose weight had been stable. 

    Then the researchers retrieved frozen samples of blood the Indians had
    given about three years before, and measured the levels of leptin they
    had at that time. On average, the weight-gainers started out with about
    one-third less leptin than the others. 

    The results are ntriguing, said John P. Foreyt of the Baylor College of
    Medicine in Houston, who has also studied leptin in people. But with so
    few participants, the study will have to be done again with larger
    numbers, and with people other than Pima Indians, he said. 

    Still, if further studies show similar findings, doctors may one day be
    able to identify children with low leptin levels and give them the
    hormone to help them keep from getting fat, he said. 

    Foreyt said leptin isn't the only influence over a person's weight, nor
    would low levels necessarily mean a person will get fat. "All of us are
    in control of our behavior," he said. 

    RTw  31-Jan-97 05:18    

    Ultrasound may kill leukaemia blood cells-report

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    LONDON, Jan 31 (Reuter) - Ultrasound when used with photosensitive
    drugs may kill abnormal blood cells in those suffering from leukaemia,
    Japanese researchers said on Friday. 

    Dr Katsuro Tachibana and colleagues said they tested ultrasound's
    effect on photosensitive drugs -- those activated by light or other
    forms of radiation -- using blood samples from eight adults suffering
    T-cell leukaemia. 

    They treated the samples with ultrasound for about one minute and
    demonstrated it was more effective when combined with drugs. 

    There was a "significant difference" between the number of leukaemic
    cells that survived ultrasound treatment alone and those that survived
    treatment with ultrasound plus drugs, they found. 

    "The use of ultrasound to activate photosensitive drugs in the
    treatment of various diseases may be anticipated," Tachibana said in a
    letter to the Lancet medical journal. 

    Ultrasound is superior to light when used in combination with
    photosensitive drugs because it is relatively easy to use to treat
    large volumes of blood and takes a much shorter time to complete the
    treatment. 

    REUTER

    RTw  31-Jan-97 03:36    

    FEATURE - History at your fingertips in Britain's ...

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    FEATURE - History at your fingertips in Britain's archives 

    By Paul Majendie 

    LONDON, Jan 31 (Reuter) - From Shakespeare's will to Captain Bligh's
    log recalling the mutiny on the Bounty, history is in your hands at
    Britain's National Archives. 

    Edward VIII's signature on the abdication document that shook the
    monarchy, Lawrence of Arabia's campaign maps, the 11th century Domeday
    Book -- the hi-tech building is a time capsule of the nation's history. 

    Up to 800 researchers a day delve into the millions of documents
    stacked on the 96 miles (155 km) of shelves at the Public Record
    Office. 

    Nine hundred years of history are there to be explored and everyone is
    welcome. Every New Year, journalists pore over cabinet secrets newly
    released by the government after a statutory 30 years gathering dust. 

    AUSTRALIANS, AMERICANS SEEK ANCESTORS 

    Entrance is free and a reader's ticket allows entry to the old and the
    new world. Australians look for details of ancestors deported as
    convicts. Americans whose forebears started a new life in the colonies
    hunt for clues to their family trees. 

    Pens are banned, only pencils are allowed. But you can photocopy
    documents and use a personal computer. 

    Readers are summoned by individual bleepers after staff using
    mechanised trolleys have scoured four floors of documents to track down
    the treasures the visitors need. 

    "To hold in your hand the actual log of HMS Bounty that Captain Bligh
    took with him when cast away in an open boat is a real thrill," said
    Anne Crawford, press officer of the Public Record Office. 

    "Touching the Domesday Book (Britain's first census), and realising
    William the Conqueror did too, is amazing," she said. 

    Great tragedies can be relived from the 16th century trial of Henry
    VIII's ill-fated wife Ann Boleyn to the 1649 trial of King Charles I
    that ended in his death on the scaffold. 

    PRICE INCALCULABLE, SECURITY TIGHT 

    "You couldn't begin to put a price on it in the open market. It is
    incalculable. I couldn't honestly tell you how many documents we have,"
    Crawford said. 

    Security is tight. Computers log the identity of every reader, cameras
    scour the reading room. The office has a staff of almost 500 and a 30
    million pound ($50 million) budget. 

    Everyone is searched when they leave the office, situated beside the
    world-famous botanical gardens at Kew in west London. Microfilmed
    records are stored at another central London location. 

    But Crawford admits: "No library anywhere in the world is foolproof."
    One thief was jailed for stealing beer labels from the patents
    register. "He was picked up on closed circuit television taking a blade
    to them," she said. 

    Contractors removing asbestos from storage rooms stole King George VI's
    royal warrant granting the then Princess Elizabeth formal permission to
    marry the Duke of Edinburgh. Police retrieved the document when the
    thieves tried to sell it. 

    FIRE THE RECURRING NIGHTMARE 

    Fire is a recurring nightmare but every document room can be isolated
    by metal doors. Smoking is banned. "The equipment is so sensitive it
    will pick up someone having a quick puff in the loo (toilet)," Crawford
    said. 

    The daily cast in the reading room is truly international. "We have
    students from all around the world seeing Britain's view of their
    country," she said. 

    And every year reveals new treasures as Britain slowly -- some would
    say grudgingly -- lifts the veil on the secrets of its past. 

    Of special interest are the secret agents who went behind enemy lines
    in World War Two. Government departments are gradually releasing
    documents after checking for national security risks. 

    "Everyone is waiting for the war records from the Balkans, France and
    the Low Countries. The Balkans are the next we are expecting later this
    year," Crawford said. 

    But for historians and researchers, there is nothing to equal the
    thrill of leafing through cabinet papers opened to the public gaze for
    the first time. Here are the innermost thoughts of leaders who shaped
    Britain's destiny. 

    REUTER

    RTw  31-Jan-97 01:10    

    Critic of UK's Major loses election candidature

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuter) - Conservative parliamentarian Sir George
    Gardiner, a leading Eurosceptic who fears the European Union is
    encroaching on British sovereignty, lost the chance on Thursday night
    to defend his seat at the next general election. 

    Gardiner, who once called Prime Minister John Major "a ventriloquist's
    dummy," was deselected as a candidate by local party officials in the
    southern English constituency of Reigate. He lost by 272 to 213 votes. 

    He had been a persistent critic of Major over Europe, the issue that
    has caused so much internecine strife in the ruling party. The
    Conservatives trail the opposition Labour Party in opinion polls in the
    runup to an election that Major must call by May 22 at the latest. 

    "I am obviously very disappointed at this result. It is a triumph of
    spite over loyalty," Gardiner said after battling in vain to save his
    political career with an unreserved apology for his comments in a
    newspaper article about Major. 

    "I have arranged to take whatever legal advice may be necessary and of
    course I will be consulting with my strong supporters in this
    constituency," he said after his defeat. 

    REUTER

    RTw  31-Jan-97 00:36    

    Queen Elizabeth I's seal purse found in trunk

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuter) - The 16th century velvet purse in which Queen
    Elizabeth's Great Seal of state was kept has been found in a storeroom
    trunk. 

    "As soon as i saw it, I thought "That's it, that's Elizabeth I's Seal
    Purse. I knew exactly, I was so very excited,"' Sotheby's textile
    specialist Kerry Taylor told the Times newspaper after the discovery in
    a widow's cluttered house. 

    The sumptuously embroidered purse that contained the symbol of the
    monarch's legal power is expected to fetch up to 30,000 pounds
    ($48,500) when put up for sale by the auctioneers in March. 

    The eldery woman, whose family had owned the purse for decades, had no
    idea of its value before she died in November. 

    REUTER

    RTw  30-Jan-97 23:48    

    Men must be warned of risks to orgasm - journal

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    LONDON, Jan 31 (Reuter) - Men should be warned that certain types of
    surgery or drug treatment may mean they can no longer experience
    orgasm, a leading British medical publication said on Friday. 

    Doctors cannot assume that male patients have given informed consent to
    such treatment unless the possible effects on orgasm have been
    discussed, the British Medical Journal said in an editorial. 

    At present, there is no reliable treatment for men who lose their
    ability to exerience orgasm. 

    "Although probably essential for the survival of the species, very
    little is known about the male orgasm," the journal said. 

    It said that loss of or change in the sensation of orgasm sometimes
    follows surgery on the prostate gland. Certain drugs, such as serotonin
    reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) used to treat depression, may also affect
    male orgasm. 

    Doctors believe that one in five men taking SSRIs may find they are
    unable to experience orgasm. 

    The journal cited a study of men who underwent prostate surgery in
    which about half the sexually active men reported "absent or altered
    orgasmic sensations" following treatment. 

    "A proportion of these men expressed their disappointment and on
    occasions anger at not having been warned of this side effect," it said

    REUTER

    RTw  30-Jan-97 23:42    

    British Conservatives hit by new opinion poll

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    By Paul Mylrea 

    LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuter) - Britain's ruling Conservatives, facing a
    general election within four months, have failed to cut into the
    opposition Labour party's commanding lead in public opinion polls,
    according to a new survey of voters. 

    The latest poll carried out by the MORI organisation and published in
    Friday's edition of the Times newspaper showed Labour's lead had risen
    by four percentage points since early December to 55 percent. The
    government's support stayed static at 30 percent. 

    The gap now is 25 points. No British party has ever reversed a lead of
    this size in the time remaining before an election must be called. The
    last possible date is May 22. 

    Prime Minister John Major has been fighting back vigorously, homing in
    on the economy and claiming personal credit for the best economic
    climate the country has seen in decades. 

    He has also sought to capitalise on his image as a cautious, homely
    politician, using billboards to portray his opponent, Labour leader
    Tony Blair, as a wild-eyed socialist who would increase taxes and bring
    the economic boom juddering to a halt. 

    The poll in the Times showed that, while Major is personally liked by
    half of all voters, nearly two thirds dislike his government. A
    majority believe Labour is ready to govern with Blair as prime
    minister. 

    The only comfort for Major is that the party which suffered most in the
    poll was the minority Liberal Democrats, who fell two points to 11
    percent, the lowest for six years. MORI interviewed 1,707 adults
    between January 24 and 28 for the poll. 

    Some Conservative strategists fear the ruling Conservatives could fall
    victim to a "pincer movement," losing seats to the Liberal Democrats in
    the south and to Labour in the rest of Britain, leaving them with only
    a handful. 

    Speculation has swirled around parliament that Major could decide to
    call the election early if polls start to go in his favour, believing
    they understate his support and voters will swing back to the
    Conservatives during the campaign. 

    The poll is likely to pour cold water on speculation about an early
    election. Conservative sources also appeared to discount an early
    election on Thursday when they said they plan next week finally to
    announce the date of a by-election. 

    The by-election in the seat of Wirral has been pending since
    Conservative member of parliament Barry Porter died in November. 

    The government has waited to the last minute to call the by-election,
    which now is expected to be on February 27, giving it time to recover
    from the expected defeat in Wirral and hold a general election in late
    April or May. 

    Losing the seat would push the government, which is tied with the
    opposition parties overall but has 51 seats more than Labour, is
    expected to lose the seat, into a minority. 

    But it can still hang on to power with the support of sympathetic
    Northern Irish Unionist members of parliament. 

    REUTER

    RTw  30-Jan-97 22:28    

    Caymans church reaches into cyberspace for raffle

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
      
    GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands, Jan 30 (Reuter) - A Roman Catholic church
    in this British territory is reaching into cyberspace for raffle ticket
    buyers because there are not enough people here to support its
    ambitious fundraising goal. 

    Knowing that residents of the tiny Cayman Islands could not buy enough
    tickets to meet its target of $500,000, St. Ignatius Catholic Church
    decided to advertise its raffle on the Internet. 

    Grand prize -- a $500,000, two-bedroom condo on Grand Cayman's famous
    Seven Mile Beach. 

    "We needed to raise about half a million dollars to pay off some old
    church bills and for the schools," raffle organiser Jennison Nunes
    said. "But there are only about 33,000 people in the Cayman Islands.
    That would take a lot of sales to just a few people." 

    Since going on-line last week, the church has sold 3,500 tickets via
    the Internet. The church will accept credit cards payments for Internet
    purchase of the $25 raffle tickets. 

    REUTER

    RTw  30-Jan-97 20:39    

    EU investigates phone company Internet activities

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    BRUSSELS, Jan 30 (Reuter) - The European Commission has opened an
    investigation into the Internet-related activities of phone companies
    in Britain, France, Germany and Belgium, Commission sources said on
    Thursday. 

    The probe aims to ensure that the companies are not acting on a
    discriminatory basis by favouring their own Internet services at the
    expense of third parties, they said. 

    The European Union executive, which is not responding to any particular
    complaints, has sent a questionnaire asking for details from British
    Telecommunications Plc, France Telecom, Deutsche Telekom AG and
    Belgacom. 

    It asked them to reply by the end of January, although it said they
    could ask for more time, the sources said. It has not yet received any
    responses. 

    The probe is not targeting Internet service providers, but rather the
    telecoms companies who control facilities needed by those providers to
    operate. 

    The questionnaire asks for details about the companies' involvement in
    Internet or online service activities and about their dealings with
    other firms involved in such activities. 

    REUTER

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    Abuse victims to sue homes 
    
    By Barbie Dutter 

    MORE than 100 victims of sexual abuse at children's homes in the
    north-west of England are to start legal action today for compensation.

    Writs are to be issued against the operators of five homes in Cheshire
    and Merseyside, alleging sexual and physical abuse by care workers over
    30 years. Lawyers for the victims, now mostly in their 30s and 40s,
    said last night that the compensation being sought was likely to run
    into many millions of pounds. But it was of secondary importance to the
    victims, whose chief demand was for a public inquiry into how such
    widespread and protracted abuse was allowed to happen.

    Ten men have already been jailed for up to 15 years for paedophile
    offences at children's homes in Cheshire and Merseyside. Several trials
    have yet to be heard and orders have been made to prevent the reporting
    of certain details disclosed in some of the completed trials -
    including the names of the establishments in question - to prevent
    forthcoming hearings from being prejudiced.

    The compensation action follows a three-year inquiry by Cheshire police
    and a tandem investigation in Merseyside. In Cheshire alone, interviews
    with some 2,500 former children's home residents brought 350
    allegations of abuse - ranging from minor physical attacks to serious
    sexual offences - against 110 people. Roughly one in seven of those
    interviewed by police claimed they had been abused while in care.

    The writs will be issued this morning in the High Court in Manchester
    against Liverpool city council, which managed two of the homes; the
    Nugent Care Society, also responsible for two; and the charity NCH
    Action For Children, which ran one establishment.

    Peter Garsden, the solicitor who is co-ordinating the compensation
    claims for a group of 100 legal firms, said last night: "The victims
    aren't really interested in money, but they feel someone must pay for
    what has happened."

    He said a public inquiry - like the tribunal now investigating
    paedophile activity at children's homes in North Wales - was of
    inestimable importance to the victims. "They want this kind of
    recognition that people actually care enough to say they are sorry.

    "Some of the victims were abused at home by family members and were
    glad to get away from home and into care. Then they were abused in
    care, sometimes at repeated children's homes, by various different men.
    Not surprisingly, these are very badly damaged people. They are very
    insecure. They suffer from anxiety and depression. They make attempts
    to harm themselves, or turn to drink."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    Roads protest ends as Swampy crawls out of his tunnel
    
    By Paul Marston, Transport Correspondent 

    THE week-long underground protest by anti-roads activists ended last
    night when Swampy, the last of five tunnel demonstrators, was brought
    to the surface.

    Swampy, who is thought to be Danny Needs, 23, from the Newbury area,
    emerged a few hours after two other protesters, known as Ian and
    "Muppet Dave", thought to be David Moss, were brought from their
    precarious tunnel network under the site of the A30 improvement scheme
    at Fairmile, near Honiton, Devon.

    They were arrested and taken to Exeter police station.

    The official leading the eviction, Trevor Coleman, the Under Sheriff of
    Devon, said that Swampy gave up at the request of the A30 Action Group.

    One of the seven-strong team of tunnellers who got to Swampy said he
    was 18ft below ground and 20ft along a passage. "It was just small
    enough for him to squeeze into. It would have taken us five days to get
    him out," he said.

    Asked about the condition of the area where Swampy was found, the
    tunneller, who was wearing a balaclava helmet and did not want to be
    named, said: "It was a death trap."

    Swampy told the news conference that his seven nights underground were
    "all right, I had plenty to eat." He added: "I stopped digging because
    I felt we had made our point and by coming out it was safer for all
    concerned."

    When the tunnellers reached him, Swampy said: "I was lying down reading
    my book eating some bourbon creams."

    Another protester who emerged yesterday was reached after security
    staff dug a parallel tunnel, then pushed through the intervening wall.
    Meanwhile, three activists who have been remanded in custody for
    breaching bail conditions after earlier arrests said they would refuse
    to take food unless a list of demands, including a new public inquiry
    into the road scheme, were met.

    The trio include two law graduates, from Liverpool University, Jennifer
    Hall, 23, from Preston, and Sarah Baker, 22, from Littlehampton, West
    Sussex, who are both in Eastwood Park women's prison,
    Wotton-under-Edge, Glos.

    The third is John Davies, a Welshman in his thirties, who has been
    living in Inverness and is now in Exeter jail. They said they would
    continue their hunger strike until work on the A30 ceased.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    Toyota tries to calm row over investment
    
    By Roland Gribben, Business Editor 

    TOYOTA yesterday tried to soften the impact of its warning about 
    switching investment to other areas of Europe if Britain decided
    against joining the single currency.

    In London and Tokyo there was intensive diplomatic activity and hurried
    consultations among top executives in the Japanese motor vehicle group.
    But Hiroshi Okuda, Toyota's president, who caused the controversy on
    Wednesday after a series of "casual" comments to a journalist,
    reaffirmed that the single currency would be a key factor in deciding
    investment strategy in Europe.

    The attempts at "peace-making" failed to take the heat out of the
    political row although Michael Heseltine, the Deputy Prime Minister,
    described it as a storm in a teacup. Euro-sceptics accused Edwina
    Currie, the Tory MP for Derbyshire South, whose constituency includes
    Toyota's Burnaston car plant, of being involved in a "put-up job" after
    it emerged that she had been warned in a letter from a Toyota executive
    about the car group's worries on Britain's EU membership.

    They cited a letter, dated Dec 3, written by Jinny McDonald-Matthews,
    Toyota's public affairs manager in Britain, as evidence that the ground
    was being prepared for Mr Okuda's comments. It said: "I am sure you are
    aware from our close relationship that, as a company deepening its
    commitment to the European market, with substantial investment in the
    UK, Toyota strongly believes that it is essential for the UK to remain
    an integral part of the European Union."

    One source said: "She was merely making an obvious point that has been
    made by other Toyota executives. European executives of Japanese
    companies have little influence over what happens in Tokyo."

    Mrs Currie said the Euro-sceptics were "completely up the spout". She
    added: "There is nothing put up about any of this." Toyota sources also
    dismissed suggestions of a conspiracy.

    The Toyota warning caused dismay and confusion at Burnaston where 
    Toyota is investing another �200 million to pave the way for the
    introduction of a second model and recruit an extra 1,000 workers. The
    expansion will raise Toyota's investment in Britain to �1 billion.

    Officials in Whitehall were also involved in a "damage limitation"
    exercise, pointing out that foreign investors were relaxed on the
    currency issue. But there is concern about the impact of comments
    attributed to a company as big as Toyota.

    Mr Okuda, 64, did not withdraw any of his original comments although he
    attempted to tone them down. He said: "Toyota Motor Corporation's
    position regarding necessary future investment in Europe is now under
    study and nothing has been decided. In the same manner, future
    investment in the UK is being considered as one of many possible
    options. This policy remains the same and has not changed at all.
    Generally speaking, regarding companies which operate in Europe, a
    unified currency would reduce currency exchange rate fluctuations and
    risk and would be a significant advantage."

    Mr Okuda said on Wednesday that whether or not sterling was part of the
    single currency he felt it would be "excessive" for Toyota to make
    additional investment in Europe. He indicated that Toyota would give
    priority to expansion in other parts of the EU if Britain did not sign
    up for monetary union.

    Toyota was said to have been "deeply embarrassed" by the furore and
    Japanese diplomats in London and British embassy officials in Tokyo
    were said to have been trying to take some of the heat out of the
    affair. 

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    Naomi's playground killer is jailed for life
    
    By David Millward 

    AN apprentice paint-sprayer was jailed for life for the murder of Naomi
    Smith, a schoolgirl whose mutilated body was found at a playground near
    her home in September 1995.

    Edwin Hopkins, 20, was convicted after a jury heard that his teeth
    matched bite marks found on the 15-year-old girl's body and that he had
    left a DNA "fingerprint" of saliva on her breast. Hopkins, who was
    flanked by prison officers, displayed no emotion as the jury found him
    guilty by a 10-1 majority after deliberating for
    three-and-three-quarter hours.

    There were muffled cheers from the public gallery at Birmingham Crown
    Court when the verdict was announced. Speaking after Hopkins was
    jailed, Naomi's mother, Catherine, said: "We are pleased with the
    verdict. Naomi was our only daughter. She died a child at the hands of
    Hopkins, who is possessed by evil. Edwin Hopkins is alive. We do not
    call this justice. We are advocates of capital punishment."

    Jailing Hopkins, Mr Justice Tucker said: "The jury have convicted you
    of the murder of an innocent schoolgirl. It was a savage murder and it
    had sadistic features. You are, in my opinion, a very dangerous young
    man. I bear in mind that you are only 20 years old. I sentence you to
    custody for life."

    Naomi was last seen alive when she left her home in Ansley Common,
    Nuneaton, Warwicks, to post a letter on Sept 14, 1995. Her half-naked
    body was found under a slide at the playground two hours later by her
    father and Emma Jones, her best friend, who had gone out to find her.

    She had been sexually assaulted, mutilated and Hopkins had also tried
    to strangle her. Hopkins, from Ansley Common, had denied murdering the
    girl. He admitted having met her on six occasions, the last being about
    two weeks before her death. On the night of her murder, he said that he
    had been at his sister Julie's house, having left it only briefly to
    post a letter.

    But Miss Hopkins destroyed her younger brother's alibi when she told
    the jury that his trip to the off-licence had taken longer than she
    expected. The route coincided with the one police believe that Naomi
    took to post the letter.

    Although the murder weapon was not found at Hopkins's home, the jury
    was told that he was obsessed with knives and had a collection which
    included a machete. The crucial evidence which led to his conviction
    was the DNA sample which Hopkins gave, along with other men aged
    between 14 and 40 from Ansley Common who answered a police appeal.

    Hopkins's sample, which was obtained from the inside of his mouth,
    suggested that he could not be eliminated as a suspect. A further blood
    test, which was also sent off for DNA analysis, suggested that there
    was only a one in 44 million chance that someone other than Hopkins
    could have murdered Naomi.

    Michael Barber, a DNA scientist, told the jury that he thought it was
    highly unlikely that another person in Britain could have the same
    profile as Hopkins. Forensic dental evidence also proved vital in
    securing Hopkins's conviction at Birmingham Crown Court.

    Experts who examined Naomi's body observed from bite marks that her
    killer had a tooth missing from the front of his mouth. A plaster
    impression of Hopkins's mouth matched the imprint found on the girl. He
    told police that a tooth had been knocked out when he fell off a
    bicycle as a child. Other chips and indentations also matched the marks
    on Naomi's body, the court was told. 

    Dr Andrew Walker, a forensic odontologist, told the jury: "I found that
    one of his front teeth was missing. The arrangement was unusual. As a
    result of the tooth loss the other teeth had moved into the space and
    closed the gap so that the upper jaw was lopsided. All the
    irregularities fitted the bite marks completely. It was a very good
    match."

    Colman Treacy, QC, prosecuting, said: "It was probably better than if
    the killer had left his autograph, because what was found in the area
    around the breast provides some of the most valuable evidence for the
    prosecution in this case."

    Naomi was remembered as a shy teenager who wanted to become a pop star
    and whose favourite group was Take That. The only child of Mrs Smith
    and her husband, Brian, Naomi was a pupil at Hartshill High School
    where she was due to take nine GCSEs. Friends remembered her as a quiet
    girl with a love of animals who was often seen around the village
    walking her dogs.

    "Naomi was very popular in the area and she would speak to anyone," Pam
    Alcott, her next-door neighbour said. "She was confident and very
    inquisitive. She would always be the first one to go out and have a
    look if anything was happening."

    Emma Jones lost a best friend who protected her against a gang of
    bullies. At an emotional press conference after the murder, Emma
    recalled the moment when she realised that what she thought was a
    bundle of clothes was her dead friend. "I saw what that evil person did
    to her. I don't think I will ever forget when I went to the rec."

    The killing devastated the ex-mining community and many villagers made
    a silent pilgrimage to lay flowers at the spot where the body was
    found. Observing the grief of the community was Hopkins, who joined the
    sombre crowd at the scene.

    Neighbours of the Smith family said they were pleased with the verdict
    and that the matter could finally be put to rest. One woman said: "He
    [Hopkins] was such a quiet kid at school, we were all shocked when he
    was arrested. There is a general feeling of relief around here now it

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    Cabinet minister's attack on Brussels is censored
    
    By Robert Shrimsley, Chief Political Correspondent 

    A RIGHT-wing Cabinet minister was ordered to tone down a speech that
    would have portrayed the European Union as a destroyer of nations, for
    fear of exposing Tory splits. 

    Michael Forsyth, Scottish Secretary, was told by the Foreign Office to
    cut out sections of a speech that he delivered last night, including
    one remark that Brussels had become "a black hole devouring national
    sovereignty".

    Although the speech still contained some strong sentiments,
    Conservative Party sources said Mr Forsyth had been warned to remove a
    number of offending statements. Other comments that he was forced to
    omit are thought to have included some tough criticisms of the single
    European currency.

    Foreign Office sources said Mr Forsyth had not been "gagged" but that
    there had been "changes of nuance". One source said it was common for
    speeches on Europe to be checked with the department to make sure that
    they did not go beyond the official line.

    Last year, in an attempt to curb signs of Cabinet division, John Major
    ordered all speeches by his ministers which strayed outside their
    departmental responsibilities to be scrutinised. The bulk of Mr
    Forsyth's speech was a vigorous assault on the Scottish National Party
    for its stated aim of seeking "Independence in Europe".

    "The SNP soundbite of independence in Europe has as much credibility as
    offering the Picts greater freedom within the Roman Empire," he said.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    Father says he helped sons cover up killing
    
    By Paul Stokes 

    A FATHER admitted to a jury yesterday that he attempted to cover up for
    his two sons after they had been involved in killing their mother.

    David Howells denied that he had been involved in a plot to murder his
    wife Eve, 48, a history teacher, who was bludgeoned to death with a
    stonemason's hammer. He claimed that his first knowledge was when he
    overheard his sons John, 14, and Glenn, 15, talking in a hotel where
    they were being accommodated by police.

    Howells told Leeds Crown Court that he decided to leave the matter for
    a few days until they were allowed back to their bungalow home in
    Dalton, Huddersfield, West Yorks, where the killing took place. After
    they returned, he said Glenn was "extremely upset". Howells told the
    jury: "He said, 'I had just had enough Dad. I had to do something about
    it. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to really but I just had to'." 

    The Crown claims that all three planned the murder which was to have
    appeared as though it were a burglary gone wrong. Howells stood to
    inherit his wife's �155,000 estate on her death and is said to have
    given himself "the perfect alibi" by playing in a darts match several
    miles away at the time. All three defendants have admitted in court
    that they "hated" Mrs Howells who controlled the family finances and
    ran the home in a regimented way.

    David Howells's counsel, Simon Hawksworth, QC, asked him if Glenn had
    given him any details of how his mother met her death. Howells replied:
    "No, not at first, he just said he had killed her."

    Howells said he later learned that he had used a hammer and that John
    had assisted with the removal of the weapon and his brother's
    bloodstained clothing. Mr Hawksworth then asked if he thought that he
    should have told the police what his sons had done.

    Howells said: "At first I was horrified at what had happened. I thought
    'What do I do here?' I had lost my wife, I was left with no option but
    to try and help them the best way I could. I didn't know what it would
    be." Mr Hawksworth: "Why did you do that?" Howells: "Because they were
    my sons."

    He admitted that he assisted John in transferring the weapon and
    clothing from a waste site where he had dumped it to allow his son to
    throw the hammer into a canal. David Howells, John Howells and Glenn
    Howells all deny murder. Glenn Howells has admitted manslaughter on the
    grounds of provocation, a plea not accepted by the Crown.

    The hearing continues.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    Sailors win fight to stay on Shetland

    TWO Bulgarian sailors have won their appeal against the Home
    Secretary's decision to deport them from Shetland.

    An Immigration Appeals Tribunal in London has granted Georgi Spasov and
    Dmitar Dmitrov political asylum. The men had said they feared
    persecution from former Communists if repatriated to Bulgaria, after
    leading a strike aboard the fish-factory ship Rotalia in Lerwick,
    Shetland, during the winter of 1994/95.

    Bulgaria is on Mr Howard's "white list" of countries where it is
    believed citizens are not at risk from authorities. Last night Mr
    Spasov said: We're very, very pleased and grateful."

    He and Mr Dmitrov were celebrating with friends in the village of
    Scalloway, where they share a flat above a chipshop. Derick Herning,
    the Lerwick interpreter who has helped the men for the past three
    years, said: "I'm highly delighted. Now they can start to flourish
    without the sword of Damocles hanging over them."

    The men have been working for a Shetland building contractor since
    receiving work permits a year ago. Their cause attracted widespread
    support.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    Attack on pupil 'left blood on the walls'
    
    By Sue Clough, Courts Correspondent 

    A TRADITIONAL ritual in which pupils at a leading London school were
    beaten up on their birthdays led to an attack that left walls
    splattered with blood, a court was told yesterday.

    The "birthday beats" were carried out by the members of London Oratory
    School's rugby first XV, but Leigh Boccius was attacked the day before
    his birthday by one pupil, Paul Brewin, a house captain, Knightsbridge
    Crown Court was told. Stanley Hughes, prosecuting, said Brewin, who
    weighed 13 stones and was well built, punched eight stone Leigh Boccius
    so hard his nose "exploded." He is also alleged to have swung the
    16-year-old round by his tie and hair and punched and kneed him in the
    face, back and stomach.

    The court was told that Leigh had annoyed Brewin, then 18 and a
    prefect, by accidentally barging into him in a corridor at the school,
    which is attended by Euan Blair, son of the Labour leader. Brewin
    reacted by shouting at Leigh and offered to fight him. But Leigh,
    fearing Brewin would lead the "beats" on him the next day, which was
    his birthday, allegedly threatened Brewin with a knife. Brewin, now 19,
    said he was terrified of Leigh who, he said, had twice threatened to
    stab him with a craft knife. He said he had seen Leigh with the weapon
    and was frightened.

    Later the same day the pair came face to face in the corridor. Mr
    Hughes alleged Brewin wanted revenge, but Brewin told the jury Leigh
    walked fast towards him, staring intently.

    He said: "I panicked, I was frightened. He had threatened he would stab
    me. I just reacted. I took a step forward and hit him. It all happened
    very quickly." But Mr Hughes claimed that Leigh had dented Brewin's
    pride. "He saw the younger boy as a cheeky upstart and wanted to teach
    him a lesson," Mr Hughes said. Brewin said that he was "very surprised"
    at how badly Leigh was hurt and denied Mr Hughes's allegation that he
    was "very angry" when Leigh flouted his senior position.

    Brewin, who has left the school, was asked by his counsel, Milliken
    Smith, if the rugby set carried out beatings. "Yes, but it was strictly
    between friends," he said. "It was just a few friends giving you a few
    digs in the arms and legs. It was light-hearted.".

    The court was told that Leigh suffered a broken nose in the attack.
    Brewin of Wandsworth, south London, denies causing him actual bodily
    harm last May. Two weeks earlier another pupil suffered concussion
    after "birthday beats".

    Another pupil, Brendan O'Reilly, said: "It was a tradition that went on
    throughout the school. I assume most staff knew about it but turned a
    blind eye." He said immediately after the concussion incident, staff at
    the 1,200-pupil school banned the beatings.

    The case continues.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    Minister thrown out of school in by-election row
    
    By Jon Hibbs, Political Correspondent 

    A GOVERNMENT minister was expelled from school grounds yesterday after
    being accused of "gate-crashing" a private visit by the shadow
    education spokesman, David Blunkett.

    Eric Forth, on a by-election campaign visit to Wirral South, was
    reprimanded by local council chiefs after he breached a strict ruling
    on party political visits by straying into the school car park to
    conduct a radio interview. 

    Mr Forth denied that he had deliberately sought to disrupt Mr
    Blunkett's visit to the Wirral County Grammar School for Girls and
    insisted that he had no intention of entering the school buildings,
    where Mr Blunkett and the Labour candidate, Ben Chapman, were meeting
    sixth formers.

    The future of grammar schools is likely to be a contentious issue in
    the by-election, which is expected to be held on Feb 27. The late Barry
    Porter had a majority of 8,183 at the last election. Mr Blunkett
    arrived in the constituency determined to "nail the lie" that Labour
    planned to close schools like the girls' county grammar and its boys'
    counterpart, where Harold Wilson, the former Labour prime minister, was
    educated.

    Meanwhile, Mr Forth arrived on the scene with the Tory candidate, Les
    Byrom, and Alan Duncan, a parliamentary aide to Brian Mawhinney, the
    party chairman. They had arranged a news conference at a nearby hotel
    to comment on Mr Blunkett's performance, but were diverted to the
    school car park for an interview with BBC Radio Merseyside.

    Mr Forth, believing that he was going to conduct a "head-to-head"
    debate with Mr Blunkett, hung around waiting but eventually went on air
    alone. But when Labour learned of the minister's presence he was asked
    to leave by a school governor, Montague Hughes, acting on the authority
    of the head teacher and the governing body.

    At this point rival accounts diverge as electioneering took over, with
    Labour maintaining that the party were escorted off the premises and
    the Tories accusing Mr Blunkett of being frightened to do a live debate
    with Mr Forth. 

    In a letter to Mr Blunkett last night, Mr Byrom described how "an
    excitable group of Labour Party members arrived" and asked Mr Forth to
    leave. "It should be noted that members of your party used physical
    force and employed vile and obscene language during this incident,"
    said Mr Byrom.

    Mr Duncan joined in, calling Mr Hughes "a political thug" who had
    abused his position as a school governor. Labour defended the
    77-year-old governor, insisting that Mr Hughes was a much decorated
    Parachute Regiment veteran. Mr Blunkett said Mr Forth had "made a fool
    of himself" by trying to make a "silly, party political point" at the
    expense of Wirral children.

    29 January 1997: Dating game has Westminster agog 22 January 1997:
    Heseltine gatecrashes the Blair party

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    By David Brown, Agriculture Editor 

    AN independent scientist will head a new Food Safety Council, the
    Government announced yesterday.

    Douglas Hogg, the Minister of Agriculture, said the body of experts
    would be drawn from many fields. It would advise ministers and speak
    out "robustly" on all aspects of food safety. But Mr Hogg said nothing
    would be done to set up the advisory council or to recruit a suitable
    scientist to lead it until after the general election. The announcement
    was welcomed by farmers' leaders but denounced by Labour and the
    Consumers' Association.

    Stephen Dorrell, the Health Secretary, backed the proposals, comparing
    them to the arrangement between the Governor of the Bank of England and
    the Government. In a further effort to reassure consumers, it was
    announced that Sir Kenneth Calman, the Chief Medical Officer, was
    formally appointed as public health adviser at the Ministry of
    Agriculture. In effect, this cemented a role he has played for many
    years.

    Ministers say their formula for a Food Safety Council will provide
    tougher controls than an agency, which would always be on the defensive
    to justify its actions. Instead, the council, with its independent
    members, would spend its time demanding that ministers and Government
    departments justify their decisions on food policy. The move comes
    after the beef crisis, the E coli food poisoning outbreak in Scotland
    and recent fears over baby milk.

    Funding for the food council would be shared between the Ministry of
    Agriculture, the Department of Health and the Scottish, Welsh and
    Northern Ireland Offices. The council's duties will include advising
    the Government on safety, quality, labelling and authenticity.

    It would communicate information to Parliament and the media and
    co-ordinate the work of independent advisory committees. The body would
    report annually to the Government and make sure copies of its report
    were laid before Parliament.

    Mr Hogg said the food safety chief and the council of 20 experts would
    be independent of Government. "We are making a rod for our own back,"
    Mr Hogg said. "Our paramount duty is to the consumer and this council
    will make sure that we discharge that duty because it is public, overt
    and transparent."

    Mr Hogg said the group would make interim reports about four times a
    year or whenever appropriate. "What we have done is to separate the
    functions," he said. "The executive functions will be done by officials
    responsible to ministers or local authorities as appropriate.
    Over-arching that will be this council."

    Mr Hogg said the public felt that the ministry's relationship with food
    producers was too close. He said it was right to appoint a part-time
    expert to head the new council. The scientist would still have a
    full-time job and would not be "beholden" to the Government.

    The appropriate scientist would be paid a salary equivalent to as much
    as �100,000, depending on how much time was devoted to the work.

    Gavin Strang, shadow minister of agriculture, said the proposal was
    "inadequate". He said: "This new council would be without the powers or
    the resources to make a major impact. Much of its work would be in
    private. What we need is an independent food standards agency which
    would be an exercise in open government, independent of commercial
    interests."

    The Consumers' Association said the move did not go far enough. Sheila
    McKechnie, its director, said: "At long last the Government is
    accepting that there is a problem of consumer confidence but is not
    going far enough to address the conflicting aspects of the ministry's
    role. The new body should have a clear duty to put public health
    first."

    Sir David Naish, president of the National Farmers' Union of England
    and Wales, welcomed the proposal. The SAFE alliance for sustainable
    agriculture, food and the environment, which campaigns for "green"
    forms of food production, said the proposed council was "a fudge".

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    Hume plea not to bug confession
    
    By Sarah Schaefer 

    CARDINAL Hume yesterday voiced concern about the Police Bill and asked
    Michael Howard, the Home Secretary, to provide a guarantee that police
    would not be allowed to bug the confessional box.

    In a letter to Mr Howard, the leader of Britain's 4.4 million Roman
    Catholics sought an amendment of the Bill to safeguard the sacrament of
    confession "and thereby to reassure the Catholic community". He wrote:
    "As presently drafted, the Bill provides wide powers for the police to
    conduct intrusive surveillance on any property. 

    "As no exemptions are made, the absolute confidentiality of the
    sacrament of confession could be violated if the police were to be
    authorised to conduct surveillance of a sacramental confession."

    Last week the House of Lords backed a Labour amendment requiring police
    officers to get permission from a special commissioner before
    conducting bugging operations. A Home Office spokesman said that since
    the amendment any surveillance of confession boxes was unlikely.

    The cardinal cited a recent American case in which a confession was
    taped, unknown to the priest, for possible use in evidence. He wrote:
    "Those seeking confession must be sure that what they say will never be
    revealed to anyone."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    Bogus vicar 'great guy but eccentric'
    
    By Tom Utley 

    THE bogus vicar who conducted an unlawful marriage service last summer
    was identified yesterday as an eccentric first-year student of church
    history at the University of Wales.

    Friends of Steve Grant, 20, who stepped into the breach when the real
    vicar failed to appear, said he was a "great guy" who was trying to
    help. Mr Grant, described as bespectacled, podgy and spotty, was to
    have been a server at the marriage of Rod Earnshaw and Shirley Wilson,
    both 25, at St John's Church, Golcar, Huddersfield, in August.

    But the Rev Robin Townsend, who was due to take the service, arrived an
    hour late because of a mix-up over the time. And, by the time he
    appeared, Mr Grant had already pronounced the couple man and wife.

    The couple, who do not appear to have seen the funny side of their
    experience, are threatening to sue the Church of England although the
    church says that is not possible. Bodnar Hill of Leeds, solictors for
    Mr Earnshaw and Miss Wilson, refused to say yesterday if the couple had
    been legally married since being told five months ago that an impostor
    had conducted the ceremony.

    Mr Grant was not answering calls at his rooms on the university campus
    in Lampeter yesterday. But his friend Roland Hume, 20, said: "He's a
    great guy and, if he saw someone with a problem, he wouldn't think
    twice about helping. I'm sure he could see the bride and groom getting
    more and more distressed and so he stepped in. He's a bit of an
    eccentric but, if I had a problem, he's the first person I would turn
    to."

    Justin Breeze, 24, who lives on the same corridor in Mr Grant's hall of
    residence, said: "Steve is a great bloke. I'm sure he was just trying
    to help the bride and groom when the vicar didn't turn up."

    Prof David Protheroe Davies, vice-chancellor, said: "What he did was
    very irresponsible, foolish and very cruel to the couple involved. I'm
    sure he found himself in an awkward situation and felt he should help.
    I have no doubt it was a spur of the moment decision but it does not
    excuse what he did. It is now up to the church authorities and the
    courts to deal with the matter."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    Punter slept through his betting coup
    
    By Michael Fleet 

    A PUNTER who won a world record football bet by correctly forecasting
    the results of 13 games came forward to collect his cheque yesterday,
    three days after the final game which secured his �292,000 win.

    Graham Jenkins, 56, a taxi driver from Bournemouth, had lain low to
    avoid publicity, causing Ladbrokes to wonder if the winner might not
    have realised that his bet had been successful. Mr Jenkins, a bachelor
    who lives with his 93-year-old father, had placed a �10 accumulator on
    the 13 matches, meaning all his predictions had to be correct for him
    to win. Twelve of the games were on Saturday but one, Raith against
    Airdrie, was not played until Monday evening.

    He knew the first 12 selections had been correct but then had an early
    night and did not know the final result, a 4-1 win to Raith, until the
    following morning when he read in his newspaper that a "mystery punter"
    had won �292,882.

    He had been able to go to bed because another game in his bet had been
    abandoned at 0-0 and he thought that meant he had already lost. "I
    wasn't excited and was able to get to sleep without worrying whether
    Raith won," he said.

    He intends to continue driving his taxi. "My mates have been brilliant.
    Nobody has asked for a penny, but I will make sure none of them goes
    short," he added.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    New role for ousted Paymaster General
    
    By Robert Shrimsley, Chief Political Correspondent 

    DAVID Willetts, the former Paymaster General forced to resign last
    month for allegedly attempting to influence the cash-for-questions
    inquiry, has been given a post at Tory Central Office that will give
    him a key role in the next election.

    He has been made chairman of the Conservative Research Department, an
    honorary title vacant for 16 years but whose previous holders included
    Rab Butler, former deputy Prime Minister, and Sir Ian Gilmour, former
    Lord Privy Seal. It marks a rapid rehabilitation for Mr Willetts and is
    a recognition of the high regard for his strategic and political
    skills. In addition to the title Mr Willetts will be given a central
    election role linking up the press office and the research department.

    Senior Tory sources made clear after his resignation that they would
    want to continue to harness Mr Willetts's talents in the run-up to the
    election. However, by according him the historic title held by eminent
    Tories, the Conservative Party has demonstrated its attitude to the
    outcome of the select committee hearing which cost him his job.

    Mr Willetts was forced to quit after a Standards and Privileges
    Committee report said he had "dissembled" in his evidence to them. He
    had been accused of seeking to tamper with an earlier Commons inquiry
    into the cash-for-questions affair, two years earlier while still a
    junior whip.

    He continues to deny the charge and the new appointment chimes with a
    feeling at Conservative Central Office that he was unfairly scapegoated
    in what one party figure called "a political show trial".

    Mr Willetts said: "I am delighted to be taking up this historic post
    and look forward to working hard at Central Office."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    Gene find may help to prevent blindness

    THE discovery of a gene for glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness,
    could enable doctors to diagnose the disorder before it causes
    irreversible damage to the eyes, according to new research.

    Glaucoma progressively destroys peripheral vision, eventually leading
    to blindness. It seems to be caused by a build-up of pressure in the
    eye which damages cells in the optic nerve, but very little is known
    about the mechanism behind it.

    A team of American scientists, including the molecular geneticists Prof
    Edwin Stone and Prof Val Sheffield of the University of Iowa College of
    Medicine, have now come one step closer to unravelling that mechanism
    by identifying a gene which is defective in one form of the disorder,
    juvenile glaucoma.

    Juvenile glaucoma is a hereditary disease which can strike as early as
    the teens and is particularly virulent. Although it accounts for fewer
    than one in 100 cases of glaucoma, there is evidence that the gene
    identified by the researchers could also be responsible for some cases
    that develop in adulthood - when most cases occur. In all, it could
    account for three per cent of glaucoma.

    Four years ago the researchers found genetic markers which suggested
    that the gene for glaucoma was somewhere on Chromosome 1. They then
    studied around 100 affected people in eight families, and found that in
    five of those families the gene that codes for was mutated. Their
    findings appear in today's Science.

    The gene codes for a protein produced by cells which control eye
    pressure. So its discovery also throws light on how the optic nerve is
    damaged in glaucoma. But the clinical importance of this discovery is
    in making early diagnosis easier. "The main difficulty is in diagnosing
    this silent disease before irreversible optic nerve damage has
    occurred," the researchers said.

    The International Glaucoma Association estimates that half of all cases
    go undiagnosed. Yet if the disorder is caught early enough, drugs can
    save the eyesight by reducing pressure within the eye. Prof Sheffield
    said: "In a percentage of cases this gene can be used to make this
    diagnosis presymptomatically, and that's really exciting because
    glaucoma is really an asymptomatic disease."

    Human trials are to begin shortly on a pill that has eased or prevented
    influenza in tests on animals. Gilead Sciences in California said the
    compound relieved symptoms in 24 hours and appeared to block infection
    by major flu strains with no adverse effects.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    Cycle charity leaves riders on the street
    
    By Sean O'Neill 

    A CHARITY that was awarded �42.5 million by the Millennium Commission
    to build a 2,500-mile national cycle trail has banned bicycles from its
    office.

    A notice on the door of the offices of Sustrans in Bristol announced:
    "This office cannot accommodate bicycles. Please do not bring them in."
    One employee of the charity complained: "It is ridiculous. There are no
    railings outside so we cannot chain our bikes up securely. What are we
    supposed to do? It seems absurd that our lives revolve around bicycles
    but we can't bring them in to work."

    Lucy Thorp, a spokesman for Sustrans, an abbreviation of sustainable
    transport, said the bicycle ban had been imposed because the charity
    shared its reception area with other businesses.

    "If we had bikes in the office and people fell over them, we would be
    sued. It is a safety hazard," she said. "People would not expect to
    drive their car into reception. It is the same rule for bikes."

    Miss Thorp said the charity, which was established in 1978 and received
    its millennium award last year, was waiting for Bristol city council to
    install bicycle racks outside its offices.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    'Poison pen' prank girls suspended
    
    By Auslan Cramb, Scotland Correspondent 

    EIGHT girls have been suspended from a secondary school after a
    campaign of harassment against a woman teacher.

    The pupils, seven third-year teenagers and one 12-year-old in her first
    year, allegedly sent abusive letters, daubed offensive graffiti on
    school walls and threw a stone at the teacher's home. The graffiti was
    said to have been written by pupils considered "good, decent and almost
    above suspicion".

    The six-week campaign at Dingwall Academy, Ross-shire, was aimed at
    Sandra Reid, 29, a history teacher. A police report has been sent to
    the Reporter to the Children's Panel, who will decide on any further
    action.

    Sandy Glass, the school's rector, said the campaign was a prank which
    went too far. He denied a claim from one member of staff that
    harassment was "endemic" at the academy and that teachers were afraid
    to punish pupils for fear of reprisals. He said that the girls' parents
    had supported the school's action, and all eight had written notes of
    apology.

    Alan Gilchrist, Highland Council education director, said the academy
    did not have a record of bad behaviour.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    One child in five suffers 'glue ear'
    
    By Celia Hall, Medical Editor 

    ONE child in five suffers from "glue ear" for more than half of the
    first three years of life researchers say today.

    The findings are based on a study of 95 babies born between 1991 and
    1993 in Oxfordshire who were visited and tested at home, every month
    from birth for up to three years. Seventeen of them were were found to
    have "glue ear" at more than half of the visits and 33 at more than a
    third of the visits. Children under two were the most prone to the
    condition.

    Sarah Hogan, audiological scientist at the University Laboratory of
    Physiology, Oxford, said in the British Medical Journal that the most
    susceptible children tended to have a greater number of episodes rather
    than attacks that lasted longer.

    Glue ear is an accumulation of fluid in the middle ear which affects
    hearing. Frequently it goes undetected. One or both ears can be
    affected. Often the only sign that children have the condition is that
    parents notice some level of deafness. In serious cases a small tube
    called a grommet is inserted surgically in the eardrum to equalise
    pressure in the ear and allow it to drain.

    The condition causes concern among parents because of the suggestion
    that hearing loss in infancy could cause their children to have
    difficulty distinguishing sounds in noisy environments when they are
    older. The surgery is controversial because the condition can clear up
    by itself.

    Miss Hogan points out that current practice in Britain is "watchful
    waiting", with doctors keeping the child under review for a while
    before deciding on surgery.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    Stress relief course adds to irritations
    
    By Sean O'Neill 

    COUNCIL employees who attended a free course in meditation to reduce
    stress at work returned with a catalogue of complaints.

    They moaned that no biscuits had been provided in the coffee break and
    the seats were too hard. Office workers from North Wiltshire district
    council also grumbled that rushing back to the office after the morning
    meditation sessions left them feeling stressed.

    The five-week course, Managing Stress through Meditation, was part of a
    �25,000 initiative to improve staff fitness proposed by the Liberal
    Democrat-controlled council. The workers practised a technique called
    Metta, which involves sitting on a chair reflecting on positive aspects
    of their lives.

    An evaluation of the exercise, presented to a council sub-committee
    this week, said most of those attending found it useful. But there were
    unsatisfactory aspects. Some said the rush back to work "resulted in
    loss of the immediate benefits of the session" while the discussion on
    "how was it for you" went on too long.

    Other negative comments included: "biscuits would have been nice" and
    "the seats are uncomfortable".

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    Village fights for its 'killer ducks'
    
    By Sean O'Neill 

    A PADDLING of ducks has been banished from a village pond because they
    have been breeding too fast.

    Two Khaki Campbell drakes and a mallard duck were placed in the pond in
    Creigiau, near Cardiff, two years ago and multiplied rapidly until 24
    ducks were crowding the water. But the Caerphilly Mountain Countryside
    Service became concerned that they were damaging plant and insect life
    in the pond. To the consternation of residents the ducks were moved
    last week from the village to ponds at Creigiau golf club.

    Villagers learned of the move when they took their children to the pond
    to feed the ducks only to find that the birds had gone - with a notice
    from the countryside service attached to a lampost.

    Under the heading "We've moved" it said: "The domestic ducks have
    changed their address and are now living at Creigiau Golf Course. This
    is because they were eating all the creatures in this wildlife pond. We
    hope that true wild ducks will visit the pond in the future. The pond
    now has a chance to be beneficial for wildlife and the domestic ducks
    can improve their golf. (They are already scoring birdies!)!"

    Carol Schuler said her seven-year-old daughter was in tears when she
    discovered that the ducks had gone. "This is conservation gone too
    far," she said. "What is a duck pond without ducks on it?"

    Beryl Dummett, who has launched a Bring Back The Ducks campaign, said:
    "They were spirited away in an underhand way without anyone being asked
    their views."

    David Workman, a spokesman for the countryside service, said: "The
    ducks were killing all life in the pond and we have moved them to give
    it time to recover."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    Restorer cheats at marbles
    
    By Tim King 

    SPECIAL paint effects used by 19th-century decorators are being
    restored and copied at a National Trust estate in Suffolk.

    Conservators are overhauling the interior of Ickworth House, an
    Italianate rotunda built by the fourth Earl of Bristol at the end of
    the 18th Century. The entrance hall was decorated between 1820 and 1840
    with a rich array of classical columns and terracotta friezes. On one
    side of the hall the restorers have been peeling away layers of yellow
    and white paint from the columns to expose their state in 1840, painted
    to look like Siena marble.

    A specialist decorator has been painting a new layer of marble-effect
    paint on top of layers of old paint. Ickworth House, near Bury St
    Edmunds, which contains the paintings and furniture accumulated by the
    Hervey family, including works by Titian and Gainsborough, re-opens on
    March 22. The Capability Brown park and gardens are open all year.
    

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 31 January 1997

    One-eyed cow fear 'led to factory fire'

    A SUPERSTITIOUS Filipino workman's fear of a one-eyed cow was to blame
    for a fire which engulfed an industrial park, the High Court was told
    yesterday.

    Harry Laporre's fear of the cow, which had a cataract in one eye, was
    so great that he burned off-cuts from his workshop on bare ground
    rather than in a metal skip, against which the animal used to warm
    itself.

    Sparks from the fire ignited wooden pallets nearby, causing hundreds of
    thousands of pounds damage to The Maltings, in Narborough, Norfolk.

    His employer, Broderick Whitehead, who runs a joinery business at The
    Maltings, was held liable to pay compensation to businesses destroyed
    in the fire in 1992. Mr Laporre had denied starting the fire outside
    the skip - against strict instructions - but admitted being terrified
    of the cow.

    Mr Justice Collins said: "Harry said the cow was an evil influence. It
    seems a little foolish to speak of the cow having an 'evil eye' and it
    is easy for us who have a different culture to laugh at it but, for
    him, it was no laughing matter."

    AP 3-Feb-1997 1:04 EST   REF5235

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Monday, Feb. 3, 1997
   
    CALIFORNIA BOMBS 

    VALLEJO, Calif. (AP) -- Police arrested two men today in the bombings
    that struck a courthouse and bank in the past week, and recovered
    explosives in a plot they believe was designed to subvert the criminal
    justice system. Police said the names of the suspects were being
    withheld as officers continued their search for at least one other
    suspect. Officers cordoned off a five-block Vallejo neighborhood and
    evacuated residents Sunday night after they discovered 500 pounds of
    dynamite at a home, police said. 
   
    CLINTON-GOVERNORS 

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Clinton offered the nation's governors a
    preview of his State of the Union Address, saying he plans to cover
    topics like welfare reform and economic issues. After a day of policy
    meetings and discussions, the 44 governors in town for the annual
    National Governors' Association gathering went to the White House
    tonight for dinner with the president and first lady. Clinton also said
    his State of the Union Address will address more generally the
    direction the country is headed as it approaches the new century and
    millenium. 
   
    WORLD FORUM 

    DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
    says Israel and the Palestinians will resume talks this week with "a
    great feeling of hope" toward a wider Mideast settlement that could
    involve Syria. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat signaled a willingness
    to compromise, saying he would accept an "international presence" to
    control goods arriving in Palestinian-controlled areas. But Arafat
    complained about restrictions on Palestinians who want to work in
    Israel. Netanyahu, who spoke later at the World Economic Forum, said
    Israelis have suffered Palestinian terror attacks. 
   
    DRUG STUDY 

    DETROIT (AP) -- Marriage for young adults is a good thing when it comes
    to cutting back on drinking and using drugs, according to a study
    released Monday. The University of Michigan study of 33,000 young
    adults from 1976 to 1994 showed that young, unmarried adults usually
    increased their alcohol, marijuana and cocaine use when they left home,
    often to attend college. Those same people, however, decreased their
    drug and alcohol use when they got engaged, married and had children,
    the study showed. Conversely, those who stayed single were a high
    proportion of drug and alcohol users. "If you feel a responsibility to
    and for another person, then you are more apt to control your own
    behavior and play a role in controlling the partner's behavior," said
    one of the study's authors. 
   
    YUGOSLAVIA 

    BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Hundreds of riot police beat protesters
    and fired tear gas and water cannons today in the biggest show of force
    in 75 days of anti-government protests in the capital. At least 50
    protesters were injured, independent media reported. "Tonight, a crime
    was committed against the people of Belgrade," opposition leader Vuk
    Draskovic said. "We won't stop until those who gave orders for this
    crime resign." He urged people to come out again tomorrow, and to
    "bring everything they need for their defense." 
   
    SRI LANKA 

    COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) -- Rebel attacks on two government military
    bases killed at least 48 people, in the fiercest fighting in weeks in
    Sri Lanka's northeast, officials said. The fighting comes before the
    Indian Ocean island celebrates its 49th national day, and the military
    is preparing for guerrilla attacks intended to disrupt Tuesday's
    celebrations. The guerrillas are fighting for a homeland in Sri Lanka's
    north and east, claiming that Tamils are discriminated against by the
    majority Sinhalese who control the government and military. 
   
    SEX OFFENDERS 

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Almost 60 percent of the 234,000 convicted sex
    offenders under the supervision of corrections officials nationwide
    were either on parole or on probation, a Justice Department study of
    1994 data found. While the notion of convicted rapists and other sexual
    predators in the community may be unsettling, the study released today
    showed sex offenders less likely than other convicts to be on release
    programs. Overall, 75 percent of offenders were. 
   
    MARKETS 

    TOKYO (AP) -- The U.S. dollar edged lower against the Japanese yen in
    morning trading Monday. The dollar was traded at 121.37 yen, down 0.76
    yen from its late level in Tokyo Friday. 
   
    PRO BOWL 

    HONOLULU (AP) -- An investment banker made a kick for a $1 million at
    the Pro Bowl, when the NFL's best couldn't buy a field goal. The
    Indianapolis Colts' Cary Blanchard, who missed two earlier field goals,
    finally hit a 37-yarder 8:15 into overtime to lift the AFC to a 26-23
    victory over the NFC. Blanchard missed a 41-yarder that would have won
    the game four minutes earlier, while Carolina's John Kasay missed three
    attempts for the NFC -- the last from 39 yards with 11 seconds left in
    regulation. For the game, the best kickers in the NFL were 3-of-8 and
    banker Lance Alstodt was 1-of-1. 
   
    AP Newsbrief by BENITA GREEN 

    RTw  02-Feb-97 20:04    

    Reuters World News Highlights

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    MOSCOW - French President Jacques Chirac said he was impressed by Boris
    Yeltsin's recovery from pneumonia and declared after talks he was
    optimistic Russia and NATO could reach accord on the alliance's
    eastward expansion. Chirac was speaking at Moscow's Vnukovo-2 airport
    after an afternoon of talks with Yeltsin at his Novo-Ogaryovo country
    residence. The meeting marked the Russian president's first foray onto
    the world stage since his treatment for pneumonia. 

    - - - - 

    DAVOS, Switzerland - Israeli and Palestinian leaders, at what they
    called positive and productive talks in Switzerland, agreed to meet
    again on Thursday for detailed talks on extending Palestinian
    self-rule. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this
    reflected "a great feeling of hope," but Palestinian President Yasser
    Arafat later complained that Israel was violating the peace agreements,
    dragging its feet on putting them into practice and stifling the
    Palestinian economy. 

    - - - - 

    PARIS - Moslem "terrorists" killed 31 people in an Algerian town, the
    usually well-informed Algerian newspaper El Watan said. About 60,000
    people have died in a civil conflict since 1992 when the authorities
    cancelled a general election in which Islamists had taken a huge lead. 

    PARIS - French Foreign Minister Herve de Charette telephoned Algerian
    Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf to try to defuse a row over whether Paris
    was interfering in the violence-racked North African country. 

    - - - - 

    ISLAMABAD - Pakistani President Farooq Leghari vowed to hold free and
    fair elections on Monday but ousted prime minister Benazir Bhutto said
    she feared vote-rigging. Bhutto's main rival, former prime minister
    Nawaz Sharif, said he was confident of winning the election. Opinion
    polls put him as the front runner. 

    - - - - 

    SOFIA - Bulgaria's beleaguered Socialist rulers invited their opponents
    for talks on Monday but warned that if they failed they would present a
    new Socialist cabinet to parliament on Tuesday. 

    - - - - 

    BELGRADE - Serbia's marathon mass protests against President Slobodan
    Milosevic showed no sign of losing steam as violence in the ethnic
    tinderbox of Kosovo posed a new challenge to his isolated government. 

    - - - - 

    AJACCIO, Corsica - Corsican separatist guerrillas exploded 61 bombs on
    the Mediterranean island on Sunday in a show of strength defying a
    French government crackdown. No one was injured in the coordinated
    pre-dawn blitz. 

    - - - - 

    WASHINGTON - Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, on a private visit to
    the United States, walked right back into a deadlock with Marxist
    rebels holding 72 hostages in the Japanese ambassador's residence in
    Lima. Fujimori, who earlier spoke optimistically about the group
    "implicitly" dropping its main demand for the release of jailed
    comrades, was quickly corrected by the international spokesman for the
    Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) rebels. 

    - - - - 

    GUATEMALA CITY - Hundreds of Guatemalan military police prepared to
    turn in their weapons, ending a tense, five-day rebellion over terms of
    a peace treaty, a police spokesman said. 

    - - - - 

    LONDONDERRY, Northern Ireland - Thousands of Catholics marched behind
    14 white crosses on the 25th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday" to demand a
    fresh probe of the British army slaying of unarmed demonstrators that
    ignited the Northern Ireland conflict. 

    - - - - 

    TIRANA - Police were out in force to watch over rallies by the handful
    of Albanians bold enough to press demands for the dismissal of the
    right-wing government and compensation for savings lost in failed
    pyramid schemes. 

    REUTER

    RTw  03-Feb-97 06:09    

    Odds and Ends

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    The following is a collection of human interest stories that have moved
    separately: 

    - - - - 

    Brazilians hunt for lucrative cockroaches 

    BRASILIA - Brazilians are catching cockroaches with their bare hands,
    all in the name of science and a bit of extra cash, local Globo
    television said. 

    Strong-stomached residents of Rio have been selling batches of roaches
    to a laboratory for $25 per 3.35 ounces (100 grams) of the insects,
    Globo said. 

    "You give them a quick slap and then grab them by their antennae, it's
    not a big deal," said housewife Elvira Martinez de Oliveira as she
    proudly showed off her still wriggling prey. 

    The laboratory, which placed a "We buy cockroaches" advertisement in a
    local newspaper, is researching a possible vaccine for a series of
    allergies. The vaccine is based on substances found in the pests. 

    The laboratory needs 11 pounds (five kg) of the insects, or about
    600,000 cockroaches, to complete its research, Globo said. 

    - - - - 

    Woman seeks space romance as earthlings call ET 

    PARIS - "Tall female French earthling, 1.83 metres (6 ft), seeks tall,
    handsome alien, romantic if possible," Florence Dugoua, 30, says in a
    message to be carried by a rocket far across the solar system to a
    mysterious moon. 

    Her lonely hearts advertisement is one of thousands of messages,
    ranging from calls for galactic peace to invitations to share a plate
    of pasta, due to blast off on a U.S. rocket in October and bound for
    Titan, Saturn's biggest moon. 

    The Paris-based European Space Agency (ESA) is hoping that a million
    humans will seize a chance to make a mark in space by contributing to a
    site on the Internet computer network: http:/www.huygens.com. 

    Signatures, messages and drawings will be accepted until March 1 and
    stored on a CD-ROM computer disc. They will be packed on ESA's Huygens
    robot probe, alongside an array of scientific experiments to measure
    Titan's atmosphere. 

    - - - - 

    Thai snake charmer loses charm, strangled by python 

    BANGKOK (Reuter) - A Thai man who considered himself a snake charmer
    ran out of luck and was strangled to death by a 3.5 metre (11.5 foot)
    boa constrictor, police said. 

    Manee Saisin, a 35-year-old construction worker, was strangled to death
    the boa in Phetchaburi, about 150 km (90 miles) south of Bangkok,
    police said. 

    Manee, known in the area as a snake catcher and charmer, had rushed to
    see the snake after friends told him the huge serpent had been spotted
    on the side of one of the city's main roads, police said. 

    A friend of the snake charmer told police that Manee snared the
    constrictor and put it around his neck. 

    As he and his friends were walking home, Manee suddenly cried for help,
    the friend said. The friends rushed to get help but when they returned
    with police officers they found Manee strangled to death, police said. 
  
    REUTER

    AP 3-Feb-1997 0:40 EST   REF5223

    Police Make Arrests in Bombings

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    By MARK EVANS

    Associated Press Writer

    VALLEJO, Calif. (AP) -- Police arrested two men and searched for a
    third Sunday in the bombings that struck a courthouse and bank in the
    past week, and recovered explosives in a plot they believe was designed
    to subvert the criminal justice system. 

    Investigator Charles Barnett said all three face felony conspiracy,
    burglary and explosive devices charges. If convicted, each could face
    at least 160 years in prison. 

    Authorities said Francis Ernestberg, 40, was arrested in a residential
    neighborhood in Vallejo. Oston Osotonu, 24, was later taken into
    custody at a nearby motel. Police issued an arrest warrant for a third
    suspect, identified as Kevin Lee Robinson, 29. 

    "It is our belief that this was a deliberate attempt to stop the
    criminal justice system from operating in Solano County," Police Chief
    Robert Nichelini said. 

    In their search, police later evacuated a five-block area Sunday night
    after they discovered 500 pounds of dynamite in the garage of a home,
    Police Sgt. Dave Jackson said. 

    Lori Choy was walking her dog in the area when an FBI agent told her to
    leave immediately. "He told me to get out because there were explosives
    in a house," she said. "We turned around and made a quick U-turn." 

    Earlier Sunday, authorities seized a car that contained 60 sticks of
    wired dynamite. The car was parked outside an apartment complex that
    was evacuated for three hours as a precaution. If there had been an
    explosion, Nichelini said the results would have been catastrophic. 

    Nobody was injured last week in the two bombings, which tore a 3-foot
    crater in the Solano County courthouse on Thursday and damaged three
    automatic tellers outside a Wells Fargo bank last Sunday. 

    "What they thought that would accomplish, I'm not sure. What it looked
    like to us is that they didn't want the courts to be operating,"
    Nichelini said. 

    The day before the bank bombing, authorities dismantled a bomb made of
    30 sticks of dynamite and blasting caps that was found outside a
    library. The target apparently was a police evidence locker in the
    library's basement, police said. 

    Ernestberg, of Vallejo, was arrested Sunday at 2:30 a.m. in a
    residential area of Vallejo, a city 37 miles northeast of San
    Francisco. Osotonu, also a resident, was taken into custody at 3:30
    p.m. 

    Authorities said they have found no evidence that the suspects have
    connections to other groups or bombings in other cities. 

    In Southern California, meanwhile, FBI agents went to the Chula Vista
    home of a federal worker targeted by a package bomb, and left with
    armloads of rifles and cases of ammunition, a neighbor said. 

    On Saturday, Dave McGruer received a package in the mail that contained
    two pipe bombs. The bomb, the third device found in the area in as many
    days, was disarmed inside the house. There were no injuries.

    Neighbors said they were often bothered by gunshot sounds emanating
    from McGruer's back yard. It was not clear which federal agency McGruer
    works for. 

    The bomb sent to McGruer was similar to bombs sent to the San Diego FBI
    office Thursday and a waste water treatment company on Friday,
    authorities said. The bombs were dismantled and there were no
    injuries.

    AP 2-Feb-1997 18:25 EST   REF5384

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Expert To Analyze Cosby Flat

    By MICHELLE DeARMOND

    Associated Press Writer

    LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The flat tire that apparently led to Ennis Cosby's
    roadside killing has been turned over to an outside expert for further
    analysis, a police spokesman said. 

    Results of the test aren't expected for about six weeks, Cmdr. Tim
    McBride said. 

    In the meantime, investigators refuse to release preliminary results
    from their own tests or to say whether they suspect the tire might have
    been intentionally damaged. 

    Police often withhold specific crime information that they feel only
    the criminal would be likely to have. 

    "There are reasons why they want to hold information on the tire ... to
    prevent somebody from coming forward and making it difficult for us to
    determine who did something," McBride said in a Friday telephone
    interview. "Then everybody's talking about it, and then we can't use it
    to exclude or include possible suspects." 

    The tire could prove to be key evidence in the investigation of Cosby,
    27. 

    The only son of comedian Bill Cosby had just replaced the tire with a
    spare when he was shot to death on a darkened roadside early on Jan.
    16. 

    Police still suspect robbery was the motive but have yet to determine
    if anything was taken from the car. 

    On Saturday, Bill Cosby gave his first live performance since his son's
    death. Appearing before 2,200 people at a theater in West Palm Beach,
    Fla., Cosby compared his grief to the way he felt when Martin Luther
    King Jr. and President Kennedy were assassinated. 

    "Let us hope and pray we never have to meet again in circumstances like
    this for any of us," he told the audience. 

    Ennis Cosby was driving a Mercedes-Benz convertible owned by his
    father's Cosby Productions when he pulled off of the San Diego Freeway
    onto the secluded Sepulveda Pass to change the tire. 

    He called a woman he was on his way to meet and asked her to come to
    his location to help light the darkened area. 

    The woman told police she was sitting in her Jaguar behind Cosby's car
    when a man approached her and urged her to get out of her car. Her
    attorney said she sped away in fear and returned moments later to find
    Cosby dead. 

    Police released a sketch of the suspect, described by the woman as
    average in height and weight and between 25 and 32. 

    Police have logged hundreds of phone calls about the case and say they
    are still pursuing many good leads. 

    Rewards totaling $375,000 have been offered from a variety of sources
    for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Cosby's killer.

    AP 2-Feb-1997 17:29 EST   REF5139

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Africanized Bees Buzz Off

    HOUSTON (AP) -- Forty years after breaking out of a Brazilian lab and
    fleeing north, Africanized bees -- known as the "bee with an attitude
    problem" -- appear to be minding their own business. 

    Past headlines from South America to South Texas have screamed "They're
    Coming," prompting Texas beekeepers and emergency workers to pour money
    into bee suits and training programs to deal with the aggressive
    insects. 

    What happened to the dreaded invasion? What happened to all the
    equipment, the protective suits, the gearing up? 

    Where are all the bees? Making honey, mostly. 

    They did arrive -- six years ago -- in Brownsville. In fact, the first
    confirmed so-called "killer bees" captured in the United States are now
    dead, sitting in a Ziploc bag in a Rio Grande Valley freezer. 

    Their offspring are buzzing away in 88 Texas counties, but tend to
    confine themselves to a year-round existence in a line south Corpus
    Christi to San Antonio to Del Rio. 

    And, they have attacked. At least 315 stinging incidents -- and two
    fatalities -- have been reported in the southern part of the state. 

    On July 15, 1993, 82-year-old Lino Lopez, was stung at least 40 times
    while trying to kill a nest of bees in a vacant house on his ranch
    north of Rio Grande City. He had an allergic reaction to the stings and
    died, becoming the first Africanized bee fatality in the United States.
    The following year, a 96-year-old man fell victim to a hybrid of the
    Africanized bees. 

    Even non-fatal encounters with the bees have been traumatic. 

    In June 1993, John Keliehor was driving his pickup on his farm near
    Alice when hundreds of angry bees flew into the cab of his truck and
    attacked him and his 10-year-old granddaughter, Erin Terrel. 

    "She was only wearing shorts and a T-shirt and I was wearing a
    short-sleeved shirt," he said. "They just covered us." 

    Each had been stung about 200 times. The two shared a hospital room
    that night, and it was a couple of weeks before the swelling went down.

    It's true that killer bees aren't fond of cold weather. But what don't
    they like about Houston? 

    "They got to within 10 miles of Houston in Fort Bend County," said John
    Thomas, secretary of the Texas Beekeepers Association. "They just
    seemed to stop and make a left turn -- heading more to the west." 

    In the height of the killer bee craze -- with reports coming in from
    South and Central America of an estimated 1,000 deaths attributed to
    Africanized bees -- the Houston Fire Department bought 40 protective
    suits and sent firefighters and paramedics to training courses on the
    bee. 

    But by 1994, Fire Chief Eddie Corral dropped the bee program,
    proclaiming the insects don't pose much of a threat here. 

    Asked last week about the department's current philosophy, spokeswoman
    Lil Harris said simply, "We're not in the bee business." 

    AP 2-Feb-1997 17:15 EST   REF5122

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Onion Growers Sue Government

    MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. (AP) -- Onion growers who lost their crops to rain and
    hail storms last season are suing the federal government for millions
    of dollars in insurance payments. 

    Farmers who have been growing onions in the Black Dirt region of Orange
    County for generations filed the class-action lawsuit in U.S. District
    Court in White Plains last week against the Federal Crop Insurance
    Corp. and Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman. 

    Orange County produces about 40 percent of onions sold as produce in
    the eastern United States and about 7 percent of the nation's storage
    onion crop. 

    The farmers are seeking an estimated $5 million to $10 million in
    indemnities they say the government owes them because the FCIC
    incorrectly calculated their insurance reimbursements. 

    The farmers sought the insurance repayments after storms destroyed most
    of the 5,400 acres of onions planted in the county last season. 

    "We just want fair compensation," said Christopher Pawelski, a
    fourth-generation farmer and one of four onion growers who filed the
    suit on behalf of at least 40 other farmers. 

    "We're not looking to get rich. I just want to pay my bills and
    survive," he told Saturday's editions of The Times Herald-Record of
    Middletown. 

    Martin Gold, a Manhattan-based attorney who is representing the
    farmers, said the FCIC did not follow provisions of the Federal Crop
    Insurance Act, which require the government to provide enough
    compensation following a natural disaster so growers don't lose their
    farms. 

    The federal government reimburses farmers at rates far lower than the
    going market value for onions. For example, the market rate for yellow
    onions is $12 per hundredweight, but the FCIC repays farmers $4.85, the
    newspaper reported. 

    The FCIC bases reimbursement rates on historical averages driven by
    national, not local, onion prices, said agency spokesman Eric
    Edgington. 

    "We regret the hardship endured by Orange County growers," Edgington
    said. 

    The FCIC is reviewing the onion insurance policy and has proposed
    several regulatory changes, he said. 

    AP 2-Feb-1997 17:09 EST   REF5118

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Likeable Teen Charged in Arson

    STELLA, N.C. (AP) -- An 18-year-old known as a reliable friend, soccer
    star and college student is now something very different: a man facing
    federal charges of burning a church. 

    Matthew Neal Blackburn was one of four young white people arrested last
    month and charged with burning St. James AME Zion Church in Jones
    County last June. He is the only one of the group, however, who has
    been publicly identified because the others were younger than 18 when
    the fire happened. 

    Although he is not suspected in any other church fires, people are
    looking at this case for possible motives about why other churches
    burned. 

    As the Rev. Jean Anderson, pastor of St. James, put it: "Were they full
    of hate or full of mischief?" 

    Prosecutors have refused to comment on whether they think there were
    racial or merely juvenile motives behind the burning. 

    But according to a federal indictment, he and three juvenile
    accomplices traveled from their homes in or near Swansboro to next-door
    Jones County, splashed a flammable liquid around the church and then
    hurled seven Molotov cocktails -- beer bottles filled with gasoline and
    corked with paper-towel wicks -- to set the building ablaze. 

    By the time the flames died, St. James was damaged severely, another of
    more than 70 Southern black churches to be torched in the past two
    years. 

    "I would like to talk to them and ask them what went through their
    minds," Ms. Anderson said. "I have to think they were troubled." 

    The Jones County sheriff said he received a tip soon after the fire but
    the arrests were delayed because investigators wanted time to build
    their case. 

    "I think they're in serious trouble now, and for what?" said the
    sheriff, Robert Mason, who has not spoken to the suspects. "I think
    they were a bunch of kids out playing a very stupid prank like most
    kids do, but they went way too far." 

    Blackburn and the three juveniles are being prosecuted by a task force
    appointed by President Clinton. The numerous charges include conspiracy
    to maliciously damage and destroy by means of fires and explosives; use
    of fire and using and carrying explosives to commit a felony; and
    malicious destruction by means of fire and explosives. 

    For Blackburn, the charges carry a potential prison sentence of 105
    years. 

    With three children, Blackburn's parents both worked to keep up a
    ranch-style home in a pleasant part of Stella, a town of 1,000. 

    The family was not poor, but the children were required to work for the
    extras in life. Starting in about the fourth grade, Blackburn pulled
    leaves in one of the area's tobacco fields, and he almost always held a
    job right up until he went away to school at Catawba College in
    Salisbury. 

    "We've known each other since we were 4 or 5 years old," said Brad
    Sewell, now a freshman at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
    Hill. "I always felt like if I needed anything he was there, and his
    family's nice people, all polite and proud of him." 

    At a court hearing in Winston-Salem, his parents offered their home as
    security so that their son could be released on $100,000 bail. His
    father will not discuss the case. 

    "I'm not going to talk about it. A young man's life has been ruined,"
    Barry Blackburn said last week. 

    He cared most about soccer, and he helped Swansboro High win a 1995
    state championship. He was a center-forward for Catawba's soccer team,
    attending on a scholarship, when he was arrested. 

    Reflecting the uncertainties about Blackburn, U.S. Magistrate Judge
    Alexander Dixon agreed to release him, but only with severe
    restrictions. He must wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and be
    confined to his house. 

    The crime will not stop the congregation at St. James from worshiping.
    Its members have been holding services about three miles down the road
    at the Christian Chapel Church while their own church is being
    repaired. Damage to the building totaled $55,000, and mounds of
    construction materials still sit outside the church. 

    The congregation is praying for everyone involved with the church
    burning, Ms. Anderson said. 

    "I don't know if I was surprised or not at him being so young," she
    said. "When you're a mother you understand that things go wrong, but
    that doesn't stop your heart from breaking." 

    AP 2-Feb-1997 23:41 EST   REF5134

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Italians May Have Holocaust Gold

    ROME (AP) -- The Italian government has five trunks full of gold and
    valuables apparently taken from Jewish victims of the Nazis in World
    War II, an official said Sunday. 

    The trunks are in a storage vault of the Treasury Ministry and were
    located after an inquiry by the Jewish community of Trieste, said
    Michele De Feis, prefect of the northeastern Italian city. 

    The items -- including rings, jewels, watches and gold dental fillings
    -- may have belonged to Jews who died in the only Nazi death camp on
    Italian soil, at a converted rice-husking plant in Trieste, De Feis
    said. 

    The Milan daily Corriere della Sera said the valuables came from Jewish
    homes looted by the Nazis, who occupied Trieste in the latter part of
    the war. The value of the items was unclear, De Feis said. 

    According to documents in Trieste archives, the Jewish community asked
    for the articles to be returned in 1962, but the government refused
    "because it could not be proved (they) actually belong to Jews," De
    Feis said. Some items had been returned in 1958, he said. 

    The Jewish community renewed its inquiry in December, and the Treasury
    Ministry confirmed the existence of the trunks Friday, De Feis said.
    Italy's acknowledgment follows reports that Switzerland acted as a
    major launderer of Nazi gold, much of it looted from Jews. 

    AP 2-Feb-1997 22:09 EST   REF5533

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Yugo Cops Injure 50 Protesters

    By MISHA SAVIC

    Associated Press Writer

    BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Hundreds of riot police beat protesters
    and fired tear gas and water cannons Sunday in the biggest show of
    force in 75 days of anti-government protests in the capital. 

    At least 50 protesters were injured, independent media reported. 

    "Tonight, a crime was committed against the people of Belgrade,"
    opposition leader Vuk Draskovic said. "We won't stop until those who
    gave orders for this crime resign." 

    He urged people to come out again Monday, and to "bring everything they
    need for their defense." 

    "There is no more Gandhi-style resistance." 

    Some protesters responded to the police assault by throwing stones, and
    at least two policemen were among the injured. Dozens of protesters
    were arrested, radio reports said early Monday. 

    The police assault indicated that President Slobodan Milosevic could be
    moving to crush the protests that have shaken his government for 2 1/2
    months. 

    Past midnight, police were still beating protesters at the central
    Republic Square. An Associated Press reporter was clubbed on the back,
    and cameramen for Associated Press Television, Reuters Television and
    CNN also were beaten. 

    Riot police badly beat Vesna Pesic, one of the leaders of the
    pro-democracy movement, opposition leader Zoran Djindjic said early
    Monday. 

    Djindjic, head of the Democratic Party, also told The Associated Press
    that police had pushed him. He was not harmed. 

    Draskovic, the third leader of the Zajedno opposition alliance, said he
    was chased by police and shots were fired at his car as he fled,
    according to the independent radio station B-92. He said he was hiding
    because he feared he either would be killed or arrested. 

    The police action came after a tense four-hour standoff Sunday morning
    on a Belgrade bridge, which began when riot police prevented Draskovic
    from leading thousands of his supporters to the daily pro-democracy
    rally. 

    "Come out, citizens of Belgrade," Draskovic said live on independent
    station Radio Index, on the 75th straight day of protests in bitter
    cold weather. The demonstrators are demanding that the government honor
    opposition victories in Nov. 17 municipal elections. 

    Milosevic's government refused to acknowledge the opposition victories
    in Belgrade and 13 other major cities, even though they were confirmed
    by international observers. 

    Other opposition leaders, who joined supporters in different districts
    of Belgrade, also marched toward the bridge. As Belgrade citizens
    converged on the bridge, opposition leaders said their supporters would
    continue facing the police until they were allowed free movement. 

    Radio Index said police reinforcements were grouping in adjacent
    streets. Hundreds of riot police first used their shields, then brought
    in two water cannons. 

    Meanwhile, editors of two independent newspapers were interrogated by
    police in what could be another crackdown on independent media in
    Serbia. 

    Police took Petar Lazic, chief editor of the satirical weekly Krmaca,
    from his home Saturday and questioned him for two hours, the paper's
    business manager Bosko Savkovic said Sunday. 

    Lazic was questioned about a satirical photomontage that compared
    Milosevic to the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Police said Lazic could
    face slander charges. 

    Plainclothes policemen also questioned staff of the independent daily
    Demokratija in the newspaper's office, journalists there said. 

    The district attorney is investigating whether the paper acted
    illegally by publishing an advertisement that urged readers to flood
    government institutions with telephone calls and block their lines. 

    Milosevic previously shut down Radio Index and Radio B-92, another
    independent station that carries reports of the protests, but bowed to
    international pressure and allowed them to continue. 

    AP 2-Feb-1997 21:51 EST   REF5511

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Probe: Dakar Jet Engine Stalled

    DAKAR, Senegal (AP) -- The engine of an Air Senegal plane carrying
    tourists returning from a wildlife park stalled 30 seconds after
    takeoff, causing the plane to crash, break in half and catch fire,
    Senegalese radio reported. At least 23 people died. 

    The transport minister appointed a commission Sunday to determine what
    caused the engine malfunction. 

    "When we got to the end of the runway, the engines revved up and it was
    working OK. But after 30 seconds the engines stopped and we came down,"
    an unidentified survivor of Saturday's crash told Senegalese radio. 

    "The plane then crashed and broke into two. Those of us who survived
    were at the rear end of the aircraft," he said. The front end of the
    plane was engulfed in fire "like a furnace." 

    The plane smashed onto the runway seconds after lifting off from the
    central city of Tambacounda. 

    Authorities at the scene said they found one of the aircraft's cockpit
    recorders. Thirteen French, one Swiss, and two Senegalese -- the pilot
    and a crewman -- were identified as being among the dead. 

    Also killed was co-pilot Vladimir Vierra, son of the president of
    neighboring Guinea-Bissau. 

    Most of the dead were European tourists who were headed back to the
    capital, Dakar, following a holiday in Niokolo-Kobvo national park, a
    popular game- and bird-viewing area. 

    Another 29 people survived the crash. Many of them, spattered with
    blood and clutching the clothes of loved ones who were killed, were
    flown back to Dakar, 250 miles to the west, on a military plane. 

    The French foreign ministry said Sunday that a plane chartered from
    Europ-Assistance was to leave Dakar and fly to Toulouse, France, then
    to Paris to deliver two seriously wounded passengers. 

    Europ-Assistance also was sending an Air France Airbus on Sunday night
    to Dakar with a medical team and others to provide psychological
    assistance. It was scheduled to return to France on Monday with the
    rest of the injured. 

    The dead were being kept in Dakar for identification by French
    consulate authorities before being returned home. 

    The 52-seat plane was filled to capacity, and there were scuffles at
    the Tambacounda airport as several tourists trying to board were not
    allowed on because there were not enough seats. Four people were forced
    to get off the flight and drive to Dakar. 

    Transport Minister Tidiane Sylla said he had appointed a commission to
    determine why the engine failed. 

    Air Senegal, the small state-run airline of the west African country,
    flies every Saturday between Dakar and Tambacounda, a major crossroads
    town with routes to three neighboring countries. It is used as a base
    for tourists visiting Niokolo-Kobvo national park. 

    The plane that crashed was a British-made Hawker Siddeley 748, a
    twin-engine turboprop. 

    RTw  03-Feb-97 01:02    

    Soccer-Scottish club plans stock market float

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    LONDON, Feb 2 (Reuter) - Scottish soccer club Hearts of Midlothian on
    Sunday announced plans for a listing on the London Stock Exchange by
    early May. 

    The premier league club aims to raise about five to million pounds
    ($8.0 to $9.6 million) by placing new shares with institutional
    investors. 

    The proceeds will be used to build a new, 3,500 seater stadium stand
    and reduce borrowings. 

    Hearts said it does not intend to spend the money on new players. 

    The club is being advised by stockbroker Williams de Broe.

    REUTER

    RTw  02-Feb-97 23:50    

    Kuwait says ready to counter possible Iraq threat

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    LONDON, Feb 2 (Reuter) - Kuwait said on Sunday it was ready to counter
    any possible threat from Iraq, the Kuwaiti news agency Kuna reported. 

    The agency, monitored by the BBC, said acting Information Minister Abd
    al-Aziz al-Abdullah al-Dakhil commented at a news conference on reports
    of Iraqi threats to invade Kuwait again. 

    Kuwait was invaded by Iraq in 1990 and liberated by a U.S.-led
    multinational force in 1991. 

    "If any signs of threats were shown from the Iraqi regime's side, we
    are capable of maintaining the stability and security of our country
    relying on our trust in God Almighty first of all, then on trust in
    ourselves, our government, constitutional institutions and cooperation
    with our brothers and friends," Dakhil said. 

    "I send a message of assurance to the Kuwaitis that there is nothing to
    fear now because all matters are proceeding under the strict control,
    observation and readiness of the competent Kuwaiti authorities." 

    He said: "Kuwait will not ignore in any way whatever is raised about
    the aggressive intentions of the Baghdad regime. It will take them
    seriously and will never neglect them." 

    Iraq on Saturday denied reports it was massing troops close to its
    southern border with Kuwait. 

    The Iraqi News Agency said "a responsible military source" denied the
    existence of any movements or reinforcements of Iraqi troops in
    southern Iraq. 

    REUTER

    RTw  02-Feb-97 20:13    

    Canaries sing at British police identity parade

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    LONDON, Feb 2 (Reuter) - Canaries, doves and budgerigars joined a
    police line-up in Wales on Sunday as investigators tried to find the
    owners of more than 52 stolen pets. 

    The birds turned a room at Barry police station into a colourful and
    noisy aviary. The birds, worth about 500 pounds ($800), were seized
    last week during a police swoop. 

    "We have had several inquiries about the viewing and during the next
    few days hope to reunite as many rightful owners as possible with their
    feathered friends," a police spokesman said. 

    Among the birds on parade were 24 budgerigars, four canaries, three
    diamond doves, three finches, six cockatiels, three Golden Mantle
    Rosella Parakeets and two redrumps. 

    REUTER 

    RTw  02-Feb-97 17:31    

    UK Labour's Cook sees 50-50 chance of EMU in 1999

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    By Paul Mylrea 

    LONDON, Feb 2 (Reuter) - The British Labour Party's foreign affairs
    spokesman said on Sunday there was only a 50 percent chance of Europe's
    single currency starting on time in 1999. 

    Robin Cook, tipped to be British foreign secretary after an election
    due by May at the latest, also said Britain has not been showing the
    kind of economic performance to justify it entering the single currency
    if it did start on schedule. 

    In the end, though, Britain will find it hard to stay out once the
    single currency is up and running, he said. "I would put the chances at
    50-50 of proceeding on time," Cook, one of the most senior opposition
    figures, said in a wide-ranging BBC interview. 

    Labour, like the ruling Conservatives, says it is keeping its options
    open on the planned currency, seen by its backers as a way of building
    up the European Union's economic strength but by its enemies as a
    dangerous move towards closer European integration. 

    Both Labour and the Conservatives have also promised a referendum if a
    future cabinet decides to take Britain in. 

    But Prime Minister John Major, under pressure from so-called
    Eurosceptics in his party opposed to closer links with Europe, has all
    but ruled out entry into the single currency when it starts, saying
    such a move would be "very unlikely." 

    Cook, more sceptical about links with Europe than some of his Labour
    colleagues, in particular party economics spokesman Gordon Brown, said
    Labour's decision would be based on a "hard headed economic
    assessment." 

    After 18 years of Conservative rule, Britain still lagged countries
    like Germany in terms of competitiveness, Cook said. "Convergence of
    real economic performance is not something you have observed in Britain
    over the last 10 years." 

    But he added: "It will be very difficult for Britain or any other major
    economy to stay out of the single currency indefinitely if (it) goes
    ahead and...proves stable." 

    Cook's interview was the first of a two-part study of the views of
    Britain's two main parties on Europe. Cook's Conservative counterpart,
    Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, is due to be interviewed next
    Sunday. 

    The Conservatives -- desperately trying to present a united front for
    the looming election -- are bitterly split, with pro-Europeans fighting
    back against the party's Eurosceptics. 

    But Rifkind was due to try to bridge the divide between pro- and
    anti-European camps in a speech on Monday in Stockholm. 

    The speech is one of a series Rifkind has scheduled in European
    capitals to try to win support for Major's line that moves towards
    European integration are going too far, too fast. 

    REUTER

    RTw  02-Feb-97 14:19    

    Charles wants ``honest life'' with Camilla--report

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    LONDON, Feb 2 (Reuter) - Prince Charles is preparing to start a more
    open life with his mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles, and the couple
    could eventually appear regularly together in public, a newspaper
    reported on Sunday. 

    The Sunday Times report was dismissed as speculation by a spokeswoman
    for the Prince of Wales, the heir to the throne. 

    "It is a continuation of the media speculation that has gone on over
    the last week or so," said the spokeswoman. "I don't want to add any
    fuel to that." 

    But the story, which said Charles and Camilla were weary of their
    current furtive relationship, is one of a series of similar reports
    that have appeared in the British media in recent weeks attributed to
    "friends of the couple." 

    Earlier this month, the Daily Mirror quoted an unnamed member of staff
    at Highgrove, the prince's west of England house, saying Parker Bowles
    had been allocated a bedroom there. 

    Since Charles divorced Princess Diana last year, there has been
    speculation he would like to marry Parker Bowles. 

    But such a move could harm his chances of becoming king when his
    mother, Queen Elizabeth, dies. 

    Buckingham Palace has been reported to have launched a five-year
    campaign to try to persuade dubious Britons that Prince Charles is fit
    to be the country's king one day. Charles was reported three weeks ago
    to have admitted to failing the British monarchy and vowing to "sort
    the whole bloody mess out" by reaching out more to ordinary people. 

    Sunday's report said the prince, 48, and Parker Bowles, 49, would spend
    time at the royal family's Balmoral estate in Scotland, but there were
    no plans for her to attend official functions. 

    REUTER

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    Blair steals a march on the Tories
    
    By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor 

    TONY Blair makes his boldest pre-election raid into the Conservative
    Party's political heartland today by pledging that a Labour government
    would take a robust line on defence. Ten years after his party went to
    the polls intent on scrapping Britain's independent nuclear deterrent,
    Mr Blair promises the Armed Forces a period of "stability and serious
    reflection".

    Writing in The Telegraph, he says: "A new Labour government will offer
    Britain a strong and rational defence for the 21st Century. It will be
    built on our national nuclear deterrent, high-tech equipment,
    professional and well-motivated Armed Forces and an internationally
    competitive defence industry."

    Mr Blair reaffirms his party's commitment to a strategic defence
    review, but says that it would be "dishonest" to pledge to reverse the
    cuts in spending that have taken place since the Cold War ended.

    As with tax and crime, Mr Blair hopes to neutralise an issue that has
    caused Labour serious difficulties at successive elections.
    Conservatives are certain to regard his comments as his most brazen
    attempt yet to steal their political clothes.

    Michael Portillo, the Defence Secretary, accused Labour at the weekend
    of being "soft" on defence and said that Labour's proposed review
    called into question the future of a number of vital projects, such as
    the �16 billion Euro-fighter on which thousands of jobs depended. He
    predicted that the annual �22 billion defence budget would be a "soft
    touch" for a Labour chancellor looking for money to meet other spending
    commitments.

    "In any case, with a shadow cabinet composed mainly of people who have
    been sympathetic to the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, any support
    for defence in a Labour cabinet would be skin deep at best."

    But Mr Blair maintains that the manner in which the Government has cut
    defence spending has demoralised the Armed Forces and left them
    incapable of mounting a major overseas operation, such as the 1982
    campaign to reclaim the Falklands. He says: "It is even doubtful that
    Britain could again conduct an operation comparable to the Gulf in
    1991, where we were able to field a single armoured division only by
    stripping our forces in Germany of all their frontline assets."

    Mr Blair, who is advised by a team of former military commanders and
    ex-diplomats, concedes that it was necessary to restructure the Armed
    Forces at the end of the Cold War when the threat from the Warsaw Pact
    evaporated. "But the incoherence with which they [the changes] were
    conducted was tragic," he writes. "Infantry regiments have been
    amalgamated only to be reinstated. Recruitment offices have been closed
    only to be reopened. Hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent
    making soldiers redundant only to have a shortfall of over 5,000 in the
    Army alone . . . The reward for young officers and NCOs who
    distinguished themselves in the Gulf has for the most part been to be
    declared redundant."

    Mr Blair concludes: "We recognise the excellence of our Armed Forces
    and will offer them strong leadership and a coherent strategy for
    modernisation. The men and women who serve our country so selflessly
    deserve a government that will offer them a chance to have faith in
    their future to rank alongside their proud past."

    His words will strike a chord with those in the military who have been
    deeply unhappy with the Government's recent record on defence. It was
    disclosed by The Telegraph last month that defence is facing a budget
    cut of almost three per cent in real terms next year, despite a promise
    that funding would remain "stable". The cut is likely to be even
    greater if the Government fails to meet its domestic inflation targets,
    which are widely regarded by economists as optimistic.

    Senior commanders have also been angered by the way the cuts of the
    early 1990s, which were said by ministers to be one-off reductions,
    have been replicated.

    Mr Blair says that by 1999 the size of the Army will have been reduced
    by 32 per cent since John Major became Prime Minister, the Royal Navy
    by 31 per cent and the RAF by 38 per cent. "We will take no lessons
    from our opponents about commitment to defence."

    While Mr Blair's sentiments will be welcomed by the Armed Forces, there
    is likely to be deep scepticism about Labour's ability to deliver
    strong defences. Delegates to Labour conferences voted consistently
    until last year to cut defence spending to the European average, which
    would have meant a �6 billion reduction.

    Labour was also committed until 1988 to unilateral nuclear disarmament
    - abandoned after it told disastrously against the party in the
    previous year's election.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997  Issue 619
    
    Search is on to fill boot camp
    
    By David Millward 

    A SEARCH has begun for suitable young criminals to fill the Ministry of
    Defence's "boot camp" in Colchester.

    As late as last Monday, no candidates for the camp had been identified,
    The Telegraph has learned "We have had the place open for months," one
    military source said, "the question is: where are the young offenders?"

    After a long-running Whitehall battle, which had threatened the entire
    project, the Home Office and the MoD have finally reached an agreement
    which they hope will see the first occupants moving in this month.
    Ministers are determined to have the offenders starting their training
    before the election is called, as part of their drive to prove that the
    Tories are tough on crime.

    With Labour opposed to the boot camp experiment, it is doubtful whether
    any offenders could be sent to Colchester once an election campaign is
    under way and the Civil Service stops implementing new Government
    initiatives. This leaves the Government two months at most in which to
    implement a policy that it believes will be electorally popular, even
    though it has been criticised by Sir David Ramsbotham, the Chief
    Inspector of Prisons and former Army Adjutant General.

    Selecting up to 36 candidates, who must be aged 18 to 21 and in the
    last six months of their sentence, has proved difficult. Despite the
    toughness of the regime at the Military Corrective Training Centre,
    they must be suitable for an open prison. They will also have to be
    physically and psychologically capable of surviving the rigours of a
    day starting at 6am and continuing to 10pm.

    A Prison Service governor, acting as deputy to the camp commandant, is
    already searching East Anglia for possible candidates, but will almost
    certainly have to cast the net wider.

    "This is unprecedented," David Roddan, the general secretary of the
    Prison Governors' Association, said yesterday. "The problem is that the
    kind of people the public thought would be sent to Colchester are
    excluded, such as violent offenders."

    When the MoD reluctantly agreed to take some civilian offenders, it
    made clear that nothing would be allowed to detract from the "military
    ethos" of the centre. This has led to tough negotiations. The MoD was
    keen to impose a tougher regime than the Home Office wanted. The Home
    Office believes that it has seen off the other threat to the scheme
    which was whether the commandant of the camp, Lt Col Julian Crowe,
    could be legally described as a jail governor under the 1952 Prisons
    Act.

    Ministers believe his basic training in the duties of a governor and
    the appointment of a deputy from within the Prison Service will be
    sufficient to head off a legal challenge from the unions. However,
    Harry Fletcher, Assistant General Secretary of the National Association
    of Probation Officers, said: "If it gets off the ground, the whole
    thing will be politically embarrassing and tantamount to a fiasco."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619
    
    Don't blame working mothers, say education experts
    
    By Sandra Barwick 

    EDUCATIONAL experts reacted with scepticism yesterday to a study which
    claimed that mothers who go out to work full time damage their
    children's examination results.

    The study, highlighted in tonight's Panorama documentary "Missing Mum",
    found that twice as many children whose mothers worked full time left
    school without GCSEs than those whose mothers were part-time workers.
    It also found that only 33 per cent of those whose mothers worked full
    time passed five or more GCSEs compared with 49 per cent whose mothers
    worked part time. The full-time working mothers were not single
    parents. Prof Margaret O'Brien, who carried out the research for the
    University of north London, tells the programme that she was surprised
    by the results.

    But the study was confined to 600 families who sent children to state
    schools in the industrial, white, working class east London borough of
    Barking and Dagenham. "There are many studies which indicated there are
    more advantages than disadvantages to the children of full-time working
    women, particularly in having a fulfilled parent," said Prof Sheila
    Wolfendale, of the University of East London. "Women in the workplace
    are here to stay - or else let's rescind university places for women."

    The length of working hours, for working fathers as well as mothers,
    was an important factor, she said. And the quality of child care was
    crucial.

    The quality of the child care the Barking and Dagenham parents had been
    able to provide from the mid-1980s is not described in the synopsis of
    the study provided yesterday. However, high-income earners in Barking
    and Dagenham would be unlikely to remain in the state sector, since the
    standard of schooling is below average.

    The University of North London is therefore concentrating on a sample
    heavily weighted to relatively low-income joint earners, who are likely
    to rely disproportionately for child care on cheap, untrained
    childminders and au pairs, unless relatives are available.

    One American study showed that after a good nursery education, young
    people were five times less likely to become delinquent and three times
    more likely to own their own houses when they grew up. But the quality
    of the child care was the key.

    Prof Asher Cashdan, the director of the learning and teaching institute
    at Sheffield Hallam University, said: "I wouldn't be surprised if the
    study were true, but if it is true it would be for other reasons - it's
    not the working full time itself, but other elements which may be
    related to it."

    Another of those elements could be the nature of the work the mothers
    are doing. Women who are forced to work full time to pay bills are
    likely to have a different attitude from women who make a free choice
    to work and enjoy it.

    Dr Pat Sikes, a lecturer in social aspects of education at the
    University of Warwick, said: "I don't know of other objective studies
    on this topic. But from my own research, which is very different, I
    would have said if you were looking at the right mothers who were
    working, quite the opposite would be true. They can pay for
    high-quality child care, and they may be more contented and happy
    themselves." A mother working full-time herself, she said her children,
    aged six and five, were doing well at their state primary.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    Patients 'left to go hungry in hospital'
    
    By David Fletcher, Health Correspondent 

    PATIENTS may get worse instead of better when in hospital because they
    do not get enough food, a health watchdog says today. 

    The Association of Community Health Councils says some patients,
    particularly the elderly, may develop malnutrition because they fail to
    get enough to eat or drink. Its report cites instances of: 

    Patients left hungry because they cannot feed themselves and are not
    given help. Food and drink placed alongside the bed out of patients'
    reach. Patients missing meals because they fail to order in advance.
    Patients relying on relatives to make sure that they get enough to eat.

    Toby Harris, director of the association, said: "People go into
    hospital to get better. They do not expect to be weakened through
    starvation. The Department of Health must take action to address the
    issues raised so that patients do not needlessly go hungry when they
    are in hospital."

    The report found a range of reasons for patients failing to eat but it
    was not primarily due to the quality of the food, which is said to have
    improved in recent years. In some cases, meals were placed before
    patients who were unable to feed themselves - including a woman with
    both arms broken - and later removed without nurses or catering staff
    asking why they had been left untouched.

    "It seems that nursing staff no longer see it as part of their job to
    help feed patients," says the report. It cites other instances in which
    patients were given pre-packed food such as sandwiches or yoghurt but
    were unable to open the packaging. On other occasions, patients were
    unable to eat because they did not have their dentures fitted.

    The report says: "Malnourishment can delay recovery from illness or
    surgical or medical intervention and may even be life threatening
    because it can cause complications in illnesses."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    'Paid surrogacy should be legal in UK'
    
    By Kate Watson-Smyth 

    AN American lawyer flew to London at the weekend to hold meetings with
    childless couples who want to use a surrogate mother.

    About 12 of them met Bill Handel, the director of the California-based
    Centre for Surrogate Parenting and Egg Donation who has already
    arranged around 20 births for British couples, plus his team of
    lawyers, psychologists and co-ordinators.

    But his visit was condemned by fertility specialists and regulatory
    bodies. A spokesman for the Human Fertilization and Embryology
    Authority said: "We are thoroughly opposed to the commercialisation of
    surrogacy treatments in this way."

    Surrogacy is not illegal in Britain but soliciting for business and
    advertising is banned under the Surrogacy Act of 1985. So Mr Handel, a
    qualified lawyer and radio talk-show host, was careful to stress that
    he had held a seminar on the subject and did not tout for business.
    "The meeting was simply to explain the consultation process that we use
    and tell people about the legal, administrative and medical aspects. We
    did not hand out any contracts," he said.

    "We came here because several couples had written to us asking about
    surrogacy and we decided we might as well talk to everyone at once. If
    anyone decides to go ahead then they will have to come to California to
    discuss it further and then, and only then, will we start drawing up a
    contract."

    He was scathing about the English attitude to surrogacy and said the
    centre was fully in favour of regulation. "It takes us about six months
    to match a surrogate to a couple and 95 per cent of applicants wanting
    to be surrogates are rejected. They have to go through an intense
    screening process which takes about four months," he said.

    "The English system is amateur, slipshod and haphazard. Because the law
    does not allow it to take place in the open it has to go underground
    and there have been so many tragedies because there is no regulation.
    Surrogacy will not go away so you might as well legalise it and
    regulate it and then you can stop all these problems."

    Lord Winston, the head of the fertility unit at Hammersmith Hospital,
    said he had strong misgivings about surrogacy and changing the law
    would not solve them. "I strongly object to people treating it purely
    as a contractual arrangement and I am strongly concerned that surrogacy
    is not in the best interests of the mother," he said. "There is not
    enough evidence that surrogacy is being done properly and there are
    serious consequences when you get it wrong."

    Nuala Scarisbrick, of the "pro-life" organisation Life, said: "We are
    very sympathetic to the heartbreak that childlessness can bring but
    surrogacy is not the answer. However careful people are, there are
    bound to be psychological identity problems. There has not been enough
    research into the long-term effects on children.

    "Women are not hens producing eggs - they bond with the child in the
    womb and there is bound to be an adverse affect when that child is
    given up. Surrogacy devalues motherhood."

    But Mr Handel denied that surrogates bond with the child. "They know
    from the start that they cannot keep the child and so they do not bond
    with it in the same way," he said. "We have arranged 500 births in the
    last 18 years and only one mother has ever tried to keep the child."

    Mr Handel, 45, had been a lawyer for only three months when he was
    asked to draw up a contract for an infertility specialist who was
    arranging a surrogate birth. "I had to look the word up in the
    dictionary and then I decided I wanted to be involved," he said. "I am
    passionate about my work and admit to being on a bit of a crusade to
    help my clients have babies. I don't get paid for this job; I make
    enough money from my radio show. It is a labour of love."

    It costs about �35,000 to �40,000 to have a child by this method, of
    which the mother is paid about �10,000. Psychologists for both sides
    take about �3,000 each and the lawyers �2,000. Doctors and medical
    costs take up another �15,000.

    Mr Handel said: "I totally disagree with people saying I sell babies; I
    do not. But at least this publicity will force the issue into the open
    and we can have an informed debate about it." However, he was so
    concerned about the publicity that at the last minute he flew to
    Ireland and asked his co-director, Karen Synesiou, an English lawyer,
    to fly over from America to hold the seminar. Ms Synesiou, who has a
    degree from Southampton University, said she was convinced the law
    would eventually change in this country. "The Americans used to have
    the same attitude as the British 20 years ago," she said. "It will not
    go away so you might as well let the professionals deal with it. We
    monitor the whole process and are constantly carrying out studies and
    research."

    The centre works within strict rules. Once it is satisfied that
    surrogacy is the right method for a childless couple, an advertisement
    for a surrogate mother is placed in a newspaper, which generates about
    400 replies. The hopeful candidate must be between 21 and 37 years old,
    already have a child and not be claiming benefits. Of the 300
    applicants who fall into these broad categories only about 25 will come
    back once they have read all the forms. They must then go through
    months of intensive screening which involves medical and psychological
    tests, a genetic profile and checks into their background and family
    history.

    Pregnancy is the result either of the father's sperm and an egg
    collected from the mother, or the father's sperm with the surrogate's
    egg. Once the woman is pregnant she will keep in regular contact with
    the couple. The centre advises parents to tell surrogate children about
    their birth before they are six years old and encourages them to ask
    questions.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    Wine is safer than British water, says French chef 
    
    By Michael Smith 

    IT is safer to drink wine or beer than to risk the chemicals and germs
    in British water, a leading French chef said yesterday.

    Jean Conil, who trained under the great French chef Auguste Escoffier
    and is president of the Epicurean World Master Chefs Society, said tap
    water was far safer in France. "In London, you can't even drink the
    water from the tap, certainly not," said M Conil. "It smells, it has a
    bad taste and it is too hard.

    "In an island like Britain, water should be free and fit to drink. But
    in spite of the chlorination treatment, traces of lead, mercury and
    bacterial spores can still be found in the polluted rivers. This is the
    reason why it is safer to drink wine and use it in cooking. It's
    certainly safer and more hygienic."

    M Conil, author of The Food Bible, said British water was no good for
    making tea, coffee or even soup. "Beer and wine should be used more in
    cooking to provide the liquid element, and to drink them with food has
    more beneficial advantages than water."

    Thane Prince, The Daily Telegraph's cookery writer, dismissed M Conil's
    claims as a wild generalisation. "The water in the Lake District is
    totally different to the water in London," she said. "For years, the
    French had taps labelled non-potable, not for drinking. You can't make
    a good cup of tea out of French water and, if you did, it would be
    ruined by that awful milk they use."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    EU warns 'windfall' tax may be illegal
    
    By Toby Helm and Philip Johnston 

    A LARGE part of Gordon Brown's plans to impose a "windfall" tax on the
    privatised utilities could be declared illegal under European Union
    competition laws, it emerged last night.

    European Commission officials in Brussels said the tax would be allowed
    only if it was imposed on "natural monopolies" - such as water and
    electricity - or on entire market sectors.

    But plans by the shadow chancellor to widen its scope to include other
    companies such as British Telecom and BAA, the former British Airports
    Authority, which do have direct competitors, would not be acceptable.

    According to senior officials in Brussels, this would amount to a
    distortion of the market because it would give unequal benefits to the
    companies not subject to the tax. Either the tax had to be implemented
    on monopolies or on entire sectors, they said. But to penalise one
    company competing with others would be contrary to competition rules.

    A commission briefing paper outlining the position of the competition
    commissioner, Karel van Miert, makes clear that such a tax would amount
    to payment of state aid to the untaxed companies "equivalent to the tax
    they should have paid if the system applied to them".

    As a result, it could lead to a challenge in the European Court of
    Justice. Officials in Brussels say they have not yet seen plans from
    the Labour Party. But they have drawn up an initial response after
    reports from lawyers for a Tory think-tank who suggested the plan would
    run into trouble in Europe.

    Their initial judgment would seem to dash Mr Brown's hopes of raising
    up to �10 billion with the tax. Even without his plan to extend the
    scheme, many tax experts had doubted he would be able to raise more
    than �5 billion.

    Plans for the tax are understood to be causing tension between Mr Brown
    and Tony Blair, the Labour leader, who believes British Telecom should
    be exempted.

    Mr van Miert is also investigating the planned alliance between British
    Airways and American Airlines and has threatened court action if the
    plan goes ahead.

    Whitehill sources indicated that a report yesterday that the Treasury's
    own officials had privately advised Labour that there were no legal
    obstacles to a windfall tax was untrue.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    Improved report on schools fails to impress teachers' critic
    
    By David Graves 

    THE Chief Inspector of Schools yesterday defended his claim that as
    many as 15,000 teachers were incompetent despite his latest report
    showing some improvement in teaching standards.

    Chris Woodhead, who will publish his annual report tomorrow, said the
    improvement could be due to the impact of inspections. It could also
    reflect anecdotal evidence that some inspectors were unwilling to
    blight the careers of bad teachers by reporting them.

    Mr Woodhead rejected Liberal Democrat demands to withdraw his claim
    last year about incompetence. "We have no reason whatever to rethink
    that figure, based on the evidence at the time," he said.

    Last year's report judged two per cent of lessons to be poor or very
    poor. Ofsted, the education watchdog, calculated that, if this number
    of poor lessons were repeated across all schools, it represented 4.3
    per cent, or 15,000, of teachers.

    Don Foster, the Liberal Democrat education spokesman, said tomorrow's
    report would say that one per cent of lessons in the nine months to
    January was poor or very poor. This showed either a great improvement
    in teaching or that Mr Woodhead's previous claim had no basis.

    "Either way, Mr Woodhead has a lot of explaining to do," he said.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    Gardiner threatens to contest his seat
    
    By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor 

    SIR George Gardiner, ousted Conservative candidate for Reigate, is
    defying calls from colleages to "go quietly" following his deselection
    and insisting that he will stand in the election.

    Sir George, who has represented the Surrey constituency since 1974,
    said he would not allow the 272 "stuffed shirts" who voted against him
    in his "toffee-nosed" local party to beat him. He intends to contest
    the seat as an official Conservative and is taking legal advice over
    the validity of last week's "bizarre" party proceedings.

    Sir Marcus Fox, the chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 committee, said
    the MP's decision was "very sad". Speaking on BBC television's
    Breakfast With Frost, he added: "George has had his own very strong
    views over a very long period of time, but the fact that he has now
    refused to take the decision of his constituency is regrettable".

    If Sir George mounts a legal challenge to his deselection, it might not
    be completed before the general election is called and the Reigate
    party may have to accept him as their candidate by default. Richard
    Bennett, Tory group leader on the local council, said: "There comes a
    time when the good of the party must come above individual concerns. My
    fear is that the good of the individual is now the only thing that Sir
    George is considering."

    Sir George was deselected after calling John Major "a ventriloquist's
    dummy".

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    Boy found hanged after failing driving test
    
    By Simon Midgley 

    A 17-year-old boy has been found hanged in his bedroom after failing
    his motorbike test.

    Richard Alder was discovered by his mother and brother at their home at
    Sonning Common, Berks. His mother, Carol Alder, said last night: "He
    was a happy, lively soul. He had no money worries, no health worries
    and he had a family who loved him."

    Her son had bought his first motorbike only weeks before his death. "He
    took his preliminary bike test on the Sunday and failed, and then
    failed again on the Friday," Mrs Alder said. "I know people who have
    failed their driving test four times, but perhaps it was the last straw
    for Richard."

    Mrs Alder said the family had been trying to come to terms with their
    loss since Richard's death two weeks ago. She said: "There was no
    warning. We just didn't know. The ones who talk about it don't do it."
    She said her son suffered from dyslexia, but had managed to struggle
    through school. She had found him a temporary job at the firm where she
    worked in Sonning Common. "He didn't know what he wanted to do," Mrs
    Alder said. "He had considered the Army, but realised that he wouldn't
    get through the selection." 

    Mrs Alder hopes that her son's story will save some other teenager from
    a similar fate. "I want people to know," she said.

    A friend of the family said yesterday: "Richard was looking forward to
    passing his driving test, but sadly he failed it. It was the straw that
    broke the camel's back."

    A post-mortem examination has been held and there will be an inquest.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    Labour MP receives death threats

    POLICE are investigating threatening letters sent to Helen Liddell,
    Labour MP for Monklands.

    The letters were sent to her home in Renfrewshire and contained
    disturbing detail, which indicated that the writer knew her movements,
    her assistant Frank Roy said.

    Mrs Liddell entered Parliament at the Monklands East by-election after
    the death of Labour leader John Smith, and is spokeswoman on Scottish
    education. The letters ended with a reference to "SNP rule", but Mr Roy
    said that, while they were clearly written by a pro-nationalist, there
    was nothing to suggest that party's involvement.

    "Every politician gets abusive letters, but these different," he said.
    "I discussed it with her and with her husband, Alastair, and we agreed
    that we should tell the police. I can't remember exactly what they
    said, but they gave details which no one else should have known."

    The letters also mentioned a second house which Mrs Liddell uses, less
    well-known than her main address, and this was one of the features that
    prompted alarm, Mr Roy said. The letters were addressed to her home,
    but arrived at different destinations as her mail was redirected to
    various locations depending on her day-to-day movements between London,
    her home in Renfrewshire and her Lanarkshire constituency. He said the
    writer's grievance was unclear.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    Peel family crypt is found in basement
    
    By Michael Fleet 

    A FORGOTTEN crypt belonging to the family of Sir Robert Peel, the
    former Prime Minister, has been discovered beneath a church in
    Brighton, East Sussex.

    The vault had been untouched since it was sealed in 1888 after the
    death of Laurence Peel, Sir Robert's brother, who owned St George's at
    Kemp Town. Wreaths from Laurence Peel's funeral were still intact
    inside the crypt, with their roses even retaining a blush of colour,
    said Father Andrew Mansford-Brailsford, vicar of St George's.

    Candles appeared as though they had just been extinguished and cards
    from members of the European nobility were still attached to the
    wreaths. "It was like entering Miss Havisham's home. It was an
    incredible experience," said Mr Mansford-Brailsford.

    The crypt was discovered when engineers examined a basement beneath the
    church as part of a plan to turn it into a community centre. It had
    been bricked in with no clue as to what lay behind.

    "After some of the bricks were removed we found an iron gate with a
    plaque showing a lion rampant and a shuttle to represent the Peel
    family, whose money came from weaving," Mr Mansford-Brailsford said.

    The crypt also contains the remains of Laurence Peel's wife, two of
    their children and two grandchildren, who all died before him. Laurence
    Peel was himself an MP for a short time, representing Cockermouth.
    After Sir Robert died in 1850, he travelled widely in Europe before
    settling in Brighton.

    The current Earl Peel, who lives in Richmond, North Yorks, and is a
    great-great-nephew of Laurence Peel, has visited the crypt.

    He said: "I was as astonished as anybody to find it as we had no idea
    it was there. It was quite extraordinary. We crept through the passages
    and suddenly saw this wrought iron gate with the Peel crest on it and
    the tombs. It was a very exciting and moving moment."

    The crypt will remain behind doors but will be available for viewing.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    Five-star stalemate as hotel grading negotiations fail
    
    By Paul Marston, Transport Correspondent 

    TWO years of talks on a common hotel grading system across Britain look
    set to fail because of opposition from Scottish and Welsh tourist
    boards.

    While Government attempts to salvage an agreement are continuing,
    frustration with the stalemate has prompted the English tourist
    authority, Automobile Association (AA) and Royal Automobile Club (RAC)
    to proceed with a scheme of their own. Details are likely to be
    announced this week.

    Absence of a uniform star system has been a source of confusion and
    complaint for hotel-users since the 1970s, when joint arrangements
    between the two motoring organisations and the Royal Scottish
    Automobile Club collapsed. Separate and conflicting ratings have
    operated subsequently.

    The situation was made more complicated in 1987 with the launch of the
    tourist board's six-level "crowns" classification intended to
    demonstrate differences in facilities, which was later extended to give
    an extra, four-grade assessment of overall quality.

    Persistent criticism from tourists, especially Americans, that
    standards of service and comfort in British hotels did not match the
    equivalent abroad has stung the boards into seeking reform.

    But protracted efforts to agree a new system for the whole of Britain
    have reached deadlock, with the Scots and Welsh refusing to endorse a
    plan that they fear would portray their hotels and guest houses in a
    poor light.

    Proposals supported by the AA, RAC and the English board involve a
    single rating of one to five stars. To be awarded, say, three stars, a
    hotel would have to meet specified standards for quality, services
    (such as room service, porterage or laundry) and facilities. Failure to
    satisfy the criteria in all three areas would mean a lower grading. If
    an establishment failed to meet the one-star criteria, it would be
    unclassified.

    AA research showed that 90 per cent of consumers expected a higher star
    rating to denote higher standards in all three areas.

    Scotland is worried that many of its establishments would not gain the
    minimum star award under the proposed scheme. While more than 4,000
    accommodation venues are currently included in the board's crown
    scheme, only 1,070 (including guest houses and bed and breakfast
    establishments) qualify for an AA rating.

    The crown scheme has less stringent standards over comfort issues such
    as bedroom sizes and bed widths. The Consumers' Association says that
    the board's system is "discredited" because hoteliers have to pay to be
    included if they want to feature in official promotional material.

    The Welsh board said yesterday it objected to the majority-backed
    scheme because it would damage the interests of many small operators,
    who "provide excellent value but cannot afford the luxuries or services
    you would find in a bigger place". They did not feel that the extent of
    services or facilities should determine the ratings of hotels below
    four stars.

    The Scots made little headway with a counter-proposal for ratings based
    simply on assessments of quality. Officials said the majority scheme
    overplayed the importance of facilities at the expense of personal
    service and ambience. 

    But one English negotiator said: "Under the Scottish plan, you could
    have a pleasantly-run guest house by a loch with half a dozen beds, no
    room service and no meals after 8pm - and it could get five stars. That
    would make the whole system ridiculous. It's very sad that we've spent
    two years on this and failed to reach a settlement. But it's time for
    those of us who want to press on to do so."

    To give hoteliers time to meet the new standards, inspections are
    expected to begin in 1999, with the system coming into force in England
    the following year. The Scots are planning to continue with a revised
    version of the present crown format.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    Heart attacks 'dismissed as indigestion'
    
    By David Fletcher, Health Correspondent 

    HEART attack victims are putting their lives at risk by dismissing
    their symptoms as indigestion, the British Heart Foundation said
    yesterday. 

    Prof Brian Pentecost, medical director of the foundation, said they
    consequently delayed seeking medical help. But prompt action is
    essential because one in three people who suffer a heart attack die
    before they reach hospital.

    A survey of 2,000 people carried out by the foundation found little
    general awareness that a pain that felt like indigestion could be the
    start of an attack. Most associated chest pain with a heart attack but
    less than half knew that breathlessness was a symptom and fewer than a
    third mentioned pain in the left arm.

    The foundation said: "When heart patients were asked what symptoms they
    actually experienced prior to their heart attack, 40 per cent listed
    what they believed to be indigestion pain as a symptom."

    More than 300,000 people suffer heart attacks each year. About half are
    fatal. Prof Pentecost said: "It is important to recognise that having
    indigestion-like pain does not necessarily mean that you are having a
    heart attack. However, people should be wary of chest pain that does
    not go away after 15 minutes or following their usual indigestion
    medication."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    Bridge could be closed for two years
    
    By Paul Marston, Transport Correspondent 

    MOTORING organisations and the Government have accused Hammersmith &
    Fulham Council of failing to plan properly for the closure of
    Hammersmith Bridge.

    The bridge was closed yesterday and could be out of action for two
    years, bringing serious congestion to large parts of west London. Tests
    have confirmed that parts of the 110-year-old structure were seriously
    overloaded. More than 30,000 vehicles normally use the bridge each day.

    The RAC yesterday criticised the Labour-run borough council for not
    maintaining the bridge adequately, and reaching the point where closure
    became necessary even though no detailed plans for repairs were ready.
    A spokesman said: "This is a case of long-term neglect, and once again
    the motorist is the innocent victim. There is a great deal of anger and
    resentment about the way this has been handled."

    In a letter to the authority, John Bowis, junior transport minister,
    described the closure as a "draconian measure" that could have been
    avoided.

    Andrew Slaughter, council leader, said he was working "frantically"
    with engineering consultants to draw up a "design profile" for the
    repairs, which could cost as much as �5 million.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    Major growers to try organic experiment
    
    By David Brown 

    CONSUMERS will be offered a greater choice of organic vegetables on
    supermarket shelves if a �100,000 experiment by one of Britain's
    biggest commercial growers proves successful.

    Elgro, a company of 36 farmers based near Boston, Lincs, which
    currently mass produces vegetables for supermarkets on 7,000 acres of
    prime soil in East Anglia, is now attempting to grow them profitably
    without the use of pesticides and weed killers.

    The company, which had a turnover of �29 million last year, has applied
    for a share of a �400,000 government fund that aims to encourage
    farmers to convert to organic methods. The move follows the
    announcement by Sainsbury's that it wanted to buy more organic food
    from British farms.

    Under Soil Association rules, it takes several years before farmland
    can be declared free of chemical residues and so allow food produced
    from it to be labelled organic. Currently, most organic food sold in
    Britain is imported from other European countries because the majority
    of British farmers refuse to suffer the losses during the long
    conversion period. 

    Under the Elgro project, some of Britain's top organic experts will
    work with the company to convert 10 acres in Lincolnshire to
    chemical-free methods over the next two years. Yields, weed control and
    pest problems will all be closely monitored and costed. If successful,
    the first commercial organic vegetables will be available from the
    company within five years.

    Philip Sharpe, Elgro's managing director, admitted: "It is a gamble. If
    it works, we will be able to switch some of our land to organic
    vegetable production. If not, we will have learned the hard way."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    Tate embarrassed by Iron Man gatecrasher
    
    By David Millward 

    A YOUNG sculptor who staged his own, unofficial, half-hour exhibition
    at the Tate was celebrating his emergence from artistic obscurity
    yesterday.

    Calvin Russell cut through the swathe of bureaucracy required for space
    at the gallery and left the Tate embarrassed while he rejoiced in his
    new-found fame. The Tate, known for judging that a row of bricks and
    cattle suspended in formaldehyde had artistic merit, had not discovered
    Russell.

    But last Tuesday, Russell, 32, decided to rectify the omission.
    Successfully applying for permission to bring an easel into the
    gallery, he smuggled in one of his sculptures. Security men at the Tate
    not only missed the 13-inch tall brass nickel sculpture but also failed
    to spot the plinth - which he erected when their backs were turned.

    Shortly afterwards, a friend brought in a display case and "Iron Man"
    was on display - as was a sign recording the fact that the work had
    been "donated" by the artist. Russell's spell in the artistic limelight
    was brief. He left the sculpture on show and went for a drink. By the
    time he returned, the gallery's security men were waiting for him.
    "They were very good. They said I could have the sculpture back or they
    would throw it in a skip."

    The Iron Man, now on show at the Rosemary Branch pub in Islington,
    north London, is for sale. "It was �180," he said, "but it's �350 now.
    After all, it has been on show in the Tate."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    Virtual pet migrates to Britain
    
    By Robert Uhlig, Technology Correspondent 

    IN the Seventies, it was the pet rock; now, coming to toy stores across
    Britain is the pocket-sized virtual pet on a keyring.

    But where the pet rock was no more than an inert companion, the
    electronic toy called Tamagocchi - Japanese for lovable egg - has to be
    fed, watered, stroked, disciplined and even cleaned when its virtual
    reality bladder empties. And if the electronic pet bird's calls for
    electronic food are ignored or its "peep, peep, peep" requests for a
    digital tickle using one of the three buttons refused, it turns ill and
    cuts up rough, snarling from its little screen at its owner.

    When the virtual pet falls ill, its temperature has to be taken and
    medicine administered. But, if its calls for sustenance, love and care
    are rejected, negligence and starvation will kill the bird.

    Bandai, the manufacturer, which has sold almost one million Tamagocchi
    in Japan, says the virtual bird is now heading West. English and
    French-speaking versions will go on sale in Europe and America in May.

    Its makers hope that demand for the responsive toy will match that in
    Japan, where Tamagocchi have caused such a stir that they change hands
    at up to 30 times their �10 shop price, as adults hooked on the craze
    try to outbid children. Tomio Motofu, of Bandai, said: "It's not just
    high-school girls who are buying them, but primary school kids, office
    secretaries and middle-aged men." 

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    Women's fashion takes a fresh look at the bottom line
    
    By Tom Leonard 

    LEADING clothing stores are considering changing the way they size
    women's clothes after evidence that the female form is becoming more
    pear-shaped.

    A survey of British women's figures has been commissioned amid concern
    that the current system, which divides all women's clothes into sizes
    such as 10, 12 and 14, is out of date and so vaguely defined that it is
    misleading shoppers. Prof Stephen Gray, of Nottingham and Trent
    University's clothing centre, has been asked to measure 2,500 women for
    the Burton Group, which owns Debenhams, Principles, Dorothy Perkins and
    Top Shop.

    According to Prof Gray, discrepancies in clothing sizes are due to the
    rise of the pear-shape and parallel decline of the classic hourglass
    figure. The latter was more common when the British Clothing Industry
    Standard, based on a survey of women's vital statistics, was set in
    1954.

    Prof Gray, whose research is revealed tonight in the BBC1 programme
    Watchdog: Face Value, has concluded that the current system is causing
    problems for many women in trying to find clothes that fit them. He
    told the programme: "A lot of women do not know what their measurements
    are. It is true to say that, with almost no exception, the pear shape
    is alive and well and living in the UK."

    Sue Fairley, head of technical services at Debenhams, said: "Without a
    clear definition in the British standards about what a size 12 or 14
    constitutes, British retailers are left to their own devices. That
    means the customer is seeing quite a difference in sizes across the
    High Street."

    A model with measurements of 34-26-36 - a perfect size 12, according to
    British Clothing Industry figures - found that sizes varied
    considerably when she was asked by the programme makers to try on
    clothes in various High Street stores. At Miss Selfridge, she found a
    size 12 was too tight for her, while at Wallis she could fit
    comfortably into a size 8.

    The research comes three years after a similar survey for JD Williams,
    the clothing catalogue company, also noted the decline of the
    hourglass. The study revealed that women are now two inches taller in
    the body, two inches broader across the waist and hips, and rounder in
    arms, shoulders and ribcage than they were in 1954.

    One major reason suggested for the change is an alteration in women's
    fat composition. British Standard measurements showed fat typically
    settled on a woman's bottom, hips and thighs, while in the 1990s it
    tends to accumulate between the hips and shoulders. Nutritionists have
    suggested the disparity is due in part to the fact that women in the
    1950s tended to eat less fattening food and also burned up more
    calories during their more energetic daily routines. 

    International News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    Worry over looks led mother to kill sons
    
    By David Sapsted in New York 

    A YOUNG mother, distraught because she felt that she was losing her
    looks and her figure and fearful that her "American dream" lifestyle
    was about to disappear, murdered two of her young sons.

    Darlie Routier, 27, claimed that an intruder had broken into the
    family's home in Rowlett, Texas, last June and stabbed to death Damon,
    five, and Devon, six. She said he had slashed her across the neck, arms
    and abdomen - but not across the breast implants she had recently spent
    $5,000 (�3,100) on in an effort to restore her figure after the birth
    of her third son eight months earlier.

    But a jury decided at the weekend that Routier had made up the story
    and found her guilty of Damon's murder, accepting the prosecution claim
    that she committed the killings because "she was no longer the
    glamorous, blonde centre of attraction".

    The court will decide today if she should face the death penalty. The
    case of the other child remains on file. The court was told that
    Routier and her husband, Darin, had created the apparently ideal
    lifestyle. They had a fountain in the garden and a Jaguar in the drive.

    They had a motor cruiser, too, but no savings or pension plan and they
    had been refused a loan of $5,000 the day before the murders. The jury
    was told that Mr Routier's circuit board testing business could not
    sustain the lavish lifestyle and the couple owed $20,000 (�6,200) in
    credit card and tax debts.

    When the third son, Dover, was born, Routier became obsessed with the
    idea that she was losing her looks. She had a breast implant and began
    taking slimming pills. "The real Darlie Routier is a self-centred
    woman, a materialistic woman and a woman cold enough to murder her own
    sons," said Greg Davis, prosecuting.

    At first police believed that an intruder had attacked her and the two
    boys as her husband slept upstairs with the baby. But they became
    suspicious because none of the prized ornaments in the home had been
    damaged in the attack and because the only bloody footprints found were
    Routier's own.

    Later, police found a knife - allegedly used by the "intruder" to cut
    open a window screen in the garage - in a kitchen drawer. The knife
    used in the killings bore only Routier's fingerprints.

    Twelve days after the murders, and after Routier had held an elaborate
    and tearful birthday party at the boys' graveside, she was arrested. Mr
    Davis said Damon did not die immediately. "That's the most horrible
    part of this case. He opened his eyes and he saw who was murdering him.
    He saw her. He saw his mother."

    International News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    Man 'admits role' in Gucci murder
    
    By Bruce Johnston in Rome 

    ONE of five people arrested for the murder of the fashion heir Maurizio
    Gucci was reported yesterday to have confessed to his part in the
    crime. Investigators were said to have questioned Ivano Savioni, a
    40-year-old hotel doorman, until the early hours of Saturday after his
    arrest on Friday.

    He and two other men were held along with Gucci's former wife, Patrizia
    Martinelli, and her clairvoyant, Giuseppina Auriemma. It was widely
    reported that Savioni, whose home, telephone and car were bugged, had
    confessed to organising Gucci's shooting in Milan on March 27, 1995.

    Martinelli, 49, who was led away at dawn wearing a full-length mink
    coat and heavy jewellery, is now in a single cell measuring nine feet
    square in the local San Vittore jail. She and the others are due to be
    questioned today. They include Benedetto Ceraulo, 35, who allegedly
    pulled the trigger and shot Maurizio Gucci dead as he entered his Milan
    office building; and Orazio Cicala, 58, who police claim was his
    accomplice and getaway driver.

    Police believe the clairvoyant, acting on Martinelli's behalf, enlisted
    Savioni to engage Ceraulo and Cicala - both Sicilian criminals - to
    kill Gucci. Ms Auriemma was Martinelli's friend and former paid
    assistant. The two had known each other since the Eighties when Ms
    Auriemma ran two Gucci boutiques in Naples.

    Her motives were supposed to be the hatred she openly expressed for her
    former husband, fired by his refusal to stand by her during a brain
    operation which she underwent after their separation; jealousy of
    another woman with whom he had formed a lasting relationship; and, last
    but not least, money. Gucci's desperate move in 1993 to sell his 50 per
    cent share in the famed, family leather firm to pay off pressing debts
    had as a result realised a vast sum of money - estimated at up to �400
    million.

    Martinelli left by her husband and finally divorced in November 1994,
    rowed bitterly with him over her having to get by on �500,000
    maintenance. Police believe she feared her two daughters, Alessandra
    and Allegra, now 21 and 16, might have been done out of their father's
    inheritance in the event that he remarried.

    Martinelli is alleged to have agreed that in return for Gucci's murder
    she would pay out �240,000 - to be divided between Savioni, the hitman,
    the driver and her clairvoyant friend. Police say she settled
    everything but a final �40,000 which she refused to pay, with the
    result that the killers were now planning to seek revenge by having her
    maimed.

    Martinelli reportedly admitted after her arrest to having paid the
    killers, specifying that it was they who had of their own accord first
    killed her former husband and then gone to her demanding a ransom. They
    may have mistaken her desire, often voiced out loud, to want her
    husband dead, with a specific request, she reportedly said.

    She had made few bones about her feelings. After her husband's death
    and referring to the murder, she quipped: "The crime? On a human plane,
    I'm sorry, but I can't say the same on a personal one . . ."

    Testimony, referred to in an 80-page police report, by Martinelli's
    lawyer; a former maid; and the maid's husband, all pointed to a
    scenario in which she had been plotting Gucci's murder for years.

    "How much will I get in jail if I get rid of him?" she allegedly asked
    the lawyer. To the maid, and her husband, she allegedly asked if she
    could find her a hired gun.

    But it was greed and frayed nerves that caused the gang of alleged
    killers and go-betweens to make a false move that led to their arrest,
    reports said.

    Furious at having been refused the final payment, the killers had
    allegedly set about looking for someone in the underworld to have her
    "knee-capped" as a lesson. But when Savioni told someone in the world
    of crime this, he did not know the man was a police informant. Police
    infiltrated the gang with an agent of their own who, pretending to be a
    South American drugs trafficker and hired gun, said he would do the
    job.

    International News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    Kohl's disabled heir faces up to image

    CAN Germany be ruled from a wheelchair? The question has become more
    urgent in recent days with the weakening of Chancellor Kohl's grip on
    events.

    If he steps down, the favourite to succeed him is Wolfgang Sch�uble,
    paralysed for life when he was shot through the spine at an election
    rally in October 1990, but the most formidable figure in the government
    after Mr Kohl.

    My newsagent, a former East German rowing champion, is horrified by the
    idea that Mr Sch�uble might take over. She says she was ashamed, in
    East Germany, to be governed "by Walter Ulbricht, who couldn't speak
    properly. Then we had Erich Honecker, and he couldn't speak properly
    either".

    It would be too much, in the reunited Germany, to find herself being
    governed by a "cripple", she says. "The Chancellor has to represent us
    at parades," she adds. "We see him inspecting guards of honour on
    telly, and it just wouldn't do if he was in a wheelchair."

    This kind of talk sends many Germans into paroxysms of horror. When
    Stern magazine posed the question about Mr Sch�uble on its cover
    recently, it was flooded with protests from readers accusing the editor
    of "utter tastelessness" and "contempt for the disabled".

    But Mr Sch�uble agrees that the question of his physical fitness for
    the highest office must be asked, and disdaining euphemism, proceeds to
    call himself "a cripple".

    If the bullet had hit his spine two millimetres higher, he observes,
    his arms would have been paralysed too. As it is, he still has the use
    of them, and has trained himself with immense determination to propel
    his wheelchair as others might a bicycle.

    But even more impressive than his physical recovery is his ability to
    survive as the Chancellor's right-hand man and manager of parliamentary
    business without declining into a mere time-server. Nobody questions Mr
    Sch�uble's loyalty to Mr Kohl, but nor does anyone doubt he has a far
    more incisive grasp of the radical reforms needed to rescue the German
    economy.

    Mr Kohl is an exceptionally gifted politician, but his power is
    crumbling because he has always been bored by economics, has put off
    necessary changes and has no message to offer beyond the promise that
    "things will get better".

    Things are getting worse. More than four million people are unemployed,
    the highest total since the summer of 1933, just after Hitler came to
    power, and even on conservative estimates the figure will soon reach
    4.5 million. Last Friday, Mr Kohl reiterated his "ambitious target" of
    halving unemployment by the year 2000, but nobody believes that he
    knows how to do this.

    The astronomical cost of keeping so many people on the dole threatens
    to bankrupt Germany's welfare state. It also threatens to wreck the
    Chancellor's great foreign policy goal of a single European currency,
    by preventing Germany from qualifying for it.

    Things cannot go on like this, but nor can the government decide what
    to do. Open warfare has broken out between different ministers. Theo
    Waigel, the Finance Minister, has come under attack within the
    coalition, and looks like a man fighting for his political life. Mr
    Kohl's oldest political friend, Norbert Bl�m, the Employment Minister,
    has threatened to resign if his pension reform plan - said by others to
    be based on ludicrously optimistic forecasts - is rejected. The
    Chancellor's system of government, which involves building a consensus
    behind closed doors in Bonn before telling the public what will happen,
    has visibly broken down.

    The ruling class in Bonn is paralysed and the country, one might say,
    is crippled. Will it turn to a disabled politician to save it?

    International News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    Filmgoers flock to a new 'Star Wars'
    
    By John Hiscock in Los Angeles 

    TWENTY years after the tale of a far off galaxy first arrived on cinema
    screens, Star Wars, the most lucrative film franchise in history, is
    back with a more potent financial punch than ever.

    Hundreds of thousands of people, many in costume, lined up outside
    cinemas across America at the weekend to be among the first to see the
    refurbished, re-released version.

    Brandishing light sabres and dressed as their favourite characters -
    Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia - the Star Wars fans
    cheered wildly through the film and shouted out their favourite lines.
    Many cinemas had to arrange extra screenings as crowds clamoured for
    tickets.

    Since the first Star Wars film opened in 1977, George Lucas's parable
    about good and evil featuring heroes, heroines, rebels and robots has
    generated an estimated �2.5 billion in revenues.

    Star Wars books, toys, clothes, soft drinks and fast foods are back in
    the stores and licensing deals have been struck involving everything
    from crisps to Christmas ornaments.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 3 February 1997 Issue 619

    Male Pill 'targets wrong hormone'
    
    By Laura Spinney, Science Correspondent 

    YEARS of research aimed at devising a male contraceptive pill may have
    been wasted by scientists basing their study on a false assumption
    about fertility, it has been claimed.

    Until now, the most effective pills for men were thought to be those
    that blocked a hormone controlling sperm production. But the follicle
    stimulating hormone (FSH), which researchers had sought to block, now
    appears to have little to do with male fertility.

    Researchers led by Dr Juha Tapanainen of Oulu University Hospital,
    Finland, found evidence that FSH is not essential for sperm production
    at puberty or for maintaining it during adulthood. In a paper in Nature
    Genetics, the team described five men in whom the gene for the FSH
    receptor was mutated. Although they produced normal to high amounts of
    the hormone, the signal transmitted by FSH "did not go through". Yet to
    varying degrees the researchers found that the men's sperm was viable
    and they were fertile, although their testes were up to three times
    smaller than normal.

    In the same journal, Dr Martin Matzuk from Baylor College of
    Medicine,Texas, confirms that finding in mice genetically engineered so
    that they produced no FSH. Although female mice lacking FSH were
    infertile, the male transgenic mice were fertile but developed shrunken
    testes.

    As long as testosterone levels are normal, the researchers said, the
    absence of FSH does not affect the production of sperm. So male
    contraceptive pills that block FSH will not make men infertile.

    AP 6-Feb-1997 0:58 EST   REF5887

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Thursday, Feb. 6, 1997
   
    WHITEWATER 

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Whitewater prosecutors have compiled a memo of
    several hundred pages summarizing material involving first lady Hillary
    Rodham Clinton and President Clinton, lawyers familiar with the probe
    say. The memo reportedly details everything investigators have learned
    since the probe began 2 1/2 years ago. Sources say that independent
    counsel Kenneth Starr and his lawyers in Washington and Little Rock,
    Ark., will weigh whether any indictments or other actions are warranted
    after reviewing the document. Prosecutors said for the first time
    Wednesday that one of their cooperating witnesses, former Whitewater
    partner Jim McDougal, has provided "new and important information." 
   
    SIMPSON 

    SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) -- O.J. Simpson's lawyer will probably plead
    fiscal mercy as the former football great faces a hearing for punitive
    damages Thursday. After being found liable for the slashing deaths of
    Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, Simpson was ordered by a jury
    to pay $8.5 million in compensatory damages. Robert Baker will probably
    argue that his client has nothing left to give. Estimates are that
    Simpson is now worth no more than $6 million, with nearly all of his
    worth in the form of his estate, which has been mortgaged to pay legal
    bills. 
   
    BUDGET 

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Clinton is prepared to send Congress a
    $1.69 trillion budget for fiscal 1998 that cuts taxes and claims enough
    savings from Medicare, defense and other programs to produce a $17
    billion surplus in 2002. Clinton had promised in his State of the Union
    address Tuesday night to make balancing the budget and improving
    education his top priorities. The budget envisions savings of about
    $400 billion over the next five years, including $76 billion worth of
    tax increases hitting mostly corporations and airline travelers. 
   
    BOSNIA-LAWSUIT 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- A judge Wednesday ordered Bosnia's most wanted war
    crimes suspect to come to New York to respond to a U.S. lawsuit by
    women who say they were raped and tortured in the former Yugoslavia.
    However, Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb wartime leader, is an
    international fugitive and unlikely to travel to the United States. The
    lawsuits -- seeking billions in damages -- allege that Karadzic planned
    and ordered a campaign of murder, rape, forced impregnation and other
    forms of torture. 
   
    TRAIN ACCIDENT 

    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- An Amtrak train struck a tractor-trailer
    Wednesday, causing three passenger cars to derail and injuring 15
    people. The train, on its way from Miami to New York with 187
    passengers and 16 crew members aboard, was about 13 miles north of
    Jacksonville when it crashed into a semi-trailer. The locomotive and a
    baggage car derailed and overturned while three passenger cars derailed
    but remained upright, Amtrak officials said. 
   
    AOL-OUTAGE 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- America Online was hit with a new technical snag
    Wednesday, heightening frustrations among customers just one week after
    the online service agreed to give them refunds for poor service.
    Customers nationwide were unable to log on to the online service for
    about 2 1/2 hours because technicians were upgrading computer software
    to accommodate the recent surge of members that has overwhelmed its
    network. 
   
    JUNK E-MAIL 

    Online users who hate "junk" e-mail got a break from two federal court
    rulings against a Philadelphia company. A federal judge in Columbus,
    Ohio on Monday barred Cyber Promotions Inc. from sending unsolicited
    e-mail advertisements -- better known among computer buffs as
    "spamming" -- to CompuServe's 5 million subscribers. On Tuesday, a
    federal judge in Philadelphia forbid the bulk e-mailer from falsifying
    return e-mail addresses, which kept America Online members from
    blocking the unsolicited messages. And AOL said the court order will
    prevent Cyber Promotions from circumventing a tool available to AOL
    members designed to block junk e-mail. 
   
    SECURITIES MERGER 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Dean Witter, the big brokerage and credit-card
    company, plans to merge with investment banking giant Morgan Stanley in
    a $9.9 billion deal. It will create the world's biggest securities
    firm. 
   
    MARKETS 

    TOKYO (AP) -- The U.S. dollar was changing hands at 123.56 yen late
    Thursday morning, up 0.54. The Nikkei fell 124.28 points to 18,061.69.
    On Wall Street, the Dow lost 86.58 points to end at 6,746.90 even
    though the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged. 
   
    NBA ALL-STARS 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Chris Gatling of the Dallas Mavericks, Kevin Garnett
    of the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Washington Bullets' Chris Webber
    were picked to replace three injured players in the NBA All-Star game
    Sunday. They will replace Western Conference stars Clyde Drexler of the
    Houston Rockets, Shaquille O'Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers and the New
    York Knicks' Patrick Ewing. 
   
    AP Newsbrief by BENITA GREEN 

    Updated at Wednesday, February 5, 1997, at 8:00 pm Pacific time.

    Reuters World News Highlights 

    BELGRADE - Serbia's autocratic President Slobodan Milosevic lost no
    time in pushing through a new law recognising his opponents' victories
    in local elections after three months of domestic protests and foreign
    pressure. 

    SOFIA - Bulgaria's opposition parties have celebrated non-stop since
    forcing the ruling Socialists to quit and call elections but the
    euphoria may wear off quickly when the extent of the devastated economy
    sinks in. 

    VLORE, Albania - Penniless Albanians who took on police in this port
    city vowed to stage a second day of protests on Thursday to press for
    the return of money trapped in failed investment funds and the
    government's resignation. 

    KINSHASA - Rebel advances in the east have caught Zaire's demoralised
    army off guard and put tens of thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees to
    flight once again, sources on both sides and relief workers say. 

    WASHINGTON - The United States said it had urged Uganda, Rwanda and
    Burundi to stay out of fighting in eastern Zaire between Tutsi rebels
    and Zairean government forces. 

    WASHINGTON - Russian fears about NATO, U.S. jitters about the global
    space station and plans for a presidential summit will be prime topics
    this week in talks between Vice President Al Gore and Russia's prime
    minister. 

    LOS ANGELES - Victorious plaintiffs focused on convincing a civil trial
    jury to slap O.J. Simpson with punitive damages on top of the $8.5
    million he must pay in the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend. 

    SANTA MONICA, Calif - O.J. Simpson's wealth has dwindled from $8
    million to $500,000 in the space of a year, according to records given
    to plaintiffs' attorneys by the defence in the former football star's
    civil trial. 

    NEW YORK - Mia Farrow's long-awaited memoir on life with Woody Allen
    hit U.S. bookstores, painting the director-comedian as more neurotic
    than anyone he ever played in one of his films. 

    Copyright 1997 Reuters. 
                            

    AP 6-Feb-1997 1:29 EST   REF5921

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Va. MD Indicted on Wife's Murder

    NORFOLK (AP) -- A grand jury has indicted a once-prominent Norfolk
    psychiatrist on a murder charge in the slaying of his wife, restoring a
    case that was dismissed last week. 

    Tobin Jones, 36, is expected to go on trial later this year in the
    death of his wife Megan, whose decomposing body was found May 18 rolled
    in a rug in the home the estranged couple once shared. Jones was in the
    yard cutting the grass when police arrived. 

    At a preliminary hearing last week, a judge threw out the case against
    Jones after Commonwealth's Attorney Chuck Griffith offered limited
    evidence. The tactic caused Jones' attorney, James Broccoletti, to
    complain about secrecy. 

    "This is a doctor who was a respectable member of society. He has been
    vilified," Broccoletti said. "He deserves the right to an open and fair
    hearing." 

    Griffith said he thought he presented enough evidence at the hearing to
    show probable cause against Jones, who remained in custody on unrelated
    charges. 

    "My intent was not to sand bag," he said. "I would never go in there
    and throw a preliminary hearing." 

    James Polley of the National District Attorneys Association said
    Griffith used the best strategy. 

    "You do the minimum to meet the requirements," he said. "That way I
    don't tip my hand or give away my tactics. This sounds like a low-risk
    situation. The guy's in jail so he's not going to walk away free." 

    Ron Bacigal, a University of Richmond law professor, said taking the
    grand jury route seemed like a back-door way to get a suspect charged.
    "If you don't think preliminary hearings add anything, then do away
    with them," he said. 

    Because grand jury proceedings are secret, defense attorneys cannot
    find out who the prosecution's witnesses are and other key evidence
    against their clients. 

    "Is this a game?" Brocoletti asked. "When someone's liberty is at stake
    ... we shouldn't close the courtrooms." 

    Jones, who with his wife performed in local theater productions, was
    medical director of Norfolk's Community Services Board until he took
    leave last March. 

    AP 6-Feb-1997 1:11 EST   REF5898

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Robbed Tourist Lauds Hawaii Aid

    HONOLULU (AP) -- A British tourist stabbed during a robbery at a bus
    stop thanked Hawaii residents for their thoughtfulness and support
    during the ordeal. 

    Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris on Wednesday honored Janet Mansfield, 41,
    her husband, and lifeguards who came to their rescue and held the
    suspects until police arrived. 

    "We were very pleased with the outcome of the trial," Mansfield said.
    "The two boys have had the maximum that they judiciary can give
    them...This is what we wanted. This is why we stayed on." 

    The couple was at a bus stop at Waimea Beach Park last month when two
    15-year-old boys attacked and robbed them. 

    Mansfield said she started screaming, and people pulled out cellular
    phones to call police, while others called lifeguards, who ran down the
    two youths and held them until police arrived. 

    Both of the boys were convicted of robbery and assault. One will be
    confined until he is 18, the other until he is 19. 

    AP 6-Feb-1997 0:12 EST   REF5654

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Arrest Made in 1992 Deaths

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A convicted rapist wanted for murder in the
    deaths of five women whose bound, gagged and stabbed bodies were found
    in a drug house in 1992 has been arrested in California, police said
    Wednesday. 

    Police and FBI agents in San Jose, Calif., arrested Danny Keith Hooks,
    38, shortly before midnight Tuesday in a hotel lobby. 

    The five women were found in one room of an Oklahoma City drug house
    that one of the women was renting. Hooks was mentioned once in the many
    reports on the investigation but was never a suspect, Police Chief Sam
    Gonzales said. 

    Police got a break in the case last week when California authorities
    called to say that a DNA sample found at the crime scene matched one
    that Hooks gave in California. Police then linked a bloody palm print
    found at the scene with a print taken from Hooks in a drunken driving
    arrest in Oklahoma. 

    Last week, Hooks was charged with five counts of murder in the slayings
    of Sandra Thompson, 35, Phyllis Adams, 47, Lashawn Evans, 30, Carolyn
    Watson, 37, all of Spencer, and Fransill Roberts, 34, of Midwest City. 

    Many people in the neighborhood thought police had forgotten about the
    case, said Clarence Holland Jr., who grew up in the area and knew some
    of the victims. And despite the arrest, some still worry that more
    killers are out there. 

    "I can't see how one man could have done this by himself," Holland
    said. "Some of the women who were there could whip a man by themselves.
    There has got to be more than just one in on it." 

    Hooks was booked into the Santa Clara County jail and Oklahoma
    officials will seek to have him brought back to the state to face the
    murder charges. 

    Hooks, a transient with relatives in Oklahoma, went to prison in
    California in 1988 for rape, kidnapping and assault with a deadly
    weapon. He was released in 1991. 

    He was arrested again in 1992 in Oklahoma on a parole violation and
    returned to California. Authorities there said he was released from
    prison again in August. 

    AP 5-Feb-1997 23:32 EST   REF5532

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Darlie Routier Imprisoned

    KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) -- Darlie Routier arrived at the prison Wednesday
    where she'll undergo a series of social and psychological tests before
    joining the six other women now on Texas' death row. 

    Mrs. Routier, 27, will await execution in a 6-by-9 cell at the Mountain
    View Unit of the state Department of Criminal Justice about 40 miles
    west of Waco. 

    The former homemaker, accused of fatally stabbing her two young sons on
    June 6, 1996, was sentenced Tuesday to die by injection for killing her
    5-year-old son Damon. 

    A charge covering 6-year-old Devon's death likely will be dismissed,
    prosecutor Greg Davis said. 

    Defense attorneys said Mrs. Routier's fate may have been sealed the day
    her capital murder trial was moved from Dallas to Kerr County. 

    Court testimony indicated Mrs. Routier gave marijuana and alcohol to a
    16-year-old baby sitter -- evidence that didn't sit well with the jury. 

    "This is the wrong place to try a case like this," defense attorney
    Richard Mosty said. "Kerr County is just too conservative." 

    AP 5-Feb-1997 23:31 EST   REF5523

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Calif. Jail Finally Opens

    By DENNIS ANDERSON

    Associated Press Writer

    LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Los Angeles County built a $373 million jail to
    hold 4,200 inmates more than a year ago. It's been empty ever since --
    not for a lack of prisoners, but because the county couldn't afford to
    open it. 

    Twin Towers, completed in October 1995, was finally dedicated on
    Wednesday after a deal was approved to provide state and federal money
    to offset annual operating expenses of $75 million. 

    About 300 dignitaries and elected officials turned out to celebrate the
    opening of the facility, with a handful of protesters saying more jails
    are not the answers to society's problems. 

    Attorney General Dan Lungren called Twin Towers "a monument to
    reality." "I hope sometime in the future that we won't have to build
    jails and prisons, but that time has not come," he said. 

    Not everyone agreed. A small group of protesters carried placards with
    messages that said, "Educate, Don't Incarcerate." 

    The demonstrators included a nun, Sister Lisa Nolette, who said the
    politicians failed to grasp the connection between poverty, a lack of
    educational opportunity and crime. 

    "How do we spend our money?" she asked. "Do we spend it on jails, or
    solutions?" 

    Late last month, the Board of Supervisors approved a plan that calls
    for state and federal law enforcement agencies to lease about 1,900
    beds at other county jail facilities, generating about $37 million for
    Twin Towers. 

    Gov. Pete Wilson said he will appeal to the Legislature for money to
    help pay for its operation. 

    "I'm confident they will agree with everyone here today that this
    facility must go forward." 

    AP 6-Feb-1997 1:37 EST   REF5938

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Belgians Enjoy Horsemeat Dishes

    By RAF CASERT

    Associated Press Writer

    VILVOORDE, Belgium (AP) -- Sitting under yellowing posters glorifying
    the mighty Belgian draughthorse, gourmets from far and wide have come
    to De Kuiper's to savor sweet, pungent horse tenderloins braised in
    their own fat. 

    "If you love horses, you should eat them, too," said Alfons Gulickx,
    owner of De Kuiper's restaurant. Customers here indulge heartily in the
    great Belgian culinary tradition -- though they acknowledge having
    mixed emotions about it. 

    "It hurts to eat such a nice animal, but yes, a horse is made to die,"
    said Rik Eylenbosch, sinking his knife into a thick, dark prime cut. 

    Last month, the U.S. government began investigating a government
    adoption program for wild horses after The Associated Press reported
    that many of the animals were winding up in slaughterhouses for export
    to countries -- including Belgium. 

    De Kuiper is situated in the heart of Belgium's Brabant region, where
    people have long taken pride in the sturdy local carthorses. A bronze
    statue of the animal graces a city square. 

    Playing off its reputation for reliability and industriousness,
    Jean-Luc Dehaene campaigned as "Your Brabant Draughthorse" in his
    successful bid for prime minister. 

    But adoration of the animal does not get in the way of dining on it --
    along with a side of fries. 

    "De Kuiper: Major specialist of horse steaks since 1859," a wooden sign
    above the red-brick restaurant proudly proclaims, drawing everyone from
    local pensioners to Belgian celebrities. 

    Considered repugnant in many countries, horsemeat is a delicacy in
    parts of the world. 

    In Japan, horsemeat recipes date back at least four centuries. Raw
    slabs are eaten with soy sauce, wasabi paste, ground ginger, chives and
    other garnishes to produce a horse sashimi. 

    Horsemeat also is a tradition in France and Switzerland, but so
    ingrained is its Belgian reputation that a Polish horse meat sausage is
    called "Belgijska." 

    Apart from the tender steaks, Belgians turn the horsemeat into stews
    cooked in beer or vinegar with onions and carrots, and an array of
    sausages and smoked hams. 

    "It is the summit of red-meat perfection," said Dirk De Prins, a
    culinary expert and writer on Belgian cooking. Fans point out that
    horse has less fat than beef, while some European consumers note that
    horsemeat contains no risk of "mad cow" disease. 

    But for every nation that has taken to the meat, there are plenty that
    haven't. 

    In Britain, for example, it is definitely a non-starter. Belgo Centraal
    is a trendy London restaurant featuring all things Belgian from beer
    and mussel dishes to the creamy chicken stew known as waterzooi. But
    horsemeat is not on the menu. 

    "It's quite unacceptable in Britain," said Belgo's Mary Norman.
    "They're seen more as pets as anything." 

    In India, the land of curries, many people worship "Mother Cow" and
    will not touch beef. But few see horsemeat as an alternative. 

    "There is so much to eat, why even think of the poor horse?" said New
    Delhi shipping executive Ajay Bhatnagar. 

    People have enjoyed eating horsemeat through the ages -- from the Celts
    to the Mongols, who also rode them across the steppe. Hunters in
    prehistoric France once earned their dinners by chasing horses to their
    death over Solutre rock. 

    In Medieval Europe, the Pope tried to ban the eating of horsemeat, and
    governments also have tried to stamp out the tradition. But it has
    continued partly because, until recently, it was a cheap. 

    That is changing, even in Belgium. Prices for a horse steak can now
    exceed those of prime beef. The standard steak at De Kuiper costs $16. 

    Importer Bart Teugels says U.S. imported horse steaks can cost as much
    as $14 a pound, largely because of transport costs. 

    Robert Peeters, the sole remaining horsemeat butcher in Vilvoorde,
    which long had Belgium's biggest market for draughthorses, says he'll
    close up in a few years. 

    When he started in 1946, he processed a horse a day into sausages,
    steaks and hams. He made the rounds of the local farms and had plenty
    of product. 

    But now he has to travel up to 100 miles to find his meat, as
    draughthorses steadily gave way to tractors. 

    "Tractors make lousy sausages," he said. 

    AP 6-Feb-1997 1:34 EST   REF5928

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    U.K. Probes Illegal Visa Sales

    LONDON (AP) -- Police are investigating allegations that British
    diplomatic staff in Nigeria have been selling visas illegally. 

    The Foreign Office says it has recalled four staff from the visa
    section of the British High Commission, or embassy, in Lagos in recent
    weeks. 

    Britain and other European countries restrict issuing visas to
    Nigerians out of concern that they will remain in the country they
    visit. 

    The Times of London reported last month that a Scotland Yard team had
    uncovered systematic fraud involving large sums of money over the sale
    of British travel visas. 

    Scotland Yard and the Foreign Office would not release details of the
    investigation. 

    AP 5-Feb-1997 21:30 EST   REF5816

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Senegal Airline Suspends Flights

    DAKAR, Senegal (AP) -- Senegal's national airline suspended operations
    Wednesday after its only airworthy plane crashed and killed 23 people. 

    In a terse statement read on national television, Air Senegal said it
    would resume operations in the future, but did not give a specific
    date. 

    Investigators believe contaminated fuel and excess baggage may have
    caused Saturday's plane crash, which seriously injured 29 people. 

    The right engine of the British-made Hawker Siddeley 748, a twin-engine
    turboprop, stalled 30 seconds after takeoff. It was carrying tourists
    returning from a wildlife park. Most of the tourists were French. 

    President Abdou Diouf was quoted in the government-owned Le Soleil
    newspaper Wednesday as saying he was "most saddened by the accident"
    and ordered an investigation. 

    Some 140 workers of the airline may be laid off as a result of the
    suspension. The HS-748 was the last of the company's three aircraft
    still airworthy. Two other, smaller planes have been grounded. 

    AP 5-Feb-1997 21:08 EST   REF5804

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Mexico: Accused Woman Cries Foul

    By JOSEPH B. FRAZIER

    Associated Press Writer

    MEXICO CITY (AP) -- She says she shot to stop the assault of a would-be
    rapist. The prosecution claims she invited the attack by enticing her
    aggressor. 

    Both sides make final arguments Friday in the murder trial of Claudia
    Rodriguez, whose prosecution for killing her alleged attacker has
    women's groups complaining of injustice from a macho society that holds
    women to a different standard -- even in court. 

    Rodriguez, 30, has been in jail since the night a year ago when she
    went out with a woman friend and the woman's lover for an evening of
    drinking and dancing at a bar just outside Mexico City. 

    The two women left the bar together well after midnight, apparently
    offended by something the man, Juan Miguel Cabrera, 27, had done. 

    He followed them. Rodriguez claims he made lewd comments and suggested
    the three go to a hotel. She says he attacked her and tried to rape
    her, ripping her clothing. Her friend confirmed the account. 

    Rodriguez shot Cabrera once with a pistol she had with her. He died
    hours later in a hospital. 

    She was charged with murder and could face 15 years in prison. 

    The defense says the charges are baseless and indicative of the double
    standard women face in Mexico. Rodriguez is married and the mother of
    five. Cabrera was also married, though not to Rodriguez's friend. 

    In a July ruling dismissing a defense motion to drop charges, Judge
    Gustavo Aquiles Gasca wrote: 

    "Instead of avoiding the sexual attack, by her attitude in remaining in
    the company of her aggressor despite his propositions to her, she
    provoked him to attack her so she could shoot him in some vital part of
    his body." 

    "The judge said she should have foreseen the attempt, but the
    aggression was unexpected," defense attorney Ana Laura Magaloni said
    Wednesday. "Claudia said 'no' and suspected she was going to be raped."

    Magaloni told The Associated Press that in Mexico, a shooting is
    considered a legitimate defense if someone enters your house to try to
    rob it. But "in the case of rape, it is very subjective about what is
    rape and whether the woman was inviting it or not." 

    On Wednesday, about 15 women protesters put themselves behind bars in a
    mock jail set up outside the Interior Ministry building. They paced
    inside a cage with black metal bars, vowing to remain there until
    Rodriguez is released. 

    "If Claudia is a prisoner, we are too," one sign said. 

    Integral Health for Women, one of a number of feminist groups to rally
    behind Rodriguez, considers the case significant because it symbolizes
    the "machismo that is entrenched in our society," according to
    spokeswoman Ana Maria Hernandez, who joined Wednesday's protest. 

    "That Claudia could spend 15 years in prison sends a message to society
    that women can be raped -- and if they defend themselves they can go to
    jail -- and a message to men that they can do what they want and
    nothing will happen to them." 

    The judge has 15 days to issue a verdict after Friday's hearing,
    although the process often takes longer in practice. 

    AP 5-Feb-1997 20:39 EST   REF5789

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    4 To Be Tried in Cairo Collapse

    CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Three engineers and the owner of an apartment
    building will stand trial for negligence in the building's collapse, a
    news agency reported Wednesday. The collapse killed 64 people. 

    The owner, Raouf Wissa Ibrahim, 60, is accused of illegally adding four
    floors atop the eight-story building and transforming apartments on the
    ground floor into shops, Egypt's Middle East News Agency said. 

    The building -- in the upscale Heliopolis district in Cairo -- was
    built on a structure that could not even withstand eight floors, MENA
    quoted unidentified prosecution officials as saying. 

    The three engineers are accused of removing columns and surrounding
    walls on the ground floor to make way for a bank. The building
    collapsed in October as the work was going on. 

    "The deaths were a result of the men's negligence and because they
    ignored building regulations," the officials said, according to MENA. 

    If convicted, Ibrahim could face life in prison at hard labor as well
    as a minimum $14,700 fine, MENA quoted prosecutor Abdel-Maguid Mahmoud
    as saying. 

    Mahmoud said the engineers, whose names were not released, could get
    three years in prison if convicted. No date has been set for the trial.

    The collapse sparked calls for tougher construction laws and stricter
    punishment for shoddy building practices. Building collapses are not
    unusual in Egypt, where rising real estate costs in the 1970s led to
    shoddy construction. 

    AP 5-Feb-1997 19:44 EST   REF5738

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Navy Suspends Jet Search

    JERUSALEM (AP) -- The U.S. Navy suspended its search Wednesday for a
    military jet that disappeared with four servicemen aboard during a
    training exercise in the eastern Mediterranean. 

    The S-3 Viking, stationed on the 6th Fleet's USS Theodore Roosevelt,
    dropped off the radar at about 8 p.m. Tuesday, the Navy said in a
    statement. 

    Search and rescue squads located some debris with squadron markings,
    said Bert Byers, a spokesman for Cecil Field Naval Air Station in
    Jacksonville, Fla., where the Navy plane was based. 

    The military offered no details about possible causes of the crash. 

    The Jerusalem Post said the American plane, a submarine-chaser equipped
    with harpoon missiles, was taking part in joint maneuvers with the
    Israeli navy at the time. It disappeared about 90 miles west of the
    Israeli port city of Haifa. 

    AP 5-Feb-1997 20:20 EST   REF5783

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    S. Africa Panel Halts AIDS Drug

    PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) -- A South African medical panel banned all
    research on a new AIDS drug Wednesday until the medication's safety can
    be proven. 

    The ban by the Medicines Control Council was the latest setback to
    three University of Pretoria researchers who developed Virodene P058,
    which they presented to President Nelson Mandela's Cabinet last month
    as a groundbreaking treatment for the HIV virus. 

    While South Africa said it would consider providing money for more
    research on the drug, scientists and AIDS groups accused the
    researchers of conducting unauthorized experiments on humans and making
    sensational claims before submitting their work for peer review. 

    A special committee made up of members of the government drug council,
    the research team and the University of Pretoria medical ethics
    committee is investigating the drug's safety. 

    One of the drug's ingredients is a toxic industrial solvent, said Peter
    Folb, chairman of the council. He said the toxic ingredient --
    dimethylformamide -- can cause liver damage and may be linked to
    cancer. 

    "AIDS patients may be at special risk of developing some of these
    complications," Folb said. "The serious and unresolved safety issues in
    the use of Virodene must be sorted out before any further work can be
    considered and before patients who previously received Virodene may be
    further exposed to the drug." 

    The researchers had claimed their tests on about a dozen patients
    showed the formula in some cases reversed the effects of AIDS. 

    But Folb said initial findings by the investigating panel detected
    flaws both in the research and the interpretation of its results. 

    AP 5-Feb-1997 20:02 EST   REF5760

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Huge Ice Shelf Collapse Imminent

    SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Deep holes and cracks several miles long are
    spreading through an Antarctic ice shelf, and a scientist who examined
    them predicted the shelf soon will collapse. 

    Two years ago, the northern section of the 620-mile-long Larsen Ice
    Shelf collapsed after a period of warmer-than-usual temperatures. 

    On Wednesday, Rudi del Valle, director of geology with the Argentinian
    Antarctic Institute, flew over the rest of the 4,600-square-mile ice
    shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula and predicted it would collapse within
    two years. 

    "It will be destroyed without any doubt," he said. 

    After spending the past seven years observing the area, del Valle said
    he was convinced that global warming was causing the dramatic changes. 

    In January 1995, a 500-square-mile section of the ice shelf collapsed
    and broke up into thousands of icebergs. Prior to the collapse it had
    become crisscrossed with deep cracks, some 30 miles long and 100 feet
    wide. 

    "We saw a lot of cracks and ice rifts -- a lot," del Valle said of his
    trip Wednesday. "We saw holes -- big holes in the ice shelf. And we
    don't have an explanation for these holes. In summer, there are rivers
    ... and small lakes." 

    Greenpeace sent two helicopters from its research ship, the Arctic
    Sunrise, over the area Wednesday. 

    Marc de Fourneaux, a climber and Antarctic expert who dropped down onto
    the ice from one of the helicopters, said he had never seen so many
    cracks in the surface of an ice shelf. He also was surprised at the
    number of lakes -- some larger than football fields -- that have formed
    from melting ice. 

    Glaciologists from the British Antarctic Survey contend that the
    disintegration of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula is a sign that
    they are reaching their "limit of viability" due to increasing
    temperatures over the peninsula. 

    In a recent paper, glaciologists David Vaughan and Chris Doake said ice
    shelves on the peninsula were starting to retreat south as temperatures
    continued to increase. 

    "Ice shelves appear to be sensitive indicators of climate change," they
    wrote in Nature magazine last year. 

    Over the past 50 years, the Antarctic Peninsula has experienced a
    sustained atmospheric warming of 4.5 degrees. 

    Scientists disagree over whether the warming is due to the greenhouse
    effect of the buildup of carbon dioxide and other gases released by the
    Industrial Age, or whether it is part of the Earth's natural warming
    and cooling cycle. 

    Del Valle said in recent years it has even rained in coastal Antarctica
    -- a previously unheard-of event. 

    AP 5-Feb-1997 19:44 EST   REF5739

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    21st State Joins Tobacco Suit

    MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Wisconsin sued Wednesday for smoking-related
    profits and health costs, the 21st state to sue tobacco companies. 

    The lawsuit accuses eight tobacco companies and three industry groups
    of conspiring to mislead, deceive and confuse the public about the
    negative health effects of tobacco use and secondhand smoke. 

    "We must do it to stop future generations from being misled and hooked
    by dangerous products which will lead to disease and death," Attorney
    General James Doyle said. 

    In addition to recouping money spent treating smoking-related
    illnesses, the state is seeking all profits the companies have made in
    Wisconsin since 1953, the year researchers' discovery of a possible
    link between smoking and lung cancer was first widely reported. 

    One of the defendants, Philip Morris Inc., countered that tobacco is a
    legal product licensed and taxed by the state. "It is the height of
    hypocrisy for the state to receive these funds and sue the
    manufacturers of the product they have long embraced, and continue to
    embrace, as a source of income," the company said. 

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622

    Pay rise for top people to go ahead
    
    By George Jones, Political Editor 

    THE Cabinet will take a pre-election gamble today by rejecting Labour's
    call for a freeze on the pay of senior public figures, including
    judges, top civil servants and the senior military.

    Ministers are expected to sanction a phased award - with around two per
    cent paid from April 1 - for more than a million public sector
    employees, ranging from nurses and teachers to top people. John Major
    accused Gordon Brown, the shadow chancellor, yesterday of indulging in
    "macho posturing" by announcing that an incoming Labour administration
    would block pay rises for top people - including hefty post-election
    increases for ministers.

    Kenneth Clarke, the Chancellor, said Mr Brown was harking back to the
    days when "populist gestures" had to be made about the pay of generals
    and judges. Mr Brown thrust the traditionally sensitive issue of top
    people's pay into the election arena by saying it would be frozen for
    the first year under a Labour Government.

    He said senior public servants should "show a lead" by forgoing their
    pay rises when public finances were under pressure. Mr Brown said that
    his "tough but fair" approach was a clear indication of the shift in
    priorities that would take place under a Labour government. He denied
    that it amounted to a pay policy.

    "Leaders must take a lead and they must be responsible for sending the
    signal that I want to send," he told Radio 4's World at One.

    His announcement was intended as a pre-emptive strike ahead of today's
    Cabinet meeting which will consider reports from five independent
    review bodies covering the pay of doctors and dentists; nurses,
    midwives and health professionals; teachers, the Armed Forces, and
    senior salaries.

    They have recommended doctors should get 3.4 per cent, nurses 3.3 per
    cent, the Armed Forces about the same and teachers 3.25 per cent.
    Recommended rises for the senior military and the judiciary range
    between three and six per cent.

    Mr Clarke will propose that the awards should be staggered to ensure
    they do not breach the tough cash limits set for the public sector this
    year. This would mean two per cent paid at the start of the financial
    year, with the balance at the end of the year, for the 1.3 million
    covered by the reviews. Phasing the awards is likely to anger public
    sector workers, particularly lower paid groups such as nurses.

    At a meeting of the shadow Cabinet yesterday, Mr Brown confirmed that
    if Labour wins power it will also freeze for a year the pay of MPs and
    not implement substantial post-election increases for ministers. This
    would mean Mr Blair - if he becomes Prime Minister - forgoing an extra
    �40,000.

    Downing Street confirmed that Mr Major intended to go ahead with
    increases for ministers if the Tories won. Mr Clarke said: "What we are
    faced with is a shadow chancellor, who you can't tie down. He is as
    slippery as an eel on any detail of policy."

    Labour's announcement was greeted with dismay by Jonathan Baume,
    general secretary designate of the First Division Association of top
    civil servants. "I think the principle is wrong. The signal from this
    is that if you work very hard, you are a very conscientious, dedicated
    senior public servant, then whatever your performance you should
    receive no increase."

    Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Armitage said the announcement was "quite
    disgraceful" and would make it difficult to retain service personnel.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622

    Sellafield hit by second radioactive leak in a week
    
    By Roger Highfield 

    THE Sellafield nuclear complex in Cumbria suffered its second leak in
    the past few days when radioactive liquid seeped from a faulty valve,
    British Nuclear Fuels reported yesterday.

    The liquid by-products of nuclear fuel reprocessing escaped during
    transfer between two waste storage tanks on top of part of the
    Sellafield complex treating spent Magnox nuclear fuel.

    The contaminated water washed down the side of the building into a
    rainwater storage area, from which some spilled on to the ground. An
    adjacent area has been cordoned off. "No member of the workforce has
    been affected, nor is there any wider environmental consequence," a
    statement said.

    The leak was discovered early on Tuesday. On Sunday night, six workers
    were contaminated by an internal leak of radioactive dust. Both events
    were graded level two on the International Nuclear Event Scale which
    rises from one to seven. The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, which
    is now examining both incidents, said it regarded their proximity as a
    "coincidence". 

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622

    Internet voyeurs sent to Moldova
    
    By Robert Uhlig, Technology Correspondent 

    UP to one million Internet users who downloaded pornography from a
    Website have fallen for a scam that has cost some thousands of pounds
    in telephone charges.

    When people accessed the site www.sexygirls.com, they were promised
    free pornographic images. First, they had to download a piece of
    software that would enable them to view the pictures. But the software
    contained a "Trojan horse", a program that hides itself inside another
    program. The subprogram altered the settings on the user's computer so
    that it always connected to the Internet through a telephone number in
    the former Soviet republic of Moldova rather than the local number.
    Every time a duped surfer logged on to the Internet or sent email,
    their computer modem called up Moldova.

    The scheme was uncovered when a Canadian ran up a bill of �450 for one
    phone call. The Mounted Police is investigating the company in
    Scarborough, Canada, that set up the site. Calls from Canada to the
    Moldovan number have been barred.

    According to today's New Scientist, a warning was displayed on the site
    explaining what would happen if the program was downloaded, but it was
    difficult to read because it used red text on a bright background.

    BT said it will consider barring the calls if anyone complains. The
    phone company receiving the call takes a share of the costs generated
    by it. "It's a common way for telephone companies abroad to get their
    hands on hard currency," said a BT spokesman. 

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622

    Howard to reverse gun Bill changes
    
    By Rachel Sylvester, Political Staff 

    MICHAEL Howard, the Home Secretary, will seek to reverse alterations
    made in the Lords to the firearms legislation introduced in the wake of
    the Dunblane massacre.

    A Home Office spokesman said that when the Firearms (Amendment) Bill
    returns to the Commons the Government would try to overturn two of the
    three changes by peers on Tuesday night. The Government will also
    challenge the amendment which would allow shooters to keep their guns
    at home so long as the active part was kept in a club.

    This "goes against the principle of the Bill, which is that you cannot
    keep guns at home," a source said. Peers voted by 153 to 139 in favour
    of this. It will also seek to overturn proposals to extend compensation
    to gun dealers, passed by 121 by 110 in the Lords.

    Labour is likely to back the Government. George Robertson, shadow
    Scottish secretary, described the Lords vote as "quite disgraceful".
    Jack Straw, shadow home secretary, accused peers of representing "no
    interest but their own". But ministers are still considering whether or
    not to seek to reverse the amendment calling for the Firearms Bill to
    provide a centralised police register of licensed firearms holders.

    The Government says it is already considering such a proposal. The
    parents of children killed in Dunblane condemned the peers yesterday.
    John Crozier, whose daughter Emma was murdered by Thomas Hamilton,
    said: "the innocence of our children shames them."

    He accused peers of "watering down" the legislation when they should
    have been tightening it up. Steven Birnie, whose son Matthew was
    injured in the massacre, said: "It just shows that a lot of peers are
    out of touch with public opinion."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622

    �60,000 for cancer mother who lost her unborn baby
    
    By Carole Cadwalladr 

    A PREGNANT woman who had to abort her baby and nearly lost her life
    after cervical cancer was not detected in two smear tests was awarded
    �60,305 in damages at the High Court yesterday.

    Judith Thurman, 33, from New Zealand, was praised by the judge for her
    "remarkable psychological resilience and fortitude". She had no other
    choice but to terminate the baby and have a radical hysterectomy in
    July 1992. This was followed by extensive and extremely painful
    radiation treatment. In addition, her marriage broke down.

    At the beginning of his summing-up, Judge Mark Hedley said Miss Thurman
    was a truly admirable woman. "The experience of being a judge can make
    one cynical about fellow human beings sometimes because much of one's
    time is taken up with human failure and wrongdoing. But every so often
    you meet a person whose courage and determination in adversity restores
    the balance. I hope she won't feel patronised if I say she is such a
    person."

    Miss Thurman, who now lives in Christchurch, New Zealand, was living in
    Wiltshire when she had the two routine tests. It was only when she
    moved back to New Zealand with her English husband to start a new life
    that she discovered what her counsel called "an invasive and aggressive
    cancer".

    The judge said: "If ever a case demonstrated the inadequacy of money to
    compensate for loss, this must be it."

    She lived with the threat of a recurrence of cancer, with her family
    "incomplete", without the possibility of bearing another child by her
    new partner and with the knowledge she could develop further illnesses
    because of her radiation treatment.

    Despite the "great spirit" she had shown, the judge said he had looked
    at the pain behind the experience and awarded damages on the
    provisional basis that she is completely cured. He also awarded costs
    against the Wiltshire and Bath Health Authority, which has since become
    the Salisbury NHS Healthcare Trust.

    The judgment left open the possibility of further damages if the
    disease recurred or if secondary effects of radiation such as
    osteoporosis, or impaired urinary function, materialised.

    Miss Thurman, who is mother to a healthy boy, Joseph, now aged six,
    said she was relieved it was over. "Money wasn't the big factor," she
    said. "The biggest was that they admitted they made a mistake and put
    corrections in place to make sure it doesn't happen again. I slipped
    through the system."

    Despite the treatment, the trauma and her marriage breakdown, the judge
    said Miss Thurman had taken up her old hobby and gone sky-diving within
    weeks of being released from hospital. So far, the cancer has not
    recurred and, if in July, tests are clear her chances of a full
    recovery are "good".

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622

    Boy, 10, is guilty of starting house fire
    
    By Michael Fleet 

    A BOY of 10 was found guilty yesterday of setting light to a couple's
    home after a jury ruled that he was aware of the gravity of what he was
    doing.

    The boy and a 12-year-old friend admitted kicking down a door and
    setting light to the council house of Colin and Sue Smith in Dunstable,
    Beds, but Luton Crown Court held a trial to decide whether they were
    old enough to be held accountable.

    The 10-year-old is only 4ft tall and was six days past the age of
    responsibility when he and his friend attacked the Smiths' home. He is
    thought to be the youngest person to appear at a Crown court on such a
    serious charge. He sat sucking his thumb for much of the case.

    Judge Daniel Rodwell told the children that he was adjourning sentence
    on them for reports. He added: "Grave though this offence is, I am
    unwilling to write off anyone of the ages of these defendants. I have
    my sights set more on rehabilitation than punishment."

    The boys had attacked the Smiths' home in May last year. It was the
    culmination of a two-year campaign by vandals against the couple, who
    had lived there for 13 years. The jury heard that a woman neighbour had
    lent one of the boys a lighter and watched the door being kicked in.
    Even when the fire took hold she did nothing to help.

    The 10-year-old had always admitted starting the fire, but Kate
    Mallinson, prosecuting, told the jury that they had to decide if he and
    his friend knew that what they were doing was "seriously wrong, rather
    than normal childhood naughtiness".

    Mr and Mrs Smith told the court in a statement that they had often been
    the targets of vandals and had been taunted by local children. Their
    windows were systematically smashed and by the time of the fire had
    been permanently boarded up. They lost all their possessions in the
    attack, they added, but were now happy to have been moved to another
    area.

    Judge Rodwell said that when the boys were sentenced he would order
    their parents to pay compensation to the Smiths.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622

    Female GP was 'indecent with woman patient'

    A FEMALE GP behaved indecently and made rude remarks to a woman patient
    she was examining in her surgery, the General Medical Council was told
    yesterday.

    Dr Christine Keown, 46, "touched up" the 28-year-old patient and asked
    her: "Are you like this with your boyfriend?" it was claimed. The
    alleged victim, Miss A, an office worker, told the council's
    professional conduct committee in London that she was assaulted as she
    lay on the doctor's couch, naked from the waist down. The doctor asked
    whether she was "frigid or anything".

    "I kept thinking, 'This is ridiculous, she's a female doctor'," she
    said. Miss A said she consulted Dr Keown while suffering from
    endometriosis, a complaint of the uterus.

    The doctor kept suggesting she should have a smear test and eventually
    she agreed and made an appointment in March 1995. She became concerned
    when the doctor asked her if she had had any unpleasant sexual
    experiences such as being abused or assaulted.

    When Dr Keown touched her private parts, "it was long enough for me to
    worry". She added: "It made me feel that this only happened when I had
    been in bed with a man."

    Cross-examined by Miss Nicola Davies, QC, for Dr Keown, Miss A denied
    "over-reacting" to her examination because she had found the doctor
    unsympathetic.

    She was certain the doctor that had touched her sexually five or six
    times during the internal examination. She said: "It was the first
    thing she did. I don't lie, I have no reason to lie, why would I lie?"
    Miss A denied ever having had any sexual problems in the past.

    She admitted that she had been referred for counselling after the
    alleged incident, but reiterated her refusal to let the doctor's
    "defence team" see her notes. Asked why she had not complained or leapt
    up, Miss A said: "I was so shocked, I just lay there."

    Miss A said she left the surgery in tears after the doctor asked
    further questions such as "Don't you want to get married?" An
    application from Miss Davies for the hearing to be heard in private, or
    for the doctor's name to be withheld as well as that of the patient,
    was refused.

    Dr Keown, of Peaslake, Surrey, denies inappropriate and indecent
    behaviour and asking inappropriate questions during a professional
    consultation.

    The hearing continues.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622

    Jail crisis deepens as prison ship plan hits rough water
    
    By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor 

    THE accommodation crisis facing the Prison Service deepened yesterday
    with the thwarting of plans for the first floating jail since the
    Thames Estuary hulks were abandoned 140 years ago.

    The Home Office wants to moor the Resolution - a detention ship bought
    from New York City - in Portland Harbour, Dorset, where it would hold
    about 500 "low risk" inmates. Councillors objected when approval was
    sought from Portland and Weymouth planning committee. An emergency
    meeting of the full council will be held today to consider the scheme.

    In theory, the Prison Service does not need planning permission to
    build a jail and it cannot be refused. In practice, however, it seeks
    the support of the local community before proceeding. If the full
    council endorses the objections it will set back the search for extra
    prison places to cope with an unexpected surge in numbers.

    There has already been fierce local opposition to converting the former
    RAF base at Finningley, near Doncaster, into a jail. The council has
    objected and wants a public inquiry, claiming the jail would be a
    threat to the town's regeneration plans.

    Last week Richard Tilt, the Prison Service director-general,
    encountered local hostility when he visited the 62-acre former Pontins
    holiday camp at Heysham, near Morecambe, Lancs, which he wants as a
    temporary jail.

    The need to consider increasingly unusual settings for new prisons has
    been caused by the escalating prison population, which at almost 58,000
    is near to capacity. Mr Tilt says thousands of places must be found
    before prisons currently being built will open. Officials were sure of
    approval and had already bought the ship for an undisclosed sum. They
    were intending yesterday to appoint a governor and rename the ship -
    until the planning setback. Prisoners were due next month.

    Mr Tilt expressed disappointment but said he would await the judgment
    of the full council before deciding what to do. He could look elsewhere
    or use Crown powers to impose the ship despite the objections. Other
    sites - including Barrow and Birkenhead - have been rejected after
    local opposition.

    Roy Gainey, a councillor, said the proposal could damage tourism.
    "There are three prisons within eight miles of this borough and another
    one 15 miles away in Dorchester," he added.

    Currently moored on the Hudson, the Resolution was used to hold
    medium-security prisoners until 1994. Six storeys high, with
    bullet-proof windows, two swimming pools, a gym, mosque and four squash
    courts, it was one of several such barges in New York.

    Michael Jacobson, New York Correctional Commissioner, said that they
    had been a success though, "because of the nooks and crannies and
    corners around which people can hide" they needed extra officers.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622

    Ronnie Scott died after 'incautious overdose'
    
    By David Millward 

    RONNIE Scott, the jazz club owner, died after taking an "incautious
    overdose" of barbiturates prescribed by his dentist, an inquest was
    told yesterday.

    The musician had had a year of sporadic depression and suicide attempts
    brought on by severe dental problems which prevented him from playing
    his saxophone. However, in a final telephone call to Mary Scott, his
    former common-law wife and mother of his daughter Rebecca, he gave no
    signs of wanting to kill himself.

    Dr Iain West, the Home Office pathologist, told the Westminster inquest
    that Mr Scott, an OBE, had taken cocaine within 24 hours of his death
    in his Chelsea flat, where his body was found by Rebecca on Dec 23. The
    cocaine played no part in his death, which was caused by an overdose of
    sodium amytal - a barbiturate which he used to help him sleep - and
    alcohol.

    The coroner, Dr Paul Knapman, who told the inquest that he was an
    habitu� of Ronnie Scott's club in Soho, recorded a verdict of death by
    misadventure. He said he would write to the Home Secretary seeking new
    curbs on the powers of dentists to prescribe barbiturates.

    Dr Knapman decided against a verdict of suicide despite hearing how the
    musician suffered from depression, had tried to kill himself several
    times last year and had rowed with his daughter the day before he died.

    Peter King, Mr Scott's business partner, said: "He attempted to take
    his life on more than one occasion. He had been having problems with
    his teeth and this caused him problems in playing his instrument."

    Mr King said that Mr Scott had had a "tiff" with Rebecca who had flown
    to London from her home in New York. The next day she went to her
    father's flat and found him on the living room floor.

    Dr Philip Hopkins, Mr Scott's doctor, said: "He was extremely unhappy
    and he did talk of being suicidal. He didn't know how to cope with his
    life's problems."

    But at other times Mr Scott was more optimistic. He had a bad year,
    going up and down with sleep problems. But he always recovered. "I
    discussed sodium amytal with Mr Scott and told him it was dangerous and
    addictive and other medicines might help him more safely."

    Dr Hopkins added: "He told me that he just wanted to get to sleep. It
    was the only way he could get away from it all. I don't think it was
    his intention to commit suicide."

    By December, after extensive dental treatment required to replace the
    teeth lost during a fall, Mr Scott was in better spirits.

    "He was much more optimistic. He actually told me that he hoped to get
    back to playing the saxophone at the club on Christmas Eve."

    Mr Scott turned to his dentist, Stanley Kay, who ran a surgery in
    Harley Street, for help. Mr Kay said: "He complained bitterly because
    he was so concerned about his mouth and had slept badly. He knew what
    tablets he wanted and had with him a bottle of sodium amytal tablets."
    Mr Kay added: "I was unhappy about this. I had never prescribed
    barbiturates for any of my other patients.

    "I was sufficiently naive about it not to be aware about how to write
    the prescription. I gave him some tablets because I thought it was the
    right thing to do. I told him I was not very happy with him taking
    these tablets on a regular basis and I told him not to take them with
    alcohol."

    Recording his verdict, the coroner added: "It is nevertheless a sad
    end, particularly for those who enjoyed his jazz and his jazz club, and
    included in that number is myself."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622

    Women 'battered soldiers' after Royal Tournament
    
    By Sue Clough, Courts Correspondent 

    TWO 6ft Welsh Guardsmen were forced into a bloody retreat when they
    clashed with three young women wearing shorts on a hot summer night, a
    court was told yesterday.

    A jury heard conflicting accounts of what happened outside a late-night
    food store in Fulham, south-west London, where the soldiers were eating
    after appearing in the last night of the Royal Tournament. Dean Morgan,
    17, was left with a gashed head and bruising and Vincent Jones, 19,
    suffered a bloody nose and bruised jaw after the women allegedly took
    their food and played catch with it before attacking them.

    Guardsman Morgan told Knightsbridge Crown Court: "We were eating when
    three girls came walking down. I asked for a light and they just went
    into the shop. When they came out there was a scuffle between the girls
    and the boy I was with. I intervened because they were three on one. My
    friend was getting battered."

    But the court was told that 18-year-old Nina McNeil was astonished when
    she and her friends were arrested for assaulting the soldiers. "I
    cannot believe it," she said, "They called us slags and butted us."

    When asked by Michael McGowan, representing McNeil, Martina Kearney,
    21, and Chloe Marshall, 19, whether they had made any "semi-innocent"
    remarks about their legs, Guardsman Morgan replied: "No. Let me stop
    for five minutes before I say something I regret. I am getting angry."

    Kearney, Marshall, and McNeil, all of Fulham, deny actual bodily harm
    and affray last July. Guardsman Jones also denied that they had been
    the aggressors. He said they had pushed the women in self-defence. He
    said his head was cut when one of them hit him with a bottle.

    The soldiers had been celebrating the end of the tournament. Morgan
    said he had had five or six pints of beer and Jones nine or 10. The
    women had been drinking as well. All smelled of drink when arrested,
    and a doctor decided that Kearney and Marshall were too drunk to be
    interviewed on the night of the incident.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622

    Fresh leads in 'road rage' case, claim lawyers
    
    By Maurice Weaver 

    LAWYERS for Tracie Andrews, the former model accused of fatally
    stabbing the man she lived with, claimed yesterday to have "important
    leads" that add credence to her story that the murder occurred during a
    "road rage" incident.

    But senior detectives, who attended a news conference at which details
    of the fresh evidence were disclosed, said later that they did not seem
    to alter their investigation significantly. Andrews, 27, from
    Alvechurch, Worcs, who is on bail accused of murdering Lee Harvey, 25,
    on Dec 1, attended yesterday's news conference in a Birmingham hotel
    but left the talking to her lawyer, Tim Robinson.

    Flanked by her legal team, she remained silent as her solicitors
    explained that three new defence witnesses had come forward and made
    statements backing her story of a road rage attack. She was granted
    bail on Dec 23 and has been allowed to live with her parents and
    five-year-old daughter, Karla. Andrews is due to reappear before
    Redditch magistrates a week tomorrow.

    The defence decision to hold a news conference yesterday, two days
    before Mr Harvey's funeral tomorrow, has angered the victim's family,
    who consider the timing insensitive. Mr Robinson said Andrews would not
    attend the funeral out of respect for the family's feelings.

    Yesterday's conference was ostensibly to renew the defence's appeal for
    witnesses to confirm Andrews's story that on the night of the murder
    she and Mr Harvey were hotly pursued in their car by another vehicle.
    She told police that it was the passenger in the pursuing vehicle who
    killed her boyfriend in a roadside row.

    So far neither the defence nor the prosecution have located any witness
    to that pursuit. But Mr Robinson said defence inquiries had produced "a
    number of people who have come forward with important information".

    He said Andrews had now remembered that the man who murdered Mr Harvey
    was referred to by his friend as "Jez". Details of the new leads have
    not been disclosed to the police because so far detectives had not
    revealed the substance of their own case to the defence, he said.

    "Defence inquiries are not yet completed. When the police disclose
    their case, we may well disclose the information to the police to
    enable them to think about the continuation of this case against
    Andrews. The police were unable to unearth this information yet it has
    only taken us six weeks to do so. I believe that this evidence
    establishes that there was a second car."

    Mr Robinson added: "My client has always said this was a road rage
    incident. My firm has retained as a defence expert someone who has
    published books on road rage. It does seem that this case falls into
    the general pattern of what can happen in a road rage incident."

    Det Supt Ian Johnston, who is leading the investigation, explained his
    uninvited presence at the conference, and that of his colleague, Det
    Insp Steve Walters, as being "in the interests of justice".

    Later, in a statement issued from West Mercia Police headquarters, Mr
    Johnston said it would be inappropriate to comment on evidential issues
    in advance of further court proceedings against Andrews. But he added:
    "On initial examination, it does not appear that the information
    released at today's press conference would significantly alter the
    course of our investigation. However, we are open-minded and we will be
    making all appropriate inquiries that are possible bearing in mind the
    extent of the information provided to us."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622
    
    Cow's milk 'humanised' by scientists
    
    By Roger Highfield, Science Editor 

    THE day that the doorstep pinta contains human milk has drawn closer.

    Rosie, a cow that produces "humanised" milk, is to be introduced by
    scientists tomorrow. Data on Rosie, who has been injected with a human
    milk protein gene, will be published at a symposium in Florida by Prof
    Alan Colman, research director of PPL Therapeutics, a company based in
    Blacksburg, Virginia, and Roslin, near Edinburgh.

    This is not the first example of its kind. Herman, the world's first
    "transgenic" bull, was unveiled a few years ago in Holland by the Dutch
    company Pharming. It has been trying to create a herd of cows that can
    produce milk containing another human milk protein.

    However, PPL claims that the results of an analysis on Rosie's milk are
    the first to be released, revealing that every litre she produces
    contains 2.4 grams of the major human breast milk protein
    alpha-lactalbumin. An important nutritional protein, it is produced in
    human breast milk at a much higher concentration than in cow's milk.
    Using transgenic technology, PPL is able to manufacture cow's milk
    enriched with the human protein, so producing a more nutritional
    product that is balanced in essential amino acids.

    Prof Colman said: "I am very pleased with this first result. I expect
    the expression level to be exceeded by others of our cattle that are
    reaching sexual maturity in the coming months."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622

    Family unharmed as car is crushed by fish lorry

    A MOTHER and her two small children escaped unharmed when their Ford
    Fiesta was crushed under a 13-ton fish lorry.

    Alison Howes, 34, was trapped for more than an hour after ducking
    between the seats as the car was crushed to a height of 2ft 6ins. Her
    children Ben, four and eight-week-old Bethany, were lifted through a
    window by Jeremy Rake, 30, a male nurse, who had been in a following
    car.

    He then he crawled back under the lorry to hold Mrs Howes's hand as
    firemen used cutters and hydraulic lifts to free her. The accident
    happened on the A146 near Mrs Howes's home at Thurton, Norfolk.

    She said yesterday: "I remember seeing this lorry coming towards me and
    thinking it was going to crash. Then there was a loud thud as it fell
    on top of us. The roof ended up an inch from my shoulder. Bethany had
    been asleep in her baby seat in the front, but was woken up by the
    noise and was crying. Ben was all right in the back."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622

    Candidate in polling booth fracas
    
    By Michael Fleet 

    A CANDIDATE in a local council by-election invited a woman councillor
    to "put her fists up" after pushing over the election's presiding
    officer, a court was told yesterday.

    John Martin, an independent candidate for Yateley town council, Hants,
    pushed Alan Laycock on to a speed hump outside the polling station
    after election posters in his car were covered.

    He launched into a tirade against his opponents. Ann Kern, a Liberal
    Democrat councillor, tried to calm the situation. Magistrates at
    Aldershot were told that he shouted at her: "Come on. Just because you
    are a woman isn't going to save you. Put your fists up."

    Martin, 61, of Yateley, was found guilty of common assault and affray
    and fined �300. He was ordered to pay �50 compensation to Mr Laycock.
    This was despite Martin producing a model of the village hall polling
    station together with toy cars and plastic figures to demonstrate what
    happened in August last year.

    Mr Laycock said Martin, a former RAF sergeant, had parked his car
    outside the hall with his posters on display to the public, which was
    against election law. Mr Laycock covered the offending posters with
    paper and saw Martin striding towards him.

    "I assumed he was going to his car but when he got to about five or six
    paces from me he raised both hands and ran, hitting me in the chest,"
    he said. "I swung around and fell on my right elbow and right knee and
    rolled on to my back striking a sleeping policeman."

    Mrs Kern said she had tried to calm the situation. "I was frightened
    for my safety," she said. "He lunged towards me and he could easily
    have hit me."

    Martin, who was retired early on health, said he was being made a fool
    of and just wanted to get away. He said he had been taking the
    anti-depressant drug Prozac since 1990.

    "I told Mr Laycock three times to stand clear of the car," he said.
    "From that moment onwards I am afraid that Prozac took over and I was
    shaking with fear."

    The election was won by another Liberal Democrat. Martin came second.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622

    Libel cash for 82-year-old in family feud
    
    By Colin Randall, Chief Reporter 

    AN 82-year-old retired legal clerk accepted "substantial" libel damages
    yesterday over a newspaper article and cartoon suggesting that he hated
    a younger brother who had been given a 30-month suspended jail sentence
    for attacking him.

    Although the terms of the agreed settlement were not disclosed during a
    brief High Court hearing, The Times is thought to face a bill,
    including costs, of at least �60,000. Hyman Berger, of Watford, had
    sued in connection with a column by Bernard Levin last April, almost
    two months after Mr Berger's brother, Maurice, 75, was given a
    suspended sentence for a "vicious and potentially lethal" assault on
    him with a metal bar during a long-standing family dispute.

    Barjinder Sahota, Hyman Berger's solicitor, told the High Court
    yesterday that Mr Levin's article, headed "Deliver us from hatred" and
    accompanied by a large cartoon depicting two wheelchair-bound old men
    fighting each other with walking sticks, dealt at some length with the
    case.

    But he added: "What the article failed to distinguish was that Hyman
    Berger was a victim of the assault. He does not himself bear any hatred
    towards his brother. They were both quite wrongly tarred with the same
    brush."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622
    
    Rapper 'confessed to killing in song'
    
    By Sue Clough, Courts Correspondent 

    A RAP musician wrote a song confessing to the murder of a teenager, a
    jury was told yesterday.

    Police found the lyrics when they raided Nadeem Janjua's home two
    months after he and two friends stabbed the young man and left him face
    down in a pool of blood, the Old Bailey was told. In it Mr Janjua, 20,
    described "another dead kid . . . it's too easy to kill someone, but
    the pain after is immense, the suspense, paranoid about people finding
    out, your heart full of regret".

    The three men "on a misguided mission of revenge" had planned to attack
    a school bully. But they picked on an innocent teenager - who had
    himself been the victim of the same bully - as he walked home from
    Kingsbury High School, Wembley, west London, said Richard Horwell,
    prosecuting.

    Hitesh Parmar, 19, "was attacked in a case of mistaken identity," he
    told the jury. "He was quite literally in the wrong place at the wrong
    time and he lost his life as a result. If he had taken a different
    route home he would have been alive today."

    Janjua, 20, of Northolt, Middlesex, his cousin Mifta Chodhury, 19, of
    Sudbury Town, and a friend Mayur Divecha, 20, of Hounslow, all deny
    murder last May. Mr Horwell said Janjua needed hospital treatment for a
    deep cut which "may be persuasive evidence he wielded the knife".

    Janjua told friends that he had been in a fight which left his victim
    badly injured, added Mr Horwell. "Janjua was a rap singer and he sang a
    song to a friend and said it was about the murder of Hitesh Parma. It
    expressed his feelings, he said. The song is plainly connected to the
    murder," he said.

    As Mr Horwell read the lyrics, members of Mr Parma's family wept in
    court. No one saw the attack on the teenager as he made his way across
    a park in Kingsbury, but a woman walking her dog heard a "piercing
    shriek".

    Another witness saw three youths run away from Mr Parma, who died
    almost immediately, and drive off in what Mr Horwell alleged was
    Divecha's car.

    The trial continues.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622

    Scruples blamed for lost asylum
    
    By Kathy Marks 

    A NIGERIAN was told by a High Court judge yesterday that his decision,
    for religious reasons, not to live with his fianc�e before marriage had
    undermined his fight against deportation.

    Stephen Andrews, 39, was trying to overturn a deportation order imposed
    a month after he became engaged to his British wife, Olive
    Hamilton-Andrews, 39. The couple, both devout Christians, married a few
    months later. Dismissing his application, Mr Justice Ognall told them
    that their failure to cohabit had weakened their case. Now Mr Andrews
    has to surrender to police in a week.

    Home Office guidelines obliged immigration officials to consider if
    potential deportees were married to British citizens or in a
    "relationship akin to marriage" before deciding their fate. Kobina
    Hammond, counsel for Mr Andrews, argued that the couple's relationship
    after the engagement should have been regarded as akin to marriage.
    Otherwise they were "being punished for their Biblical principles".

    But the judge, while saying that he "understood and respected" the
    couple's decision not to live together before marriage, dismissed the
    argument. He said: "It may be this reflects more harshly on those with
    religious scruples than those who are sexually feckless but my concern
    is whether they were within the terms of the Home Office circular. Mr
    Hammond says that means Mr Andrews is to be penalised for his religious
    scruples. That is as may be. It is nonsense to say it was a
    relationship akin to marriage." 

    Mr Andrews came to Britain on a six-month visa in 1989 and began an
    accountancy course in London. He was given leave to stay as a student
    but then told he was to be deported because he had been working as a
    security guard to finance his studies.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622
    
    Arsonist who sought praise killed family
    
    By Michael Fleet 

    A SUSPECTED arsonist, who was taken in by his family after his flat
    burned down, set fire to their home and killed his stepmother,
    step-sister and another child, an inquest heard yesterday.

    Michael Binks, 21, died in the blaze that killed Susan Binks, 25, her
    daughter Mikaela, four, and Mikaela's friend, Louisa Jordan, six. He
    had been taken into the home by his father, Barrie, after he was put on
    bail on suspicion of starting five fires, including the one at his
    previous home.

    In October last year, two weeks after moving in, he set light to the
    family home in Reading, Berks. The inquest was told that he probably
    intended to act as a "hero" and save the others but was overcome by
    smoke. By the time fire crews reached the scene, the occupants were all
    dead.

    Susan Jordan, Louisa's mother, said Mrs Binks was terrified of her
    stepson and had told him to leave the house. A psychological profile
    found that Binks became distressed every September and October because
    his parents had separated around then. 

    Det Chief Insp Steve Morrison, of Thames Valley police, said of Binks:
    "He seemed to take some pleasure in being associated with finding
    fires, putting them out and being seen to be a helpful member of
    society." 

    The coroner recorded three verdicts of unlawful killing and one of
    accidental death.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622

    BBC's �9m epic is outdone by cookery shows
    
    By Alison Boshoff, Media Correspondent 

    NOSTROMO, the BBC's �9 million adaptation of the Joseph Conrad novel,
    shot in the sweltering Colombian jungle with 15,000 extras, is drawing
    fewer viewers than the corporation's low-budget mid-afternoon cookery
    and chat shows.

    The first part of the series, which stars Colin Firth and Albert
    Finney, managed an overnight viewing figure of only 2.8 million on
    Saturday. Nostromo has failed to live up to its spectacular billing,
    despite its huge budget and a sustained publicity campaign, and despite
    the presence of Firth, who gained a huge following after his portrayal
    of Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.

    In its first showing it has commanded fewer viewers than the poorly
    received Rhodes at its lowest ebb - although as a BBC2 drama it was not
    expected to attain the same level of interest as BBC1 shows. However,
    2.8 million viewers compares embarrassingly poorly with editions of
    Ready Steady Cook, a low-budget mid-afternoon show on BBC2, which
    comfortably attracts 3.5 million viewers several times a week.

    When final figures for weekly viewing are published next week, Nostromo
    will struggle to get above the lowest reaches of BBC2's top 30
    programmes. Other cookery programmes on the channel such as Food and
    Drink (4.2 million), Rick Stein's Taste of The Sea (3.9 million) and
    Delia Smith's Collection (3.7 million) easily outpace it. Even Esther,
    the chat show with Esther Rantzen on BBC2 at 5pm, beats the early
    overnight viewing figures for Nostromo.

    Although Nostromo's figure is expected to rise to three million with
    the addition of video viewers, it comes nowhere near to BBC2's most
    successful shows, such as Red Dwarf, a comedy which pulls in eight
    million viewers.

    The huge production, co-financed with Italian TV companies, was beset
    by problems during its making. There were threatened demonstrations
    from underpaid extras and mishaps which included a landing craft
    running aground and sub-contractors razing precious rainforest to hide
    cables.

    The director, Alastair Reid, collapsed with exhaustion and filming had
    to be completed while he was in hospital. The low figures will do
    nothing to silence criticism of BBC drama, which has been struggling
    without a head of overall drama.

    The corporation has just lost the head of drama at BBC Wales, Karl
    Francis. In recent months the head of single drama, George Faber, has
    left, as have the executive producers Kevin Loader and John Chapman,
    and the single drama development executive Robyn Slovo.

    A BBC spokesman said of Nostromo: "It is a drama - a costume drama -
    and not the easiest of dramas. If we are pulling in around three
    million viewers then we are delighted."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622

    Life for teenager who killed cellmate

    A TEENAGER was jailed for life yesterday for the "sacrificial murder"
    of his 16-year-old cellmate.

    Terrence Rooney, 18, was convicted at Stafford Crown Court of murdering
    Christopher Greenaway, 16, and trying to murder John Jones, 17. The
    jury heard that he boasted to other inmates after Greenaway's death:
    "He had to die, he wouldn't wash my socks."

    Alan Suckling, QC, prosecuting, said Rooney, of the Beechwood estate,
    Birkenhead, Wirral, bullied the two because he had a "sadistic sense of
    power".

    In the first incident in March 1995, Rooney was sharing a cell at
    Werrington Young Offenders' Institution, Stoke-on-Trent, with Jones. He
    beat him and stole his food until Jones talked of suicide.

    Rooney then made a noose out of sheets, placed it over Jones's head and
    took a chair from under him. The victim was only saved when another
    youth raised the alarm though no complaint was made.

    The following October, Rooney shared a cell with Greenaway at Stoke
    Heath Young Offenders' Institution, near Market Drayton, Salop. Again,
    Rooney took his food, and locked him in the toilet. Greenaway was found
    hanged from a window by a warder.

    Mr Justice Rougier told Rooney: "You were prepared to sacrifice the
    lives of two unhappy and disturbed young men . . . because you enjoyed
    doing it. I find it horrifying that someone as young as you could be so
    heartless and evil."

    Michael Grey, defending, said Rooney, who denied murder and attempted
    murder, came from an area where most young men turned to crime. His
    life had been "short, hard and brutish".

    The jury were discharged from delivering verdicts on two charges of
    aiding and abetting suicide.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Thursday 6 February 1997 Issue 622

    Schoolgirl threatens to sue over trouser ban

    A GIRL of 14 is considering taking legal action against her school
    after she was sent home for wearing trousers.

    Leigh-Anne Jones believes that she was sexually discriminated against
    by Berry Hill High School, Stoke on Trent, where the school code rules
    that girls must wear skirts. Terry Crowe, chairman of governors, said
    yesterday he was "astounded" at the pupil's attitude.

    "The school has had a dress code for 20 years and it has never been
    questioned before," he said. Miss Jones had not been suspended but
    asked to go home and change. The matter was due to be discussed at the
    monthly governors' meeting last night. 

    Cliff McDonnell, spokesman for the National Association of Head
    Teachers, said that dress codes should be adhered to.

    A spokesman for the Equal Opportunities Commission said that it
    received a "considerable number" of complaints from girls in relation
    to trousers.

    "We advise them that the best course of action is to try to resolve the
    problem informally through the governors or Parent Teacher
    Association," she said.

    AP 7-Feb-1997 1:01 EST   REF6045

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Friday, Feb. 7, 1997
   
    AIR ENCOUNTER 

    ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- Two F-16 fighter jets flew so close to a
    commercial airliner yesterday that alarms sounded and the pilot was
    forced to dive 4,000 feet. A spokesman for the New Jersey Department of
    Military and Veterans Affairs said the National Guard F-16s were on
    routine maneuvers when they spotted the Nations Air Boeing 727 and
    moved in to take a closer look. Nations Air president Mark McDonald
    told NBC the fighters "play(ed) games" with the passenger jet. WNYW-TV,
    a Fox affiliate in New York, said the airline would cancel its flights
    until an investigation was completed. The jet, carrying about 90 people
    from Puerto Rico, landed safely in New York. 
   
    SIMPSON 

    SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) -- Plaintiffs' experts say O.J. Simpson is
    far from broke -- he has a $15.7 million fortune -- and can make
    millions more off autographs and collectibles. But Simpson's attorney
    countered that the football great is $9.3 million in debt, most of it
    because of the huge compensatory damages he was ordered to pay Tuesday.
    The same jury that found Simpson liable in the June 12, 1994, slashing
    deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman and ordered him to
    pay $8.5 million returned to hear arguments on how much he should pay
    as punishment. 
   
    BUDGET 

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans are complaining that President Clinton
    proposed too many initiatives in his $1.69 trillion budget for 1998.
    The GOP also said that the president sidestepped needed long-term
    changes in the growing benefits of programs such as Medicare. Clinton's
    $98 billion in tax cuts through 2002 -- mostly for college students and
    families with children -- are about half what Republicans want. Clinton
    says his plan would erase deficits by 2002 and for 20 years beyond. 
   
    WHITEWATER 

    LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Susan McDougal says her former husband plans
    to lie to Whitewater prosecutors and say President Clinton met with him
    and a banker to discuss improper loans in the 1980s. McDougal made her
    comments in an interview published in the Arkansas Times, a weekly.
    Clinton has denied under oath that he attended the meeting. Jim
    McDougal, who faces a possible 84 years in prison, has been cooperating
    with prosecutors since being convicted of fraud and conspiracy with his
    wife and then Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker in May. 
   
    CRAZY PRESIDENT 

    QUITO, Ecuador (AP) -- Ecuador's Congress voted today to remove
    President Abdala Bucaram for "mental incapacity." The legislature was
    exasperated by a six-month stint in office in which the president sang
    and pulled political stunts while the country fell into economic
    crisis. Congress voted 44-34 to remove him. Bucaram, who referred to
    himself as "El Loco," said he would not recognize the vote. Congress
    named its leader, Fabian Alarcon, as interim president pending new
    presidential elections within a year. 
   
    BOMBING TRIAL 

    DALLAS (AP) -- Timothy McVeigh bombed the Oklahoma City federal
    building to take revenge for the government's 1993 raid on the Branch
    Davidians' compound in Waco, a key witness reportedly told
    investigators. Documents obtained by KTVT in Fort Worth show that
    Michael Fortier told investigators McVeigh wanted to "wake up America
    to the danger of our federal government and their intrusion on our
    rights." Fortier, who met McVeigh in the Army, pleaded guilty to
    knowing about the bombing but failing to report it, and to weapons
    charges. He faces 23 years in prison. 
   
    REAGAN-86TH 

    LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Ronald Reagan celebrated his 86th birthday today in
    the same low-key, private way he has lived since being diagnosed with
    Alzheimer's three years ago. A Brownie Troop delivered cookies and a
    children's choir from San Fernando's Glen Oaks Primary Center sang
    "Happy Birthday" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic" at a party at his
    Century City office. 
   
    MARKETS 

    TOKYO (AP) -- The dollar was trading at 123.78 yen early Friday, up
    0.06. The Nikkei fell 15.27 points to 18,023.16. In New York, the Dow
    industrials closed up 26.16 to 6,773.06. 
   
    PACERS-NETS 

    EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- The Indiana Pacers sank 14 of 15 free
    throws in the fourth quarter and beat the New Jersey Nets 104-100
    tonight. Nets center Shawn Bradley had his second triple double of the
    season with 14 points, 14 rebounds and 11 blocks. Jayson Williams, who
    decided to forego thumb surgery and continue playing for New Jersey,
    had 21 points and 21 rebounds. 
   
    SPURS-KNICKS 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Allan Houston scored 22 points and Larry Johnson had
    20 as the New York Knicks beat San Antonio 96-84 tonight. The Knicks
    played their fourth straight game without All-Star center Patrick
    Ewing. They are 3-1 in that span. New York has beaten San Antonio six
    straight times at home and won 17 of its last 18 at Madison Square
    Garden. 
   
    AP Newsbrief by BENITA GREEN 

    RTw  07-Feb-97 03:23    

    Reuters World News Highlights

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    BELGRADE - Serbia's opposition has promised to end its marathon street
    protests when parliament restores its municipal victories next Tuesday
    but vows to fight on for democracy and free media. 

    - - - - 

    SOFIA - Bulgarians braced for hard times with food prices soaring,
    wages shrinking and petrol supplies cut to a minimum as the Balkan
    country plunges further into economic chaos. 

    - - - - 

    VLORE, Albania - In the square where Albania declared independence more
    than 80 years ago, thousands of people now gather to demand a different
    type of country. 

    - - - - 

    MOSCOW - Russia's armed forces are in such a "horrifying state" of
    decay that the reliability of its nuclear weapons system is in
    question, Defence Minister Igor Rodionov said. 

    - - - - 

    WASHINGTON - President Bill Clinton asked Congress to expand health
    care to about half of the 10 million U.S. children now without
    insurance and provide short-term coverage to millions of people between
    jobs. 

    - - - - 

    SANTA MONICA, Calif - The plaintiffs in O.J. Simpson's civil trial
    urged jurors to punish him by imposing heavy damages for the deaths of
    his ex-wife and her friend on top of $8.5 million they already awarded. 

    - - - - 

    WASHINGTON - Despite worries over NATO and the global space station,
    Vice President Al Gore and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin
    stressed business cooperation in advance of next month's U.S.-Russia
    summit. 

    - - - - 

    WASHINGTON - The World Food Programme is expected to make a formal
    appeal for $38 million in new food aid for North Korea next week and
    the United States is likely to respond positively, U.S. officials said. 

    - - - - 

    KINSHASA - Rebels have extended the area under their control in east
    Zaire, capturing the town of Shabunda and pushing further west, Zairean
    defence officials acknowledged. 

    - - - - 

    QUITO, Ecuador - Ecuador's President Abdala Bucaram, facing a possible
    congressional attempt to force him out of office, said he would assume
    "all powers" necessary to quash any unconstitutional moves against him. 

    - - - - 

    ATHENS -  Greek farmers scored again in their row with the government
    after seizing national roads with thousands of tractors and embarassing
    police who stood aby, powerless to react. 

    - - - - 

    WASHINGTON - The first broadcasts of Radio Free Asia to Vietnam appear
    to have been jammed, the U.S.-backed radio station said. 

    - - - - 

    BELFAST - British forces discovered a suspected IRA mortar and arrested
    11 people in anti-guerrilla swoops in Belfast and Lurgan, security
    sources said. 

    - - - - 

    WASHINGTON - The chief Senate investigator of campaign finance
    wrongdoing said Thursday there would be no vendetta against President
    Clinton and promised a sweeping investigation that would involve
    Democrats and Republicans. 

    - - - - 

    WASHINGTON - President Bill Clinton unveiled his new federal budget and
    said he seeks an "honorable compromise" with Congress to eliminate
    deficits, but Republicans gave the proposal a decidedly cool reception. 

    - - - - 

    REUTER 

    AP 6-Feb-1997 23:17 EST   REF5513

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Jets, Airliner Nearly Collide

    ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- Two F-16 fighter jets flew so close to a
    commercial airliner that alarms sounded and the pilot was forced to
    dive 4,000 feet, then climb sharply, tossing flight attendants and a
    passenger to the floor. 

    The Air National Guard F-16s were on routine maneuvers in military
    airspace Wednesday when they spotted the airliner over the Atlantic and
    moved in to see what it was, said Lt. Col. John Dwyer, spokesman for
    the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. 

    "They found an unidentified aircraft in the airspace and moved in to
    make identification," Dwyer told The Associated Press on Thursday,
    adding that the pilots followed proper procedures. 

    But the encounter was far from routine for the Boeing 727 pilot, who
    thought a collision was imminent and followed the proximity alarm's
    instructions to make evasive maneuvers. 

    "Our instrument indicated zero, zero, which means it was extremely
    close," Nations Air Chairman Mark McDonald told NBC. "Because it was so
    close, it did not read on the instruments." 

    Military controllers frantically radioed "Break off, break off," but
    one of the fighters kept following the Boeing 727, NBC said. 

    The airliner quickly dropped 4,000 feet, and as its alarm sounded
    again, it climbed 4,000 feet, Dwyer said. The alarm sounded a third
    time and the plane climbed again, NBC reported. 

    The pilot radioed for help to Federal Aviation Administration
    controllers on Long Island, complaining that his radar showed another
    plane as close as 400 feet. They told him the fighters were so close
    that their radar image had merged with the 727's image, and they could
    give no advice, The New York Times reported in Friday's edition. 

    Air traffic controllers said the F-16s appeared to linger near the
    Boeing 727, traveling together at 500 mph at about 28,000 feet, the
    newspaper said. 

    The encounter occurred in daylight, but clouds made the fighters were
    not visible to the civilian plane, according to controllers and
    McDonald. 

    "There's two reasons why this happened," McDonald said. "One is either
    the pilots screwed up or they were playing games with our airplane and
    they got caught." 

    Said Dwyer: "We don't play those games." 

    The military planes had reserved the airspace from the Navy to practice
    maneuvers, and the commercial jet had permission from the FAA to fly
    through the area, officials said. 

    Once the fighters determined the airliner was a civilian craft, they
    returned to their maneuvers. The Nations Air jet carrying about 90
    people from Puerto Rico landed safely a half hour later at New York's
    Kennedy airport, Dwyer said. 

    Thursday night, Nations Air's reservation line said service between
    Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Boston, and Gulfport, Miss. had been
    discontinued. 

    WNYW-TV, a Fox affiliate in New York, reported that the airline was
    cancelling its flights until the situation with the Air National Guard
    was resolved. 

    The fighters are from the 177th Air Wing, which protects U.S.
    boundaries from unidentified aircraft. The three planes were flying in
    Navy restricted airspace called Whiskey 107, where fighters can
    practice maneuvers. 

    Neither McDonald nor a spokesman for Georgia-based Nations Air could be
    reached by the AP for comment. Nations Air telephones were busy for
    hours. 

    Both the 1st Air Force Inspector General and the FAA will investigate.

    AP 7-Feb-1997 0:40 EST   REF6035

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Colo. Car Pileup Injures 22

    CASTLE ROCK, Colo. (AP) -- Cars, tractor-trailers and fire trucks
    slammed together on a slippery, snow-covered highway Thursday. As many
    as 60 vehicles were involved in the pileup, and about two dozen people
    were injured. 

    Heavy, blowing snow cut visibility and the Interstate 25 was snowpacked
    when the chain-reaction accident began at 10:40 a.m. just south of
    Denver. 

    "The bottom line is that people were driving too fast for conditions,"
    said Robin Adair of the Castlewood Fire Department. "It only takes a
    few drivers to pull everybody into the fray." 

    At least 22 people were taken to hospitals, including a woman who
    suffered a head injury and was listed in fair condition, and another
    woman who was in serious condition with facial fractures and a broken
    pelvis. 

    The accident shut down part of I-25, the state's major north-south
    highway, for at least a mile. Northbound lanes reopened at 1:15 p.m.
    but the southbound lanes didn't reopen until just before 7 p.m. 

    A molasses spill from a tanker left "a great big, huge, slimy, stinky
    mess," Adair said, adding to the task of cleaning up. 

    AP 7-Feb-1997 0:34 EST   REF6030

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Man Held in Stewardess Assault

    PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- An Alabama man has been charged with assaulting
    two Delta Airline flight attendants on a flight from Seoul, South
    Korea, to Portland, the FBI said Thursday. 

    Jeffery Claveria, 33, put his arm around one stewardess and grabbed her
    bra strap during the flight Tuesday, FBI Special Agent Patrick Geonetta
    said. 

    When a second flight attendant tried to calm him down and have him
    return to his seat, he grabbed her breast and hit her with a pillow,
    Geonetta said. 

    He was arrested after the airplane landed at Portland International
    Airport. 

    AP 7-Feb-1997 0:33 EST   REF6029

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Man Dies From Radio Tower Fall

    PHOENIX (AP) -- A man climbed to the top of a 300-foot radio tower
    Thursday and perched there for about 90 minutes before falling to his
    death. 

    Investigators couldn't immediately determine whether the man jumped or
    fell accidentally from the KTAR-AM tower. 

    "We don't know if he went up there to jump. We may never know," said
    Detective Mike McCullough. An autopsy will be conducted to determine if
    the man was intoxicated. 

    The man's name was being withheld until relatives could be notified.

    A crowd had gathered below and police in a helicopter tried to talk him
    down. But officers were unable to get close enough because of high
    winds and fears that currents generated by the blades would knock the
    man off. 

    Television footage showed the man leaning into the wind and taunting
    the crowd, then grabbing onto a pole before falling backward. 

    AP 6-Feb-1997 23:39 EST   REF5813

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Cops Look for Letter Writer

    DENVER (AP) -- Boulder police are pleading with the author of an
    anonymous letter about the JonBenet Ramsey slaying to come forward,
    saying the letter contains information that might help them crack the
    case. 

    "We're not discussing what the letter contains," said Boulder police
    spokesman Kelvin McNeill. But he added that it included "some
    potentially significant information" about the 6-year-old Little Miss
    Colorado's killing. 

    JonBenet was found strangled in her family's 15-room home on Dec. 26. 

    The handwritten letter was mailed from Shreveport, La., and postmarked
    Jan. 27. 

    "Please come forward and contact (police)," Boulder authorities
    requested in a letter faxed to Shreveport authorities and distributed
    to local newspapers and radio and television stations. 

    Boulder Police Det. Steve Thomas told Shreveport authorities the letter
    contained details about the killing, said Shreveport police spokeswoman
    Cindy Chadwick. 

    Despite the plea, police made clear they want to hear only from the
    letter's writer and not from others with "unsolicited or psychic
    information." 

    McNeill said Boulder police have received more than 600 letters and
    1,300 phone calls about the slaying, and investigators are trying to
    follow up on leads. 

    AP 7-Feb-1997 0:38 EST   REF6033

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Ecuador President Impeached

    By CARLOS CISTERNAS

    Associated Press Writer

    QUITO, Ecuador (AP) -- Congress voted Thursday to remove President
    Abdala Bucaram for "mental incapacity," exasperated by a six-month
    stint in office in which the president sang and pulled political stunts
    while Ecuador fell into economic crisis. 

    Congress voted 44-34 to oust Bucaram, with two congressmen abstaining.
    Bucaram, a showman who cheerfully referred to himself as "El Loco,"
    called the vote on his mental incompetence a "coup by Congress" and
    said he would not recognize it. 

    "The national government condemns this attitude," he said. 

    Congress named its leader, Fabian Alarcon, as interim president pending
    new presidential elections within a year. 

    "With my life I will enforce the resolution taken tonight by this
    National Congress," Alarcon said after taking the oath of office. 

    Minutes after the vote, caravans of honking cars roared down the main
    avenues of Quito, celebrating the vote to dismiss Bucaram. 

    Later, Bucaram, surrounded by soldiers in combat uniforms at the
    national palace, told reporters he was "the only president elected by
    the poor and by the Ecuadorean people." 

    Asked what position the armed forces would take in the power struggle,
    he said that as president he was the commander-in-chief of the
    military. 

    Heinz Moeller, a member of the opposition Social Christian Party, said
    it was the military's responsibility to carry out the congressional
    decision if Bucaram refused to step down. 

    As the session opened, the army called on national authorities to use
    "dialogue and cooperation" to resolve the political crisis. 

    Helmeted police armed with assault rifles kept dozens of protesters
    chanting "Victory of the people!" from approaching the national palace,
    which was protected by rolls of barbed wire. Officers said the military
    command had ordered the troops to take up position to guarantee order. 

    Juan Jose Illingworth, an independent congressman who voted against
    Bucaram's ouster, said the vote had created a "dangerous" situation. 

    The debate comes on the heels of a nationwide strike Wednesday in which
    up to 2 million people marched through the streets of this
    Colorado-sized South American country demanding the ouster of a leader
    they call corrupt and incompetent. 

    In his third television address to the nation in as many days Thursday,
    Bucaram (pronounced boo-kah-RAHM) said he would seek every legal
    recourse to stay in power. 

    "We are on the verge of a very dangerous confrontation that we must
    avoid," he said 

    He told reporters later that the government will "vigorously apply the
    Constitution and the law to legally identify those trying to carry out
    a coup by Congress." 

    Opposition lawmaker Cesar Verduga called Bucaram's remarks a "veiled
    totalitarian threat." 

    Bucaram also announced he was firing four top Cabinet members,
    including his brother, Social Welfare Minister Adolfo Bucaram, and
    presidential aide Miguel Salem. 

    He said he planned "important" wage and salary increases for government
    and private sector workers but provided no details. 

    In a key concession, he also promised to roll back some of the economic
    austerity measures that caused utility prices to skyrocket, prompting
    angry protests nationwide. 

    Under Ecuadorean law, a simple majority, or 42 of Congress' 82
    legislators, is enough to remove the president for "mental incapacity,"
    avoiding a lengthy impeachment process. 

    Bucaram's brother Jacobo, also a member of Congress, protested that
    Bucaram's political enemies were denying him the opportunity to defend
    himself through an impeachment process. 

    They "want to depose him without giving him a right to a trial," Jacobo
    said before storming out of Congress. 

    Bucaram took office in August after a campaign that included an
    outlandish road show featuring him as singer, dancer and comedian. In
    office, he invited Lorena Bobbitt, the Ecuadorean famous for slashing
    off her American husband's penis, to lunch at the national palace. 

    Last year, Bucaram took to the stage to promote his CD, dancing with
    scantily-clad women as he belted out "Jailhouse Rock" in Spanish. 

    He also is known for his tirades against his political opponents, whom
    he has branded "gangsters," "fools" and "burros." 

    Fifty-one lawmakers signed a petition Wednesday for Congress to
    consider the issue. 

    "A declaration of 'mental incapacity' for the president does not
    necessarily refer to craziness as such, or being insane, but the spirit
    or letter of the Constitution refers to the loss of faculties to carry
    out the post," former Vice President Blasco Penaherrera said. 

    Wednesday's nationwide strike was considered the largest demonstration
    of popular discontent in 50 years. It was aided by Bucaram himself, who
    declared a national holiday in a futile attempt to defuse the protest. 

    The strike continued Thursday but with less support. While city workers
    in Quito were given another day off, many stores and businesses
    reopened. Strike leaders focused on an afternoon rally outside
    Congress. 

    About 100 demonstrators camped outside Congress on Wednesday night,
    while about 40 lawmakers spent the night in their offices because of
    rumors that Bucaram would order the building seized. 

    Security was doubled from 50 to 100 soldiers Thursday outside the
    government palace, which was protected with sandbag barricades and
    barbed wire. 

    Bucaram, 45, has faced almost daily demonstrations since early January,
    when university and high school students took to the streets to protest
    austerity measures that raised rates for electricity, fuel and
    telephone service by as much as 300 percent. 

    AP 7-Feb-1997 0:37 EST   REF6032

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Japan Reopens 1977 Kidnap Case

    By BRAVEN SMILLIE

    Associated Press Writer

    TOKYO (AP) -- North Korean agents may have abducted a Japanese girl 20
    years ago, a Japanese lawmaker claims, citing testimony by a North
    Korean defector. 

    The government pledged renewed efforts to find Megumi Yokota, who
    vanished in November 1977 while walking home after playing badminton at
    her junior high school. 

    Yokota, then 13, lived in Niigata on the Sea of Japan facing the Korean
    peninsula, 160 miles northwest of Tokyo. 

    As in several 1978 kidnappings near Japan Sea port cities, Yokota
    disappeared without a trace, leaving no clothing or belongings. There
    were no witnesses. 

    But opposition legislator Shingo Nishimura told a parliamentary hearing
    this week he has obtained testimony by a North Korean secret agent
    indicating Yokota might be living in North Korea. 

    Japanese news reports quoting the documents Nishimura obtained
    privately from South Korean military sources say a secret agent from
    North Korea indicated that a spy kidnapped the girl when she witnessed
    his preparations to escape back to his country. 

    The spy supposedly took her back to North Korea, where she was
    recruited as a language teacher. She eventually told her story to a
    roommate, who allegedly told the account to the defector. 

    Details of the story matched what is known about Yokota's
    disappearance. 

    Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto promised the government will redouble
    efforts to solve the suspected kidnapping of Yokota and of three young
    Japanese couples who disappeared in 1978 from port cities in Niigata,
    Fukui and Kagoshima prefectures. 

    Yokota's father, Shigeru, told reporters he believes the North Korean
    connection is plausible. 

    "If this turns out to be true, everything I know about the case would
    make sense," he said. "If I can get some confirmation that she's all
    right, I might get some little peace of mind." 

    Nishimura noted that Kim Hyun Hee, a North Korean woman arrested in
    connection with the 1987 bombing of a Korean Airlines jet, testified
    that she was taught Japanese in North Korea by Japanese she believed
    were kidnapped. 

    He said Yokota's is just one of about 20 unsolved abductions in which
    North Korean agents are suspected. 

    AP 7-Feb-1997 0:30 EST   REF6027

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Convicted Father Gets New Trial

    By DAVID CRARY

    Associated Press Writer

    TORONTO (AP) -- The Supreme Court ordered a new trial Thursday for a
    farmer convicted of killing his severely disabled 12-year-old daughter,
    saying jurors should not have been asked their views on mercy killing. 

    The ruling means another emotional courtroom drama in a drawn-out case
    that has divided Canadians over the issue of euthanasia. 

    The farmer, Robert Latimer, was convicted of second-degree murder in
    November 1994 for killing his daughter, Tracy, who had severe cerebral
    palsy. She could not walk, talk or feed herself, and Latimer said he
    acted out of compassion when he killed her with carbon monoxide in 1993
    at the family farm in Wilkie, Saskatchewan. 

    His plight attracted sympathy from many Canadians, a phenomenon that
    disturbed advocates for the disabled. 

    Latimer was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 10
    years, but served only one day in jail because of appeals. 

    The Supreme Court ruled that Latimer deserved a new trial because the
    prosecutor had questioned prospective jurors about their views on mercy
    killing, abortion and religion. 

    "The actions of the Crown counsel at trial were nothing short of a
    flagrant abuse of process and interference with the administration of
    justice," wrote Chief Justice Antonio Lamer. 

    However, the court rejected a second part of Latimer's appeal, ruling
    that his confession to police can be used in his second trial.
    Latimer's lawyers contended the confession was invalid because police
    did not properly advise him of his legal rights. 

    Latimer said he was prepared to face a new trial, but was angered at
    authorities' determination to prosecute him. 

    "They have no limits on how you can torture a person," he told
    reporters at his farm. "To me, they are a bunch of backwoods,
    bloodthirsty butchers," 

    He said prosecutors do not understand how much agony his daughter
    endured. 

    "How much is Tracy supposed to suffer just to please these people?" he
    said. "Is there any answer coming from these people?" 

    Advocates for the disabled said Latimer should again face a
    first-degree murder charge. 

    "He's made it very clear that he had been thinking about killing his
    daughter for some time," said Irene Feika of the Council of Canadians
    with Disabilities. "There were other options. It was not necessary to
    murder her." 

    At the original trial, Latimer's lawyers portrayed him as a loving
    father who couldn't stand to see his daughter suffer anymore.
    Prosecutors argued he did not know how Tracy felt and did not have the
    right to make a life-or-death decision for her. 

    Latimer has spent much of the past two years under a loose form of
    house arrest at his wheat and canola farm, where he lives with his wife
    and three other children. 

    AP 6-Feb-1997 21:40 EST   REF5983

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Widow Wins Step in Sperm Battle

    By EDITH M. LEDERER

    Associated Press Writer

    LONDON (AP) -- When Diane Blood's husband died of meningitis nearly two
    years ago, her dream was to have his child. On what would have been his
    32nd birthday Thursday, a British court ruled she may be entitled to
    use his frozen sperm. 

    But the regulatory agency that so far has barred her from undergoing
    artificial insemination will have the final say. So, Mrs. Blood must
    wait until Feb. 27 to find out whether she can be impregnated by her
    late husband. 

    The Court of Appeal ruled that while Mrs. Blood could not receive
    artificial insemination in Britain since her husband had not given his
    written consent, she had the right to be treated in Belgium unless the
    regulatory agency finds valid public policy reasons against it. 

    The court also ordered the agency to pay Mrs. Blood's legal costs. The
    30-year-old advertising executive had mortgaged her home in Worksop, in
    central England, to pursue the court case. 

    Hailing the decision as a "victory for common sense and justice," Mrs.
    Blood said she is confident that the Human Fertilization and Embryology
    Authority will allow her to export the sperm to Belgium for the
    treatment. 

    "I'm just really pleased and I hope that it won't go on much longer,"
    she said. 

    Mrs. Blood's predicament has been widely publicized in Britain, and
    aroused sympathy even among those who felt the insemination should not
    be permitted. Her court victory dominated the evening news Thursday,
    and her smiling face beamed from the front pages of the early editions
    of The Times. 

    Stephen Blood died in March 1995 after falling into a coma with
    bacterial meningitis. At Mrs. Blood's request, doctors took sperm
    samples while he was on a life-support machine and stored them. 

    The regulatory authority barred Mrs. Blood from receiving artificial
    insemination because Britain's 1991 Human Fertilization and Embryology
    Act requires written consent from the donor -- which her comatose
    husband could not provide. The authority also ruled that she could not
    take the sperm abroad, fearing it would create a precedent. 

    The High Court upheld both decisions in October. 

    In its ruling Thursday, the Court of Appeal said the authority rightly
    had banned her insemination in Britain, but it had not been properly
    advised that under European Union laws, Mrs. Blood is entitled to be
    treated in another member country. 

    Calling the High Court decision "a judgment of Solomon which everyone
    can be very pleased about," authority chairman Ruth Deech said it would
    reconsider the matter "in the light of the facts that it's a unique
    case and that it does not open the floodgates." 

    Lord Justice Harry Woolf, head of the civil Court of Appeal, said it
    was impossible to say what the authority will decide, but the case for
    finding in Mrs. Blood's favor was now much stronger. 

    "It is regrettable if the agonizing situation of Mrs. Blood will be
    prolonged by this judgment," he said. 

    The government announced in December that it planned to review the
    requirement for consent to donate sperm and eggs. Leading fertility
    expert Lord Winston, who has introduced a bill to change the consent
    procedure, said he was "extremely pleased" for Mrs. Blood. 

    Baroness Warnock, head of the team of medical and ethical experts who
    drafted the law on fertility treatment, had called the lower court
    decision "a miscarriage of natural justice, if not a miscarriage of the
    law." 

    AP 6-Feb-1997 20:32 EST   REF5948

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Paris Mayor Liberates Parks

    By MARILYN AUGUST

    Associated Press Writer

    PARIS (AP) -- For park-lovers long accustomed to being shooed away by
    Paris' poker-faced police, the day of lawn liberation is at hand. 

    Starting this spring, workers will remove the "Pelouse interdite" signs
    that bid park-goers citywide to keep off the grass, freeing them to
    walk and relax on some 7,410 acres of public greenery. 

    "I think it's a fantastic idea. It's much nicer to sit on the grass
    than on a bench," said Elin Naper Hauge, a Norwegian student who runs
    regularly in the posh Parc Monceau. 

    "I couldn't believe my eyes the first time I saw some guards chase some
    little boys off the grass," she said. "They had just gone to get their
    soccer ball." 

    The new measure, decided by Mayor Jean Tiberi, does not affect the
    city's best-known parks, the Luxembourg gardens and the Tuileries
    gardens, both of which are run by the national government, not the
    city. 

    But other famed havens such as the Parc Monceau, the Buttes Chaumont
    and the Parc Montsouris will open up areas of grass to the public,
    while sealing off other sections to let them recover from the wear and
    tear. 

    City officials insist the measure has been partially in effect for
    years. In fact, vast stretches of grass near Bercy in southeastern
    Paris and the Parc Andre Citroen along the Seine in the west have long
    been open to the public. 

    "There are a lot of misconceptions," a city hall spokeswoman said on
    customary anonymity. "But the new policy definitely tries to make the
    parks more convivial." 

    AP 6-Feb-1997 18:29 EST   REF5856

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    CDC: Lead Levels in Blood Drop

    ATLANTA (AP) -- Government researchers can't explain why the amount of
    lead in Americans' blood dropped 15 percent last year. 

    From July to September, there were 4,990 reports of adults having more
    than 25 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood, the Centers for
    Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. 

    That's down from the 5,888 reports of adults with lead levels that high
    during the same period in 1995. 

    Researchers speculate that either fewer people are working in lead
    industries, being exposed to lead on the job or reporting the problem. 

    CDC epidemiologist Robert Roscoe said the year-end report, due in the
    spring, should give a more accurate explanation. 

    Between 1993 and 1995, Oregon had a 44 percent drop in the number of
    reports of adults with high lead levels, New York had a 40 percent drop
    and Texas a 38 percent drop. 

    But reports from Iowa and Arizona jumped more than 200 percent during
    the same period. 

    Lead kills brain cells and has long been tied to impaired mental
    ability, especially in children. Pregnant or nursing women can pass on
    high levels of lead in their blood to their babies. 

    The CDC's goal is for all adults to have blood lead levels below 25
    micrograms per deciliter of blood by the year 2000. 

    RTos 07-Feb-97 02:52    

    U.S. Has Highest Rate of Child Murders

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    ATLANTA (Reuter) - Children in the United States are five times as
    likely to be murdered and 12 times as likely to die because of a
    firearm than those in other industrialized countries, federal health
    officials said Thursday. 

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the United
    States had the highest rates of childhood homicide, suicide and
    firearm-related deaths of 26 countries studied. 

    "Homicide rates are five times higher in the United States, suicide
    rates are double and firearm death rates are 12 times higher" than in
    the other countries, CDC medical epidemiologist Dr. Etienne Krug said. 

    The firearm-related homicide rate was 0.94 per 100,000 children, almost
    16 times higher than the other countries' average of 0.06 per 100,000. 

    "Since 1950, the rates of unintentional injury, disease and congenital
    anomalies have decreased among children in the United States, but
    homicide rates of children under the age of 15 have tripled and suicide
    rates have quadrupled," Krug said. 

    Gun control activist Sarah Brady said the latest study underlined the
    importance of keeping guns out of homes and off the streets, citing
    studies that a handgun in the home was 43 times more likely to be used
    to kill someone in the household or a friend rather than in
    self-defense. 

    "The tragically high incidence of gun deaths among our children is most
    certainly due to them having access to firearms in their homes and on
    our streets," Brady said. 

    "We've just got to do everything we can to keep guns out of the hands
    of our nation's children," she said. 

    In 1994 homicide was the third-leading cause of death for U.S. children
    aged 5 to 14 and fourth-leading cause for children 1 to 4. The CDC
    compared childhood death statistics with figures from 25 other
    countries that had similar economies and a population of at least one
    million. 

    There were 2.57 murders per 100,000 children between 1990 and 1995, the
    CDC said. The figure was five times the rate of 0.51 per 100,000 in the
    other countries. 

    There were 1.66 firearm-related deaths per 100,000 children during the
    same period, including murders, suicides and accidents -- 12 times
    higher than the average of the other countries studied. 

    Even if firearms-related homicides were excluded, the United States had
    a homicide rate for children almost four times the other countries'
    rate, the CDC said. 

    In all of the countries studied, males accounted for two-thirds of
    firearm-related homicides, three-fourths of firearm-related suicides
    and 89 percent of accidental firearm-related deaths. Five countries --
    Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and Taiwan -- reported no
    intentional firearm-related deaths among children younger than 15. 

    The CDC study was statistical and did not attempt to identify a cause
    for the high rates, but Krug said researchers in other studies have
    identified high divorce rates, social acceptance of violence and low
    funding of social programs as contributing factors. 

    REUTER

    RTw  06-Feb-97 21:35    

    British nanny charged with assault on infant

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    BOSTON, Feb 6 (Reuter) - An 18-year-old British nanny was formally
    charged on Thursday with battering a nine-month-old boy in her charge
    by shaking him violently, police said. 

    Louise Woodward, 18, who arrived in the United States in June from
    Chester, England, was arrested on Wednesday night at the infant's home
    in the upscale Boston suburb of Newton, Newton Police Lt. Robert
    McDonald said. 

    Woodward called for an ambulance on Tuesday afternoon saying the child
    was having trouble breathing and told paramedics she was trying to
    revive him, McDonald said. 

    The boy was rushed to Boston's Children's Hospital, where he was
    diagnosed with having head trauma consistent with shaken-baby syndrome,
    McDonald said. The child remained in serious condition, he added. 

    "It takes an extremely violent shaking to inflict these injuries,"
    Asst. District Attorney Lynn Rooney told reporters after the
    arraignment at Newton District Court. 

    Woodward remained in custody on charges of assault and battery on a
    child under 14, causing bodily injury. She was held on $1 million bond
    or $100,000 cash bail. 

    If convicted, Woodward could face up to 15 years in prison. 

    REUTER

    RTw  06-Feb-97 21:11    

    Acne drug may give smilers the blues, doctor says

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    LONDON, Feb 7 (Reuter) - A common acne medication could give patients a
    blue-tinted smile and doctors should be on the lookout for it, a U.S.
    dermatologist said on Friday. 

    Minocycline hydrochloride discoloured the bones so badly in about 10
    percent of patients that it showed through their gums, Drore Eisen of
    Dermatology Research Associates in Cincinnati said. 

    Eisen was checking reports that the effect was seen in only a few
    patients. But inspection of 331 volunteers showed 33 -- or 10 percent
    -- had the discolouration. 

    "Only five patients were aware of their pigmentation, because it was
    exposed when they smiled," Eisen wrote in a letter to the Lancet
    medical journal . 

    "Approximately 10 percent of patients taking minocycline for longer
    than one year developed blue bone pigmentation in the oral cavity
    whereas the incidence increased to 20 percent after four years." 

    Gums, teeth and the tongue were unaffected, Eisen said. 

    Minocycline is known sometimes to discolour skin, bones, teeth and
    other tissues. Eisen recommended that anyone noticing it switch to
    another antibiotic.

    RTw  06-Feb-97 20:46    

    Bookmaker cuts odds on British election in March

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuter) - Bookmakers William Hill said on Thursday it
    had cut its odds on a British election being held in March to 6-4 from
    11-4, although it said May was still favourite at 8-11. 

    "We've seen a flurry of bets for March today," William Hill said in a
    news release. 

    An April election was the outside bet with odds of 4-1. 

    The opposition Labour Party is favourite to win the election, which
    must be held by May 22, at 1-4, the bookmakers said. 

    The ruling Conservatives, which lag Labour by around 20 points in
    opinion polls, are at 5-2.

    RTw  06-Feb-97 18:45    

    MEPs to demand EU passports for Hong Kong citizens

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    BRUSSELS, Feb 6 (Reuter) - The European Parliament will urge the
    European Union to give passports to all Hong Kong citizens ahead the
    British colony's handover to Chinese rule later this year. 

    The non-binding resolution -- expected on February 20 -- is also likely
    to demand that the EU follows Washington and requires its
    representative in Hong Kong to produce an annual report on the human
    rights situation there. 

    "It will be a political signal that we won't let the people of Hong
    Kong down," Belgian Radical Alliance MEP Olivier Dupuis told Reuters. 

    Meanwhile European members of parliament also want Hong Kong's governor
    Chris Patten to come to Brussels and set out in detail the problems
    associated with Britain's handover of the territory to Beijing. 

    Dupuis said he had received no answer to a request for European Union
    trade commissioner Leon Brittan to tell parliament how the European
    Commission would react if China violated human rights in Hong Kong
    after the handover. 

    British Liberal Graham Watson is to lead a delegation of five MEPs,
    including Dupuis, to Hong Kong in March. 

    "I want to send a message to Hong Kong ... that the European Parliament
    does not regard this as a British matter but as a European matter,"
    Watson said. 

    He said the EU could make support for China's accession to the World
    Trade Organisation dependent on respect for human rights in Hong Kong. 

    "It's more in China's interest to be in the WTO than in the West's
    (interest). China needs access to Western technology, Western capital
    and Western markets," he reasoned. 

    REUTER

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 7 February 1997 Issue 623

    Tories start to narrow gap in polls
    
    By George Jones, Political Editor 

    TENTATIVE signs of a recovery in Tory electoral fortunes have emerged
    in the latest Gallup poll published in The Telegraph today.

    With at most 12 weeks to go before the election, Labour's lead has
    fallen by three points. The survey indicates that the Conservatives may
    be getting the better of the "phoney war" between the parties and that
    the election, when it is called, could be a much closer fight.

    Labour's level of support is shown at 49 per cent (down 1.5) the Tories
    on 34 (up 1.5) and the Liberal Democrats on 12 (up 1.5). The Referendum
    Party, despite a huge advertising campaign, is still making virtually
    no impact.

    At this point before the last election, the Tories were five points
    ahead. The poll shows that they still have considerable ground to cover
    - but the signs of recovery over the past month are likely to encourage
    Mr Major to play it long and try to hold out for a May 1 polling date.

    Pay for top people became the latest issue in the pre-election
    skirmishing yesterday, with Labour backtracking on plans to impose a
    total freeze on the salaries of the senior military, judges and top
    civil servants. Gordon Brown, the shadow chancellor, acknowledged that
    an incoming Labour government would honour the first phase of their pay
    award - an across-the-board two per cent - if the election were called
    in April or May.

    He made clear that the second, larger stage, which could be up to five
    per cent in some cases and is due to be paid on Dec 1, would be blocked
    by Labour. They would, however, implement the staged awards for all
    other public sector groups - doctors and dentists, nurses and midwives,
    teachers and the Services.

    As predicted, the Cabinet yesterday decided that the awards for 1.3
    million public sector employees would be phased for a second year -
    with 2 per cent paid from April 1 and the rest on Dec 1.

    This means that a pay deal which would have cost the taxpayer �1.1
    billion in 1997-8 will now cost at most �800 million due to the delayed
    introduction of part of the awards. Over the year, the general increase
    will average 2.4 per cent - close to the 2.5 per cent inflation rate -
    as against 3.3 per cent recommended by review bodies.

    The shadow chancellor accused the Government of being unfair and
    handing judges up to �8,000 and nurses only a fraction of this.
    However, he was forced to admit that if the election is not held before
    April 1 - which looks increasingly likely - he would be unable to live
    up to the promise he made earlier this week to freeze the pay of top
    people.

    Only if Labour came to power before April 1 would it be able to block
    the increases for the senior salaries groups and for ministers and MPs.
    If it is after April 1, Labour would permit a 2 per cent increase for
    MPs in line with senior civil servants, taking the pay of a backbencher
    to �43,860. But under Labour, MPs will not get a further 0.75 per cent,
    due in December.

    Labour also confirmed that it would block increases in the pay of the
    Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers. If Mr Major wins he can look
    forward to a salary of �145,860 the day after the election, compared to
    �101,557 now. His pay is due to rise to �146,933 on Dec 1.

    Under Labour, increases in ministerial pay would be blocked. Mr Blair
    would accept �103,558 - forgoing around �40,000 a year.

    A Labour victory would also mean lower pay for Mr Major as opposition
    leader; almost �85,000 instead of �98,000.

    Kenneth Clarke, the Chancellor, accused Labour of "being all over the
    place" over public sector pay and Government spending yesterday. He
    said Mr Brown's threat to freeze the second stage of the award for top
    people was a political gesture and "old fashioned Labour Party pay
    policy".

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 7 February 1997 Issue 623

    Race skipper operates on own arm by fax
    
    By Tim King 

    THE British yachtsman Pete Goss, who is racing single-handed round the
    world in the Vend�e Globe race, has had to cut open his own arm to
    repair an inflamed elbow.

    After strapping a torch on his head and a mirror to his knee, Goss
    followed instructions sent by fax from the race headquarters in France
    to his 50ft boat Aqua Quorum, which is 1,300 miles from land.

    Goss had been suffering from an inflamed elbow tendon in his left arm
    for most of his three months at sea. This week the skin ruptured and
    two hernias of soft tissue squeezed out. The 35-year-old ex-Royal
    Marine sought advice from the race doctor, Jean-Yves Chauve, in France.
    He consulted specialists and then, because Aqua Quorum's radio had been
    put out of action in a storm, faxed instructions.

    Goss later sent a message to the race organisers: "It's a strange
    sensation slicing away at yourself with a scalpel. I am now watching
    with bated breath to see if it improves and am praying that no
    infection sets in."

    Heavy seas in the Southern Ocean have reduced the number of competitors
    in the 22,000-mile race. At Christmas, Goss rescued a Frenchman,
    Raphael Dinelli, competing unofficially, when his yacht, Algimouss,
    sank 1,200 miles south of Perth, Western Australia. Goss turned back
    through 120 miles of heavy seas to reach Dinelli, whom he took to
    Tasmania before rejoining the race, which he said was "turning into a
    bit of an epic".

    Goss, who is married with three children and lives in St Germans,
    Cornwall, is in sixth place after being compensated for time lost
    rescuing Dinelli. He is expected to pass Cape Horn early next week and
    enter the Atlantic. The finish is at Les Sables d'Olonne, in western
    France. Goss said that, apart from his arm, he was in good spirits.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 7 February 1997 Issue 623

    Rosie's revenge killer is jailed for 25 years

    A WOMAN'S lover, who in an act of drunken revenge snatched her
    five-year-old daughter from her bed and raped and suffocated her, was
    jailed for life yesterday with a recommendation that he serve at least
    25 years.

    Andrew Pountley, 32, was told by Mrs Justice Heather Steel at
    Manchester Crown Court: "You are, and will continue to be, a danger to
    women and children."

    Pountley's 16-day trial had been told how he snatched Rosie McCann from
    her bed at her mother's home in Oldham, just over a year ago. He took
    the girl to get even with her mother, Josie Mahon, with whom he had a
    turbulent relationship.

    He took her still clad in her Thomas the Tank Engine pyjamas through
    the deserted streets to his home over a mile away. There he raped and
    murdered her before dumping her body inside a black binliner in an
    alley near his flat.

    The judge passed two life sentences on Pountley for the rape and
    murder, and a concurrent six-year sentence for the abduction. She told
    Pountley, who stood expressionless in the dock: "My duty is to ensure
    that you will not be released from custody until the danger you present
    no longer exists and to ensure no other child will ever suffer at your
    hands as Roselene did."

    Pountley had continued to deny his crimes throughout the trial. Only
    after sentence was passed did the jury learn that Pountley had also
    been charged with the attempted rape and the indecent assault of a
    13-year-old local girl. The charges were ordered to lie on the file.

    The judge told him: "This case has been about your anger and your urge
    to control and your urge to punish. On Jan 13 last year, it is clear
    Roselene's abduction resulted basically from a jealous and wicked
    motive to punish the woman you regarded as your wife."

    Rosie had gone with him trustingly because he was effectively her
    stepfather. "What was in your mind as you took her from her home to
    your home we shall never know," said the judge. "The pain Rosie
    suffered at your hands before she was suffocated can only be imagined."

    After hiding Rosie's body, Pountley had shown a "callous indifference"
    to her fate. "Your only concern was for yourself." She added: "I
    propose to recommend that you serve a minimum of 25 years."

    The judge said the pain he must have inflicted on the little girl
    during the rape must have been significantly greater than that caused
    at the time of her death.

    After Pountley was led away, the detective who headed the investigation
    described him as a "callous and evil individual". Det Supt Ron Gaffey
    said: "We are delighted with the sentence. Justice has been done on
    this occasion. This was a dreadful murder. The child must have been in
    abject agony before she was killed. I think he is extremely evil and
    dangerous. He had total disregard for this child."

    Det Supt Gaffey said the investigation had been extremely harrowing for
    his officers, many of whom had children the same age as Rosie.

    Mrs Mahon spoke of the jealousy that had cost her daughter her life.
    "He would always be accusing me of things like looking at men on buses
    and flirting. I knew all along he had taken Rosie. He is the kind of
    person who would do anything out of spite."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 7 February 1997 Issue 623

    Husband killed wife who 'hurled biblical abuse'
    
    By David Graves 

    A BUSINESSMAN who was driven to despair by his wife's religious beliefs
    stabbed her to death after she prayed, spoke in tongues and "hurled
    biblical abuse" at him during a family meeting, a court was told
    yesterday.

    Hamilton Campbell, 37, a computer consultant, told police he had
    "suffered desperately" after being effectively excluded from his family
    because his wife and four children were active evangelical Christians
    and he was a non-practising Roman Catholic.

    He stabbed his wife, Louise, 48, through the heart with a kitchen knife
    after the family meeting to discuss their problems, during which one of
    his children told him: "This is a family of five - and you."

    His wife had bought a public address system to preach to people on the
    street after becoming "almost obsessed" with religion. Their children
    kept diaries of "conversations with God", Reading Crown Court was told.

    Campbell admitted manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.

    Brian Barker QC, prosecuting, said the family rift had worsened after
    Mrs Campbell had made unsubstantiated allegations of sexual abuse
    against her husband.

    On Aug 22 last year, Campbell called a family meeting at his home in
    Chalfont St Peter, Bucks, to discuss his wife's plans to preach on the
    street.

    "The family sat down. Campbell proceeded to have a go at each member of
    the family," Mr Barker said. "He was aggressive but still in control.
    His wife started praying and singing and perhaps even speaking in
    tongues."

    After his arrest, Campbell told detectives: "I went upstairs with my
    wife and said: 'This has to end.' I didn't know how to end it. She was
    on the phone and she laughed at me with an evil face. When I saw the
    face, I went for the knife. She was not able to fight back and it all
    happened in a split second. She was hurling biblical abuse at me. I
    have suffered desperately over the last few years."

    Nicholas Jarman QC, defending, told the court that the family's
    problems started when Mrs Campbell began attending an evangelical
    church. Her husband was shocked when he attended a service and found
    people speaking in tongues and writhing on the floor.

    Mr Jarman read extracts from the children's diaries. One had written:
    "Humble him so he wants to serve." Another wrote: "I cannot forgive my
    dad for what he is. I can't forgive his evil schemes. Please grant
    salvation to dad."

    Mr Justice Gage ordered Campbell to be assessed at a secure psychiatric
    hospital before passing sentence.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 7 February 1997 Issue 623

    Tories set to outline Tube sell-off scheme
    
    By Robert Shrimsley, Chief Political Correspondent 

    TORY plans to privatise London Underground will be unveiled before the
    general election, senior Conservatives said last night.

    Details are likely to be given by Mr Major at one of his Conservative
    Central Office press conferences.

    The central debate focuses on how to make the sell-off - which Sir
    George Young, Transport Secretary, believes could raise up to �1.4
    billion - a popular measure. One option that has attracted support is a
    stock market flotation and the offer of cheap shares to commuters.
    Among other options being canvassed are franchising the lines, as was
    done with British Rail, and selling the Tube as a single entity.

    Sir George is said to be delaying an announcement until it can be
    packaged in the most populist way. In a leaked memo, he told the Prime
    Minister that he agreed with William Waldegrave, Chief Secretary to the
    Treasury, that "it will be a very difficult privatisation to sell to
    the public".

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 7 February 1997 Issue 623

    Wren hurt in shooting on Navy warship

    A WREN was on a life-support machine in a French hospital last night
    with a gunshot wound after an apparent suicide attempt on board her
    warship.

    Sub-Lt Julia Simcock, 22, who had recently begun her first posting
    aboard the four-year-old minehunter Walney, was taken to hospital in
    the port of Brest. The Royal Navy described her condition as stable and
    emphasised that she was out of danger.

    The news came as a former Wren, driven to attempt suicide after years
    of sexual harassment in the Navy, was awarded more than �65,000 damages
    by a Manchester industrial tribunal.

    Lesley Morris, 23, of Shotton, near Chester, took a paracetamol
    overdose after sinking into depression caused by sexual taunts and
    bullying. She was discharged from the Navy as "temperamentally
    unsuitable" in 1995.

    Elaine Donnelly, the tribunal chairman, called on the Navy management
    to give a lead to their men that harassment and bullying were not
    acceptable.

    Coming on the same day as the tribunal award, the shooting incident is
    a serious embarrassment to the Navy, which has worked hard to integrate
    Wrens aboard warships.

    However, Navy sources said there was nothing to suggest that Sub-Lt
    Simcock had suffered sexual harassment.

    She was one of two female officers aboard the 450-ton Walney, which
    left Brest yesterday. Sub-Lt Simcock, who is based at Faslane,
    Strathclyde, joined the minehunter straight from training.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 7 February 1997 Issue 623

    Woman doctor is cleared of indecent assault
    
    By David Fletcher, Health Correspondent 

    A WOMAN GP was cleared yesterday of indecently assaulting a young woman
    patient during an internal examination at her surgery.

    The General Medical Council's Professional Conduct Committee also found
    Dr Christine Keown, 46, not guilty of using inappropriate and indecent
    language towards 28-year-old "Miss A" on March 13, 1995.

    Miss A, an office worker, had accused Dr Keown, of Crest Hill,
    Peaslake, Surrey, of "touching her up" during an internal examination
    and a smear test.

    She claimed that the doctor repeatedly indecently touched her genital
    area while performing tests after she had collapsed twice with back and
    internal pains. Miss A said the doctor had made remarks such as "Are
    you like this with your boyfriend?" and "Are you frigid or anything?"
    as the examination proceeded.

    Dr Keown denied the charges. She said: "I completely and absolutely
    deny setting out to indecently assault Miss A." The doctor said she had
    been very concerned that Miss A had collapsed twice with abdominal
    pains and yet had still not been diagnosed. She said any remarks she
    had made to Miss A in the surgery had been intended merely to try to
    calm her.

    Dr Keown said she asked Miss A why she seemed reluctant to have a smear
    test, because she had declined to have one on at least two previous
    occasions. She could not remember Miss A's response.

    Miss A took off her lower clothing and got on to the couch for the
    internal examination. The doctor said: "Miss A was lying, staring
    straight at me. I said, 'You are very nervous' and 'Have you had smears
    before?' I thought the patient was a bit flustered and she was very
    anxious and very tense. I was trying to calm her down but every time I
    asked her a question, she looked blank. I was still anxious to get the
    background so I asked her, 'Is everything all right with the family at
    home?' "

    She told Miss A to get dressed and, when she turned around from making
    notes, she had gone.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 7 February 1997 Issue 623

    Battle of Britain chief's medals are put up for auction

    THE medals of Lord Dowding, who headed Fighter Command in the Battle of
    Britain, will be sold next month. They will be the most important set
    of Second World War medals auctioned.

    Air Chief Marshal Dowding built his success on planning and strategy
    dating from 1936, when he took over Fighter Command and began to
    develop a network of radar stations and to improve aircraft production.

    His awards include Grand Cross insignia from the Order of the Bath,
    which he was awarded after the Battle of Britain, and the Royal
    Victorian Order, together with First World War medals.

    Spinks, which will auction the medals for an anonymous seller on March
    18, estimates that they will fetch between �40,000 and �60,000.

    "In terms of the Second World War, I have no hesitation in saying they
    are the most important set of awards offered by public auction," said
    David Erskine-Hill, a medal specialist.

    "Without Dowding's pre-planning, strategy and command, Hitler's
    invasion would have taken place."

    There are fears that the medals might go abroad. Spinks has informed
    the RAF Museum, Hendon, and the Imperial War Museum, Lambeth, of the
    sale. The RAF Museum has his uniforms and banner and also has a display
    about him.

    Diana Condell, curator of medals at the Imperial War Museum, said: "We
    would very much hope there was some means by which they could be
    acquired for an appropriate national institution."

    Dowding left office abruptly in a manner which puzzles even his
    critics. He had a reserved manner, which prompted young fighter pilots
    to nickname him "Stuffy", but that hid a real affection for their
    leader, shown in many accounts of the air battle.

    As German forces swept through France in 1940 Dowding, horrified at the
    RAF losses, wrote to the Air Ministry, pointing out that of the 56
    squadrons agreed as the minimum for home defence only 36 remained.

    "I believe that if an adequate fighter force is kept in this country .
    . . we would be able to carry on the war single-handed," he wrote. "But
    if the home defence force is drained away in desperate attempts to
    remedy the situation in France, defeat there will involve the final,
    complete and irremediable defeat of this country."

    His request was largely met, but he was removed from office in October
    1940. He died in 1970, aged 87.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 7 February 1997 Issue 623

    Pique practice
    
    By Paul Stokes 

    A DOCTORS' surgery has been split down the middle in a long-running
    dispute between three of its "partners".

    Filing cabinets and room dividers are being used as a demarcation line
    between the feuding parties' practices. Patients are met by two
    receptionists sitting at either side of a divided desk at the Denewell
    House surgery, Low Fell, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.

    Those requiring Dr Geoff Penrice, a fundholding GP, are sent to the
    right-hand side before seeing him on the ground floor. People visiting
    his former colleagues, Dr Barbara Schumm and Dr Paul Funnerty, who are
    non-fundholders, are sent to the left before going to upstairs
    surgeries.

    The opposing partners no longer speak to one another and communicate
    through letters and solicitors. Problems mounted this week when Dr
    Schumm and Dr Finnerty took on 1,500 extra patients, from a GP who
    retired, without Dr Penrice's knowledge. New patients started arriving
    at the surgery with letters telling them to sign on at the "second
    window and not the first".

    Liz Mather, Dr Penrice's practice manager, said the partners' position
    could be compared to a bitter divorce while the parties are still
    living under the same roof. She said: "This used to be a four-partner
    practice but it split. It was to do with a clash of personalities and
    rows over fundholding and money. The partners don't speak at all now.
    It is very acrimonious and the surgery has been split down the middle.
    When we want to communicate with the other surgery we do it by letter.
    If we didn't do it that way they would deny we had ever been in touch."

    Mrs Mather, speaking with Dr Penrice's blessing, believed that the only
    way the matter could be resolved was if one or other side agreed to
    leave. She said: "The staff working for each side have to be civil to
    each other. It is a terrible shame that it has come to this and it is
    very stressful. This has gone on now for three-and-a-half years and it
    has to stop. We have offered to move out but our money is tied up in
    the buildings. The other side won't agree to stay or go so the
    situation remains very ludicrous and very confusing for our staff."

    The two sides are undergoing arbitration to decide who should move. A
    new surgery is being built nearby although it is not known who is
    planning to move there.

    As non-fundholding GPs, Dr Schumm and Dr Finnerty have no control over
    their budgets, which are met through the local health authority, unlike
    Dr Penrice who receives funding for his patients from the Government.

    Antek Lejk, head of community services and primary care for Gateshead
    and South Tyneside Health Authority, said the dispute was "not
    ideal".He said: "Short term problems at the premises will be eliminated
    by the sensible use of the appointments system."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 7 February 1997 Issue 623

    Mother seeks eviction of girl's sex attacker
    
    By David Graves 

    THE mother of a young girl sexually abused by a convicted paedophile
    yesterday called for him to be evicted from his nearby council flat
    where he returned following his release from prison.

    The woman said her daughter, now 13, had attempted to commit suicide
    three times since she was attacked by Angus Wilson, 71, who has a
    record of sex attacks dating back 55 years, and was convinced he would
    try to kill her for giving evidence against him.

    Despite repeated assurances from Labour-controlled Hounslow Council
    that Wilson would never be allowed to return to the three-bedroom flat
    in Chiswick, west London, he had been seen there four times in the past
    fortnight, she said.

    "I am terrified for my daughter's safety and for other children in the
    area as well. There is a primary school nearby and I have told the head
    teacher to warn the children that Wilson has been seen," she said.
    "Hounslow council promised us he would never return to his flat and
    haunt our daughter but he obviously still has a key and I have seen him
    there four times. On one occasion he just stood for 10 minutes staring
    at our front door."

    Wilson was jailed for three years at the Old Bailey in January last
    year after pleading guilty to indecently assaulting the girl. Similar
    allegations involving attacks on five other children and teenagers were
    allowed to lie on the file.

    Because he had spent two and a half years in prison on remand before
    the case went to court, he was released from jail shortly afterwards
    and went to live with his sister in Birmingham before returning to
    London.

    The girl's mother added: "I don't want him here any more. I've reported
    that I've seen him to the police and they have taken the matter very
    seriously.

    "I had hoped we would never see him again.

    "I told my daughter that he is back and she said, 'Mum, he is going to
    come and get me'. She has deep depression and nightmares about what has
    happened. Wilson has taken her childhood away from her."

    Jo Langton, a Conservative councillor, said Wilson should not have been
    allowed to return to his flat.

    "I have never heard of anything so dreadful," she said. "No words can
    explain it. He should not have the key and he should not be in the area
    at all."

    Hounslow council officials are now planning to take legal action to get
    Wilson evicted from his flat.

    A spokesman said yesterday: "At the moment Mr Wilson is legally
    entitled to live in the property. We are unable to comment further as
    we are involved in legal proceedings against him and to do so might
    prejudice the outcome."

    Supt David Finnimore, of Chiswick police, said: "Police are fully aware
    of this matter and I can assure the public that we will respond
    immediately to any calls for assistance from that area. The council has
    the matter well in hand."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 7 February 1997 Issue 623

    Pro-Lifers publish 'hit-list' of target MPs
    
    By Rachel Sylvester, Political Staff 

    CAMPAIGNERS against abortion claimed yesterday that they could
    influence the outcome of the general election by fielding up to 70
    candidates across the country.

    The Pro-Life Alliance published a "hit list" of pro-abortion MPs of all
    parties against whom they plan to stand. They also produced a manifesto
    seeking to outlaw abortions where there was no risk to the woman's
    life.

    The main targets of the Pro-Life Alliance's campaign are members of
    Tony Blair's shadow cabinet. Gordon Brown, Harriet Harman and Frank
    Dobson are among 16 shadow cabinet members deemed to be "militants in
    their position" in favour of abortion.

    The anti-abortionists also named Virginia Bottomley, the Health
    Secretary, Alastair Goodlad, the Government Chief Whip, and Tom
    Sackville, the Home Office minister, as possible targets. 

    However, Bruno Quintavalle, director of the alliance, said the main
    focus was Opposition parties. "We are very concerned by the very high
    numbers in the shadow cabinet who are pro-abortion."

    Phyllis Bowman, a spokeswoman for the Society for the Protection of the
    Unborn Child, said that campaigns on the abortion issue led to a swing
    of between 2.7 per cent and 4.8 per cent in previous elections. 

    But Marie Stopes International, the family planning agency, and the
    National Abortion Campaign produced an opinion poll showing that 69 per
    cent of people would not take abortion into account when voting. 

    Politicians from all parties attacked the campaign. Tim Wood, Tory MP
    for Stevenage, said: "As soon as we get candidates pursuing a single
    issue, we have a perversion of the normal democratic process of
    selecting candidates who represent the broad views of constituents." 

    Barbara Follett, Labour's candidate in Stevenage, said: "People are
    much more worried about jobs, housing, education and health."

 UK News Electronic Telegraph Friday 7 February 1997
  Issue 623

  Peril of young sun-lovers

    
    YOUNG children believe that it is attractive to have a suntan and they
    rate not brushing their teeth as a greater health risk than getting
    sunburn, research showed yesterday.

    A Mori poll for the Cancer Research Campaign (CRC) among eight to
    10-year-olds also found that they thought a tan was more attractive
    than being slim.

    Professor Gordon McVie, director general of CRC, said: "Unprotected
    children exposed to the sun could pay the price later in life." Prof
    Anne Charlton, director of the CRC Education and Child Studies Research
    Group at Manchester University, said research shows that excessive sun
    exposure in the first 20 years of life greatly increases the risk of
    skin cancer.

    When asked to select habits that were bad for health, the children put
    drug-taking first followed by smoking, drinking, not brushing their
    teeth, getting sunburnt and eating unhealthy food. 

    International News Electronic Telegraph Friday 7 February 1997 Issue 623

    German jobless highest since war
    
    By Andrew Gimson in Berlin 

    GERMAN unemployment leapt by more than half a million in January - a
    larger than expected increase - to a post-war record of 4,658,000.

    The increase was described by trade unions as "a disaster", but neither
    the government nor the opposition showed any sign of knowing how to
    reverse the trend.

    Rudolf Scharping, parliamentary leader of the opposition Social
    Democrats, supported Chancellor Kohl's recent call for overtime cuts,
    and said if it was reduced by a third, up to 400,000 jobs would be
    created. But Prof Horst Siebert, an economic adviser to the government,
    said it was a "declaration of poverty" to see cuts in overtime as a
    solution to unemployment.

    Yesterday's figure was made worse by severe winter weather, which has
    led to lay-offs in the building industry. But even this problem has
    been intensified by government action. The state stopped "bad weather
    money" for building workers, and instead gave employers the duty of
    paying 75 per cent of each worker's wages for the first 20 working days
    of any lay-off.

    Rather than accept this expense, employers sacked their workers.It is
    estimated that the state saved �260 million in bad weather payments,
    but had to spend three times that on benefit for sacked workers.

    At the root of Germany's rising joblessness, now at 12.2 per cent of
    the workforce, is the high cost of labour. Wages in western Germany
    have risen three times faster than productivity since 1960.

    Mr Kohl's credibility is suffering in the economic difficulties. A poll
    in the newspaper Die Woche shows that only 32 per cent of Germans think
    he will push through "urgently-needed reforms".

    AP 10-Feb-1997 1:04 EST   REF5588

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Monday, Feb. 10, 1997
   
    WHITEWATER 

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Convicted Whitewater partner Jim McDougal is
    reportedly changing his story about whether President Clinton knew in
    1986 about an illegal loan issued to McDougal's wife. The New Yorker
    magazine reports McDougal is now telling independent Whitewater counsel
    Kenneth Starr that then-Gov. Clinton did know. Both McDougal and
    Clinton have testified that Clinton did not know about the loan at the
    time. Meanwhile, Time magazine reports that Starr is pressuring former
    associate attorney general Webster Hubbell for more cooperation in his
    investigation of the first family's role in the Arkansas real estate
    scandal. 
   
    BUDGET 

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Clinton administration's point man on the budget
    says budget talks with Congress are off to a good start. Office of
    Management and Budget Director Franklin Raines told CNN it's all
    systems go for the budget's arrival on Capitol Hill. But Republicans
    are far from sold on Clinton's plan. Senate Budget Committee Chairman
    Pete Domenici criticized Clinton's proposed tax cuts as "too targeted
    and too small." 
   
    HIV-INFANTS 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Hospitals in New York have begun mandatory testing of
    all newborns for the AIDS virus, the first such testing program in the
    United States. Dr. Barbara DeBuono, the state health commissioner, told
    The New York Times in Monday's editions that the program is being
    watched by other states and by the CDC to see if it has a significant
    impact. The state already conducts anonymous HIV tests on infants, but
    on Feb. 1, hospitals agreed to mandatory disclosure of the results, the
    Times reported. 
   
    NICOTINE PATCHES 

    CHICAGO (AP) -- A person wearing a nicotine patch who smokes on their
    predetermined "quit day" is 10 times more likely to lose the battle to
    quit, North Carolina researchers say. People who can't give up
    cigarettes for one day have an extreme craving for nicotine that won't
    be satisfied with a nicotine patch alone, according to the study, which
    appears in Monday's edition of the Chicago-based Archives of Internal
    Medicine. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center and the Durham
    Veterans Affairs Medical Center studied 200 smokers who wanted to quit
    and tried nicotine patches. 
   
    ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS 

    EREZ CROSSING, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Benjamin Netanyahu and Yasser Arafat
    discussed outstanding Israeli-Palestinian disputes today, and officials
    said Israel agreed to release female Palestinian prisoners soon.
    Negotiators say they will meet again soon to resolve such issues as
    Israel's claim that the Palestinians are illegally operating offices in
    Jerusalem and Palestinians' charge that Israel is stalling approval of
    a Palestinian airport and safe passage between the West Bank and Gaza. 
   
    ECUADOR-PRESIDENTS 

    QUITO, Ecuador (AP) -- Latin America now has its third female
    president. In a deal worked out with Ecuador's powerful military,
    Congress named the vice president to the top executive post today.
    Lawmakers selected Rosalia Arteaga, 40, to replace deposed chief
    executive Abdala Bucaram. Congress ousted Bucaram on Thursday for
    "mental incapacity." Latin America has seen two female presidents
    before Arteaga -- Violeta Chamorro in Nicaragua and Isabel Peron in
    Argentina. 
   
    SOUTH KOREA-CRASH 

    SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Rain has halted a search for two U.S. Marine
    pilots missing after their jet crashed into the Yellow Sea between
    China and South Korea. The Marines' FA-18 Delta crashed during a
    routine training mission, a U.S. military spokesman said. The missing
    officers were identified as Capt. Mark R. Nickles of Mesa, Ariz., and
    Maj. Danny A. D'Eredita of Syracuse, N.Y. The cause of the crash was
    unknown. 
   
    INTERNET VIDEO 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- People normally don't surf the Internet to watch their
    favorite rock group or sports team in action. But a developer of
    cyberspace technology is trying to change that. Progressive Networks
    plans to announce today that Time Warner, ABC, C-SPAN and others agreed
    to use its new RealVideo for live events across the Internet. The
    RealVideo software is billed as improving the quality of the Internet's
    moving images. 
   
    JAPAN MARKETS 

    TOKYO (AP) -- The dollar is trading at 122.28 yen early Monday, down
    1.92. The Nikkei is up 139.15 points to 18,006.19. 
   
    NBA ALL-STAR GAME 

    CLEVELAND (AP) -- Michael Jordan had the All-Star game's first
    triple-double, MVP Glen Rice broke two scoring records and the East had
    one of the best comebacks in All-Star history to beat the West 132-120.
    Meanwhile, the NBA saluted the league's 50 greatest players at
    halftime. Rice scored 24 of his 26 points in the second half to break
    the All-Star Game record originally set by Wilt Chamberlain. 
   
    AP Newsbrief by BENITA GREEN 

    RTw  10-Feb-97 03:04    

    Reuters World News Highlights

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    TIRANA - Weeks of protests against Albania's right-wing government by
    investors who lost their life savings in shady investment schemes have
    claimed their first fatality. 

    - - - - 

    QUITO - Ecuador's Vice President Rosalia Arteaga was appointed head of
    a caretaker government that brought an end to the political crisis
    sparked by the ouster of flamboyant leader Abdala Bucaram. 

    - - - - 

    KINSHASA - Zaire's army now plans to use aircraft and helicopter
    gunships against rebels in the east after rebel thrusts on several
    fronts blunted its much-touted counter-offensive. 

    - - - - 

    BELGRADE - Serbia's political opposition, on the eve of a triumph over
    President Slobodan Milosevic's ruling socialists, said the main battles
    for democratic reform were still to come. 

    - - - - 

    SEOUL - South Korean state prosecutors have summoned three politicians,
    including a close associate of President Kim Young-sam, in connection
    with controversial loans to Hanbo Steel Co, prosecution officials said. 

    - - - - 

    VITROLLES, France - France's anti-immigration National Front won a
    hard-fought municipal election, taking to four the number of southern
    towns it controls and touching off clashes clashes between youngsters
    and police. 

    - - - - 

    LIMA - President Alberto Fujimori said his chief negotiator in the
    hostage crisis at the Japanese ambassador's home, Domingo Palermo,
    would meet the Marxist rebel chief's deputy in preliminary talks on
    Tuesday. 

    LONDON - Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, almost two months into a
    stand-off with Marxist rebels, said on Sunday he remained calm and was
    optimistic he could reach a peaceful solution. 

    - - - - 

    WELLINGTON - New Zealand health authorities said a man charged in the
    killing of one of six people slain in a weekend shotgun shooting
    massacre was a mental health patient. 

    - - - - 

    JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared for a trip to
    the United States this week by setting up the next peace steps with the
    Palestinians and slapping down a burgeoning debate over Israel's
    occupation of a strip of Lebanon. 

    - - - - 

    TIRANA - One person died and at least 40 were injured in clashes
    between anti-government protesters and police in the southern Albanian
    port of Vlore, officials said. 

    - - - - 

    CHANDIGARH, India - A pro-Sikh regional party and its Hindu nationalist
    ally, promising religious harmony and peace in India's agricultural
    hub, won a clear majority in local polls in the troubled state of
    Punjab. 

    - - - - 

    EREZ, Gaza Strip - Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinians'
    Yasser Arafat met at their border on Sunday to discuss expanding
    self-rule and the operation of Palestinian sea and air ports, officials
    said. 

    - - - - 

    LONDON - Britain's opposition Labour party reaffirmed that it proposed
    to hold a referendum on voting reform if it won the forthcoming general
    election, which must be held by May 22. 

    LONDON - The next British government will inherit a huge budget
    deficit, forcing it to slash public spending or raise taxes by up to 14
    billion pounds, the Independent newspaper said on Monday. 

    - - - - 

    TOKYO - Japan's huge trade surplus continued its long slide in 1996,
    falling more than a quarter from the previous year, government data
    showed, but economists said a sharply lower yen may soon change the
    trend. 

    - - - - 

    REUTER 

    RTw  10-Feb-97 05:15    

    Odds and Ends

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    The following is a collection of human interest stories that have moved
    separately: 

    Brazil Rio carnival shifts into top gear 

    RIO DE JANEIRO - Rio de Janeiro's carnival shifted into top gear as
    Donald Duck, parrot Joe Carioca and a flood of other Disney characters
    kicked off the first of two dusk-to-dawn parades by Rio's samba school
    elite. 

    The enormous cartoon-figure replicas delighted the crowds packed into
    Rio's 70,000-capacity sambadrome stadium, but the G-string-clad,
    bare-breasted dancing girls Rio's carnival orgy is famous for were
    noticeably absent from the opening act. 

    Disney agreed to finance much of the parade by the Academicos da
    Rocinha samba school from Latin America's largest shantytown on the
    condition that there would be no nudity. 

    - - - - 

    Camilla's ex says she can wed Charles - UK paper 

    LONDON - The former husband of Camilla Parker Bowles has told friends
    he hopes his ex-wife will win public acceptance and marry Prince
    Charles, heir to the British throne, the Sunday Express newspaper
    reported. 

    "Andrew Parker Bowles has confided that he believes public opinion
    should support the prince in his dream of one day making Camilla his
    wife," said the paper. 

    The paper said retired army officer Parker Bowles -- at one time the
    nation's best-known cuckold -- recently surprised friends at a dinner
    party by saying: "They would certainly have my blessing." 

    - - - - 

    Music becomes weapon of love, war in Peru siege 

    LIMA - From Mexican mariarchis to military marches, Peru's 54-day
    hostage crisis has become the unlikely setting for a variety of musical
    duels and entertainment. 

    While police and Marxist rebel hostage takers have staged a
    psychological battle via megaphone and loudspeaker, hostages have sung
    and played to pass away the hours, and relatives have used music to
    bridge the gap to their loved ones. 

    "It's like a radio hit parade here," said Reuters photographer Gregg
    Newton outside the residence. "Every day, it's a different tune." 

    Longest on the playlists of this musical medley have been the rebel
    hymns broadcast by the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement guerrillas
    every day around dawn. 

    - - - - 

    Oscar nominations - monent of truth for Madonna 

    LOS ANGELES - In typical Madonna style, the never-shy pop diva said she
    would be nominated for an Oscar. Now Hollywood will be watching to see
    if her brash prediction will come true. 

    Apart from the buzz over whether the singer wins a stamp of approval as
    a big-screen actress, the Academy Award nominations to be announced on
    Tuesday are wide open this year, with no single film or actor
    considered a shoo-in. 

    Experts predict the nod for best picture will come down to a scrap
    between films about a fascist dictator's wife, a suspected Nazi spy and
    a girlie magazine publisher defending freedom of speech. 

    REUTER 

    AP 10-Feb-1997 0:26 EST   REF5406

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Report: Radioactive Bullets Used

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. Marine Corps jets accidentally fired 1,520
    radioactive bullets during a training exercise near Okinawa more than a
    year ago, but the Japanese government was not informed until last
    month, The Washington Times reported. 

    The Marine AV-8B Harrier jets were improperly loaded with explosive
    25mm rounds containing depleted uranium for the exercises in late 1995
    and early 1996, the paper reported in Monday editions, citing U.S.
    military officials in Tokyo. 

    It said the Japanese government was expected to issue a statement on
    the incident soon, perhaps as early as Monday. 

    The Times said the Japanese government was notified in January of the
    training incidents at the Tori Shima gunnery range, an uninhabited
    coral island 62 miles from Okinawa. 

    Under a U.S.-Japan agreement, no nuclear weapons are to be stored on
    Okinawa during peacetime, but the Times said military said the
    depleted-uranium ammunition is classified as conventional not nuclear,
    weaponry. 

    Word of the latest incident comes in the face of growing anti-U.S.
    military sentiment on Okinawa, where approximately 28,000 U.S. troops
    are stationed. 

    Because of its density and impact, uranium ammunition can penetrate
    armored vehicles, but spent rounds present no health risk unless it is
    ingested, the Times quoted military officials as saying. 

    AP 10-Feb-1997 0:19 EST   REF5403

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Report: Mobsters Switch Crimes

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Mobsters are getting out of the blue-collar extortion
    and rackets businesses, and are turning to white-collar crime in New
    York and New Jersey, The New York Times reported Monday. 

    Prosecutions and tighter regulations have pushed Mafia crime families
    into three lucrative new areas: health insurance, prepaid telephone
    cards and small Wall Street firms, the paper said, citing law
    enforcement experts on organized crime. The experts based their
    conclusions on informants, surveillance and electronic eavesdropping,
    the Times said. 

    In the past, crime families concentrated on union shakedowns,
    infiltrating trash hauling, extortion at city markets, and fleecing
    pension and welfare funds. 

    But as prosecutors have shut them out of those traditional organized
    crime targets, the mobsters have turned to new businesses. 

    "They are analogous to companies in Chapter 11 bankruptcy," Lewis D.
    Schiliro, a top Federal Bureau of Investigation official told the
    Times. 

    He referred to the region's five Mafia gangs, the Genovese, Gambino,
    Lucchese, Colombo and Bonanno families. Last summer, a reputed Genovese
    associate was accused with bribing people to bring business to his
    health care management company. 

    "They are still in business but many of their old moneymaking bases
    have dried up and they are moving into new industries to fill the cash
    void," Schiliro said. 

    But law enforcement officials conceded organized crime is still
    profiting from bookmaking and loan-sharking, according to the paper. 

    AP 9-Feb-1997 23:54 EST   REF5344

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Second Gas Explosion Lights Sky

    KALAMA, Wash. (AP) -- A natural gas pipeline exploded Sunday, sending a
    fireball into the night sky, the second such explosion in Washington
    state this weekend. 

    The blast happened in a rural area north Kalama, 35 miles north of the
    Oregon border, and the glow could be seen 30 miles away, said Cathy
    Batchelor of the Cowlitz County emergency management department. 

    "We hear there's a fireball going straight up in the air," said
    dispatcher Tracy Eaton-Collins of the sheriff's department. 

    There were no immediate reports of injuries. 

    "We do have control of it. It should be out in minutes," said sheriff's
    Sgt. Charlie Rosenszweig, who was among numerous fire and emergency
    personnel at the scene. 

    A campground near the fire was evacuated. 

    Sunday night's explosion was the second break in two days in a
    Northwest Pipeline Corp. line in Washington state. 

    On Saturday night, a natural gas pipeline explosion sent a towering
    flame into the sky at the opposite end of the state, near the Canadian
    border. 

    The fire from that explosion was nearly out on Sunday. 

    A 26-inch pipeline ruptured, shaking homes in near Everson, five miles
    south of the Canadian border, and flaming gas roared 300 feet into the
    air. 

    There are no homes in the area and no one was injured. 

    The blast came from a high-pressure pipeline in a sparsely populated
    area just outside Everson, said John Nicksich, a spokesman for
    Northwest Pipeline Corp., which owns the pipeline. 

    "We don't know the cause and we may not for some time," Nicksich said
    from company headquarters in Salt Lake City. 

    The fire was visible up to 40 miles away in British Columbia and the
    explosion could be heard 12 miles to the southwest in Bellingham. 

    "I was in the living room with my cat when we heard the boom,"
    Bellingham resident Mary Alex told KING-TV of Seattle. "We thought it
    was Mount Baker blowing up." 

    "It sounds like a jet over the house," Everson resident Kirsten Long
    told KOMO-TV. 

    The Cascade Natural Gas Corp., which serves Whatcom County, did not
    have service disrupted, Nicksich said. 

    AP 9-Feb-1997 23:36 EST   REF5164

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    New York Testing Infants for HIV

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Hospitals in New York have begun mandatory testing of
    all newborns for the AIDS virus, the first such testing program in the
    United States. 

    "Certainly this is a very charged issue and an extraordinary
    undertaking, politically and as a public health program," Dr. Barbara
    DeBuono, the state health commissioner, told The New York Times in
    Monday's editions. "It is being watched very closely by other states
    and by the CDC to see if it has any significant impact." 

    The state already conducts anonymous HIV tests on infants for
    statistical purposes, but on Feb. 1, hospitals agreed to mandatory
    disclosure of the results, the Times reported. 

    The hospitals last year began asking mothers for permission to notify
    them of test results. 

    The new policy will require hospitals to track down and counsel mothers
    weeks after they leave the hospital. 

    The issue of HIV testing has been controversial because the tests
    reveal not a baby's HIV status but the mother's, through the presence
    or absence of HIV antibodies in the baby's blood. Only one in four HIV
    newborns exposed to HIV in the womb becomes infected. The virus that
    leads to AIDS can not be detected at birth. 

    However, most health care professionals favor HIV testing of pregnant
    women because their treatment can help prevent transmission of the
    virus to the baby. 

    AP 9-Feb-1997 23:06 EST   REF5129

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Study Examines Nicotine Patches

    CHICAGO (AP) -- A person wearing a nicotine patch who smokes on their
    predetermined "quit day" is 10 times more likely to lose the battle to
    quit, North Carolina researchers say. 

    Smokers using the patch who take even a single puff of a cigarette on
    their first day of trying to quit will probably be smoking in six
    months, the researchers say. 

    People who can't give up cigarettes for one day have an extreme craving
    for nicotine that won't be satisfied with a nicotine patch alone,
    according to the study, which appears in Monday's edition of the
    Chicago-based Archives of Internal Medicine. 

    Researchers at Duke University Medical Center and the Durham Veterans
    Affairs Medical Center studied 200 smokers who wanted to quit and tried
    nicotine patches, which resembles a bandage containing varying
    strengths of nicotine. 

    Twenty-five percent of the smokers had quit after six months, the study
    said. Of those, only 3 had smoked on the first day. However, 106 of 173
    people who had returned to smoking had smoked their first day on the
    patch, the study said. 

    "Few studies have been done to determine which smokers are more likely
    to benefit from nicotine patches," said Dr. Eric Westman, the study's
    lead author. "This is important because a failed quit attempt can be
    demoralizing and discourage many people from trying again." 

    Knowing what will work early will let smokers avoid unnecessary expense
    and frustration by quitting the program, or supplementing it with
    stronger medication and counseling, Westman said. 

    The study supports previous findings, said Dr. Michael Fiore, director
    of the Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention at the University
    of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison, Wis. 

    "Unfortunately, tobacco addiction by its nature mandates that for
    virtually all people trying to quit, you need to treat it the way an
    alcoholic treats booze, and that is not even a single puff," he said. 

    Nicotine skin patches double the chances of long-term success, but only
    about one in four smokers who use the patch is smoke-free after six
    months, previous studies have said. 

    Some 46 million Americans smoke and the government says smoking kills
    400,000 a year. 

    AP 9-Feb-1997 23:42 EST   REF5321

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    U.S. Military Jet Crashes

    SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Rain halted a search Monday for two U.S.
    Marine pilots missing after their jet crashed into the Yellow Sea
    between China and South Korea. 

    The Marines' FA-18 Delta crashed during a routine training mission
    Sunday, said Jim Coles, spokesman for the U.S. military command in
    Seoul. The search was suspended at dusk Sunday and then resumed Monday
    before the weather forced its suspension. 

    The missing officers were identified as Capt. Mark R. Nickles from
    Mesa, Arizona, and Maj. Danny A. D'Eredita of Syracuse, N.Y. 

    The jet was over Korea with another FA-18 jet when it went down in the
    sea off Taean, 60 miles southwest of Seoul, Coles said. 

    Both jets are assigned to the U.S. Marine Corps air base in Iwakuni in
    southeastern Japan. The other jet safely landed at Osan Air Base, south
    of Seoul. 

    The cause of the crash was not known, Coles said. 

    AP 9-Feb-1997 21:31 EST   REF5563

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Kenya Bans AIDS Drug Sale

    NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- The government has banned the sale and
    production of an herb-based drug that its inventor claims can reverse
    AIDS symptoms, newspapers reported Sunday. 

    The drug, called Pearl Omega, has been controversial since Arthur Obel
    announced its discovery early last year. Government and medical
    authorities have accused Obel of failing to publish the drug's chemical
    composition and his trial methods. 

    Obel has been able to sell the drug, which he says is based on an herb
    from western Kenya, because of a law that permits traditional medicine. 

    A senior police officer and the government's Chief Inspector of Drugs
    C.K. Juma questioned Obel on Saturday about his production methods, the
    Sunday Nation newspaper reported. 

    Obel said he has administered the drug to 40,000 Kenyans and 27,000
    foreigners since 1984. People with AIDS have occasionally told
    newspapers their health improved after taking Pearl Omega. 

    The drug costs $600 for a full treatment. 

    The Kenya AIDS Society has sued Obel, claiming he is selling a drug of
    no known value. The high court court has not yet ruled on the case. 

    AP 9-Feb-1997 18:50 EST   REF5466

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Ecuador Has New President

    By MONTE HAYES

    Associated Press Writer

    QUITO, Ecuador (AP) -- In a deal worked out with Ecuador's powerful
    military, Congress named the vice president to the top executive post
    Sunday, ending a political crisis that threw this small Andean country
    into chaos. 

    Lawmakers selected Rosalia Arteaga, 40, as Ecuador's president early
    Sunday to replace deposed chief executive Abdala Bucaram. Congress
    ousted Bucaram on Thursday for "mental incapacity," and his refusal to
    step down sparked a crisis in which three people claimed the
    presidency. 

    Congressional leaders and military commanders worked out an agreement
    early Sunday that puts Arteaga "temporarily" in power until Congress
    amends the constitution to clarify who succeeds a deposed president. 

    At that point, Arteaga would return to being vice president and Fabian
    Alarcon, Congress' original pick for chief executive, would become
    interim president. Elections would be held within a year and the winner
    would begin a four-year term in August 1998. 

    Bucaram, speaking in his stronghold of Guayaquil, where he flew Friday
    night after barricading himself in the national palace here for three
    days, continued to insist he is the constitutionally elected president.
    But he conceded that he had lost power to "conspirators" supported by
    the armed forces. 

    "What is being formed in Congress is a civilian dictatorship," he said.
    "Remember me," he added. "In a short time these same people are going
    to beg me on their knees to come back." 

    Arteaga's selection as president is a rarity in Latin America, which
    has seen only two female presidents before her -- Violeta Chamorro in
    Nicaragua and Isabel Peron in Argentina. 

    "She is an ambitious woman," Bucaram said after learning of Congress'
    decision. 

    The unanimous vote in Congress brought relief to Ecuadoreans, who
    watched street protests against Bucaram become increasingly violent and
    culminate in a nationwide 48-hour strike last week. People had feared
    the military might intervene. 

    Police on Sunday removed the barbed wire that had kept protesters away
    from the government palace, and families again wandered through the
    area, enjoying a quiet day in Quito's colonial center. 

    Bucaram, a fiery public speaker who campaigned as the "force of the
    poor" and called himself "El Loco," saw his popularity plunge from 65
    percent to 12 percent in the last two months. His critics accused him
    of corruption, nepotism, autocratic methods and outlandish,
    embarrassing behavior that disgraced the office of the presidency. 

    Harsh austerity measures that sent electrical, water and telephone
    rates soaring were the spark that set off violent street protests in
    January. 

    Congress dismissed Bucaram on Thursday and named Alarcon to succeed
    him. Both Bucaram and Arteaga disputed Congress' action. The armed
    forces warned of the chaotic consequences of a power vacuum and urged
    the different parties to find a peaceful solution. 

    Despite fears that the military would intervene, armed forces chief
    Gen. Paco Moncayo said the military would remain neutral. 

    On Sunday, military commanders struck the deal with Congress and vowed
    in a statement to uphold "the legitimately elected authority of the
    National Congress" and the new president. 

    The military also reaffirmed its "unbreakable democratic calling." 

    "The armed forces have given the political class a historic lesson,"
    Arteaga said as she assumed office in the national palace with Moncayo
    at her side. 

    "The armed forces were prudent, patriotic and honest in dealing with
    the crisis," she said. "They are an example to Latin America." 

    AP 9-Feb-1997 18:19 EST   REF5442

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Boxed Woman's Plight Was Known

    LA CORUNA, Spain (AP) -- Social workers say they long knew about a
    mentally and physically disabled woman who was kept in an enclosed
    cardboard box in her family's home for 40 years -- but did nothing to
    change her situation. 

    The woman, Dolores Vina Cotelo, was discovered Tuesday when social
    service volunteers visited the family's home in this northwestern city
    to tend to her elderly mother. 

    The volunteers heard a "strange howl" coming from underneath a sink in
    the laundry room, which is attached to the home. The 44-year-old woman
    was found in a small shelter made of cardboard and egg cartons. 

    Social service officials acknowledged that they knew about Vina
    Cotelo's living conditions for more than 25 years, the daily El Pais
    reported Sunday. 

    Vina Cotelo apparently had contracted meningitis as a child, and was
    left with impaired vision and mental disabilities, city officials said.

    She was taken to a psychiatric hospital for consultation over the
    weekend, which city officials said would help them decide how to care
    for her, the daily El Mundo reported. 

    The director of La Coruna's social service agency, Marian Ferreiro,
    recommended that she be allowed to return to her family. 

    She apparently was "well fed and well treated although not in a normal
    situation," Ferreiro told El Pais. 

    The family said Vina Cotelo sometimes left the shelter. But Ariadna
    Barral, director of a church social service group that also knew about
    her, said she mostly stayed inside the box and was fed through holes in
    its walls. 

    "She seemed to be in a savage state," Barral said. 

    AP 8-Feb-1997 21:24 EST   REF5578

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    New Zealand Gunman Kills Six

    By RAY LILLEY

    Associated Press Writer

    WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A man embroiled in a domestic dispute
    opened fire on his relatives and several passers-by at a ski resort
    Saturday, killing six people and wounding five, police said. 

    The 24-year-old man, described by residents of the village of Raurimu
    Spiral as a former psychiatric patient, was naked and unarmed when
    police commandos seized him. He emerged from a dense forest about 600
    feet from the killing scene, two hours after his rampage began. 

    Inspector Geoff Holloway said Sunday that police were in the early
    stages of building a picture of the accused and so far had uncovered
    had no evidence pointing to a history of mental illness. 

    The suspect -- whom police would not identify -- was charged with one
    count of murder and faced more charges in Taumarunui District Court in
    a nearby farming town, police said. 

    The violence began with an argument during a family reunion. It
    appeared that the gunman's relatives, including his parents, bore the
    brunt of his rage, police said. But passers-by also were hit by fire
    from the 12-gauge shotgun. 

    The man's wife, father and four other relatives were believed to be
    among the casualties, Australia's Sunday Telegraph of Sydney reported. 

    It took authorities more than an hour to reach the village, 250 miles
    north of the capital, Wellington. The nearest police station was 30
    miles away. 

    Police searched for more bodies in and around the village. 

    Residents of Raurimu Spiral, a village with a few dozen houses mainly
    used as winter holiday homes for access to nearby ski areas, saw a man
    and a woman lying wounded on the town's main road early Saturday.

    Gordon Stewart said he was at school when he heard shots. 

    "At first, it was thought to be hunters out in the nearby bush. But
    then a car drove up with a man inside pleading for help. He had been
    shot in the head. He said that someone had gone berserk with a shotgun
    and was shooting at random," Stewart said. 

    Prime Minister Jim Bolger said he was "shocked and dismayed" by the
    violence, and expressed sympathy for the family and friends of the
    victims. 

    A nurse who aided a dying man during the shooting spree is being hailed
    for her heroism. Anna Dawson ignored the gunfire to cradle an elderly
    man slumped on the roadside. 

    "He was alive initially, but he died soon after," her husband told the
    Sunday Star-Times. "We knew the person." 

    After police lifted the blockade on Raurimu village, Dawson rushed to
    Taumarunui Hospital, where she is a nurse, to help tend to survivors. 

    Raurimu is two miles north of the National Park township, near the
    Mount Ruapehu volcano. 

    New Zealand's deadliest shooting rampage took place Nov. 13, 1990, when
    David Gray slaughtered 13 people during 24 hours of terror in the tiny
    Otago seaside settlement of Aramoana. He was finally shot and killed by
    police. 

    RTw  10-Feb-97 01:46    

    UK's Labour to press on with electoral reform vote

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuter) - Britain's opposition Labour party reaffirmed
    that it proposed to hold a referendum on voting reform if it won the
    forthcoming general election, which must be held by May 22. 

    Monday's Times and Telegraph newspapers said Labour leader Tony Blair
    was expected to drop the referendum plan but a party spokesman said
    this was "pure fantasy." 

    Labour is holding talks with the minority Liberal Democrats, whose
    support it may need after the election, on how to reshape Britain's
    political map. 

    The Liberal Democrats have made clear that no deal on future
    cooperation can be struck unless there is an agreement on a referendum
    on voting reform. 

    "Following the recent discussions between the two parties in the
    constitutional committee, a statement is expected shortly announcing a
    referendum on electoral reform in the first term of a Labour
    government," a Blair spokesman said. 

    Two of the main ideas under discussion are a switch from the current
    first-past-the-post electoral system to proportional representation and
    giving Scotland and Wales a greater say over how they run their own
    affairs. 

    Conservative Prime Minister John Major says Blair's plans could turn
    Britain into another Italy, where governments have changed more than
    once a year on average since World War Two, or even break up the
    country. 

    Labour and the Liberal Democrats have also been discussing reform of
    the House of Lords upper chamber of parliament and whether to introduce
    a freedom of information act. 

    REUTER

    RTw  10-Feb-97 03:34    

    FEATURE - Dutch flower market loves Valentine's Day

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    By Christine Lucassen 

    AALSMEER, Netherlands, Feb 10(Reuter) - Red is always the dominant
    colour at Aalsmeer's flower auction, but in the run-up to Valentine's
    Day the 75-hectare (185-acre) site is awash with deep scarlet blooms. 

    "Roses account for one third of the 4.5 billion flowers we sell
    annually, but at this time of the year, rose sales double," said
    Adrienne Lansbergen, spokeswoman of the world's biggest flower market
    with 60 percent of global trade. 

    "Obviously, it's the red roses that top the list at this time."

    But while rose sales soar ahead of February 14, prices do not always
    follow suit. 

    Some of the country's big rose growers plan their planting scheduleto
    harvest up to half their flowers shortly before Valentine's Day --
    increasing supply to meet demand. 

    "And we have between 200 and 300 kinds of roses, divided into different
    stalk lengths and degrees of quality. You'll still find something for
    every budget," Lansbergen added. 

    $5 FOR A ROSE 

    Yet sometimes, prices for the year's favourites explode.  Last year,
    rare "Grand Gala" roses were sold for the record price of nine guilders
    ($5) each in February, far above the average price for "a bouquet of
    romance." 

    But Valentine's Day is about more than just red roses, said Lansbergen,
    noting there was no fixed trend this year. 

    "Of course it's red, but preferences differ from region to region.
    There's also more interest in red flowers other than roses." Packaging
    also plays an important role. "Plants with little heart-ribbons do
    well...," she said. 

    "Two flowers are struggling for a place on the honour stage. Some
    experts insist the red tulip has been the symbol of love for centuries,
    others swear by scarlet roses." 25 MILLION BLOOMS DAILY 

    Approaching February 14, some 25 million blooms are shipped from the
    Aalsmeer market every day, heading for all corners of the world. 

    It is the market's busiest time, followed by Mothers' Day -- celebrated
    on different days in several countries -- Easter, when yellow
    dominates, and Christmas. 

    Americans brought Valentine's Day, and the commercialisation that goes
    with it, to Europe and exports to the United States surge in February. 

    But Europe has risen in importance as a market in the last few years. 

    "Sales to the U.S. still peak in February, but throughout the year
    other countries are far more important for our business," said
    Lansbergen. 

    Germany receives half of Aalsmeer's flower exports while France and
    Britain account for a further 20 percent. 

    "We have a strong international history. In 1912, we flew our first
    flowers to the United States," Lansbergen said. 

    AALSMEER FLOWERS AT MIDDLE EAST WEDDINGS 

    Aalsmeer's flowers go to the entire world. There is almost no country
    that does not buy them once in a while. 

    "Oil sheikhs' wedding bouquets in the Middle East are often made with
    Dutch flowers. A flower arranger I met in China didn't speak English
    but could say 'Aalsmeer,"' Lansbergen said. 

    Not only Dutch-grown plants and flowers pass through Aalsmeer but
    domestic produce makes up 86 percent of the total. 

    "Israel is a big supplier, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Colombia,..." Lansbergen
    added. 

    In normal times, an average of 17 million flowers and two million
    plants are auctioned at the market every day. This generated a turnover
    of 2.5 billion guilders in 1996, up six percent on the previous year. 

    AUCTION SITE STILL GROWING 

    Already covering 75 hectares (185 acres), the vast Aalsmeer flower
    sheds continue to grow. 

    "The auctioning complex is being expanded on a continuous basis. This
    side of the road is now fully used, so we'll go to the other side this
    year to build an extra five hectares of warehouses to satisfy demand,"
    Lansbergen said. 

    Aalsmeer also aims to break new ground in transport and technology. 

    Although its auctioned flowers can currently cover the distance to
    Schiphol airport in 20 minutes, a tunnel under study might soon link
    Aalsmeer to both the airport and a railway transit terminal to be built
    nearby. 

    The tunnel should increase the accessibility of auctions, crucial in
    reducing the time between the moment a flower is sold and the time it
    is arranged in its final vase. 

    "Speed is essential and traffic gets very heavy over here," Lansbergen
    said. 

    The auctions are also set to enter the next century in a more high-tech
    form. 

    A "distant buying" system, giving product information on screens, and
    an electronic order system, to be launched on a trial basis this year,
    will enable buyers and growers to get a better overall view of the
    market. 

    "With these systems and the information they give us, the market will
    be directing production instead of the other way around," Lansbergen
    said. 

    In spite of the march of technology, the traditional sights are
    unlikely to fade away. 

    Electronic trolleys will still pull flower-loaded wagons into the halls
    where grandstands host up to 600 professional buyers, ready for the
    auction. 

    "The auctions on the spot won't disappear. To part of our customers,
    they are the tailored service they need." Lansbergen said. 

    REUTER

    RTw  10-Feb-97 00:58    

    Next UK government facing big budget deficit-paper

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuter) - The next British government will inherit a
    huge budget deficit, forcing it to slash public spending or raise taxes
    by up to 14 billion pounds, the Independent newspaper said on Monday. 

    It said an independent think tank had calculated that the ruling
    Conservative government's plans to bring down the deficit to 19 billion
    pounds by 1997/8 would not stop interest payments on government debt
    from running out of control. 

    The opposition Labour party, favourite to win the next election, has
    said it will stick to the current government's targets. The poll must
    be held by late May. 

    "The choice lies not between adjusting fiscal policy and not adjusting.
    It is simply between adjusting now and adjusting in the future," said
    the report by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. 

    The report said financial plans laid out in last November's budget -
    which showed government borrowing falling gradually to zero -- were
    implausible because expenditure was likely to grow faster without
    additional measures. 

    "The new government will have to raise at least seven billion to 10
    billion pounds in extra tax," said Treasury adviser Martin Weale, who
    heads the think-tank. 

    He told the newspaper that the problem arose from the fact that the
    shortfall between government spending and tax receipts had been very
    slow to fall despite more than four years of economic recovery.

    Weale said there was a "structural deficit" equivalent to two percent
    of Gross Domestic Product, or about 14 billion pounds. 

    Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke last year cut taxes despite
    tax revenues some five billion pounds less that predicted. 

    REUTER

    RTw  09-Feb-97 22:34    

    Ireland's first nurses' strike averted

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    DUBLIN, Feb 9 (Reuter) - Ireland's first nursing strike was averted on
    Sunday when nursing unions postponed a stoppage which would have hit
    hospitals from Monday. 

    The unions are to consider an improved pay package which has been
    increased to 80 million punts ($128.6 million) from 50 million after
    recommendations by the nation's Labour Court. 

    Unions will vote on the package over the next two weeks and are
    expected to approve the deal, which will also establish a separate
    commission on nursing conditions. 

    The country's 16,000 nurses were to have gone on strike on Monday in an
    action the government said would have created chaos in hospitals and
    probably closed all but emergency wards. 

    REUTER

    RTw  09-Feb-97 13:47    

    Shaky UK Conservatives face fresh blows

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    By Lyndsay Griffiths 

    LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuter) - Britain's ruling Conservatives, only weeks
    away from a general election, suffered fresh setbacks on Sunday with a
    poll predicting defeat in a by-election and embarrassing news that a
    top party strategist had labelled Prime Minister John Major a wimp. 

    The MORI opinion poll said Britain's opposition Labour Party --
    charging ahead in national opinion polls - looked set to win the
    February 27 by-election in Wirral South with a 17.5 percent swing
    against the government. 

    The poll, published on Sunday, said 54 percent of the electorate in the
    north-west England constituency would vote Labour, 35 percent
    Conservative and 10 percent Liberal Democrat. 

    One percent were undecided in the survey, which questioned 601 adults
    by telephone on February 6 and 7. 

    The Wirral South seat was held by the Conservatives in 1992 with a
    majority of more than 8,000. A Labour win would put Major's already
    weakened government into a minority and could hasten the date of
    national elections, which must be held by May 22. 

    According to the Independent on Sunday newspaper, Labour leader Tony
    Blair plans a vote of no-confidence in the government if the
    Conservatives lose the Wirral by-election. 

    Such a threat could force the Conservatives to bring forward the date
    of the election, currently expected to take place in early May, and
    face voters eager for change at the top. "If the opposition wins a
    convincing victory in Wirral South, as expected, failure to table a
    motion of no-confidence could be seen as a sign of timidity," said the
    paper. 

    Labour strategists have so far resisted calling a no-confidence vote,
    fearing they might lack the numbers to topple the government decisively
    and thereby undermine their healthy lead in pre-election opinion polls. 

    The latest polls put Labour 15 to 20 points ahead of the Conservatives,
    who have held power for 18 years. 

    After so long at the helm, the Conservatives' faith in their own leader
    was under question on Sunday, even as ministers rallied round the
    beleaguered prime minister. 

    "John Major's standing is rising," insisted Defence Minister Michael
    Portillo, a past rival of Major's who is tipped as a possible future
    leader of the party. 

    "This is going to be a massive effort to turn around this opinion poll
    deficit and in the next couple of months...produce a suprise and
    spectacular Conservative victory." 

    Home Secretary Michael Howard, too, threw his weight behind Major,
    saying all that interested him was a Conservative victory in the
    forthcoming election, not his own political ambitions. 

    The ministers' display of unswerving loyalty followed a report that a
    top party strategist had branded Major weak and admitted the party lied
    about the results of its private polls. 

    Steve Hilton -- an advertising executive who is one of the top
    strategists in Major's uphill struggle to retain power -- made the
    remarks in a 1994 interview to a student, according to papers handed to
    the Observer newspaper. 

    Asked how Major rates, Hilton reportedly said: "He is undoubtedly our
    weakness. I expect that the Labour Party will go for Major in a big
    way, portraying him as a wimp." 

    Hilton, 27, dismissed the newspaper report as a distortion, saying much
    had changed since his loose-lipped interview. 

    REUTER

    RTos 09-Feb-97 13:41    

    NCR Unveils Do-It-Yourself Retail Checkout

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    NEW YORK (Reuter) - NCR Corp. has unveiled the prototype for a
    do-it-yourself retail checkout system designed to speed supermarket
    checkout times and substantially reduce the frustration of shoppers
    waiting in line to pay for goods. 

    The company said the automated check-out system will allow shoppers to
    scan, bag and pay for groceries in express lanes, without cashier
    assistance, making shopping transactions as easy as banking at an
    automated teller machine. 

    Following in-store consumer testing this year, NCR said it plans to
    introduce the self-checkout system in 1998. 

    NCR estimated there are more than 175,000 food store checkout lanes in
    the United States, with about 30 percent of those lanes operated as
    cashier-assisted express lanes. 

    "We are trying to serve the frequent shopper who has just a few items
    to buy on the way home from work," said Joanne Walter, NCR's vice
    president of future retailing systems. 

    The initial system is targeted at food store express lanes. Future
    versions will target consumer checkout in other retail environments. 

    Walter said initial versions would be aimed "express service" customers
    who have 15 items or less to buy. 

    Walter said the company's market research shows that 65 percent of all
    retail purchases involve 20 items or less. 

    She said the system is an extension of her company's expertise as a
    world-leader in retail automation. NCR was origanally known as National
    Cash Register. 

    The Dayton, Ohio-based company, the former computer equipment arm of
    AT&T Corp., is now the No. 1 supplier of self-service automated teller
    machines used in banking and the bar-code scanners used at retail
    checkout counters. 

    "This is a product that will replace the retail checkout line. We are
    using all of our existing (retail automation) research and development
    to combine it into one product," Walter said. 

    The automated checkout system is known as SCOT, for Self Checkout
    Terminal. The name is also a playful reference to the national origin
    of the product prototype. The engineering team that developled the
    system is based in Dundee, Scotland. 

    Building on existing ATM banking machines, shoppers will be able to
    purchase groceries and even make cash withdrawals, without cashier
    intervention. 

    Shoppers using the system touch selected points on an automated teller
    menu. A screen leads them through the checkout process, prompting them
    to scan items and complete the checkout by inserting a debit or credit
    card, or cash. 

    The company said the system was designed to cut reduce labor costs and
    allow checkout staff to be deployed in other areas of the store. 

    "Shoppers are looking for ways to avoid checkout lines, and grocers are
    focusing on enhancing customer service while reducing front-end labor
    costs," Walter said.

    REUTER

    International News Electronic Telegraph Monday 10 February 1997 Issue 626

    Clinton poised to recall ambassador in Ireland
    
    By Toby Harnden, Ireland Correspondent, and Hugo Gurdon in Washington 

    JEAN Kennedy Smith, the American ambassador to the Irish Republic, is
    expected to be recalled by President Clinton because her strongly
    pro-nationalist views are now at odds with White House policy on
    Ireland.

    Sources on both sides of the Atlantic said Mrs Kennedy Smith, 68,
    sister of President Kennedy, was likely to be replaced by the summer.
    Her support for Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, and the search
    for a peace deal has been an embarrassment since the IRA ceasefire
    collapsed.

    President Clinton is understood to support London and Dublin's tough
    line on Sinn Fein's admittance to talks and now accepts that the IRA is
    unlikely to abandon its campaign of violence in the short term.
    Responsibility for American policy on Ireland is likely to be
    transferred from the National Security Council to the State Department.
    With the departure of Anthony Lake and Nancy Soderberg from the
    council, Mrs Kennedy Smith has lost two of her key supporters.

    Madeleine Albright, the new Secretary of State, is said to believe that
    the policy of aligning America with Mr Adams and John Hume, the SDLP
    leader, while maintaining a distance from London, has failed. Her
    predecessor, Warren Christopher, was unable to prevent Mr Adams from
    twice being granted a visa to travel to America. Mrs Albright is likely
    to be tougher and is to hold talks with Sir Patrick Mayhew, the
    Northern Ireland Secretary, in 10 days.

    President Clinton, who was bitterly disappointed and angered by the
    ending of the IRA ceasefire a year ago, now intends to delegate
    negotiations on Northern Ireland to Mrs Albright.

    Mrs Kennedy Smith, who was widowed in 1990, has regularly hosted
    dinners for Mr Adams. Her close friends include the author Tim Pat
    Coogan, who wrote a history of the IRA that was highly sympathetic to
    the republican cause. Mrs Kennedy Smith was censured by Mr Christopher
    for her treatment of two embassy officials who had opposed the granting
    of a visa to Mr Adams. An inquiry concluded that she had engaged in "a
    clear pattern of retaliation". A number of embassy employees told the
    inquiry that "they saw the embassy under her as more attuned to Irish
    rather than American interests".

    In The Greening of the White House, by Conor O'Clery, it is disclosed
    that Mrs Kennedy Smith was codenamed "Speir Bhan" or "Woman of
    Mythology" during contacts with Sinn Fein. Mr Adams was known as the
    "chairman of the board" and the IRA was referred to as "the local
    football team". President Clinton is said to believe that Mrs Kennedy
    Smith and Mr Hume allowed themselves to be duped by Mr Adams. In
    O'Clery's book she is quoted as telling a friend: "I was convinced the
    ceasefire would hold for ever."

    International News Electronic Telegraph Monday 10 February 1997 Issue 626

    'Snatch squads' to seize Bosnia war criminals
    
    By Christopher Lockwood, Diplomatic Editor 

    A SERIES of "snatch operations" designed to abduct some of Bosnia's
    most wanted men and deliver them up to the war crimes tribunal in The
    Hague has reached the detailed planning stage, diplomatic and military
    sources have disclosed.

    The favoured scenario involves squads of American, British and French
    elite troops striking simultaneously across the country to pick up most
    of the 66 indicted war criminals still at large.

    Logistic support, and back-up if needed in an emergency, would be
    provided by SFOR, the 30,000-strong Stabilisation Force for Bosnia, but
    soldiers of the Nato-led operation would not be directly involved for
    fear of reprisals. The British contribution would be likely to involve
    the SAS.

    Although formidable difficulties still have to be resolved, the West is
    no longer arguing about the principle but only about the
    practicalities. With Bosnia peaceful now for more than a year, the fear
    that grabbing indicted war criminals would destabilise the Dayton peace
    accords seems to have almost evaporated.

    Instead, there is a growing recognition that the continued liberty of
    men charged with organising and committing the slaughter, torture and
    rape of innocent civilians now poses a greater threat to reconciliation
    in Bosnia than a move to arrest them. "Their presence poisons the peace
    process," said a source close to Carl Bildt, the man charged with the
    civilian reconstruction of the war-torn state.

    A senior British source said: "There have been intensive discussions on
    how to do it between the three most involved capitals - Washington,
    London and Paris - in the last month. There is a determination to do
    it, but still no final decision yet." Detailed discussions have also
    taken place at Nato headquarters in Brussels.

    The tribunal has issued 74 indictments, but only seven of these alleged
    war criminals are now in its custody. One of the seven has already been
    sentenced, following his confession, but is appealing against his
    10-year prison term. An eighth man is being held in a Croatian jail
    pending extradition to The Hague. The other 66 are at large.

    In many, probably all, the cases, the West's intelligence agencies know
    exactly where the wanted men are. The Washington-based Coalition for
    International Justice, a human rights group, has posted the whereabouts
    of 37 of the 66 on the Internet, often detailing the bars where they
    drink.

    Picking up the smaller fry would be no more difficult than apprehending
    any other murderer; and even the greatest prizes of all, Radovan
    Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb president, and Ratko Mladic, his
    former commander, are thought to be much less heavily guarded than they
    once were.

    Dr Karadzic's claims to have 2,000 men ready to fight for him were
    dismissed as ludicrous by one senior Western official. "We think the
    truth is more like a couple of dozen. It's just like saying we can't go
    and arrest a serial killer in case anyone gets hurt."

    Senior British sources accept all this but worry about what happens
    after a successful snatch mission. "It is still the case that the SFOR
    troops would be liable to become targets for retaliation. They are
    spread out over the whole country. It is not a mark of excessive
    caution to worry about how to explain what had happened to the parents
    of dead soldiers."

    One proposed way around this, according to Nato sources, is to ensure
    that the mission is even-handed: that Serbs and Croats are all taken.
    This factor has inclined planners towards grabbing as many as possible
    of the 66 all at once, and not just the most notorious ringleaders, who
    are mostly Serb.

    That would also prevent the others from going into hiding, though there
    is certain to be a difficulty in making arrests in Serbia proper or
    Croatia, where the Western powers have no mandate to deploy.

    A final problem relates to who would control the snatch squads. One
    early theory, floated in December by William Perry, then US Defence
    Secretary, was that the squads would in effect be "sheriff's posses"
    under the control of the tribunal.

    But that would require UN authorisation and raise all sorts of delicate
    legal issues. The idea seems to have been replaced by the proposal that
    squads would come directly under the authority of the three main
    countries.

    The continuing discussions mean the snatch operations do not look
    imminent. Nor are the obvious preparations, such as the withdrawal to
    base of lightly-armed UN observers, yet being made. Analysts point to
    May as a possible date. Then, as SFOR troops rotate at the half-way
    point of their mandate, the SFOR presence in Bosnia will be at a
    maximum.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 10 February 1997 Issue 626

    Bishops decry Runcie attack
    
    By Victoria Combe, Churches Correspondent 

    THE blistering attack by Lord Runcie on "clappy and happy" worship was
    dismissed by senior churchmen yesterday as "nonsense". They said that
    it was veiled and unjustified criticism of Dr George Carey, his
    successor as Archbishop of Canterbury.

    Traditionalist and evangelical leaders, frequently at odds on other
    issues, were united in their criticism of Lord Runcie, who described
    much of the modern liturgy of the Church of England as "inadequate".

    His highly critical comments, in an interview with The Sunday
    Telegraph, followed the announcement that Church of England attendance
    on Sundays had suffered the worst decline in 20 years. However, several
    bishops rounded on Lord Runcie, who was at Lambeth from 1980 to 1991,
    claiming he was over-simplifying the Church's problems and undermining
    its areas of strength.

    The Bishop of Durham, the Rt Rev Michael Turnbull, said Lord Runcie was
    wrong to relate the fall in churchgoing to styles of worship. He said
    churches that attempted to experiment with the liturgy and use modern
    music were winning more worshippers and "reaching people".

    "Decline happens when churches become lazy about the liturgy and
    maintain an unthinking reliance on tradition." He said that the
    strength of the Anglican Church was its variety, which allowed it to
    adapt services to suit "a university church in a Cambridge college and
    a housing estate in Stockton". The bishop claimed disaffection with the
    Church came instead from the clergy's "preoccupation with internal
    affairs".

    The in-fighting over issues such as women priests and homosexuality, he
    said, was more damaging than choices of music made in a church.

    The Archdeacon of York, the Ven George Austin, said that Lord Runcie's
    comments were "nonsense".

    "He is condemning the sort of worship that is bringing young people
    into the Church and the congregations that are increasing in numbers.
    It is a thinly veiled attack on his successor, which I think is
    unjustified."

    Previously Lord Runcie criticised Dr Carey's ambitious plan to overhaul
    the organisational structure of the Church, but his outburst at the
    weekend struck at an area where Dr Carey believes he is strong. Dr
    Carey is an evangelical who has encouraged informal worship, which
    often means replacing the choir and organ with rock bands and lasers.
    Decline continues apace in traditional Anglican churches, but Dr
    Carey's spirits have been lifted by the boom in evangelical churches,
    which open at the rate of one every two weeks.

    Lord Runcie claimed that encouraging alternative worship is "dangerous"
    if services are altered purely to attract people.

    He said that he was against the "clappy-and-happy, huggy-and-feely
    worship which, along with the overhead projectors, seem to reduce God
    to a puppet".

    Any attack on "happy-clappy" worship normally wins immediate applause
    from traditionalists, but yesterday many disagreed with Lord Runcie's
    judgment. The Bishop of Kensington, the Rt Rev Michael Colclough, a
    traditionalist, said it was wrong to discourage adaptations of worship.
    "The Church has always used the culture of the day to present the
    truths of the Gospel. My experience in west London is that lots of
    young people are coming to faith."

    He used the example of Holy Trinity Brompton, Knightsbridge, which has
    more than 1,000 mostly young, middle-class worshippers at its Sunday
    services.

    The Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Rev David Stancliffe, said: "I think
    where Lord Runcie is right is in saying that happy-clappy services will
    not do forever. People need to be stretched and often they can do this
    best in traditional worship."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 10 February 1997 Issue 626

    Duchess declines �500,000 for VW Golf commercial
    
    By Robert Hardman 

    THE Duchess of York has rejected a �500,000 offer to appear in a
    television commercial for Volkswagen.

    She issued a statement yesterday saying that she had paid off her �4.2
    million debts to her bankers, Coutts & Co, but she still needs to earn
    up to �2 million this year to meet a tax bill which could be as high as
    �1.6 million. A role in a Volkswagen advertisment would have gone some
    way to meeting this demand. The Duchess, however, rejected the plan at
    a recent meeting with her American financial advisers, ICM. 

    Although it would have involved little more than being filmed at the
    wheel of a VW Golf to illustrate the car's cost-cutting potential, the
    Duchess refused because the commercial was to have been shown in
    Britain. "She wasn't having it," said a New York associate of the
    Duchess last night. "It was a good deal but she was just not doing any
    ad which would be seen in Britain."

    Friends of the Duchess say that she is acutely aware that some of her
    commercial projects are "tacky" and demeaning. But they point out that
    she sees no alternative if she is to reach a sound financial footing
    and that she is keen to limit any embarrassment. Hence, her
    determination to restrict awkward appearances to overseas.

    It remains a hazardous business, though. Last week's trip to Austria to
    attend a downmarket book-signing and the Vienna Opera Ball in exchange
    for a payment of �100,000 descended into farce. The Duchess was very
    upset by the tawdry tone of the occasion but was still deeply hurt by
    the harshness of the criticism of her which followed in the British
    press.

    Further condemnation can be expected this week as the Duchess embarks
    on a promotional tour of America on behalf of Weight Watchers. She left
    London yesterday shortly after producing a statement about her
    much-improved relationship with the bank. 

    It read: "The Duchess of York is pleased to announce that, following
    recent business transactions, she has satisfied all her obligations to
    Coutts & Co with regard to her finances."

    The �4.2 million debt to the bank has been achieved mainly through her
    contract with Weight Watchers (�1 million spread over a year) and a
    series of other less lucrative deals. Her only television advertisement
    to date has been for Ocean Spray, the makers of a low-calorie cranberry
    juice drink, who paid her �500,000. It was agreed the advertisement
    would only be shown in America.

    Her autobiograpy, My Story, was believed to have netted her �800,000
    plus �100,000 from Hello! for serialisation rights. It is now
    understood that she has earned �2.2 million from it, including
    hardback, paperback and audio-tape sales. 

    Hello! also paid her an estimated �200,000 for a number of articles and
    "photo-exclusives" while Paris Match paid �300,000 for six interviews.
    She also secured a �300,000 deal with Bantam Doubleday Bell to produce
    two more children's books this year, while she continues to receive
    royalties for Budgie, her helicopter character.

    A cost-cutting programme is also about to begin. The Duchess is
    expected to move out of her expensive rented Berkshire home into
    smaller premises and to cut back on her costly retinue of office and
    domestic staff.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 10 February 1997 Issue 626

    Cheque shops 'cashing in on benefit fraud'
    
    By Rachel Sylvester, Political Staff 

    AN investigation has been ordered by Kenneth Clarke, the Chancellor,
    into the flood of high street "cheque shops" which ministers fear may
    have become the focus for multi-million pound benefit fraud.

    Senior officials at the Treasury and Department of Social Security have
    been told to investigate "as a matter of urgency" the operation of
    about 500 cheque encashment agencies across the country which operate
    under names such as Cash-a-Cheque and Cash Xpress. These agencies have
    sprung up across Britain in the last five years, mainly in inner-city
    areas.

    The modern equivalent of pawn brokers, they are aimed at people without
    bank accounts, although critics say that they are also used by people
    who do not want money to go through their accounts for tax evasion or
    money laundering. Ministers suspect that fraudsters may cheat the
    taxpayer out of �100 million by illegally cashing cheques for housing
    benefit and other state payments.

    Government sources said that Mr Clarke had ordered the investigation to
    find out whether the outlets which cash cheques on the spot without the
    need for a bank account - were a "bad thing". His "gut feeling is that
    they are".The Audit Commission is also conducting inquiries with a view
    to launching a formal investigation into the industry.

    Customers can walk in off the street and cash a cheque, even if it is
    in someone else's name. They pay about eight per cent commission,
    although some charges for first-time clients are much higher. The shops
    operate legally by exploiting a loophole introduced by the 1992 Cheques
    Act, which means that a cheque can be transferred if the payee signs it
    on the back.

    But critics claim that many are open to abuse by fraudsters because
    they demand only low levels of identification, such as an electricity
    bill. A Daily Telegraph reporter who telephoned one last week was told
    that no photographic identification was required to cash a cheque.

    Alan Milburn, Labour's Treasury spokesman, has written to Mr Clarke to
    demand a change in the law. "The Government's failure to close this
    loophole leaves the public purse open to abuse," he said. "Ministers
    must urgently review the cheques legislation and should enter into
    immediate discussions with the banking industry, local authorities and
    the DSS on any fraud taking place."

    Local authorities claim that fraudulent landlords obtain millions of
    pounds by cashing benefit cheques in the names of bogus tenants. Alan
    Maskell, Northampton's borough treasurer, said that �400,000 in housing
    benefit cheques had been cashed in cheque shops in his area alone. It
    made no sense for genuine claimants to pay high commission to these
    outlets because the council provided a free cashing service.

    Wynne Evans, a spokesman for the Association for Payment Clearance
    Services which is providing evidence to the Treasury, said "concerns
    had been expressed" about the shops. "They are not a threat [to
    official banks]," he said, "but there are concerns about what they
    might be being used for."

    Geoffrey Cooke, a spokesman for the British Cheque Cashiers'
    Association, which represents 250 cheque shops, confirmed that he was
    "in discussion" with the Treasury about possible problems. He said that
    fraud was an issue, but stressed his association's members sign a code
    of conduct and have strict policies on identification.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 10 February 1997 Issue 626

    Tories will seek to hit back after voters' free kick
    
    By Jon Hibbs, Political Correspondent 

    FOR someone bidding to be Britain's shortest-serving MP of recent
    times, Ben Chapman takes an unhurried approach to this twist in his
    career.

    With a naturally diffident demeanor, Labour's candidate in Wirral South
    does not dazzle on the doorstep. He also appears permanently dazed by
    the excesses of a media circus that is already engulfing his political
    debut in the attempt to overturn an 8,183 Tory majority.

    "Ben means business" is the slogan adopted by this former high-flying
    civil servant and diplomat, who is being paraded by the party as the
    epitome of Labour's new-found appeal to disillusioned Conservatives and
    floating voters. Yet what business means to Ben, ever since he retired
    as regional director of the Department of Trade and Industry - Michael
    Heseltine's man in the North West, as he likes to put it - is the
    uncertainty of self-employment in an increasingly competitive
    market-place.

    "I have a little property company, I do some business journalism,
    various forms of consultancy, a bit of professional chairmanship, some
    speaking at seminars, and I offer advice on trading in China and on
    Government grants," he said.

    Mr Chapman, 56, could claim some success if he survived in his present
    post until polling day, given the widespread suspicion that the
    by-election on Feb 27 will be overtaken by events. Even if John Major
    sticks to his determination to delay an election until May 1, the
    would-be MP faces the prospect of only five weeks in Parliament before
    he is back on the stump again.

    That is the real issue at stake in the Wirral peninsula, as both sides
    acknowledge that the campaign is a trial run for the forthcoming
    national contest. The Tories are frank in private, if rather
    schizophrenic, in saying they will win back at the general election in
    three months what they are resigned to losing in three weeks.

    "It's a free kick," said a strategist. "Voters are not choosing a
    government and there will be a general election whatever happens. The
    only issue is, do you want to kick the Government, and how hard?"

    Nevertheless, the Tories are inundating this so-called "Surrey on the
    Mersey" with direct mail, and frantically working the phones to raise
    awareness of the risk of a Labour government among the predominantly
    middle-aged and middle-class population. They boast there will be more
    voter-contact from the Conservatives during this by-election than at
    any of the seven formerly safe seats they have lost this Parliament. 

    A third personal letter went to each elector at the weekend, an appeal
    from the Prime Minister is planned, and so enthusiastic is the
    operation that Brian Mawhinney, the party chairman, solicited Mr
    Chapman for a �20 donation to party funds - confirming his status as
    the only local candidate so far.

    Technology is at a premium for all parties in commuter-belt territory
    where people are either out during the day or reluctant to answer the
    door on cold, winter nights. Television is central to the campaign,
    with the main rivals eschewing daily Press conferences - or even
    regular activities of any sort - in favour of carefully-staged stunts
    for the cameras.

    Labour's aim is to get its man known, with the emphasis on personal
    contact to persuade Tories to change sides. A board in its campaign
    headquarters records the progress in "Ben's blitzing" - 3,572 hands
    shaken, 419 switchers, 245 undecided.

    Les Byrom, the Tory candidate, is a far more seasoned campaigner than
    his opponent, who joined Labour only last year and was second choice
    after the first withdrew rather than face newspaper allegations about
    his private life. "I worked with Ben for five years and never heard him
    express a political opinion," said Mr Byrom, a chartered surveyor and
    councillor from Sefton, on the far side of the Mersey. "He is a blank
    piece of paper on which a script can be written."

    However, Mr Byrom who fancies April 10 as general election day, is
    "sanguine" about his by-election chances, given the trend towards low
    Tory turn-outs in mid-term.

    Nominations close on Feb 13. Candidates so far include: Ben Chapman
    (Lab), Les Byrom (C), Flo Clucas (Lib-Dem), Anthony Samuelson (Against
    Conservatives Poncing on Tobacco Groups).

    General election 1992: Porter, B (C) 25,590; Southworth, H (Lab)
    17,407; Cunniffe, E T (Lib-Dem) 6,581; Birchenough, N (Grn) 584;
    Griffiths, G (NLP) 182. Con maj 8,183.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 10 February 1997 Issue 626

    Sotheby's may issue writ on TV 'smuggling sting'
    
    By Godfrey Barker 

    SOTHEBY'S will not lose its licence to sell art and antiques in Italy
    after its representative in Milan was shown on television apparently
    agreeing to smuggle a painting to London.

    The auction house feared that it could lose more than �25 million a
    year in sales as punishment for the conduct of Roland Kollewijn. It is
    also unlikely that Italian police will act against Channel 4 over last
    week's Dispatches documentary or Peter Watson, the organiser of the
    "sting", despite suggestions in Italian newspapers that they acted
    unlawfully.

    Diana Brooks, the president and chief executive of Sotheby's, returns
    to London from New York today to consider its response to allegations
    of routine smuggling operations.

    The firm's board is considering legal action against Mr Watson, Channel
    4 and Bloomsbury Publishing over a remark in Mr Watson's book,
    Sotheby's: Inside Story, where he claims that the successful "sting"
    showed "in convincing and spectacular fashion that Sotheby's continues
    to smuggle Old Masters out of Italy in a more or less routine manner".

    Mrs Brooks has been told by colleagues that if the statement is left
    unchallenged, it might be assumed to be true by default. Sotheby's said
    yesterday that Kollewijn, its Old Master expert in Milan who is now
    suspended, was being protected by a lawyer and was refusing, on legal
    advice, to answer press questions.

    Mystery, however, is growing among his colleagues as to why he said
    what he did to Channel 4's reporter and did what he apparently did -
    "smuggle a picture to London which could have been sent quite legally".
    In Rome, Julien Stock, Sotheby's leading Old Master expert in Italy,
    said: "This story was a bombshell to me. I'd be frankly amazed if
    Roland was doing this on a regular basis."

    Kollewijn, meanwhile, is understood to have told the Sotheby's
    investigation that his remarks had been misinterpreted. He is also
    believed to have defended his comment, "if I were a judge, I would bug
    Sotheby's, definitely", by explaining that Italian smuggling was so
    universal that nobody could go above suspicion.

    Colleagues are asking why Kollewijn apparently agreed to smuggle
    Guiseppe Nogari's An Old Woman with Cup when it could easily have been
    moved within the law. "He's an odd chap," said a friend in London
    yesterday, "not the usual sort who works for us.

    "He's a good art historian and a particular expert on Caravaggio. He
    has also written several romantic novels in Dutch and penned stories
    for women's magazines. He likes women, he's a bit of a bragger and I
    think that led him to say some pretty stupid things."

    Sotheby's, meanwhile, is trawling through more than 20,000 records of
    Italian Old Masters sold in the 1990s. Its search for information is
    not helped by the common Italian practice of selling under false names
    to frustrate the Italian tax authorities.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 10 February 1997 Issue 626

    Prize error halts lottery pay-out
    
    By Caroline Davies 

    LOTTERY chiefs have apologised to winners of Saturday's draw after
    technical problems delayed the pay-out of prize money.

    David Rigg, director of communications at Camelot, said payments would
    remain frozen until a "tiny imbalance" in the figures was sorted out.
    The amount of money each ticket-holder is thought to have won did not
    add up to the total amount of prize money on offer. Until it did,
    winners would be unable to claim any prize, including the �10 for three
    matching numbers.

    Camelot was unable to say exactly what the pay-outs would be, although
    it is thought the estimated �9 million jackpot was won. They stressed
    that there was no suggestion of fraud or sabotage and hope to have the
    problem solved by today.

    Oflot, the lottery regulator, called for a report on the incident. A
    spokesman said: "We are concerned about the delay and look to Camelot
    to resolve the problem as soon as possible."

    The draw was started by Tony Bullimore, the rescued round-the-world
    yachtsman. The six numbers drawn were 9, 13, 27, 30, 36 and 47. The
    bonus ball was 15.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 10 February 1997 Issue 626

    Nazi rocket uncovered at air museum
    
    By Simon Midgley 

    A SUPERSONIC, intercontinental ballistic missile that could have
    changed the course of the Second World War has been unearthed in a
    hangar at an airfield.

    The world's only known surviving example of the Wasserfall - a smaller,
    faster and deadlier version of the V2 developed by German scientists
    towards the end of the war - has been found at the Aerospace Museum,
    Cosford, Shropshire. 

    Brought back to Britain at the end of the war, the liquid fuel
    propelled missile - in effect a V3 - was partially dismantled by
    Ministry of Defence scientists investigating its secrets before being
    consigned to storage in bits.

    It was only when Dr John Becklake, an expert on missiles from this era,
    started cataloguing all the missile's parts that the museum realised it
    had the last surviving example of what was potentially the most deadly
    wave of Nazi missile technology.

    It is thought that about 20 Wasserfalls were built towards the end of
    the war. John Francis, general manager at the museum, wants to raise
    �12,000 to restore the Wasserfall so that it can be displayed alongside
    a V2.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 10 February 1997 Issue 626

    Hubble to weigh up Universe
    
    By Laura Spinney, Science Correspondent 

    ASTRONOMERS will no longer have to guess the weight of the Universe
    after a new instrument that will enable them to calculate it accurately
    is installed on the orbiting Hubble space telescope this week.

    The space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to blast off from Florida
    tomorrow, carrying seven astronauts on a 10-day mission to service the
    telescope. The space telescope imaging spectrograph to be installed on
    Hubble will allow Dr Max Pettini, of the Royal Greenwich Observatory,
    and Dr David Bowen, of Edinburgh's Royal Observatory, to measure how
    much deuterium, a heavy form of hydrogen, was generated during the Big
    Bang.

    As no more deuterium has been produced, the ratio of the element to
    normal hydrogen is a very sensitive measure of the total amount of
    matter in the Universe. By measuring that ratio, researchers can
    effectively "weigh" the Universe.

    "How much matter there is in total will determine the ultimate fate of
    the Universe," said Dr Pettini. If there is more than about four atoms
    per cubic yard, that matter will create enough gravity to stop the
    Universe from expanding as it is now. Having stopped expanding, it
    would then start contracting towards a "Big Crunch" and astronomers
    would be able to predict when that would happen.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 10 February 1997 Issue 626

    Splitting heirs: peers to untangle Lord Moynihan's exotic legacy
    
    By Sandra Barwick 

    IN a scene worthy of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, the House of
    Lords Committee for Privileges will meet later this month to identify
    the successor to the third Lord Moynihan, a brothel owner in the
    Philippines.

    The committee is likely to be asked to consider whether barring a child
    from a barony because of his illegitimacy is a breach of the European
    Convention on Human Rights. Whether DNA evidence of illegitimacy can
    prevent a child from inheriting a title is also to be considered for
    the first time in the House of Lords.

    There are three potential successors to the disputed title. The first,
    and most likely to succeed, is Colin Moynihan, 41, the former
    Conservative minister who is the younger son of the second Lord
    Moynihan. The other two candidates are both children resident in the
    Philippines.

    One is Andrew Moynihan, seven, son of the peer's fourth marriage, to
    Eduarda, whom their lordships must rule out in order to let Colin
    succeed. The other is Daniel Moynihan, six, a son from the third Lord's
    fifth, and bigamous, marriage to Jinna Sabiaga,

    The Legitimacy Act, which gives an illegitimate child some rights of
    inheritance, specifically excludes the right to inherit a title. Though
    DNA evidence suggests Andrew is not Lord Moynihan's son, he was born to
    Eduarda, Lady Moynihan, while she was lawfully married to the peer. As
    such, he would be assumed in law to be legitimate until proved
    otherwise.

    Their Lordships must decide whether they accept DNA tests as sufficient
    to exclude a child born of a peer's marriage, possibly through
    fertility treatment carried out with the peer's consent. The
    circumstances surrounding Andrew's conception are, to the say the
    least, complex. The third Lord's sperm count was so low at the time
    that it was nearly non-existent.

    Andrew was born after Eduarda had IVF treatment, at the fraudster
    peer's wish, in a fertility clinic in Los Angeles. It is not clear
    whether other sperm was mixed with Lord Moynihan's at the time. Lord
    Moynihan later appeared to renounce the boy, claiming to an English
    divorce court that he was dead, in order to speed his marriage to
    Jinna, who was pregnant with a boy.

    Before his death he left blood samples behind, apparently in case
    Andrew mounted a claim to the title. Eduarda, Lady Moynihan, said after
    the court case in July last year, and in the light of DNA tests, that
    she was happy for Colin to succeed to the title.

    However, Eduarda Moynihan's opinion of Andrew's legitimacy is not
    likely to affect the case. Lord Mansfield ruled in 1777 that the
    declaration of a father or mother cannot be admitted to bastardise
    issue born after marriage.

    So far, only Colin Moynihan has petitioned the committee to succeed to
    the title. Jinna Moynihan has been taking legal advice on the question
    of whether the European Convention on Human Rights could aid her son to
    succeed despite his illegitimacy.

    So far, she has not petitioned the committee on his behalf.

    Should she do so, it is likely that DNA samples from Daniel would also
    be requested in the light of Lord Moynihan's past infertility.

    Twenty peers, some hereditary and some life peers, are to consider the
    issue in a public hearing. Eduarda, Lady Moynihan is still disputing in
    the courts in the Philippines her right to her husband's inheritance
    with Jinna Moynihan. His estate in Britain is thought to have been
    entirely consumed in legal fees arising from last summer's court case.

    Colin Moynihan has repeatedly said that his only aim is to see the
    succession settled so that his future is clear. A seat in the House of
    Lords might see him return to politics from that chamber. With his wife
    Gaynor-Louise, he has two sons. After hearing evidence, the Committee
    for Privileges will advise the Queen through the House of Lords whether
    to accept his petition.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 10 February 1997 Issue 626

    Trafalgar Square is sealed off in gun scare 
    
    By A J McIlroy 

    TRAFALGAR SQUARE was sealed off for nearly six hours yesterday while
    armed police surrounded a man reportedly carrying a pistol.

    A woman had flagged down a police car at 1.45am after spotting the man
    on one of the square's lion statues, apparently holding a gun. Scotland
    Yard said trained negotiators were unable to get a word out of him for
    four hours. He was a white man, and he sat in silence, his anorak hood
    pulled over his head, a spokesman said.

    At 5.45am he began to talk, but he refused to throw down what police
    still believed to be a gun. It was not until 7am that the hooded figure
    was persuaded to climb down from the lion. Officers established that
    what had appeared to be a weapon was a cigarette lighter shaped like a
    pistol. 

    "Obviously, whenever we have reports that someone has a gun we have to
    take them very seriously," a police spokesman said. "We took this man
    to Charing Cross police station where he is still refusing to say why
    he climbed on to the statue and why he let us believe that he was
    armed."

    Police said later that a 21-year-old man was being questioned.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 10 February 1997 Issue 626

    Home with hanger on stirs vale

    IT is the ultimate home for the international commuter: a detached
    house in private gardens, office annexe, double garage, hangar for two
    small aircraft and own runway. 

    A public inquiry opens tomorrow to debate whether this latest concept
    in "executive" homes would be a blot on a tranquil landscape.

    The proposed site of Britain's first air park, an idea borrowed from
    America, which has 500, is an airfield in Henstridge, in the heart of
    the Blackmore Vale, on the Somerset-Dorset border. 

    Keith Pierson, owner of the former Naval air base, has submitted plans
    for "hangar-homes" for 25 people. His scheme is aimed at business
    people in small industries who often work from home but travel to
    Europe at short notice.

    Mr Pierson is offering one-acre plots for �100,000 and hopes the air
    park will attract industry to a 50-acre adjoining site. "We have had
    more than 70 inquiries for the 25 plots and although we cannot yet sell
    them we are issuing contracts to people who wish to reserve their
    place," he said.

    There is stiff opposition from the Blackmore Vale Villages Group of
    communities in south Somerset and north Dorset. Perhaps more
    significant are the concerns of John Gummer, the Environment Secretary,
    who, despite backing for the air park from local councils, has ordered
    the public inquiry. His department has blocked a similar scheme in
    Telford, Shrops, and objectors hope it will do so again.

    "Blackmore Vale is a national asset, recognised as such
    internationally," said a spokesman for the objectors. "It is invaluable
    to the tourist industry. This air park would mean a permanent change of
    character which would be totally unsuitable."

    Objectors are concerned about the possibility of extensive and noisy
    recreational flying, as Mr Pierson has sought permission for 27,000
    aircraft movements a year. They also fear the effects of proposed
    development of the industrial site.

    Mr Pierson said flying would be limited. "We have agreed to exclude
    noisy pursuits, such as flying clubs and parachuting. We want a select
    type of client."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Monday 10 February 1997 Issue 626

    Aerial setback for Channel 5
    
    By Robert Uhlig, Technology Correspondent 

    MILLIONS of television viewers will need to change their aerials to
    receive Channel 5 programmes and many others will receive poor pictures
    or miss out, test transmissions have shown.

    Britain's fifth terrestrial channel has been conducting tests to find
    out how many homes still need their equipment re-tuned before
    broadcasts start on March 30. The tests by NTL, which operates ITV,
    Channel 4 and Channel 5 transmitters, have determined that tens of
    thousands of homes in the London area alone require re-tuning.

    Yet according to the terms of its licence, Channel 5 must re-tune 90
    per cent of homes that can receive the service before it can begin
    broadcasts.

    Peter Kemble, head of the Channel 5 project team at NTL, said:
    "Existing aerials were intended to go up to channel 34 only. The
    response above that tails off dramatically. Many people will need to
    change their aerial even though they have been re-tuned. It's
    impossible to know how many, but it will be a lot."

    Industry estimates have put the number of households that will require
    new equipment to receive the channel at up to five million. Some areas
    will not be able to receive C5 at all either because broadcasts will
    clash with continental stations or because transmitters will not be
    powerful enough.

    International News Electronic Telegraph Monday 10 February 1997 Issue 626

    Gore trips up on road to the White House
    
    By Hugo Gurdon in Washington 

    THERE are only four years of campaigning to go until the next American
    presidential election, and already Al Gore is getting that sinking
    feeling.

    The Vice-President, or Veep, as he is known, faced a jeering, booing
    crowd at the weekend during a characteristically wooden publicity stunt
    in America's heartland.

    Appearing with the Russian Prime Minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin, at a
    motor show in Chicago, Mr Gore - widely credited with as much charisma
    as a lamp post - found his speech barracked with shouts of "Refund!
    Refund". 

    "We apologise for being late," said Mr Gore sheepishly over the din,
    before handing the microphone to Mr Chernomyrdin.

    If Mr Gore thought he recognised the chill finger of political death
    feeling his collar, it is hardly surprising. The incident was eerily
    similar to one in New York eight years ago when the Veep was running
    for the Democratic nomination to take on George Bush. Then, he waited
    at a subway exit to shake hands with rush-hour commuters coming up the
    escalator. Predictably the burly Tennessean candidate became an
    obstruction and irritable office workers passed him not with friendly
    outstretched hands but with comments of "Huh! Great place to stand, Al"
    and "Move over, Al, you're in the way".

    The whole blush-making, campaign-quashing incident was lovingly
    replayed on local and national television and Mr Gore's presidential
    bid never recovered. He was dismissed as not the first country boy to
    arrive in New York with a million dollars to spend (on political
    advertising) and, after being promised a good time, leaving in shame
    and defeat.

    Turning up late at the Chicago motor show, and bringing with him a man
    who intended to make a speech in Russian, has turned into another
    inglorious moment in Mr Gore's political career.

    Chicago is called the Windy City not because of the weather but because
    the locals are talkative; and they quickly gave vent to their feelings
    about being kept waiting outside on Saturday during a howling prairie
    snow storm while Mr Gore and his dignitaries, whose aircraft had been
    delayed, were given a private tour.

    President Clinton has promised to do all he can to help Mr Gore to win
    the presidency in 2000 and thanked his vice-president several times by
    name during the State of the Union address last week.

    Cartoonists and pundits know that the 2000 presidential race has begun.
    Coverage of Mr Clinton's return to the White House for a second term
    has included several ironic cartoons - one showing Mr Gore beginning
    his first campaign speech before Mr Clinton had finished swearing his
    oath of office on the Capitol steps.

    Mr Gore - who has a passion for technical details of policy and is an
    extreme environmentalist of the "tree hugging" variety - accepts that
    he will never be a jazzy character or stirring orator. But he has
    cannily sought to make a virtue of woodenness. Recently he has been
    asking audiences whether they would like to see him do the Macarena, a
    fizzy Latin American dance. After standing motionless for a few
    moments, he asks them whether they would like to see him do it again.
    It was a pretty good joke once, but it has been repeated so often that
    it, too, is being taken as evidence of Mr Gore's leaden style.

    Despite this, and despite the weekend's blunder in Chicago, Mr Gore is
    certain to be a strong candidate in four years. He will have all the
    gravitas and public recognition that go with his present job, plus his
    present boss's support.

    After his public relations disaster with Mr Chernomyrdin, however,
    there will be many Democrats hoping fervently that someone with a dash
    of charisma - not to mention better timing - will step into the
    limelight before the presidential campaign clock ticks down too close
    to the end of the millennium.

    AP 11-Feb-1997 1:02 EST   REF5500

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Tuesday, Feb. 11, 1997
   
    SIMPSON 

    LOS ANGELES (AP) -- O.J. Simpson was munching on a chili dog in a golf
    course bar and barely looking at the TV as a jury ordered him to pay
    $25 million in punitive damages. That's in addition to $8.5 million in
    compensatory damages awarded last week for the 1994 slashing deaths of
    his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman. Ms. Simpson's
    estate, whose beneficiaries are her two children now living with
    Simpson, was allotted half the punitive damages. The other half goes to
    Goldman's estate, whose beneficiaries are his long-divorced parents. 
   
    SIMPSON-JURORS 

    SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) -- The O.J. Simpson civil trial jurors say
    they carefully examined the evidence, deliberated with logic and
    compassion, and never let race influence their decision that Simpson is
    a killer. But the only black member, a woman in her 40s, said Simpson
    got a bad deal, police probably planted evidence and a real killer is
    probably on the loose. Jurors all said the most compelling pieces of
    evidence were the blood evidence and the photos of the Bruno Magli
    shoes. They also said Simpson could not be believed. 
   
    SPACE SHUTTLE 

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- Space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to
    blast off early Tuesday with a crew of seven astronauts and new science
    instruments, recorders and other improved equipment for the Hubble
    Space Telescope. The near-infrared camera and two-dimensional
    spectrograph to be installed by Discovery's spacewalking crew should
    allow Hubble to see even farther into the depths of the universe and
    with greater detail. 
   
    ECUADOR-PRESIDENTS 

    QUITO, Ecuador (AP) -- Ecuador's new president has accepted Congress'
    authority to replace her with an interim president, her advisers say.
    Rosalia Arteaga earlier had challenged the terms of her emergency
    appointment, insisting she would step down only when the constitution
    is amended. The crisis threatened to deepen the country's political
    instability. Arteaga ascended from Ecuador's vice presidency to the top
    position after Congress dismissed President Abdala Bucaram for "mental
    incapacity." 
   
    ADELPHI 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- The state Board of Regents has removed 18 out of 19
    members of the Adelphi University's board of trustees, including
    university president Peter Diamandopoulos. Regents chancellor Carl T.
    Hayden announced that the search committee has found 18 successors.
    Diamandopoulos stays on as president, at least for now. The regents
    were acting on a petition of a faculty-led Committee to Save Adelphi
    that sought to oust all 19 of the university's trustees. 
   
    ARMY-SEX HARASSMENT 

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Army suspended its top-ranking enlisted soldier
    after the woman who accused him of sexual misconduct publicly
    complained of a "different system of justice" for the service's upper
    tier. Publicity about Sergeant Major of the Army Gene C. McKinney made
    it difficult for him to do his job, the Army said. Meanwhile, a
    military official said the Army has begun investigating a second case
    involving McKinney and a female sailor. 
   
    CROWN HEIGHTS-SLAYING 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- A black man acquitted by a state jury of murdering a
    Jewish scholar during a 1991 riot in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, was
    convicted in federal court of violating the victim's civil rights.
    Lemrick Nelson Jr., 21, cried as he heard the verdict that will likely
    bring him 6 to 20 years in prison. Also found guilty was another black
    man, Charles Price, 43, who was accused of inciting a black mob to "get
    Jews." 
   
    ESPY AWARDS 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Comedian Bill Cosby, in his first live TV appearance
    since his son was killed, honored baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson
    during the ESPY awards show. Former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali,
    slowed by Parkinson's Syndrome, was given the Arthur Ashe Award for
    Courage. The ESPN cable network show also celebrated memorable sports
    moments of the past year like Ohio State's last-minute Rose Bowl
    victory. 
   
    LENDING SURVEY 

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Many lenders wary about mounting consumer debt are
    toughening standards for credit cards and other unsecured loans, and a
    few are promoting home equity borrowing instead, the Federal Reserve
    says. The banks' responses to a poll were reported in a quarterly
    survey of senior loan officers at institutions representing roughly 40
    percent of the commercial banking business. 
   
    MARKETS 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- The Dow industrials fell 49.26 to 6,806.54. NYSE
    decliners led advancers 1,344-1,132. The Nasdaq was at 1,335.39, down
    22.32. 
   
    PARCELLS-JETS 

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Bill Parcells can take over as coach of the New York
    Jets immediately. In their deal, his former team, the New England
    Patriots, will get New York's first-round draft pick in 1999, the Jets'
    second-round pick in 1998 and their third- and fourth-round picks this
    year. 
   
    AP Newsbrief by AMY FINKELSTEIN 

    RTw  10-Feb-97 20:14    

    Reuters World News Highlights

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    VLORE, Albania - Two people died when demonstrators battled riot police
    in the Albanian port of Vlore, pinning them down in the main police
    station. A duty nurse at Vlore hospital said a 30-year-old demonstrator
    had been shot and died after an operation. The second victim, a man of
    51, died of heart failure before reaching hospital. 

    - - - - 

    SARAJEVO - Bosnian authorities imposed a curfew in the divided city of
    Mostar after one person was killed and 22 were wounded in ethnic
    violence in which Bosnian Croats fired shots towards Moslem pilgrims
    trying to visit a local cemetery. 

    - - - - 

    BELGRADE - Britain threw its weight behind 20,000 protesting Belgrade
    students who kept up pressure on Serbia's authoritarian President
    Slobodan Milosevic as parliament prepared to reinstate opposition
    election gains. The official news agency Tanjug reported that a
    parliamentary legislative committee had approved a draft law
    recognising the disputed poll results ahead of Tuesday's vote. 

    - - - - 

    BEIJING - Chinese authorities have imposed a curfew on a town in the
    restive northwestern Xinjiang region after at least 10 people were
    killed in a separatist Moslem riot last week, officials and local
    residents said. 

    - - - - 

    QUITO - Ecuador faced new political uncertainty because interim
    President Rosalia Arteaga raised doubts about a military-backed deal to
    hand over power to the head of Congress as early as Tuesday. 

    - - - - 

    LIMA - An explosion followed by several gunshots were heard at the back
    of the besieged Japanese ambassador's residence in Peru., witnesses
    said. Earlier, the Peruvian Marxist rebels holding 72 hostages in the
    residence confirmed they were prepared to restart face-to-face talks
    with the government on Tuesday. 

    - - - - 

    KINSHASA - An opposition strike call closed down much of Zaire's
    capital Kinshasa, drawing far wider support than the last such protest
    in 1995. The main opposition Sacred Union of the Radical Opposition
    (USOR) of Etienne Tshisekedi called the protest to demand the removal
    of Prime Minister Kengo wa Dondo. 

    - - - - 

    BUKAVU, Zaire - Zairean rebels advanced on three fronts towards a
    heavily fortified eastern airport and army base at Kindu, a senior
    rebel official said. 

    - - - - 

    MADRID - Basque ETA separatists struck twice in Spain, killing a
    Supreme Court judge and an airbase worker in attacks aimed at taking
    deadly revenge for the recent jailing of leaders of ETA's political
    wing, officials said. 

    - - - - 

    WASHINGTON - The U.S. economy's nearly six-year expansion shows no
    signs of slowing down, with the country well placed to enjoy continued
    low unemployment and low inflation, the White House said. 

    - - - - 

    ROME - Italy's highest court ruled that a military court should hear
    the war crimes re-trial of former Nazi SS captain Erich Priebke.
    Priebke, 83, is accused of complicity in multiple murder for his role
    in the massacre of 335 men and boys at the Ardeatine Caves near Rome on
    March 24, 1944. 

    REUTER

    AP 11-Feb-1997 0:02 EST   REF5372

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    New York Removes Georgia Flag

    ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Georgia's state flag was removed from New York's
    Capitol Monday after some lawmakers complained that the Confederate
    symbol emblazoned on it is offensive. 

    In a brief ceremony, Republican Gov. George Pataki said the flag
    contained a "symbol of hatred" for all Americans. He watched as
    Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry, chairman of the state's Black and Puerto
    Rican Legislative Caucus, climbed a ladder in the cavernous Hall of
    Flags and took it down. 

    For about 20 years the Georgia flag had hung about 100 feet away from
    the governor's office at the Capitol, but it went largely unnoticed
    until recent renovations that made the Hall of Flags more accessible. 

    Black lawmakers complained to the governor last week that they wanted
    to flag removed. 

    Georgia Gov. Zell Miller, a Democrat, mounted a push to get the
    Confederate symbol removed from the state flag in 1993 but lawmakers
    blocked the move, his press secretary said Monday. 

    New York will review the hall's other 12 colonial flags to see if they
    contain anything that might be deemed inappropriate. 

    AP 11-Feb-1997 0:00 EST   REF5345

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    L.A. Schools Reject Ebonics

    LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The school board on Monday rejected motions to
    accept ebonics as part of its curriculum after black and Hispanic
    groups said racism was one of the driving forces behind bringing black
    English to the nation's second-largest school district. 

    Board member Barbara Boudreaux said she was "somewhat disappointed" in
    the vote, but promised to make sure that programs in Los Angeles are
    expanded to help all children master standard English. 

    Last month, Boudreaux introduced motions to train all teachers to
    understand ebonics, or black English, and provide better teaching
    methods to help students learn mainstream English. 

    Her draft resolution would have made the district acknowledge ebonics
    -- the combination of the words "ebony" and "phonics" first coined in
    1973 to describe black speech patterns -- as a distinct language. 

    The district's teachers also would have had to spend up to 18 hours
    learning ebonics, and would have had to treat ebonics-speaking children
    as if they spoke a distinctly different language, like Spanish. 

    After the motions were voted down, a substitute motion to review the
    district's language programs was approved. 

    Two months ago, ebonics was thrust into the national spotlight after
    the Oakland Unified School District approved a proposal to declare
    distinctive black speech patterns a separate language and to teach
    students in that language when necessary. 

    Ebonics was "the worst thing that can possibly happen to black people,"
    said the Rev. Jessie Lee Peterson. 

    AP 10-Feb-1997 23:28 EST   REF5275

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Rev. Jesse Jackson Arrested

    CHICAGO (AP) -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson was arrested Monday during a
    protest against a white-owned construction company that is a member of
    his own civil rights coalition. 

    Jackson was charged with disorderly conduct after he and a group of
    protesters tried to block access to a construction site at the Museum
    of Science and Industry. Two other people were arrested, police said. 

    Jackson was protesting a decision by Paul H. Schwendener Inc., the
    general contractor working on an underground parking garage, to
    terminate its subcontract with Carter's Excavating & Grading, a black
    trucking company. 

    Schwendener denied a racial motive in terminating the contract. It said
    Carter's failed to fulfill its contract, including failing to get
    required government permits for dumping. 

    Jackson, president of the Rainbow-PUSH Coalition, turned down an offer
    to be released Monday night. "I am conscientiously acting in a civil
    disobedient manner," Jackson told the judge. "It allows working people
    a chance to be heard." 

    Schwendener said his company is a business member of the Rainbow-PUSH
    coalition and said it strongly supports minority and female
    participation. 

    AP 10-Feb-1997 22:49 EST   REF5097

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Ten Commandments Flap in Alabama

    By JESSICA SAUNDERS

    Associated Press Writer

    MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- An Alabama judge was ordered Monday to modify
    or remove a plaque of the Ten Commandments from his courtroom, a
    religious display Gov. Fob James has promised to defend with force if
    necessary. 

    The wooden display hung by Etowah County Circuit Judge Roy Moore was
    "purely religious," decided Montgomery County Circuit Judge Charles
    Price, who changed his mind after viewing the display for himself. 

    Moore "has unequivocally stated that the plaques are not in the
    courtroom for a historical, judicial or educational purpose, but
    rather, and clearly to promote religion," wrote Price, who previously
    said the plaque could remain. 

    The plaque, which Moore made himself, violates the U.S. and Alabama
    constitutions, but it can remain if Moore adds nonreligious items to
    create a larger display, Price said -- otherwise, it must come down. 

    Price gave Moore 10 days to comply. Attorney General Bill Pryor, who is
    representing the state, said the ruling would be appealed. 

    "I think this shows poor judging on Judge Price's behalf," said Dean
    Young, executive director of the Christian Family Association. 

    The American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, which sued Moore over
    the plaque and his habit of opening courtroom sessions with a prayer,
    called the ruling "a major victory for the Constitution and the rule of
    law." 

    However, the governor, a staunch ally of Moore, vowed again Monday to
    use state troopers and the National Guard to prevent the plaque's
    removal. 

    Price earlier ordered Moore to stop opening his court sessions with
    prayers, a decision Moore is appealing to the Alabama Supreme Court.
    The justices last week allowed the prayers to continue while they
    decide. 

    Price noted that he had been deluged with calls and letters from people
    urging him to "save the Ten Commandments," but he wrote the Old
    Testament laws "are not in peril." 

    "They may be displayed in every church, synagogue, temple, mosque, home
    and storefront. They may be displayed in cars, on lawns and in
    corporate boardrooms," he said. "Where this precious gift cannot and
    should not be displayed ... is on government property." 

    AP 10-Feb-1997 22:15 EST   REF5037

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Air Force Halts Training Flights

    By SUSANNE M. SCHAFER

    AP Military Writer

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Air Force suspended all training flights over
    the Gulf of Mexico and the East Coast on Monday after two new reports
    of close encounters between F-16s and commercial aircraft over New
    Mexico and Texas. 

    Both of the close encounters occurred on Friday, Air Force officials
    said. 

    The latest reports bring to four the number of incidents that occurred
    over a three-day period last week between the highly maneuverable
    fighter jets and passenger airliners. 

    Air Force officials were at a loss to explain why the rash of incidents
    had occurred, but the publicity has focused attention on a situation of
    which most people are probably unaware -- that such so-called
    deviations from assigned flight plans occur often, including more than
    1,200 times last year. 

    Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National
    Transportation Safety Board have all four incidents under
    investigation. 

    The two new cases are in addition to incidents off the coast of
    Maryland on Friday and off New Jersey on Wednesday. 

    Late Friday, Air Force Chief of Staff Ronald Fogleman suspended all
    training missions along the East Coast and extended that ban on Monday
    to include the Gulf of Mexico. 

    The incident over New Mexico involved two F-16s and an American
    Airlines passenger jet that came too close near Clovis, N.M., said Air
    Force spokesman Capt. Leo Devine. At 2:37 p.m. EST, two F-16 fighters
    flew out of a military training area without authorization. 

    The military aircraft had just left a military operations area at the
    time of the incident. 

    A collision warning was triggered aboard an American jetliner, which
    was en route from Dallas-Fort Worth to Palm Springs, Calif. The pilot
    of the McDonnell Douglas Super 80 descended to avoid going close to the
    military planes. The aircraft carries about 150 passengers, but it
    wasn't clear how many were on board. 

    American Airlines spokesman John Hotard said the warning told the pilot
    to descend. "He notified air traffic control. They told him he could
    climb back up," Hotard said. 

    "This descent was such that the passengers in the back probably didn't
    even know it. The cockpit crew did see two F-16s. This was not what you
    would call a near miss or anything," he said. 

    The planes were about 3 1/2 miles from the airliner and flying within
    300 feet of the airliner's altitude at the time, authorities said.
    Regulations call for a separation of five miles horizontally and 1,000
    feet vertically. Only one of the F-16s was considered to have violated
    the FAA regulations, said Sgt. Gayle Ornong, a spokeswoman at Cannon
    Air Force Base, where the planes are based. 

    The second incident involved one F-16 and a Northwest Airlines Airbus,
    said Air Force spokeswoman Lt. Col. Virginia Pribyla. It occurred about
    70 miles southwest of Palacios, Texas, at 4:47 p.m. EST.

    The F-16 climbed above its assigned altitude over Texas, coming within
    4.6 miles horizontally and 300 feet vertically of the Airbus, which was
    flying at 33,000 feet. The limits at that altitude are supposed to be
    five miles and 2,000 feet. 

    The Northwest plane was en route from Mexico City to Detroit. 

    Northwest spokeswoman Marta Laughlin said the Northwest pilots had the
    F-16 in visual sight the entire time and were never concerned. 

    "There was never any point where there was any danger to either
    aircraft. Our pilots were not required to file a report and they did
    not," Laughlin said. 

    A government aviation source said deviations from assigned flight plans
    occured more than 1,200 times last year and air traffic controllers
    usually advise pilots and have them correct their position.

    The Air Force, in a statement issued at the Pentagon, said training
    operations will be suspended over the East and Gulf Coasts "until all
    units review procedures," expected to be completed by Tuesday. 

    David Stempler, a former executive director of the International
    Airline Passengers Association, said he sees "no reason why military
    and civilian planes have to share the same air space." 

    Stempler, who is an aviation attorney, also said he believed the
    incidents reveal that military aircraft have been wont to practice
    their intercepting techniques with commercial aircraft. 

    "They have been doing this all along, but they've just never been
    caught," Stempler said. 

    The attorney said the military has a right and duty to conduct its
    exercises, but the country has enough air space for both commercial and
    military uses. 

    "They are putting people at risk and it must stop," Stempler said. 

    A senior military aviator said the rash of incidents may well be due to
    the increase of air traffic since deregulation of the airlines, as well
    as improvements in radar in recent years that have increased the
    "fidelity" of tracking capabilities, allowing more incidents to be
    documented and reported. 

    "It's been going on for years," the military pilot said of the
    encounters. He also cited the fact that there are fewer former military
    pilots now flying for the commercial airlines, and less of a tendency
    for the FAA to forgive any missteps by the military. 

    "There used to be more of a fraternal brotherhood in the air," the
    pilot said. He contended the brotherhood has been eroded in recent
    years due to additional pressure being placed on air traffic
    controllers. 

    "Everybody is just much less flexible today," said the officer, who
    spoke on condition of anonymity. 

    AP 10-Feb-1997 22:05 EST   REF5836

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Sgt. Maj. Suspended in Sex Probe

    By SUSANNE M. SCHAFER

    AP Military Writer

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Army suspended its top-ranking enlisted soldier
    Monday after the woman who accused him of sexual misconduct publicly
    complained of a "different system of justice" for the service's upper
    tier. 

    In explaining its decision, the Army said publicity about the
    allegations against Sergeant Major of the Army Gene C. McKinney made it
    difficult for him to perform his job. 

    Meanwhile, a military official said the Army has begun investigating a
    second case involving McKinney and a female sailor. The woman reported
    an allegation of harassment by McKinney to her supervisor, who then
    reported it to the Army, said the source, who spoke on condition of
    anonymity. 

    "We don't know if there's anything to it. It's being investigated,"
    said the military source. 

    A second military source, also speaking privately, confirmed that an
    incident involving a Navy sailor is being investigated. The sailor is
    on active duty and wants no publicity regarding her allegations, said
    the military officer. 

    "The Army Criminal Investigation Division has it," said the military
    officer, confirming that the Army's investigators were looking into the
    sailor's allegations against McKinney. 

    On Sunday, Army Secretary Togo West had argued the case for letting
    McKinney continue in his duties, although West said the issue was not
    fully settled. 

    On Monday, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Dennis Reimer issued a statement
    saying McKinney -- his senior enlisted adviser -- had been assigned to
    the Military District of Washington "pending resolution of the
    allegations." 

    The step was taken one day after the accusing woman, retired Sgt. Maj.
    Brenda Hoster, and two senators said in television interviews that
    McKinney should be suspended until the charges against him are
    resolved. 

    Hoster, who had worked on McKinney's staff, last week publicly accused
    him of having asked her for sex, grabbed her and kissed her in a hotel
    room in Hawaii last April during a business trip. McKinney denied the
    accusation. 

    The two senators, Republicans Olympia J. Snowe of Maine and Rick
    Santorum of Pennsylvania, said it was not enough that the Army had
    removed McKinney from a panel that is reviewing the Army's policies
    against sexual harassment. They said it was unjust that Army drill
    sergeants were suspended immediately after they were accused of sexual
    misconduct but that McKinney was allowed to stay on. 

    "Certainly, everybody should be treated the same," Ms. Snowe said. "If
    they're facing charges, they should be placed under suspension." 

    In her TV appearance Sunday, Ms. Hoster complained about what she said
    was the Army's unequal treatment of McKinney and the drill sergeants at
    Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. 

    "It seems like people in a higher position and at a different level are
    exempt from those kinds of things because the sergeant major of the
    Army is still performing his duties," Ms. Hoster said. "I don't
    understand why he gets a different system of justice." 

    In his announcement Monday, Reimer said the decision to suspend
    McKinney was taken "in the best interest of the individual and the
    institution because continued public attention made it increasingly
    difficult for McKinney to fulfill his responsibilities." 

    At the White House, spokesman Mike McCurry declined to comment on the
    McKinney case. He said President Clinton was "fully supportive" of the
    Army's stated policy of zero tolerance toward sexual harassment. 

    McKinney, the first black man to serve in the influential post, has
    been the senior enlisted adviser to the chief of staff of the Army
    since June 30, 1995. 

    The post is considered one of the most prestigious in the service,
    since it represents the vast majority of all soldiers at the highest
    levels of the Army. Only 10 men have held the job, which is considered
    one for a role model. 

    The McKinney case has shaken the Army, coming on the heels of a series
    of rape and harassment allegations that emerged last fall at Aberdeen
    Proving Ground. 

    "The Army is aggressively taking all necessary measures to eliminate
    sexual harassment and improve the Army's ability to work effectively as
    a team, in a manner compatible with traditional values, equal
    opportunity and mutual respect," Reimer said. 

    The McKinney case is being investigated by the Army's Criminal
    Investigation Command.  

    AP 10-Feb-1997 22:02 EST   REF5833

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    U.S. Army-Germany Sex Flap Report

    BONN, Germany (AP) -- U.S. Army investigators are looking into
    allegations that three male instructors at an Army training center in
    Darmstadt sexually assaulted or harassed female students, a newspaper
    reported Monday. 

    The Stars and Stripes, the unofficial U.S. military newspaper, said
    authorities are looking into allegations of rape, sodomy, cruelty and
    maltreatment of subordinates. 

    The Army instructors, who were not identified, have been removed from
    their jobs at training center in Darmstadt, the newspaper reported. 

    The training center is a two-week school attended by soldiers assigned
    to the 233rd Base Support Battalion in Darmstadt, south of Frankfurt,
    or from attached units. The school has about 30 students at a time and
    instructors are usually non-commissioned officers, Stars and Stripes
    reported. 

    The newspaper said it learned of the allegations from Darmstadt
    military police documents. 

    Two women students claimed that on Dec. 27 they were drinking at a
    military club and agreed to go with two instructors to another club.
    Instead, the four went to the barracks room of one of the instructors. 

    The two students drank with the instructors. One of the women said she
    was tired and went to sleep. The other woman had consensual sex with
    one of the instructors. That woman has accused the instructor of
    sodomizing her despite her objections. 

    The other woman awoke later and found herself naked with the other
    instructor on top of her "engaging in sexual intercourse." That woman
    also alleged she was forcibly sodomized. 

    The report comes as the U.S. military has been rocked by sex-abuse
    scandals. This month in Washington, a retired female sergeant major
    accused Army Sgt. Maj. Gene C. McKinney of sexual assault and
    harassment. 

    McKinney, the Army's top enlisted man, was appointed in November to a
    panel studying sexual misconduct complaints. 

    AP 10-Feb-1997 21:59 EST   REF5828

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Artist's Rendering Is Junk

    By JAY REEVES

    Associated Press Writer

    BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- Art experts say the open-air gallery in folk
    artist Lonnie Holley's hillside yard is worth $500,000, but a real
    estate commission decided Monday that his sculptures and other works
    fashioned from junkyard scraps are nothing more than, well, junk. 

    Holley, who transforms items as commonplace as animal skulls and scraps
    of plastic into museum-quality art, was offered $14,000 for the land
    and his ramshackle house, which may be condemned to make way for an
    expansion at Birmingham International Airport. 

    He wants at least $250,000 for the immovable trash-to-treasure pieces
    that adorn his quarter-acre lot. But a condemnation appeal commission
    ruled that his art works are basically rubbish, not worthy of
    compensation. 

    Much of the art is supported by trees and fences on a hill overlooking
    a newly extended runway, and will be destroyed when the airport
    bulldozes the hill to comply with federal regulations. 

    Now a probate judge must review the decision and set the land price,
    which Holley can appeal. 

    Holley's creations sell for thousands of dollars and his work has been
    displayed at galleries and museums including the Smithsonian
    Institution, as well as in the White House. 

    But some observers believe his greatest work is his land, which is
    dotted with hundreds of paintings and sculptures, many of which can't
    be moved. 

    An expert who testified for Holley at a commission hearing last week
    said forcing him to move would destroy artwork worth $500,000. 

    The director of the Birmingham Museum of Art called the ruling a "real
    tragedy" and said she knew plenty of people who would help Holley move. 

    "We can galvanize volunteers," said Gail Trechsel, a longtime friend of
    Holley. "But what can he buy for $14,000?" 

    Holley could not be reached by telephone for comment. His attorney, Joe
    Strickland, did not immediately return a phone call. 

    Bob Jones, a lawyer for the airport authority, said Holley could
    receive federal funds available to help people forced to relocate. 

    "In this case we have a little unique situation," Jones said. "I think
    the airport authority would be willing to help him within reason." 

    AP 10-Feb-1997 23:29 EST   REF5298

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Cuban Train Crash Kills 13

    MEXICO CITY (AP) -- A passenger train crashed into a locomotive in
    eastern Cuba on Monday, killing at least 13 people and seriously
    injuring 65, a news agency reported. 

    The Mexican government news agency Notimex quoted the Cuban Interior
    Ministry as saying the crash occurred outside the village of Caguasal,
    280 miles east of Havana, the Cuban capital. 

    The train, headed from Santiago to Havana, was carrying a large number
    of conscripts doing their military service, the report quoted Cuban
    state television as saying. The train crashed into a locomotive
    belonging to the sugar ministry. 

    No further details were available. 

    The report, monitored in Mexico City, said firefighters, army troops,
    police and civilian volunteers rushed to the scene to aid survivors. 

    Train derailments and other accidents are common in Cuba's state-owned
    railroad network, which is antiquated and in disrepair.

    AP 10-Feb-1997 22:54 EST   REF5121

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Man's Fall Broken by Cafe Sitter

    TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) -- A man trying to jump to his death landed on a
    cafe patron, breaking that man's back but suffering only minor injuries
    himself, according to reports Monday. 

    "We were drinking, eating, laughing -- and suddenly someone fell onto
    me from above," Max Dadashvili, 26, told the Yediot Ahronot newspaper.
    "I fell back with my chair, got a tough blow in the back and lost
    consciousness." 

    The 72-year-old Tel Aviv resident jumped headfirst from the third floor
    of a shopping mall Saturday night, the newspaper said. He suffered only
    a light injury to his head, got up and was about to walk away when
    Dadashvili's friends stopped him, the report said. 

    Police were considering possible charges against the jumper. 

    Dadashvili reportedly fractured several vertebrae in his neck and back,
    but was not paralyzed. 

    "I am not angry at him, (but) I can't understand my rotten luck," he
    told the newspaper. 

    AP 10-Feb-1997 22:40 EST   REF5066

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    German Entertainer in Racial Flap

    BERLIN (AP) -- Berlin authorities said Monday they are looking into
    allegations that one of Germany's most popular entertainers made racial
    insults toward a black hotel employee in California. 

    The newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported that actor Harald Juhnke told a
    security guard last week at Hollywood's Mondrian Hotel: "You filthy
    nigger. Hitler was right. The likes of you should have been gassed
    before." 

    The 67-year-old Juhnke has a huge following in Germany, but his image
    has been badly damaged by his reportedly drunken and hostile behavior
    during the hotel visit. 

    Three German television stations said Monday they are suspending all
    projects with Juhnke. A number of German politicians said his behavior
    was inexcusable; one called for a boycott of Juhnke. 

    At the hotel on Feb. 2, according to Bild am Sonntag, a drunken Juhnke
    harassed customers at the bar, swore at a waitress, was thrown out of
    the bar and a chased a woman through the lobby. Hotel security guard
    Robert Ferrell grabbed Juhnke to keep him from shoving the woman, the
    paper said. 

    "When Juhnke noticed that Ferrell was black, he completely lost
    control" and made the racist insult, the newspaper said. 

    Ruediger Reiff, spokeswoman for the Berlin prosecutor's office, said
    prosecutors are examining the accusations. 

    Juhnke, now in the Dominican Republic, faxed a letter to a Berlin
    newspaper saying he does not remember much because he was drunk. 

    "Whoever knows me, knows I am anything but a racist. If I have injured
    someone's honor, I ask for forgiveness with deepest regret," Juhnke
    wrote. 

    AP 10-Feb-1997 19:47 EST   REF5769

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Study Probes HIV Immune Response

    By ELIAS WOLFBERG

    Associated Press Writer

    JERUSALEM (AP) -- In a study that could have implications for AIDS
    research, Israeli scientists have discovered an enzyme that plays a key
    role in activating the body's immune system. 

    The study on their work was published this week in the British journal
    Nature. 

    Researchers at the Weizmann Institute found that an enzyme called NIK
    is a catalyst in triggering the body's immune responses in ways that
    can be harmful in people with HIV or autoimmune diseases such as
    multiple sclerosis or juvenile diabetes. 

    In theory, drugs that block NIK's effects could be developed to inhibit
    the development of HIV -- the virus that causes AIDS -- as well as
    unwanted immune responses in people with autoimmune diseases. 

    Scientists discovered earlier that a protein called NF kappa B -- which
    exists within every cell -- "switches on" specific genes responsible
    for fighting infection and disease. 

    In certain cases of HIV infection, the virus accelerates its
    reproduction when it "senses" the activation of the NF kappa B. 

    Dr. David Wallach and his colleagues at the Weizmann Institute found
    that it is the NIK enzyme that tells the NF kappa B protein to activate
    the disease-fighting genes. 

    Usually the immune responses triggered by the NF kappa B are helpful.
    But in the case of autoimmune diseases, where the body attacks itself,
    or in HIV, they become destructive. 

    Researchers hope that by suppressing NIK, they might be able to stop
    HIV from replicating itself and stop, or at least slow, the development
    of AIDS. In some cases there might be benefits to boosting NIK activity
    to fight other diseases. 

    "What we have done now is identify the critical molecule," Wallach
    said. "Now others, and maybe us with them, can develop a drug that
    suppresses the immune responses without causing unwanted side effects."

    While the isolation of NIK has stirred interest within the medical
    community, the application of the findings, especially in regards to
    HIV, is only theoretical. 

    According to Dr. Zvi Bentwich, head of the AIDS center at the Kaplan
    Medical Center in Rehovot, it will take at least a year for a drug to
    be developed and for clinical tests to begin on patients. It could take
    several years for a drug to reach the market. 

    "The distance between the laboratory, the clinical study and a
    potential drug is very big," Bentwich said. "The principle is very
    attractive, but the distance from the application of this principle is
    still quite a long distance." 

    Wallach discovered the enzyme with help from doctoral students Nikolai
    Melinin, Mark Bodkin, and Andrei Koblenki. 

    RTw  11-Feb-97 03:56    

    Weak bridges could hit many UK firms -MPs' report

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    LONDON, Feb 11 (Reuter) - The all-party Transport Committee of
    Britain's parliament on Tuesday published a highly critical report on
    road maintenance, saying that many firms will suffer soon because work
    on bridge strengthening is too slow. 

    "The overwhelming message from the evidence we have received is that
    spending on national and local road and bridge maintenance has been
    insufficient to maintain these important national assets in good
    condition," a committee report said. 

    The committee said the Transport Department itself estimated that 300
    million pounds a year needed to be spent on maintenance of trunk roads
    in England to keep their condition at present levels. Yet the
    provisional spending total for 1996/7 was just 250 million pounds. 

    In addition, the Transport Supplementary Grant which pays for major
    capital works, has been cut to 80 million pounds from 220 million in
    1993/4, and many local authorities are diverting funds for local road
    maintenance elsewhere, it said. 

    The report said that although maximum weight limits for goods vehicles
    were to be raised to 40 tonnes from 38 tonnes in 1999, the assessment
    and strengthening of Britain's road bridges to prepare for this was
    likely to take until at least 2005. 

    It said the Transport Department had assured the committee that
    temporary strengthening measures mean that 40-tonne vehicles will be
    able to use all trunk roads from 1999. 

    "This is unsatisfactory, and in any case leaves a large number of
    bridges on local roads which will not have been strengthened," its
    report said. 

    "If bridges are unable to cope with heavy lorries, they will have to be
    closed or weight-limited in some way. 

    "Such measures could isolate many businesses from the road network, and
    there are likely to be many instances where firms will suffer as a
    result." 

    REUTER

    RTw  11-Feb-97 01:53    

    Dole signs with sports agent Mark McCormack

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuter) - Calling former Senate Majority Leader Bob
    Dole "one of the world's most-admired men," top sports agent Mark
    McCormark said Monday his agency would represent him. 

    McCormack is chairman, president and chief executive officer of IMG,
    which bills itself as the world's premier sports management and
    marketing agency. 

    He said he would represent Dole for literary, broadcasting,
    international speaking, commercial endorsements and other corporate
    relationships. 

    His other clients include golfer Tiger Woods, tennis player Andre
    Agassi and violinist Itzhak Perlman. 

    Dole has wasted no time cashing in with commercial appearances since
    his defeat in the 1996 presidential election. 

    Dole made a light-hearted appearance in a VISA checkcard commercial
    that debuted during the Super Bowl, as well as showing up on Jay Leno's
    "Tonight Show," "The Late Show with David Letterman," and Brooke
    Shields' NBC-TV sitcom "Suddenly Susan." 

    In addition to athletes, McCormack also represents top supermodels and
    has done work in the past for the Vatican, Pope John Paul II and former
    British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. 

    REUTER

    RTw  11-Feb-97 00:30    

    Trial gives insight into soccer lifestyle

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    By Helen Smith 

    WINCHESTER, England, Feb 11 (Reuter) - Former Wimbledon goalkeeper Hans
    Segers, on trial on match-rigging charges, has given an intriguing
    insight into the lifestyle of a soccer player. 

    Segers told on Monday of a life of extra-marital affairs, tax dodging
    and financial deals although he denies that he accepted bribes to throw
    matches in England's premier league. 

    He said he had told police a concocted tale that he made money from
    stealing and selling luxury cars, rather than have them discover he had
    been forecasting the outcome of soccer matches. 

    Although match-forecasting is not illegal, it contravenes English
    Football Association rules and the Dutchman said he feared being
    suspended. 

    "To come to play football in England was a dream come true and to put
    that in jeopardy..." Segers, 35, said. 

    Segers is on trial for match-rigging along with former Liverpool goalie
    Bruce Grobbelaar, former Aston Villa striker John Fashanu and a
    Malaysian businessman, Heng Suan Lim. 

    All deny the charges and say that they were merely forecasting the
    outcome of games for a group of wealthy Asian gamblers. 

    Segers said he had declined the offer to have a lawyer present when
    police interviewed him after his arrest last year, leaving his lawyer
    in court to unravel what he described as the "absolute rubbish" he had
    told police. 

    He said he had denied to police that he knew Fashanu well, even though
    Fashanu was Wimbledon's team captain when Segers was vice captain. 

    But Segers said he and Fashanu had been in constant telephone contact
    because they were covering for one another's extra-marital affairs and
    he didn't want his wife to find out about his infidelity. 

    Segers' wife already knew of an earlier affair and he feared he would
    lose his family. He has a daughter aged 11 and a son aged eight. 

    "I was booked (after the previous affair)," Segers said. "We managed to
    scrape through though and hang in there," he added, sounding, as on
    many occasions during his evidence, as if he were describing a soccer
    match. 

    Like other top class footballers, Segers earned a huge amount from his
    club. As well as his 1,000 pounds ($1,634) a week wages, he got an
    annual 30,000 pound signing-on fee and a 50,000 pound annual loyalty
    bonus. 

    Segers branched out into a business venture, manufacturing ties and
    scarves with a fellow Dutchman, and he said he was engaged in property
    speculation with Fashanu. 

    Segers said Fashanu, himself an extremely wealthy businessman, had
    introduced him to a bank where he could open a tax-evading Swiss
    account. 

    But the 100,000 pounds he paid in were the proceeds of his business
    ventures, not, as the prosecution alleges, bribes for throwing matches. 

    Fearing he would be caught for tax evasion, Segers had told police that
    the money in his Swiss account had been transferred from Jersey,
    another tax haven. But he decided to reveal all to the court to try to
    save himself a maximum seven-year prison sentence. 

    REUTER

    RTw  10-Feb-97 23:14    

    Sotheby's launches internal review after scandal

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuter) - The auctioneers Sotheby's on Monday launched
    an internal review of its practices after allegations that it smuggled
    art treasures from Italy to Britain. 

    Sotheby's European arm admitted last week that the law had been broken
    and suspended senior staff after a television report. 

    The programme unearthed evidence of Sotheby's Old Masters expert in
    Milan offering to smuggle a Giusseppe Nogari painting to Britain and
    apparently admitting it was illegal for the portrait to leave Italy. A
    Sotheby's employee in London is filmed being given the painting. 

    The Board of the world's oldest auction house announced after a meeting
    on Monday that it had "created a committee of Sotheby's independent
    directors." 

    "They will conduct an internal review of the firm's practices and
    review the firm's compliance and its strict code of conduct," the board
    said in a statement. 

    Sotheby's will also appoint a director of compliance who will lead a
    new department working with the internal audit department.

    REUTER

    RTos 10-Feb-97 22:14    

    Students Mass in Belgrade Streets Ahead of Vote

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    BELGRADE (Reuter) - One day ahead of action by parliament to reinstate
    opposition election gains, 20,000 Belgrade students Monday continued to
    pressure Serbia's authoritarian President Slobodan Milosevic. 

    The official news agency Tanjug reported that a parliamentary
    legislative committee had approved a draft law recognising the disputed
    poll results ahead of Tuesday's vote. 

    Hours before thousands gathered in central Belgrade for 83rd opposition
    demonstrations, witnesses said at least 20,000 students took part in an
    eight-km (five-mile) march, blewing whistles and horns, beating drums
    and waving flags. 

    They vowed to keep up their daily rallies, now in their 12th week,
    until all demands for political reform were met. 

    "If tomorrow the protests were to stop they would not have been
    protests of tolerance, but of weakness," said Cedomir Jovanovic, a
    student organiser. 

    In yet another of their daily imaginative actions against the
    authorities, hundreds of deans and professors blocked the central
    administration office of the University of Belgrade. 

    They inundiated the secretariat by each submitting an individual
    official demand that the socialist-appointed diehard rector resign. 

    In more evidence of Western displeasure with Milosevic, British
    Ambassador to Yugoslavia Ivor Roberts visited the student leadership
    and handed them two personal computers. 

    "There is a democratic deficit in the region and without democracy we
    are not going to see a stable Serbia and a stable region. We... try to
    do what we can to rectify this problem. We will support the
    democratisation of Serbia," he said. 

    "The Gonzalez report is not just the return of the election results but
    is also about free media, democratisation in Serbia. It was very
    disappointing and unhelpful that it took weeks and weeks for Mr.
    Milosevic to launch his initiative." 

    Roberts was referring to Felipe Gonzales, the former Spanish prime
    minister who headed a mission by the Organization for Security and
    Co-operation in Europe last December which endorsed Zajedno victories. 

    Roberts' show of support for the students was another blow to the
    beleaguered Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic who once basked in
    international support after the Dayton peace accord he helped engineer
    ended the war in Bosnia in December 1995. 

    Now the West has turned against the autocratic president. France hosted
    the three opposition Zajedno (Together) coalition last week prompting
    an outcry by the state media and the United States has snubbed its
    one-time reliable negotiating partner. 

    The parliament is expected Tuesday to swiftly approve the bill
    reinstating opposition gains in municipal elections last November as
    ruled by the OSCE mission. 

    Even if it does so, Zajedno and the students, sceptical of Milosevic's
    sincerity, plan to keep up their daily demonstrations at least until
    their mandates are officially verified in about 10 days time. 

    For weeks Milosevic ignored the rallies that routinely drew tens of
    thousands of people onto the streets. 

    Then nine days ago he ordered paramilitary police to clear central
    Belgrade, and in repeated baton charges scores of people were injured.
    But the action backfired as the West rose in condemnation and thousands
    of undaunted Zajedno supporters showed up again the next day. 

    The foremost casualty of the crackdown was the unity in the ranks of
    the police and his party, political sources said. 

    The bleak situation prompted Milosevic last Tuesday to cave in and
    order the parliament to reinstate the opposition's election successes
    in 14 towns and cities, including Belgrade. 

    Zajedno co-leader Zoran Djindjic said Milosevic had no intention of
    raising the white flag, but only of consolidating his strength and
    intending to further marginalise local councils by stripping them of
    their sources of revenue.

    REUTER

    RTos 10-Feb-97 19:35    

    AOL Aims at Million Non-US Members in 1997

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    CANNES, France (Reuter) - America Online Inc said Monday it aimed to
    have more than a million members outside the United States in 1997 and
    expected Japan to become the second biggest Internet market. 

    "We were the first $1 billion interactive services company and we aim
    to be the first $2 billion company," AOL International President Jack
    Davies told Reuters during the MILIA multimedia fair that runs until
    Wednesday. 

    He said the aim of AOL studies was to become "platform independent" and
    make content that can be available on the AOL service, but also on the
    Internet or via digital television. 

    "This is a whole new medium, there are no rules," he said, 

    "Being realistic, looking at the European market we believe that the
    preferred method of access for interactive services for the foreseeable
    future is going to be PCs," he said, adding the company was doing
    research and had discussion with other kinds of access providers and
    aimed to be "a major player in that area as well." 

    At the moment subscription fees form the bulk of AOL income but Davies
    said the company was increasingly looking at advertising and
    transactions as revenue streams. 

    "The advertising world is looking for an audience and with our eight
    million subscribers we have the largest audience in cyberspace," he
    said. 

    "The World Wide Web is very fragmented. We believe that at AOL we
    generate more advertising revenue than the whole World Wide Web
    combined," he said. 

    In Europe, AOL is still building up its audience to get to a size that
    is interesting enough for advertising and he said that it would take
    two or three years before advertising in Europe became a substantial
    revenue source. 

    "Our goal is to have 10 million members (worldwide) at the end of this
    fiscal year (end June) and we are on our way to achieve this," he said. 

    "France has been a difficult market but clearly the biggest market is
    Germany, followed closely by the U.K. and Scandinavia. Fifteen months
    after the launch of our first European service we expect to pass the
    500,000 members in the next few weeks." 

    In Canada, AOL has 100,000 members and will launch a French-Canadian
    service in the spring. 

    "Our goal is to have a million members outside the U.S. by the end of
    September. We will be launching a Japanese service in the spring (with
    Mitsui and Nikkei) but that will not be a big contributor in 1997 while
    we do believe that Japan will become the second biggest national market
    after the U.S. within a matter of years," Davies said. America Online
    has 7.5 million U.S. members. 

    In Latin America, AOL is looking at Argentina, Brazil and Mexico for
    good local partners. Beyond that it is looking at Australia and some
    other Asian markets. 

    "In Germany we are reaching critical mass with 270,000 members," he
    said. 

    He said that the black-out and overload problems in the U.S. would be
    solved by adding capacity and the problem showed a big pent-up demand
    and not a failure by the system. 

    "It's not a telecom system problem, it is the number of modems
    installed and in Europe we are also quickly building it out and we do
    not see that being a limiting factor in Europe in the near-term," he
    said. 

    He said that he did not see a risk in the proliferation of Internet
    access providers. "What we see is that the consumer prefers a packaged
    product, with easy access and one bill," he said. "Certainly a section
    of the market will find that (raw Internet access) interesting but that
    is not a mass market." 

    He said that new developments with digital television and WebTV would
    increase the awareness of the Web and turn it from a luxury to an
    essential thing. 

    "The jury is still out how the various technologies that are being
    developed will be embraced by the consumers. We want to be at the
    forefront of that, but in the end consumers will decide whether it is
    interesting or not," Davies said.

    REUTER

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Rebuke for Dorrell on Scottish assembly
    
    By George Jones, Political Editor 

    A FUTURE Tory Government would not be able to abolish a separate
    Scottish parliament set up by Labour, Michael Forsyth, the Scottish
    Secretary, said yesterday.

    "A Scottish parliament is not just for Christmas - it is for life,"
    said Mr Forsyth in what was seen as a public rebuke to his Cabinet
    colleague, Stephen Dorrell. Mr Dorrell, the Health Secretary, had
    created confusion over the Government's stance on devolution by hinting
    that an incoming Conservative government might try to get rid of a
    Scottish parliament if it damaged Britain.

    His comments appeared to be at odds with the stance of Mr Forsyth, who
    has consistently argued that Labour's devolution plans would do
    irreversible damage to the unity of the United Kingdom and, once in
    place, could not be unscrambled. Mr Dorrell has been given a
    wide-ranging brief by the Prime Minister to attack Labour's plans for
    constitutional change. Mr Major intends to make the threat to the unity
    of the United Kingdom from a devolved Scottish parliament and a Welsh
    assembly a central plank of the Tory election campaign. 

    Interviewed in The Scotsman newspaper, Mr Dorrell said a parliament
    that damaged the union of the United Kingdom was "not something a later
    Conservative government could leave unchanged". Asked by the newspaper
    if he meant that the best way of preserving the Union would be to get
    rid of a Scottish parliament, rather than seek to tackle issues like
    the West Lothian question, he replied: "Yes, absolutely."

    Labour and the Scottish Nationalists seized on Mr Dorrell's remarks as
    evidence of disarray within the Government over how to respond to
    devolution. George Robertson, the shadow Scottish secretary, accused Mr
    Dorrell of a "monumental gaffe". It was "arrogant and dangerous", to
    suggest reversing a parliament that would have been set up with the
    consent of the people in Scotland, Mr Robertson said.

    Tony Blair, the Labour leader, said the Tories were in complete "chaos
    and confusion". Mr Dorrell had enough problems in the NHS rather than
    "rampaging through the territory of other Cabinet ministers", he said.
    Mr Dorrell immediately launched a damage-limitation exercise and denied
    saying that a future Tory government would "abolish" a Scottish
    parliament.

    It would be "unsustainable" to have Scottish MPs voting on English
    transport, health and education matters in England when English MPs
    would have no vote on such issues in Scotland. "But if such a
    parliament were established it is true, I think, that a later
    government could not leave it unchanged. That is the phrase I used,
    'unchanged', not 'abolish'," said Mr Dorrell.

    Mr Forsyth, interviewed on BBC Radio 4's World at One programme, denied
    that there was any rift between him and Mr Dorrell, but emphasised that
    devolution was an irreversible process. "Once Humpty Dumpty falls off
    the wall, he will not be put back together again no matter how many
    king's horses and king's men turn up. What Labour are flirting with is
    the break-up of the United Kingdom."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Labour attack on 'yob culture'
    
    By Rachel Sylvester, Political Staff 

    YOUNG offenders including car thieves and vandals would receive
    automatic punishments after committing two crimes as part of an attack
    on "yob" culture if Labour wins the next election.

    Jack Straw, the shadow home secretary, will today announce proposals to
    abolish conditional discharges - under which juvenile criminals are
    released without punishment on condition that they do not offend again
    - and replace them with immediate non-custodial sentences.

    He will also unveil plans to end the system of police cautions for less
    serious crimes and replace it with a "final warning" which could be
    given only once before the juvenile was taken to court. People under
    the age of 18 who are convicted after receiving just one warning would
    be subject to an automatic punishment - such as community service or a
    curfew - if they offended again as part of the new "two strikes and
    you're out" regime. 

    Labour also plans to make the final warnings much tougher than the
    caution system. Juveniles who receive this "super-caution" would
    automatically be assessed to establish why they had offended and put
    straight into the penal system, with compulsory counselling or
    supervision by social workers or teachers. 

    The operation - an extension of the Government's Caution Plus scheme
    which has been piloted in certain areas - would be overseen by new
    Youth Offender Teams. The proposals are a further attempt by Labour to
    prove in the run-up to the election that it can be as tough as the
    Tories on crime. They come weeks before the Government plans to unveil
    its own initiatives in a Green Paper on young offenders. 

    Mr Straw will make clear his intention to make tackling young offenders
    a priority if Labour gets to power in order to cut crime in the long
    term. A Labour source said: "The present system is soft because it
    allows young criminals to get away with the notion that the system is
    not going to do anything. It is a process of endless deferment."

    Youth crime costs more than �1 billion a year with an estimated seven
    million crimes committed by those under 18. The proposals would not
    lead to more young people being sent to prison - the number of
    juveniles who end up behind bars, about five per cent, would not
    change. 

    But they would mean punishments being given to thousands more young
    people for crimes that do not merit custodial sentences. The 14,000 a
    year under-18s who receive conditional discharges - 28 per cent of
    court verdicts for this age group - would be subject to immediate
    punishment. Many more children would also be taken to court following
    the reform of the cautions system. At present some children receive as
    many as six cautions before being subjected to formal police action. 

    But Harry Fletcher, of the National Association of Probation Officers,
    criticised the proposals. "The longer you keep people out of the
    criminal system, the more chance they have of avoiding getting involved
    in serious crime. Once you start processing them, then the reoffending
    rates start to soar." 

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Doctor suspended in Ashworth child sex investigation
    
    By Robert Shrimsley and Nigel Bunyan 

    A CONSULTANT psychiatrist at Ashworth special hospital in Merseyside
    yesterday became the fourth member of staff to be suspended amid the
    allegations of paedophile abuse and pornography at the unit.

    News of the latest suspension was given by Stephen Dorrell, the Health
    Secretary, who also admitted to MPs yesterday that a junior health
    minister visited the hospital last autumn after the allegations broke
    but had been told by staff that the claims were groundless.

    Erville Millar, the new acting chief executive, said the suspension was
    in the un-named doctor's "best interests" and was not a sign of "guilt
    or responsibility".

    On Friday Mr Dorrell announced a judicial inquiry into the management
    of the Ashworth personality disorder unit, after the hospital suspended
    its chief executive, Janice Miles, and two male nurses. It was also
    announced on Friday that the eight-year-old daughter of an ex-patient,
    from Bradford, had been taken into care after reports that she had been
    taken into the unit and played with convicted sex offenders.

    Yesterday Mr Dorrell said the inquiry, by Peter Fallon, a retired
    senior circuit judge, would report within a year. The visit to Ashworth
    by Simon Burns, health minister, came after allegations of drug misuse,
    financial irregularities, the availability of pornographic material and
    possible paedophile activity had been made by Stephen Daggett, a
    patient. Mr Daggett, 36, made his claims after absconding from care
    during a visit to Liverpool last September. His allegations are thought
    to include claims that inmates, including convicted paedophiles, were
    able to video pornographic activity and child abuse.

    He was moved to Rampton where he wrote a 60-page dossier and submitted
    it to the head of his new unit. Yesterday Alice Mahon, Labour MP for
    Halifax, said the dossier was sent back to Ashworth and not acted upon.

    On Jan 17 a search of Lawrence ward found a substantial quantity of
    pornographic material but still no action was taken. The inquiry was
    announced only after Mrs Mahon sent a copy of the dossier to the Home
    Office at the end of January.

    In a statement to the Commons yesterday Mr Dorrell sought to defend his
    department against charges of inaction. He said Mr Burns had visited
    the hospital in October "during the period in question and did discuss
    these questions with the management". Despite the availability of
    evidence the hospital had continued to maintain that the reports were
    unfounded.

    Mr Dorrell also admitted that a large amount of pornography had been
    found in the hospital last month but that hospital officials had
    continued to say the allegations were "unfounded".

    Mr Millar said yesterday that he had imposed a series of new
    restrictions. Patients were having personal computers confiscated and
    would have restricted access to telephones. Ward searches would be
    stepped up, and visits either by former patients or children would no
    longer be allowed.

    In his Commons statement Mr Dorrell said that as well as investigating
    the allegations the inquiry would be looking at why ministers were
    continually reassured that there was nothing to worry about. He told
    MPs that the allegations began to circulate last October.

    Tessa Jowell, Labour's health spokesman, said the revelations exposed
    "the dreadful inadequacy of the monitoring systems supposed to ensure
    safety at high-security hospitals".

    Ian Brady, the Moors murderer, has said that he wants euthanasia to be
    made available to patients in high-security mental institutions such as
    Rampton, Broadmoor and Ashworth, where Brady has spent the last 11
    years.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Defiant Princess makes TV call for ban on landmines
    
    By Robert Hardman 

    DIANA, Princess of Wales makes her debut as a television presenter
    tonight with an unapologetic documentary about her recent visit to
    Angola.

    While admitting that political criticism of her stance on land mines
    makes her "want to burst into tears", she draws a defiant conclusion:
    "The only way forward is for a worldwide ban on anti-personnel
    landmines."

    The 30-minute film for the BBC's Heart of the Matter series follows the
    Princess through grisly scenes in Luanda and outlying areas of Angola
    where thousands of civilians continue to be killed by mines left over
    from years of civil war. Despite adopting a workmanlike approach to the
    subject, she is clearly disturbed by much of what she sees. "Being in a
    place like this has a tremendous impact on me," she says on her
    arrival. "It makes me realise just how fortunate we are in the West."

    The sight of a child whose intestines have been blown out by a mine
    leaves her particularly moved. "When you see little children like that
    in that situation it just brings it all to the surface," she says.

    She has little time for those who do not support a total ban on
    landmines. At one point, the director of the British Red Cross, Mike
    Whitlam, observes: "It's quite interesting listening to politicians
    talking about landmines."

    At this point, the Princess makes a crisp interjection: "They don't
    actually know what they're talking about." For the first time, we see
    her private reaction to a minister's description of her as a "loose
    cannon" after her call for a total worldwide ban on landmines.

    "I'm about to burst into tears," she tells Mr Whitlam after hearing of
    the row unfolding at home. "Who said I'm a loose cannon?" She does not
    burst into tears, but goes on to say: "I'm not a political figure, nor
    do I want to be one. But I come with my heart. I want to bring
    awareness to people in distress whether it's in Angola or any part of
    the world."

    For much of the trip, the Princess wore a microphone to record her
    immediate observations. She then pieced together the rest of the
    programme in a London studio with Karina Brennan, the producer. A
    shortened version of the Princess's film will be shown tomorrow night
    before the premiere of In Love and War she will be attending in
    Leicester Square.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Archdeacon's wife describes 'life-or-death' struggle in prison cell
    
    By Nigel Bunyan 

    AN ARCHDEACON'S wife told a court yesterday how a prisoner attacked her
    with a home-made weapon after warning her: "Touch that alarm button and
    you're dead."

    Julia Flack, 50, who worked at Wakefield Prison as a probation officer,
    said she quickly realised that she was in "extreme danger" from Michael
    Sams. She told the jury at Durham Crown Court that when Sams, 54,
    entered the converted cell where she was holding one of her regular
    surgeries she immediately noticed that he was smiling.

    "He spoke to me and said, 'Touch that alarm button and you're dead'. I
    remember thinking it was almost a joke. I could not understand why he
    was doing this. I was in a state of disbelief. I saw he had a long
    metal object in his hand that was sharpened to a point. It looked like
    a long screwdriver.

    "The spike and some tape appeared as if by sleight of hand, and when I
    saw the point of the metal object I had a split-second realisation of
    the extreme danger I was in. I decided that I was in grave danger and I
    felt very fearful, and so I did press the alarm. Mr Sams got hold of me
    and physically overcame me with his arm and started to wield the metal
    object."

    Mrs Flack, whose husband, the Ven John Flack, is the Archdeacon of
    Pontefract, went on: "I was desperate to make sure that it did not get
    near me. I remember screaming very very loudly and began to feel I was
    losing control. He was beginning to take physical control of the fight
    . . . Both he and I were on the floor of the cell and at one point he
    was on top of me.

    "I was acutely aware I had to keep that weapon away from me because I
    knew it was going to hurt me or cut me or stab me. I was trying to hold
    out my hands to deflect it away from my body. Each time I made a move
    to push it away he made another move to wield it towards me and it
    became a constant battle. My impression was he was determined to use
    that weapon."

    Sams, who denies false imprisonment and attempted murder on Oct 23,
    1995, is representing himself. Handcuffed and flanked in the dock by
    four prison officers, he stood impassively as Peter Collier, QC, told
    the jury how he had allegedly prepared a sharpened rod and a length of
    tape with which he tried to strangle Mrs Flack.

    In the weeks leading up to the incident, said Mr Collier, Sams had been
    complaining about his treatment in Wakefield's B wing. He had decided
    to imprison a probation officer so that police would be called and his
    grievances heard. He made inquiries as to when a woman probation
    officer would be next on the block. On Oct 23 he was sixth or seventh
    in line to see Mrs Flack. Once seated at the same side of a table, Sams
    allegedly produced the weapon and issued his warning that the probation
    officer, who had 27 years' experience, would die if she touched the
    alarm.

    "Sams expected that she, as a mere woman, would melt with fear," said
    Mr Collier. "He didn't reckon with Mrs Flack. He didn't know her. What
    she did was to feel for the panic button. He saw her reach out and he
    said, 'Right, you're dead'."

    Guards and inmates rushed to help Mrs Flack, forcing the door. Mr
    Collier said: "When he entered that cell his intention was to hold her
    as some kind of hostage until his grievances were heard. When she went
    for the panic button his plan quickly changed. At that point his
    intention was not less than to kill."

    After her evidence Mrs Flack faced Sams for 10 minutes as he
    cross-examined her in a faltering voice. Mr Justice Morland reminded
    the jurors that they should ignore anything they might have read or
    heard about the case or Sams's convictions.

    The trial continues.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Russians 'exporting syphilis'
    
    By Celia Hall, Medical Editor 

    BRITISH businessmen travelling in Russia and Poland are bringing back
    syphilis, now rare in the UK, doctors say today.

    In the last six months doctors in genito-urinary clinics in Oxfordshire
    treated three men for the disease. One man had gonorrhoea as well. A
    second had infected his wife and the wife of another is suspected of
    having syphilis.

    A fourth case, a Russian woman whose fianc� had visited her in Britain,
    has also been treated for syphilis. Dr Anne Edwards and Dr Jackie
    Sherrard of the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, say in the journal
    Genito-urinary Medicine: "While the risk of acquiring HIV through sex
    in sub-Saharan Africa and south-east Asia is well recognised and even
    mentioned in holiday brochures, the risks of casual sex in Russia and
    other former East bloc countries are less well appreciated."

    Russia has been hit by a near-epidemic of venereal disease since the
    collapse of the former Soviet Union. Sixty per cent more Russians were
    infected with syphilis last year than in 1995. Its incidence is now 177
    for every 100,000 people compared with three per 100,000 in Europe.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Racehorse kicks baby out of pram
    
    By Sean O'Neill 

    A BABY is being treated in a specialist head injuries unit after being
    kicked from his pram by a racehorse.

    Doctors say Jordan Finch, who was thrown into a drainage ditch, could
    have permanent brain damage. His condition at Frenchay Hospital,
    Bristol, was described yesterday as stable. Jordan, aged 14 weeks, was
    being pushed by his mother, Jane, 27, along a farm track at Charlton
    Adam, near Yeovil, Somerset, when they met two racehorses being
    exercised from nearby stables.

    Mrs Finch ushered her two older children, Daniel, seven, and Naomi,
    five, close into the hedge as the second horse, Smiling Chief, became
    agitated. The horse's rider struggled to control it and the animal
    suddenly bucked, catching the side of the pram, throwing the baby into
    a ditch.

    Mrs Finch realised the seriousness of the situation only when the
    horses had passed and she saw that Jordan was not in the pram. She
    found her son several yards along the lane, lying on his back in a
    ditch. She gathered up the baby and rushed back to the main road from
    where she telephoned for an ambulance.

    Jordan was taken to Yeovil District Hospital but was discharged after a
    check-up. But later that day his condition deteriorated rapidly and he
    suffered severe swelling. His parents drove him 50 miles to Bristol,
    where the Frenchay has a renowned neurological unit. Steven Finch, 37,
    a shopkeeper, who has been at his son's bedside since he was admitted
    to the hospital, said the wait for news about the boy's recovery was
    nightmarish.

    "The doctors do not know what will happen to Jordan," he said. "They
    are doing everything they can but it is too early to say. Jane has been
    under sedation since the incident. She is finding it hard to cope."

    Smiling Chief, a 10-year-old chestnut gelding, is owned by a consortium
    and trained at the Cedar Lodge stables in Charlton Adam. Ron Hodges,
    the horse's trainer, said: "It was a terrible freak accident and we all
    deeply regret what happened. In all my 25 years of training horses this
    has never happened before."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Cashpoint 'spy' let thief steal at will
    
    By Maurice Weaver 

    A CROOK who taught himself electronics in prison invented a "spy in the
    wall" system that let him milk bank accounts by syphoning money from
    cashpoints, a court was told yesterday.

    Mindy Fairchild, 32, used a hidden miniature camera to film customers
    tapping in their PIN numbers and a second device to trap cards in the
    machine. When frustrated customers walked off, minus cash and their
    cards, he would retrieve the cards and, armed with the PIN numbers,
    make "phantom" withdrawals, Northampton Crown Court was told.

    Fairchild, whose crime was said by Judge Richard Bray to "put at risk
    the whole cashpoint system in this country", was jailed for five years.
    The main targets were banks in London and the Home Counties and the
    defendant's takings amounted to �35,000, which was hoarded in five
    separate bank accounts.

    But detectives suspect he may have had other accounts and that his true
    "profit" might have run into six figures. Geoffrey Solomons,
    prosecuting, said it had been a sophisticated scheme. Fairchild, from
    Wellingborough, Northants, "must be considered intelligent and
    considerably skilled" because he made much of the equipment himself, Mr
    Solomons said.

    There were two components to his kit: the camera, hidden in a false
    panel that looked like an advertising frame, stuck to the side of the
    cashpoint. A tiny lens watched the keypad and sent signals to a monitor
    in Fairchild's car, parked nearby.

    Then there was the "card catcher" - a piece of plastic fitting exactly
    over the card slot but with a ribbon extending into the machine. The
    effect was to persuade it that the card was faulty and should be
    retained. The thief was arrested while using a cashpoint and was found
    to have �2,500 in cash on him. Fairchild, who changed his name by
    deed-poll from Mahinder Singh Rupal admitted the charges.

    He was said to have hatched his plot to raise money to finance an
    application for residency status for his Malaysian-born wife. She
    admitted two counts of theft and was sentenced to a year's jail. She
    now faces deportation. Judge Bray ordered that the couple's assets be
    seized.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Pony girls chase and capture a 6ft thief
    
    By Sean O'Neill 

    TWO girls mucking out their ponies chased a man they noticed near the
    stables and forced him to hand over �280 that had been stolen from the
    building.

    Kelly Sparkes, 14, and her friend, Catherine Acton, 12, confronted the
    broadly-built, 6ft 5in man at Millhouse Stables, Compton Dando, near
    Bath, Somerset. He ran away and the two girls gave chase. "We caught up
    with him and shouted, 'Hand over the money,' " said Catherine. "He
    seemed surprised and denied having the money. Then he handed it over
    and said something like, 'You've got the money, now let me go.' We
    grabbed the arms of his coat. He struggled a bit but I don't think he
    knew what to make of it because we were just small girls. We held him
    for about two or three minutes and were yelling to get other people to
    come and help. When a load of grown-ups arrived the man struggled free,
    but they managed to catch him and I called the police. He was pretty
    shocked. He thought he had got away with it."

    Kelly, whose mother, Ann, owns the stables, said the policeman who
    arrested the man could not believe it. "He said that if we had been
    17-year-old boys he might well have hit us." She said they had chased
    him without considering the danger. "We were just really cross at him
    for taking the money". Catherine added: "I wasn't worried at the time,
    I was just angry at him for coming into the stables. But afterwards, I
    was shaking."

    Mrs Sparkes said: "I'm proud of them. Many men would not have done what
    they did."

    An Avon and Somerset police spokesman said: "These girls did extremely
    well. It was a courageous and public-spirited act, especially
    considering their age, not to mention their size."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Britain allows race murders, says mother
    
    By John Steele, Crime Correspondent 

    THE mother of Stephen Lawrence, the black teenager stabbed to death by
    white youths as he waited for a bus, told an inquest yesterday she
    believed the judicial system allowed racist murders.

    Mrs Doreen Lawrence claimed at the reopened hearing that police
    investigating the killing had initially stereotyped her 18-year-old son
    as a member of a criminal gang and allowed evidence to be lost. She
    described Stephen at Southwark coroner's court as a friendly and quiet
    A-level student who was "loved by everyone". 

    Stephen Lawrence was stabbed as he waited for a bus in Eltham,
    south-east London, in April 1993. Last year three white men were
    acquitted when a private murder prosecution brought by the family
    collapsed at the Old Bailey. The Crown Prosecution Service had decided
    not to pursue the case because of insufficient evidence.

    "My son was murdered nearly four years ago. His killers are still
    walking the street," Mrs Lawrence told the inquest. "When my son was
    murdered, the police saw my son as a criminal belonging to a gang.

    "My son was stereotyped by the police. He was black, then he must be a
    criminal, and they set about to investigate him and us. Their
    investigation lasted two weeks, that allowed vital evidence to be
    lost." Her son's crime, she said, "was that he was walking down the
    road looking out for a bus that would take him home".

    "Our crime was living in a country where the justice system supports
    racist murders against innocent people. The value that this white
    racist country puts on black lives is evident to see since the killing
    of my son."

    Mrs Lawrence added: "In my opinion what happened in the Crown Court was
    staged, meaning it was decided long before we entered the courtroom
    what would happen, that the judge would not allow the evidence to be
    presented to the jury."

    She said she and her husband searched for their son after a neighbour
    told them he had seen the attack. They drove to the local hospital.
    Staff refused to let them see Stephen, who died of a haemorrhage due to
    stab wounds to the chest and arm.

    Mrs Lawrence claimed police at the hospital failed to talk to the
    couple until the next morning. "No one told us anything at that stage."
    She accused officers of being "very patronising" and dismissive of her
    information.

    On her first visit to a police station she tried to present an officer
    with a list of names of possible people involved. "He folded the paper
    and rolled it into a ball in his hand. I asked him if he was going to
    put it in a bin. They were not taking my son's death as seriously as
    they should have done," she said. The hearing continues.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    'Delays' hindering lung cancer cures
    
    By Celia Hall, Medical Editor 

    LUNG cancer patients may miss the chance of a cure because of delays,
    poor standards and variations in treatments, according to a hospital
    consultant.

    Jeremy George, of the Department of Thoracic Medicine, Middlesex
    Hospital, London, said a significant number of sufferers never saw a
    specialist. Writing in today's issue of the medical journal Thorax, he
    said this meant they were less likely to be offered chemotherapy or
    radiotherapy.

    Lung cancer kills 40,000 people a year in Britain and cases are rising
    in women. It is the most common cancer in men and the third most common
    in women. Dr George said the average time between diagnosis and surgery
    was 109 days when national guidelines said that surgery should be
    carried out within six to eight weeks. He added that treatments in
    Britain were falling behind those in other countries - with some
    patients who had operable tumours being denied surgery.

    In 1995 the Department of Health called for cancer services in Britain
    to be reorganised around specialist centres. Dr George said this would
    help to raise standards and make care more uniform. But he warned that
    sophisticated screening methods being developed in America would only
    increase demand on "our already stretched lung cancer service".

    Services needed to be arranged so that patients could be assessed and
    treated promptly and effectively, he said. Dr George added: "At the
    very least, this will reduce the anxiety that patients suffer and may
    also ensure that more are offered curative surgery. If we can develop
    effective methods for early diagnosis, prompt management may also
    improve the outcome."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Doctor used heroin he stole in ward

    A DOCTOR who stole heroin and injected himself while treating patients
    was given a suspended prison sentence yesterday.

    Leonard Warne, 35, an anaesthetist, took Diamorphine - used to ease a
    mother's pain after a caesarean section - and injected it into his
    hand. Warne walked into a ward where women were being treated and took
    the drug from syringes, claiming he wanted to check it, Manchester
    Crown Court was told.

    When arrested Warne, of Stoke-on-Trent, said: "I had a habit of sorts.
    The drug was easily available to me and it gave me a slight buzz." He
    was given a nine-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, after
    admitting 15 instances of stealing the drug at The Royal Oldham
    Hospital, Greater Manchester.

    Miss Tina Landale, prosecuting, said Warne was arrested after patients
    told nurses that he had removed the drug from syringes.

    Alan Conrad, defending, said that Warne became "unhappy and unsettled"
    after starting at the Royal Oldham and there was "evidence of loss of
    confidence and self esteem.

    "There were long hours, he felt he was an outsider, he had written off
    his car and there were difficulties in a relationship with a woman.
    Against that background it might explain his behaviour. No doubt as an
    anaesthetist he knew of the short-term euphoria obtained by using this
    drug. A police officer linked his case to someone working in a
    sweetshop."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Random checks on coach seatbelts
    
    By Paul Marston, Transport Correspondent 

    PLANS for roadside checks to see if coaches carrying children are
    complying with the new requirement to fit seatbelts will be announced
    next month.

    The Department of Transport said it was likely that random inspections,
    which already take place to assess standards of maintenance, would be
    extended to cover seatbelts. In addition, belts would be included in
    annual vehicle checks. 

    The legislation making the safety equipment compulsory in minibuses and
    coaches carrying three or more children came into force yesterday. But
    safety campaigners criticised the absence of inspection procedures and
    the fact that coach operators were not being made legally responsible
    to ensure that belts were worn.

    Industry surveys have found that more than 50 per cent of coaches
    registered since 1988 have already fitted belts, although the
    requirement does not affect vehicles used for non-school contracts.
    Belts are rarer on older coaches, which have been allowed an extra year
    to satisfy the legislation. Some schools have refused to use vehicles
    without belts after the school minibus crash on the M40 in the west
    Midlands in 1993 in which 12 children and a teacher were killed.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Country life is no calmer for Buddhists
    
    By Michael Fleet 

    MONKS who moved from London to Sussex to seek peace and quiet have
    found their solitude spoiled by ramblers using a footpath next to their
    estate.

    The Sangha order of Buddhists live a life of "celibacy, frugality and
    harmonious conduct" on a 150-acre estate near Midhurst, West Sussex.
    But a footpath that borders their estate has become popular with
    walkers, causing the monks to apply for it to be re-routed.

    West Sussex county council has agreed to move the footpath further away
    from the monastery. John Kilford, a council planning officer, said that
    ramblers would also benefit because a new path offered better walking
    conditions and more attractive views.

    The monks were unavailable for comment yesterday. An answering machine
    message said they were in silent retreat until the end of February.
                                                                       

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Armed police arrest three in McDonald's
    
    By John Steele, Crime Correspondent 

    ARMED police in civilian clothes arrested two men and a woman in a
    McDonald's restaurant yesterday as part of an investigation into a
    �50,000 blackmail plot against a businessman.

    Officers made the arrests, in Oxford Street, central London, as the
    suspects sat drinking coffee. They were ordered to lie on the floor. An
    associate of the businessman, carrying a briefcase with money, had
    arranged to meet them in the restaurant as police reached the end of a
    two-week inquiry. Scotland Yard said one of the men was Spanish.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Killer may be offered deal in hunt for body
    
    By Sean O'Neill 

    A CHILD killer may be given immunity from prosecution over the murder
    of a girl 19 years ago if he provides information leading to the
    discovery of her remains.

    The body of Genette Tate, who was 13 when she disappeared while on a
    newspaper round in Aylesbeare, near Exeter, Devon, in August 1978, has
    never been found. 

    Detectives suspect that Robert Black, who is serving 10 life sentences
    for the murders of three other girls, may have killed her. Black has
    been linked by petrol receipts to the area where Genette disappeared. A
    van of the kind he was driving was also seen.

    John Tate, whose daughter is still officially listed as a missing
    person, said yesterday that police were considering the possibility of
    offering Black immunity in an effort to resolve the case.

    "We have had lots of discussions about it with the police and in the
    beginning we said we would go along with it," said Mr Tate. "But it
    would not simply be a question of the killer confessing to it and
    putting his hands up. I want to know where Genette is so that we can
    lay her to rest."

    Mr Tate said that if Genette's body was found it would be difficult,
    after almost 20 years, for forensic scientists to discover anything
    about who killed her.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Private medicine costs may be cut for local patients
    
    By David Fletcher, Health Correspondent 

    TWO of the biggest health insurers are to cut the cost of private
    health care. The move comes at a time of rising prices and falling
    patient numbers.

    PPP Healthcare estimates that it could cut prices by up to 15 per cent
    for patients who are willing to be treated in a named local hospital,
    fully checked and recommended by PPP, rather than having a choice of
    virtually any private hospital. PPP believes that by using fewer
    hospitals it will be able to offer each of them more work and thereby
    drive down unit costs and achieve savings which will be passed on to
    patients. 

    It announced that its first "partner hospitals" will be the Nuffield
    Hospital, Bournemouth, Harbour Hospital, Poole, Park Hospital,
    Nottingham and Thornbury Hospital, Sheffield. Patients in those four
    areas who agree to be treated in the partner hospitals will receive the
    guarantee of an en suite private room and will have their premiums
    frozen at current levels - equivalent, say PPP, to a 15 per cent cut.

    Those who prefer to retain their existing choice of where to be treated
    will be subject to the normal annual increases in premium and will not
    be given the same guarantee over accommodation. PPP is planning to
    extend its partnership arrangements to 150 hospitals over the next two
    years when patients in all parts of the country will be given the
    option of a price freeze.

    The hospitals will include four top private London hospitals - the
    Harley Street Clinic, the Portland, Princess Grace and Wellington
    hospitals - which PPP co-owns. At the same time it is putting up to �15
    million a year into cancer units in NHS hospitals, including Guy's and
    St Thomas's and the Royal Marsden, in return for their agreement to
    treat PPP patients.

    Norwich Union, the third biggest health insurer, announced that it has
    made a similar "preferred provider" deal with the 34-strong chain of
    hospitals in the Nuffield group. The moves to cut costs reflect rapidly
    rising premiums. Norwich Union, for example, is raising rates this year
    for its Personal Care policies by an average of 12 per cent for under
    40s and by 18 per cent for those over that age.

    There are fears, however, that moves to concentrate treatment on fewer
    hospitals may lead to closure of some of the 227 private hospitals,
    many of which are currently only half full. The current issue of
    Laing's Review of Private Healthcare says: "There appears to be a
    growing recognition that sustained reductions in prices can only be
    achieved if some private hospitals close and if others can spread their
    fixed costs over higher volumes of work." 

    Figures issued recently by the Association of British Insurers show
    that the number of privately insured patients has dropped by one
    million over the past seven years.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Boring road puts drivers to sleep
    
    By Paul Marston, Transport Correspondent 

    A STRETCH of dual carriageway suspected of being so boring that it
    makes drivers fall asleep is to be investigated by the Government's
    Highways Agency.

    The eastbound route of the A180 between the outskirts of Scunthorpe and
    Grimsby Docks has a sleep-related accident rate two-and-a-half times
    the national average. Research carried out by Loughborough University
    for Humberside police suggested that drivers tended to relax because
    they were nearing the end of their journey, and then had difficulty in
    staying awake because the road was so unstimulating.

    Prof Jim Horne, head of the university's sleep research team, said that
    the view along the 20-mile road was exceptionally tedious. "It's pretty
    dull and boring, and often not very busy, so drivers don't even have
    the stimulation of other traffic to keep them going," he said. "It's
    also very flat, and a lot of it has embankments running alongside. At
    night, it's not lit, so you can't see much."

    Sleep-induced incidents account for a quarter of all collisions on the
    road, and caused four deaths in 1995. Nationally, sleep is thought to
    be a factor in 10 per cent of road accidents. Prof Horne said another
    possible reason for the A180's high number of accidents was the fact
    that motorists joining it from the M180 did not always realise they had
    moved from a three-lane to a two-lane carriageway. "The road has a lot
    of lay-bys, and some drivers may mistake them for the slow lane. If
    they then move into what they think is the slow lane, they have a
    problem."

    Researchers also found that risks were increased because some of the
    lay-bys were positioned on right-hand bends. Drivers who fell asleep
    would carry straight on and crash into vehicles parked in them.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Six survive 700ft fall, swept by avalanche

    A MOTHER described yesterday how she watched helplessly as an avalanche
    engulfed her two children and their four companions during a weekend
    climb on a mountainside.

    The party of friends had been scaling the notorious Cinderella route
    3,000 feet up on the Cliffs of Coire Ardair, part of the 3,700ft Creag
    Meaghaidh, near Laggan, Inverness-shire, when a huge block of snow
    broke away from the summit.

    Janet Wedgewood, 55, said: "We were walking below when suddenly I saw
    the six of them tumbling down the mountain. When they came to rest they
    were all motionless and I was really worried."

    Christopher Poole, 32, one of the climbers, found his five companions
    still alive after the avalanche pushed them 700 feet down the
    mountainside. Mr Poole, who owns a ski shop in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs,
    said: "The snow simply engulfed me from above. 

    "It swept me down and then hit my colleagues behind me. When we reached
    the bottom 700 feet below, I began to shout to find the others. It took
    me around five minutes to find them. Luckily they were all on the
    surface. It was only later that I found out that the pain in my leg was
    a broken ankle."

    Mr Poole said that when the accident happened he had been roped to
    27-year-old Malcolm Lewis, a physiotherapist from New Zealand, who has
    been working in Britain for four years. Mr Lewis, who has spinal
    injuries, said: "It seemed to take an eternity on the way down. It was
    an absolutely terrifying experience."

    Behind them were two pairs of brothers and sisters, Donald and Penny
    Naylor, and Tom and Ruth Wedgewood. Ruth Wedgewood, 26, a teacher in
    Lancaster, and her brother Tom were both being treated for leg
    injuries. Another member of the party, Donald Naylor, was transferred
    to a spinal injuries unit in Glasgow. His condition was described as
    "comfortable". His sister Penny was being treated for leg injuries.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    High Court judge tries a case of whiskey
    
    By A J McIlroy 

    A JUDGE has been asked to decide what is whisky in a High Court battle
    between two of the world's biggest drink companies and an independent
    distillery on the Isle of Man.

    The question was put to Mr Justice Rattee yesterday by counsel acting
    for Allied Domecq and United Distillers which, with the Scotch Whisky
    Association, have challenged the right of the Glen Kella independent
    distillery to label its product "Manx Whiskey".

    After handing the judge eight bottles containing conventional whisky
    and another of the Glen Kella product, Simon Thorley, QC, opening the
    case, said: "This is not an action about Scotch whisky. It is an action
    purely about whisky, whether spelled whisky or whiskey. The fundamental
    question that is going to arise is 'What is whisky - and is what the
    defendant is selling properly described as whisky?' "

    The judge observed before he was handed the whisky bottles from the
    barristers' "bar" in Court 18 at London's Royal Courts, where lawyers
    usually pile their papers: "You appear to be well stocked down there."

    The judge, who is expected to be invited to sample the evidence at some
    point during the proceedings, scheduled to last 10 days, was told by Mr
    Thorley that the Glen Kella White Manx Whiskey did not comply with the
    European regulations. These laid down the legal requirements for a
    product to be called "whisky" or "whiskey".

    Mr Thorley also claimed that the Glen Kella Distillery, which is based
    at the village of Sulby on the Isle of Man, and which produces around
    30,000 bottles a year, mainly for export, was guilty of "passing off"
    its product as whisky when it was not.

    He said the product was known in the trade as a "water white liquid".
    The defendant's process resulted in changing the yellow Scotch whisky
    into a water white product. He said that true whisky was made by
    maturing a spirit distilled from fermented cereals, and that no product
    could call itself whisky if it had been redistilled after it had been
    matured.

    Glen Kella's managing director, Andrew Dixon, who is also an Isle of
    Man sheep farmer and a microbiologist at the island's hospital, was in
    court. The hearing continues.

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Radox bath secret is out of the bottle
    
    By Fiona McPhillips 

    A STUDENT has attempted to manufacture a version of Radox bubble bath
    after noticing - while taking a bath - that its "secret ingredients"
    were listed on the back of the bottle in Latin.

    Trinj Masal, 36, took advantage of an EU directive brought in this year
    which says that all contents must be listed on cosmetics and toiletries
    to protect people who have allergies.

    With the aid of a dictionary of herbs, Mr Masal, an information
    technology student at Leeds University, translated the 13 herbs and
    minerals in the Radox formula before calling family friends in the
    pharmaceuticals industry in India with his idea.

    "It was fairly simple to translate the ingredients," said Mr Masal. "I
    knew they would be a lot cheaper to buy in India and that my friends
    could make up the formula for a fraction of the cost. If we got the
    right result then we could sell the bubble bath here in Britain at a
    lot cheaper price than Radox."

    His partners in India found all the ingredients, including camomile,
    horse chestnut, comfrey, jasmine and rosemary. The first batch of
    sample bubble bath, which Mr Masal calls Raymond Docks, has now arrived
    in Britain. Although an application to the Patent Office has not yet
    been made, Michael Lander, a business consultant working with Mr Masal,
    is confident it will sell.

    "We don't envisage any problem with the name," Mr Lander said
    yesterday. "We are confident that Raymond Docks is of a superior
    quality to Radox." However, a spokesman for Sara Lee, makers of Radox,
    doubted yesterday whether Mr Masal's bubble bath would match their
    standards.

    "Although cosmestics and toiletries ingredients are listed, they do not
    give the measures of each ingredient. It will be very difficult to
    reproduce the Radox formula," she said. "We believe our products are
    better than others. The big companies have not been able to take our
    position as number one, so we are not unduly worried."

    Although the formula for Radox is not protected by a patent, Mr Masal
    may face legal obstacles over his choice of brand name. Michael Ajello,
    a patent's expert, said yesterday: "Even without a patent on their
    formula, the Radox people could take action against him for
    plagiarising their product."

    A spokesman for Radox said yesterday: "If anyone comes out with a name
    that is extremely similar, we will protect our intellectual property
    rights. Radox is a registered trade mark."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Membership is booming at the millionaires' club
    
    By Roland Gribben and Ben Fenton 

    LOOK carefully around when you are next in a crowded train or theatre
    because at least one of your companions could be a millionaire,
    according to a survey yesterday.

    With company directors made wealthy by City takeovers and increases in
    the value of pension funds and property, one Briton in 550 is today
    worth at least �1 million - and the number is rising by 10,000 a year.

    Figures gathered by the consultancy group Datamonitor show that the
    number of millionaires grew from 31,100 in 1991 to more than 81,000
    this year. Of that total, about 67,000 have a net worth between �1-�2
    million, 9,500 up to �5 million and 4,000 have assets with a greater
    value.

    The analysts included savings and pensions and estimated the value of
    paintings and other disposable assets to reach the totals.

    In 1995, the cut-off date for the report, there were 2,000 new
    millionaires older than 65, 1,200 who had inherited their wealth and
    810 who were self-made. Now, there are at least 19,000 millionaires
    over 65 - they form the fastest growing wealth group - while 17,000
    have received most of their money though inheritance.

    But while some of the new millionaires have made vast sums from
    corporate dealing, there remains a large sector of British society
    whose wealth is property.

    One recently-made millionaire is Sandy Anderson, managing director of
    Porterbrook, a train leasing company which was bought by Stagecoach for
    �825 million eight months after he spent �150,000 buying it. His shares
    are now worth about �40 million.

    "Being a millionaire doesn't make any difference to what you are as a
    person," said the 41-year-old father of three who came from a
    working-class background.

    "My mum and dad wouldn't look on me any differently because I am a
    millionaire and they wouldn't be proud of me because I am. Money gives
    you flexibility, but I would much rather keep the friends I had before
    I got the money."

    Asked about the attitudes of other wealthy people to the nouveau riche,
    he said: "Whether people are looking down on me or not, I don't really
    care. I hope I am more concerned about people who have less money than
    I am for those who have more or who have older money." 

    The case of Lord Palmer, owner of Manderston, a 1,500-acre estate in
    Berwickshire, paints a different picture, however. The great silver
    staircase in his house is probably worth enough alone to include him in
    the survey, but he says he lives on a financial "knife-edge".

    "Because one lives in a beautiful house surrounded by beautiful things,
    everybody assumes one is enormously rich and that is the worst stigma.
    The truth is that one is very strapped for cash. I remember recently my
    wife and I debating whether we should go on a �360 or a �370 package
    holiday," he said.

    Lord Palmer, the fourth baron, who inherited the estate from his
    mother's family and his title from his father's, said Manderston was
    exempt from tax on condition that it was open to the public.

    "If I sold everything I suppose I would be a very rich man, even after
    tax, but then I would not have ownership of one of the most beautiful
    houses in the country, its fabulous stables and beautiful grounds. It's
    Catch-22."

    UK News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Sweet singer Connolly dies aged 52
    
    By Alison Boshoff, Media Correspondent 

    BRIAN Connolly, 52, the leader of Sweet, the "glam-rock" band that
    outraged 1970s parents by appearing decked in glitter and caked in
    heavy make-up, died yesterday from kidney failure.

    The half-brother of the late actor Mark McManus, who played Taggart in
    the television detective series, Connolly enjoyed the excessive
    lifestyle of a 1970s rock star. At the height of his success he had
    eight cars, a yacht and a mansion, but was most recently living in a
    council house and drawing unemployment benefit.

    He made no secret of the rock-and-roll lifestyle he had enjoyed,
    saying: "They were wild, crazy days and nights, but booze was my
    downfall rather than drugs."

    Sweet sold 50 million records worldwide, with a No 1 in England,
    Blockbuster, and a No 3 in America, Little Willy. They had other hits
    with Wig Wam Bam and Ballroom Blitz. In 1974 the band ended their
    association with the RCA songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and
    the hits dried up. Connolly left Sweet in 1979, but did not enjoy solo
    success.

    He renounced alcohol after two heart attacks. While recovering from the
    second, his heart stopped six times. Doctors said it was miraculous he
    had survived. Connolly was planning to revive the band for a stage show
    next year, but he had another heart attack in January. He died in
    hospital in Slough, Berks.

    The singer Suzi Quatro said: "They were great days, when music was fun.
    But Brian did live the rock-and-roll lifestyle. Some people didn't know
    how to separate that and real life. But I admired the way he went out
    there. He wasn't in good condition, and he had the shakes, but he still
    wanted to do it."

    Sweet's guitarist Andy Scott said: "Everybody's image of Sweet was
    Brian. It was what he was put on this earth for."

    International News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    30 shot dead by Chinese after race riot killings

    AT least 30 ethnic Uighurs have been killed by Chinese troops after a
    march by 1,000 youths demanding independence for the remote Xinjiang
    province turned to rioting in which ethnic Chinese were beaten to
    death.

    Quoting Uighurs arriving in Kazakhstan, a spokesman for the exiled
    United Revolutionary National Front said a dusk-to-dawn curfew had been
    imposed on the border town of Yining after the riots, in which
    protesters were gunned down by Chinese soldiers. A Hong Kong newspaper
    reported that more than 10 ethnic Chinese were killed and 100 others
    were injured in Yining by rioting Muslim separatists of the Uighur
    majority population.

    The Ming Pao daily quoted a resident as saying that the violence last
    Wednesday and Thursday in the city of Yining was the worst since the
    1949 Communist revolution. Some 1,000 Muslims, mostly aged 17 and 18,
    had beaten up, killed and burned their victims before police quashed
    the violence, it said.

    The Front described the riots as "a spontaneous movement by Uighurs in
    the face of discrimination imposed by the Chinese". It denied that the
    demonstration had been organised by Uighur separatist political
    movements. "These violent demonstrations were unexpected, even for us."

    A Xinjiang government official confirmed that police had quelled
    protests last week in Yining. "There was a protest . . . It was
    illegal. Illegal protests are curbed." Clashes are periodically
    reported in Xinjiang, where the Turkic-speaking Uighurs face an influx
    of ethnic Chinese.

    The Uighurs had their own Republic of East Turkestan from 1944 to 1949.
    Xinjiang, covering one-sixth of China and with a population of 16.6
    million, is now one of five autonomous regions. Mining, also known as
    Gulja, was the site of Sino-Soviet clashes in the 1960s and is still
    run like a garrison, with few Chinese daring to venture out at night.

    A resurgence of separatist sentiment throughout Xinjiang in the past
    year has been largely blamed on the collapse of the Soviet Union in
    central Asia and the resurgence of Islam through Kazakhstan and its
    neighbours. The Yining riots came as Xinjiang's top government official
    gave warning that separatism and illegal religious activity are to be
    the main targets of law enforcers. "We will form a united front against
    separatists, isolating and attacking those who take that road," said
    Abdulahat Abdurixit.

    International News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    'Black Widow' denies killing companions

    AN Austrian widow accused of murdering an elderly male companion for
    his $100,000 inheritance and widely suspected of other killings went on
    trial yesterday.

    Labelled the "Black Widow" by the tabloid press, Elfriede Blauensteiner
    swept into court carrying a crucifix and proclaiming: "I'm innocent. My
    hands are clean." She fielded reporters' questions for half an hour
    before entering a not guilty plea on charges of murder and attempted
    fraud. Her former lawyer, Harald Schmidt, 40, also pleaded not guilty
    to the same charges.

    The courtroom in Krems, 30 miles west of Vienna, was crammed with
    reporters attracted by lurid publicity that depicted Blauensteiner as a
    multiple murderer who poisoned several elderly companions to finance
    her gambling habit.

    After she was arrested early last year, police claimed she had
    confessed to five murders. She now denies any wrongdoing. State
    prosecutors who ordered several exhumations found traces of a drug that
    lowers blood sugar in the body of Alois Pichler, 77, a widower who died
    in November 1995, months after meeting Blauensteiner through a
    newspaper advertisement. She had then moved in to care for him.

    Friedrich Kutschera, the state prosecutor, accused Blauensteiner of
    giving Pichler at least 70 doses of a drug known as euglucon in his
    milk. A day before Mr Pichler's death, she then allegedly gave him 20
    tranquillisers before putting him in a cold bath so that he died of
    heart failure.

    The prosecutor accused Schmidt of helping Blauensteiner to put the
    pensioner in the tub and of falsifying Mr Pichler's will so that it
    appeared she inherited his savings. Blauensteiner is said to have
    learned about drugs to lower blood sugar when she treated a diabetic
    male friend who died in 1986.

    Her second husband, Rudolf Blauensteiner, died in August 1992 after
    being in a mysterious coma for 10 days.Four months later, a wealthy
    woman who was Blauensteiner's neighbour in Vienna died after being
    cared for by her. She had changed her will in favour of Blauensteiner.
    In June 1995, a 65-year-old man whom Blauensteiner also got to know
    through a newspaper advert died after more than a year in her care.

    Blauensteiner, who was born in poverty, has admitted to a passion for
    gambling, which she says gave her the cash to raise and educate a
    daughter by a short-lived first marriage. The trial is expected to last
    two weeks.

    International News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    Child's footprints marks a step back in time for man
    
    By Laura Spinney, Science Correspondent 

    THE discovery of a 12,500-year-old footprint in Chile has undermined
    theories of how and when the earliest human beings first arrived in the
    Americas.

    An archaeological expedition to Monte Verde, 500 miles south of
    Santiago, has confirmed that thousands of artefacts found alongside the
    child's footprint, which was impressed in layers of sediment, are
    relics of early mankind. Previous work has dated the site from 12,500
    years ago.

    At a press conference yesterday, the 10 American, Chilean and Colombian
    experts who took part in the expedition agreed that the artefacts are
    probably around 1,300 years older than the oldest human tools found to
    date. The time from which the spear-heads date - around 11,200 years
    ago - is known as the "Clovis horizon", thought to mark the time when
    man first set foot in the New World. Controversy has raged over whether
    humans could have existed in the Americas before then.

    According to Alex Barker, curator of archaeology at the Dallas Museum
    of Natural History, there is genetic evidence to suggest the earliest
    Americans were descendants of humans in Asia.

    International News Electronic Telegraph Tuesday 11 February 1997 Issue 627

    The Prime Minister and the Three Bears: a cautionary tale of Kremlin
    overkill
    
    By Alan Philps in Yaroslavl province 
                                         
    WHEN affable Viktor Chernomyrdin went down to the woods, he was in for
    a nasty surprise - his big game trophy was a mother and her cubs and he
    is now seen as a butcher.

    Last autumn a game-keeper in Yaroslavl province, north-east of Moscow,
    made a valuable discovery: the lair of a hibernating bear. Quickly
    pulling his dogs away, lest they frighten the beast away, he returned
    after the first snows to discover tracks in the snow of two adult bears
    and some cubs.

    By mid-December, when the bear would be soundly sleeping, he took the
    risk of returning with a puppy whose yelping confirmed there was a
    trophy waiting for someone to shoot. "I told one person about the lair,
    and then the whole province knew," said the game-keeper, Alexei
    Klimentyev, 26.

    News reached the province's governor, Anatoly Lisitsin, who saw an
    opportunity to curry favour with Moscow. There had been a big rivalry
    among the northern provinces for the honour of providing the prime
    minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin - a possible successor to the ailing
    Boris Yeltsin - with his first bearskin.

    Thus began the story of the Prime Minister and the Three Bears, a
    typically Russian tale of a hunting party organised to impress a
    visiting dignitary, but which turned out to be deeply embarrassing to
    the premier. 

    There are two ways to kill a bear: in autumn you can wait, perhaps for
    weeks, for the animal to come to a field to gorge itself on grain, or
    leave some meat - a moose or a boar carcase - in the forest as a bait.
    But the bear is shy, and you may never see him. A surer way is to find
    a hibernating animal, and then set up the guns outside the lair. The
    risks of the creature escaping are nil.

    Despite the president's illness, Mr Chernomyrdin took a few days'
    holiday in mid-January. The game-keepers had been told to reserve the
    bear for an important visitor: how important became clear when a field
    was cleared of snow to make a helicopter landing pad, and a track made
    to it from the road.

    On Jan 12, two helicopters arrived from Moscow carrying about 30 people
    - the prime minister, his bodyguards, special communications experts.
    There was even medical assistance and a vet, to see if the meat was fit
    for human consumption. (It is rather sweet, but bear grease, mixed with
    vodka, is prized as a chest rub). Ten men arrayed themselves around the
    bear's lair like a firing squad and the dogs were let loose to flush it
    out. For 20 minutes nothing happened, and the hunters got a long stick
    to rouse the inhabitants. First shot went to the prime minister - but
    out came not a great growling adult, but a year-old cub. He shot it
    dead. The second baby bear was despatched equally quickly.

    The mother bear was slow to come out. A tree was cut down and its trunk
    driven into the lair to force her to meet her fate. This she did, and
    she was felled by the governor of the province. The men walked away.
    "We all had the usual 100 grams of vodka, the vet declared the meat fit
    for consumption, though no one took any of it away. Then they all set
    off home, " said Mr Klimentyev.

    One of the cubs is being stuffed for the prime minister, the mother's
    skin will be sent to Moscow in due course. The second cub proved unfit
    for stuffing: it had been badly shot. Technically, Mr Chernomyrdin did
    nothing wrong: he had a licence, and it is the practice to shoot any
    animal that emerges from a bear's lair, whether it is an angry male, or
    a tiny cub. But it still offended the hunting fraternity. "It's more
    like an execution than a form of sport," said Mr Klimentyev. 

    There is a long tradition of hunts being laid on for the Kremlin: for
    the doddering Leonid Brezhnev wild boar would be tied to trees so he
    could not miss them. When Fidel Castro came, the huntsmen were so
    worried he might not find any game that they dyed a pig black and
    pushed it in front of the Cuban leader's gun. But times have changed.
    Now the gamekeeper's miserable pay - �17 per month - and the governor's
    mean tip of about �35 do not seal their lips.

    The story emerged in a local paper and was picked up by the Moscow
    media. One weekly declared that the government "should be ashamed
    before the people, before God, and before their own consciences".

    Mr Chernomyrdin, an uncontroversial figure, protested that he had done
    nothing wrong. He challenged journalists to stand in front of a bear
    cave if they thought the trip such a doddle. Journalists at the
    magazine Ogonyok were threatened with losing two months' salary for
    publishing the story. Still, his exploits have turned against him. He
    no doubt hoped to borrow some of the glory of the 11th century Prince
    Yaroslav the Wise, who killed a man-eating bear with his battle-axe. A
    photograph of a bear hunt might have spiced up the Prime Ministerial
    image in an election campaign. But, secrets are not so easily kept
    these days. He will be remembered as the man who shot the bear cubs.

    AP 12-Feb-1997 1:01 EST   REF5632

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Wednesday, Feb. 12, 1997
   
    ECUADOR-PRESIDENT 

    QUITO, Ecuador (AP) -- A week-long political crisis that started with
    the ousting of the country's elected president may be resolved.
    Congress selected its own leader as Ecuador's interim president and
    Fabian Alarcon has been sworn in. He is to call elections within 12
    months and govern until August 1998. Alarcon replaced caretaker
    president Rosalia Arteaga. She resigned after initially insisting that
    she would stay in office until the constitution was amended to permit a
    replacement to be chosen for her. The situation beagn when Congress
    voted out President Abdala Bucaram, known as "El Loco," for "mental
    incapcity." 
   
    ARMY-SEX HARASSMENT 

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- A senior official says there are two more
    allegations of sexual harassment against the Army's top enlisted man
    and there could be a third. The official said the new allegations
    against Sergeant Major of the Army Gene McKinney were made after those
    by retired Sgt. Maj. Brenda Hoster. Hoster has accused McKinney of
    kissing her, grabbing her and demanding sex during a trip to Hawaii.
    McKinney has denied the allegations and the matter is under
    investigation. McKinney has been suspended pending the outcome. The
    official said he understood the new complaints were "not as grievous"
    as Hoster's, and that they involved verbal incidents and "kissing." 
   
    ASSISTED SUICIDE 

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- A man who is dying of AIDS and wants the
    right to commit suicide with his doctor's help must wait at least
    several more months. The state Supreme Court has reinstated a stay
    today and said it would hear arguments May 9. Charles Hall, 35, is the
    lone survivor in a 1996 lawsuit seeking the right to have a doctor
    prescribe him a lethal dose of drugs without interference from the
    state. The other men died before a ruling. The state had appealed that
    decision, automatically triggering a stay of the judge's ruling, before
    another judge lifted the stay. 
   
    AMERICAN PILOTS 

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- American Airlines and its pilots' union are keeping
    up negotiations aimed at heading off a weekend strike. The Allied
    Pilots Association and American's parent company, AMR Corp., met
    directly with each other Tuesday night after a federal mediator
    shuffled information back and forth between then during the day. If an
    agreement is not reached by midnight Friday, the end of a federally
    mandated cooling-off period, the pilots say they will strike and the
    airline says it will shut down, putting about 90,000 employees on
    unpaid furlough and grounding its fleet. 
   
    SIMPSON 

    SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) -- The focus for O.J. Simpson's lawyers now
    shifts to fighting the financial penalties a jury levied on their
    client. While Simpson played golf, his chief lawyer Robert Baker began
    formulating strategy to combat the $33.5 million in damages the
    football great was ordered to pay the families of Nicole Brown Simpson
    and Ron Goldman. Within two weeks, Baker is expected to ask the judge
    in the case to set aside the verdict, order a new trial or reduce the
    award as excessive. 
   
    PENA CONFIRMATION 

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Questions over Federico Pena's role in a Coast Guard
    decision to cancel a procurement contract with a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,
    company has delayed his confirmation as the next energy secretary. A
    Senate source said members of the Committee on Energy and Natural
    Resources have lingering questions on whether Pena intervened in the
    Coast Guard decision when he was transportation secretary. Pena's
    confirmation was supposed to go before the committee Wednesday for a
    vote. That vote is now delayed, possibly until Feb. 26. 
   
    OSCAR NOMINATIONS 

    BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- Madonna, who proclaimed herself Academy
    Award-worthy for her role in "Evita," did not receive an Oscar
    nomination today. The musical, based on the life of the wife of
    Argentine dictator Juan Peron, was also passed over in the best-picture
    category. "The English Patient" led with a total of 12 nominations. 
   
    MARKETS 

    TOKYO (AP) -- The dollar traded at 124.14 yen, up 0.90 yen in
    mid-morning. The Nikkei gained 230.09 points to 18,411.26. In New York,
    the Dow industrials closed up 51.57 to 6,858.11. The Nasdaq finished at
    1,331.51, down 3.83. 
   
    HORNETS-BULLS 

    CHICAGO (AP) -- Dennis Rodman tripped over a cameraman, but got his
    kicks by helping the Chicago Bulls beat the Charlotte Hornets 103-100
    on Michael Jordan's 3-pointer at the buzzer. Jordan scored 43 points
    and Rodman, in his return from an 11-game NBA suspension for kicking a
    cameraman, grabbed 14 rebounds. Muggsy Bogues hit a 3-pointer with 9.5
    seconds left to tie the score 100-100. The Bulls didn't call timeout
    and got the ball upcourt to Jordan, who hit the shot. 
   
    AP Newsbrief by AMY FINKELSTEIN 

    Updated at Tuesday, February 11, 1997, at 1:00 pm Pacific time.

    *Reuters World News Highlights*                            

    VLORE, Albania - Tens of thousands of mourners poured through the
    Albanian port of Vlore in an explosion of outrage at the funeral of an
    anti-government demonstrator killed in clashes with police.  

    BELGRADE - The Serbian parliament approved a new cabinet as embattled
    President Slobodan Milosevic sought to shore up his power base after
    months of civil unrest.  

    MOSCOW - Russian President Boris Yeltsin is making a slow recovery from
    pneumonia and will not return to the Kremlin in the near future, his
    press secretary said.  

    DUSHANBE - A rebel Tajik group holding several United Nations officials
    hostage released an Austrian military observer who was in poor health,
    a U.N. official said.  

    TEL MOND, Israel - Israel freed eight of 31 Palestinian women prisoners
    slated for release as part of its peace deals with the PLO, witnesses
    said. In Jerusalem, the High Court of Justice considered a last-minute
    petition to delay the release of nine women.  

    Copyright 1997 Reuters. 

    AP 12-Feb-1997 0:42 EST   REF5619

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    FBI Lab Error Cited in Bomb Case

    By TIM KLASS

    Associated Press Writer

    SEATTLE (AP) -- FBI crime lab errors led to dismissal of an explosives
    charge Tuesday in the conspiracy trial of seven people accused of
    plotting to kill federal agents. 

    The charge was dropped after an FBI lab technician, Robert Heckman,
    testified about the errors and was grilled on a still-secret draft
    report by the Justice Department that criticized his work on other
    cases. 

    Heckman acknowledged that some explosives evidence had been mislabeled
    on lab reports issued in December in the militia case, and said the
    reports were corrected last week. 

    Heckman was the last prosecution witness before the government rested
    its case. Six Washington State Militia and Freemen activists and a
    sympathizer are charged with plotting to kill, attempt to kill or
    otherwise attack federal agents. Some of them also face weapons
    charges. 

    The FBI's handling of evidence in the militia case came under scrutiny
    after the draft report into a whistle blower's accusations prompted
    transfer of three supervisors from the lab at FBI headquarters in
    Washington, D.C. 

    U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour released the sealed report to
    the defense to question Heckman and another FBI agent, and defense
    attorney Tom Hillier used it to attack Heckman's credibility. 

    Referring to accusations against Heckman, "the report has concluded
    that you made improper additions to lab reports," Hillier asked. 

    "That's what the current draft says, yes," Heckman replied. 

    In his testimony about the lab's handling of the militia evidence,
    Heckman said a detonator had been mistakenly listed with an apparent
    pipe bomb, other evidence had attributed to the wrong defendant and a
    second detonator was listed with the wrong apparatus. 

    Assistant U.S. attorney Susan B. Dorhmann later agreed to drop one
    count against defendant John Lloyd Kirk, who is identified as a Freemen
    member. 

    Robert M. Leen, attorney for defendant William Smith, said the militia
    and Freemen had been wrongly linked in the case, and that FBI agents
    had been misled by an informant. 

    AP 12-Feb-1997 0:26 EST   REF5614

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Nazi Suspect Faces Recovery

    KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) -- A man accused of being a Nazi death camp
    guard who was wounded in a shootout with police in December probably
    will never recover enough to live independently, a doctor said Tuesday.

    Michael Kolnhofer, 79, suffered brain damage from gunshot wounds. 

    He was taken off a respirator over the weekend and upgraded from
    critical to stable condition, said Dr. Norman Estes, chief of staff at
    the University of Kansas Medical Center. 

    Kolnhofer now can respond to simple verbal commands by squeezing a
    hand, but probably will not recover enough to live outside a health
    facility or without nursing help, Estes said. 

    Police shot Kolnhofer Dec. 31 outside his home in Kansas City, Kan.,
    after he threatened reporters with a gun and fired at officers. 

    The shootout came as federal officials moved to strip Kolnhofer's U.S.
    citizenship. He is accused of failing to report that he was a guard at
    death camps in Germany during World War II. 

    His attorney said Kolnhofer was drafted into the German Army but denied
    working as a death camp guard. 

    AP 12-Feb-1997 0:03 EST   REF5605

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Report: Scientist Loses Bet

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Cambridge University theorist Stephen W. Hawking --
    regarded by some as one of Albert Einstein's intellectual successors --
    has conceded defeat in a famous six-year-old bet. 

    Hawking bet two professors at the California Institute of Technology
    that naked singularities -- variations on a cosmological phenomenon
    believed to lurk at the hearts of black holes -- could not exist. 

    Now it seems they could -- maybe. 

    The New York Times reports Wednesday that during a visit to Caltech
    last week, Hawking conceded defeat "on a technicality" to fellow
    physicists John P. Preskill and Kip S. Thorne. The stake was 100 pounds
    (about $164), plus clothing "embroidered with a suitable concessionary
    message." 

    Hawking, Preskill and Thorne are leaders in the study of relativity as
    applied to cosmology, and they meet often at scientific symposiums,
    discussing conjectures about time machines, wormholes, the origin of
    the universe and other questions. 

    Although he was unable to prove his disbelief in naked singularities,
    Hawking, the author of "A Brief History of Time," proposed his bet at
    one such meeting in 1991. Because of its far-reaching theoretical
    implications, news of the bet spread widely among physicists. 

    For the unititiated, a singularity is a mathematical point at which
    space and time are infinitely distorted, where matter is infinitely
    dense, and where the rules of relativistic physics and quantum
    mechanics break down. 

    Singularities are believed to lurk at the center of black holes, which
    conceal their existence from the outer world. A naked singularity would
    be a singularity bereft of a concealing black-hole shell, and therefore
    visible, in principle, to outside observers. 

    Although neither light nor any other kind of signal can escape from
    them, a half-dozen or so black holes have been revealed by their
    gravitational effects of nearby stars. Black holes also have betrayed
    their presence by sucking matter from nearby space. As the matter
    spirals toward the hole, it is heated to incandescence, and the
    emission of X-rays and other radiation has been detected by
    observatories in space and on the ground. 

    Preskill and Thorne won the bet last week on the strength of
    supercomputer calculations by Matthew Choptuik of the University of
    Texas in Austin. Choptuik concluded from his mathematical analysis that
    there could be special circumstances in which a naked singularity might
    be created from a collapsing black hole, either by nature or perhaps
    even by some advanced civilization. 

    The chance of this happening, Choptuik told the Times, would be
    comparable to standing a pencil upright on its sharpened tip --
    improbable, yet theoretically possible. 

    Hawking declined to yield unequivocally -- he made another bet with the
    Caltech physicists that although a very limited set of conditions had
    been found for creating naked singularities, no general conditions
    would be found. 

    And the concessionary message Hawking had printed on T-shirts hardly
    conceded defeat. The shirts read: "Nature Abhors a Naked Singularity." 

    "All this has a very serious undertone," Preskill told the Times. "If
    we are ever to understand singularities we must do so in terms of some
    yet-to-be-discovered theory of quantum gravity, and that would be a
    revolution in physics. We're not there yet." 

    AP 11-Feb-1997 23:27 EST   REF5420

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    U.S. Wants to Try Diplomat

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- The State Department asked the Republic of Georgia
    on Tuesday to waive diplomatic immunity for an embassy official whose
    car crash last month in Washington resulted in the death of a
    16-year-old girl. 

    Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said the request was conveyed to
    the Georgian Embassy in Washington and to the government in Tbilisi.
    Georgian officials also were told what charges the U.S. attorney's
    office intends to file against Geuorgui Makharadze, the No. 2-ranking
    official in the embassy, but Burns refused to publicly disclose them. 

    Fox News' WTTG-TV reported Tuesday night that U.S. Attorney Eric
    Holder's letter to the State Department said prosecutors have
    determined that the appropriate charge against Makharadze is
    involuntary manslaughter. 

    It quoted the letter as saying, "We do not expect to change our views
    as to the appropriateness of this charge. Absent new evidence, we will
    not consider a plea to a lesser charge." 

    The station also cited unidentified sources as saying the prepared
    charges also contain four counts of aggravated assault for the four
    persons injured in the crash. 

    Burns said the Georgian government reserved a final decision but
    "reaffirmed its intention" to waive the diplomat's immunity from
    prosecution, allowing him to stand trial here. 

    Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze has ordered Makharadze to remain
    in the United States until local officials complete their investigation
    of the crash. 

    Police say Makharadze's car slammed into another car waiting at a red
    light in downtown Washington on Jan. 3. The impact sent the second car
    into the air, and it landed on a third car in which Joviane Waltrick
    was a passenger. She died a short time later. 

    Makharadze, 35, had been drinking, according to the official police
    report. Police also said speed may have been a factor in the crash. 

    Police did not ask Makharadze to submit to a sobriety test, citing his
    diplomatic status. 

    Kevin Ohlson, a spokesman for Holder, said no charges could be filed
    until diplomatic immunity is waived. "Diplomatic immunity is an
    absolute bar to indictment, arrest or any charges being filed," he
    said. 

    Waltrick's mother, Viviani Wagner, has not been notified by U.S.
    officials about the formal request to waive immunity, said Michael
    Poor, a family spokesman. 

    AP 11-Feb-1997 23:21 EST   REF5314

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Ariz. Boys Saved from Tower

    MESA, Ariz. (AP) -- A 10-year-old autistic boy and his teen-age brother
    spent two hours Tuesday atop a 120-foot-tall electrical tower before
    rescue crews got them down. 

    The tower carries 230,000-volt power lines for the Salt River Project,
    which cut off electricity to allow crews to reach the boys with a
    crane. 

    John McNeil, 10, scaled the tower Tuesday afternoon, said his mother,
    Saundra McNeil. A neighbor saw him and called the fire department. 

    James McNeil, 17, climbed up in hopes of coaxing his little brother
    down, his mother said. "He's afraid of heights, but he climbed up
    there," she said of her older son. 

    A cherry picker hoisted two rescue workers halfway up the tower. Then
    they climbed to the top to harness the boys and loaded them into the
    bucket, which was lowered to the ground. 

    Local TV stations skipped the national evening newscast to broadcast
    the rescue as it was happening. 

    AP 11-Feb-1997 22:48 EST   REF5092

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    More Women Accuse Army Sgt. Mjr.

    By SUSANNE M. SCHAFER

    AP Military Writer

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- At least two more women have come forward with
    allegations of sexual harassment against the Army's top enlisted man,
    Sergeant Major of the Army Gene McKinney, a senior official said
    Tuesday. 

    "There are two more and there could be a third," said the official, who
    spoke on condition of anonymity. 

    The official said the new allegations have been made in the wake of
    those by retired Sgt. Maj. Brenda Hoster, a former member of McKinney's
    staff. 

    Hoster has accused McKinney of kissing her, grabbing her and demanding
    sex during a trip to Hawaii. McKinney has denied the allegations. 

    The matter is under investigation by the Army's Criminal Investigation
    Command. On Monday, Army Chief of Staff Dennis Reimer ordered McKinney
    suspended pending the outcome of the investigation. 

    The official, who is knowledgeable about the case, said investigators
    are looking into the new complaints. He said he was aware of two formal
    investigations in addition to the one related to Hostler's allegations
    but it was unclear whether the third had been opened at this juncture. 

    The official said it was his understanding that the new complaints were
    "not as grievous" as Hoster's, and that they involved verbal incidents
    and "kissing." 

    He declined to be more specific about the allegations, except to say
    that "they are being taken seriously." 

    On Monday, a military source reported that the second accuser against
    McKinney had emerged. She was identified only as an active-duty Navy
    sailor who had reported an incident through her commander, who passed
    it on to the Army. 

    The other individuals also passed on information through the military
    chain of command, the official said. 

    Defense Department spokesman Kenneth Bacon, queried Tuesday about the
    McKinney case, stressed that the allegations "are only charges,
    accusations. They are not proof" of any guilt. 

    "He has denied the allegations," Bacon said of McKinney. 

    In explaining its decision Monday, the Army said publicity about the
    allegations against made it difficult for McKinney to function in his
    job. 

    The suspension came one day after the woman who made the accusation
    publicly complained of a "different system of justice" for the
    service's upper ranks. She noted that drill sergeants recently accused
    of sexual misconduct were suspended immediately, while McKinney had
    been allowed to stay on. 

    McKinney, the first black man to serve in the influential post, has
    been the senior enlisted adviser to the chief of staff of the Army
    since June 30, 1995. 

    The post is considered one of the most prestigious in the service,
    since it represents the vast majority of all soldiers at the highest
    levels of the Army. Only 10 men have held the job. 

    AP 11-Feb-1997 21:14 EST   REF6025

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Coastal Training Flights Resume

    By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID

    Associated Press Writer

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Air Force resumed training flights over the East
    and Gulf coasts Tuesday after a four-day suspension that included a
    quick course in the dangers of shadowing airliners with sensitive
    collision avoidance systems. 

    One of the things investigators discovered was that many commercial
    planes' alerts can be triggered by fighter jets at distances the
    military pilots may not be counting on, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth
    Bacon said. 

    In two cases last week, collision alarms sounded in airliners when jet
    fighters came too close, causing one airline pilot to maneuver so
    sharply that three people were thrown to the floor. In the other case
    the pilot went into a descent to avoid the military planes. In two
    other cases alarms did not sound. 

    "The military needs to remind their pilots of the effect of close
    approaches to aircraft like that," said Tony Broderick, an industry
    consultant who formerly headed the Federal Aviation Administration's
    regulation and certification office. 

    Air Force Secretary Sheila Widnall, asked about the rash of incidents
    on a visit to Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico on Tuesday, said:
    "It may be that controllers are afraid to challenge pilots who are too
    close to civilian aircraft." 

    Bacon, the Pentagon spokesman, said the Air Force is redesigning its
    training to take into account the sensitivity of collision avoidance
    systems on civilian planes. 

    Training in areas along the East and Gulf Coasts was suspended Friday
    for a review of safety procedures, but Air Force spokesman Capt. Leo
    Devine said many units have now resumed flying. 

    Authorities insist that none of the planes was in danger. But the
    incidents raised concern about close calls in the sky -- particularly
    since all four cases involved F-16 fighter jets. 

    The case causing most concern occurred last Wednesday when two Air
    National Guard fighters doing interception training off the coast of
    New Jersey discovered a Nations Air flight nearby and one fighter
    approached it. 

    Like all airliners with 30 or more seats, the Nations Air Boeing 727
    had a collision alert system. It went off and the pilot followed
    instructions to dive. 

    The military pilots may see an airliner and think they can practice
    interceptions by flying in behind without being seen, said Jim Burnett,
    a former National Transportation Safety Board member and now an
    aviation consultant. "They may not know there is a computerized radar
    that will pick them up and advise the commercial pilot to do a recovery
    maneuver." 

    David Stempler, an aviation attorney, said the incidents indicate
    military aircraft have been in the habit of practicing their
    intercepting techniques with commercial aircraft. 

    "They have been doing this all along, but they've just never been
    caught," Stempler said. 

    Bacon said, "The flying public, I believe, has nothing to worry about.
    The military is trained to stay well away from civilian airliners." 

    Eliot Brenner, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration,
    said the recording of four incidents in three days was "just a
    statistical anomaly and probably drew attention only because the media
    is focused on it at the moment." 

    Pilot reports would have led to disclosure of the Nations Air incident
    and one Friday involving military jets passing above and below an
    American Eagle flight. But information on the other two cases -- one
    over Texas and the other over New Mexico -- was made public only when
    reporters asked if there had been other cases. 

    It is relatively common for planes to get closer than specified in
    regulations, and air traffic controllers routinely direct them to
    change course or altitude to correct the problem. Called pilot
    deviations, there were 1,277 incidents in 1996 when planes strayed in
    that way from their assigned course or level, the FAA reported. 

    While that indicates an average of 3.5 incidents a day, aviation
    experts point out that things don't happen that smoothly and incidents
    tend to occur in bunches for no apparent reason. 

    The FAA also records what it calls "near midair collisions," which are
    reported by pilots. There were 202 last year, down from 241 a year
    earlier. 

    Even here, though, the report is subjective and FAA officials say it
    may not indicate a real hazard. Factors that influence whether a pilot
    submits a report include how close the airplanes were, whether the
    pilot was surprised and "heightened alertness of the flight crew ...
    because of publicity surrounding a near or actual midair collision,"
    the FAA reports. 

    Planes are supposed to get no closer than 5 miles horizontally and
    1,000 to 2,000 feet vertically, and coming closer than that triggers
    the collision warning. 

    AP 11-Feb-1997 21:05 EST   REF6019

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Simpson Case Spurs Custody Bill

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- In a proposal inspired by the O.J. Simpson
    case, a state lawmaker wants to prevent a parent found guilty or liable
    in the other parent's death from getting child custody. 

    "This is obviously not in the child's best interest," said
    Assemblywoman Barbara Alby, a Republican from Carmichael. 

    Alby said she is working on the bill with attorney Gloria Allred, a Los
    Angeles women's rights attorney who has been a spokeswoman for the
    family of Nicole Brown Simpson. 

    After Simpson's murder acquittal, his custody of children, Sydney, 11,
    and Justin, 8, was challenged by grandparents Louis and Juditha Brown.
    But a judge in December ruled in favor of Simpson. 

    Marjorie Fuller, the court-appointed lawyer for the Simpson children,
    said Tuesday the wrongful death verdict against Simpson shouldn't
    affect custody, since the judge took into account the possibility he
    could lose the civil trial. 

    AP 11-Feb-1997 21:05 EST   REF6018

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Video Spoofs San Francisco Mayor

    SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Some of San Jose's supporters have taken video
    vengeance against San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown for his comments
    trashing his southern neighbor. 

    In a "Mission Impossible"-style video produced for the San Jose Chamber
    of Commerce, an actor portraying Brown is kidnapped and forced to learn
    about San Jose's achievements. 

    "I think they just demonstrated what I said they were like -- a sleepy
    little town," Brown said when asked about the video on Tuesday. 

    San Jose's bustling high-tech economy is contrasted with San
    Francisco's tacky tourist wares. Its opera and theater are compared
    with San Francisco's sex shows, its light-rail system with
    disintegrating cable cars. 

    As a final indignity, the video's ersatz mayor is told to learn the
    lyrics to "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" or his white limo will
    self-destruct. But he stumbles over the words, and smoke billows out of
    the car. 

    "It's pretty obviously a joke," said Mark Waxman, a public relations
    and advertising executive who produced the video shown at a Chamber of
    Commerce luncheon two weeks ago. 

    "It was just a way to respond to some rude comments about San Jose and
    get a laugh about it," he told the San Francisco Chronicle. 

    Not everyone in San Jose thinks the tape is funny. A spokesman for San
    Jose Mayor Susan Hammer said the tape appeared to be "in poor taste." 

    AP 11-Feb-1997 20:43 EST   REF6008

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    FBI Arrests Alleged Panderer

    By JEFFREY GOLD

    Associated Press Writer

    NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- FBI agents arrested a 400-pound man Tuesday after
    he allegedly enticed a 13-year-old girl to mail him pornographic videos
    without ever leaving his home. 

    Paul Brown Jr., 47, was arrested in Cleveland on a single charge of
    coercing a minor to engage in sexually explicit acts for the purpose of
    producing a picture. 

    The girl was 12 when Brown first made contact, posing as a 15-year-old
    pen pal and exchanging e-mail on the Prodigy online service in the
    spring of 1995, federal officials said. 

    Last summer, he sent her instructions on sex acts he wanted her to
    perform in front of a camera, and the girl complied beginning in
    November, sending him four tapes that depicted "lascivious exhibition,"
    they said. 

    The girl's mother alerted authorities last month after discovering a
    pair of men's underwear -- size 48 -- in her daughter's room in their
    northern New Jersey home. It wasn't clear how the underwear got there. 

    Federal agents tracked Brown down using telephone bills from the girl's
    home and searched this apartment in the basement of his ex-wife's house
    in Cleveland. There, they uncovered correspondence with more than 10
    other girls, ages 14 to 16, from Los Gatos, Calif.; Jacksonville, Fla.;
    and Saginaw, Mich.; according to court papers. 

    A federal magistrate ordered him held until a Friday bail hearing.
    Brown waived extradition to New Jersey. Agents needed a van to
    transport Brown because of his weight, FBI officials said. 

    Court papers, identifying the girl, now 14, only by her initials, gave
    this account: 

    Brown responded in spring 1995 to the girl's ad asking for a computer
    pen pal, identifying himself as a 15-year-old boy who lived with his
    mother. 

    They began exchanging e-mail, speaking on the telephone, and writing to
    each other. 

    Brown told her he loved her in an Aug. 2, 1995, letter and also asked
    for photographs of her. "Some sexy if possible. Please. Baby, for me." 

    The next month, Brown sent a letter decorated with animal stickers,
    telling the girl she was "doing a fantastic job moving from childhood
    into womanhood." 

    "By the time we meet, you should be an expert at everything in the bed,
    on the couch, table, chair ... everywhere, girl." 

    In a July 31 letter, he told her to make a videotape of herself
    masturbating on a bed, with a "lot of close ups." He also requested
    "one more weird thing," a jar of her urine and two pairs of her
    underwear. 

    The court papers didn't say whether she honored that request. 

    AP 11-Feb-1997 20:21 EST   REF5998

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Illegal Crossers Face Peril

    By DANA CALVO

    Associated Press Writer

    CAMPO, Calif. (AP) -- Martin Facio can thank the U.S. government for
    reminding him of the proper way to dress when sneaking across the
    border. 

    Because of a U.S. border crackdown in the balmy San Diego area, illegal
    aliens have been trying to cross into the United States by trekking
    through the cold, windswept mountains to the east. As a result, at
    least 14 immigrants have died of exposure in the past month.

    To prevent more deaths, the U.S. and Mexican governments are
    broadcasting public service announcements warning illegal immigrants to
    stay away from the area. 

    "Well, I'm not saying we should tell them how to get here, but
    sometimes we find them wearing trash bags they've found -- like that's
    going to keep them warm and dry," said Ronny Kastner, a Border Patrol
    agent in Campo, where an average of 125 immigrants are arrested each
    night. "This year we found them after it was too late, or we found
    people real cold." 

    Facio, a 33-year-old auto repairman from Mexico City, heard radios
    crackling in Tijuana with helpful hints for would-be crossers. 

    He and his nephews bought long underwear and flannel shirts and stayed
    in a Tijuana way station until the weather, which had been around the
    freezing mark, broke. As temperatures climbed to the mid-50s, Facio and
    his nephews set out on their journey, heading more than 50 miles east
    of Tijuana. 

    "I heard the warnings, but I don't care," Facio said from behind bars
    recently. "In Mexico, there is no work." 

    By the time Border Patrol agents caught them and put them in a
    detention cell just after nightfall on the same day they set out, the
    temperature had dipped to 38 degrees. 

    In the next 24 hours, 126 other immigrants were detained by agents
    based at Campo, an enforcment area that encompasses an Indian
    reservation, the Cleveland National Forest and the site of most of the
    14 deaths -- the Laguna Mountains. 

    Although the international border and the main highway are only two
    miles apart, impassable mountains turn the trip into a 22-hour
    marathon. And that's if the aliens don't stop to rest or eat. The
    average illegal immigrant logs three to four days between the border
    fence and downtown Campo. 

    Several years ago, immigrants sneaking into Southern California crossed
    over from the booming city of Tijuana into San Diego, where even winter
    temperatures overnight are in the mid-40s and 50s. 

    It's a straight 20-minute sprint from the streets of Tijuana to the
    closest San Diego highway -- so easy that some teen-agers used to run
    back and forth between countries several times in one night just for
    kicks. 

    But a federal program called Operation Gatekeeper tightened up the
    border in urban San Diego. Launched in 1994, Operation Gatekeeper
    bolstered the U.S. side of the border with night-vision equipment and
    more than 600 additional Border Patrol agents. 

    To avoid the fortified region, illegal immigrants have shifted their
    crossings eastward to the more treacherous mountains where Border
    Patrol reinforcements are just now arriving. The results have been
    tragic. 

    Protected only by thin jackets, jeans and sneakers, some of the 14
    victims had spent days walking through calf-high snow without food or
    water. With temperatures in the low 30s and a stinging wind in their
    faces, two other men were nearly delirious from cold and hunger when
    they approached Border Patrol agents, begging to be rescued. One was
    barefoot because his shoes had gotten lost as he stumbled up the
    mountain. 

    Facio and his nephews had less than $300 between them, so they heeded
    the public service announcements and used their money to buy warm
    clothes instead of hiring a smuggler who could help lead them across. 

    While Facio was disappointed the Border Patrol had caught him, the trip
    wasn't entirely worthless, he said: "Next time I am going to wear
    gloves." 

    AP 12-Feb-1997 0:34 EST   REF5618

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Ecuador President Sworn In

    By MONTE HAYES

    Associated Press Writer

    QUITO, Ecuador (AP) -- Congress selected its own leader, Fabian
    Alarcon, as Ecuador's interim president Tuesday night, a move aimed at
    ending a week-long political crisis that started with the ousting of
    the country's elected president. 

    Alarcon smiled when he received the yellow, blue and red presidential
    sash during his swearing-in ceremony. He is to call elections within 12
    months and govern until August 1998. 

    In his acceptance speech, he defended Congress' decision to depose
    President Abdala Bucaram, saying "the country was on the verge of
    collapse" because of his policies and actions. 

    The flamboyant Bucaram, who calls himself El Loco, or "the crazy one,"
    was sacked Thursday by Congress for mental instability, accused of
    corruption, nepotism and embarrassing behavior during his six months in
    office. 

    As an emergency measure, Congress installed vice-president Rosalia
    Arteaga as a caretaker president until it could chose a new leader. It
    chose Alarcon to replace her by a vote of 57-2. 

    Arteaga had threatened not to leave the post, saying the constitution
    made no mention of the role of an interim president. She changed her
    mind Monday, after meeting with military leaders, who have managed the
    recent crisis from behind the scenes. 

    Before she resigned Tuesday, she issued a decree calling for a national
    referendum on whether the country's vice president should succeed the
    president if the position becomes vacant. 

    "I will return to the presidency of the republic only if that is the
    determination of the referendum," said Arteaga. 

    Political instability started when Bucaram refused to step down after
    Congress voted him out; that sparked a fight for the presidency among
    Bucaram, Arteaga and Alarcon. 

    The turmoil raised fears of a military coup. While that did not happen,
    the crisis served to underscore the power and influence of the armed
    forces in the fragile democracy. Ecuador's military -- the ultimate
    arbiter of power -- had to step in and negotiate a solution. 

    Speaking from the president's office in the national palace, Arteaga
    also denied that the armed forces had a role in resolving the political
    crisis, which began with Congress' dismissal of Bucaram. 

    "The role of the armed forces is internal and international security,
    but not acting in politics," she said when asked if she had the support
    of the powerful military. 

    Bucaram left the country to spread the word that "a civilian
    dictatorship has been imposed." 

    "I am President of the Republic. I never resigned and never will
    resign," Bucaram, dressed in jeans and a sports shirt, told reporters
    and a small group of curious onlookers after arriving at Panama City
    airport Tuesday night. 

    He said his trip would include stopovers in other Latin American
    countries. He denied that he was going into exile, although Bucaram
    went into self-imposed exile in Panama twice in the 1980s while facing
    fiscal mismanagement charges as mayor of the city of Guayaquil. 

    Speaking in Panama, he said he will leave for Buenos Aires, Argentina,
    on Friday to meet with Argentine President Carlos Menem, whom he
    claimed had offered him support during the crisis. He then will visit
    Peru and Colombia, among other Latin American countries, before
    returning home, he said. 

    AP 11-Feb-1997 21:31 EST   REF6030

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Swiss Gov't Urged on Gold Fund

    BERN, Switzerland (AP) -- A government committee urged the Cabinet on
    Tuesday to move quickly in deciding whether to contribute public money
    into a fund to compensate Holocaust victims. 

    Switzerland's three big banks announced last week that they would
    donate $70 million to a humanitarian fund to help families of Jews who
    lost assets in the Holocaust. 

    Swiss businesses -- many of whom have been accused of profiting from
    the war at the expense of Jews -- also plan to contribute to the fund,
    which will be set up later this month at the Swiss National Bank. 

    The banks and businesses have made it clear it is up to the
    seven-member Federal Executive to decide how the fund will be managed
    and who its specific beneficiaries will be. 

    They also have pressured the government to come up with its own
    contribution. The government has said it did want to decide on that
    until summer, after the preliminary results of an independent
    investigation into the Swiss wartime past. 

    But three of the four parties in the governing coalition have said they
    favor a quick resolution. Parliament's Foreign Policy Commission on
    Tuesday also urged the federal executive to make up its mind rapidly. 

    The government has said hasty action would be a premature admission of
    guilt. It is also wary of using taxpayers' money for the fund, at a
    time when the country is in recession and has a large budget deficit. 

    Jewish groups say Swiss banks have as much as $7 billion in World War
    II-era bank accounts from Jewish depositors. The banks maintain those
    accounts contain only a few million dollars, although they have begun a
    joint investigation with Jewish groups to check further. 

    In France, in the latest attempt to right the wrongs of the World War
    II Vichy regime, the city of Lyon promised to investigate assets seized
    from Jews who were deported to Nazi camps, a newspaper said Tuesday. 

    Lyon Mayor Raymond Barre, a former prime minister, wants to establish a
    commission to inventory property confiscated by pro-Nazi officials, the
    daily Le Figaro reported. 

    "It's in everyone's best interest to clarify the situation, without
    malice or acrimony," said Alain Jakubowicz, head of Lyon's Jewish
    community, which called for the investigation. 

    The commission would determine if property taken from deported Jews is
    still under city control. It then could be returned to the rightful
    owners or their heirs, Le Figaro said. 

    About 75,000 Jews were arrested in France and sent to Nazi death camps,
    and only about 2,500 survived. 

    AP 11-Feb-1997 21:12 EST   REF6023

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Yeltsin Slow to Recover

    By SERGEI SHARGORODSKY

    Associated Press Writer

    MOSCOW (AP) -- In a departure from his usual rosy reports, Boris
    Yeltsin's spokesman acknowledged Tuesday that the president is
    recovering "quite slowly" from his ailments and will not be back full
    time at the Kremlin for some time. 

    Spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky did not provide details of the
    president's prognosis, but the change of tone was striking in contrast
    to his previous upbeat assessments of Yeltsin's health. 

    Yeltsin had a heart attack last summer, then quintuple bypass surgery
    in November. Just two weeks after going back to work at the Kremlin, he
    came down with pneumonia. 

    "The post-operation period at that moment was far from completed,"
    Yastrzhembsky explained at a news conference. 

    He described Yeltsin's pneumonia as a "very serious illness," but said
    the president "is gradually gaining (strength) and physical activity,
    as his schedule can testify." 

    Yeltsin's doctors are exercising "double caution," said Yastrzhembsky,
    adding: "Do not expect the president's speedy return to the Kremlin." 

    The 66-year-old president has been at his Kremlin office only
    sporadically over the past seven months. 

    On Tuesday, he met with Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin at the
    country home where Yeltsin has done much of his recuperating. 

    They discussed the premier's visit to the United States last week and
    preparations for a March 20-21 summit with President Clinton in
    Helsinki, Finland. 

    Yastrzhembsky denied suggestions that there are preparations to move
    the summit to Moscow if Yeltsin's health worsens. 

    Dr. Michael DeBakey, the American heart surgeon who was a consultant on
    Yeltsin's bypass operation, said he was puzzled by Yastrzhembsky's
    negative tone. 

    He said Yeltsin's surgeon had told him the Russian president suffered
    from the flu, followed by a "mild case of pneumonitis." 

    "If you have a severe flu, it takes you about a month to get over it,"
    DeBakey said in a telephone interview from Houston. 

    DeBakey does not get detailed reports on Yeltsin's health anymore, but
    he said he speaks with the president's surgeon occasionally. They last
    spoke about 10 days ago, he said. 

    According to DeBakey, Yeltsin's surgery was successful and free of
    complications, and the Russian president's heart was "functioning
    virtually normally now." He also said Yeltsin had lost weight because
    doctors put him on a low-fat diet and exercise program. 

    A former Yeltsin confidant ousted from the Kremlin in June and elected
    to parliament over the weekend accused Yeltsin's government of
    "impotence." 

    In his first public comments after his election Sunday, Alexander
    Korzhakov, former head of Yeltsin's security guard, hinted he would use
    his new position to lay bare Kremlin wrongdoing. 

    "Many people have a lot to fear," Korzhakov told the daily newspaper
    Izvestia in a story published Tuesday. 

    Asked what he learned from meeting with voters, Korzhakov said: "In one
    phrase -- the current power is powerless. To put it straight, like a
    man: This is state impotence." 

    Yastrzhembsky said the president had no comment on Korzhakov's
    election. 

    Yeltsin, meanwhile, has been keeping to a consistent if non-taxing
    schedule of meetings. He plans a national radio address Friday and will
    meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Feb. 18 in Moscow,
    Yastrzhembsky said. 

    AP 11-Feb-1997 20:51 EST   REF6012

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Cuba Cabinet Official Replaced

    By JOHN RICE

    Associated Press Writer

    MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Cuba's veteran minister of culture has been
    replaced by the more youthful head of the writers' union, Cuban
    officials said Tuesday, in an apparent trend toward younger government
    leaders. 

    Abel Prieto, 46, replaces 67-year-old Armando Hart as head of the
    Culture Ministry, which has broad authority to approve art and
    publications in the Communist nation. 

    The succession is not likely to cause significant policy changes. Both
    men have supported relatively open debate, within the limits of
    supporting Cuba's Communist system. 

    Cuban state news media, monitored in Mexico City, said the Cabinet had
    decided to "free Hart of his responsibilities." 

    Hart, one of Fidel Castro's early allies, had been culture minister
    since 1976 and prior to that was education minister. 

    But his political influence has faded in recent years while that of
    Prieto has risen. Prieto has been a member of the Communist Party's top
    Political Bureau since 1991, the same year Hart left that committee. 

    For most of his career, Hart has taken a middle road between party
    hardliners who insist on rigid ideological conformity and liberals who
    favor more open debate. He sometimes cracked down on dissidents while
    protecting some writers and artists seen as critical but loyal to
    Communism. 

    Since March 1996, when the Political Bureau issued a report warning
    intellectuals not to fall into what it described as U.S. traps, Hart
    "has been on the side that favors open debate, that thinks that open
    debate is central," said Carollee Bengelsdorf, a Cuba specialist at
    Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass. 

    Hart's ministry also hired social scientists who were removed from the
    Center for the Study of the Americas, a research body with a relatively
    free-thinking approach until it came under attack by hardliners last
    year. 

    Prieto, noted for his long hair and informal manner, has taken a
    similar position and his promotion to replace Hart "is a good sign" for
    those favoring open debate in Cuba, Bengelsdorf said. 

    Hart joined Castro's rebel "July 26 Movement" in 1955, only two years
    after Castro led a failed raid on the military's Moncada Barracks in
    Santiago, Cuba. 

    The raid cost the lives of many followers but its boldness -- and
    Castro's speech at the trial that followed -- brought him to national
    attention. 

    AP 11-Feb-1997 20:13 EST   REF5996

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Uganda Denies Plane Crash

    KINSHASA, Zaire (AP) -- A Ugandan plane carrying military equipment and
    soldiers crashed in eastern Zaire and several survivors were taken
    prisoner, the military said Tuesday. 

    In Paris, a Ugandan official denied the report. 

    "The report is false," said Uganda's permanent secretary for foreign
    affairs, Stephen Nabeta. "As we have said, we have no Ugandan troops at
    all there." 

    According to the Zairian military statement, some soldiers were killed
    in the crash, which occurred Monday night in the Ruwenzori mountains
    close to the Ugandan border. 

    There was no independent confirmation of the report and the military
    did not release further details. 

    It claimed the crash backed its allegations that Uganda is supplying
    arms and soldiers to Laurent Desire Kabila's rebel army, which has
    seized 620 miles of territory along Zaire's eastern border. 

    In Paris, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni denied that his troops were
    in Zaire and offered to have international observers provide
    verification. 

    Museveni spoke Tuesday at a news conference after a meeting with
    President Jacques Chirac that centered on the conflict in Africa's
    Great Lakes region. 

    Zaire's government also accuses Rwanda and Burundi of being involved in
    the rebel war, which was launched in September and is now inching
    closer to the main city in eastern Zaire, Kisangani. 

    Kabila wants to overthrow Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko, who he
    claims is corrupt. 

    AP 11-Feb-1997 21:53 EST   REF6041

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Shuttle Closes In on Hubble

    By MARCIA DUNN

    AP Aerospace Writer

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- Space shuttle Discovery and its
    mechanic-astronauts chased after the Hubble Space Telescope on Tuesday
    for a service call that took on new urgency with the failure of one of
    its components. 

    A science instrument aboard Hubble conked out last Friday. The seven
    astronauts are bringing its replacement, a top-of-the-line spectrograph
    that they will install this Friday. 

    "This is an example, you could say, of just in time," NASA payload
    manager Kenneth Ledbetter said after Discovery's spectacular liftoff in
    the dark early Tuesday. 

    Once Discovery was on its way, ground controllers pivoted Hubble into a
    safe position for Thursday's rendezvous and began shutting down the
    telescope, one component after another. By Tuesday night, Discovery had
    narrowed the gap from 7,500 miles at the start of the chase to 3,000. 

    This will be the second Hubble visit by spacewalking astronauts in
    three years. 

    The astronauts' No. 1 priority, during the first of four spacewalks on
    consecutive days, will be to install the new $125 million imaging
    spectrograph and a $105 million near-infrared camera. Scientists hope
    to peer back even farther in time and space with these instruments,
    which will bring the 1970s-era Hubble up to date. 

    "With a little luck in a couple weeks, the best telescope in the
    universe will be even better than it is now," shuttle commander Kenneth
    Bowersox said. 

    The $2 billion telescope -- considered the world's premier optical
    observatory -- was launched from the same shuttle in 1990. 

    In 1993, a repair team had to fix Hubble's blurred vision -- the result
    of a flawed mirror -- and replace its shaky solar panels, broken
    gyroscopes and failed computer memory boards. 

    This crew will install 11 major components. Among the upgrades: new
    data recorders, pointing-system devices and a computer "switchboard." 

    "It's clear that the last mission was probably the toughest shuttle
    mission ever," said NASA's chief Hubble scientist, Ed Weiler. "This may
    be No. 2 or No. 3. It's not every day we launch a shuttle and try to do
    four six- or seven-hour spacewalks." 

    The fear is that the four spacewalkers could inadvertently make the
    telescope worse. 

    During the last repair visit, the Hubble's fragile, 40-foot solar
    panels were rolled up. On this flight, however, they will remain
    outstretched because they're too twisted to retract. 

    "It's all the little things that add up, that make you worry," Weiler
    said. "We're going up there and docking and playing around with a
    spacecraft that's working beautifully, even though it's designed to be
    done." 

    AP 11-Feb-1997 21:34 EST   REF6032

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Chafee Fires Shot Across EPA Bow

    By H. JOSEF HEBERT

    Associated Press Writer

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- A controversial Clinton administration proposal to
    tighten air quality standards prompted a warning Tuesday that it could
    lead to an unraveling of the nation's key air pollution law. 

    Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., a moderate who has had wide support among
    environmentalists, said he was deeply concerned about the Environmental
    Protection Agency proposal and urged that key parts of it be postponed.

    "With the tighter standards, you're going to find a revolt against the
    Clean Air Act," Chafee told reporters on the eve of hearings on the
    proposal by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which he
    chairs. 

    The EPA plan to impose more stringent standards on smog-causing ozone
    and soot, largely from combustion, has attracted strong opposition from
    the business community, which claims the change will cost tens of
    billions of dollars and provide minimal health improvements. 

    EPA Administrator Carol Browner, who is scheduled to appear before
    Chafee's committee Wednesday, reiterated her determination to tighten
    the air pollution standards, saying that 130 million Americans would
    benefit, including 33 million children. 

    "The best available science calls for action," she insisted in a
    meeting with reporters at EPA headquarters. Rejecting criticism from a
    business coalition that the EPA was relying on incomplete and "junk"
    science, Browner said the agency based its proposal on more than 240
    peer-reviewed scientific studies. 

    Comments are still being heard, but Browner said she is confident the
    agency will produce a final regulation on the new standards by summer.
    It would be years before the new standards, which would establish the
    minimum pollution levels states and communities must strive to achieve,
    would actually be implemented. 

    But the proposal has sparked a firestorm. 

    Chafee, one of the leaders of the long, contentious fight for tougher
    clean air legislation in 1990, urged the EPA to back off from its
    proposal and take a more modest approach. 

    He said if the standards go into effect, pressure would grow in
    Congress to reopen the 1990 Clean Air Act, which could allow opponents
    to press for numerous changes in the law that is the linchpin to
    government efforts to improve air quality. 

    "You overload the horse ... and you get the whole program in jeopardy,"
    Chafee said. "I want to preserve the Clean Air Act and I don't want to
    see it cut back and attacked because we've overloaded the circuits." 

    Last year House Republicans talked about overhauling the law, but those
    efforts gained little widespread support. Even so, grumbling about an
    EPA automobile inspection program caused enough political turmoil that
    the Congress ordered the program stopped. 

    The EPA's new soot and ozone standards could prompt a similar revolt,
    Chafee suggested. 

    The EPA wants to require states and local communities to develop
    pollution controls so that ozone levels will not exceed 0.08 parts per
    billion in any eight-hour period, instead of the current 0.12 parts per
    billion during any one-hour period. The agency also for the first time
    would begin to regulate microscopic particles, or soot, that comes
    largely from combustion down to 2.5 microns in diameter, less than
    1/28th the width of a human hair. 

    Chafee suggested splitting the ozone and particulate proposals --
    something Browner has rejected. 

    As a compromise, Chafee suggested postponing specific pollution levels
    for fine particles until studies on health impact can be completed over
    the next five years, although a general intention to regulate such
    particles could be issued. As for a new ozone standard, Chafee said
    "the benefits ... are very modest" and the EPA's proposal should be
    largely scrapped. 

    Browner gave no indication Tuesday that the agency will back away from
    the proposal. She insisted that the ozone and soot standards must be
    linked and said she is obligated under the Clean Air Act to review the
    adequacy of the standards. 

    "The science is clear and compelling," said Browner. She said large
    segments of the population -- children, the elderly and people
    suffering from respiratory problems such as asthma -- are not protected
    under the current standards. 

    AP 11-Feb-1997 20:14 EST   REF5997

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    Circadian Rhythm, Moods Linked

    By BRENDA C. COLEMAN

    AP Medical Writer

    CHICAGO (AP) -- Changing the timing of when you are awake and when you
    sleep can profoundly affect your mood, according to scientists who have
    for the first time linked mood changes to the predictable and enduring
    internal rhythms of the human body. 

    Two studies released Tuesday tease apart the complex relationships
    between daily biological rhythms, sleep choices and whether people feel
    cheerful or blue. 

    The studies suggest, for example, that even if a person has gotten
    enough sleep, he is likely to be irritable or blue if his waking hours
    center on a time when his biological clock tells him he "should" be
    asleep. 

    Conversely, even if a person stays awake 36 hours straight and is
    seriously sleep-deprived, he may say he feels terrific if you ask him
    about his mood at an hour when his biological clock tells him he is
    supposed to be awake, findings suggest. 

    The studies show that "some hours of the day, we're happier than
    others, and it's occurring inside us, not just in reaction to the world
    around us," said psychologist David F. Dinges of the University of
    Pennsylvania. 

    He called the work a "tour de force." 

    The findings will pave the way for research that one day could help
    millions of depressed people live happier lives and aid people whose
    sleep patterns are disrupted by shift work or travel, said Dinges,
    chief of sleep and chronobiology in the psychiatry department. 

    "We don't really understand whether (sleep) disturbances ... are
    leading to some of the mood disturbances associated with night shift
    work or chronic exposure to time zone changes," he said. 

    But since depression, anxiety disorders and manic-depression "are so
    widespread in humankind and so debilitating to so many people, and lead
    to self-medication with alcohol and so many other problems, being able
    to identify the fundamental processes in every human that may go awry
    in producing them is hugely important," Dinges said. 

    The studies, conducted independently in Boston and in Manchester,
    England, are described in a report in the February issue of the
    Archives of General Psychiatry, released Tuesday by the American
    Medical Association. 

    A total of 24 healthy young volunteers were confined to laboratories
    and regimented to artificially long sleep-wake cycles -- 30 hours or 28
    hours instead of the usual 24 hours -- for about a month. 

    The subjects experienced highs and lows in mood corresponding to a
    combined effect of two things: the amount of time a subject had been
    awake and the subject's body temperature, which is usually lowest in
    the early morning of a 24-hour sleep-wake cycle. 

    "This is very exciting, because it leads us to believe that similar
    mechanisms could be involved in depression," said Dr. Diane B. Boivin,
    who led the Boston research at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's
    Hospital. 

    Dr. Thomas Wehr, chief of the Psychobiology Branch at the National
    Institute of Mental Health, said he is preparing to use the "ingenious"
    design of the studies to explore whether altering sleep patterns can
    combat manic depression, which afflicts about 1 percent of the
    population. 

    Manic depression and major depression, which afflicts 8 percent to 10
    percent of the population, are often typified by worse moods in the
    morning and steadily improving moods throughout the day, said Wehr, who
    was not involved in the new studies. 

    It is known that about 60 percent of major depressives will respond
    favorably -- if temporarily -- to sleep deprivation, such as being kept
    up all night, Wehr said. 

    German researchers are now trying to make that improvement permanent by
    depriving depressives of sleep and then shifting their bedtimes to much
    earlier in the evening, Wehr said. 

    The biological clock is an area of the brain that serves as a pacemaker
    for rhythms in biological functions ranging from sleeping and waking to
    digestion, Dinges said. 

    "Over the years, it has seemed fairly clear that in people who have
    mood disorders, their mood varies depending on when and how much they
    sleep relative to their circadian (daily) rhythms," Wehr said. 

    With the two new studies, scientists now have at least a theoretical
    way to predict how someone's mood will be affected by his sleep timing
    as it relates to his own biological clock. 

    AP 11-Feb-1997 17:51 EST   REF5465

    Copyright 1997. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    FDA Launches Tobacco Crackdown

    By LAURAN NEERGAARD

    Associated Press Writer

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration is hiring state
    inspectors to catch stores that illegally sell tobacco to teen-agers --
    the first phase of a crackdown that the government will explain in a
    "national town meeting" in 25 cities next Tuesday. 

    Most of the cities will hold Tuesday afternoon's interactive broadcast
    in United Artists cinemas, utilizing the theaters' satellite equipment
    to let the crowds question FDA officials stationed here. 

    Ten other cities will get separate visits from FDA officials to
    introduce retailers, local government officials and average citizens to
    a regulation that takes effect Feb. 28 forcing stores to get photo
    identification proving young customers are old enough to buy tobacco. 

    But the FDA's outreach is under fire from a congressional opponent, who
    questions whether the briefings, particularly next Tuesday's video
    broadcast that features a speech by Vice President Al Gore, are really
    politics designed to drum up anti-tobacco support. 

    "I will appreciate a detailed summary of the costs to the taxpayers of
    these 'town meeting' events," Sen. Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C., wrote FDA
    Commissioner David Kessler, giving him until Monday to respond. 

    FDA Associate Commissioner Mitch Zeller called the meetings necessary
    for confused communities. 

    "Some people didn't understand the rationale behind carding people,"
    Zeller said Tuesday after hundreds of people crowded into the first
    briefings, in Baltimore and Boston, to learn about the new law. 

    Nationally, it is illegal to sell tobacco to anyone under age 18.
    Beginning Feb. 28, the FDA says retailers must get proof of age from
    anyone who looks younger than 27 -- much as stores demand photo ID from
    people in their 20s who are buying alcohol. 

    Zeller showed the crowd a poster with two similar models, one age 16
    and one 25, to illustrate how easy it is to sell tobacco illegally to a
    mature-looking minor. 

    Stores caught selling to teens, in undercover inspections the FDA is
    hiring states to perform, get a warning the first time, but will be
    fined $250 for each additional violation. 

    The FDA last year announced new regulations of tobacco designed to cut
    teen smoking in half. In addition to requiring photo IDs, the FDA plans
    in August to begin curbing tobacco advertising seen by teen-agers.
    Additional rules would kick in next year. 

    The tobacco industry opposes the regulations and on Monday asked a
    federal judge in North Carolina to invalidate them. U.S. District Judge
    William Osteen said he will rule on the issue no sooner than mid-March.

    But the regulations' legal future aside, the FDA can afford just $4
    million in tobacco funding this year, meaning it may hire inspectors in
    fewer than a dozen states to enforce the first rules. The FDA is asking
    Congress for $34 million for fiscal 1998 to enforce the regulations
    nationwide. 

    The FDA frequently holds public meetings to explain new regulations,
    but the tobacco outreach is the agency's largest. Officials couldn't
    immediately say how much the city briefings will cost. 

    RTw  12-Feb-97 06:16    

    Odds and Ends

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    The following is a collection of human interest stories that have moved
    separately: 20 million scramble for 10-pound Concorde tickets 

    LONDON - British Airways said it had sold 190 Concorde tickets for only
    10 pounds ($16) each in 30 minutes, as 20 million people phoned its
    sales centre hoping to be among the lucky few . 

    The return tickets for flights on the luxury aircraft between London's
    Heathrow airport and New York were offered at a 5,400 pound discount to
    mark the 10th anniversary of BA's privatisation. 

    - - - -

    Tortoise takes a breather through its backside 

    BRISBANE - Australian scientists said they were studying a rare
    freshwater tortoise which breaths through its bottom when underwater
    and through its mouth when on land. 

    The Rheodytes Leukops, commonly known as the Fitzroy River tortoise,
    breathes oxygen through special gills lining its rear passage (cloaca),
    enabling it to stay under water longer, said zoologist Craig Franklin
    from the University of Queensland. 

    Franklin said the unique breathing technique enabled the tortoise to
    stay underwater for up to five hours, compared with the maximum two
    hours for other tortoise species. 

    - - - - 

    U.S. space shuttle to carry Irish golf pennant 

    DUBLIN - The coats of arms of some of Ireland's best-known golf courses
    are to be blasted into space. 

    The next U.S. space shuttle will be taking a pennant of the South West
    of Ireland Golf Company with it, carried by Lt. Jim Halsell, an
    astronaut of Irish descent. 

    The pennant features the heraldic emblems of nine major championship
    golf courses including Ballybunion, where U.S. President Bill Clinton
    says he is determined to play. 

    The shuttle Columbia, which takes off on a scientific mission on April
    3, will also be carrying a medallion featuring a 19th century Irish
    emigrant ship, the Jeanie Johnston. 

    It never lost a passenger in 16 voyages from Tralee to Baltimore, New
    York and Quebec during the Irish famine when more than a million people
    left for new lives in the "New World." 

    Both items were put on display in Dublin on Tuesday at a ceremony
    attended by Irish Foreign Minister Dick Spring and U.S. ambassador Jean
    Kennedy-Smith. 

    - - - - 

    Pigs not far from equalling Belgians - in number 

    BRUSSELS - In terms of numbers, pigs are not far from being equal to
    people in Belgium, and with good reason: pork is a key export. 

    Provisional data has showed the pig population grew by 270,000 to 7.4
    million in 1996, closing in on the human population of 10 million
    people. 

    Flanders, in Belgium's northern half, is home to 96 percent of the
    country's pigs, making it the most densely-populated part of the
    European Union in pig terms after neighbouring southern Netherlands.

    Pork exports were worth 60 billion Belgian francs ($1.74 billion) last
    year, up 18 percent from 1995. 

    - - - - 

    Kansas town takes lead in Anglo-U.S. pancake race 

    LIBERAL, Kansas - An annual trans-Atlantic contest was settled as
    Kansas schoolteacher Christina Wilbers won the Pancake Day footrace in
    58.57 seconds, a time that beat the winner of a similar race held
    earlier in Britain. 

    Wilbers' victory meant Liberal, Kansas, took the lead in the series
    with Olney, England, which has held the Shrove Tuesday footrace on and
    off since 1445. Prior to Wilbers' win, the series had been tied at 23
    wins apiece. 

    Housewife Avril Soman won this year's race in Olney with a time of 63.5
    seconds. 

    The approximately 1/4-mile race tends to be dominated by women, who
    must follow a strict dress code of skirts, aprons and headscarves.
    Competitors must be able to whip up a pancake that can be tossed at the
    beginning and end of the race. 

    REUTER

    RTw  12-Feb-97 07:56    

    Australian anthrax outbreak threatens dairy exports

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    SYDNEY, Feb 12 (Reuter) - Australia's worst outbreak of the cattle
    disease anthrax in decades is threatening A$1.8 billion (US$1.4
    billion) in dairy product exports and has taken the unusual turn of
    infecting an abattoir worker. 

    Dairy industry and government officials on Wednesday were shaken by the
    rapid spread of the disease in recent days, with 68 animals killed on
    about 31 farms in the state of Victoria. 

    A 40-year-old abattoir worker has been hospitalised and is undergoing a
    penicillin treatment, said Dr Rosemary Lester of the Victoria's public
    health department. 

    Lester said the unnamed abattoir employee, from a yard which handled
    animals with the disease, now has no symptoms. 

    Anthrax, a bacterial infection, causes rapid death in cattle, sheep and
    goats which eat contaminated material. It rarely affected humans but
    can be contracted through a small cut or scratch. 

    The cause of the anthrax outbreak is not known, but the disease usually
    appears following rain and hot, humid weather -- conditions Victoria
    has recently experienced. 

    Officials said the worst of the outbreak appeared to have been
    contained by the vaccination of 9,000 cattle and the quarantining of
    farms. 

    "We're hopeful its (the anthrax outbreak) under control," Steve Tait,
    senior veterinary officer of Victoria's Department of Natural Resources
    and Energy, told Reuters. 

    But with finicky Asian markets now the biggest customers for Australian
    exports of milk powder, butter, cheese, milk and other products, the
    local diary industry is concerned the outbreak will have an impact on
    sales. 

    "Obviously it's a serious matter (but) from everything we hear people
    (know) the matter is under control and the product is safe," David
    Loutit, chief executive officer of the Victorian Dairy Industry
    Authority, told Reuters. Loutit added only "fairly minor" effects on
    exports are expected. 

    The dairy chief's statement was despite fresh memories of a Japanese
    consumer boycott of imported beef during last year's "Mad Cow" disease
    outbreak in Britain. 

    Australian dairy products are sold around the world, with Japan, the
    Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and other customers in Asia the biggest
    market, ahead of the Middle East and Euro

    REUTER

    RTw  12-Feb-97 06:56    

    Earphones proposal dogs Elton John HK concert plan

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    By Peter Humphrey 

    HONG KONG, Feb 12 (Reuter) - Hong Kong politicians have proposed fans
    wear earphones at two outdoor Elton John concerts to keep down the
    noise, sparking a row in a city not known for its peace and quiet. 

    If legislators have their way, the British superstar's concerts could
    look like mime shows when he performs at the outdoor Hong Kong stadium
    in late June to mark the colony's handover to China. 

    "If we want to comply with noise regulations, there's really no
    alternative," lawmaker and urban councillor Fred Li told Reuters on
    Wednesday, after raising objections to the concerts. 

    Li, who said he is "not exactly a pop fan but I enjoy concerts,"
    proposed the headphone idea on Tuesday at a meeting of the stadium's
    governors, saying John's superstar status should not exempt him from
    noise restrictions. 

    Li told Reuters he had seen headphones work fine at a concert in
    January. "It doesn't affect the enjoyment. They can see the performers,
    they can see the screen," he said. 

    John's office has not commented on the controversy. 

    The 49-year-old singer and songwriter is the first big-name entertainer
    Hong Kong claims to have lined up to perform at the handover. 

    Urban councillors threatened to veto the concerts unless they were
    satisfied the star could keep the volume down. They can block a request
    for a waiver of noise rules, designed to keep concerts below 70
    decibels. 

    The controversy stirred up sarcastic editorials in Hong Kong
    newspapers. 

    "The city with noise pollution that shatters the nerves of citizens on
    364 days of the year is now going to turn a pop concert on the 365th
    into a mime act during celebrations of one of its most historic events
    of the century," the South China Morning Post remarked. 

    "But why stop there? To ensure the success of the scheme, gags and
    gloves should be included to deaden the noise in case fans are tempted
    to sing along to the music on their headsets or clap to the rhythm." 

    Two years ago an attempt to make concert-goers wear white gloves to
    muffle applause at a concert was a failure. 

    Music promoter Dale Rennie of the Australasian Entertainment Corp said
    the headphones idea was disastrous. 

    "It would be the utmost embarrassment for our business. It's absurd,"
    he told reporters. "You might as well sit at home and listen to a CD." 

    Organisers say John will hold two concerts, on June 28 and 29, and that
    they hope 40,000 people will pack Hong Kong stadium for each of the
    shows. 

    Governor Chris Patten, an avid music lover, is said to be a big fan. He
    invited John to lunch at Government House in 1993. 

    Hong Kong plans to spend HK$233 million (US$30 million) on glitzy
    ceremonies to mark the territory's return to China at midnight on June
    30, ending a century and a half of British colonial rule. 

    REUTER

    RTos 12-Feb-97 07:41    

    'The English Patient' Leads Oscar Nominations

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.
  
    LOS ANGELES (Reuter) - The romantic epic "The English Patient"
    dominated the Academy Award nominations Tuesday, while the musical
    "Evita," starring pop icon Madonna, was virtually frozen out of
    competition. 

    Never one to endear herself to the Hollywood establishment, Madonna had
    brashly predicted she would win her first-ever best actress nomination.
    But the Oscar voters snubbed her. 

    In a glittering pre-dawn ceremony, "The English Patient" captured 12
    nominations, including best picture, best actor for Ralph Fiennes, best
    actress for Kristin Scott Thomas and best director for Anthony
    Minghella. 

    The other contenders for best film also fared well with other
    nominations. "Shine" and "Fargo" each claimed seven while "Jerry
    Maguire" and "Secrets & Lies" earned five apiece. 

    Nominated along with Fiennes for best actor honors were Tom Cruise for
    "Jerry Maguire," Woody Harrelson for "The People vs. Larry Flynt,"
    Geoffrey Rush for "Shine" and Billy Bob Thornton for "Sling Blade." 

    Together with Scott Thomas, the nominees for best actress were Brenda
    Blethyn for "Secrets & Lies," Diane Keaton for "Marvin's Room," Frances
    McDormand for "Fargo" and Emily Watson for "Breaking the Waves." 

    Fiennes, in London starring in a stage play, said he was "particularly
    delighted" with the nominations piled up by "The English Patient," a
    story of romantic intrigue set in Nazi-era North Africa and Italy. 

    Blethyn, little known outside her native Britain, spoke candidly on
    NBC's "Today" show, saying: "There's no way I'm going to win it." 

    Kenneth Branagh, who was nominated for best screenplay adaptation for
    his four-hour epic "Hamlet," said: "It is a tribute to everyone who
    worked on the film, especially William Shakespeare."

    But Madonna, one of the world's biggest pop stars, was conspicuously
    absent from the list. "Evita," based on the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical
    about the life of Argentina's Eva Peron, picked up five nominations but
    mostly in minor categories. 

    Musicals tend to fare badly among Oscar voters, but Madonna may also
    have hurt her own cause with her unrepentant bad-girl image. 

    Also missing were Debbie Reynolds for her comeback role in "Mother" and
    singer Courtney Love for "The People vs. Larry Flynt" -- both of whom
    were widely expected to be nominated. 

    The big surprise was double-nominee Billy Bob Thornton, a relatively
    obscure actor and screenwriter who has finally made his mark with
    "Sling Blade," about a retarded man released from a mental institution
    25 years after killing his mother and her lover. 

    Thornton, a former country singer who moved to Hollywood from Arkansas
    in 1983 and struggled for years to make a living at acting, admitted
    feeling strangely out of place on the list of nominees. 

    "I look at it and I say good grief," he said. He boasts a cult
    following for one of his more offbeat projects, "Chopper Chicks in
    Zombie Town," a spoof on horror films. 

    The contenders for best supporting actor are Cuba Gooding Jr. for
    "Jerry Maguire," William H. Macy for "Fargo," Armin Mueller-Stahl for
    "Shine," Edward Norton for "Primal Fear" and James Woods for "Ghosts of
    Mississippi." 

    Film legend Lauren Bacall, a first-time Oscar nominee, was considered
    the sentimental choice for best supporting actress for the "The Mirror
    Has Two Faces." She is up against Juliette Binoche for "The English
    Patient," Joan Allen for "The Crucible," Barbara Hershey for "The
    Portrait of a Lady" and Marianne Jean-Baptiste for "Secrets & Lies." 

    Along with Minghella, the nominees for best director were Milos Forman
    for "The People vs. Larry Flynt," Joel Coen for "Fargo," Mike Leigh for
    "Secrets & Lies" and Scott Hicks for "Shine." 

    Legendary playwright Arthur Miller topped the list of nominees for best
    adapted screenplay for his film version of "The Crucible." He is
    competing against Minghella for "The English Patient," Kenneth Branagh
    for "Hamlet," Thornton for "Sling Blade" and John Hodge for
    "Trainspotting." 

    The nominees for best original screenplay were Ethan and Joel Coen for
    "Fargo," Cameron Crowe for "Jerry Maguire," John Sayles for "Lone
    Star," Mike Leigh for "Secrets & Lies" and Jan Sardi for "Shine." 

    In the best foreign-language film category, Oscar voters picked "Kolya"
    from the Czech Republic, "Prisoner of the Mountains" from Russia,
    "Ridicule" from France, "The Other Side of Sunday" from Norway and "A
    Chef in Love" from Georgia. 

    The Oscars will be handed out March 24 at the Los Angeles Shrine
    Auditorium. 

    REUTER

    RTw  12-Feb-97 04:08    

    FEATURE-Ozone hole starts taking its toll in ...

    Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd.  All rights reserved.

    FEATURE-Ozone hole starts taking its toll in Antarctica 

    By Roger Atwood 

    PALMER STATION, Antarctica, Feb 12 (Reuter) - Starfish embryos develop
    ugly deformities and die before they are born. Sea urchins stop
    reproducing and some plants are producing their own "sunscreen." 

    Wildlife in Antarctica is starting to show the subtle but unmistakeable
    effects of the ozone hole, the gap in the Earth's atmosphere that lets
    the sun's ultraviolet rays bombard the frozen continent for about four
    months every year. 

    With plants and simple animals being damaged by the ozone hole, can
    humans be far behind? That is a question scientists would rather not
    answer yet, but at the simpler evolutionary levels of life the effects
    are all around and seem to be growing worse. 

    Research by scientists at Palmer Station, a U.S. scientific base on
    Anvers Island, shows high ultraviolet radiation damages lower forms of
    life such as plankton and molluscs and could start working its way up
    the food chain. No one dares guess at the implications higher up the
    food chain, such as plankton-eating whales and shellfish-eating
    seabirds. 

    Biologists Isidro Bosch and Deneb Karentz have found that embryos of
    limpets, starfish and other invertebrates do not grow properly when hit
    by the springtime assault of ultraviolet rays through the ozone hole.
    The embryos float by the millions near the surface of the ocean, where
    they are easy prey for predators -- and ultraviolet rays. 

    "What we see is that they don't form in the normal pattern. The entire
    structure is essentially deformed," said Karentz, of the University of
    San Francisco. "If it's supposed to form in a sphere, it forms in a
    sphere with a big lump." 

    Adults do not seem to have the same problem because they have
    protective shells and live at much greater depth, she said. 

    ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION DAMAGE 

    Field and lab work by Karentz and Bosch show that high ultraviolet-B
    (UVB) radiation damages the chromosones of the animals, and "we can
    correlate the amount of damage to the amount of UVB exposure," Karentz
    said. 

    In other words, the more radiation, the more damage to the animals'
    whole reproductive system. 

    Scientists discovered the fraying of the stratosphere's ozone layer in
    the 1970s and quickly tied it to the effects of man-made chemicals,
    mainly chlorofluorocarbons used in air conditioners, refrigerators and
    aerosol sprays. Governments agreed to phase out CFCs under the 1987
    Montreal Protocol and in 1995 developed countries stopped producing
    them. 

    But CFCs take up to eight years to reach the stratosphere, where they
    trigger a chemical reaction that eats away ozone. So no improvement may
    be seen in the layer until 2010 although there is already evidence the
    damage is growing no worse. 

    The effects of the ozone hole on humans are still largely in the realm
    of speculation, but studies suggest they are felt far from Antarctica.
    In Britain, for example, the risk of developing skin cancer has risen
    by as much as 10 percent because of higher ultraviolet radiation, the
    Department of the Environment said last year. 

    In southern Chile and Argentina, the only populated areas directly
    under the ozone hole, UVB radiation levels have been rising for years.
    Chile began an aggressive media campaign to get people to stay out of
    the sun and use hats and sunblock during the hole's worst months from
    September to December. 

    Some creatures in Antarctica seem to taking their own protective
    measures of sorts. Arizona State University researchers found that the
    Antarctic pearl wort, a velvety, moss-like plant that thrives on rocky
    islands, develops a pigment known as a flavenoid that seems to make it
    more tolerant of heavy UV radiation. 

    UNKNOWN REACTION 

    How and why this happens is unknown, but the study "suggests these
    plants adapt to UV in ways that some plants can do, and some can't,"
    said Chris Ruhland, one of the researchers. 

    "Ultraviolet radiation damages DNA replication, that's clear. But what
    these studies show is that this species is quite tolerant of UVB,"
    botanist Xiong Fushen said. 

    Some molluscs have been found to carry a UV-absorbing amino acid that
    may protect them from the ultraviolet assault "in the same way that we
    use sunscreens," said Karentz. 

    Studies are hampered by the fact that there was little detailed
    microbiological research going on in this area before the hole was
    discovered. So scientists have little baseline data and are studying an
    already altered environment. 

    Work is only starting on how ozone depletion will ripple through the
    whole, delicate food balance in Antarctica. 

    "We can still only speculate about what might be happening in Antarctic
    populations," Karentz said. "The answer to the big question, the
    effects of UV on the complex interaction of species, is still unknown." 

    REUTER