(1476,2,'Armenia\'s Communist Party chief has threatened to quit the Soviet Politburo unless President Mikhail S. Gorbachev can restore order in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, news reports said Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Armenian parliament passed a resolution complaining that citizens of the predominantly Armenian territory located inside the neighboring republic of Azerbaijan are having their rights trampled upon, the Tass news agency reported. ``The Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh continues to be subject to terror on the part of Azerbaijani authorities, assisted by units of the Soviet army and Interior Ministry troops,\'\' Tass quoted the resolution as saying. A state of emergency is in effect in the mountainous region, part of Azerbaijan since 1923. Ethnic battles between residents of the two Caucasus republics over who should control the area have left more than 200 people dead the past two years. Vladimir Movsisyan, the Communist Party leader of Armenia, said in an appeal published in the republic\'s newspapers Wednesday that indifference and indecision on the part of the Soviet leadership have given Azerbaijan\'s leaders ``a free hand to pursue an anti-Armenian policy,\'\' according to the independent Interfax news service. It quoted him as saying misinformation circulated about Armenians\' ``aggressive activity\'\' in Azerbaijan has put the two republics on the verge of war. Movsisyan, who as the republic\'s Communist Party leader is a member of the Soviet Politburo, threatened to resign unless the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is solved as soon as possible so that Armenian lives in the region are protected, Tass and Interfax reported. The president of Azerbaijan, Ayaz Mutalibov, also has accused the Soviet authorities of inaction in the dispute, and he has issued a different kind of threat _ that his republic may secede from the Soviet Union if the Kremlin does not act to ``normalize the situation\'\' in Nagorno-Karabakh. Mutalibov made the threat in an interview published Tuesday in the newspaper Sovietskaya Rossiya. Movsisyan said a natural gas pipeline to Yerevan, Armenia\'s capital, has been shut off, and freight trains have stopped arriving in the city of Idzhevan, costing the republic tens of millions of rubles. In addition, Azerbaijani authorities are forcing Armenians to leave their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh, in order to change the demography of the region, the Armenian parliament\'s resolution was quoted by Tass as saying. The parliament urged that Interior Ministry and Soviet army troops be deployed immediately along the borders of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent areas to restore Soviet authority and self-government in the area, Tass reported. Last week, the Armenian parliament banned the Armenian National Army, created last winter as a vigilante group to protect the mostly Christian population of Armenia from the mostly Moslem population of Azerbaijan. Lawmakers acted after the militant nationalist group was blamed for the shooting deaths of a member of parliament and another man. Gorbachev has demanded that militants in the republic disarm and disband paramilitary groups, but Armenian leaders say they can police their own population.\r\n'),(1477,2,'Four white supremacists have pleaded guilty to federal charges they plotted bombings, robberies and other crimes to further their beliefs. The two Coeur d\'Alene couples entered the pleas Wednesday night after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors. The couples, David and Deborah Dorr and Edward and Olive Hawley, were scheduled to go on trial Monday. The Feb. 12 indictment accused them of committing a series of crimes in the Coeur d\'Alene area in August and September 1986 aimed at advancing their white-supremacist group, Bruder Schweigen Strike Force II, or Order II. Besides raising money to finance its operations, the group sought to kill or intimidate opponents of their offshoot of the Church of Jesus Christ Christian-Aryan Nations, prosecutors said. They were accused of bombing an auto restoration shop, the home of a priest who was a leader in anti-hate group activity, and the federal building Coeur d\'Alene. Prosecutors alleged the explosions were part of an aborted plan to rob a bank and a National Guard armory. All four pleaded guilty to racketeering or engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise from 1984 to 1987. Some also pleaded guilty to firearms or explosives charges or counterfeiting. Ryan approved an agreement with prosecutors that Dorr be sentenced to no more than 20 years in prison, Mrs. Dorr to no more than eight years, Hawley to no more than 12 years and Mrs. Hawley no more than a suspended six-year term. He scheduled sentencing for Oct. 26. A fifth defendant, Robert Pires, has pleaded guilty to charges including a 1986 slaying and bombings and attempted bombings in Coeur d\'Alene. Pires was sentenced to 25 years in prison and has been cooperating with prosecutors.\r\n'),(1478,2,'Sixty-four men survived the Piper Alpha oil rig fire by leaping into the burning sea in the dark, but they had to leave behind more than 100 colleagues trapped and screaming for air in the inferno. ``I am one of the lucky ones,\'\' Harry Calder said in an interview Friday. ``I am pretty sore, I am badly bruised and my hands are burned. But at least I\'m alive. I have lost a lot of friends.\'\' Seventeen bodies have been found and 166 men are presumed dead in the North Sea oil field where the rig exploded Wednesday night. At least 100 men died screaming for help, trapped in their sleeping quarters after surviving the first explosion, said Calder, a 35-year-old helicopter landing officer. The workers were in the smoke-filled galley of the platform, which was plunged into darkness when the emergency lighting failed, he said in an interview Friday.\r\n'),(1479,2,'A gunman shot two people this morning and took one of his victims hostage in a church, police said. The man shot the people about 8:45 a.m., said Julie Wolinksi, a police spokeswoman in Melbourne Beach. He then barricaded himself inside the Episcopal church, Saint Sebastian-By-The-Sea. No one else was believed to be inside the church, she said. But reporters at the scene heard a man and a woman screaming, leading them to believe two people were being held hostage. The gunman\'s identity was not immediately known, officials said. The other shooting victim was taken to the Holmes Regional Medical Center, Ms. Wolinski said. The victim, Diane Conarroe, was in surgery with two gunshot wounds to the abdomen, said hospital spokeswoman Valerie Davis. The 43-year-old woman was expected to be in surgery for most of the afternoon, Davis said. Police surrounded the church as a hostage negotiator from the Brevard County Sheriff\'s Office tried to talk the gunman into releasing the hostage and surrendering, she said. Homes and schools were being evacuated in this town of 2,600 people, 25 miles south of Cape Canaveral, authorities said.\r\n'),(1480,2,'Chinese leaders are cautiously planning a partial return to collective farming in hopes of raising productivity, according to an official newspaper report Wednesday. Ten years after land was distributed to individual farming households, Communist Party and government officials recently decided that ``household contracted lands should be redistributed ... and production conducted under a unified plan,\'\' the English-language China Daily said. China\'s reformist leaders dismantled the commune system a decade ago, allowing the rural economy to return to a family farming system that allowed farmers to sell some crops on the free market. As a result, grain production jumped by one-third and rural incomes tripled. But that growth has stagnated. China\'s farmable land is shrinking annually because of industrial development, and plots worked by individual farmers, averaging 1.5 acres, are too small for efficient mechanized farming. At the recent national meeting, party and government officials decided that ``conglomerates in charge of supply, production and sales\'\' would be established to make large-scale mechanized farming possible, the China Daily reported. It did not say what incentives farmers would have to join the conglomerates or give details about how the conglomerates would be set up. Supporters of such a system have carefully avoided calling the collectives ``communes,\'\' which evoke unpleasant memories of extreme poverty and the leadership\'s ``leftist mistakes.\'\' Aware that the change is likely to be unpopular among China\'s 80 million peasant population, officials stressed the household contract system was not being abandoned. Rather, it would be incorporated into a ``two-tier rural economy\'\' along with the collective sector. Redistribution will be done with the consent of the majority of local farmers, the report said. Calls have been heard for several years for a return to large-scale farming. Experts say the family farmer who brought prosperity to many rural areas has outlived his usefulness and must make way for large-scale mechanized farming.\r\n'),(1481,2,'All nations must face up to the threat of a climate disaster and take steps against global warming, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain said Tuesday. Thatcher, in a keynote speech to a United Nations meeting of ministers on the issue, said much more research is needed but a ``clear case for precautionary action\'\' exists now. ``It is a race against time ... to save our planet,\'\' French Prime Minister Michel Rocard told the officials from some 120 countries, including more than 80 ministers. In an appeal aimed in good part at the United States and the Soviet Union, Mrs. Thatcher demanded all countries begin work on binding commitments to rein in rising pollution by ``greenhouse gases.\'\' The limits would be for a planned global treaty on climate change to be ready in 1992. But there were increasing signs Tuesday that ministers, contrary to European Community hopes, will fail to agree on targets or deadlines so as not to endanger Wednesday\'s conference-ending declaration. ``Not to come to a result would be a very bad signal,\'\' German environment minister Klaus Toepfer told reporters. ``We have to do our best to come to a minimum compromise.\'\' Environmental groups said the draft declaration looks ``more like a non-declaration as all the crucial points on carbon dioxide reduction targets, dates and the urgent call for immediate action have been removed.\'\' Carbon dioxide pollution, much of it from burning fossil fuels, is seen as the leading cause of global warming. Methane and chlorofluorocarbons are other heat-trapping ``greenhouse gases.\'\' Americans and Soviets are the biggest contributors of man-made carbon dioxide emissions. Washington opposes immediate targets against carbon dioxide pollution, saying more scientific data is needed to justify the enormous costs involved in changing ways of life. The Soviet Union, Saudi Arabia and some other countries also have reservations. China sounded a Third World note of reluctance. ``Measures to protect the global climate should not hinder the economic development of developing countries,\'\' delegate Song Jian told the two-day meeting. Mrs. Thatcher, who holds a chemistry degree, warned climate change could occur more quickly than current computer models suggest. ``Should this happen it would be doubly disastrous were we to shirk the challenge now.\'\' Many steps would be ``sensible in any event\'\' - improving energy efficiency, developing alternative sources of supply, reforestation, rethinking industrial processes and tackling the waste problem, she said. Mrs. Thatcher and Rocard followed the lead of scientists from some 100 countries, who met last week in the conference\'s first part. The experts made plain that global warming undoubtedly exists and appealed to politicians for immediate measures. Scientists say global temperatures could rise at their fastest rate in 10,000 years next century if nothing is done. Among the feared upheavals are rising sea levels that would displace coastal dwellers, desertification and vast changes affecting wildlife. Bikenibeu Paeniu, prime minister of Tuvalu, told delegates they may hold the key to the ``continued existence\'\' of his South Pacific coral atoll group and other islands. ``We in the Pacific, the Carribbean and elsewhere have done the least to create these hazards but now stand the most to lose,\'\' he said.\r\n'),(1482,2,'Some cities have decided to make downtown look like downtown again. They are doing away with their pedestrian malls, bulldozing the kiosks, trees and benches that replaced streets 20 or 30 years ago. They are welcoming back the fumes and noises of once-banished traffic. And some that haven\'t decided to return to the downtown of an earlier time are thinking about it. It turns out, said Lawrence O. Houstoun Jr., that converting traditional shopping districts into a pedestrian malls worked _ but only for a while. Houstoun is an urban development consultant in Cranbury, N.J. Dry rot has set in again in many central cities, he said, because office buildings _ which provide many of the shoppers _ have been erected on cheap land too far away for a lunch-time shopping stroll. ``The pedestrian malls had some initial success because they were the first thing that looked good downtown, but they didn\'t deal with the basic problem,\'\' Houstoun said. ``The problem wasn\'t that people wanted to walk in the streets; the problem was that downtown wasn\'t convenient or became inconvenient.\'\' Houstoun said studies have established that at lunch time, people will walk for nine minutes _ or about three blocks _ from their office. If stores are a block or two further away, they will be shunned, no matter how pleasant the environment. So, a number of the 200 or so cities that took the plunge in the late 1960s and the 1970s have undone or down-scaled their malls or are considering it, Houstoun said. He reported his findings in Planning, the magazine of the American Planning Association, and elaborated in an interview. Kalamazoo, Mich., which called itself ``Mall City,\'\' is reopening two blocks of its four-block mall to traffic. Eugene, Ore. removed the kiosks, playgrounds, restrooms and plantings from two blocks of its pedestrian mall. New London, Conn. brought back the cars. Three Illinois cities _ Danville, Champaign and Rockford _ have given up their malls. Norfolk, Va. and St. Joseph, Mo. kept theirs, but in smaller configurations. In the capital of New Jersey, cars will return to part of Trenton Commons. Springfield, Mo. welcomed cars back to much of its mall, too. ``We drive around the square again,\'\' says Bob Turner, acting director of public works. But some cities find their mall still work well. The mall in Boulder, Colo., is a standout. And traffic-choked New York City is considering going the mall route by ``pedestrianizing\'\' 10 blocks of Broadway. A number of cities that would like to take out their pedestrian malls can\'t afford to, said Houstoun, a former official in the Departments of Commerce and Housing and Urban Development in Washington. Often the malls were built with federal grants; no federal money is available to undo them. Houstoun said it can cost $500,000 to $750,000 a block to take out the ``pedestrian features\'\' that give urban malls their character. The old, urbane, upper-middle-class Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Ill., spent $3.1 million in 1988 to take out a mall that had been built 16 years earlier for $1.4 million. In the process, 84 quarter-of-a-century-old pin oak trees were removed. Those that could be saved were replanted elsewhere in the community of 55,000. But ``it absolutely was not a mistake,\'\' to build Oak Park Mall in the first place, said Christine Burdick, executive director of Downtown Oak Park. ``It helped stabilize what in 1972 had been a declining retail center and helped us maintain a viable retail business,\'\' she said. ``It worked, it just became obsolete.\'\' Adds village manager Neil Nielson: ``It served a life, like anything else.\'\' Most Oak Park residents liked their mall, no matter what merchants felt. At the very time that streets, curbs, sewers and lighting were being reinstalled, citizens voted 13,000 to 9,273 in a non-binding initiative against tearing out the mall. What happened was five department stores that had been mall ``anchors\'\' either went bankrupt or moved away, and business fell off, Mrs. Burdick said. ``Restreeting\'\' _ her term for it _ has helped business, Mrs. Burdick said. Sales for the last quarter of 1989 were up 24 percent over the previous year; 15 new retailers moved in. The occupancy rate inched up from 75 to 80 percent. In its dependence on anchors, Oak Park Mall more closely resembled on-the-highway regional shopping malls than do most downtown malls. Downtown malls, said Houstoun, typically rely on two different types of shoppers _ lower-income city residents and office workers _ whose wants are not alike, adding to the malls\' difficulty in finding a market. Office workers are important shoppers. One study found that they spend an average of $1,800 a year downtown on food and goods, most of it during the lunch break. In retrospect, said Houstoun, cities might have been wiser to clear abandoned buildings from core areas, making sites available for office buildings that would have provided the customers for downtown stores. The pedestrian mall, he said, ``wasn\'t a remedy geared to the problem and removing them is not a cure for today\'s problems, either.\'\'\r\n'),(1483,2,'Japanese Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita and European Economic Community officials agreed Tuesday to step up trade contacts. Takeshita responded favorably to a suggestion by EEC Commission President Jacques Delors to create a panel of experts to discuss technical aspects of the EEC\'s rocky trade relations with Japan, officials said. Takeshita also stressed the need for Japan and the 12-nation EEC to widen their relations beyond trade to cultural and scientific sectors. ``The relationship between Europe and Japan is not very strong or as well developed\'\' as that between the United States with Europe and Japan, an aide to Takeshita told reporters. Senior EEC and Japanese officials meet annually. An EEC official said Delors believed regular meetings of experts could be useful in defusing trade tensions. The EEC is conducting numerous investigations of allegations of dumping by Japanese exporters. The EEC official, who asked not to be named, said EEC Foreign Trade Commissioner Willy De Clercq noted a ``remarkable improvement in trade relations\'\' between the 12-nation trade bloc and Japan, even though the EEC continues to register a large trade deficit with Japan. The gap shrank by 4 percent in 1987, but was still $25 billion. For his part, Takeshita said the EEC\'s plans to turn the 12 EEC states into a single, borderless market by the end of 1992 was good for Japan. But his aide quoted him as saying, ``The ... single market after 1992 should be the one which is open to the outside world\'\' and that the EEC should remove restrictions on Japanese exports. But he dismissed the idea of reciprocity in trade, an issue the EEC has given high priority in order to gain greater access for European goods to the Japanese market. ``We fully understand what (the EEC) Commission people are saying on reciprocity but Japan cannot agree to reciprocity on a sectoral basis,\'\' Takeshita was quoted as saying. Among specific trade issues discussed were Japan\'s high taxes on imported liquor and cars, the difficulties of foreign companies\' bidding on Japanese public works projects and better access for EEC exports of telecommunications hardware and semiconductors. The EEC side also urged Japan to liberalize its banking sector. Officials said Delors stressed European banks must be able to establish themselves in Japan to make it easier to finance European exports and investments. De Clercq also called on Japan to quickly comply with a General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ruling to amend an accord with the United States on trade in semiconductors. The world trade body has ruled the deal discriminates against the EEC. Takeshita also asked Delors\' advice as to the best way to distribute $500 million Japan has earmarked as special economic assistance to Africa. ``We are aware that European countries have a long relationship with African countries,\'\' the aide quoted Takeshita as saying.\r\n'),(1484,2,'Sinhalese extremists seeking to disrupt Thursday\'s regional elections detonated a bomb in a crowded market, killing four people, a Sri Lankan military official said. The official said Sinhalese radicals on Wednesday also fatally shot a candidate for the southern District Council. Authorities blamed the pre-election violence on the People\'s Liberation Front, an ultra-nationalist group from Sri Lanka\'s ethnic Sinhalese majority. District Council elections were called under terms of an Indian-brokered peace accord signed on July 29, 1987, and intended to end a separatist war by the Tamil minority. The war has cost more then 8,000 lives since 1983. Sinhalese radicals claim the pact makes too many concessions to Tamils and have vowed to kill anyone who supports it. A total of 166 candidates are competing for 53 seats on the newly created southern District Council, the seventh to be elected since April 28. Attacks by the Sinhalese radical group since India and Sri Lanka signed the peace agreement have taken the lives of 24 council candidates and more than 300 other people, including civilians and party workers. The bomb Wednesday exploded in the market at Weligama town, 75 miles south of Colombo. The military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the four people killed were Sinhalese civilians. He said the candidate, 52-year-old A.S. Dayawansa, was shot to death while campaigning on Wednesday in the southern district. He was a member of the opposition United Socialist Alliance. Five deaths were reported Tuesday, including one candidate, a policeman and a civilian. Other violence in the past two days included the burning of government buses and several courthouses. Storekeepers said Sinhalese extremists told them to close Wednesday, and police said the group ordered a ``curfew\'\' on Thursday to keep people from leaving their homes to vote. Sinhalese, most of whom are Buddhists, are more than 75 percent of Sri Lanka\'s 16 million people and Tamils, predominantly Hindu, make up 18 percent. Tamils claim discrimination by the Sinhalese, who control the government and army, and rebels seek a separate homeland in the Tamil-dominated north and east to be called Eelam. The peace agreement called for Tamil rebels to lay down their arms in exchange for more autonomy in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, but the largest insurgent group continues to fight. India has more than 50,000 troops on the island trying to end the rebellion. It became involved because it is the region\'s dominant power and has 60 million Tamils in southern Tamil Nadu state. District Council elections in the Tamil-dominated areas have been delayed by the fighting, but officials hope to hold them next month.\r\n'),(1485,2,'A judge today rejected an application to free a white former police captain allegedly involved in a secret terror network that harassed and assassinated anti-apartheid activists. The suspect, Ferdinand Barnard, has been held without charge since Oct. 31 as part an investigation into the assassinations last year of two white activists: Johannesburg university lecturer David Webster and Namibian lawyer Anton Lubowski. Pretoria Supreme Court Justice H.J. Priess rejected a bid by Barnard\'s father, a retired police colonel, to have the former narcotics detective released. In Windhoek, Namibia, another Supreme Court judge today set April 18 as the start of a murder trial for Donald Acheson, a suspected accomplice of Barnard who is accused of involvement in Lubowksi\'s killing. Lubowski, shot and killed outside his Windhoek home on Sept. 12, was the only white to hold a leadership position in Namibia\'s independence movement, the South-West African People\'s Organization. Webster, a well-known human rights activist, was shot and killed outside his Johannesburg home on May 1. Police Brig. Floris Mostert, in testimony opposing Barnard\'s release, said the investigation into the assassinations had uncovered the existence of ``a secret organization ... with members from all levels of society, which strives to terrorize left-wing radicals with the aid of violence and intimidation.\'\' Dozens of anti-apartheid activists have been the victims of unsolved murders in recent years. Many others have had their cars vandalized, and there have been bombings or arson attacks on offices of militant trade unions, civil rights groups, and opposition newspapers. Mostert said Barnard had been in contact with Acheson prior to Lubowski\'s murder. The brigadier also said: ``I must respectfully stress that the nature of my investigation is extremely sensitive and that the secrecy of the information which I possess is of the utmost importance.\'\' Police say the Webster-Lubowski case is not directly related to investigations of claims that death squads within the ranks of the national police force killed government opponents on the orders of high-ranking officers. One black ex-policeman, Butana Nofemela, has pleaded guilty to committing a murder as part of such a death squad, and a white former captain, Dirk Coetzee, has fled abroad after telling a newspaper he commanded a death squad. Thus far, legal steps have been taken only against Nofemela and Coetzee, not against other policemen implicated by them. This has resulted in widespread demands for an independent judicial inquiry and accusations that President F.W. de Klerk\'s government is engaged in a cover-up. Some of the white officers implicated by Coetzee appeared today at an inquest into the deaths of four young black activists in 1986. The policemen have denied allegations that the youths were murdered, saying they were shot in self-defense by a special counter-insurgency unit.\r\n'),(1486,2,'The rage of Hong Kong these days is easy to spot. Just look for the tiny antennas, the telltale sign of the portable telephones so many people are carrying wherever they go. Despite price tags of $2,000 or more, the hand-held telephones have become a huge hit in this British colony, where doing business is a 24-hour preoccupation and new status symbols are always in demand. Downtown streets are filled with professionals ready for business with the cellular phones tucked under their arms or stuffed, antenna-up, into briefcases. Away from the financial district, people can be seen barking into the phones while eating in restaurants, riding public buses and ferries, or sitting in darkened movie theaters. Everyone from executives to proprietors of produce stalls can be seen chatting away. The Hong Kong Standard newspaper spotted a telephone in a recent 100-kilometer (62-mile) charity walk along a rural trail. ``In driving rain and a lashing wind, a young man was spotted eagerly and conspicuously talking into his mobile telephone,\'\' it said. ``In a more normal society one would expect (him) to hand the phone over to one of his seconds before starting the race. (But) a few kilometers down the track, the young man was spotted merrily informing the financial markets at large of his continued existence.\'\' The government estimates about 60,000 portable cellular telephones _ roughly six times earlier projections _ will be in use by the end of the year in this territory of 5.7 million people, said Deputy Postmaster General Henry Wise, whose department is in charge of telecommunications. While most cellular telephones sold in other countries are for use in cars, roughly three-fourths of the units sold in Hong Kong since the market opened three years ago have been the more expensive handheld models. ``We were amazed when the whole thing really took off in a great way,\'\' Wise said. Hutchison Telephone Co, which has sold about 26,000 cellular telephones, recently stopped sales for six weeks because demand was outpacing the company\'s capacity to handle all the calls. ``The market just caught everybody by surprise,\'\' said Peter Grant, president of China Telephone Co. Ltd., a rival firm. ``We\'re all frantically rebuilding networks.\'\' Harry Hui, a psychology lecturer at the University of Hong Kong, attributed the popularity of the telephones here in part to ``the importance of face. It\'s a status symbol.\'\' Wise believes the Hong Kong work ethic of doing business whenever and wherever possible is largely responsible for the tremendous sales. ``Virtually the whole day is part of the working day,\'\' he said. Although industry officials see no end in sight to demand for the telephones, their indiscriminate use in public places already is viewed as an irritation by some. ``People are becoming aware of the annoyance factor,\'\' acknowledged Grant. Several exclusive clubs demand that their patrons and guests check their telephones at the door.\r\n'),(1487,2,'U.S. soldiers deployed on what Washington officials call a show of military support for Honduras and a training mission said Saturday they are ready for anything. ``We\'re prepared to do anything they ask us to do,\'\' Maj. Mike Nason of the 82nd Airborne Division headquartered at Fort Bragg, N.C., said at the Palmerola air force base. ``I don\'t want to speculate, but the 82nd Airborne is a combat unit. Anything can happen.\'\' Nason arrived in the first plane Thursday of an airlift of 3,200 American soliers sent by the Reagan administration to Honduras. They were dispatched after Nicaraguan soldiers entered Honduran territory in pursuit of U.S.-backed rebels known as Contras. U.S. officials say the troops will not engage in combat. They say the troops are in Honduras for a training mission combined with a show of force and support for the Central American nation. But Nicaragua\'s leftist Sandinista government has accused the United States of preparing to invade Nicaragua. President Daniel Ortega said last week his forces are ready to ``liquidate\'\' the U.S. troops. Nason, from Garden City, N.Y., said the American soldiers would be surprised if they are called upon to do anything other than demonstrate American support for Honduras. ``Our orders remain that we\'re here to train. We\'re not here to enter into combat,\'\' he said. The arrival of the 82nd Airborne and units of the 7th Light Infantry from Fort Ord, Calif., put U.S. strength in Honduras at about 6,900, according to Maj. Gary Hovatter, the public affairs officer for American troops in Honduras. The troops who had been here before the reinforcements were sent are assigned to various U.S. facilities and engaged in training exercises. President Jose Azcona Hoyo of Honduras asked for the additional U.S. troops in hopes of forcing a Nicaraguan retreat and he said Saturday he won\'t hesitate to ask for more U.S. assistance. Azcona has asked for a U.S. helicopter airlift to help him deploy Honduran troops in the mountainous Bocay border region where the Sandinistas crossed the frontier. Despite the tense situation, the American soldiers at the Palmerola headquarters were relaxed Saturday. Many said they looked forward to the training activities and nothing more. ``I like it. It\'s fun,\'\' said Pfc. Shane Lawson of Columbus, Ohio. ``You can\'t train like this in the States, so we came down here. And we get to train with Honduran troops.\'\' Sgt. Kenneth Martin Anderson said he was upset at protests back home over the deployment. ``They\'re protesting just to protest something,\'\' he said. `They don\'t understand that you can\'t have communists running free all over the place doing what they want to do. What happens if the United States gets attacked by communists?\'\' Anderson and Lawson were in a contingent of about 670 airborne soldiers in camouflage battle dress who climbed into Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters for the brief flight to their bivouack at the nearby base of Tamara. Hovatter said the U.S. troops were sent to four Honduran bases: Tamara, just north of the capital; San Lorenzo in the south; Juticalpa, about 65 miles northeast of the area where the Nicarguan incursion took place, and Palmerola, 40 miles west of Tegucigalpa. Nason denied Nicaraguan claims that the U.S. operation was designed to bring in equipment for the Contras in their 6-year-old war against the leftist Sandinistas. ``Wherever we go, the equipment goes. None of it will stay here,\'\' he said. Nason said the 82nd flew in two tanks, four Cobra combat helicopters, three light helicopters, more than 100 machine guns, a dozen 105mm howitzers and several thousand rifles. On the main highway through Tegucigalpa, people stopped to look at a convoy of about 25 trucks filled with U.S. soldiers. Reporters driving alongside the caravan asked the troopers where they were heading. ``Nowhere!\'\' one soldier shouted.\r\n'),(1488,2,'Housing starts continued to fall in March from their January peak, the government reported Tuesday, but many analysts said the decline had bottomed out. The Commerce Department reported that starts of new homes and apartments fell 9.3 percent last month, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.32 million units _ a pace many analysts said probably would continue. ``We might see levels like we had in March during most of the rest of the year,\'\' said economist Thomas Holloway of the Mortgage Bankers Association. The drop was the sharpest since a 12.4 percent plunge in January 1989, but was expected after starts jumped 23.2 percent to an annual rate of 1.57 million units during January\'s record warm weather. They slipped to 1.46 million in February, still well above the level of the last 11 months of 1989 as unusually warm weather continued. ``It isn\'t so much that housing is plunging as it is a correction in the data to the bulge earlier this year which couldn\'t be sustained,\'\' said Allen Sinai, chief economist for The Boston Co. David Berson, chief economist for the Federal National Mortgage Association, noted that all of the decline was in single-family homes, which fell 12 percent to an annual rate of 1.02 million units. Nevertheless, Berson added, the March rate ``still is a very good number, better than most months of 1989.\'\' Single-family starts totaled 1 million last year. On the other hand, multifamily starts gained 0.9 percent to an annual rate of 306,000 _ ``up a tad, but still at an abysmally low number,\'\' said David Seiders, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders. Apartment starts plunged 35.3 percent in February after a 37.1 percent jump the previous month. In addition to the weather, analysts had attributed the January gain to builders wanting to get construction under way before expensive new regulations designed to make apartments more accessible to the handicapped went into effect. Seiders blamed the ``incredible weakness\'\' in apartment starts on fair housing regulations for the handicapped that he said would add as much as $3,000 to the cost of multifamily units and on a construction credit crunch brought on by the August savings and loan bailout law. The biggest decline in starts was experienced the Northeast, where the real estate industry has been in the doldrums in recent months. They were down 37.8 percent, to 138,000 units, after advancing 32.1 percent in February. ``We though we had seen hopeful signs\'\' in the Northeast, Seiders said, ``but it clearly was a temporary, weather-based effect. Now it\'s showing it is the weakest housing component in the country.\'\' Other declines were posted in the South, down 11.5 percent to 524,000 units, and the West, down 0.5 percent to 376,000 units. The Midwest registered the only gain, up 6.8 percent to 293,000 units. Applications for building permits, often a barometer of future housing activity, fell 7.6 percent after dropping 25.2 percent the previous month. The 1.21 million applications were the lowest since 1.15 million permits were sought in October 1982.\r\n'),(1489,2,'For nearly a decade, states in the Mississippi Delta region have pursued tough education reforms, and they are starting to get results. Last month, Kentucky Gov. Wallace Wilkinson signed legislation that will overhaul public education. The changes were enacted after the state Supreme Court in June found the public school system inequitable and unconstitutional. Spending per pupil varied district to district from $1,800 to $4,200. Now a state minimum, $2,900, has been established. In addition, the new Kentucky law calls for committees of parents, teachers and principals to make day-to-day school decisions. In Mississippi, Gov. Ray Mabus also signed legislation in April, continuing education reforms begun in the early 1980s that have raised standardized test scores for the last four years and increased accountability by requiring district ``report cards.\'\' One measure commits $182 million to curriculum improvements in the next three years; another calls for $800 million in bonds to replace aging school buildings and buses. Mabus has said he\'ll call a special legislative session in June to work out how to finance the plan. Arkansas\' education reforms have reduced class sizes, added support personnel and expanded the curriculum, particularly language, science and math courses. A 1-cent sales tax hike and a teacher testing policy were among reforms pushed by Gov. Bill Clinton in 1983. Since then, his office says, 1,400 people who failed the teacher tests are out of the classroom, 17,000 more students are taking foreign-language classes than in 1983, 15 percent more students are attending college, dropout rates have improved and test scores are up. In Tennessee, a draft of Gov. Ned McWherter\'s 1991 package spells out 12 major goals, from requiring kindergarten to better preparing college freshmen to do college-level work. The plan also calls for ``performance audit teams\'\' in the state education department. Reforms in Louisiana have included reducing classroom size, rewarding successful schools and raising teachers\' pay, though hard times in the state\'s petroleum industry have cut revenues. One effort Gov. Buddy Roemer is pushing is a $30 million computer-based reading lab. The states still fall behind much of the nation in per pupil spending. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics in Washington, the national average expenditure was $4,243 in 1987-88, the last year for which complete figures were available. The comparable state figures were: Kentucky, $3,011; Mississippi, $2,548; Arkansas, $2,989; Tennessee, $3,068; and Louisiana, $3,138.\r\n'),(1490,2,'A plane used in fighting forest fires crashed near an airport outside this northwestern Spanish city, killing all four of its occupants, airport officials said. Officials said one of the motors of the plane apparently failed shortly after the aircraft took off Friday from Labacolla airport. The plane crashed into a forest nearby. The victims were two captains, one lieutenant and one non-commissioned officer of the Spanish Air Force. The Labacolla-based plane had been taking part in efforts to combat a forest fire in Orense province in northwestern Spain, officials said.\r\n'),(1491,2,'A U.S. thrift regulator testified Friday that Sen. Dennis DeConcini broke the bounds of propriety - but four other senators did not - when they intervened on behalf of savings and loan owner Charles H. Keating Jr. Regulator Michael Patriarca, addressing the Senate Ethics Committee, drew the line between the behavior of DeConcini, D-Ariz. and four colleagues: John McCain, R-Ariz.; Donald W. Riegle Jr., D-Mich.; John Glenn, D-Ohio and Alan Cranston, D-Calif. Patriarca said it was wrong for a senator to attempt to ``influence, to change the outcome\'\' of an examination that was highly critical of Keating\'s Lincoln Savings and Loan. ``My personal view is Senator DeConcini did that,\'\' he said. ``It\'s not clear to me that any of the others did.\'\' The regulator was referring to the senators\' conduct at an April 9, 1987 meeting with four San Francisco-based regulators - including Patriarca - who were responsible for the Lincoln investigation. Patriarca also said he would fault the senators generally, because they ``appeared to have made up their minds in advance\'\' that Keating was right and the regulators were wrong in finding serious problems at Lincoln. Patriarca\'s two days of testimony backed the assertion of his ex-boss, former Federal Home Loan Bank Board Chairman Edwin J. Gray, that DeConcini took the lead in trying to negotiate a deal on Keating\'s behalf. DeConcini denied that he sought a waiver for Lincoln of a rule prohibiting risky investments, in return for the thrift establishing a home mortgage loan program. Patriarca was questioned by Sen. Warren Rudman, R-N.H., one of six Ethics Committee members who will judge whether the five senators improperly intervened for Keating. Keating and associates donated $1.3 million to the campaigns and political causes of the five senators. The committee has held nine days of hearings in an effort to determine whether the money influenced the intervention. The hearing adjourned until Monday after a former member of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board testified he received calls from Cranston and DeConcini in April 1989 - immediately before the government takeover of Lincoln. In those calls, said Roger Martin, both senators urged the board to approve a sale of Lincoln rather than its seizure. The requests were rejected. All the senators except Riegle met on Keating\'s behalf with Gray on April 2, 1987 in DeConcini\'s office. When the chief regulator said he lacked details of the Lincoln investigation, the four San Francisco-based regulators including Patriarca, were summoned to the April 9 meeting. That also was in DeConcini\'s office and this time Riegle joined the group. Rudman asked Patriarca whether he thought DeConcini was ``out of line\'\' in the April 9 meeting, when he sought the waiver for Lincoln. ``Yes I did, senator,\'\' the regulator responded. He said that the proper way to challenge the regulation was through the courts and Lincoln ``had a retainer with every significant law firm in the country\'\' to do so. Lincoln in fact did, shortly before the meetings with regulators, file a court suit challenging the rule. The suit was not successful. Patriarca said McCain showed the ``least prejudice\'\' toward regulators at the April 9 meeting; DeConcini and ``perhaps Sen. Glenn seemed to have their minds made up pretty substantially\'\' and Riegle was ``in the middle.\'\' Another member of the committee, Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., asked if the senators were hostile at the meeting. ``I think it was hostile,\'\' Patriarca said. ``We were being dressed down.\'\' Helms then asked whether the senators expressed ``surprise or shock\'\' after the regulators informed them that serious problems - and possible criminality - were found at Lincoln, of Irvine, Calif. ``We didn\'t seem to be getting through to the senators,\'\' the regulator said. ``They did not seem to appreciate the seriousness of the situation that we were trying to convey to them.\'\' On Thursday, Patriarca said the senators became less aggressive when regulators said they would make criminal referrals to the Justice Department.\r\n'),(1492,2,'Grain and soybean futures prices were sharply down Monday on the Chicago Board of Trade, as a result of increased harvest pressures and declines on the precious metal and energy markets. Wheat futures prices fell to levels from two weeks ago amid doubts the Soviet Union does not plan to buy subsidized wheat flour from the government, along with professional selling by major companies and near-ideal harvest conditions, analysts said. ``There\'s a very weak export outlook to buy grains,\'\' said Walter Spilka, an analyst with Smith Barney, Harris Upham and Co. in New York. ``You\'re moving grains into positions to be sold and you don\'t have any ready buyers, so that\'s going to push prices lower.\'\' Soybean futures pushed toward double-digit losses as major corporations sold off their interest. Near-ideal weather conditions in areas where the crop is grown also added pessimism the entire harvest would be sold, Spilka said. Corn followed soybeans and wheat amid the same fears. At the close, wheat futures were 7} cents to 3\\ cents lower with the contract for delivery in December at $2.70a bushel ; corn was 5 cents to 1{ cents lower with December at $2.23 a bushel; oats were 1{ cents lower to { cent higher with December at $1.19{ a bushel; soybeans were 11} cents to 5 cents lower with November at $6.06\\ a bushel.\r\n'),(1493,2,'Postmaster General Anthony Frank endorsed legislation Thursday to require child-proof packaging of mailed medicine samples, saying it could ``head off a disaster before it happens.\'\' The bill was inspired by an incident last March in Saline, Mich., in which a group of children ages 3 to 8 obtained sample packages of Tylenol gelcaps from an open mailbox area in an apartment complex. The Postal Service typically places mailed samples in open racks or on tables in the mail area of apartment buildings when the packages don\'t fit in mailboxes. The children, pretending the gelcaps were cocaine, were crushing them and apparently intended to inhale the powder. But an adult saw what was happening, confiscated the medicine and notified police. Frank said he had received no reports of children actually ingesting direct-mail medicine samples. ``We all have it in our power to head off a disaster before it happens and what a great feeling that is for a change,\'\' he told the House Subcommittee on Postal Operations and Services. ``We stand foursquare behind the bill.\'\' No opposition surfaced during the subcommittee hearing. Voicing support for the bill were Donnelley Marketing, the company that handled the Tylenol mailing; the Direct Marketing Association; the Third Class Mail Association; and two agencies of the U.S. Postal Service. The bill would require that pharmaceutical and hazardous household product samples sent through the mail be packaged in child-proof containers. The Postal Service would refuse to deliver samples not meeting the standard. James Douglas, director of the Saline Department of Public Safety, said about 110 sample packages of Tylenol gelcaps were taken from the children. The University of Michigan\'s poison control center later told police that as few as six of the gelcaps could cause serious, or even fatal, liver disease in a 40-pound child. That is the typical weight of children ages 3 to 5, Douglas said. An overdose of aspirin and similar drugs would not cause any readily observable symptoms such as vomiting or unconsciousness, he said. Poison control officials told him the only way to determine whether a lethal dosage had been consumed is to conduct a ``blood screening\'\' within six hours of the time the drug was ingested, Douglas said. ``This truly is a situation where a tightening of rules and regulations could prevent a threat to public safety,\'\' said Rep. William Ford, D-Mich., a co-sponsor of the bill. Donnelly Marketing already has adopted a policy requiring child-proof packaging of medicine samples it distributes, senior vice president Ellen M. Farley said. While supporting the legislation, she said its effective date _ Oct. 1 or 60 days after its enactment, whichever is later _ might not give manufacturers enough time to comply. An additional six months should be allowed, Ms. Farley said.\r\n'),(1494,2,'The House approved the first overhaul of federal clean air laws in 13 years Friday night, requiring new pollution controls to sharply reduce urban smog, acid rain and industrial release of toxic chemicals. The 1,100-page bill passed by a vote of 401-25 and immediately was sent to the Senate. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, scheduled a vote Saturday. The cost for meeting the new requirements eventually are expected to exceed $22 billion a year and affect virtually every segment of society. Many of the handful of congressmen who opposed the measure did so because of the burden imposed on Midwest utilities that will have to undertake expensive measures to curb pollutants that cause acid rain. But supporters hailed the legislation as the most far-reaching piece of environmental legislation to be considered by Congress in years. ``This bill will be the standard by which we will judge environmental legislation in the \'90s,\'\' declared Rep. Mike Synar, D-Okla. Despite its lopsided approval, the bill was the product of months of intense bargaining by House members among themselves behind closed doors. The highly technical and far-reaching bill requires tighter emission controls on cars, cleaner-burning gasoline blends and pollution controls on businesses to combat urban smog. Smog-producing emissions from automobiles must be cut by 30 percent to 60 percent and gasoline sold in areas with smog problems must be 15 percent cleaner toward the end of the decade. More than 100 cities that are failing to meet federal air-quality standards will have to impose pollution-control plans to bring their air into compliance over the next five to 17 years, depending on the severity of the problem. The Los Angeles area is given 20 years. At the same time, the measure directs industry to cut toxic air pollution by 90 percent over the next eight years by installing new pollution-control equipment to capture 189 hazardous chemicals and requires coal-burning electric power plants to reduce chemical releases that cause acid rain by more than 10 million tons. The industrial Midwest will be hit hardest because plants in such states as Ohio, Indiana and Illinois rely heavily on high-sulfur coal and will carry the greatest burden of reducing sulfur dioxide emissions, which cause acid rain. Failure to meet the new federal requirements could open polluters to civil penalties of up to $25,000 a day. Criminal penalties may be sought against corporate executives for willful release of hazardous air pollutants that pose a serious health threat. Most of the new pollution requirements would be phased in over 10 to 15 years. The requirements for cleaner burning motor fuels and reductions in sulfur dioxide emissions from coal-burning power plants take effect by 1995. The clean-air requirements are expected to have widespread effects on society. Consumers are likely to pay slightly more for automobiles as well as gasoline and, in many of the Midwestern states, more for electricity. Small businesses and huge petrochemical plants alike will have to invest in pollution-control equipment and improve the monitoring of chemical releases. Cost estimates for the new controls have varied widely. The bill\'s supporters have said the legislation will cost the economy about $10 billion a year beginning in 1995 and about $22 billion by the year 2005, when most of the requirements will be in effect. Industry estimates have been much higher, with some studies predicting annual costs from the legislation by 2005 of more than $60 billion. Environmentalists have criticized the industry figures as being based on ``inflated estimates and extreme or false assumptions.\'\' The latest push for overhauling the 1970 Clean Air Act, which was last changed in 1977, began nearly 17 months ago when President Bush unveiled his proposal for cleaning up the nation\'s air, noting that for nearly a decade ``political paralysis has plagued ... progress against air pollution.\'\' But the task proved to be far from simple. It took three weeks of intense closed-door negotiations between Senate leaders and the White House to craft legislation that would satisfy divergent regional and economy interests affected by the bill. Finally the Senate passed a bill April 3 by a vote of 89-11. Six weeks later, the House approved its version 401-21 after also after working out scores of tradeoffs and compromises. But negotiations bogged down as the House and Senate tried to resolve differences in the two bills, each of which ran to nearly 700 pages. Facing increasing time pressures, negotiators for the two houses finally agreed on a compromise bill Monday, barely in time for final floor action before Congress adjourns.\r\n'),(1495,2,'Here is the text of the Democratic Party\'s weekly radio address, as delivered Saturday by Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia: This is Senator Byrd. I have good news. Congress is one step closer to passing the long-awaited trade bill. Last Thursday, the House of Representatives did its part. The trade bill passed overwhelmingly. Now, it is our turn in the Senate. Next week we are going to send the trade bill to the president for his signature. The trade deficit has got to come down. America\'s standard of living is being threatened. There are more of us working, but fewer of us owning homes. In most families, it takes two people working to keep the American dream in sight. And everyone is looking over their shoulders, worried about the next crash on Wall Street. Year by year, we have slipped further into debt. The trade deficit, like the budget deficit, is in triple digits. The trade deficit is up again. That means fewer jobs for Americans. With this trade bill America will be telling the world: ``Watch out, you\'ve got competition.\'\' We will be telling the world that America expects fair competition: ``If you get access to our markets, we get access to yours.\'\' The trade bill is a positive step for America. It is a good bill. This bill creates programs for retraining workers, and gives the president new tools to open up markets to American products. It is not protectionist. The trade bill is comprehensive. It covers everything from exchange rates to better education for our children. The trade bill establishes a strong new export policy. At the same time, it protects American inventions from piracy by foreign firms. In addition, this trade bill prevents foreign investors from dominating industries vital to our national security. This trade bill is a reasonable response to a trade policy that hs gone awry. It opens up new markets, invests in people and ideas, and creates new opportunities for American industries and workers to work together _ to make America competitive again. We are at the 11th hour when it comes to dealing with our nation\'s trade deficit. This is no time to dilly-dally. America has got to get moving again. The trade bill gets us moving in the right direction. But all this is at risk if the president vetoes the trade bill. Despite months of working with the president, the Congress is still unsure of his support. The president is still waving his veto pen in the air. The president is upset that the trade bill includes one small section to protect workers from suddenly being laid off without notice. That\'s the issue: the plant-closing legislation that you have been hearing about. Our bill says if your factory is going to close and you are going to lose your job, you have a right to know 60 days in advance. That is simple justice, simple decency. Right now, many workers get only a week or two or a day or two of warning that their jobs are about to disappear. About a third of all American workers get no notice at all. The administration does not like this provision. I think the administration is dead wrong. What they are saying is this: ``It is OK to give golden parachutes to the big guys, but it is not OK to give the little guy a warning that he is about to lose his job.\'\' Is that fair? Of course not. I have seen the impact of factories suddenly closing in my own state of West Virginia. Men and women who have loyally worked for years for a company suddenly are handed pink slips without warning. ``Go stand on the unemployment line. All your hard work does not count.\'\' That\'s the message. The choice is simple. If the president stands up for America, he will sign the trade bill. There will be no veto. It will be a great day. If the president vetoes the trade bill, he will be sending another message: The big boys with the golden parachutes count more than the little guy. Mr. President, at the 11th hour, don\'t turn back the clock. We need new policies, not old politics. Mr. President, put away your veto pen and sign the trade bill when it comes to your desk.\r\n'),(1496,2,'A Taiwanese man was convicted Tuesday on murder and robbery charges in a bloody street shooting that left two federal drug agents and two assailants dead. Su Re ``Michael\'\' Chia, 21, was not at the scene of the Feb. 5 robbery and shooting, but was an important figure in a drug deal that had been planned as a double-cross, prosecutors had argued. Chia delivered a gun, gave a ride to one of the alleged killers, and acted as a lookout for them, prosecutors said during his three-week trial. Jurors reached their verdict on their third day of deliberations. Chia, who could face life in prison, is to be sentenced Dec. 21. Chia was convicted in the deaths of Drug Enforcement Administration agents Paul Seema and George Montoya and attempted murder in the wounding of agent Jose Martinez. He was also found guilty of robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery. The undercover agents were shot after they agreed during a meeting at a Monterey Park restaurant to buy $80,000 worth of heroin. They drove to a quiet Pasadena street to conduct the transaction. However, two men got into the undercover agents\' car and robbed and shot them, then fled to a waiting car where a third man drove them away, with backup agents and police in pursuit. Investigators later said the killers planned the double-cross robbery from the start and did not know they were dealing with DEA agents. After a brief chase, the car was stopped in San Marino and Michael Sun, 17, and Wen Hui Kow, 27 were killed in a shootout. Win Wei ``William\'\' Wang, 19, was shot eight times but survived. Wang is charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances that could lead to the death penalty if he is convicted. When police picked up Chia after the shooting, they found bullets, handcuffs, a clip that fit one of the guns used in the agents\' shooting, and three ski masks in his car. ``He delivered one of the murder weapons the night before, and knew about the robbery plan,\'\' Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Clymer said of Chia. ``He knew about the robbery plan, and took Wang to the apartment of one of the other shooters.\'\' Defense attorney Brian O\'Neill contended that authorities lied and altered reports after Chia\'s arrest to make their case against him.\r\n'),(1497,2,'The government\'s main economic forecasting gauge plunged 1.0 percent in February, its steepest drop in nine months, the government said Tuesday. But analysts said the decrease was misleading. The Commerce Department said Tuesday its latest Index of Leading Economic Indicators _ designed to forecast economic activity six to nine months in advance _ wiped out three months of increases with the largest decline since a 1.1 percent fall last May. But analysts said the report was an aberation caused by a record 25 percent drop in building permits in February from January\'s 26.8 percent gain as builders took advantage of warm weather and tried to beat deadlines for new government regulations. ``It would have been down just 0.2 percent without the distorting effect of the building permits,\'\' said David Jones, an economist with Aubrey G. Lanston & Co., a government securities dealer in New York. Gilbert Benz, an economist with the Swiss Bank Corp. in New York, said the gauge would bounce back next month to its levels of late 1989 and early 1990. The index rose 0.1 percent in November, 0.4 percent in December and 0.2 percent in January. Nevertheless, seven of the 11 statistics in the index were down which analysts interpreted as meaning a soft economy, particularly in the manufacturing sector. ``February\'s leading indicators show a substantial industrial rebound is unlikely to occur in the next six months,\'\' said William K. MacReynolds, forecasting director for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. But Jones added, ``Recent signals suggest that while the goods-producing sector is still flat, it\'s not getting any worse and there\'s no evidence that its weakness is spreading to other sectors.\'\' According to a recent survey of 51 top economists by Blue Chip Economic Indicators in Sedona, Ariz., the gross national product _ the nation\'s output of goods and services _ will avoid a recession and grow 1.7 percent in 1990. But the survey concluded that the economic outlook ``remains the most sluggish since the recession year of 1982.\'\' The economy grew 3 percent last year, although it slowed to 1.1 percent in the final quarter. In addition to building permits, other statistics contributing to the index\'s decline in February were faster business delivery times, lower stock prices, a decline in plant and equipment orders, a decrease in the price of raw materials, a decline in the backlog of manufacturers\' unfilled orders and a drop in an index measuring consumer confidence. Three of the components were positive, including an increase in orders for consumer goods, a gain in the money supply and a drop in weekly unemployment claims. One indicator, the length of the average workweek, was unchanged. The various changes left the index at 144.0 percent of its 1982 base of 100. The index fell 0.6 percent from September through February after declining 0.5 percent the previous six months.\r\n'),(1498,2,'Nevada\'s Supreme Court, which banned use of police decoys who pose as drunks with cash hanging from their pockets, says it\'s OK if the decoy is alert, well-dressed and more of a ``logical target\'\' for thieves. The high court Thursday rejected an appeal from Vincent DePasquale, convicted in Las Vegas of larceny after a police decoy operation in 1983. A plainclothes policewoman was used as a decoy, carrying a shoulder bag in which a fake $100 bill was exposed, a zipper pulled tight against the money. DePasquale claimed entrapment. The Supreme Court said it has ruled against use of decoys when they pose as anyone who is helpless, drunk or feigning unconsciousness with money exposed temptingly from pockets. That ``degree of vulnerability\'\' suggested entrapment, or inducing someone to commit a crime he might not otherwise commit, the court said. In the DePasquale case, however, ``the exposed valuables were presented in a realistic situation, an alert and well-dressed woman walking on the open sidewalks in the casino area,\'\' the court said. ``The fact that the money was exposed simply presented a generally identified social predator with a logical target,\'\' the court added. ``These facts suggest that DePasquale was predisposed to commit this crime.\'\'\r\n'),(1499,2,'The U.S. dollar surged sharply against the Japanese yen Friday morning, while stock prices declined. The dollar was quoted at 133.35 yen at 11:30 a.m., up 3.20 yen from Thursday\'s close of 130.15 yen. After opening at 133.70 yen, it ranged between 133.00 yen and 133.85 yen in the morning. On the stock market, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average closed the morning session at 21,933.99 points, down 778.61 points, or 3.4 percent, from Thursday\'s finish of 22,712.60 points. In bond dealings, the price of the benchmark No. 119 10-year Japanese government bond slipped to 85.62 points as of midmorning, down from Thursday\'s close of 86.11 points. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction from price, rose to 7.58 percent from 7.48 percent. The resolution adopted by the United Nations Security Council on Thursday authorizing the use of force to drive Iraq from Kuwait encouraged dollar buying, traders said. The dollar is seen as a safe investment in times of international tensions, while the yen is weakened by possibility of war in the Gulf because Japan imports virtually all its oil. The dollar\'s jump followed its overnight advance in New York, where it closed at 133.25 yen, as investors sought a safe haven in anticipation of the U.N. decision. Jumpei Ishii, a foreign exchange dealer at the Mitsui Taiyo Kobe Bank, said the dollar was staying close to its New York finish in the absence of fresh market-driving forces. He said investors were generally not taking big risks this late in the year. The lower yen and possibility of war in the Middle East helped push share prices down on the Tokyo stock market, said a dealer at Cosmo Securities, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said a further plunge may follow because the Nikkei average has hit below the 22,000-point level. ``We see severe times ahead,\'\' he said.\r\n'),(1500,2,'Just when teacher union chief Albert Shanker was starting to sound like a mellowed elder statesman, the old firebrand re-emerged with an attack on school boards and administrators he accuses of impeding reform. In his opening address Monday before 3,200 delegates at the American Federation of Teachers annual convention, Shanker virtually declared an end to the decades-old feud with the National Education Association. The two teacher unions are finally cooperating, seeing eye-to-eye on most key issues, he said _ though officials of both unions hastened to add that merger is at best a distant dream. Moments later, the president of the 744,000-member AFT, once considered so feisty that Woody Allen portrayed him as the cause of World War III in the film ``Sleeper,\'\' told reporters that school boards and administrators have failed to act on reform despite his union\'s flexibility. Insisting he was not trying to ``hurt\'\' or ``destroy\'\' school leaders, he said, ``What I\'m shocked about is they\'re not acting like intelligent managers.\'\' Unless reform proceeds more quickly, Shanker warned, the public will turn to more drastic schemes like giving parents the right to use tax dollars to send their kids wherever they want, including private school. Such a plan already is in place in Milwaukee, he pointed out. Those were just his opening shots. Shanker indicated he\'d have more to say on Wednesday in an address to the convention. National School Boards Association executive director Thomas Shannon replied by calling Shanker ``myopic and forgetful.\'\' ``One of the biggest obstacles to change is collective bargaining contracts. You can\'t always just change things,\'\' said Shannon, reached by telephone at his Washington office. ``We have no doubt about the sincerity of Al Shanker,\'\' said Gary Marx, spokesman for the American Association of School Administrators. ``And he should have no doubt about our commitment to better schools.\'\' The AFT gathering runs through Thursday. More than 8,000 delegates of the 2-million-member NEA will meet in Kansas City Thursday through Sunday. In another development, the AFT released a survey showing average teacher pay in the United States up 5.7 percent to $31,315. Alaska was tops with an average salary of $43,097. South Dakota ranked last at $21,300.\r\n'),(1501,2,'Here are major elements of President Bush\'s aid package for Nicaragua and Panama. OVERALL FUNDS. Bush coupled a $300 million aid package to help Nicaragua speed the transition to democracy with a renewed request for $500 million in aid to Panama. He requested the Panama money earlier this year, but it got sidetracked in Congress on other issues. The Nicaragua and Panama money would be diverted from unspecified Pentagon programs. An existing $21 million would be used for emergency aid to Nicaragua, including food. Some of it would be used to help re-integrate the Contra rebels. TRADE. The president lifted a five-year-old trade embargo against Nicaragua. He also took steps to allow Nicaragua to resume shipping sugar to the United States and to make that nation eligible for duty-free treatment for a variety of other products. SUPPLIES. Some $60 million would be earmarked for providing critical agricultural supplies, petroleum and medical supplies. EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS. $10 million would help pay for ``emergency employment programs,\'\' including ones designed to help turn soliders into farmers. RESETTLEMENT. Some $45 million would go toward helping speed the repatriation and resettlement of the U.S.-backed Contra forces and other refugees, and an additional $1 million would be used for technical assistance in restructuring the economy. INTERNATIONAL FINANCE. Some $50 million would be used to help Nicaragua pay off debt to the International Monetary Fund and other international financial institutions. An additional $75 million would go toward helping to prop up the Nicaraguan currency to help restructure the economy and aid the country with its balance-of-payments imbalance. PROJECTS. About $60 million would help pay for such projects as bridge, road and highay repair and refurbishing schools and hospitals. FURTHER AID. Bush said he would later propose an additional $200 million to be used in the fiscal year that begins next Oct. 1, with details to be announced later\r\n'),(1502,2,'Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, the futures industry\'s most powerful ally in Congress, has all but conceded defeat in a battle over who should regulate trading of at least some types of futures contracts. Rostenkowski, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said ``the cards are stacked\'\' against the Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The two dominate global futures trading and favor continued oversight by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission rather than by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Illinois Democrat also said Congress appears to favor a merger of the two federal regulatory agencies over proposals to transfer to the SEC jurisdiction over only the financial futures markets or over stock-index futures alone. ``If there\'s any movement at all with respect to partial consolidation, there will be total consolidation,\'\' Rostenkowski said. ``I think the cards are stacked against the members of the Chicago trading faction.\'\' Rostenkowski commented on the situation in a meeting Monday with the Chicago Tribune\'s editorial board. His remarks were reported in Tuesday\'s editions. The CFTC currently regulates all futures trading. Leaders of the Chicago exchanges fear the SEC, which oversees stock and bond trading, would be a stricter regulator whose actions could raise the cost of trading futures in the United States, driving business overseas. Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady and SEC Chairman Richard Breeden favor giving the SEC at least some of the CFTC\'s regulatory authority. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the world\'s largest market for stock-index futures, is opposed to any transfer of jurisdiction, said spokesman Andrew Yemma. ``The position advocted by some in Washington of shifting jurisdiction to the SEC, we just don\'t consider that a negotiable matter,\'\' Yemma said in a telephone interview. The battle over jurisdiction of the industry stems in part from the government\'s investigation of illegal trading practices at the Merc and Board of Trade. Forty-eight people, mostly traders, have been indicted in the probe, prompting criticism that the CFTC has been lax in policing the exchanges. The turf battle also is rooted in the belief among some experts that stock-index futures trading increases volatility in the stock market. Stock-index futures are contracts that represent baskets of stocks. Rostenkowski portrayed the fight as reflecting a rivalry between New York and Chicago over dominance of the nation\'s financial markets. ``This shows the strength of the New York operators,\'\' he said, noting that Brady, former head of a powerful Wall Street firm, ``is part of the Eastern establishment.\'\' Sen. Alan Dixon, D-Ill., another futures industry ally, on Monday introduced a compromise bill that would put a member of each agency on the counterpart regulatory body. ``I think cross-membership is a good idea to give each agency a better appreciation of the issues the other has to face,\'\' Dixon said. The measure ``does not call for fundamental restructuring of our regulatory structure,\'\' he said, noting such restructuring is unnecessary. The debate over jurisdiction is likely to heat up Thursday, when top regulators are expected to testify before a Senate subcommittee headed by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn. Dodd has said he favors shifting regulation of stock-index futures to the SEC from the CFTC.\r\n'),(1503,2,'Law enforcement agencies must spend more time and money fighting Asian crime syndicates, which are becoming one of the most powerful criminal forces in the United States, the FBI director says. Asian organized crime groups traditionally choose victims in their own ethnic community, FBI Director William Sessions told a gathering of business leaders Friday. ``Now they are extending their tentacles out to the rest of American society,\'\' he said. ``Indeed, Asian crime groups are networking and interacting not only with each other but with La Cosa Nostra and Colombian drug cartels as well,\'\' he said. The FBI first became aware of the extent of Asian organized crime when agents seized 900 pounds of 90 percent pure heroin worth more than $1 billion in February 1989, Sessions said. ``Unfortunately, Asian criminal organizations are gaining larger and stronger footholds around the country,\'\' Session said. Japanese, Vietnamese and Chinese organized crime groups are the strongest in the United States, he said.\r\n'),(1504,2,'The leaders of Greek and Turkish Cypriots in Cyprus will meet in New York next month for talks aimed at resolving problems in the divided nation, Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar said today. U.N. officials said Georges Vassiliou, president of the Republic of Cyprus, and Rauf Denktash, president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, will visit New York for talks Aug. 24. ``The leaders of the two sides in Cyprus have accepted my proposal for resumption of talks to negotiate a settlement of all aspects of the Cyprus problem,\'\' Perez de Cuellar said in a brief news conference. He did not elaborate on his proposals for peace in Cyprus, which has been divided since Turkish troops invaded in 1974 and captured the northern third of the island. Turkish Cypriots, who comprise one-fifth of the island\'s 650,000 people, have formed their own breakaway state, headed by Denktash, in the Turkish- controlled territory. Several rounds of talks between Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders, under U.N. mediation, have failed to resolve disputes over the form of a federation and withdrawal of about 29,000 Turkish troops.\r\n'),(1505,2,'Final payments totaling about $100 million are going out to states as their share of 1990 national forest sales receipts, the Agriculture Department said Friday. F. Dale Robertson, chief of the Forest Service, said the money is in addition to a preliminary payment of $246 million which went to the states on Sept. 19, bringing the total for the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30 to more than $346 million. By law, 25 percent of the revenues collected by the Forest Service for the sale of timber and other use of national forest resources must be returned to the states where the forests are located. Actual receipts in fiscal 1990 totaled $1.38 billion. The states are required to use the funds for schools and roads. Oregon is the biggest recipient of total forest receipts for 1990 with $150 million, followed by California, $64 million, and Washington, $37 million.\r\n'),(1506,2,'Human rights violations have increased under President Corazon Aquino\'s administration and the United States shares responsibility, a leftist social action group charged today. Meanwhile, suspected Communist rebels ambushed and killed a police informant early today in Manila\'s Tondo district, a stronghold of urban guerrillas. Petrolino Lim suffered three gunshot wounds and died a few hours later in a hospital, police said. The Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates said it would file a petition with the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in New York asking it to condemn the U.S. and Aquino governments for ``gross and systematic violations of human rights of the Filipino people.\'\' Alvaro Senturias, an alliance official, told a news conference that the petition would show that ``human rights violations have increased under the Aquino government.\'\' The alliance distributed copies of the petition, which cited numerous specific allegations of abuses, including murder, the bombing of civilians and forced evacuation of villagers. Most of the incidents stemmed from the government\'s effort to step up the war against Communist rebels\' 19-year-old insurgency _ employing armed vigilantes, for example, the group said. There was no immediate comment from the government, which came to power nearly two years ago on the promise of restoring human rights after 20 years of authoritarian rule under ousted President Ferdinand Marcos. The alliance, an umbrella group for several leading church-affiliated human rights groups, says in the petition that the United States ``has intensified its intervention in the counter-insurgency program.\'\' ``The Aquino government has become more subservient to the dictation of the U.S. policy makers and counter-insurgency experts,\'\' it says. The alliance said that despite its stated commitment to human rights, the Aquino government had made little effort to punish those in the military who had committed abuses under the Marcos administration. The military has said that many of the church-affiliated groups that comprise the alliance are communist-infiltrated. It says they unfairly blame soldiers for abuses without criticizing similar actions by the rebel New People\'s Army. Mrs. Aquino was swept to power in a February 1986 military-civilian uprising that toppled Marcos, who lives in exile in Hawaii.\r\n'),(1507,2,'A woman is suing a school district for locking her 13-year-old son in a cafeteria closet for three school days for fighting. Frances Allison said her son, Gary DeWayne Morris, has nightmares and refuses to sleep without a light since the incident last March. She is suing the Elmore City School district and a former principal for $100,000. The lawsuit, filed in December, says the boy was kept in the 4-by-5-foot closet from 8:25 a.m. to 2:45 p.m., that meals were served to him and that he had to urinate in a bottle. ``Imagine what they would have done to me if someone had come to my house and noticed Gary in the closet,\'\' Ms. Allison said. ``They\'d put me in jail and take away my kids.\'\' Delbert Handke, district superintendent, said today that the boy was allowed out to use the bathroom. He said the incident occurred before he became superintendent. The school district said Ms. Allison consented to an in-house suspension. Ms. Allison said the principal told her such a suspension would occur in a classroom away from other students and would be supervised by a teacher.\r\n'),(1508,2,'A company that keeps tabs on the aircraft industry reports jet aircraft orders are booming as commercial airlines worldwide modernize their fleets with more fuel-efficient aircraft. The company, Forecast International, says more than 3,400 aircraft worth $114 billion are either on order or on option to order, most to be delivered over the next six years. In 15 years of tracking aircraft developments, ``I\'ve never, never seen a replacement cycle like this,\'\' said company President Edward M. Nebinger. He said Tuesday airlines are ordering new planes because they can save 20 to 25 percent on fuel costs with newer models, with fuel being an airline company\'s largest operational expense. Nebinger also said the industry had weathered an era of cutthroat competition, prompted partly by the deregulation of the industry a decade ago, that has seen less-efficient carriers fold amid a series of mergers and consolidations. ``The survivors are economically stronger,\'\' he said. Newer models also reduce the risk of metal fatigue, which literally can cause a plane to fall apart. Nebinger recalled this year\'s Aloha Airlines incident, when the entire front section of the cabin roof flew off in flight, due to fatigue cracks. That plane had made 90,000 takeoffs and landings, he said. The Aloha Airlines incident and the recent crash of a 1973-vintage Boeing 727 jet in Dallas renewed questions about the reliability of aging aircraft, Nebinger said. His figures indicate the average age of a Boeing 707 is 20.3 years, while the average age of a Boeing 727 is 15.4 years. The average age of a McDonnell Douglas DC-8 is 21.4 years and the average age of a DC-10 is 12 years. Forecast International maintains computer data on aircraft inventories worldwide. Nebinger said jet planes are the last major items that the United States exports and his data provide encouraging news as the United States attempts to trim its trade deficit. U.S. manufacturers are expected to deliver 1,738 new aircraft, worth about $72.5 billion, through 1994. Of that, $25.4 billion is destined for American airline companies, while the remaining $47.1 billion will go to foreign customers, Nebinger said. But he also said European companies, specifically Airbus Industrie, are taking an ever-increasing bite of the market away from U.S. giants like Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, which 15 years ago claimed virtually the entire world market. He said Airbus Industrie was expected to deliver 852 aircraft through 1995, while other European producers will deliver about 575. Much of those will go to countries other than the United States, but about $12.8 billion will go to U.S. operators, he said. On balance, Nebinger said, ``the U.S. still emerges as a very strong winner in the import-export balance, with exports to Europe exceeding imports by $13.2 billion.\'\' The impact on the U.S. trade deficit, he said, ``cannot be overemphasized.\'\' Boeing has 1,275 aircraft either on order or option to order. McDonnell Douglas has 349. Airbus Industrie has 852, while Fokker, based in the Netherlands, has 257, and Embraer of Brazil has 208, according to Nebinger\'s numbers. To support the orders his company has tracked, new engines needed through 1994 will be worth $24.7 billion, Nebinger said, of which U.S. manufacturers will produce $15.6 billion, or 63 percent.\r\n'),(1509,2,'The Denver Broncos and the San Francisco 49ers earned a trip to the Super Bowl on Sunday behind superb passing performances by quarterbacks John Elway and Joe Montana, who wrote his name in the all-time NFL record book. Behind an almost-flawless Montana, the 49ers beat their NFC West-rival Los Angeles Rams 30-3 for the NFC championship in San Francisco and a chance at becoming the first repeat Super Bowl winner in a decade. Montana, who passed for 156 yards in a 21-point second quarter that broke the game open, had a 20-yard TD pass to Brent Jones and an 18-yarder to John Taylor, his 30th and 31st in postseason. That broke the record of 30 by Pittsburgh\'s Terry Bradshaw and sent the Niners on to New Orleans, where in two weeks they will be trying to match another standard set by Bradshaw and the Steelers with their fourth Super Bowl victory. Pittsburgh was the last team to win two straight Super Bowls, in 1979 and 1980. In Denver, the Broncos earned their fourth shot at the Super Bowl with a 37-21 victory over the Cleveland Browns, whom they\'ve beaten three times in the AFC championship since 1987. Elway enjoyed his best game of the season and his best ever in the playoffs, completing 20 of 36 passes for 385 yards and three touchdowns. He took Denver on scoring drives of 82, 80, 80 and 60 yards.\r\n'),(1510,2,'President Fidel Castro has enhanced his image on human rights by releasing hundreds of political prisoners, but dissidents say thousands more remain in jail or are ostracized for opposing the regime. Communist authorities have nearly halved the dissident population in Cuban prisons since Cardinal John O\'Connor of New York asked Castro to release 433 people charged with political crimes, said Bienvenido Avierno, a Foreign Ministry official. O\'Connor visited Cuba in April. Former political prisoners are among the 300 or so Cubans leaving Havana each month aboard charter flights that depart four times a week for Miami. Asked if the releases benefit the government by letting it purge dissidents, Avierno said, ``Sure, we are maintaining these guys.\'\' One dissident here says the government has only become more sophisticated in curbing its domestic opposition. ``Everything is repressive here,\'\' Ricardo Bofill, president of the banned Cuban Human Rights Committee, said in a recent interview at his one-room apartment in the Havana suburb of Guanabacoa. ``Their tactics have changed. Now they use mobs and press campaigns.\'\' Bofill, a Communist Party member before Castro came to power in 1959, has been jailed several times for speaking out against the government. He has stayed at home for the past four months, saying he fears for his life. ``There are death threats. I have been identified in Cuba as the head of the counterrevolutionaries, the No. 1 enemy,\'\' Bofill said, sitting in a rocking chair in his room. The Communist Party newspaper Granma devoted several pages in April to discrediting Bofill. ``He is totally twisted and imbued with double-dealing lies, faking, deception and, especially a monstrous ego and unquenchable thirst for fame and notoriety,\'\' it said. Bofill\'s group compiles and distributes reports of government abuses. He showed a reporter a handwritten prison pamphlet called ``Dawn,\'\' which detailed ``systematic cruelty.\'\' He said Cuba has 10,000 political prisoners. Amnesty International, the London-based human rights group, put the number at 450 in its 1987 annual report. The Castro government tolerates Bofill, often citing his criticisms as proof Cuba has freedom of expression. Avierno flatly denies there are any rights abuses in Cuba: ``The people, for the first time in their lives, have the arms. If they didn\'t like the system they could use them.\'\' Bofill said he does not oppose the government, but rather its tactics: ``This is not a fight against the system, it is against an unjust order. The basic rights, the right to life, is not guaranteed.\'\' In Cuba, only state-run news media are allowed to operate and the government decides who can leave the country and who can return. Bofill displayed his identification card, a booklet resembling a passport, and showed the government stamp that indicates he has applied for permission to leave the country. He said the stamp identifies him and thousands of others as malcontents. Roberto Bermudez, 32, a painter, said his opposition to the government has meant he can\'t exhibit his paintings. Sebastian Arcos, a former professor of dentistry and ex-political prisoner, said thousands of Cubans depicted as social outcasts are unable to find work. Cuba\'s socialist policies mean free and often model health care and education. The government says its provision of these social services constitutes a human right. ``This is a country where we have education, health, a country where drugs, especially hard drugs, are unheard of. No child needs to leave his studies to help his family. Violence is practically unknown. These are human rights,\'\' Jose Ramon Fernandez, vice president of the Council of State, said in an interview. Castro this year permitted the International Red Cross to examine Cuban prisons for the first time. A confidential report is being prepared. In addition, a United Nations human rights group is expected to inspect the prisons by September. The United States maintains no formal diplomatic relations with Cuba. But the U.S. Interests Section in Havana receives ``thousands upon thousands of letters from Cubans requesting political asylum in the United States,\'\' spokeman Jerry Scott said. An agreement renewed last year will allow 3,000 Cubans to travel to the United States as refugees. Avierno said the Cuban government agreed to free most of the prisoners requested by O\'Connor ``if the United States guarantees they can go there.\'\' About 40 of that group will not be released because they ``are very dangerous people and they must fulfill their sentences,\'\' Avierno said. The maximum prison term is 30 years.\r\n'),(1511,2,'Stock prices rallied in moderate afternoon trading, helped by program trading and a sharp boost in technology stocks. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials was up 30.63 points to 2,636.94 at 2 p.m. EST. The blue-chip indicator was down 0.45 point at noon and more than 20 points shortly after the opening bell. Advancing issues overpowered losers by a margin of about 7 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 815 issues up, 571 down and 481 unchanged. Volume on the Big Board came to 123.61 million shares. Analysts said high technology stocks helped revive the blue chip sector after a morning lull. Weakness in the bond market had pressured stocks in earlier trading. ``IBM is leading on the upside,\'\' said Dennis Jarrett, technical analyst for Kidder, Peabody & Co. ``It\'s just a case where people expect the market to pop.\'\' Analysts attributed the market\'s earlier weakness to ongoing worries about the Treasury\'s quarterly refunding and concerns about whether yields would have to be forced higher to attract Japanese investors. Foreign investors, particularly the Japanese, are an important source of funds into U.S. credit markets. The three-part auction, which started Tuesday with the sale of $10 billion in three-year notes, continued today with the sale of $10 billion in 10-year notes. The final auction on Thursday will comprise $10 billion of 30-year Treasury bonds. The NYSE\'s composite index of all its listed common stocks was up 1.51 at 183.84. At the American Stock Exchange, the market value index was 1.06 higher at 355.80. Among actively traded issues on the NYSE, IBM had jumped 2{ to 103{, Baxter International was up } to 24, Haliburton had gained 2&rsqb; to 44} and Federal National Mortgage was up 1&lsqb; at 34&lsqb;.\r\n'),(1512,2,'The City Council has determined there may be a free lunch, but it won\'t be gourmet. The council on Thursday agreed to halt meals provided at its meetings by members of the Dallas Restaurant Association because of a possible conflict of interest if they consider measures affecting restaurateurs. The restaurants had been serving such fare as baby spring chicken and chocolate decadence cake since the council stopped a city food service that had cost $4,600 per year. Mayor Annette Strauss has written C. Gus Katsigris, president of the association, thanking the association for ``gracious and delicious luncheon service.\'\' But she said the lunches must be discontinued because they ``may be subject to misinterpretation.\'\' ``I\'m disappointed,\'\' said Katsigris. ``I don\'t think we can influence anyone with a cup of soup and some salad.\'\' Although it appears the city will resume food service for the council members, not eveyone favors the idea. Councilman Jerry Bartos said he supports canceling free lunches altogether: ``I\'d be just as happy with a sandwich on whole wheat out of my own pocket.\'\'\r\n'),(1513,2,'A Coast Guard helicopter rescued three people from a burning shrimp boat in the Gulf of Mexico today after the men radioed for help, officials said. Chief Petty Officer Mark Kennedy of Coast Guard Air Station-Ellington said the helicopter was dispatched to the 70-foot commercial shrimper, Master Warren, shortly after 3 a.m. when the three notified authorities that the vessel was ablaze some 13 miles southwest of Galveston. The boat was about five miles from shore, he said. ``They found the vessel fully engulfed in flames and the three people standing as far back as possible,\'\' Kennedy said. ``They seemed to be suffering from smoke inhalation, so after they were hoisted off the vessel they were taken to John Sealy Hospital in Galveston.\'\' Doctors there found the men in good condition and they were not admitted, Kennedy said. The owner and operator of the Master Warren, which is based in Port Arthur, was identified as Banh Prinh, and the two crew members were identified as Bob and Pan Nguyen, Kennedy said. Coast Guard crews continued to battle the fire aboard the shrimper this morning. ``Just about the time that the helicopter crew was hoisting the people, a patrol boat from the Coast Guard base in Galveston arrived at the scene and began fighting the fire,\'\' Kennedy said, adding that another boat was expected to arrive later and tow the shrimper to shore.\r\n'),(1514,2,'The Connecticut Board of Parole today denied early release for the man convicted in the 1979 strangulation of a 14-year-old Stamford girl after an emotional plea from the victim\'s father. ``It is an insult to our daughter\'s memory that he could even be considered eligible for parole in less than nine years,\'\' Charlie Hoyt told the parole board during a brief hearing today at Somers State Prison. Bruce D. Williams Jr. pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter under a 1980 plea bargain agreement. A rape charge was dropped under the agreement. He was sentenced to 20 years to life in the death of Hoyt\'s daughter Sandy, who was lured to Williams\' Stamford home with the promise of her first baby-sitting assignment. Last week, Hoyt presented the board\'s chairman, Richard Reddington, with more than 23,500 petition signatures urging that Williams be denied parole. Williams, 35, appeared briefly before the board today, asking the three-member panel to review his prison record and his efforts to obtain a college degree while in prison. He did not mention the girl\'s death. While addressing to the board, Hoyt broke down and had difficulty getting through his statement. ``If there are any doubts in your minds about this monster, then I suggest that the board take some time and view his videotaped confession,\'\' Hoyt said. It took the board members only 10 minutes in executive session to decide to deny Williams\' bid for release. When they emerged, Reddington told Williams that because of the ``extreme seriousness\'\' of his offense, his request was being denied. The board scheduled another hearing for September 1994 with next potentional rlease date of Jan. 12, 1995. ``I\'ll be there,\'\' Hoyt said. In 1983, Hoyt\'s lobbying helped prompt legislators to enact a law that allows victims of most serious felonies to testify at an inmate\'s parole hearing. Hoyt began his petition drive aimed at keeping Williams behind bars hoping to collect 10,000 signatures, but ended up with more than twice that. ``People want to do something about the system,\'\' he said last week. Hoyt, who now lives in Fairield, says Williams called Sandy and said he was a doctor and needed someone to watch his child while he went on an emergency call. He took her to his house. Though Williams\' young child was in the house, he tied Sandy to a bed, raped her and then strangled her, Hoyt said.\r\n'),(1515,2,'The new director of the Miss America Pageant says there will be so many changes in Saturday\'s production that he fears raised eyebrows among fans of the 67-year-old tradition. But before anyone gasps, Leonard Horn is quick to point out that the swimsuit competition is still in place _ even though he believes there may be other means of proving a young woman\'s fitness. The winner still will take her stroll down the runway, a much longer runway this time, to the tune of ``There She Is.\'\' And the show still will feature an elaborate stage production, but new musical director Donald Pippin has created a livelier tempo that\'s not quite rock \'n\' roll but just as spirited. Horn is more concerned about the long-time supporters of the pageant who bought seats even in the lean years when it was weathering attacks from feminists. Some of those supporters have unhappily learned they\'ve been bumped from their box seats to make room for bigwigs representing the eight corporate sponsors and even some high-rollers from Atlantic City casinos. Horn also knocked out a production number and replaced it with video segments showing the finalists being interviewed by the judges. He eliminated a prepared speech each inalist gave in the evening gown competition in favor of asking the women unrehearsed questions. ``It won\'t be a cutesy question,\'\' he said. ``It will be sufficiently provocative to elicit an intelligent response which might give us further insight into her ability to articulate under pressure.\'\' The changes were necessary to keep the pageant up to date and attract the younger, female audience that had stopped watching the show in recent years, Horn said. ``Some people believe the pageant has gotten stale,\'\' said Horn, who took over when Albert Marks retired last year after 37 years. ``All we\'re trying to do is give it the vigor it once had ... and reconfirm that it\'s a positive program that deserves people\'s respect.\'\' For the 51 contestants, from the states and the District of Columbia, a week of pageantry and preliminary competitions lead to Saturday night\'s nationally televised finale. Reaching Atlantic City has been a rocky trip for some contestants. In th District of Columbia, the entire pageant was restaged after national pageant officials found problems with the judging. The original winner, Edwina Richard, became first runner-up and has said, ``I feel like I became a victim.\'\' In Georgia, the winner, Frances Frazier, has denied accusations she was promised the crown when she was a runner-up the year before. Earlier this year, a former Georgia pageant board member wrote to national officials saying she had firsthand knowledge that blacks were not being given a fair shot at the crown. Miss California not only had to watch in dismay as a defeated contestant loudly denounced the pageant but also had to respond to rumors she suffers from anorexia nervosa, the eating disorder. In the New Jersey state pageant, some contestants grumbled that one of the judges was acquainted with the winner. About 80,000 young women enter local contests that lead to the Miss America Pageant. More than $5 million in cash and tuition scholarships is available this year. Miss America receives at least a $30,000 scholarship and the income from a year of personal appearances. Gary Collins will serve as host of the two-hour special for the seventh year. His wife, 1959 Miss America Mary Ann Mobley, will be co-host. The show airs live on NBC-TV at 10 p.m. EDT Saturday. Performances in the talent category this year will be mainly singing, dancing and playing musical instruments. But there will also be belly dancing, an Irish dance and a gymnastics act. This year\'s Miss America, Kaye Lani Rae Rafko, won her title in part by performing a Hawaiian-Tahitian dance in a hot-pink costume with a bare midriff. Following preliminary competitions and interviews with the judges, the top 10 finishers will compete for the title before a TV audience estimated at 70 million viewers. Judging the finalists will be Richard Dysart and Blair Underwood of television\'s ``L.A. Law\'\'; NBC News correspondent Deborah Norville; Miss America 1971 and broadcaster Phyllis George; actor George Peppard; actress Eva Gabor; columnist Dr. Joyce Brothers; Olympic ice skating gold medalist Brian Boitano; movie producer Lili Fini Zanuck; model agency founder Eileen Ford; Parade magazine publisher Walter Anderson, and William Farley, chairman of Farley Industries.\r\n'),(1516,2,'President Alan Garcia said Friday he will attend the Feb. 15 drug summit with President Bush in Colombia, reversing his earlier decision to boycott the meeting if U.S. troops were still in Panama. Garcia said he decided to go to the meeting after Bush announced his intention to withdraw by the end of the month troops sent to Panama to remove Gen. Antonio Manuel Noriega from power. Presidents Virgilio Barco of Colombia and Jaime Paz Zamora of Bolivia are also set to attend the summit, which is to take place in Cartagena, Colombia. They are to discuss strategies to fight drug trafficking in their respective countries. The three Andean nations are the source of most of the world supply of cocaine, most of which is sold in the United States. Garcia cited the ``gravity of the drug problem\'\' and said he will go with a ``decisive and positive proposal\'\' to combat trafficking. Bolivia and Peru produce 90 percent of the world\'s coca leaf. Most of Peru\'s coca harvest is transformed into paste and shipped to Colombia, where it is refined into cocaine. Bolivian traffickers formerly did the the same but increasingly are producing refined cocaine and smuggling it directly to the United States and Europe, according to U.S. drug officials. The drug trade brings billions of dollars in clandestine revenues into the three countries each year. Bush last year proposed spending $2.2 billion over the next five years to fight the drug trade in the three Andean nations. Among the topics the four presidents are expected to discuss are military and police aid to fight smugglers and leftist guerrillas tied to drug trafficking, crop eradication and substitution programs, cooperation in stopping the laundering of drug money, and the extradition of drug suspects. Garcia had pulled out of the meeting after U.S. troops landed in Panama Dec. 20 to topple Noriega, saying, ``I cannot meet with the leader of an invading nation.\'\' Peru had planned to send a high-level delegation to the summit even if Garcia did not go. On Jan. 7, Garcia said he would attend the summit if U.S. troops were first withdrawn. In announcing his decision to go, Garcia said Friday he trusted Bush\'s promise to withdraw the troops by the end of February. ``This removes one of the obstacles in the way of my attendance,\'\' Garcia told reporters at the Government Palace. ``I have no reason to doubt the announcement he made before Congress.\'\' Bush said Wednesday in his State of the Union address that all ``additional troops\'\' sent to Panama would be withdrawn by the end of the month. About 27,000 U.S. troops were in Panama during the invasion. About 13,000 troops had been stationed at U.S. bases there before the invasion, and the same number are to remain after the February pullout. Garcia has been highly critical of the U.S. actions in Panama, and charged the United States intended to break the Panama Canal treaties of 1977, which call for the United States to cede control of the Panama Canal at the end of the century. Garcia also recalled his ambassador in Washington and suspended for one week joint anti-drug operations with U.S. drug agents and Peruvian police in protest.\r\n'),(1517,2,'A man stabbed his 8-year-old daughter to death and critically injured his three other children Saturday in a predawn rampage through the family home, police said. Michael Wayne Nida, 31, also cut his wife and then slashed his own wrists and stomach, and was arrested for investigation of homicide, police said. He was listed in serious condition at Sutter General Hospital. His wife, Diana Nida, received a superficial wound in the hand during the attack and was treated and released from University Medical Center. Neighbors said they watched horrified as the man fatally stabbed the girl with a 10-inch knife in the driveway, then apologized to her. When police arrived, they found four stabbed children lying in the living room. Officers were attacked by a pit bull dog, which they shot. Eight-year-old Laura Nida died at the medical center a short time later, police said. April, 4, and John and Erick, 7-year-old twins, were listed in critical condition Saturday night following surgery for multiple stab wounds. Police said neighbors had indicated that Nida might have been under the influence of drugs, though they gave no details. The Sacramento Bee quoted neighbors as saying that Nida often used crack, amphetamines, marijuana and alcohol. Shortly after the attack began, Mrs. Nida ran out of the house, naked and bleeding, and screaming ``He stabbed my babies and he cut me!\'\', witnesses said. Neighbor Terry Lauer said Nida emerged through the front door and approached his wife, saying: ``It\'s OK, man, I just want to talk to her.\'\' Lauer said he told him to go back into the house, and Nida did. Moments later, however, he ran from the front door again, this time chasing the 8-year-old girt with what Lauer described as a bowie knife. ``He caught up with her and they both ended up on the ground,\'\' Lauer said. ``I saw him pick her up by the hair, then stab her twice with the knife. Her body went limp.\'\' Lauer said Nida then knelt over his daughter, cradling her body in his arms. ``I\'m sorry. I didn\'t mean to hurt you,\'\' Lauer recalled Nida saying. Nica then carried the lifeless girl back into the house.\r\n'),(1518,2,'George Bush campaigned behind enemy lines on Thursday with a foray into Massachusetts, while Michael Dukakis charged the vice president with favoring $7 billion in new taxes and said, ``so much for iron-clad no-tax commitments.\'\' Dukakis, who will fly to Atlanta in 10 days to claim the Democratic presidential nomination, also said Bush had made a ``rather late commitment\'\' when he said Wednesday that he would name a Hispanic American to his Cabinet. Before leaving on a Western campaign swing, the Massachusetts governor added that he would select a running mate ``in the not too distant future,\'\' but did nothing else to clarify the reigning mystery of the presidential campaign. Bush, whose own nomination is set for the Republican National Convention in New Orleans next month, flew to Dukakis\' political base of Boston. There he met with Bay State Republicans and spoke to leaders of the Greek Orthodox Church, which counts Dukakis among its followers. The vice president got a warm reception from the Greek group, which had heard a day earlier from Dukakis. Bush said it was just as well they didn\'t appear together. ``Too much charisma can be dangerous to your health,\'\' he said to laughter. The vice president met with President Reagan before leaving Washington, and the two men directed their aides to work closely to maximize Bush\'s chances of victory in the fall. Presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater also disclosed that Reagan may campaign on Bush\'s behalf in California when he vacations there this summer. California, the nation\'s largest state with 47 electoral votes, is Reagan\'s home. But Bush has fared poorly there in polls, and his aides are eager to cut into Dukakis\' presumed lead in the state. Reagan is expected to campaign two days a week for Bush beginning in the fall, and Bush said Thursday the two would probably make some joint appearances. ``The president feels he can be especially helpful with conservative Republicans, Democrats and other key groups which are not registered Republicans, but which have voted for the Reagan-Bush ticket in \'80 and \'84,\'\' said Fitzwater. Reagan will be at his California ranch during the Democratic convention, but Bush said he himself may campaign during the first two days of the convention, hoping to ``get a little bit of ink\'\' in the news media during Dukakis\' big week. In addition to his trip to Massachusetts, Bush dispatched New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu to Washington for a news conference designed to tar Dukakis. Sununu said tens of thousands of ``refugees\'\' are fleeing Massachusetts and Dukakis\' administration each year and moving to New Hampshire. ``If Michael Dukakis fulfills his promise to do for the rest of the nation what he did for Massachusetts, then we are in serious trouble,\'\' he said. Dukakis has seemed to lose the political momentum in recent weeks, and he sought to regain it with his charge that Bush had forsaken his pledge to oppose any type of tax increase. He said the vice president supports a provision in trade legislation that calls for $1 billion in taxes for job training programs and also supports recently signed catastrophic illness health-care legislation with $6 billion in new taxes. ``So much for iron-clad no-tax commitments,\'\' Dukakis said of the centerpiece of Bush\'s campaign. Bush, in Boston, replied by making reference to Dukakis\' signing of a cigarette tax and his support for another tax measure. ``I\'m against raising taxes, and I think recent events here in this state that I don\'t plan to go into demonstrate we have a different view on taxes,\'\' he said. The Bush campaign also quarreled with Dukakis\' assertion about the trade legislation and the catastrophic illiness health-care legislation. ``He is dead wrong on both counts and he is trying to blow smoke into the room,\'\' said spokesman Mark Goodin. In his home state, Dukakis said he expected to conclude work by the middle of next week on legislation to wipe out a looming budget deficit for the 1988 fiscal year, and on a package of tax increases and spending cuts for next year. Dukakis has been criticized repeatedly by Bush for agreeing to a new cigarette tax and other measures as part of the budget plan, for a total of $250 million in additional taxes and fees. Dukakis also scoffed at Bush\'s pledge before a Hispanic group in Texas to name a Hispanic member to the Cabinet. ``It strikes me that this is a rather late commitment,\'\' said Dukakis, who made a similar pledge a year ago. ``I don\'t know where he has been for the last eight years.\'\' Later, in Dallas, Dukakis spoke before the same group Bush had addressed a day earlier, and again jabbed at Bush over the pledge to appoint a Hispanic member of the Cabinet. ``Some people think it\'s enough to wake up after eight years and then promise opportunity for one Hispanic. I want to stand with you and create opportunity for 20 million Hispanic citizens across the country,\'\' he said. Dukakis also resurrected the issue of Reagan\'s veto of plant-closing legislation, using it against Bush. ``The president opposes it, the vice president opposes it, I don\'t know why.\'\' He said workers deserved the 60-day notice the legislation would provide before a plant could be closed and said the issue represented ``the fundamental difference in what a Democratic administration would mean to this country.\'\'\r\n'),(1519,2,'Madrid\'s suspension of aid to Cuba underscores pressure for democratic change in the former Spanish colony and further isolates Fidel Castro at a time when his main benefactor, Moscow, is getting stingier. ``It\'s an abrupt and historic decision,\'\' said political scientist Manuel Alcantara, a professor of Latin American affairs at Madrid\'s Complutense University. ``Because of the events in Eastern Europe, Spain feels some kind of responsibility about Cuba, to work for change there.\'\' As of today, 18 Cubans were in the Spanish mission in Havana, the Spanish news agency EFE reported. Nine sought refuge today, it said, and on Friday five entered the embassy. The four others sought refuge last week. Spain says it will not expel the asylum-seekers and will try to negotiate their departure from Cuba. Cuba calls all those who have sought refuge in the Spanish, Czech and Italian missions ``scum\'\' and habitual vagrants. Spain\'s secretary of state for international cooperation, Luis Yanez, told reporters in Brussels on Thursday that Spain was suspending $2.5 million in direct grants-in-aid to Cuba, the country\'s total this year to the island that was a Spanish colony for 406 years until 1898. While the sum is not substantial, another Spanish Foreign Ministry official hinted Friday that the move probably would not be the last to try to pressure the government of President Fidel Castro to grant more freedom to Cubans. ``More measures will be necessary,\'\' said Yago Pico de Coana, director general for Latin American affairs. He said it would be imprudent to elaborate. Spain has also recalled its ambassador in Havana for consultations. Cuba already has had to cope with a trade embargo by the United States and a loss of support from the Soviet Union and from East European countries that shed their Communist governments since last year. Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, whose reforms Castro has criticized, is not as forthcoming on aid as in the past. Castro repeatedly has rejected Western-style balloting and said his country has no need for Soviet-style reform _ despite pressure from Gorbachev. As criticism of Cuba has appeared in official Soviet media, Castro has called on Cubans to brace for possible cuts in the Soviets\' $5 billion in yearly aid. U.S. sources last year said there had been substantial reductions already, as evidenced in the marked decline in the purchase of sugar, which the Soviet Union buys from Cuba at prices substantially higher than world market levels as a form of subsidy. Castro also has lost his two closest Caribbean allies _ Panama\'s Manuel Antonio Noriega, who was toppled in a U.S. invasion in December, and Nicaragua\'s leftist Sandinistas, who were defeated by a U.S.-backed opposition coalition in elections Feb. 25. Yanez said the Spanish aid cutoff effectively severed Cuba\'s ``umbilical cord\'\' with Spain that afforded access to the European Community. He said resumption of the aid was contingent on ``the resolution of problems through political channels.\'\' Cuba has been attempting to reach some kind of aid agreement with the 12-nation West European trading bloc but without success. A Spanish government spokesman, who is customarily not identified, denied that the decision to suspend aid represented a major shift in policy toward Cuba. He said the action was in keeping with remarks Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez made to Castro in March about the need for the Marxist nation to move toward democracy. Spain has maintained cordial ties throughout its own authoritarian and democratic administrations with the former colony. Both Gen. Francisco Franco and the democratically elected administrations that have governed Spain since his death in 1975 have assured Castro easy credit to purchase Spanish goods and finance long-term projects. Cuba\'s total commercial debt with Madrid is estimated at about $900 million, making Spain Cuba\'s second-most important creditor after the Soviet Union, to which Cuba owes an estimated $3 billion. The conservative Madrid daily ABC, an outspoken opponent of both the Castro and Gonzalez governments, pointed out that Yanez\'s annoucement didn\'t affect Spain\'s soft-loan program to Cuba, for which $11 million are earmarked this year _ nor its commercial credit and guarantee program designed to back up Spanish exports to Cuba. The Spanish Export Credit Insurance Co. held about $780 million in debts on exports to Cuba last year. Cuba consumes 15 percent of Spain\'s trade to Latin America, according to Economy Ministry figures.\r\n'),(1520,2,'Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady says he will oppose further reductions of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission\'s powers if Congress passes legislation stripping the agency\'s authority over stock-index futures. Brady offered the olive branch at a Senate committee hearing Thursday on the Bush administration\'s plan to transfer control over stock-index futures to the rival Securities and Exchange Commission. One futures industry official said he saw Brady\'s remarks as an indication that the secretary thinks ``he\'s losing\'\' in the race to win Senate approval. ``I will oppose more sweeping changes to the CFTC authority if the administration\'s bill passes in its present form,\'\' Brady told the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. But outside the hearing, when asked what he would do if Congress doesn\'t pass the bill, Brady said: ``I think it will pass.\'\' A spokesman for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Andrew Yemma, declined comment but noted that in the past the Merc has favored merging the SEC and CFTC over stripping the futures regulator of some of its authority. At the Chicago Board of Trade, spokesman Michael O\'Connell also declined comment on the specifics of Brady\'s proposal but restated the BOT\'s position that ``we are against the proposed legislation and stand by the CFTC as the regulatory body that should oversee all futures markets.\'\' ``We are opposed to anything that weakens the CFTC,\'\' said John Damgard, president of the Washington-based Futures Industry Association. Although he hadn\'t seen Brady\'s statement, Damgard who was in Chicago to give a speech, noted: ``I think there\'s a sense on Brady\'s part that he\'s losing. If this went to a vote right now, we\'re pretty confident we would take the day on an up or down vote.\'\' Stock-index futures, often used in program trading strategies by large institutional investors such as pension funds, allow investors to trade on the movement of a basket of stocks without having to buy the underlying stocks. The CFTC and the futures industry oppose the administration bill, saying it would cripple the agency\'s ability to regulate other futures products while drying up market liquidity and driving business out of the country. But the SEC and the Treasury Department argue the move is necessary to curb wild price swings in the stock markets arising out of price differences between the futures and securities markets. ``Stocks and stock-index futures are one market linked together by electronics,\'\' said Brady, who first advanced that opinion while heading a presidential task force that investigated the 1987 stock market crash. He noted that in the 42 years between 1940 and 1982 when stock index futures first began trading, there were only three instances when the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by more than 6 percent, while there have been four instances since the 1987 crash. In an apparent attempt to allay concerns that the bill is the first step toward a complete dismantling of the CFTC which oversees the futures industry, Brady said ``the administration\'s proposal is not the proverbial `camel\'s nose under the tent.\' ``The way the markets are now functioning makes no further shifts in regulatory jurisdiction necessary _ not Treasury bond futures to the SEC, not a full merger of the SEC and CFTC,\'\' he said. He urged passage of the bill to prevent further market disruptions. Noting that debate on the bill would lead to a political ``bloodletting,\'\' Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., complained that the administration should have settled the dispute. Instead ``we find ourselves acting as a referee between the SEC and the CFTC\'\' which he described as ``two agencies acting like children.\'\'\r\n'),(1521,2,'The stock market drifted aimlessly in quiet trading Wednesday, still seemingly in the ``summer doldrums\'\' with autumn about to arrive. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials edged up 3.02 to 2,090.50. But declining issues slightly outnumbered advances in nationwide trading of New York Stock Exchange-listed stocks, with 689 up, 697 down and 536 unchanged. Volume on the floor of the Big Board came to 127.40 million shares, against 142.22 million in the previous session. Nationwide, consolidated volume in NYSE-listed issues, including trades in those stocks on regional exchanges and in the over-the-counter market, totaled 148.74 million shares. Activity was curtailed somewhat by the absence of investors who were observing the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur. The Labor Department reported Wednesday morning that the consumer price index rose 0.4 percent in August, matching its July increase. The latest figure was in line with advance estimates on Wall Street, and thus did not stir up much excitement. Still, brokers said there was some relief at the suggestion in the data that inflation wasn\'t gathering much momentum. Bond prices staged a modest advance in the credit markets, putting yields on long-term government bonds just a shade above 9 percent. ``Apathy and lethargy continue to be the key words to describe conditions in the stock market,\'\' observes the Merrill Lynch Market Letter in its current edition. Newmont Mining climbed 2 to 36\\ on word that Minorco was offering to acquire Consolidated Gold Fields, which owns just under half of Newmont. In the blue-chip sector, General Electric rose \\ to 43; International Business Machines gained { to 113\\; Philip Morris rose 1 to 96}; General Motors dropped ] to 73~, and American Telephone & Telegraph was unchanged at 26{. Regina Co. tumbled 10 to 7 in the over-the-counter market. The company, a manufacturer of floor care products, said late Tuesday it would report a loss for the current quarter, citing a slowdown of orders and other problems. Precious metals stocks were mixed, holding their ground even as the price of gold fell below $400 an ounce for the first time in more than a year and a half. ASA Ltd. rose { to 36{, while Hecla Mining dropped ] to 13~. As measured by Wilshire Associates\' index of more than 5,000 actively traded stocks, the market increased $4.70 billion, or 0.18 percent, in value. The NYSE\'s composite index of all its listed common stocks gained .20 to 152.64. Standard & Poor\'s industrial index rose .64 to 310.11, and S&P\'s 500-stock composite index was up .43 at 270.16. The NASDAQ composite index for the over-the-counter market picked up .81 to 384.91. At the American Stock Exchange, the market value index closed at 298.97, up .34.\r\n'),(1522,2,'Irving Bank Corp. is backing a sweetened merger offer from Banca Commerciale Italiana SpA, which rival Bank of New York Corp. contends is still inferior to its own hostile bid. Irving said on Tuesday that its management had negotiated an amendment to the outstanding offer by Banca Commerciale, Italy\'s second largest bank, for 51 percent of Irving\'s common stock to include a dividend in the form of stock warrants to Irving shareholders. Irving said the sweetened offer made the overall transaction worth at least $79.50 per share, which the bank holding company\'s board of directors deemed superior to Bank of New York\'s ``best and final bid.\'\' Under a complex restructuring plan that also would include the sale of assets and a special cash dividend, Banca Commerciale has offered $80 cash a share for 51 percent of Irving\'s common stock, or a total of about $760 million. The new agreement also provides for Irving to distribute a dividend in the form of stock warrants to all Irving shareholders before the Banca Commerciale tender offer. The warrants, one for every four shares of Irving stock, would have a term of seven years and an exercise price of $65 per share of Irving stock. The new deal means Banca Commerciale would be offering the same amount of money for Irving shares even though the shares would be worth less to the Italian bank because of the distribution by Irving. Irving said BCI\'s financial adviser, Lazard Freres & Co., put the value of the warrants to shareholders at $4 to $7 per share of Irving common stock. Irving stock closed at $71.37{ per share, up 12{ cents, in New York Stock Exchange composite trading Tuesday. Bank of New York rose $1.25 per share to $36.12{. Bank of New York responded that its bid for all of Irving\'s stock remained superior. Owen Brady, a spokesman for Bank of New York, said BNY\'s financial adviser Morgan Stanley & Co. projected that if Irving stock sold for $45 a share after a merger with BCI, the warrants effectively would add no more than $1.35 per share in value to BCI\'s previous offer. Bank of New York, which owns a 4.9 percent stake in Irving, is offering $15 in cash and 1.575 shares of its own stock for each of Irving\'s common shares outstanding. The offer is valued at around $68 a share or $1.2 billion. Bank of New York has offered to sweeten its offer by slightly raising the stock portion of the bid and adding other shareholder incentives, including a special cash dividend, if Irving agreed to abandon its anti-takeover ``poison pill.\'\' The company also has gone to court seeking to remove the defensive mechanism, which would make an unsolicited merger prohibitively expensive. Irving steadfastly has rejected Bank of New York\'s takeover advances, which surfaced last September. Estimates of the value of the offers have differed widely. The Irving board said analyses by its advisers, Goldman, Sachs & Co. and J.P. Morgan & Co. Inc., said the Banca Commerciale offer was worth $74 to $79.50 a share. Robert Felise, an executive vice president at Irving, said a separate analysis by Lazard Freres valued the sweetened BCI offer at $80 or more per share. BCI\'s advisers valued the Bank of New York offer at $72 to $77 a share.\r\n'),(1523,2,'After decades behind the Iron Curtain, hundreds of Etruscan artifacts have returned to Italy in a major show from museums in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The 1,200 artifacts, which were nearly inaccessible to Westerners for decades, have come home to central Italy, where the Etruscan culture flourished until the 1st century B.C. The exhibit is being hailed as a chance for scholars and the public to rediscover Etruscan masterpieces hidden away for decades. It also is seen as a sign of exciting times to come in the art world, as the new democracies of Eastern Europe begin to exchange exhibits with countries that were ideological foes. ``This brings together an extraordinary number of masterpieces that were very little known,\'\' said Massimo Pallottino, president of the National Institute of Italian Etruscan Studies. ``It\'s something of exceptional importance.\'\' The exhibit in a Gothic castle in Viterbo, 50 miles north of Rome, was organized by the State Museums of Berlin. It includes Etruscan artifacts from 26 museums in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and the former East Germany, as well as the Soviet Union. The Etruscans were a powerful empire that dominated Italy before succumbing to the Roman Empire. They were known for commercial flair, an elaborate religion and a brilliant artisan tradition, which included the finest goldwork in ancient Europe. The Viterbo show brings together a wide range of Etruscan artifacts, ranging from a simple ceramic urn shaped like a house dating from the 9th century B.C., to elaborately carved sarcophagi from the 2nd and 3rd centuries B.C. The highlights include the contents of an 8th century B.C. tomb of a man known as the Warrior of Tarquinia. Among the 104 pieces are engraved bronze shields, weapons, bracelets, rings and even a razor for the afterlife. Another rare item is the ``Tile of Capua,\'\' a 5th-century B.C. plaque with writing believed to be part of a funeral ritual. It is the second-longest existing piece of Etruscan writing, which scientists have never succeeded in translating. Several carved stone and alabaster sarcophagi with scenes of battles or the trip to the afterlife illustrate the Etruscans\' talent for sculpture. On top of a few lies a likeness of the dead person, often propped up on one elbow as if to enjoy a good Etruscan meal. Also in the exhibit is gold jewelry, including tiny earrings etched to resemble shields or bunches of grapes from the 3rd to 5th centuries B.C. Many Etruscan treasures wound up in German and Russian hands in the 19th century, before Italy passed a law limiting exports. Germans, in particular, did much of the early research on the Etruscans and were interested in acquiring the pieces. Many of the items in the exhibit were difficult for Westerners to see during Communist rule in Eastern Europe, due to the difficulty of obtaining tourist visas. ``Even some of our experts hadn\'t seen them,\'\' said Carlo Maria Cardoni, director of the exhibit. For the Italian organizers, the novelty of having treasures from Eastern European museums was matched by the novelty of working with museum officials trained under communism. ``Their architect still goes around with a wooden ruler and a pencil,\'\' said Cardoni, shaking his head. ``Let him see a computer that in 35 minutes lays out the show, and it\'s like hitting him in the head with a hammer.\'\' The Germans were also uneasy about the idea of making a videocassette of the exhibit, Cardoni said. ``I just went ahead with it anyway,\'\' he shrugged. The show, which closes Sunday, has toured Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and may eventually go to France or Japan, Cardoni said. Art experts say the show is an example of the revolution that is occurring in cultural exchanges now that Communist governments have fallen or become more moderate. ``As curators and scholars, there\'s always been an international interest in sharing the cultural wealth of one nation with another,\'\' said Jillian Slonim, public information director of the New York-based American Federation of Arts. ``On the practical level, the circumstances have radically changed in the last short while, along with the changes in the governments.\'\'\r\n'),(1524,2,'Tens of thousands of people on Sunday protested the skyrocketing cost of living that they blame on government reforms to liberalize the economy. The protest by trade unionists in Constantine, this North African country\'s third-largest city, came two years after economic riots swept the nation. ``That\'s enough, the poor are dying,\'\' the protesters cried, brandishing empty food baskets, as they marched through the streets of Constantine, 300 miles east of the capital. The crowd presented a list of its grievances at regional government offices and in a letter to President Chadli Bendjedid, Algerian TV reported. They demanded lower food prices and job protection. Bendjedid introduced sweeping economic and political reforms in Algeria after the riots in October 1988, where army troops gunned down scores of Algerians protesting declining living standards. But market reforms are coming slowly and sales of Algeria\'s principal export, oil, have been unable to revitalize a stagnant economy marked by official unemployment of 25 percent.\r\n'),(1525,2,'Members of a truck convoy carrying aid to Nicaragua were turned away at the Mexican border today by U.S. Customs officials and then formed a human chain to block traffic on the principal bridge over the Rio Grande. A Mexican federal officical broke up the bridge blockade about 12:15 p.m. The blockade began when Customs officials detained a convoy truck and its driver as he attempted to cross the bridge in defiance of federal authorities. Earlier Wednesday, Customs agents stopped the Veterans\' Peace Convoy to Nicaragua a block from Bridge No. 1 and attempted to route it to an inspection area other than the one at the bridge, but the group refused to budge. ``We\'re insisting that we be allowed to proceed right up to this inspection area, as previously agreed upon,\'\' said Gerry Condon, a convoy organizer. ``The difference is we know this inspection area; that\'s where the media is, that\'s where our supporters are, that\'s the agreement we had with them. We\'re not going to let them lead us by the nose and take us out of sight of people.\'\' One convoy vehicle, driven by Bob Livesey of Dorchester, Mass., later drove up to the bridge, where Customs officials refused to allow it to turn south toward Mexico. Another vehicle, driven by Hal Muskat of San Francisco, was detained about noon. ``My instructions are that I am not to allow you to leave,\'\' said James Purser, chief Customs inspector in Laredo. ``We\'re going to keep on trying to get our vehicles down here to the border one at a time,\'\' Condon said. As police and Customs officials stood by the roadblock, convoy members and supporters sang the song, ``Give Peace a Chance,\'\' and chanted ``Let the Convoy Pass.\'\' Witnesses said a small caravan left the convoy campsite for the bridge five miles away shortly before 9 a.m. About 20 supporters of the group held signs that said, ``Embargo South Africa, Not Nicaragua\'\' and ``Let The Convoy Pass.\'\' The group must submit to a Customs inspection to enter Mexico. Customs officials said that the group is being asked to comply with normal export procedures and that it has played up the issue to attract media attention. About 200 convoy members and supporters held a rally Tuesday night at its camp. Many shouted, ``Viva Nicaragua libre!\'\' (``Long live free Nicaragua!\'\') when candles were lit during the rally, which featured leftist folk songs and an appearance by Rep. Mickey Leland, D-Texas. ``I\'m here to do what I can to see to it that the convoy gets across the border and to Nicaragua to deliver the humanitarian aid that they have,\'\' Leland said. Notables including Jesse Jackson and actor Ed Asner also have urged the U.S. government to allow it to pass. Leland met earlier Tuesday with U.S. Customs officials in Laredo and spoke by phone with Treasury Secretary James Baker trying to persuade him to ease the ban on donating vehicles to Nicaragua, said convoy member Tom Hansen. About 30 tons of food, medicine and clothing are loaded on 38 vehicles. The Treasury Department\'s Office of Foreign Assets Control has told the convoy the cargo may be taken to Nicaragua, but that leaving the vehicles there would violate a trade embargo in effect with that leftist-ruled country for three years. Violating the embargo could result in fines of up to $50,000 and up to 10 years in prison. In addition, Condon said, Customs officials have told the convoy members that if they plan to go to Nicaragua without intending to return the vehicles within 30 days, the vehicles would be seized and the drivers subject to arrest. Condon said Tuesday the convoy did not intend to violate any laws, but added that the group was prepared to face a seizure when it reached Customs at Laredo\'s Bridge No. 1 today. Convoy members contend that the vehicles, mostly pickup trucks, are a form of humanitarian aid exempted from the Nicaraguan Trade Control Regulations. Asner spoke on the phone to convoy participants Tuesday. The nighttime rally also included the reading of a message Jackson sent to Baker, urging him to allow the convoy to pass. ``I hope that you will be guided by their example, expressed in their words, `Feed the children, not the war,\'\'\' the Mailgram from Jackson said. The convoy left from four different regions of the United States on May 21 and has been camped in Laredo since June 7. The U.S. government, which supports the Nicaraguan Contras fighting the leftist Sandinista government, imposed the trade control regulata in May 1985.\r\n'),(1526,2,'DE KLERK: Stability is stability. Stability is a situation where people can feel safe, where people who want to go to work can do so, where people can live a normal life without intimidation, without threat. Stability is a situation where you do not have arson in a country because of political debate and differences. Stability is a situation where you do not have deaths as a result of political strife. That is the sort of stability we are striving for. Obviously, in any country, at all times, you have crimes and we go to great lengths to draw the necessary distinctions between ordinary and politically related instability. QUESTION: Mr. President, when you talk about a fair and just preliminary to negotiations, will you go beyond the state of emergency, and discuss as well the negotiation process, the establishment of full citizenship rights for the Black people of South Africa? DE KLERK: Thank you for that question. We have just won an election stating that as our goal. That is the mandate that my party asked of the electorate and that is the mandate that we received. There is a misconception that we do not want to give full citizenship rights to all South Africans, also to black South Africans. As a matter of fact, we have already received such a mandate from the white electorate in an election in 1989. It is no longer a question whether all South Africans must get full citizenship rights. The question is how to structure it, how also to accommodate the diversity in a non-discriminatory manner, of our total population. The fact that we have minorities, but nonetheless that clear commitment is the system must give full class-A citizenships to all South Africans, irrespective of race or color. DE KLERK: Once again, I do not want to speak on his behalf. QUESTION: Mr. President, while in custody, Mr. Mandela indicated that he would act as an intermediary or facilitator between the government and the ANC. Do you expect to continue to deal with him now on that basis? DE KLERK: I follow an open-door policy and should come forward and should he be prepared to play the role of facilitator, to interest himself in promoting a climate for negotiation, should he interest himself in promoting talks, even talks about talks, yes, that open door is also open to him. QUESTION: President De Klerk, I was wondering whether the presence of the Rev. Jackson here in South Africa had anything to do with the release of Mandela? (Laughter). DE KLERK: As far as the release of Mr. Mandela is concerned, his presence is totally irrelevant. QUESTION: President, can I ask you: did Mr. Mandela give you any assurance that he would call for peace in this country? DE KLERK: I did not ask him. QUESTION: President, from your last reply, when you said that he is prepared to act as a facilitator, does that mean he has not given you his agreement to enter negotiation? DE KLERK: His willingness to act as a facilitator has been published widely and over a fairly long period now. I did not discuss it with him as such again last night. QUESTION: Mr. De Klerk, could you possibly describe Mr. Mandela\'s reaction when you told him he would be released tomorrrow? DE KLERK: I do not think that I would like to try to do that QUESTION: Returning to the question of the lifting of the state of emergency, the stability required, does this imply that you will wait until there is complete peace in the Natal province, and do you think that that realistically will happen within the few weeks time that some of your ministers have given as a time span for that lifting? DE KLERK: There is an element of uncertainty, obviously, with regard to everything which lies in the future. None of us can exactly say what will happen tomorrow and the day after. It is really our hope that with the steps which we have taken, that it will make a contribution and that will bring us soon to the situation where it can be considered. We review this situation almost on an ongoing basis, almost on a day-to-day basis, and we are as anxious as anybody else to have the state of emergency lifted as soon as possible. QUESTION: You said that the lifting of the state of emergency would be a matter for negotiations. With whom do you propose to negotiate? Mr. Mandela, the ANC, who? DE KLERK: No, I did not say that is matter for negotiation. I said that the question of political prisoners is a matter for negotiation. The state of emergency was imposed by the government because of a state of instability throughout our country. It will be a government decision to lift it, and the test will be whether the stability has been restored sufficiently so that we can do so. QUESTION: But you did say that you have discussed it with Mr. Mandela, didn\'t you? DE KLERK: Yes, obviously, because it is a matter which is being raised from many quarters as also being a stumbling block, and in that sense it was discussed. QUESTION: Mr. President, may I ask you: have you already or are you about to inform world leaders, and if so, whom? DE KLERK: I have informed our minister of foreign affairs a few hours ago and in all probability he has undertaken an exercise so that they will not just read it in the press. It is general custom, which we adhere to, and that I am sure he has done. I did not speak to anybody. QUESTION: Are you, sir, concerned at all for the safety of Nelson Mandela, and if so, how? DE KLERK: Yes, in my opening address, or rather, in another statement I indicated that, yes, I think there is reason for concern about his safety. There are all sorts of people who might threaten his life. I think radicals from the very far left might be tempted to do so, and I think there is also a risk that it might come from radicalists from the right. Many publicc figures are being threatened throughout the world almost in all countries, and with him having such a high profile, I think, yes, there is a real risk, and one must take every precaution to ensure that noghing happens to him. But when he leaves prison, then he will be moving to his own circle of friends, and in all probability, as in the case of Mr. Sisulu and the other prisoners which we released, there was no request to the state to give any assistance with regard to their security. QUESTION: Mr. President, I wonder if I may ask you to define the mandate? How do you define full constitutional rights? Is that one man, one vote? DE KLERK: Can we save that for the press conference of next week? That is the type of thing I would likee to address then. Thank you very much.\r\n'),(1527,2,'Widely scattered showers and thunderstorms swept through Alabama and northern Florida today after large chunks of hail pelted portions of Louisiana and high winds ripped down power lines in Arkansas. Showers and thunderstorms eased over the Pacific Northwest early this morning. Strong thunderstorms developing late Thursday night along a cold front crossing Washington and Oregon produced strong and gusty winds. The Pendleton, Ore., and Yakima, Wash., airports recorded winds that whipped up to 60 mph. Thunderstorms over the lower Mississippi Valley on Thursday night produced one-inch-sized hail, while hail as big as golf balls lashed an area near Spearsville, La. In Norphlet, Ark., high winds downed power lines. Meanwhile, scattered showers that extended from Lake Michigan to southern Iowa early this morning were developing ahead of a cold front that was rapidly moving across the upper Midwest. Dry weather prevailed across the rest of the nation, with fair skies in most areas. Today\'s forecast called for showers and thunderstorms from the Ohio Valley into New England, with most from the eastern Great Lakes region through New York into Vermont; rain over the northern Pacific Coast region; and mostly sunny over the rest of the country. High temperatures were forecast in the 70s or 80s over much of the nation; in the 60s along the northern half of the Pacific Coast region into much of Washington, and from the upper Mississippi Valley into the lower Great Lakes region; in the 50s across the upper Great Lakes; in the 90s over Oklahoma and the inland areas of southern Texas; and in the upper 90s and nearing 110 over the desert Southwest. Temperatures around the nation at 3 a.m. EDT ranged from 31 degrees at Grand Forks, N.D., to 88 degrees at Phoenix, Ariz. Other reports: _East: Atlanta 69 cloudy; Boston 52 fair; Buffalo 68 windy; Charleston, S.C. 62 foggy; Cincinnati 62 fair; Cleveland 65 fair; Detroit 65 windy; Miami 75 fair; New York 54 fair; Philadelphia 54 fair; Pittsburgh 54 fair; Portland, Maine 45 fair; Washington 60 fair. _Central: Bismarck 38 fair; Dallas-Fort Worth 65 fair; Denver 57 fair; Des Moines 71 cloudy; Indianapolis 66 fair; Kansas City 69 fair; Minneapolis-St. Paul 47 windy; Nashville 60 cloudy; New Orleans 56 fair; St. Louis 70 fair. _West: Albuquerque 64 fair; Anchorage 48 showery; Las Vegas 86 fair; Los Angeles 63 fair; Phoenix 90 fair; Salt Lake City 61 fair; San Diego 64 fair; San Francisco 57 fair; Seattle 52 rain. _Canada: Montreal 59 rain; Toronto 66 windy.\r\n'),(1528,2,'Computer chiefs at some of the nation\'s biggest companies have nice things to say about IBM, or nothing to say at all, according to a survey in the forthcoming issue of InformationWeek. Ninety-three percent of the corporate information managers who responded to the InformationWeek survey agreed that International Business Machines Corp. is a positive influence on the marketplace, while none disagreed and 7 percent said they were undecided. But of the 50 executives invited to participate in the survey, 19 declined to participate in spite of promises of anonymity. Their names were chosen from the top echelon of the Fortune 500 and InformationWeek\'s own list of the 100 biggest computer users. On other questions, 26 percent said IBM exerts unfair influence on the competition while 58 percent disagreed and 16 percent said they were undecided. Sixteen percent said IBM was too big, while 58 percent disagreed and 26 percent were undecided. Sixty-four percent said IBM was fairly treated by the media, while 13 percent disagreed and 23 percent were undecided. The report is part of the magazine\'s special IBM issue, due out Monday. Because of the small and select size of the sample, the results are not necessarily applicable to computer users in general.\r\n'),(1529,2,'The dollar was higher against all other major foreign currencies in early European trading today amidst continuing concern over the Middle East crisis. Gold prices were higher. Traders said they expected the dollar to continue gaining ahead of an Arab League meeting in Cairo today and on reports of further Iraqi troop movements toward Kuwait and toward the border with Turkey. ``The market is reserved,\'\' said a trader at a major West German bank in Frankfurt. ``The (Middle East) situation looks like it can only get worse.\'\' In Tokyo, where trading ends as Europe\'s business day begins, the dollar rose 0.07 yen to a closing 149.75 yen. Later, in London, it was quoted at a higher rate of 150.10 yen. Other dollar rates at midmorning compared with late Thursday: _1.5974 West German marks, up from 1.5915 _1.3455 Swiss francs, up from 1.3385 _5.3607 French francs, up from 5.3340 _1.7985 Dutch guilders, up from 1.7930 _1,170.50 Italian lire, up from 1,164.75 _1.1473 Canadian dollars, up from 1.1467 In London, the dollar rose against the British pound, and was quoted at $1.8690, compared with $1.8720 late Thursday. Gold opened in London at a bid price of $387.00 a troy ounce, up from $385.25 bid late Thursday. At midmorning, the city\'s major bullion dealers fixed a recommended price of $388.75. In Zurich, the bid price was $388.75, up from $385 late Thursday. Earlier, in Hong Kong, gold rose $3.84 to close at a bid $388.01. Silver rose in London to a bid price of $4.90 a troy ounce, from Thursday\'s $4.87.\r\n'),(1530,2,'Drug smugglers using small planes easily evade federal rules requiring the registration of aircraft and pilots, a government informant told Congress on Wednesday. The witness, testifying from behind a screen and identified only as the former bookkeeper of an international drug ring, said the federal registration rules were ``very easy to beat. Nothing to it.\'\' The witness told the House Public Works and Transportation Committee of airplane bills of sale that never were sent to the Federal Aviation Administration, of fictitious names and addresses reported for buyers and sellers, and of signatures scrawled illegibly on FAA forms and modifications _ such as installation of long-range fuel tanks _ that went unreported to the government. The FAA did not pursue such gaps in documentation and in some cases required no records that would make it easier to track down aircraft owners and pilots, the witness said. ``I didn\'t see a vast amount of brilliance in the smuggling community,\'\' said the man, who was referred to by the legislators as ``Mr. Smith.\'\' ``If you give them an opportunity to make mistakes and leave a paper trail, it seems to me they\'ll make mistakes and leave a paper trail.\'\' Rep. Glenn Anderson, D-Calif., chairman of the committee, said 64 percent of the cocaine and marijuana seized in the United States last year was captured on small planes owned by individuals or businesses. He cited a report by the Office of Technology Assessment, a research arm of Congress, that estimated that there are 1,300 to 3,500 drug-smuggling flights by small planes entering the country annually. In what has been the usual procedure in the spate of drug hearings held by Congress during this election year, the witness was accompanied by several armed Capitol police officers who stood guard inside and outside the hearing room. The man said he was a former member of the federal witness protection program and was on probation after pleading guilty to state charges of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine and racketeering. He said he had worked for a ``loose confederation\'\' of Americans, Colombians, Bahamians and others who smuggled cocaine into the United States aboard aircraft. He was responsible for the registration and ownership documents of more than 40 planes used by the participants, some used for legitimate businesses they owned and others for smuggling. To disguise the planes\' ownership, the witness said he often had foreigners sign registration forms and use difficult to trace American mailing addresses. He would at times use addresses of apartment complexes without supplying apartment numbers, and arrange to have people who lived at the complexes watch for piles of undelivered mail and relay it. The witness also said mechanics who modified the planes he used often knew why the equipment was being installed on the aircraft. ``As a result, they had no interest in making any documentation of the work which they would have had to sign, for fear of jeopardizing their licenses,\'\' he said. At the same hearing, four drug investigators complained that they were frequently hindered by federal regulations that made it possible for smugglers to hide their identities. ``Aircraft identification and registered owner identification is an elusive veil behind which the smuggler finds refuge,\'\' said Carol Knapik, an undercover detective in the Broward County, Fla., sheriff\'s office. She also testified from behind screens. Janet Hale, an assistant secretary of the Department of Transportation, told the lawmakers that the FAA was trying to improve its registration systems so it could provide more information to law enforcement agencies. The public works committee is considering legislation that would require the FAA to improve its record-keeping system.\r\n'),(1531,2,'Ignore the wheelchair and arthritis. Her 80 years weigh lightly upon the mind and wit of M.F.K. Fisher, whose gifts to the world of food and literature are still mounting. But shed a tear for the grand dame of gastronomy: Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher denies herself the pleasure she gives her army of admirers in the 17 books and scores of magazine pieces that for 50 years set a lean and spicy standard few can match. ``I never read anything I\'ve written,\'\' she snapped. ``I don\'t care to go back. I never read a word of print about me or by me.\'\' She wouldn\'t argue with going back to being able to use her hands for typing. Fate has ruled that she must dictate into a tape recorder. There\'s no question of her not doing it. Writing is as important to her as air. ``I am compulsive about it,\'\' admitted the Michigan-born author, who wrote such tasty morsels as ``How to Cook a Wolf,\'\' ``The Gastronomical Me,\'\' ``Consider the Oyster\'\' and her pungent ``Alphabet for Gourmets.\'\' Chafing among cushions in her little wine-country house, she added, ``But it\'s like pulling teeth. It\'s just awful. I can\'t dictate to a person so I dictate secretly. I don\'t make many mistakes, you know. It\'s my newspaper training. ... I don\'t have any errors once I get it down on paper, thank God.\'\' In 1937, the world\'s food writers discovered a tough new kid on the block when they eyed this paragraph leaping from the pages of ``Serve It Forth,\'\' Mary Frances\' first book: ``The quails are an artful lure to the most refined of palates, and the rabbit stew, steaming, aromatic, is made just as tempting with an onion or two, pepper freshly ground, a little bacon and a dash of cheap, pure wine.\'\' A somewhat less literate reporter observed, ``It\'s a shame you don\'t get to read your good stuff like that.\'\' She was not impressed. Others are. It was once said of her crisp prose: ``She writes about food as others do about love, but rather better. ... Fisher writes not as a specialist but as a whole human being, spiky with prejudices, charming, short-tempered, well-traveled and cosmopolitan. ... She is a person, not a gourmet masked as a writer. Her passion comes from inside her.\'\' That was 35 years ago. Except for such indignities as two hip replacements, a corneal implant and the arthritis, nothing has changed, and she remembers everything between times _ three husbands, magazine pieces, the books that ``never made me any money,\'\' the travels in Europe. Of all her mates, said Mary Frances, ``my real husband was Jimmy Parrish (Dillwyn Parrish).\'\' They lived in a stone house surrounded by a vineyard and garden in Vevey, Switzerland. It was there, she said, that she learned from her Italian Swiss neighbors to cook vegetables in their own juices ``with sweet butter or thick olive oil to encourage them a little; tomatoes and onions and sweet peppers and all the summer things.\'\' She credits her start in food-writing on an episode during prohibition when she was living in Whittier, Calif., and her newspaperman father, Rex Kennedy, was teaching at a nearby college. She was working in a postcard shop. One afternoon she had a half-day off and decided to go the public library, where she found an Elizabethan cookbook on a table. ``It smelled so good ... the binding. I started writing,\'\' she said. She showed her writing to Alfred Fisher, the man who became her first husband. She had just turned 21 when they married, and 11 days later they set off to France and three years in Dijon, where he got his doctorate and she earned a degree at the University of Dijon. Back in the states, her writing started making the rounds. At 26, she sold her first magazine story, ``The Standing and the Waiting,\'\' and it conjured visions, full of verbs and wide swaths of color. The most scholarly of her work is her translation of legendary gastronomer Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin\'s ``The Physiology of Taste,\'\' her favorite work. Smoothing her red polka-dot dress, she peered out the window of the small, busy house she has lived in for 18 years, craning to see who was coming to visit her next. They come all day long, for a few moments in her ``youthful\'\' presence. They come professionally or as friends, for interviews, a publisher\'s conference, a chat, advice or perhaps to drop off a particularly nice piece of cheese or share a plateful of the chincoteague oysters she loves so much. She calls her visitors ``strays and wayfarers.\'\' They sit with her near a large picture window in her Sonoma County house on the edge of the old Bouverie Ranch, in Jack London country. But in her eighth decade, Mary Frances is not overwhelmed with the way things have gone with the world. ``We\'re suicidal,\'\' declared the mother of two daughters. ``Our doom is sealed. I take a very dim view of us as a human race, the only one that kills itself and everything around it. ... We\'ve poisoned the earth and the land and the water. What else is there to poison? ... I don\'t have any hope for us at all.\'\' We looked out on her green meadow, rolling to the trees, peaceful, and the harsh pronouncement seemed a long way away.\r\n'),(1532,2,'Home Shopping Network Inc. sued Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. on Monday, accusing the investment firm of fraud in connection with its sale of $100 million in HSN convertible bonds to European investors last year. The shop-by-television retailer said in a suit filed in U.S. District Court in Tampa, Fla., that Drexel fraudulently induced Home Shopping to allow a new conversion price to be set for swapping the bonds for HSN stock. The suit also accused Drexel and the head of its high-yield investment bond group, Michael Milken, of secretly funneling the securities to its regular network of ``junk bond\'\' buyers and then acting in conjunction with the network to manipulate the HSN stock price downward during the 30-day period for setting the new conversion price. A Drexel spokesman, Steve Anreder, said the firm had not yet seen the lawsuit but ``it sounds like Home Shopping Network is unhappy with the market performance of its securities, over which we have no control.\'\' HSN\'s action comes against a background of a broad government inquiry into Drexel\'s operations that arose partly because of the firm\'s reported past business links with speculator and insider-trader Ivan F. Boesky, now serving a three-year prison term for securities fraud. Drexel has denied any improper activities and hasn\'t been charged with any wrongdoing. The HSN suit asked for invalidation of the price-reset provision in the bond sale and requested unspecified monetary damages for securities fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and other violations. HSN Chairman Roy Speer said that in addition to the lawsuit, the company filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission against Drexel and Milken charging them with manipulating HSN\'s stock. When the bonds were sold last April, they carried an original conversion price of $25.80 per share. At that price, the company would have had to issue about 3.9 million shares of stock to redeem all the bonds. But HSN said that after the bond offering was closed, it agreed at Drexel\'s request to include a provision to allow a new conversion price to be set at the 30-day average of HSN\'s share price prior to the April 22 conversion date plus a 20 percent premium. At the time of the bond issue, HSN was trading at about $18 a share on the American Stock Exchange, said Nando Di Filippo, HSN executive vice president. He said the stock had fallen to about $8 a share when the reset period started on March 10 and has fallen as low as $4.87{ a share since then. Although the reset period does not expire until Thursday, Di Filippo said it appears the conversion price will be about $6.50, which he said could result in the issuance of up to about 14 million shares of stock. That amount would not mean a change in control of the video retailer, but it would dilute the value of the company\'s outstanding stock, he said. Home Shopping, based in St. Petersburg, Fla., operates two television networks that offer items ranging from electronics equipment to jewelry for sale to viewers who call while the items are displayed. For the year ended Aug. 31, 1987, the company reported a profit of $29.5 million, or 33 cents per share, on sales of $582.1 million.\r\n'),(1533,2,'A boat capsized in a river in the northern state of Punjab and at least 13 people drowned, United News of India reported today. The accident occurred in Ferozpure district late Wednesday, the news agency said. The boat carrying 35 people overturned in a river between the villages of Khidar Pindi and Casuwala, about 220 miles northwest of New Delhi, the agency said. The remaining passengers were rescued, the agency said.\r\n'),(1534,2,'Ronald Reagan held both Gorbachevs spellbound with Hollywood stories during the Geneva summit, according to the latest tales from the White House, but after Raisa Gorbachev sparkled in dinner table conversation, Nancy Reagan fumed: ``Who does that dame think she is?\'\' Former White House chief of staff Donald T. Regan, in his book, ``For the Record,\'\' published Monday, portrayed a first lady who tried to keep presidential spokesman Larry Speakes from uttering the word ``cancer\'\' when a malignancy was found in her husband\'s colon and who kept Regan from riding the helicopter to Bethesda Naval Hospital because helicopters were too ``presidential\'\' for staff members\' use. And he told of a president who perks up in the presence of women _ and unfailingly offers a fatherly wave to the pretty stewardesses across an airport tarmac. Beyond his disclosure of Mrs. Reagan\'s reliance on a Nob Hill astrologist, Regan\'s book gave out-of-school tales about a first lady with a pervasive, protective role in her husband\'s presidency. The Iran-Contra arms and money affair made Mrs. Reagan\'s ``sensitivity to criticism more acute than ever,\'\' Regan wrote, and as a result Mrs. Reagan gave him frequent directions on how to handle the matter. ``The first lady\'s telephoning was so frequent that I was spending two or three times as much time talking to her as to the president,\'\' he said. Mrs. Reagan was influential in Regan\'s unceremonious departure from the White House. By then, hard feelings between the two were common knowledge in Washington. In recalling all _ the latest in a series of White House gossipy memoirs about disarray within the Reagan presidency _ Regan described how Raisa Gorbachev, the stylish wife of the Soviet leader, upstaged Nancy Reagan at their first social session _ a dinner during the 1985 Geneva summit. Mrs. Reagan was hostess, he wrote, but Mrs. Gorbachev ``did not confine herself, as most other wives of heads of state and government did in such meetings, to cross-chat with Mrs. Reagan on palace housewifery and other harmless subjects. ``Mrs. Gorbachev was a highly educated woman _ a professor of Marxist-Leninist theory,\'\' Regan said. ``At this dinner party and the later one at the Soviet Mission, she did not hesitate to make use of the opportunities offered to her to educate the president of the United States on the intellectual and philosophical basis of Soviet policy. ``It was evident that she was mistress of her subject, an intellectual with a truly impressive grasp of a specialty that she regarded as the key to understanding Soviet society and the world beyond,\'\' Regan recalled. ``Reagan listened to Mrs. Gorbachev\'s extremely detailed and fervently argued opinions with gallant courtesy. ``Gorbachev, like any husband in his circumstances, kept his peace,\'\' Regan said. ``Mrs. Reagan, however, chaffed under the monologue. After the door had closed behind the Gorbachevs, she said, `Who does that dame think she is?\'\'\' As for Reagan, he entertained the Gorbachevs with stories about his acting career. They questioned him about how movies are made and how the Hollywood stars live. ``The Gorbachevs devoured every detail,\'\' Regan said. ``Like any other movie buffs, they were very pleased to be in the company of somebody who had known Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart and nearly every other famous movie star personally, and was able to describe what they were really like. Regan wrote dryly that the president did not tell the leader of the communist world about his role of driving communists from the union during his terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild. Reagan tends to glow in the company of women, Regan wrote: ``The presence of Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick or Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole at a Cabinet meeting always made for a heightened presidential mood; he was more amusing, more talkative, more of a participant than a presence. Regan said everyone who travels with the president has come to believe that Pan American World Airways assigns its prettiest stewardesses to the plane carrying the White House press corps. ``This happy circumstance did not escape the president\'s notice,\'\' he said. ``When Air Force One landed, the president always looked for thePan Am stewardesses from the press plane and gave them a fatherly wave. They waved back enthusiastically, pretty young women in their uniforms smiling at the most famous man in the world. ``It was a moment everyone looked forward to on presidential journeys.\'\'\r\n'),(1535,2,'Chrysler Corp. workers, anxious to receive the same benefits that General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. workers received in new contracts last fall, are preparing contract demands for talks beginning April 18. Members of the United Auto Workers union\'s 140-member national Chrysler council were to begin arriving in Kansas City, Mo., today for a meeting with national UAW leaders and elected union bargainers. By Friday, the council planned to have discussed and approved demands that will guide how the industry pattern contract, established at the two larger companies, can be installed at the smallest Big Three automaker. The Chrysler contract, covering 59,500 active and 8,000 laid-off workers, expires Sept. 14. Talks are scheduled to begin April 18, instead of mid-July as usual. The two sides agreed to early talks to stem damage inflicted by friction over Chrysler\'s closing of an assembly plant in Kenosha, Wis., and the abortive sale of its 28,000-worker Acustar Inc. parts subsidiary. Chrysler was stunned by the speed and severity of the union\'s opposition to the proposed Acustar sale. Angry workers at locals across the nation began preparing ``strike packages\'\' _ lists of grievances over locally strikeable issues _ and stopped cooperating in crucial management-union programs aimed at improving quality and production efficiency. UAW Vice President Marc Stepp, who will lead negotiations with Chrysler, told workers at the time that he would give local unions with grievances permission to strike immediately. A few strikes at key assembly and parts plants could have crippled Chrysler as quickly as a national strike. Chrysler quickly backed down from the proposed sale in early March and agreed to early contract talks, a request it had refused last fall after the union wrapped up contracts at Ford and GM. Negotiators on both sides are limited to working within the pattern contract, which forbids layoffs except during declining sales of a particular product and requires automakers to continue paying workers whose jobs are lost to productivity improvements, new technology or transfer of work to outside suppliers. The pattern contract also includes joint six-month, plant-by-plant studies that will examine ways to strengthen operations and keep work inside each company. The UAW hopes the studies will make it harder for automakers to pit plant against plant in competition for a shrinking number of jobs. The UAW is expected to seek a two-year contract instead of the usual three-year pact so that its contracts with all Big Three makers will expire together in 1990. The union also will seek more representation on the Chrysler board of directors. UAW President Owen Bieber has a board seat, but the union believes holding more seats will give it more control over Chrysler decisions. Bargainers will work against an artificial target deadline instead of a strike deadline, so Chrysler faces no risk of a companywide strike if talks fail. Industry analysts expect a quick settlement. But a failure at the table would sour relations and make talks more difficult when the two sides were forced to resume bargaining in the summer.\r\n'),(1536,2,'Early June brought a slight lull in domestic car and light trucks sales, which declined 4.1 percent from a year ago, but industry analysts said the dip stemmed from one-time rather than economic factors. ``There\'s no reason to think that underlying demand just for these 10 days has gotten slower,\'\' Kathleen Heaney, analyst with Nikko Securities International in New York, said Tuesday. ``Nothing\'s different in the economy for consumers all of a sudden.\'\' Domestic car sales in the nine selling days from June 1 to June 10 were down 4.8 percent from the same period a year earlier and domestic light truck sales were down 2.7 percent. The eight companies that build passenger vehicles in the United States sold 198,647 domestic cars and 112,945 domestic light trucks in early June, down from 208,699 cars and 116,000 trucks a year earlier. Industry analysts said sales were higher in early June 1987 because a new round of buyer incentives had just been launched. They noted that 1988 spring sales have held steady and consumer confidence remains strong. Car sales were down during the period for all domestic makers except Toyota Motor Corp., which was just beginning U.S. production last year, and Mazda Motor Corp., which began U.S. production last September. ``The last 10 days of May were very strong and may have borrowed some sales that normally would have occurred in the first 10 days of June,\'\' said Michael Luckey, president of Luckey Consulting Group in Cresskill, N.J. Luckey predicted sales will be higher during the rest of the month. ``The consumer remains in a buying mood,\'\' he said. General Motors Corp. sold 6.2 percent fewer domestic cars and 4.5 percent fewer domestic light trucks than in early June 1987. GM\'s combined car and light truck sales were down 5.7 percent from a year earlier. Ford Motor Co.\'s domestic cars sales were down 3.2 percent and its domestic light truck sales lagged 6.9 percent behind year-earlier sales. Ford\'s combined domestic car and light truck sales were down 4.7 percent from a year earlier. Chrysler Corp.\'s domestic car sales fell 6.4 percent but its domestic truck sales, which include the hot-selling Jeep lineup, rose 2 percent from early June 1987. Chrysler\'s combined domestic sales were down 2.5 percent from a year earlier. GM, the industry leader, held 45.6 percent of the combined domestic market, slightly less than its 46.8 percent share a year ago. Ford\'s share held nearly steady at 31.2 percent, while Chrysler\'s rose to 17.5 percent from 16.3 percent a year ago. Honda Motor Co.\'s domestic car sales fell 0.3 percent, Volkswagen of America\'s sales were down 8 percent and Nissan Motor Co.\'s sales fell 27.6 percent from early June 1987. Nissan\'s sales of domestically built trucks jumped 83.8 percent, reflecting the company\'s decision earlier this year to build more trucks than cars at its assembly plant in Smyrna, Tenn.\r\n'),(1537,2,'Stock prices surged this morning in active trading, bolstered by the momentum of a late rally in the previous session and a strengthened dollar overseas. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials jumped 34.68 points to 2,143.85 by 10 a.m. on Wall Street, putting it at the highest level since the market crash eight months ago. Among broader market barometers, the New York Stock Exchange composite index of all listed issues rose 2.02 to 155.31. On the American Stock Exchange, the market value index rose 1.78 to 308.66. Gaining issues outnumbered declines by about 9-to-1 on the NYSE, with 982 up, 171 down and 306 unchanged. Volume totaled 44.8 million shares after the first 30 minutes of trading. IBM led the NYSE\'s most-active list, jumping 2} to 123. Other notable blue-chip gainers included Boeing, up 1] to 57{, General Electric, up | to 44[, and Eastman Kodak, up ~ to 46]. On Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrials rose 25.24 points to 2,109.17. Advancing issues outnumbered declines by about 9-to-5 in nationwide trading of NYSE-listed stocks, with 937 issues up, 543 down and 467 unchanged. Big Board volume totaled 155.06 million shares vs. 116.75 million previously.\r\n'),(1538,2,'Average retail gasoline prices jumped more than a penny-a-gallon during the past two weeks nationwide and motorists can expect the increases to continue, an analyst said. The 1.18 cent-a-gallon increase for all grades of gasoline pushed the average price to 96.14 cents in the period ended April 8, according to the Lundberg Survey. Wholesale prices increased at twice the retail rate, analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday. ``This means retailers lost a penny of their operating margin during the period and it means that there is more price pressure to come in the immediate future,\'\' she said. According to the survey, prices per gallon at self-service pumps were: regular unleaded, 86.80 cents; premium unleaded, $101.84; regular leaded, 83.97 cents. Prices at full-service pumps were: regular unleaded, $116.93; premium unleaded, $127.20; regular leaded, $112.51.\r\n'),(1539,2,'A convicted robber who doubled as a street vendor and poet has been sentenced to hang for the murder of reggae star Peter Tosh and two of his friends. A jury of eight women and four men took six minutes Friday to convict Dennis Lobban, 33, on three counts of murder. Justice Carl Patterson then sentenced him to hang. Throughout the trial which began Monday, Lobban insisted he was innocent. He claimed he was drinking with friends far from Tosh\'s house the night of Sept. 11, 1987, when Tosh, radio disc jockey Jeff Dixon and Wilton ``Doc\'\' Brown were gunned down during a robbery at Tosh\'s home. Four others survived the attack. Lobban, a convicted felon with a long police record, was out on parole when the murders were committed. Steve Russell, 26, of Kingston, who had been charged jointly with Lobban, was freed on Thursday. Russell\'s lawyer argued successfully that the prosecution failed to show Russell was involved in the slayings. Russell claimed he only drove the killers to Tosh\'s home without going inside or knowing they were going to kill Tosh. Lobban is a ``higgler,\'\' or street vendor, and a ``dub poet,\'\' who recites poetry to reggae music. He has been convicted of eight previous felons, ranging from illegal possession of firearms to armed robbery. Lobban was escorted from court by armed guards and taken to prison to join 188 other people on death row. Any appeal would go to the Jamaican Court of Appeal. The final court of appeal is the Privy Council in England. Tosh, 42 years old at the time of his death, was nominated for a Grammy in 1985 for his album, ``Captured Live.\'\' In 1963, Tosh, Bob Marley and Neville Livingstone formed the group The Wailers, which catapulted reggae\'s easy rhythms from the slums of Kingston onto the world stage. Born Winston Herbert MacIntosh, Tosh left The Wailers in 1973. One later Tosh group was Word, Sound and Power. Outside Jamaica, Tosh was perhaps best known for his collaboration with Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger on the Smokey Robinson song, ``(You Got To) Walk and Don\'t Look Back,\'\' and for his hit, ``Legalize It,\'\' a plea for the legalization of marijuana.\r\n'),(1540,2,'Sen. Bob Dole\'s proposal to boost aid to Eastern Europe and Panama by cutting funds from major recipients like Israel and Egypt is ``shortsighted and detrimental\'\' to U.S. interests, 22 Republican House members say. The House members wrote to President Bush on Wednesday to express ``our strong opposition to the Dole foreign aid plan,\'\' which would slice money from Israel, Egypt, Turkey, the Philippines and Pakistan. ``We believe this is the wrong approach to the burgeoning needs of Eastern Europe,\'\' said the House members, led by Reps. Vin Weber of Minnesota and Bill McCollum of Florida. ``To reward one ally at the expense of another would be shortsighted and detrimental to American interests,\'\' they said. At the same time, Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, Dole\'s Republican colleague from Kansas, said she supported Dole and hoped his plan would lead to ``serious review and substantive reform\'\' of foreign aid. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, has not taken a stand on the issue, but he is holding meetings with Democratic colleagues to discuss foreign aid, his aides said. Kassebaum, who has introduced legislation to change the way foreign aid is divided up, criticized Congress for ``earmarking\'\' _ locking up _ 80 percent of the foreign aid budget. As a result, U.S. officials have no flexibility to deal with unforeseen circumstances, she said in a speech on the Senate floor. ``With earmarking, we have set up a system that prevents us from responding to opportunities\'\' like those in Eastern Europe, she said. Dole suggested changing the 1990 foreign aid budget that earmarks about $3 billion to Israel, slightly less to Egypt, about $500 million each to Turkey and Pakistan and some $160 million in economic aid to the Philippines. His plan would trim 5 percent from the big recipients, creating about $400 million that could go to Eastern Europe and Panama. Many have criticized Dole\'s plan. ``It\'s not going anywhere. Period,\'\' said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Debate on the 1991 foreign aid bill is expected to start soon, once the Bush administration unveils its requests next week. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations, has said his panel will hold hearings ``reexamining U.S. foreign aid priorities in light of the vast changes in the international situation.\'\' ``As far as I\'m concerned, every program in the fiscal 1991 foreign aid appropriation will be reviewed,\'\' Leahy said in a statement. On Jan. 18, Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin met with Bush administration officials and later said he had ``reasons to believe\'\' U.S. aid to his country would hold steady at $3 billion a year through 1991. But he expressed concern about aid beyond next year.\r\n'),(1541,2,'At an unusual prayer breakfast, South African Foreign Minister Pik Botha urged three black African leaders Wednesday to ``join hands\'\' in regional cooperation. Botha, who represented President F. W. de Klerk, addressed the heads of state as ``my African brothers\'\' during the informal meeting, which was punctuated by joking and laughter. The breakfast host was Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, head of the seven-nation Frontline States, a regional bloc that once led efforts to end apartheid in South Africa. The other two leaders were President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, who maintains close contacts with South Africa, and President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, the current chairman of the 51-member Organization of African unity. President Bush sent a congratulatory message, saying the meeting ``marks a new era in Africa.\'\' The get-together over eggs, bacon and croissants signaled a further easing of tensions between white-led South Africa and its anti-apartheid neighbors. Zambian officials said it was made possible by de Klerk\'s recent steps toward dismantling apartheid, including legalizing the African National Congress, freeing political prisoners including the ANC leader Nelson Mandela, and lifting the state of emergency in black townships. The ANC, outlawed for 30 years in South Africa, had its headquarters in the Zambian capital of Lusaka until early this year. Kaunda, once one of the most vocal African critics of apartheid, said the theme of the meeting was ``peace, unity and reconciliation.\'\' Botha told the black African leaders that South Africa could help economic development in the largely impoverished region, adding: ``We in Africa must join hands and move closer together.\'\' ``South Africa must play its rightful role in southern Africa and we are ready to play that role,\'\' Botha said. Ugandan President Museveni said he got the idea for such a meeting from a prayer breakfast he attended with U.S. congressmen two years ago. He wanted to organize something similar, he said, but as he was not a good Christian he asked Kaunda to be host. Three other African heads of state, Quett Masire of Botswana, Pierre Buyoya of Burundi and Metsing Lekhanya of Lesotho, were invited but did not attend.\r\n'),(1542,2,'New European business and better profit margins on North American sales boosted Whirlpool Corp.\'s fourth-quarter earnings nearly 21 percent, the appliance manufacturer said Tuesday. Whirlpool said earned $49.4 million, or 71 cents a share, in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with a loss of $12 million, or 17 cents a share, in the fourth quarter of 1988. The year-earlier period included a $45 million loss on the sale of Whirlpool\'s kitchen cabinet business. The company\'s 1989 fourth-quarter results include $9.2 million in writedowns connection with Whirlpool\'s plans to close its Mount Sterling, Ky., plant. Revenue totaled $1.57 billion, up from $1.02 billion in the fourth quarter of 1988, the company said. For the year, Whirlpool said it earned $187.2 million, or $2.70 a share, on revenue of $6.29 billion, up from $94.1 million, or $1.36 a share, on revenue of $4.42 billion, in in 1988. Whirlpool became the world\'s largest appliance concern with the January 1989 acquisition of a $470 million stake in the appliance division of Dutch electronics giant NV Philips. In line with the agreement, the company said 1989 results included all of the revenue of the joint venture, Whirlpool International BV, and 53 percent of its net earnings. Whirlpool International\'s performance and strong sales in North America helped boost earnings, the company said. However, these gains were offset by several factors, including higher interest expense and taxes, Whirlpool said. David R. Whitwam, Whirlpool chairman and chief executive officer, predicted flat sales to come and said wage cuts accepted by Whirlpool workers in Evansville, Ind., would help keep costs competitive. Whitwam predicted appliance sales would be down slightly in the first half of 1990, possibly rallying in the second half of the year.\r\n'),(1543,2,'A peace activist broke a 63-day liquid-only fast _ one day for each million dollars allegedly spent on ``Rambo III\'\' _ by biting into a giant pizza with a pepperoni peace sign and delivering it to Sylvester Stallone\'s door. Jerry Rubin, a Southern California campaigner against cinema violence and war toys, didn\'t see Stallone but was more graciously received Saturday than in a previous visit to a Stallone residence when someone squirted him with water over a wall. The actor\'s housekeeper even obliged when Rubin needed to do a retake of his stunt for TV cameras. Rubin\'s wife, Marissa, and two friends were on hand as the activist went to Stallone\'s home and, with media watching, presented the pizza to a housekeeper. When a television crew arrived late, Rubin went back to the door and got his pizza back to re-enact the event. At one point, the unwieldy, 3-foot-wide pizza slipped off its cardboard platter and onto the concrete driveway. After his first bite in 63 days, Rubin said he was looking forward ``to watching movies with popcorn again.\'\' One of the placards carried by the group read, ``Sly, Give Pizza A Chance.\'\' Rubin said he hoped his attempt at humor would open a line of communication with Stallone and other makers of violent films. ``We need to reach them to open up that dialogue because it has gotten out of hand,\'\' he said. ``In 10 or 20 years from now we\'re going to pay a sad price, because these films not only have a negative effect on children but they have a negative effect on everyone.\'\'\r\n'),(1544,2,'Hundreds of policemen deserted their posts or stayed home today after anti-monarchist mobs beat to death six of their colleagues in daylong rioting, government sources said. At least three police stations in the capital were seen to be empty. Almost none of the capital\'s 4,000 policemen were walking the streets. A few armed policemen entered deserted police stations late today but allowed no one to enter. A 10-hour curfew restricting people to their homes began at 7 p.m. and some policemen in jeeps and trucks patrolled the city. Monday\'s violence was the worst since April 6, when police opened fire on pro-democracy demonstrators, and threatened the fledgling pro-democracy movement in this Himalayan kingdom. Until this month, King Birendra had exercised virtually absolute power. Five civilians were killed by police gunfire in Monday\'s unrest and, according to the state-owned Rashtriya Samachar Samiti news agency, 15 policemen were missing. Only one policeman had been found by late today. The mobs accused police of condoning and sometimes joining an underground pro-monarchist group blamed for a wave of crime since a new government headed by pro-democracy forces took office last week. Two policemen captured early Monday were beaten for more than six hours before they died. Four more policemen were dragged from a police station and lynched by hundreds of people. The crowds also set afire the zonal commissioner\'s office, which houses a police station. Today, two policemen in riot gear stood guard outside the charred building. They were the only policemen seen on foot during an hour-long tour of Katmandu. ``There are no policemen anywhere in the city,\'\' said a taxi driver who said he had been driving the streets for six hours. ``Even traffic policemen are absent today.\'\' One government source said the policemen were either ``unofficially withdrawn or are too scared to come out.\'\' Senior police officials could not be located for comment. But shops opened and streets were clogged with traffic today after a ten-hour curfew clamped on Monday night was lifted at 6 a.m.. There were no reports of violence. ``The tremendous amount of confidence the people have in this government is compensating for the absence of police,\'\' said Home Minister Yog Prasad Upadhyay. ``This is apparent from the fact that ... the country is peaceful.\'\' Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai met with King Birendra today to discuss the situation, officials said. No details of the meeting were available. A scheduled meeting of the Cabinet was postponed, officials said on condition of anonymity. There had been indications a shake-up in the top ranks of the police force might be forthcoming after the Cabinet meeting. Bhattarai and his government, a coalition of democrats, Communists, royalists and independents, took office last Thursday after an eight-week campaign against the previous regime, which was subservient to the king. King Birendra caved in to the campaign on April 8, two days after police shot and killed 200 demonstrators as they marched on the palace, according to witnesses. The government said 10 people were killed and 107 wounded in all of Nepal on that day, but two days later Birendra lifted a 29-year ban on political parties. Within 24 hours of the new government taking office, the capital of 250,000 people was faced with a rash of arson, mugging and looting, which residents blamed on a right-wing pro-monarchist group called Mandale. The Mandale, an abbreviated form of Nepal Vidyarthi Mandal, or Nepal students group, went underground in 1979 after Birendra officially banned the group because of its violent tendencies.\r\n'),(1545,2,'In a move that completed a tumultuous, six-month shakeup of top management, Apple Computer Inc. hired Robert Puette, a longtime Hewlett-Packard Co. executive, to lead the company\'s domestic division. As president of Apple USA, Puette will be responsible for all sales, marketing and support activities in this country. Puette, whose appointment was announced Tuesday, worked 24 years at Hewlett-Packard, where he led the launch, development and expansion of its worldwide personal computer business. Most recently, he was general manager of Hewlett-Packard\'s Personal Computer Group. ``Bob Puette\'s arrival marks a major milestone in the development of Apple\'s USA business,\'\' said Michael Spindler, Apple\'s chief operating officer. ``He has a proven ability to effectively manage large, complex organizations. He\'s demonstrated exceptional business and technical expertise in the global personal computer market. And he\'s known for his strong and thoughtful leadership.\'\' Puette, 48, joins Apple on July 1. He fills a vacancy left by the sudden resignation in January of Allen Loren. Puette will report to Spindler, who was promoted to his position after Loren resigned. Apple, ranked No. 2 behind Hewlett-Packard in the personal computer market, badly needs help in the domestic market. The job of Apple USA\'s president is considered so tough that several leading candidates turned it down, industry sources said. High prices for its computers have lost the company sales in homes, schools and small businesses. In addition, morale in Apple\'s U.S. operations has been shaken by layoffs and employee unrest over various corporate issues, including high salaries paid to key managers, analysts said. ``I think that this is the turning point for Apple USA,\'\' Puette said. ``I think the turmoil is going to pretty well disappear and you\'re going to see some strong marketing messages from the company.\'\' New, low-cost machines expected to be announced later this year will have a significant impact on the market, Puette predicted.\r\n'),(1546,2,'Thunderstorms drenched the Texas Gulf Coast on Thursday as rain fell across much of the lower Mississippi Valley. Most of the nation had sunny skies. Southern California sweltered, while showers were widely scattered across Wisconsin and Michigan, northeast Florida and the northern Pacific Coast. Heaviest rainfall during the 6 hours ending at 2 p.m. EDT included 4.10 inches near Corpus Christi, Texas. Other reports were of less than one-half inch. Temperatures at 3 p.m. EDT ranged from 44 degrees at both Houghton and Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., to 108 degrees at Palm Springs, Calif. The nation\'s morning low was 18 degrees at Gunnison, Colo. Friday\'s forecast called for rain and occasional thundershowers in northern New England, the lower Great Lakes and the upper Ohio Valley and across much of Florida, and showers from the northern Pacific Coast across the northern Plateau. High temperatures were expected to reach the 50s and 60s over northern Maine, the Great Lakes, the upper Mississippi Valley and along the northern and central Pacific Coast; the 90s to about 110 degrees from the desert Southwest through inland portions of southern California, and the 70s and 80s elsewhere.\r\n'),(1547,2,'President Ion Iliescu on Saturday reversed a decision to ban the Communist Party, calling it a ``hasty decision,\'\' and instead said the issue will be decided in a national referendum. Iliescu responded to widespread protests Friday by announcing that the Communist Party, the sole ruler of Romania from 1948 until last month, had been outlawed. In a nationwide television and radio broadcast, Iliescu said the governing National Salvation Front had been criticized for the action, and he said the people will decide the fate of the Communists in a Jan. 28 referendum. ``It was a hasty decision, contrary to the democratic spirit,\'\' Iliescu said of Friday\'s announcement. Iliescu complained that popular pressures had even led some Front members to consider resigning. ``Then we realized that in this way, we would leave an open road to anarchy and chaos in the country. which would be a genuine national disaster,\'\' said Iliescu, who took office after the popular revolution that ousted Ceausescu. ``We need the massive support of the whole country.\'\' ``The Communist Party self-destructed or was removed from political life on Dec. 22,\'\' he added, referring to the day dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was overthrown. ``The Front is against any leading role of any party. We are in a dramatic moment because we inherited an extremely difficult decision from the dictatorship. We need patience, wisdom and unity,\'\' he said. The Jan. 28 referendum also will include the question of whether to reinstitute the death penalty, which was abolished by the revolutionary leadership after the executions of Ceausescu and his wife, Elena. There have been nationwide calls to bring back the death penalty by those who feel life imprisonment is too lenient a punishment for crimes committed by Ceausescu cronies as well as by members of the Securitate, Ceausescu\'s dreaded special police. Police said 11 Securitate members will stand trial Monday in Timisoara, the birthplace of the revolution, where street protests of official foot-dragging led the army to assume control Friday night. The army controlled the city, the birthplace of Romania\'s revolution, on Saturday after local leaders were forced to resign amid street protests demanding the ouster of Communists from the revolutionary government. The army takeover apparently was an administrative measure and did not mean the region was under martial law. The army\'s support was crucial to Ceausescu\'s overthrow. Shooting continued until Friday in Timisoara and the city of Arad near the Hungarian border, between army units and members of Ceausescu\'s Securitate, the Yugoslav state news agency Tanjug reported. Thousands of people took to the streets on Friday in Bucharest, Timisoara and Brasov to demand reinstatement of the death penalty for Securitate members and to protest the participation of Communists in the interim government. No demonstrations were reported in Romania on Saturday. Lorin Fortuna, the leader of Timisoara\'s local National Salvation Front council, resigned after demonstrators complained the council was doing nothing about Securitate forces being held, according to a police official who identified himself only as Capt. Streza. The Securitate defendants to be tried in public on Monday in response to the popular pressure include a general, whom Streza did not name. The army took power to guarantee law and order and uninterrupted municipal services until elections planned by Jan. 19, Streza said in a telephone interview, quoting Maj. Gen. Gheorghe Popescu, commander of the armed forces in Timis county. The county\'s chief city is Timisoara. A new administrative council will be elected by representatives of factories and other organizations and institutions within the region, according to a Tanjug report. All leading members of Romania\'s Communist Party are under arrest for investigation of their role in the regime run with an iron hand by Ceausescu, who was overthrown Dec. 22 and executed Christmas Day. The Ceausescus\' three-hour trial at an undisclosed location 60 miles from Bucharest was described Saturday in the newspaper Libertatea, which carried an interview with Niki Tedorescu, whom it identified as their attorney. ``They refused any cooperation with us. They did not understand what we said,\'\' Tedorescu recalled. ``Ceausescu kept repeating that he did not recognize the tribunal.\'\' ``They denied they had any property, or any luxury property,\'\' said Tedorescu, who was interviewed at a military hospital where he was recovering from a bullet wound received in the fighting in Bucharest. After his overthrow, Romanian media reported the feudal splendor in which the Ceausescu family lived while their countrymen did without the most basic commodities. ``I didn\'t expect them to be so uneducated,\'\' Tedorescu said. ``Both of them, but especially her (Mrs. Ceausescu), were disobeying all the laws of grammar.\'\' Mrs. Ceausescu was touted by the regime as a key intellectual with major scientific achievements. Officially, she held a doctorate in chemistry. ``I was surprised they looked so well, even in the state they were in, trembling with fear. I thought that in spite of their age, they looked better than me, and I am much younger.\'\' Asked his last words to Ceausescu after the death sentence was passed, Tedorescu answered: ``According to the law, I asked him if he objected to the (death) sentence, and he indicated no. He was convinced in my opinion that he would not be executed.\'\' The Ceausescus were executed shortly after the trial.\r\n'),(1548,2,'Each of the presidential candidates have pledged that if elected, he will appoint a member of his transition team to work with U.S. nuclear arms control negotiators, senators who chair an oversight group said Thursday. The promises by Vice President George Bush and Gov. Michael Dukakis were made in response to requests from the Senate arms control observer group. Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., co-chairman of the group, said the pledges will help the ongoing U.S.-Soviet effort to work out a treaty making deep reductions in the superpowers\' stockpile of long-range atomic weapons.\r\n'),(1549,2,'An American among hostages taken into Beirut from a TWA jetliner hijacked in June 1985 testified Tuesday that Moslem radicals threatened to put them back on board and blow up the plane. Allyn Conwell, testifying at the trial of confessed hijacker Mohammed Ali Hamadi, also said he was convinced he would be shot when he and others were initially taken from the plane. Hamadi, a Lebanese Shiite Moslem, is charged with murder and air piracy in the hijacking during which U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem was killed and 39 Americans were held hostage for 17 days. Hamadi has confessed to the hijacking but denies killing Stethem. Conwell, a 43-year-old Houston executive, said the last 39 American hostages aboard the seized TWA jetliner were taken off the plane while Hamadi and his accomplice were sleeping. He said four American servicemen earlier had been removed from the plane by Hezbollah, a radical Shiite Moslem group backed by Iran, while the remaining Americans were in the custody of Amal, a more moderate Shiite militia. As delicate negotiations for the hostages\' release ran into snags, Amal officials told Conwell ``the original hijackers were getting very upset over the lack of progress in negotiations,\'\' he testified. ``I was told the intention was to return all the hostages to the plane and blow it up,\'\' Conwell said. The hostages were shifted around different locations in Beirut until their release, he said. Conwell, who said he had been so ``terrorized that I was virtually immobile\'\' after the plane was hijacked on a flight from Athens to Rome, told the court that conditions improved for the hostages once they were under control of Amal. ``I was under the impression that Amal absolutely did not approve of the hijacking and the murder of Stethem,\'\' he testified. ``I think they acted to the best of their ability in a chaotic situation.\'\' During a break in the court proceedings, jailers could not free Hamadi from the court security room in which he is locked and had to use a cutting torch to open the door. Hamadi was arrested at Frankfurt Airport in January 1987 after customs officials found liquid explosives in his luggage.\r\n'),(1550,2,'A turkey chase left 71-year-old Lucille Andrews stuck in the mud in her car for two days. ``Miss Curiosity\'\' had a wonderful time. When she was located Wednesday by frantic relatives, the St. Clair County woman said she spent her time spying on wildlife, and wasn\'t concerned about food and water. ``I was no more scared than I am right now,\'\' Mrs. Andrews said from her home. ``I knew someone would find me.\'\' The air and ground search began after she was reported missing Monday afternoon. Mrs. Andrews said she had been out driving, and caught site of a turkey. ``I saw that turkey going out there and I thought, `You fool thing. If you got a nest out there, I\'m going to follow you and find you,\'\'\' she said. She followed the turkey across a field, but her car got stuck in a swampy ditch. ``At night, I locked the doors and rolled up the windows and went to sleep. During the day, I looked around and thought, `Boy I\'d like to have my house up on that hill,\'\'\' she said. Mrs. Andrews didn\'t see the turkey again, but did see three deer and a bear cub. ``The moon was shining so bright that I raised my head up and there was a little old bear. He was just a baby,\'\' she said. While Mrs. Andrews communed with nature, her eight children, most of her 15 grandchildren and assorted friends and relatives formed a ``family posse\'\' that combed the woods around her house. ``We were driving everywhere,\'\' said grandson Mark Andrews, 21. Andrews said his grandmother, who walks with a cane because of arthritis, is called ``Miss Curiosity\'\' by family members because ``she\'s always doing something.\'\' ``I hate housework and all of that stuff, but I do love to drive,\'\' Mrs. Andrew said. ``If I had to stay in the house I think I would die.\'\'\r\n'),(1551,2,'Rangers and tourists celebrated Yosemite\'s unique status as the granite gem of the Sierra on the park\'s 100th birthday Monday. A moment of silence recalling the tranquillity before humans came to Yosemite Valley highlighted a centennial ceremony in sun-drenched Sentinel Meadow. The silence was broken only by a blue jay\'s shrieks. ``Yosemite is not just for today; it is for the children and their children tomorrow,\'\' said Yosemite Indian Jay Johnson, reciting a traditional Miwok Indian blessing. Lee Stetson, who depicted naturalist John Muir during the ceremony, said ``wilderness is a necessity ... as fountains of life and fountains of people. If enough of us go among spirits of this wilderness, ... we need not despair.\'\' President Bush, restricted by the Middle East crisis, did not attend as expected, leaving it to other federal officials to depict the legacy of Yosemite in the majestic Sierra range. ``Given all the history relating to Yosemite and all of its controversies, still it\'s a marvelous place for the American public to see,\'\' Superintendent Michael Finley said in an interview. The history ranges from Muir\'s unswerving commitment to make Yosemite a national park in the late 1800s to lighting-caused fires that blackened 23,000 acres this summer, forcing an 11-day closure. Critics blame the National Park Service for failing to carry out a 1980 plan to remove most public facilities from the narrow valley, which is visited by 3.4 million people a year. Park Service Director James Ridenour said this summer that funds will be budgeted to relocate maintenance facilities. Another issue involves a concession contract with Yosemite Park & Curry Co., a subsidiary of the MCA entertainment conglomerate. An environmental group announced plans last week to take over the contract to run the park\'s hotels, restaurants and concession stands. The contract expires in 1993. Despite such issues, Finley said the Park Service has been a good steward of Yosemite and its famous features such as El Capitan, Half Dome and Yosemite Falls. ``We believe we\'ve seen 100 years of preservation, and we\'re working hard to ensure that the next 100 years are even going to be better for the visitors and the park,\'\' Finley said. ``We\'ve undertaken major programs for restoration of the ecology, reintroduced Bighorn sheep, recovered peregrine falcons - up to four nesting pairs at this point,\'\' he said. ``We\'re restoring trampled down meadows, replanting oak trees, have a major program to restore the Merced River and will undertake another program on the Tuolumne River and our lakes.\'\' No one would appear to know more of Yosemite\'s history than 87-year-old Carl Sharsmith, who has served as a naturalist in Tuolumne Meadows almost every summer for six decades. ``My duties are light,\'\' Sharsmith said. ``I get a group and go for a bit of a walk and chat along the way - three hours at the most.\'\' The park\'s centennial is attracting more attention in the area than did the historic formation of the park by Congress on Oct. 1, 1890. Back then, the weekly Mariposa Gazette, the closest community newspaper, put the story of Yosemite\'s beginning on page 2.\r\n'),(1552,2,'The stock market tumbled today, mirroring a plunge in bond prices and wiping out gains posted in the previous two, record-setting sessions. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials, which struggled to reach its second consecutive post-crash high Wednesday, was down 37.69 points at 2,093.71 an hour before the closing bell. Volume on the Big Board came to 139.77 million shares. Losers led gainers by about 3 to 1 with 388 up, 1,105 down and 442 unchanged as of 3 p.m. on Wall Street. While the Dow was off the entire session, the key index fell through the psychologically important 2,100-point level in mid-afternoon. Analysts had hoped that the Dow was solidly above the mark and that it would serve as a floor for a further advance. Market watchers said the decline was triggered by disarray in the credit markets, which were reacting to an unsubstantiated report in a West Germany newspaper that indicated the central Bundesbank might be tightening monetary policy. ``There are some indications that Japan might be doing the same, and that says effectively that if the Federal Reserve wants to keep the dollar stable, it will not give interest rates much room to decline,\'\' said Hugh Johnson, senior vice president at Frist Albany Corp. The Treasury\'s bellwether 30-year issue was off 1\\ points, or $12.50 per $1,000 in face value at midday. ``Everybody is picking up on its cue,\'\' Johnson said. The dollar also fell in value. ``Let\'s face it, it\'s the rates that call the turn,\'\' said Larry Wachtel, first vice president at Prudential-Bache Securities Inc. ``The whole stock market turns on interest rates.\'\' A pull-back in stock prices has been anticipated since the Dow has climbed more than 200 points in recent weeks. But analysts described today\'s drop, which was exacerbated by profit-taking, as jolting. ``In the last two days, the market\'s performance has been impressive,\'\' Johnson said. ``This just points out what thin ice we\'re on.\'\' Analysts fear a crack in the confidence that has been building, but lower stock prices also could bring out some bargain hunters. ``We would use any weakness as a buying opportunity,\'\' one trader said. Among actively traded issues, Texaco was down ] at 49{. The oil company, which will face off against Carl Icahn it its annual shareholders meeting Friday, announced a joint venture with a Saudi Arabian oil company. General Electric was off } at 42}. The company said it will acquire Borg-Warner\'s chemical division for $2.31 billion in cash. Elsewhere, Deere Co. was off 2\\ at 46{, Philip Morris was off 1[at 83[, and Smithkline Beckman was off 8| at 46]. The pharmaceutical company predicted 1988 operating earnings will be below last year\'s levels. The NYSE\'s composite index of all its listed common stocks fell 2.41 at 152.26. At the American Stock Exchange, the market value index was off 2.02 at 306.76.\r\n'),(1553,2,'Four people were fatally shot and eight wounded in gang-style attacks across Southern California on Halloween and early today, and a 15-month-old boy died a day after he was shot in the head outside a birthday party. An unidentified 20-year-old man was killed early today while walking on a street in Monrovia, about 15 miles northeast of Los Angeles, sheriff\'s Deputy Detta Roberts said. A gang connection was being investigated; no arrests were made. In southwest Los Angeles, a 19-year-old man reputed to be a gang member was killed late Monday night when rival gang members ambushed a group of young people as they left a liquor store, officials said. Four people were wounded, one of them critically. The name of the man who was killed was not immediately released, and there were no arrests. In San Diego, two unidentified men were killed and three men wounded in three street shootings Monday night, authorities reported. Dalafayette Polk, the toddler injured in the birthday party shooting Sunday in the Watts section of Los Angeles, died at 12:30 p.m. Monday, said Paitoon Wisuskeow, a nurse at Martin Luther King Jr.-Drew Medical Center. Nine other people were wounded in the shooting Sunday night, one of the worst outbreaks of street violence by youth gangs. Police had made no arrests by early today. In downtown Los Angeles, a 15-year-old identified by police as a gang member was shot twice Monday night by by gang members driving by, said police Officer J.R. Smith. The teen-ager was reported in satisfactory condition at California Medical Center today.\r\n'),(1554,2,'Stock prices fell sharply today as new inflation worries and market declines in Tokyo and London set a gloomy mood for Wall Street. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials tumbled 44.16 points to 2,716.51 by noontime in New York. Losers outnumbered gainers by about 8 to 1 in nationwide trading of New York Stock Exchange-listed issues, with 173 up, 1,394 down and 301 unchanged. The Labor Department reported that the producer price index of finished goods rose 0.7 percent in December, exceeding most advance estimates for that measure of inflationary pressures. The index finished 1989 with an increase of 4.8 percent, its biggest in eight years. Analysts said the news dealt an abrupt setback to hopes on Wall Street for any further moves soon by the Federal Reserve to relax its credit policy and encourage lower interest rates. Stock traders also were absorbing word of overnight declines in the Japanese and British markets, where interest-rate and inflation worries have also been weighing down enthusiasm lately. Among actively traded blue chips, General Electric dropped 1 to 63}; Exxon ~ to 48&lsqb;; International Business Machines 1 to 98~; Coca-Cola 1| to 74}, and Philip Morris ~ to 39&lsqb;. Precious-metals stocks, which have been rallying of late along with the price of gold, bucked the downtrend. Homestake Mining gained &rsqb; to 22&lsqb;; ASA Ltd. 1&lsqb; to 62&rsqb;, and Newmont Gold &rsqb; to 54}. The NYSE\'s composite index of all its listed common stocks fell 2.94 to 189.84. At the American Stock Exchange, the market value index was down 4.46 at 374.89. Volume on the Big Board came to 92.37 million shares at noontime, up from 76.09 million at the same point Thursday.\r\n'),(1555,2,'Polly Peck International PLC, the troubled British food and electronics conglomerate, asked for court assistance Tuesday to sort out its $1.95 billion debt woes. The decision to apply for a court-appointed administrator followed weeks of wrangling with creditors over financing. The company, which was forced to suspend trading of its shares on the London stock market Sept. 20, said in a brief statement its board ``resolved\'\' to take the action. A Polly Peck spokesman added, ``The company believes that taking this step will result in the survival of the company and its operations as going concerns.\'\' Court administration is a form of bankruptcy which enables the company to reduce its debt in an orderly fashion with the guidance of the British courts. It does not always mean the company concerned will be liquidated. The court administrator will decide whether Polly Peck\'s debts can be serviced through existing operations or through a partial or full liquidation of the company. Company officials held a series of meetings with bankers throughout the day Wednesday. In the past week Polly Peck chairman and chief executive Asil Nadir has tried to round up financial support in Turkey and northern Cyprus. Polly Peck, which has operating subsidiaries in the United States, urkey and Japan, has been operating under a temporary debt standstill agreement since Oct. 5. The company sought the moratorium after creditors withdrew about 100 million pounds, or $195 million, in short-term financing and pressed for answers on the financial status of the company after its share suspension. The moratorium was scheduled to expire Nov. 9. Nadir has been dogged in the British press by allegations of links to a reputed Polly Peck share-support scheme. The company and Nadir, who was questioned by the Serious Fraud Office Sept. 20, have denied any knowledge of wrongdoing. Bankers have called Polly Peck\'s troubles a crisis of confidence. They said in the early stages of talks that they were inclined to give the company time to sort out its financial troubles. Polly Peck\'s status, however, deteriorated sharply in recent days as bankers pressed the company for answers about Nadir\'s finance-hunting trip to Turkey and northern Cyprus. Their growing unease was signalled by calls for early repayment of outstanding debts, and more significantly by the move of National Bank of Canada on Monday to petition the British courts to liquidate the company to meet its debts.\r\n'),(1556,2,'The Foreign Ministry said today Iraq\'s failure to free 1,000 Soviets could lead to a ``tougher attitude\'\' toward Iraq\'s invasion of Kuwait. Foreign Ministry spokesman Vitaly Churkin demanded the immediate release of the Soviets. He also told reporters Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze met with Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz of Iraq for four hours today to reiterate the demand that Iraq withdraws its troops from Kuwait. Churkin said Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia would meet with Shevardnadze on Tuesday to discuss the Persian Gulf crisis. He said Iraq agree to allow 1,000 Soviets, mostly contract workers, to leave during November but that only about 350 were permitted to do so. When Iraq invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2, there were about 8,000 Soviets, including several hundred military advisers, in Iraq. About 3,000 Soviets, including women and children, were allowed to leave shortly after the invasion and about 1,000 left during September and October. Churkin said Iraq agreed to allow another 1,000 to leave in November, but is not living up to its promise. ``Iraq is not keeping its agreement that our citizens will not be prevented from leaving,\'\' he said. ``This is totally abnormal and unacceptable.\'\' He added, ``If Iraq does not immediately remove obstacles and allow our citizens to leave, this will complicate the present situation even further and force us to take a tougher attitude.\'\' Churkin said that to his knowledge, no Soviets were being detained at potential military targets. ``All (Soviet) nationals are still where they were before the crisis,\'\' he said. Iraq has prevented hundreds of foreigners from leaving Iraq and Kuwait since Saddam Hussein\'s troops overran the emirate four months ago. It has been slowly releasing some foreigners.\r\n'),(1557,2,'Dall Forsythe, son of ``Dynasty\'\' television star John Forsythe, is getting his own dynasty of sorts _ New York state\'s budget. Gov. Mario Cuomo on Wednesday named him budget director. Forsythe, whose mother is actress Parker McCormick, succeeds R. Wayne Diesel, who announced his resignation last week to join an investment bank. Forsythe joined the Cuomo administration as deputy budget director in January 1986 and became director of Cuomo\'s Office of Management and Productivity in September. He had previously worked at Shearson Lehman Brothers as a senior vice president for investment banking and has a doctorate in political science from Columbia University and has taught political science and finance at Columbia. Forsythe, 45, will be paid $92,059. The budget director is the governor\'s chief fiscal adviser and is largely responsible for handling the executive branch\'s end of state budget negotiations. The budget director also is largely responsible for formulating the governor\'s annual budget proposal.\r\n'),(1558,2,'Right-wing extremists spray-painted swastikas and pro-Nazi slogans on a synagogue in a Bavarian village on the eve of ceremonies marking the Kristallnacht anniversary, police said today. The swastikas and words ``Heil Hitler\'\' were sprayed Tuesday on the synagogue\'s outside wall in large letters with black paint, police in Binswangen said. Binswangen is a small village in southern West Germany. Police said they removed the swastikas and Nazi slogan in time for a 50th anniversary Kristallnacht ceremony in the synagogue today. The Binswangen synagogue was one of hundreds of Jewish houses of worship attacked by Nazis on Nov. 9, 1938. The Moorish-style synagogue was reconstructed after the war. Police said they had not identified any suspects.\r\n'),(1559,2,'The nation\'s mayors, much like the White House and Congress, aren\'t quite sure how big of a peace dividend will result from planned cuts in defense spending. But they want half _ whatever the amount. The mayors open their annual summer meeting here today poised to demand that much of the defense savings be funneled to cities to help ease education, drug and housing problems they increasingly blame on the White House and Congress. ``The federal government has walked away from the cities of America and now we are beginning to see the dangerous results,\'\' said Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn, a leading spokesman for the mayors. ``There are signs that cannot be ignored, even through the best set of rose-colored glasses,\'\' Flynn said. He listed among his examples gang violence in his and several other cities and recent tensions in New York resulting from court proceedings against whites accused of participating in a mob attack last summer that left a black teen-ager dead. ``This isn\'t a Republican or a Democratic problem alone or a big-city problem alone or a liberal or conservative mayors\' problem alone,\'\' Flynn said. ``This is an American problem that is gnawing at the social conscience of the American public.\'\' Flynn this year moves up to the vice presidency of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which is dominated by big-city Democratic mayors who are frequent critics of the Republican Bush administration. But even the organization\'s Republicans are voicing rising frustration with White House priorities. ``We have considerable mandates placed upon us by the federal government with less and less funding to carry them out,\'\' said Republican Mayor Robert Isaac of Colorado Springs, Colo., who takes over as president of the conference. ``We are not asking for a handouts. We are asking for fairness.\'\' The mayors will debate dozens of policy statements on an array of issues, with a clear consensus in advance of the meeting in favor of a proposal to demand that cities get half of any peace dividend. But after a decade of cuts in federal aid to cities, few mayors are optimistic their demand will be met. ``I\'m not so naive as to believe the White House and the Congress are going to listen to us mayors,\'\' Flynn said in an interview Thursday. ``What we as an organization have to do is generate political support. American cities are in deep trouble.\'\' The mayors also will consider adopting dozens of policy statements on health care, housing and other issues _ many similar to stances taken at past meetings. Another asks the federal government not to hurt local real estate markets by selling at bargain-basement prices properties it controls because of savings and loan failures. Isaac, whose area has been hard hit by S&L failures, also is lobbying to get the federal government to surrender some of the properties to local governments for affordable-housing programs. ``Money for housing programs has been drying up,\'\' the Colorado Springs mayor said. ``I see this as a tremendous opportunity to do some good.\'\' The six-day meeting opens today with the first joint meeting of organization task forces on drug control and homelessness. At a meeting last week to plan the conference, several mayors said street tensions in their cities appeared to be on the rise heading into the summer months. ``This isn\'t a time for happy talk,\'\' said Flynn. ``A decade of neglect of America\'s cities has created an abominable mix that presents a dangerously tense situation for this summer and years to come.\'\'\r\n'),(1560,2,'Falling scenery, curtains that won\'t go up and revolving stages that refuse to turn have caused a series of mishaps in London theaters in the last 10 days, prompting a safety investigation. The latest incident occurred Thursday night at a gala opening at the Royalty Theater of ``A Clockwork Orange.\'\' The curtain refused to go up for the second half of the Royal Shakespeare Company production. The star-studded audience downed free drinks offered by the embarrassed management as stage staff struggled for 15 minutes before getting the curtain to go up. On Monday, the Stephen Sondheim musical ``Sunday in the Park with George\'\' at the Lyttelton Theater was halted in mid-performance when a wooden tree, part of the scenery, fell from a hook as it was being carried off the stage. It narrowly missed an actor. Performances at the Lyttelton were canceled the next day. ``It is an extremely complicated set. It has simply been bad luck, but we can take no chances,\'\' said a theater spokesman. It was the second mishap to hit the musical. On April 23, an iron bar fell, but nobody was injured. On April 24, a hydraulic jack at the Olivier Theater broke down, preventing the revolving stage from turning. The play ``The School for Scandal\'\' was canceled in mid-performance when stage staff failed to get it working again. The comedy was playing to a packed house. Tickets were refunded. The actors\' union Equity said in a statement this week that a working party comprising representatives of the union, stage staff and theater managers had been set up to investigate safety on stage as a result of the incidents.\r\n'),(1561,2,'General Electric Co., buoyed by new orders in its aircraft engine and power systems divisions, on Tuesday reported a 12 percent profit gain for the first quarter. GE reported earnings of $950 million in the three months ended March 31, up from $849 million in the first quarter of 1989. Earnings per share were up 13 percent, to $1.06 from 94 cents. Revenue rose 6 percent to $12.6 billion in the first quarter of this year from $11.9 billion a year earlier. ``Very strong earnings improvements were reported by GE Capital, Power Systems and Aircraft Engines,\'\' said GE chairman John F. Welch Jr. Other divisions with higher earnings included lighting, medical systems, transportation systems, and electrical distribution and controls. He said new orders for power generation were up 60 percent from the first quarter of 1989, while orders from the company\'s medical systems division were 25 percent ahead of last year. The company reported a total backlog of $35 billion in the aircraft engine division, following new orders from Lufthansa and from Aeroflot, the Soviet national airline. GE said operating profit from its major appliances division was even with last year, while profit and revenue from its broadcasting arm, NBC, were ``somewhat below\'\' the first-quarter figures in 1989. Operating profit from its materials division was down considerably, which the company attributed to slower demand for cars, appliances and housing. GE said growth in earnings per share was slightly higher than net earnings because of a $10 billion share repurchase program announced last year. Under the program, the company bought back 11.6 million shares for $728 million in the first quarter, bringing total shares acquired to 15.3 million, for a total $963 million, since the program began in November 1989.\r\n'),(1562,2,'A U.S. cargo ship accidentally struck and sank a Chinese fishing boat in the East China Sea, leaving 17 fishermen missing, the official Xinhua News Agency said Monday. Xinhua said the U.S. ship, the President Monroe, left the scene immediately after the accident Friday afternoon and made no effort to rescue the fishermen. U.S. Embassy spokesman Mckinney Russell said the Chinese Foreign Ministry notified the embassy of the accident, but that he had no other information. ``It\'s still an alleged incident as far as we are concerned,\'\' Russell said. ``We haven\'t been able to confirm there was a collision. We don\'t know where the (U.S.) vessel would have come from or where it was bound.\'\' Lloyds Register of Ships says the President Monroe belongs to American President Lines of San Francisco. It is a 860-foot long container weighing 40,627 tons. Xinhua said the accident took place off the port of Lianyugang in coastal Jiangsu province. It said the Chinese boat carried 20 fishermen and was registered to the Jiangsu Fisheries Corp. The report said the Foreign Ministry ``reserves the right for further representation.\'\' Russell said he interpreted that to mean the Chinese might sue the American shipping company if an investigation supported their version of events. He said he did not expect any political repercussions.\r\n'),(1563,2,'Iran-Contra prosecutor Lawrence Walsh says Oliver North is trying to turn his trial from a criminal to a political one and should not be allowed to use politics to win a six-month delay. Walsh urged U.S. District Judge Gerhard Gesell on Monday to reject North\'s motion for a delay until after the presidential election. ``Having failed in several attempts to avoid completely the trial of this case, while proclaiming his innocence in speeches, the defendant Oliver L. North is now grasping at the criminal defendant\'s maneuver of last resort _ delay,\'\' Walsh said. ``This trial in particular should not be held hostage to a media which the defendant himself has strenuously sought to inflame,\'\' Walsh said in a brief filed with U.S. District Judge Gerhard Gesell. Walsh also rebutted North\'s contention that his actions had been approved. ``The government knows of no presidential decision that North can point to as authorizing his activities,\'\' Walsh said, adding: ``The government also is not aware of any superior, except North\'s co-conspirators (Robert C.) McFarlane and (John M.) Poindexter, who knew enough about North\'s activities to have conveyed even informal or implicit approval.\'\' Had Walsh found Reagan responsible for authorizing North\'s activities, the prosecutor would have been unable to charge North in March with defrauding the United States because North would have been acting with the necessary presidential approval. The prosecutor included 15 newspaper clippings reporting North\'s recent speeches about his case and in support of Republican congressional candidates. He quoted North\'s own statement after his indictment last March: ``I have now been caught in a bitter dispute between the Congress and the president over the control of foreign policy. ... It is a shame that the new battleground for such a fight will be a courtroom.\'\' Delaying the trial would give court approval to ``North\'s transparent attempt to transform this trial from a criminal into a political one,\'\' Walsh argued. A retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel and former White House aide, North is the first of four defendants scheduled to be tried on charges including a conspiracy to defraud the United States by illegally diverting profits from U.S.-Iran arms sales to the Nicaraguan Contra rebels. Last Wednesday, one of North\'s attorneys, Barry Simon, told the court that `no fair-minded person could argue that this trial should be started seven weeks prior to the presidential election. The intense publicity generated during the final seven weeks of a presidential campaign would deny (North) a fair trial.\'\' But Walsh said, ``To the extent that North\'s trial may become a political issue in the upcoming elections, North bears at least a substantial measure of responsibility, and therefore has little credibility in complaining.\'\' Walsh said North has made many pretrial speeches and statements ``in which he had claimed that the charges should be evaluated in a political context.\'\' Walsh said North\'s trial could begin Sept. 20 as planned with an impartial jury despite the presidential campaign and urged Gesell to reject North\'s motion for a six-month delay, which Walsh said was filed ``simply as a stalling tactic.\'\' Walsh said courts in the District of Columbia are well trained by their experience with Watergate and other political scandals to conduct trials in cases which receive a lot of publicity. He said the trial would draw media attention no matter when it occurred and that much of this publicity has been favorable to the defendants. Of the 16 counts against North, Walsh said those involving false statements and obstruction of justice, personal enrichment and tax fraud could easily be tried Sept. 20. To meet that date for the conspiracy, theft of government property and wire fraud charges, Walsh said Gesell would have to modify a July 6 order granting North access to additional classified documents. Walsh enclosed a letter from CIA general counsel Russell J. Bruemmer to support such a modification. Bruemmer said some of the documents already had been provided, others including excepts from the President\'s Daily Brief on intelligence matters, and summaries by the Central American Joint Intelligence Task Force could be ready in four weeks, but others are not readily available and would require several months to gather. Walsh noted that Gesell ordered the documents on the basis of a meeting with defense lawyers from which prosecutors were excluded. Walsh said no defense argument he could envision would make the documents relevant to the case. He indicated that most of them refer to other government covert actions abroad and said no other covert action had ever involved the transfer of funds from one operation to another. Walsh asked Gesell to require North to come up with more specific reasons for seeing items before they are ordered turned over to him. Gesell did not rule on the motion immediately.\r\n'),(1564,2,'A Justice Department spokesman says a bicycle messenger wearing a T-shirt that proclaimed ``Meese is a Pig\'\' was not admitted to its headquarters because he was ``inappropriately attired.\'\' ``Just as we would not permit somebody to come strolling in here with a bathing suit, for example, I think it\'s reasonable to have some kind of standard,\'\' spokesman Patrick S. Korten said Wednesday. He said the messenger, Christopher Stalvey, ``was inappropriately attired.\'\' Stalvey, who said the incident occurred June 10, visited the American Civil Liberties Union this week to tell legal director Arthur B. Spitzer about the encounter. ``We are prepared to bring suit if they say this is their policy,\'\' Spitzer said. ``It seems like a perfectly clear case of discrimination based on the content of the T-shirt.\'\' Korten, spokesman for Attorney General Edwin Meese III, said ``this is an interim policy until a firm determination can be made on how such matters ought to be handled.\'\' Korten ``obviously doesn\'t understand what the First Amendment is all about,\'\' said Spitzer. ``If they had a rule that said no T-shirts, that might be an acceptable rule. But apparently they have a rule that says no T-shirts that insult Ed Meese. Presumably, this guy would have been allowed in if he was wearing a T-shirt that said `Reagan-Bush \'84\'.\'\'\r\n'),(1565,2,'EDITOR\'S NOTE _ Back in 1964, a man running for the White House could still bring his campaign to the people without a vast apparatus of hired image-shapers, consultants, security forces _ anxious glances at the latest quickie polls to tell him what to say. Perhaps one of the last candidates to present himself largely unencumbered was Barry Goldwater of Arizona. An AP reporter who covered this and many another run for the White House recalls how it felt in simpler times.\r\n'),(1566,2,'The death toll rose to 56 in the Aug. 28 air show disaster at a U.S. air base and a newspaper said Thursday that insurance coverage of the Italian stunt-flying team involved falls far short of estimated damage. An insurance official said, however, that organizers of such an event usually pay the largest portion of the damage. Two more West Germans died of severe burns from the accident at the U.S. Air Force Base in Ramstein and 28 people were reported in critical condition. Two Americans are among the dead. Marco Fraquelli, an official of the Milano Assicurazioni insurance company of Milan, Italy, said each of the three planes that crashed was insured for $1.4 million, for a total of $4.2 million. The Berliner Morgenpost quoted Fraquelli as saying his company expects damage claims from the crash of the three jets from the Frecce Tricolori team to reach about $120 million. ``In case of disasters like the one in Ramstein, usually the government and NATO agree on payment of damage to the victims and their relatives,\'\' Fraquelli told The Associated Press. Three Italian stunt-flying jets collided at low altitude at the air show and one hurtled into a crowd of spectators and exploded. Jurgen Dietzen, a spokesman for Rhineland-Palatinate State Interior Ministry said 160 people remained hospitalized. Dietzen said the last two deaths occurred between Wednesday and Thursday.\r\n'),(1567,2,'A court has fined a hunter $180 for killing another hunter he thought was an elk, the Swedish national news agency TT reported Friday. ``I saw something in the woods. I thought it was an elk and Shot,\'\' the 70-year-old elk hunter told the court. The victim was a Bird hunter. The elk hunter was convicted of causing another person\'s death. The shooting occurred in a central Sweden forest in September. The court accepted the hunter\'s testimony that the shooting was accidental. Swedish courts generally impose light sentences in such cases.\r\n'),(1568,2,'He recommended to the class a collection of Robinson poems for which he had written an introduction some years ago. ``I read this through last night to see if I agree with myself, which I don\'t always, and I must say I do, so it\'s safe.\'\' Later Dickey was reading from the critic Edmund Wilson, who wrote in passing that he thought Emily Dickinson was overrated. Dickey\'s eyes left the page, rolled upward, and he shook his head. ``No, no, Edmund. You\'re wrong about that, dead wrong,\'\' he said, then continued reading. ``Mr. Dickey has opinions all right,\'\' said a student, Alan Asnen. ``You have the feeling he knows what he\'s talking about. I think he knows ... everything. He certainly knows poetry, and loves it.\'\' Dickey at one moment appears hard and demanding and at the next soft enough to cry on. Lecturing from his place at the head of the table, he rarely glances at the notes spread before him. Instead, as he talks, his gaze flits from face to face, lighting on each randomly, like a pollenating bee. When he reads a poem aloud he yields completely to the lust of language and rhythm and imagery. The effect sifts through the room like perfume. He caresses each word, his soft voice adding its own poetic sauce. At the end, he holds the final lines in his mouth, tasting them, and raises his face to the class with a spreading glow of satisfaction. ``Cut,\'\' he says at last, ending the spell. ``Go to black, or whatever it is they say in Hollywood when it can\'t get any better.\'\' James Dickey, Georgia born, has been writer in residence at the University of South Carolina for 23 years now. But he is no campus decoration, seen only at book signings and sherry parties. Clearly, he loves the classroom. ``A lot of American writers feel that teaching is an imposition keeping them from their work,\'\' he says. ``I don\'t. Teaching forces you to get your own ideas straight. They vary from year to year, but when you get in front of a classroom you at least have to say what you think and how you feel.\'\' So Dickey teaches two courses, four classes twice a week, although the school has asked him to drop one, a workshop on modern American poetry, to give him more time to write. Lack of time, however, doesn\'t seem to have hampered him so far. He has eight projects in the works, including a sequel to his 1987 novel ``Alnilam\'\' which he considers ``20 times better\'\' than ``Deliverance.\'\' He\'s also working on a book of collected poems, a book of literary criticism and a fourth children\'s book. Just last month he brought out a book of poems titled ``The Eagle\'s Mile\'\' which he brought with him to class. ``There will be a signing at the bookstore Saturday,\'\' he said. Then he added in a conspirator\'s whisper, ``I\'m going to take roll.\'\' Then he reminded the class of aspiring young poets yearning to be published of what the poet Conrad Aiken said about bringing out a new book of poetry. ``He said waiting for the reaction is like dropping a feather into the Grand Canyon and listening for the echo.\'\' James Dickey continued: ``For everybody in this class I wish only one thing, that you concentrate your efforts to one end. ``Not to publish. Not to be famous. Not to make money, because that just ain\'t going to happen no matter how good or famous you are. ``Concentrate all your energies toward writing something that will stand up, that will move people, that will stay with them, disturb them, amplify what used to be called their souls. ``Do that. Do that. There is hope for all of us.\'\' Class dismissed.\r\n'),(1569,2,'A substantial number of workers at a General Electric Co. defense plant here will be laid off because of a drop in orders from the Pentagon, the company announced Thursday. Arthur Glenn, vice president of GE\'s Defense Systems Division, refused to say exactly how many workers would be laid off or when. However, GE officials informed the state it would lay off about 900 workers over the next 18 months because of a decrease in defense-related orders, according to a state economic affairs official. The first phase of the layoffs is scheduled for July, according to the official, who asked not to be identified. The unexpected announcement by the company came only three months after GE promised stable employment at its Pittsfield businesses this year. The company had laid off 1,000 workers last year when it closed its transformer plant. The ordnance division, which employs 4,700 people, makes guidance systems for Trident submarine-launched nuclear missiles, components of the Bradley fighting machine, which carries infantrymen, various high-speed guns and other military products. ``The market we serve we thought, up to a year ago, to be at least in a sustaining basis and somewhat of a growth basis,\'\' Glenn said at a news conference. He blamed the sudden turnaround on government cutbacks in ordnance contracts. ``As pressure gets tough on defense budgets, government customers have to make difficult decisions,\'\' Glenn said. He said a government contract the company recently lost to Northrup Industries had little to do with the layoffs. ``We had really planned our business based on not winning that contract because there was so much controvery over whether the Air Force wished to use our technology,\'\' Glenn said. ``Certainly if that contract had come, I would not have had to take as severe an action as we\'re going to have to take without it.\'\' Glenn also said a decrease in orders would mean a slowdown in Bradley fighting machine production, from 550 yearly to about 350. He said he told the company\'s 500 management employees Thursday morning about the impending layoffs. Neither managers nor union officials could be immediately reached for comment. GE now employs about 6,700 people in the ordnance and plastics plants in the city, the number it had employeed in 1983, before the company began expanding the ordnance systems division with 1,400 new employees by late 1986. Workers at the company were dealt a major blow in the fall of 1986 when GE announced it would close its transformer division in Pittsfield. GE announced in August 1987 it was reorganizing the ordnance division to eliminate the engineering and manufacturing department and replace it with a Division Effectiveness Operation to improve efficiency. ``The steps we are taking are usually taken by businesses in trouble and we are not in trouble,\'\' division Vice President Nicholas Boraski said at the time.\r\n'),(1570,2,'Conservative Republicans said Thursday that George Bush is headed for defeat in November if he chooses a running mate from the GOP\'s ``establishment blue-bloods.\'\' Bush, the certain Republican presidential nominee, is weighing a number of choices for the ticket\'s No. 2 spot and has indicated he will wait until the GOP convention in New Orleans Aug. 15-18 to announce his decision. Sen. Gordon J. Humphrey, R-N.H., chairman of the Coalition for a Winning Ticket, declined to single out the group\'s ideal vice presidential candidate. But he did say conservatives were disappointed by the selection of Gov. Thomas Kean of New Jersey as the convention\'s keynote speaker. Kean, who has been mentioned as a possible Bush running mate, is from the party\'s moderate wing and, like Bush, has an Ivy League background. ``The problem of the Bush campaign is that it is attracted to establishment blue-bloods. What the Bush ticket needs is a transfusion of red corpuscles from the conservative wing of our party,\'\' Humphrey said at a news conference. Humphrey said a number of other possible Bush running mates from the party\'s moderate wing also were not acceptable to conservatives, including Richard Thornburgh, the former Pennsylvania governor who has been chosen to succeed Attorney General Edwin Meese III; Gov. Jim Thompson of Illinois; former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander, and former Tennessee Sen. and White House chief of staff Howard H. Baker Jr. ``If George Bush selects an establishment Republican as his running mate, we believe we are headed for a disaster in November,\'\' Humphrey said. He described Sen. Dan Quayle of Indiana, Rep. Jack Kemp of New York and Gov. John Sununu of New Hampshire as acceptable to conservatives. He was equivocal on other possible candidates, including Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, Dole\'s wife Elizabeth Hanford Dole, Sen. Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas and Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming. He said, however, that conservatives would probably not be enthusiastic about them.\r\n'),(1571,2,'Gunmen seriously wounded the mayor of a Manila suburb and killed seven of his bodyguards today in the bloodiest attack in the capital blamed on communist rebels. Gunmen also shot dead a businessman. Police said Mayor Prospero Oreta of suburban Malabon suffered three gunshot wounds in the mouth, chest and arm but was out of danger after surgery. Seven of his bodyguards died in the attack and another was in serious condition. The ambush occurred as military units in various parts of the country were on full alert in anticipation of stepped up rebel attacks marking Tuesday\'s 19th founding anniversary of the now 24,000-member communist New People\'s Army. Seven hours after the ambush, three men in a car shot a businessman while he was driving in suburban Quezon City, just north of Manila, police said. The victim, who died at a hospital, was identified as Francisco Castro. Police said they had no idea who his attackers were or what their motive was. But the victim\'s brother, Jose Castro, vice president of the Manila chapter of the leftist People\'s Party, told reporters he believed he was the real target. Radio and newspaper reports said police Manila had received a call from the Alex Boncayao Brigade, the communist guerrilla unit operating in the Manila area, claiming responsibility for the ambush on Oreta. Police declined to confirm the reports. Armed forces spokesman Col. Oscar Florendo confirmed such a call had been received, but added the army could not yet say if the guerrilla unit was behind the attack. The Alex Boncayao Brigade has been blamed for the killings of more than 150 policemen and soldiers in daylight ambushes on Manila\'s streets since last year. Before today, the attacks have killed one or two people. The rebels had announced they would soon kill officials as well as police and soldiers. President Corazon Aquino said she was ``shocked and saddened by these acts of violence.\'\' ``I have always asked our people to resort to the ways of peace,\'\' she said in a statement. ``My hope is that as democracy in our country gains a strong foothold, violence and terror will gradually rescind.\'\' Investigators said Oreta and his party were riding in a van and a car to a flag-raising ceremony at the Malabon town hall when six men waiting at an intersection opened fire with automatic weapons. Cpl. Mario Odulio said the killers were armed with AK-47 and M-16 automatic assault rifles as well as 9-mm and .45-caliber pistols. Police recovered more than 40 spent shells at the scene, Odulio said. He said the killers escaped aboard a van and a jeep. Police said they believed the killers belonged to the Sparrow Unit, an assassination squad of the New People\'s Army, but were also looking into the possibility local politics was involved. Malabon, a fishing community in Manila\'s northern suburbs, was among the places where last January\'s local elections were hotly contested. Oreta is a brother-in-law of Rep. Tessie Oreta, younger sister of Mrs. Aquino\'s assassinated husband, former Sen. Benigno S. Aquino Jr.\r\n'),(1572,2,'Gangs of Roman Catholics set street bonfires and threw rocks, bottles and firebombs at security patrols early Tuesday after two Catholics were killed, apparently by Protestant extremists. The sporadic rioting in Catholic areas that began Monday night also marked the 17th anniversary of Britain\'s abandoned policy of detaining suspected guerrillas without trial. Police believe the two Catholics slain Monday were killed in reprisal for attacks last week by guerrillas of the predominantly Catholic Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland, England and West Germany that killed six people and wounded 37. A spokesman at Belfast\'s police headquarters said no violence was reported during the day Tuesday. Police said security forces came under 83 separate attacks during the overnight fighting, but the spokesman said fewer than 500 people probably were involved in the clashes that occurred throughout the British province. Officials reported eight policemen were hurt, none seriously, and four of 12 civilians injured were hospitalized. The IRA and its supporters continue to commemorate the introduction of the internment law on Aug. 9, 1971, even though it was abandoned amid worldwide criticism in 1975. Officials said police and soldiers were attacked with bombs, rocks, bottles and bricks and the patrols responded by firing plastic bullets. Some shots were fired at police, the officials said, but they did not report any gunshot casualties and said at one point security forces fired live ammunition into the air to disperse rioters. Eleven people, including two teen-age girls, were freed on bail by courts after being charged with riotous behavior. An 18-year-old man from Catholic west Belfast was charged with throwing a gasoline bomb and assaulting police and remained in jail. Some bonfires flamed out of control and damaged buildings, including a Baptist church, before the night\'s violence subsided with demonstrators making their traditional protest of banging garbage can lids. The two men killed Monday were Seamus Morris, 17, shot to death on a Belfast street, and Peter Dolan, 25, a beer-truck deliveryman slain when he tried to block the gunmen\'s getaway. Their deaths raised the known death toll to 2,675 from the sectarian violence that began in 1969. Stanley Whittington, president of the Methodist church in Ireland, called for the determined pursuit of ``mindless murderers\'\' who cross the border to take refuge in the Irish Republic. He spoke at the funeral of William Hassard, 60, one of two construction men shot to death last Thursday by IRA terrorists because they were working at a police station at the border town of Belleek. The IRA seeks to unite Northern Ireland, where Protestants outnumber Catholics 3-2, with the predominantly Catholic Irish Republic.\r\n'),(1573,2,'?\r\n'),(1574,2,'U.S. Customs agents on Friday unveiled a fortified tunnel under the U.S.-Mexican border and said it had been used to smuggle at least a ton of cocaine into this country. ``It was like something out of a James Bond movie,\'\' Customs spokeswoman Judy Turner said. The tunnel dubbed ``Cocaine Alley\'\' was about the length of a football field and 30 feet underground, authorities said. They said the smuggling operation included a warehouse and elaborate entryways on both sides of the border. U.S. authorities and Mexican Judicial Police raided the tunnel late Thursday, using jackhammers and torches to break in, said Thomas McDermott, head of the U.S. Customs Service in Arizona. Law enforcement officers found about 25 to 30 pounds of marijuana, but made no arrests. McDermott told reporters that U.S. officials working with Mexican Judicial Police arrested two men earlier this month in connection with the smuggling ring. McDermott said authorities also confiscated the Agua Prieta, Mexico, house of businessman Rafael Francisco Camarena and two of Camarena\'s businesses _ Douglas Building Supply Co. and Douglas Redi-Mix Concrete. One entrance of the tunnel is in the house, and the other end was in a warehouse on the U.S. side of the border. Camarena was not in custody. McDermott declined to say whether there was a warrant for his arrest. In Mexico City, the Attorney General\'s Office said two people were arrested in the house. The Attorney General\'s communique was unclear if those were the same people mentioned as arrested by U.S. officials. Their names were withheld. The northern end of the tunnel was in a Douglas Building warehouse built eight months ago about 200 feet north of the fence that divides the two cities. It was just one block from the unmarked Customs enforcement building and four blocks from the international port of entry. McDermott said that in Camarena\'s house, excavation was hidden in the family room beneath an 8-by-12-foot concrete slab holding a pool table. He said that when an operator turned a small mechanism shaped like a garden faucet, a hydraulic lift boosted the slab, with pool table, about 5 feet into the air. ``It was a tremendously sophisticated operation,\'\' McDermott said. ``This the most unique smuggling operation I have ever come across.\'\' The tunnel was 5 feet high, 4 feet wide, well lighted, and lined with supports to prevent cave-ins, authorities said. At various points were compartments where up to 5 tons of drugs could be stashed. Smugglers used a cart to load cocaine and ferry it through the tunnel, which was up to 40 feet below the surface on the Mexican side and 30 feet on the U.S. side, officials said. On a tour of the warehouse, reporters were shown the northern entrance: a grate which, when lifted, revealed a 7-foot drop to a gangway about the size of a small bedroom. That led to a 30-foot-deep well down to the tunnel proper. Over the well was a pulley and hoist system apparently used to raise drug packages. The entrance and well were lined with concrete block. ``It was just an exceptionally, professionally engineered tunnel,\'\' Ms. Turner said. ``It was something that you and I in the ordinary world would only find in the movies.\'\' The smugglers were probably also using the tunnel to transport profits back to Mexico, said Drug Enforcement Administration agent Gerard Murphy. McDermott said it probably took several months and $1.5 million to $2 million to build the tunnel. The house and the warehouse, which provided cover for moving large amounts of dirt, were built eight months ago. McDermott said a geological survey team found the tunnel through tests which detected ``an anomaly, something below the ground that shouldn\'t be there.\'\' Further tests helped pinpoint the tunnel. Ms. Turner said Customs agents who suspected the tunnel\'s existence used aerial surveillance to track the shipment of 2,258 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of $102 million from Douglas to a spot outside Phoenix on May 11. They confiscated the haul and arrested Caesar Thomas Howard, 44, of Mesa and Joseph Edward Osborn, 31, of Tempe. The cocaine was transported from the warehouse in a false-bottomed, flatbed truck and had been destined for Southern California, McDermott said. He said authorities knew of no other tunnels, but said they would be looking. ``This investigation is far from being over,\'\' McDermott said.\r\n'),(1575,2,'Grain and soybean futures prices edged lower in early trading today on the Chicago Board of Trade amid fears that Moscow\'s reprisals against Lithuania could jeopardize U.S. grain sales to the Soviet Union. Reports that the Soviet Union had cut off oil shipments to the breakaway republic triggered speculation that the United States will back away from granting the Soviets most favored nation trade status. The designation would allow for freer trade between the superpowers. Forecasts for increasingly wet, warm weather in the Midwestern croplands prompted further selling this morning. Rain was expected in the region today and Friday, and the National Weather Service has predicted above-normal temperatures for the Midwest during the latter half of next week. Higher prices for soybean meal in Europe helped to limit losses in the soybean market. In early trading, wheat futures were } cent to 1{ cents lower with the contract for delivery in May at $3.63} a bushel; corn was { cent to 1 cent lower with May at $2.72} a bushel; oats were { cent to 1 cent lower with May at $1.56{ a bushel; soybeans were { cent lower to \\ cent higher with May at $5.94\\ a bushel. Cattle futures were mixed in early trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange while pork futures advanced, led by a surge in pork-belly prices amid bullish chart signals. Live cattle futures were .05 cent lower to .20 cent higher with April at 79.82 cents a pound; feeder cattle were .10 cent lower to .05 cent higher with April at 84 cents a pound; live hogs were unchanged to .35 cent higher with April at 56.90 cents a pound; frozen pork bellies were .68 cent to 1.58 cent higher with May at 60.90 cents a pound. Cattle futures were mixed on Wednesday while pork futures were mostly higher.\r\n'),(1576,2,'The Food and Drug Administration has barred government agencies from buying certain drugs from Abbott Laboratories, charging the company failed to correct violations of quality standards at a suburban Chicago plant. The FDA also said it would not approve any new drug applications by the North Chicago-based pharmaceutical giant that involve certain products made in the plant. In a letter to Abbott dated March 14 but not released until Tuesday, the FDA said some of the company\'s products are adulterated because of improper manufacturing practices. The agency\'s district director in Chicago, Raymond Mlecko, said FDA investigators did not find unsterile products at the plant, but did see violations of federal manufacturing requirements. The letter warned that the FDA was prepared to take more severe measures, including seizing products and shutting down manufacturing operations, if Abbott did not quickly correct the alleged problems. Donald Wright, Abbott\'s corporate vice president of quality assurance, said the FDA action resulted from a misunderstanding about the extent to which the firm has worked to correct the problems. Wright said the problems should be remedied soon and would have no material effect on Abbott. A health industry analyst, Michael Harshbarger of Chicago Corp., said the FDA letter had ominous implications. ``This is not a slap on the wrist,\'\' he said. An FDA report in November cited the Abbott plant for failure to maintain proper sterilty, failure to follow up on quality problems and in at least one case, making improper changes in records designed to show that a drug was made in an approved manner. The drugs involved are an antibiotic called erythrocin lactobionate and a batch of an anti-inflammatory steroid sold under the brand name A-MethaPred that is given to patients in hospitals to treat severe arthritis and lupus _ a chronic inflammation of the tissue around the joints. Mlecko said there was no evidence that the problems pose any immediate public health risk.\r\n'),(1577,2,'Militant Cuban exile Orlando Bosch today rejected a government offer to trade prison for a restrictive house-arrest program that would return him to his family after the past 14 years in jails. Bosch said the offer would require him to tell the FBI of any contacts with Cuban exile groups that advocate violence, said his daughter, Myriam. ``He\'s willing to agree to all of the conditions except that one,\'\' Ms. Bosch said. ``He\'s not going be an informant. The FBI can do their own work.\'\' Ms. Bosch said her father informed his attorneys of his decision this morning, and they were to notify immigration officials. A source with the Justice Department said the government will not negotiate the offer. ``Bosch won\'t accept the conditions, and he won\'t be released unless he does,\'\' the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The proposal presented to Bosch by immigration officials Monday night was a departure for the Justice Department, which has maintained for years that the anti-Castro activist would continue his terrorist ways if released. ``He\'s just not prepared to send a message out that he\'s an informant,\'\' said attorney Henry Adorno. ``He believes that lists are kept by people like Joe McCarthy and Fidel Castro.\'\' On Monday, Bosch\'s wife, Adriana, had criticized the conditions for his release, but appeared to encourage him to accept the deal, calling the conditions ``better than jail.\'\' The 63-year-old former pediatrician suffers from ulcers and declining health after years in Venezuelan and U.S. jails. The conditions would have required Bosch to wear an electronic monitoring device, remain at home for 21 hours a day, keep a log of visitors and allow his telephone to be monitored, said Richard Smith, director of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Miami. Smith said Bosch also would be subject to unannounced searches and lie detector tests, and if instructed, must present himself for deportation within 72 hours. ``They\'re just messing with his head,\'\' Myriam Bosch said. ``Knowing how they work, I think they probably did this knowing my father would not accept it.\'\' Justice Department spokesman Dan Eramian in Washington said the government decided to offer Bosch parole for humanitarian reasons, but will continue the two-year effort to deport him. Thus far, 31 nations have refused to accept him. The offer appeared to be an attempt to resolve what has become a cause celebre for Miami\'s staunchly anti-Castro Cuban exile community, which has held rallies and demonstrations on his behalf. Bosch has been held since 1988, when he was arrested for parole violations and for reentering the country illegally. According to CIA documents, he ran bombing runs on Cuba in the early 1960s. In 1968, he was convicted in a bazooka attack on a Polish freighter at the Port of Miami and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was paroled in 1972 and fled the country in 1974 after he was subpoenaed to testify in an inquiry into the killing of a Miami exile leader. Accused of masterminding the 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner that killed 73 people, Bosch spent 11 years in Venezuelan jails. He denied involvement in the bombing and was acquitted in three separate trials. The parole conditions would require Bosch to wear an electronic monitoring device, remain at home for 21 hours a day, keep a log of visitors and allow his telephone to be monitored, said Richard Smith, director of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Miami.\r\n'),(1578,2,'The Reagan administration told the Supreme Court today that mandatory drug tests for some railroad workers and U.S. Customs Service employees are vital to public safety and confidence in government. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, in an unusual move, appeared himself to plead for testing of rail workers after train accidents. ``This is a case about railway safety,\'\' he said. It is about ``the hazards created by use of drugs and alcohol by those in charge of trains.\'\' Solicitor General Charles Fried, the administration\'s top courtroom lawyer, defended the Customs Service drug testing program. ``There is rather special, urgent and symbolic significance\'\' in assuring the public that the agency responsible for preventing drug smuggling has a drug-free work force, Fried said. ``The Customs Service is indeed entitled to take a fine filter to show to itself, its workers and the public that (workers) are not involved in drug use,\'\' he said. The drug tests were attacked as a ``humiliating invasion of privacy\'\' by Lois Williams, representing the Customs Service workers. ``Innocent persons have a great deal of reason to be apprehensive,\'\' she said. Lawrence Mann, an attorney for the railway workers, said the drug tests are unconstitutional because they are incapable of proving on-the-job impairment. ``Neither the alcohol nor the drug test can demonstrate impairment,\'\' he said. The tests can show the presence of a residue from a drug that may have been taken by ``someone 60 days ago in the privacy of home.\'\' The two cases will provide a crucial test for mandatory drug testing in the American workplace. Thornburgh\'s appearance underscored the importance of today\'s two-hour argument session. Benjamin Civiletti was the last attorney general to argue a case before the justices when he appeared in 1980 to present the Carter administration\'s side in a case involving the deportation of an alleged Nazi. Thornburgh last argued a case before the high court in 1977 when he headed the Justice Department\'s criminal division. In today\'s cases, the justices agreed to decide whether the nation\'s railroads may require all employees involved in accidents to take drug tests; and whether the Customs Service may impose the tests for those seeking drug-enforcement jobs. Both cases involve governmental authority to test workers for the presence of drugs. The eventual rulings by the court, expected sometime in 1989, will not deal with drug tests for private employees. But the decisions could have an important psychological impact on whether businesses will demand that their workers undergo such tests. Tests conducted by federal, state or local governments will be affected directly by the court\'s action. In the railroad case, the Federal Railroad Administration issued regulations in 1985 aimed at alleviating ``a significant safety problem\'\' caused by alcohol and drug use among employees. The agency, an arm of the U.S. Department of Transportation, generally requires railroads to take blood and urine specimens after accidents, incidents and rules violations. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in February that the tests are unreasonable searches banned by the Constitution\'s Fourth Amendment. ``Accidents, incidents or rule violations, by themselves, do not create reasonable grounds for suspecting that tests will demonstrate alcohol or drug impairment in any one railroad employee, much less an entire train crew,\'\' the appeals court said. Government lawyers have said that from 1972 through 1983, railroad accidents linked to drug or alcohol abuse killed 42 people, injured 61 and caused some $19 million in property damage. In the Customs Service case, the government contends the need to fight drug smuggling justifies mandatory tests for those applying for or holding drug-enforcement jobs. Workers in such sensitive jobs must provide urine samples in restroom stalls as a person overseeing the procedure waits outside the stall. Testing was authorized under an executive order President Reagan signed in 1986. The Reagan administration has said the tests are needed to prevent agents who use drugs from being bribed or blackmailed. Any sacrifice of personal privacy is outweighed by the need to stop drug smuggling, the administration said. The National Treasury Employees Union, in challenging the tests, said they subject workers to a humiliating invasion of privacy. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the tests for Customs Service workers in such sensitive jobs.\r\n'),(1579,2,'A midshipman was expelled from the Naval Academy for having sex on campus with a woman who had accused him of rape. The junior midshipman, who was not identified by the academy, was initially accused of raping the woman, but academy spokesman Noel Milan said investigators never found enough evidence to support the allegation. ``Very early on, it was determined that there was not enough evidence to proceed with the (rape) case,\'\' Milan said. The student told authorities he met the woman at a downtown bar, brought her back to the academy and had sex with her early May 13, a Navy official said. The midshipman was found guilty of violating a rule that bars midshipmen from having sex on academy grounds and expelled earlier this month, Milan said. Officials are considering whether the midshipman may also have to reimburse the academy for his education. ``That decision is yet to be made,\'\' Milan said. The expelled student may be required to serve time in the Navy or reimburse the Navy for the cost of his education. The expulsion is the latest of several reports of mistreatment involving the 4,500-student academy. Annapolis police are investigating a report that a midshipman broke into a woman\'s home Sept. 8 and chased her around her house until she locked herself in a bedroom. A female midshipman resigned last spring after reporting she was handcuffed to a urinal. Other women and minorities later came forward with stories of mistreatment at the academy by male officers and students.\r\n'),(1580,2,'Pie throws, singing mailmen and free antacid tablets greeted frenzied procrastinators rushing to meet the midnight deadline for filing their federal income tax returns. Post offices across the country were open until midnight Friday to place the all-important April 15 postmark on tax returns, or on envelopes containing Form 4868 requesting an automatic four-month extension of the deadline. Paul Monroe, regional manager for H&R Block in Boston, said he sees the same people every year. ``They look forward to the excitement of April 15th. The adrenalin starts flowing,\'\' Monroe said. ``It\'s like a non-contact sport.\'\' In New York City, thousands of people crowded the main post office. Many spread their receipts on benches, tables or the marble floor, nervously glancing at the clock until they finished, then heaving a sigh of relief, their faces glowing. Free antacid samples were distributed outside, and a toy office opened an ``IRS Stress Relief Clinic\'\' which invited frustrated taxpayers to come in and yell at a dummy. ``This is insane,\'\' John Zoilo said as he slaved over his returns. ``The last time I felt this harassed was when I got married, and that\'s why I\'m now divorced. ``But I must admit, there\'s no better place to do this if you\'re going to be late than the Eighth Avenue post office,\'\' he said. ``You\'re among thousands of procrastinators.\'\' New York\'s Internal Revenue Service center expected to be deluged with about 2 million tax returns today, said IRA spokesman Neil O\'Keefe. Another half-million people were expected to file for extensions. Nationwide, the post office expected to handle 30 million tax returns in the final days before the deadline, said Postal Service consumer advocate Ann Robinson in Washington. Returns not postmarked by midnight could be subject to a late filing penalty, possibly up to 25 percent of the taxes owed. Last-minute tax filers backed up traffic for several blocks near Chicago\'s Main Post Office Friday night, but other taxpayers got a chance to vent their anger at the IRS by throwing pies at a mock IRS agent. For $1 or $2 a pie, passers-by tossed whipped-cream concoctions in the face of Scott Goodman, part owner of the Superior Street Cafe, who posed as IRS agent ``Shirdolph Yurback\'\' to raise money for charity. ``You know what I\'m going to do with your taxes?\'\' he asked one passer-by. ``I\'m going to fund a study of South American insects.\'\' The woman stopped, plopped down $2 for a large pie and slammed it at point-blank range into the mock agent\'s face. ``That felt great,\'\' the unidentified woman said. At a post office in Springfield, Mass., postal worker Bill Mannila entertained tardy taxpayers by lip-syncing ``Return to Sender,\'\' while dressed in a costume that was half Elvis Presley, half regulation grays. A six-piece band of postal workers also was on hand, joined by a postmaster who belted out ``Pennies From Heaven\'\' and ``King of the Road.\'\' ``It\'s like a zoo, but it\'s fun,\'\' said Springfield Technical Community College Professor Bill Herd, who along with colleagues and students helped taxpayers fill out more than 100 forms. ``People are not so mad about paying their taxes. They come in here with a frown and they leave with a smile.\'\'\r\n'),(1581,2,'Grumman Corp.\'s planned expansion here is evidence that oil-dependent Houston is trying to get more involved in aircraft and aerospace industries, according to a local development official. Grumman officials said Tuesday the company\'s Southwest Regional Development and Production Center will be built on a 66-acre parcel of land, and will include an office building and several other structures. The project will mean 1,000 new jobs in the next year and an initial investment of $10 million over two years. ``Grumman feels betting a large part of our company future on Houston is a good bet,\'\' J.J. Bussolini, Grumman vice president for business operations, said at a news conference. Lee Hogan, president of the Houston Economic Development Council, said Tuesday\'s announcement illustrated Houston\'s efforts to get involved in aircraft and aerospace industries. ``We are now as interested in that as the price of oil,\'\' he said. Bussolini said Grumman was convinced to select Houston with incentives to locate at Ellington Field, a strong work ethic shown by employees at its existing Houston operations, an excellent pool of potential employees and cost savings for construction and operations of new facilities compared with other parts of the country. Grumman, an aircraft and aerospace company with annual sales of more than $3.5 billion, now employs about 500 people in Houston and 33,000 people worldwide. Grumman said work in Houston will include civil space programs, manufacturing and development on Air Force missile programs and engineering support for Grumman programs throughout the country. None of the new Houston jobs would be the result of transfers from other Grumman facilities, Bussolini said. Company officials said Houston\'s job count could grow to 2,000 or more, depending on the outcome of several NASA and Defense Department programs. The Bethpage, N.Y.-based company selected Houston from among other potential sites in Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. The new center will be built on land Grumman leased last year from the city at Ellington Field, a former Air Force base now owned by the city. The land originally was earmarked for Grumman\'s civil space unit for NASA space station work, but NASA selected rival bidder McDonnell Douglas Corp. for the job. The new project culminates efforts by officials of the Houston Economic Development Council. ``The loss of the space station contract was a serious setback to our corporate plan,\'\' Bussolini said, but added that Houston officials kept encouraging the company to add to its presence in the city.\r\n'),(1582,2,'An unpleasant diagnostic test known as broncoscopy grew so popular for a time among doctors at North Monroe Hospital that some of them made up a ditty about it. ``He bronchs them once, he bronchs them twice, he bronchs them once again,\'\' the doctors crooned. Dr. Henry Jones mentioned the popularity of this procedure and the song when he gave a deposition in a lawsuit against the hospital and its owners, Hospital Corporation of America. Other doctors also worried about the apparent zeal with which this and other tests and procedures were done at the hospital. Dr. George Ellis, in another sworn deposition, said some doctors who had received hospital favors overused bronchoscopy, a potentially risky procedure in which a tube is threaded into the lungs to look for disease. ``I think they performed bronchoscopy when it was unnecessary, and I think they did it too often on patients,\'\' said the radiologist. He complained to hospital staff and said he soon saw his own referrals disappear. Dr. David Raines told of one of his patients who went to the North Monroe emergency room with chest pains. The man was admitted and referred to a cardiologist. The cardiologist sent him to a pulmonary specialist, then an ear, nose and throat doctor, then a rheumetologist. Each specialist performed a series of hospital tests. ``He was aggressively investigated, which was obviously a financial thing,\'\' said Raines. Hospital officials declined comment, citing pending litigation.\r\n'),(1583,2,'Here at a glance are the developments in the Persian Gulf crisis for the of October 14 to October 21:\r\n'),(1584,2,'The Soviet Union has been given another go-ahead to buy more grain from the United States, the Agriculture Department said Tuesday. Undersecretary Richard T. Crowder said Moscow now has permission to buy up to 22 million metric tons of U.S. grain without further consultations, an increase of two million tons. A long-term grain agreement between the two countries specified initially that Moscow could buy up to 12 million tons of grain a year without further U.S. approval. That limit was raised to 16 million tons last October and to 20 million tons in December. The new limit of 22 million tons applies to the 12-month period that began Oct. 1. The agreement itself runs through Dec. 31. Officials said the increase resulted from talks with the Soviets in recent days and takes into consideration recent large purchases of corn by Moscow. In all, since Oct. 1, the Soviet Union has bought about 18.9 million tons of corn and wheat for delivery in 1989 and 1990. Those orders include more than 15.6 million tons of corn and 3.3 million tons of wheat. Purchases also include 342,300 tons of soybeans, 1.2 million tons of soybean meal and 7,300 tons of barley. In 1988-89, sales were a record of more than 21.7 million tons, including more than 16.3 million tons of corn and nearly 5.4 million tons of wheat. A metric ton is about 2,205 pounds and is equal to 39.4 bushels of corn or 36.7 bushels of wheat or soybeans.\r\n'),(1585,2,'Residents shut themselves in after dark, drew curtains and answered callers warily as police hunted for a gunman believed responsible for four shootings in as many nights. The first victim was killed outside his auto customizing shop on Monday. Three men were wounded by shots fired into their homes on each of the next three nights. Police on Friday had patrols closely watching neighborhoods in this township of 23,000 people on Long Island. ``We can only assume that the killer has gotten scared because of the extra patrols, or else he\'s taken the night off. We just don\'t know,\'\' Detective Sgt. William Armstrong of the Southampton police said late Friday. The shootings have enough in common to point to one sniper, but police so far say they haven\'t found a common thread that would point to motive. All the shootings have occurred after dark, most around dinner time, within a two-mile radius in the towns of Southampton and Riverhead. The two towns are about 75 miles east of New York City and near the exclusive beach communities favored by the city\'s wealthy. The victims, all blue-collar men in their 30s, were shot with either a small-caliber rifle or a lightweight shotgun. Friends and relatives described them all as hard-working family men and were at a loss to suggest a motive. ``It\'s scary,\'\' said Barbara Bouchard, who lives next door to one of the victims. ``This is stuff you hear about in New York City. Around here, the most serious thing is they catch people shoplifting.\'\' An anonymous caller believed to have been the gunman contacted Riverhead police after the first shooting Monday and said, ``death to drug dealers and crooked cops,\'\' according to a source involved in the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity. A similar call came after the second shooting on Tuesday, he said. But police said none of the victims was known to have dealt drugs and they apparently did not know one another. ``There is a definite link with the four,\'\' said the source. ``We think there is a reason for these shootings, a perverted type of thing.\'\' Southhampton police Chief Conrad Teller said the victims appeared to have been specific targets and not chosen at random. But, he said, ``we have nothing concrete to connect them.\'\'\r\n'),(1586,2,'The federal annex building on Spring Street now officially is the Martin Luther King Jr. federal building. President Reagan signed a law renaming the building Thursday. It makes the annex the first federal building in the nation to bear King\'s name. ``I think it\'s appropriate that the honor comes to Atlanta because this is the birthplace of Dr. King,\'\' said Rep. John Lewis, who introduced the bill in December. The federal government began a $10 million renovation project three years ago at the 1930s building. Agencies that have moved in since include the Food and Nutrition Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Air Force Engineering Office.\r\n'),(1587,2,'Rep. Edolphus ``Ed\'\' Towns, a liberal Democrat from Brooklyn, N.Y., was elected chairman Wednesday of the Congressional Black Caucus for the 102nd Congress. ``It\'s official. You can give me your condolences,\'\' Towns joked after the vote. He will succeed Rep. Ronald V. Dellums, D-Calif. Towns, elected to a fifth term last month, said the caucus will meet early in the new Congress to discuss its goals. ``The civil rights bill will be something we will push very hard very early in the Congress,\'\' he said in an interview. The bill was defeated this year when the Senate failed, by one vote, to override President Bush\'s veto. Towns noted that the caucus will have 26 members next year, the most since it was founded in 1970. In addition, it will have its first Republican U.S. representative ever: freshman Gary Franks, R-Conn. ``We look forward to working with him,\'\' Towns said. ``It might take us a little longer to get things done, but that\'s good.\'\' Towns, 56, was elected to Congress in 1982 from a diverse district that includes the impoverished Bedford-Stuyvesant section as well as the wealthier Brooklyn Heights neighborhood. In Congress, Towns has established himself as a solid liberal, in touch with his constituents but above the political infighting of his district.\r\n'),(1588,2,'Stock prices took their sharpest drop in three months today, battered by revived inflation worries and fears of higher worldwide interest rates. Shortly before the close, the Dow Jones average of 30 industrials was down 76.37 points at 2,684.30.\r\n'),(1589,2,'The new government today promised to consult all opposition parties on the timing of elections this year but said it would make the final decision on the balloting. Trials were scheduled to begin today for members of the Nicolae Ceasescu\'s hated Securitate secret police in Timisoara, police said. Protests in the western city ignited a popular revolution last month that toppled the Communist dictator. Other trials for Ceausescu colleagues, including one of his sons, will begin this week on charges of aiding genocide and bringing on economic ruin, state television reported. Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, were found guilty of such charges and executed Dec. 25. Dragos Munteanu, a spokesman for the governing National Salvation Front, said no decision has yet been made to delay the scheduled April parliamentary vote, despite opposition parties\' demands for more time to organize their compaigns. He said the government would consult the opposition parties and delay the elections ``if the political forces are for it.\'\' But he added that he favors holding the vote as soon as possible. Munteanu said the hasty decision to outlaw the Communist Party Friday night, a move that the provisional government overturned Saturday in favor of submitting the issue to national referendum, showed the need for quick elections. The questions of banning the party and capital punishment will be submitted to a national referendum Jan. 28. Calling the party ban a mistake made of inexperience, Munteanu said, ``This is one of the reasons to have the elections as soon as possible, to have a legal government, a parliament.\'\' Romanians still have to learn the principles of democracy, he said. ``When I speak about learning democracy, even the government has to learn it,\'\' he said. ``We don\'t have real statesmen and politicians. They have to learn it.\'\' In its report Sunday, state television showed Valentin Ceausescu, a son of the deposed dictator; former Communist Party Secretary Emil Bobu; former Interior Minister Tudor Postelnicu; Marin Neagoe, who directed personal security for Ceausescu; and Dimitru Popescu, former director of the Sociopolitical Academy. The five are being investigated for abetting genocide and sabotaging the economy, which was squeezed dry by Ceausescu\'s payoff of Romania\'s foreign debt of more than $10 billion between 1982 and 1989, Romanian television said. Interim Foreign Minister Sergiu Celac told reporters that Romania\'s economy is in ``almost complete ruin\'\' and that the country needs massive food imports to feed its 23 million people. The genocide allegation refers to the thousands killed during December\'s popular uprising _ during which Securitate units fought army troops and civilian revolutionaries _ as well as victims of political repression during Ceausescu\'s 24-year reign. The exact charges to be levied at the trial have not been disclosed. Valentin, Ceausescu\'s eldest son, was a member of the Communist Party\'s policy-setting Central Committee. Bobu was Ceausescu\'s closest associate in running Romania after the dictator\'s wife, Elena. Ceausescu\'s youngest son, Nicu, and his daughter Zoya were arrested soon after he was overthrown. But they were not shown on television over the weekend. There was no indication exactly when or where the trials would take place, but interim President Ion Iliescu told a mass rally Friday that the trials would be public and televised.\r\n'),(1590,2,'``Are you going to die?\'\' asks Charlie Brown when Janice, his little friend in the hospital bed, says she has leukemia. ``Good grief, Charlie Brown!\'\' cries Linus. ``What kind of question is that?\'\' A blunt one, asked in a different kind of ``Peanuts\'\' special that CBS is showing Friday night. Rest assured, though, that the ending is upbeat, in keeping with medical fact and the nature of Charles M. Schulz. Schulz, who has drawn the wise and whimsical characters of his ``Peanuts\'\' cartoon strip since 1950 and did his first TV special in 1965, hadn\'t thought of making his next one about a child who develops leukemia. What became Friday\'s ``Why, Charlie Brown, Why?\'\' began, he says, with an idea from Sylvia Cook, a nurse in California who works with young cancer patients at Stanford Children\'s Hospital. She proposed a five-minute film for them in which cancer and its treatment were explained by the ``Peanuts\'\' gang. He recalls that he pointed out a few problems, including that animation is expensive. That didn\'t stop Cook, Schulz says. ``Gradually, her idea changed, and she finally decided that it\'d be more important if we could do a film that would show the people around the person who was ill just what is going on,\'\' he says. Wth the aid of the American Cancer Society, that\'s ultimately what happened. It helped that Schulz came to believe the film would make a good ``Peanuts\'\' special for TV and shouldn\'t be limited to hospital showings. The gentle lessons of Friday\'s show include the early symptoms of leukemia and what can be expected in treatment of the disease. A key part of the program _ the survival rate of children stricken with leukemia _ is only obliquely noted, mainly because a mass of statistics would be as out of place in a ``Peanuts\'\' special as a visit from The Simpsons. Little Janice, in chemotherapy treatment that she notes will cause her temporary hair loss, quotes her doctors as saying she should get well. The survival rate for children is high, according to ACS spokesman David Lehmann. He says the society estimates 2,500 children will be stricken with leukemia this year, 1,900 of them with its acute form. However, thanks to advances in treatment, 71 percent are expected to survive, he says. Schulz, who worked with the society in preparing Friday\'s special, downplays his role in it. ``I didn\'t go into making this thing because I wanted to teach the world all about this,\'\' he says. ``This was the idea of the cancer people. It was their project. My only job was to make it palatable, to give it some kind of story and try to tell the things they wanted told, yet make it so that people wouldn\'t turn it off.\'\' Schulz, 67, who lives in Santa Rosa, Calif., about an hour\'s drive north of San Francisco, estimates Friday\'s is his 25th TV special since ``A Charlie Brown Christmas.\'\' He still draws the seven-day-a-week ``Peanuts\'\' strip that by CBS\' estimate appears in more than 2,200 newspapers worldwide. He reckons he\'s drawn 15,000 of the strips since he began them 40 years ago. More than a few cartoonist have groused that the constant pressure of a daily strip at times has put them up against the wall, if not under it. No such gripes are heard from Schulz. ``No, quality is the only thing that worries me,\'\' he says. ``I don\'t worry about getting them done. I\'m always worrying that I\'ll just end up doing the same things over and over. ``Just to try to keep the thing alive, and be trying new things, that\'s the hard part. Just getting it done is nothing. I think cartoonists who say it\'s hard to keep up the schedule are just lazy, that\'s all.\'\'\r\n'),(1591,2,'The chairman of Texas Air Corp. Friday defended a decision by the company\'s subsidiary, Eastern Airlines, to lay off 4,000 employees and cut service as a way to ``stabilize the company\'\' by cutting losses. Frank Lorenzo, testifying at a federal court hearing on Eastern\'s plans to eliminate service to 14 cities, said the layoffs and schedule changes were a necessary step to save the financially troubled carrier. ``If Eastern\'s management is not permitted to take the actions to save this company, then Eastern may run out of cash,\'\' Lorenzo said, rejecting suggestions by union attorneys that he was trying to bust organized labor at Eastern by transferring the carrier\'s assets to Continental Airlines, another Texas Air property. Three labor unions that represent Eastern employees have challenged the plans and obtained a temporary restraining order that bars the airline from making layoffs. U.S. District Judge Barrington D. Parker is holding hearings on the union\'s bid for a permanent injunction. Lorenzo defended the proposed cutbacks ``as an attempt to stabilize the company ... and decrease the losses.\'\' Eastern currently is in federally supervised contract negotiations with two of its unions, the Association of Air Line Pilots and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Lorenzo denied suggestions that Texas Air planned to merge Eastern\'s operations into Continental. Union attorneys produced a draft of a speech that Lorenzo was to give to Japanese investors in 1986 after Texas Air had purchased Eastern. The draft said that the purchase of Eastern gave Texas Air leverage over the unions. ``Eastern\'s airplanes can be repainted and moved over to Continental where they will be flown by non-union pilots,\'\' the speech draft said. But Lorenzo said the draft was prepared by an investment banking firm. It was unclear from the testimony if Lorenzo ever delivered that portion of the speech.\r\n'),(1592,2,'Sen. Bill Bradley announced Monday that he will seek a third term on Capitol Hill, quashing speculation about a 1992 presidential bid by saying he planned to represent New Jersey for the full term. ``I\'ll say the same thing in 1990 that I said in 1984 ... that I will serve my six-year term,\'\' the Democrat told about 150 people gathered at Montclair State College. ``I can\'t conceive of anything that would change it.\'\' A poll of Democratic state chairmen from throughout the nation recently put Bradley, 46, at the top of their list for the presidential nomination in 1992. Bradley, however, said he wants to make his contribution representing New Jersey. Bradley, a Rhodes scholar from Denville who played basketball for Princeton University and the New York Knicks, is seen as one Northeasterner who would be acceptable in more conservative regions. His wife, Ernestine Schlant Bradley, a professor of German and comparative literature at Montclair State, introduced her husband. Speaking beneath an arch of red, white and blue balloons inside the college\'s student center, he talked of children, the environment and education. ``I want to make sure the kids of New Jersey get their share,\'\' he said. Bradley planned a second campaign stop at a water treatment plant outside Camden, N.J., later in the day. The senator is running what is expected to be a $10 million campaign to keep his seat. Aides say most of the money will pay for television advertising in the expensive New York and Philadelphia media markets and fend off possible negative campaigning by the GOP. Republican Christine Todd Whitman, 44, of Far Hills, N.J., said she will run a positive race strictly on the issues, including tax and spending. Bradley declined her challenge to cap his campaign spending at $3 million. He reaffirmed, however, his support Monday for public financing of campaigns, spending limits, limits on contributions by political action committees and reduced television costs for candidates. Mrs. Whitman, former president of the state Board of Public Utilities and a former Somerset County official, anticipates running a $1.5 million race. A possible GOP primary candidate is John Scott, chairman of the Conservative Caucus of New Jersey. Candidates have until April 12 to file for a place on the June 5 primary ballot. As of Friday, no other Democrat had filed. Bradley built a national record through 1986 tax reform and his positions on Third World debt and trade relationships with Canada, Mexico and Japan. In his 1978 race against Republican Jeffrey Bell, Bradley captured 56 percent of the vote. In 1984, he defeated Mary Mochary with 64 percent of the ballots cast.\r\n'),(1593,2,'``Suddenly there came a tapping, as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.\'\' Yo. Edgar Allan Poe, meet Sylvester Stallone. Stallone took a detour during filming of ``Rocky V\'\' to visit the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site, a house where the poet and short-story writer lived for two years. Park ranger Joelle Wagner said Thursday she answered a knock at the locked front door Feb. 12 to find the creator of movie hero Rocky Balboa on the doorstep with co-star Talia Shire and a bodyguard. ``I was flabbergasted,\'\' she said. ``I had to take a few moments to compose myself.\'\' As the group toured the three-story structure, one of four houses Poe rented while living in Philadelphia from 1838 to 1844, Stallone told Ms. Wagner he had written a movie script about the author of the poem ``The Raven.\'\' ``He\'s just in awe of Poe,\'\' Ms. Wagner said. ``He said he really admired him.\'\' Stallone, the lead in such action movies as ``Rambo\'\' and ``Tango and Cash,\'\' did not say if he wanted to portray Poe, she said. Ms. Wagner said the trio viewed the park\'s slide show, which describes Poe\'s life from his childhood in Richmond, Va., his time at West Point and his literary life in Philadelphia, where he was most successful as a poet, short-story writer, literary critic and editor. Poe died in 1849 in Baltimore as he was traveling to New York. Stories at the time said he collapsed in the street of an alcohol or drug overdose. While touring the house, Stallone discussed Poe\'s life and literary works with his friends, according to Ms. Wagner. ``There wasn\'t much I could tell him\'\' about Poe, the park ranger said. She said Stallone bought a book on the writer. Movie publicist Dave Fulton said Stallone wrote the script because he believes the writer ``gets within the soul\'\' of people and poetry. ``He\'s a big fan,\'\' Fulton said. Poe also wrote ``The Fall of the House of Usher,\'\' ``The Black Cat,\'\' and ``The Murders of the Rue Morgue,\'\' which established the mystery or detective short-story form.\r\n'),(1594,2,'A man convicted of a felony for munching on grapes at a grocery store was ordered to pay 40 cents in restitution and $600 in court costs. Eli Bradley Jr., 52, could have been imprisoned for up to four years on the charge of larceny from a building. But Jackson County Circuit Judge Russell E. Noble on Wednesday delayed the sentence and said he would consider removing the conviction from Bradley\'s record if he stayed out of trouble until Oct. 4, 1989. ``I\'m going to appeal this because I\'m not guilty of no felony,\'\' Bradley said after the hearing. ``Any felony on your record works against you for the rest of your life. If they can do what they did in this court, nobody is safe in the courts.\'\' Bradley was arrested March 4 while leaving a grocery store. Security guards testified during his trial that they saw Bradley eating several handfuls of grapes while shopping. Bradley testified that he ate no more than two or three grapes to be sure they were seedless before buying more than 1{ pounds of grapes along with other groceries for $13.25. Prosecutor Joseph Filip offered in June to reduce the charge to misdemeanor shoplifting. Defense lawyer Richard L. Wilkins chose to go to trial on the felony charge, which he considered easier to defend. A jury convicted Bradley in September. ``This matter, in my opinion, could have been handled with much less expense as a misdemeanor, not a felony,\'\' the judge said Wednesday. Assistant prosecutor Donald Ray said his office probably would oppose removal of the felony conviction next year even if Bradley stayed out of trouble. Filip said the September verdict showed the community agrees that ``we don\'t want people stealing from stores.\'\' In the Republican prosecutor\'s re-election campaign, his Democratic challenger, Paul R. Adams, has chided him as having ``made the county safe for grapes.\'\'\r\n'),(1595,2,'``The guy was pointing his gun under people\'s desks and killing them one by one. I just saw the bottom of the carpet and just prayed.\'\' _ Rick Langille, a manager at a Florida auto loan agency where a gunman opened fire, killing eight people.\r\n'),(1596,2,'The nation\'s unemployment rate held steady at 5.3 percent last month as gains in service industries offset the ninth consecutive monthly drop in manufacturing jobs, the Labor Department said. The steady civilian jobless rate, which ended 1989 just under the level where it began, gave private analysts hope Friday that the economy\'s current sluggish growth will not worsen into a recession.\r\n'),(1597,2,'Carla Southwell shed tears of joy when she saw her 8-month-old son for the first time since she was jailed almost seven weeks ago for hiding her two daughters from her ex-husband. The tears of joy turned to tears of anguish moments later. ``He didn\'t even remember me,\'\' she said, sobbing. The 26-year-old Kent City woman alleges her ex-husband, William Southwell, sexually abused the girls, ages 4 and 5, during unsupervised visits. Southwell, 30, has denied the charges, saying the girls were manipulated by their mother. An ongoing investigation has turned up no evidence that he abused the girls. On Sept. 7, Ms. Southwell was jailed for contempt of court and ordered held until the girls are surrendered. Her fiance, Kelly Erhart, and relatives are caring for the Ms. Southwell\'s son, fathered by Erhart, who is not part of the court order. In a telephone interview Monday from the Kent County Jail, Ms. Southwell said she shares a cell with 10 to 20 other women, including one facing a murder trial. She said she has had to fight off one attack. ``I do a lot of writing letters, reading, praying,\'\' Ms. Southwell said. ``And thinking.\'\' In a videotape shown at a hearing last month, the couple\'s daughters indicated they had been abused. Ms. Southwell said she has not been in contact with her daughters, but is confident they are safe and healthy. ``I think about them constantly,\'\' she said, choking back tears. ``This is the worst thing that a loving mother could ever have to go through.\'\' Before making a decision on custody, Circuit Judge George Buth said he wants the children to be evaluated by the county Department of Protective Services. Otherwise, he said, he fears Ms. Southwell may run away with the girls. ``The children are a battleground in this case,\'\' Buth said Friday. ``They\'re the ones suffering.\'\' Buth said he is concerned that Ms. Southwell made the allegations against her ex-husband during a custody evaluation that was in the father\'s favor. ``I can\'t say I\'ve made up my mind whether sexual abuse has occurred,\'\' said Southwell, also of Kent City. ``If Carla\'s so sure I sexually abused them, why doesn\'t she give them up to protective services like the judge ordered so professionals can make a decision? I think my kids\' lives need to be straightened out and Carla\'s not doing that.\'\' Ms. Southwell, who has had temporary custody of the children, alleges the agency did a poor job in investigating her previous allegations and she said they lack concern for the children. Southwell said custody was recommended for him because his ex-wife denied him access to the children. ``This is the fifth time I\'ve gone over two months without seeing them because Carla wouldn\'t let me,\'\' he said. Though a physician testified at a custody hearing that one of the girls had injuries typical of sexual abuse, an investigator with the Sheriff\'s Department said there was no evidence to prove Southwell was guilty. ``I believe that in her own heart and mind she believes this, but we can\'t prove that it happened,\'\' Sgt. Ken Kleinheksel said. ``All we got was a very confused statement from a child.\'\' Ms. Southwell said she will stay behind bars until she is assured her ex-husband will not have contact with their daughters. ``It\'s very difficult to accept the fact that I can\'t see my daughters, but I\'ll hang on and I\'ll fight to the last day,\'\' she said.\r\n'),(1598,2,'The Reagan Justice Department was ``asleep at the switch\'\' three years ago when a Pentagon investigator discovered that defense contractors and private consultants were illegally obtaining Pentagon weapons secrets, Sen. Charles E. Grassley said today. Attorney General Edwin Meese III denied the accusation, saying at a news conference that the prosecution of defense procurement cases has been one of the department\'s top priorities and that ``at no time has this department had to be dragged into any indictment where the evidence is there.\'\' Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a floor speech that a top Justice Department official grabbed the microphone from the investigator in October 1985, as the investigator was about to testify about his findings. Grassley, who chaired the House Judiciary subcommittee at the time, said, ``I stopped the hearing at that point. I wish now I hadn\'t. There wasnt anything in that testimony that could have jeopardized that case.\'\' ``The public must be made aware of the fact that the Justice Department was asleep at switch,\'\' Grassley said, because it was investigating a single company and ignoring reports of widespread abuse in procurement, including bribery. The October 1985 testimony alleged that private consultants were regularly receiving classified details about U.S. weapons systems. ``The Justice Department could have pursued this aggressively more than three years ago but they didn\'t,\'\' he said in an earlier interview with the Associated Press. The 2-year-old probe has focused chiefly on Navy weapons-buying. It became public last week when FBI and Naval Investigative Service agents conducted coast-to-coast raids on the offices of past and present Pentagon officials, private consultants and contractors. U.S. Attorney Henry Hudson has said privately that perhaps as many as 200 indictments could be expected out of the investigation, a government source said Sunday. In October 1985 Grassley was chairman of the Senate Judiciary administrative practices subcommittee, a panel which he used to examine defense procurement practices. Grassley is a frequent critic of what he calls widespread waste and abuse in Pentagon spending. Grassley said Justice Department officials blocked the testimony of Robert Segal, a Defense Department investigator who was the Pentagon\'s liaison with the Justice Department\'s Defense Procurement Fraud Unit. The DPFU was a special Justice Department office set up to investigate waste in the military budget. It was well known in the Justice Department that some elements of the Pentagon and the Justice Department held DPFU in low esteem and there is speculation that when the current allegations first came to light the matter was steered away from the agency and into Hudson\'s office. Segal, who worked for the Pentagon\'s Defense Criminal Investigative Service, was prepared to testify that private consultants regularly received classified Pentagon documents that should not have been available outside the government, Grassley said. Segal also reported at the time that ``many of these (defense) companies appear to have espionage units whose main function is to obtain copies of highly classified documents in order to give their companies a competitive edge,\'\' Grassley said. Grassley said the allegations predated the current investigation. ``This goes back much before what we\'re seeing now,\'\' he said. Segal\'s testimony, which he never got to deliver but which was released publicly at the time, said that a defense procurement criminal case against GTE Corp. ``is but the tip of the proverbial iceberg. ... The investigation involves at least 25 companies. ... Many of those companies are household words. ... The primary focus of the case is ... the indiscriminate distribution of both proprietary and highly classified government documents by individuals within and without the government.\'\' Justice Department official Victoria Toensing interrupted the key part of Segal\'s testimony before he could give it and demanded that it be halted, saying that he was touching on areas that concerned criminal matters pending against GTE. After the contents of Segal\'s testimony came out in the news media, the Justice Department issued a statement saying that ``The release by Sen. Grassley\'s staff of erroneous, misleading and inflammatory information about a criminal case that is currently pending trial is most unfortunate and regrettable. ... Justice must not be allowed to become a political football.\'\' Responding to Grassley, Meese told a news conference that ``Investigating and prosecuting defense procurement fraud has been one of the department\'s top priorities for several years.\'\' The attorney general said that since 1985, the defense procurement fraud unit has obtained about 43 indictments and criminal informations in significant cases, has obtained 35 convictions and has recovered some $32 million. When asked about Segal\'s testimony that the department had not vigorously pursued the passing along of confidential information, Meese said that ``I can assure you that at no time has this department had to be dragged into any indictment where the evidence is there.\'\' Meese also said there were a number of spin-off cases that grew out of the GTE probe which are being prosecuted. He did not identify them. President Reagan, attending a summit meeting of the leaders of western democracies in Toronto, refused to comment Sunday on reports that former Navy Secretary John Lehman Jr. may have warned his longtime ally, military consultant Melvyn Paisley, that Paisley was under investigation. ``I am not going to comment until we have all the information,\'\' Reagan said. Lehman has not returned numerous phone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment. Paisley, a former top Navy official and close friend of Lehman, has emerged as a principal target of the investigation. The FBI is looking at Paisley\'s dealings with a number of major defense contractors that hired him as a consultant shortly after he left his Navy job in April 1987. Grassley said the scandal results from an atmosphere caused by ``a business-as-usual, good-old-boy network where people move from the Pentagon to cushy jobs in private industry and everybody looks out for their friends.\'\' Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sam Nunn, interviewed on ABC-TV\'s ``This Week with David Brinkley,\'\' said the Reagan administration concentrated too much on obtaining more money for the Pentagon, without paying enough attention to how it was being spent. ``We had people being selected for their ideological beliefs, for their salesmanship, but not for good sound management. I think the emphasis has been on salesmanship and getting the money and the management end of it has been the last of the list of priorities,\'\' said Nunn, D-Ga. His view was echoed by Rep. Les Aspin, D-Wis., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, who also appeared on the ABC show. ``The decisions in the Lehman Navy were really highly centralized in a few people right around the secretary, John Lehman, and he had a very strong view about people who were with him and people who were against him. And some of the people who were with him may be a little shady characters,\'\' Aspin said.\r\n'),(1599,2,'About 3,000 black autoworkers returned to work Monday after staging a 10-day strike in defiance of their union to protest divestment arrangements made by Ford Motor Co. The wildcat strike began April 15 at the South African Motor Corp.\'s main plant in Pretoria. The company, known as SAMCOR, said its entire paid-by-the-hour workforce joined the strike, and the production loss was estimated at between 1,800 to 2,000 vehicles. The workers were protesting an agreement signed last year by Ford, SAMCOR and the National Union of Metalworkers under which Ford donated the bulk of its minority holding in SAMCOR to a trust administered by the workers. The trust was intended to fund development projects in the communities where the workers live. But the workers maintain they should receive the dividends directly. According to an industry source who spoke on condition of anonymity, the strikers decided to resume work while negotiations with the union continued to resolve the dispute over the dividends. The union had no immediate comment on the matter. Prior to its disinvestment late last year, Ford owned 42 percent of SAMCOR. The corporation was formed in 1985 when Ford and Anglo American Corp., South Africa\'s largest conglomerate, merged their South African auto operations.\r\n'),(1600,2,'England ``celebreighted\'\' the birth of a royal baby at 8:18 p.m. on the eighth day of the eighth month of 1988, tourists ``migreighted\'\' to the Kentucky town of Eighty Eight, and even mathematicians ``apprecieighted\'\' the chubby numeral. Buckingham Palace announced Monday that the Duchess of York, wife of Prince Andrew, gave birth to a 6 lb. 12 oz. daughter, their first child, who is fifth in line to the British throne. Mother and child are well, the palace said. A Palace statement said Andrew, the Duke of York and second son of Queen Elizabeth II, was with his wife, the former Sarah Ferguson, when she was ``safely delivered of a daughter at 8:18 p.m. (19:18 GMT) today.\'\' In Hackensack, N.J., Kelli-Lee O\'Brien came into the world at 8:08 a.m. EDT Monday weighing 8 pounds, 8{ ounces. Her mother\'s doctor, making his eighth delivery in his 2-week-old private practice, has eight children. ``Everybody thought they were joking with all the eights coming up,\'\' said Jean Werner, head nurse in the delivery unit at Hackensack Medical Center. The magic of 8-8-88 wasn\'t lost on the Chinese, whose word for eight, ``baat,\'\' rhymes with ``faat,\'\' the Cantonese word for prosperity. They threw lavish parties. Merchants in Hong Kong used the date to promote everything from Kentucky Fried Chicken to real estate, while Hong Kong gamblers tested their luck in a special lottery with a sweetened jackpot. Michigan gamblers bought more than 10,520 state Lottery tickets with the 8888 combination, and officials said Connecticut\'s state lottery sold out its 8888 tickets when sales hit a predetermined limit: $8 million. Tascosa National Bank in Amarillo, Texas, offered 88-day personal certificates of deposit at 8[ percent interest (with a minimum deposit of $8,888). Numerologists said Monday, 8-8-88, was especially lucky for marriage, and thousands of Israeli couples had registered to marry on the date. Reception halls around the country were booked solid, the daily Jerusalem Post reported. In Eighty Eight, Ky., about 500 well-wishers cheered Tom Accardo and Deborah Muhlbeier, who got married at 8:08 p.m. CDT. The bride carried eight white roses. Their 8 foot, 8 inch-long wedding cake was topped with an ``88.\'\' ``Our marriage is magical. It\'s just the icing on the cake and I\'m telling you it\'s thick icing,\'\' said Mrs. Accardo, 34. ``The biggest part of it is the people of Eighty Eight. The town has been incredible.\'\' The couple had not set a date yet when they learned of the festivities planned in the small farm community of 150 residents, from a television news report in their distant state of Wyoming. ``Deb just looked at me and said, `Wouldn\'t that be fun to go in there and get married on 8-8-88 in Eighty Eight, Kentucky?\'\'\' recalled Accardo, 29, a salesman. In attendance at Eighty Eight was Pearl Russie, who drove up to the Eighty Eight Market in her Oldsmobile Delta 88. Her license plate: ``ANY 88.\'\' As Ms. Russie, 45, explained: ``I\'m an 88 freak.\'\' Eighty Eight\'s post office handled 25,000 pieces of mail for people wanting the EIGHTY-EIGHT 8-8-88 cancellation, said Fred Van Fleet, the U.S. Postal Service\'s area manager. The day also began the centennial anniversary of the American Mathematical Society based in Providence, R.I. ``Eight is, from a standpoint of pure arithmetic, the second cube, the sixth Fibonacci number, and the sum of the first three digits of pi,\'\' wrote former Scientific American magazine columnist Martin Gardern in a news release. ``Applied to the outside world, eight takes on more glamour as the notes of an octave, the arms of an octopus, the eight-cylinder motor, stock market eighths, the figure-8 knot, the skater\'s figure 8, the eight-hour work day, behind the eight ball, old Spanish pieces of eight, and the eighth wonder of the world.\'\' At least until 9-9-99.\r\n'),(1601,2,'The leader of the Sajudis reform movement said Sunday that independence for Lithuania could be achieved this year after his group claimed a landslide victory in the Soviet Union\'s first multiparty election. In balloting for the Baltic republic\'s 141-seat parliament Saturday, voters appeared to have chosen the country\'s first legislature not dominated by Communists. The main contenders were the Sajudis Popular Front, which has led the drive for independence, and the reformed Lithuanian Communist Party. On the street outside the Sajudis headquarters, passers-by gathered excitedly around posters announcing the victory. Unofficial returns showed that of the 90 races decided, Sajudis-endorsed candidates took 72 seats and non-Sajudis candidates took 18, said Rita Dapkus, head of the Sajudis information agency. ``If that is not a landslide, then what is?\'\' Algimantas Cekuolis, a Sajudis officer, said at a news conference Sunday. ``It is a very clear indication of what the people of Lithuania think.\'\' Sajudis gathered the election results by calling local election commissions, and the tallies were believed to be reliable. Official results were not expected until Monday. Mrs. Dapkus said 45 races had no majority winner and will be decided by runoff votes on March 10, while six were invalidated by insufficient voter turnout or other factors. They will be decided in April. Turnout among the 2.56 million eligible voters was about 75 percent, officials said. Vytautus Landsbergis, Sajudis chairman, said the results showed Lithuanians trust his movement. ``We have a common and very clear goal. Our clear goal is statehood and the independence of Lithuania,\'\' he said. ``This goal is achievable this year.\'\' The new Parliament\'s chief task will be navigating the Baltic republic\'s difficult course to secession from the Soviet Union. Sajudis wants talks with Moscow to prepare for an orderly secession, which would break a 50-year-old tie that began with Lithuania\'s occupation by the Red Army in 1940 and its annexation later that year. The movement supports a neutral, sovereign Lithuania characterized by a market economy and guarantees for human and cultural rights. Although Sajudis dominated the voting, Landsbergis did not rule out a strong role for the reformed Communists in a coalition government selected by the new Parliament. He stressed the close ties between Sajudis and reform-minded Communist Party members. ``Probably we will not ignore the party as an administrative power and partner,\'\' said Landsbergis, who easily won election as a parliament deputy from northern Lithuania. But, he said, the hard-line Communists, who oppose independence, would probably not be welcome in the coalition. The participation by Sajudis and at least six other parties in parliamentary elections was a first in the Soviet Union. In December, Lithuania became the first of the 15 Soviet republics to legalize non-Communist parties. The reform Communists won 22 seats, but 13 of those were in districts where they were backed by Sajudis. Candidates from the Lithuanian chapter of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which remains loyal to Moscow and opposes full independence, won seven seats. Two non-party independents also won seats without Sajudis backing. The Communist winners included the party\'s first secretary, and Lithuanian President Algirdas Brazauskas, who in December defied Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev and led his party to split with moscow. Among the 72 Sajudis winners were 46 independents, 13 reform Communists, nine Social Democrats, two Greens and two Christian Democrats. Moldavians voted Sunday in their first free elections under Soviet rule and expressed hopes their new Parliament would be able to win greater sovereignty from Moscow. The main challenger to the Communists in Moldavia was the Moldavian Popular Front, which likes to compare itself to Sajudis. The Red Army occupied Lithuania in June 1940 in accordance with the secret terms of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, in which Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union divided central Europe between themselves. Lithuania\'s old Parliament was coerced into voting to join the Soviet Union the next month, and Lithuania was formally annexed by the Soviets on Aug. 24, 1940. Lithuania had emerged as an independent state in 1918 with the collapse of the Russian empire in World War I.\r\n'),(1602,2,'Standing on South Africa\'s doorstep, Pope John Paul II called on the people of this desert nation Tuesday to assist victims of racial discrimination who are ``deprived of their legitimate rights.\'\' The pope, on a one-day visit to diamond-rich and bone-dry Botswana, praised the nation as ``an island of peace in a troubled sea.\'\' Botswana, a landlocked country of 1.1 million people, has never fought a battle in its 22 years of independence despite bordering such turbulent places as Angola, Mozambique, South-West Africa and South Africa. ``You are a peace-loving and friendly people who believe in the basic equality and human dignity of every man and woman,\'\' the pontiff told about 2,000 people who greeted him at the airport, including a choir of bare-breasted, teen-age schoolgirls. Later, in a speech at the Cathedral of Christ the King, the pontiff clearly referred to South Africa and its apartheid policies of racial segregation, without mentioning the country by name. ``You have witnessed the plight of those who are subjected by law to discrimination,\'\' the pontiff told the audience in Gaborone, 10 miles from South Africa\'s northern border. ``I gladly support your desire to be close to those who are unjustly deprived of their legitimate rights and lack decent living conditions.\'\' The pope arrived Tuesday from Zimbabwe, the first stop on his five-nation tour of southern Africa. He travels Wednesday to Lesotho, a mountain kingdom surrounded by South Africa, where he is likely to make additional comments on apartheid. The pontiff is not visiting South Africa on this trip but the Vatican has said he may do so in the future. At an afternoon mass in Botswana\'s national stadium, John Paul renewed his call for regional peace to a crowd of 50,000 _ more than Botswana\'s entire Catholic population of 45,000. Several thousand of those attending were from South Africa, according to church officials. ``What are the causes of humanity\'s fears?\'\' the pontiff said. ``It is the absence of justice and peace in our lives, and in the world, that so often troubles us and arouses our fears.\'\' ``Nation still lifts sword against nation. There is much training for war,\'\' he said. South Africa has raided Botswana several times in past years killing alleged guerrillas of the African National Congress. The pope was serenaded by several hundred members of a women\'s choir and received gifts from Catholic parishes around the country. Two parishes from western Botswana brought crosses they had carried by foot and car across the Kalahari desert, which makes up 80 percent of Botswana. Botswana has a Western-style, multiparty democracy, a rarity in Africa. Diamond mines make it relatively wealthy on the continent but it remains heavily dependent economically on South Africa. On papal matters, the Vatican said Tuesday the pope would return to Africa next year, with stops in Tanzania and the island nation of Madagascar. There has been speculation that the trip, expected next May, also may include Angola and South Africa. Vatican spokesman Joaquim Navarrro, traveling with the pope, said neither country was ``on the program,\'\' although he confirmed that Angolan bishops had recently sent an invitation to the pope.\r\n'),(1603,2,'A jury was selected Thursday for Raymond Buckey\'s second trial in the McMartin Pre-School child molestation case, the longest and costliest criminal proceeding in U.S. history. The seating of 12 regular jurors and six alternates came less than a month after attorneys began their inquiry to find panelists unbiased by publicity surrounding the first Buckey trial. Opening statements were set for Monday. Buckey, 31, who has been a defendant for nearly seven years, was acquitted of 40 molestation charges Jan. 18, and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, was acquitted of 12 charges. But prosecutors decided to retry Buckey on eight counts on which the jury deadlocked. A total of 13 charges were unresolved by that jury, but the prosecution dropped five of those counts. The first trial lasted nearly three years and cost $13 million. The eight remaining charges being tried involve three children who attended the now defunct McMartin preschool in Manhattan Beach _ a dramatically diminished group compared to the hundreds once described as alleged victims. Buckey and his lawyers, who had hoped for dismissal of all remaining charges, have accused District Attorney Ira Reiner of playing politics with the case. They say he decided to retry Buckey to further his own ambitions to become California attorney general. Reiner has denied any ulterior motives. Parents of McMartin school children campaigned loudly to have Buckey retried in the week after his acquittal on most charges. They conducted a letter-writing campaign, went on national TV talk shows and held press conferences to espouse their views. Deputy District Attorneys Joe Martinez and Pam Ferrero have said they hope the new trial can be concluded in six months. But Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg warned prospective jurors at the outset that the trial could continue into 1991.\r\n'),(1604,2,'Three men and a women fled East Germany Sunday by swimming across a river to West Berlin, narrowly avoiding a patrol boat and clambering up a river bank to safety, news reports and West Berlin officials said. West Berlin police said the woman in the group injured a foot in the early evening swim of about 260 feet across Berlin\'s Spree River. The others were uninjured. West Germany\'s ARD television showed video footage of the escapees swimming the last 10 feet to the West Berlin bank just as the East German patrol boat approached a few yards away. ARD said the film was taken by a Briton who happened to be on the western bank at the time. The report did not provide the names of the escapees or of the person taping the scene. The Wall separating communist East Berlin from West Berlin is located on the eastern side of the river at the spot where the escape took place. However, the western bank of the river is the actual border, with the water in East Berlin territory. A West Berlin police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said East German border guards did not shoot or otherwise attempt to stop the escapees. No shots were fired from the patrol boat. Police said they did not know how the four got past the Wall, which is 10 feet high in most sections. The three western sectors of Berlin are controlled by the United States, Britain and France. East Berlin is the Soviet sector of the city, which is located 110 miles east of the West German border.\r\n'),(1605,2,'A court-appointed trustee says he will sell Jim Bakker\'s former satellite network to Oral Roberts University for $6 million at the end of the month unless he finds a buyer for the entire PTL complex. ``I do have a firm deal with Oral Roberts University. However, in the contract, I expressly reserved the right to sell all the assets until the point of approval of the sale of just the network,\'\' the trustee, lawyer Dennis Shedd, said Thursday. The 500-acre Heritage USA Christian retreat founded by Bakker in Fort Mill and 1,700 acres of undeveloped PTL land in South Carolina have been for sale along with PTL\'s broadcasting holdings since April 1988. Shedd filed legal papers in Columbia on Thursday asking U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thurmond Bishop to approve the sale of just the television production equipment and PTL satellite and cable leases to the Tulsa, Okla.-based university May 31. The Roberts ministry has been plagued by tight finances, especially since donations to television evangelists plummeted following the 1987 scandals of Jimmy Swaggart and Bakker. In September, Oral Roberts, a 72-year-old faith healer, closed his City of Faith hospital and medical school and put his home and other ministry-owned property on the market to repay $25 million in debts. The Tulsa World newspaper quoted Roberts\' son Richard as saying God told his father ``in what my dad believes is his last major charge from God, to create a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week global Christian, charismatic healing network.\'\' Richard Roberts said regents approved the offer this week, and the university made a down payment of $1 million raised from longtime backers. Mark Swadener, chief financial officer for the ministries, told the newspaper he thought the network could provide a vital source of revenue for the university. He called the plan to purchase the network ``an act of faith.\'\' The ministry also was seeking guaranteed access to the airwaves at a time when secular networks are displacing evangelists on Sunday mornings in favor of news shows and cartoons, the newspaper reported. Bakker was convicted last fall of fraudulently raising $158 million from PTL contributors and is serving a 45-year prison sentence in a federal prison in Minnesota. In Charlotte, N.C., the evangelist who introduced Bakker to church secretary Jessica Hahn pleaded guilty to lying to a federal grand jury about why he set up the meeting, which eventually led to Bakker\'s downfall. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Potter was expected to sentence John Wesley Fletcher later this month, Fletcher\'s lawyer said Thursday. The perjury count could carry a sentence of eight to 14 months. Fletcher denied during a September 1987 appearance before the grand jury that he brought Miss Hahn to a hotel to have sex with Bakker. He later testified he had lied. The broadcast network purchased by Roberts is operating with a skeleton staff of about 10 employees. It broadcasts shows produced by other evangelists such as Jerry Falwell, James Robison and Richard Roberts. At the time PTL declared bankruptcy in June 1987, the satellite network was carried on 1,300 cable systems that had 12 million subscribers. According to court papers filed Thursday, that has slipped to 800 systems with 6.4 million subscribers. Even in its weakened condition, the PTL network would be a major plum for Roberts, said Jerry Rose, president of the National Religious Broadcasters Association. ``You\'re still talking about a major network that has an awful lot of potential,\'\' Rose said. Besides PTL, there are four other religious satellite networks in the United States: Pat Robertson\'s Christian Broadcasting Network, the Southern Baptist Convention\'s ACTS network, Paul Crouch\'s Trinity Network and Jimmy Allen\'s LIFE TV. Other evangelists such as Roberts buy time on those four networks.\r\n'),(1606,2,'``Fear matters,\'\' says Georgia State University economic forecaster Donald Ratajczak, so it doesn\'t surprise him if the Bush administration is dancing away from using the word ``recession\'\' to describe the state of the economy. It doesn\'t surprise Alfred Kahn, either. A retired Cornell University professor, Kahn was chairman of President Carter\'s Council on Wage and Price Stability. He recalls what happened in 1978 when he suggested that unless inflation were brought under control pronto the nation might face a deep depression. Stuart Eizenstat, a presidential aide, called up and asked him if he might just quit using that word. So next time out, Kahn used ``banana\'\' when he meant ``depression.\'\' He talked about The Great Banana of 1929. He said if inflation weren\'t brought under control, the nation might have a big banana. Kahn learned a political lesson. Fear matters and words alone can trigger fear. Recession is a loaded word, and economists who can\'t agree on whether the country is in one yet concur that the word itself can spur one on. ``Fear matters,\'\' said Georgia State\'s Ratajczak. ``But obviously what\'s in the pocketbook matters, too. If the pocketbook is still jingling, fear can soon be overcome.\'\' ``People start looking at their budgets and seeing what they can live without. They tend to make business slow down when they do that,\'\' said Bob Dieli, an economist for the Northern Trust Co. of Chicago. Small wonder that when the bad news came out Tuesday, six weeks before an election, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said, ``We don\'t believe we are in a recession right now.\'\' He was commenting on the Commerce Department\'s report that the economy grew at a stagnant annual rate of 0.45 percent in the second quarter of this year. And small wonder, at least to linguist Walker Gibson, that Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, says he\'d like to redefine recession. Gibson is founder of the Committee on Public Doublespeak of the National Council of Teachers of English. The usual definition is that a recession occurs after six months of decline in the gross national product, the total value of new goods and services in the nation. Greenspan told Congress last week he\'d prefer a less rigid definition. A true recession, he said, is a ``cumulative unwinding of economic activity.\'\' Richard Rahn, chief economist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said he can\'t blame the White House for refusing to label the economy\'s current state a recession. ``If I were the president, I wouldn\'t say we were in a recession, either,\'\' Rahn said. ``They are not in a position to give judgment calls the way we and other outsiders are. They are the guardian of the statistics. They need to be very, very cautious.\'\' The fear that the word recession triggers, said Gibson, tells something about language itself. The word ``recession,\'\' he said, ``almost certainly started as a euphemism for an even more fearsome word, depression. ``But it\'s been used so long as a euphemism that it\'s lost its power to euphemize,\'\' he said. ``Now they talk about `downturns.\'\'\'\r\n'),(1607,2,'Police blocked highways today, and an official said 15,000 people were detained following the assassination of a former defense minister, the most prominent victim of the nation\'s 10-year-old guerrilla war. Enrique Lopez Albujar was killed Tuesday when three Shining Path rebels armed with machine guns killed him near a shopping center in a Lima suburb, police said. He died at a military hospital with at least 10 bullet wounds. Witnesses said the four gunmen fled in an automobile. Police units aided by six helicopters searched through Lima and its outskirts Tuesday night and early today, stopping about 8,000 cars in a search for suspects, police said. Most of the 15,000 detained were taken in for not carrying documents and are expected to be released in the next few days, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on condition of anonymity. Lopez was the first person who had served on the Cabinet to be killed in guerrilla violence that has claimed the lives of hundreds of federal and local officials _ more than 130 in 1989 alone. The main guerrilla faction is the Shining Path, a fanatical Maoist-inspired group that has been fighting to topple Peru\'s elected governments since 1980. Witnesses interviewed by The Associated Press said Lopez had an office in the shopping center and usually arrived at the same time every day, often accompanied by a bodyguard. Speaking to reporters at the government palace, President Alan Garcia said Lopez was entitled to a military guard and that he didn\'t understand why Lopez was alone when he was attacked. ``It pains me and I regret that he was alone in spite of the situation of war we are living in,\'\' Garcia said. Lopez was named the country\'s first defense minister by Garcia, taking office in 1987 when the ministry was formed. Previously, the army, navy and air force had their own ministries. He served until May, when he was replaced by army Gen. Julio Velasquez. Shining Path began its insurgency in Ayacucho, in the Andes mountains 235 from the capital. In the past year, it has stepped up assaults in Lima. Last fall, it tried to disrupt municipal elections by killing local officials across Peru. But Peruvians defied death threats and turned out in large numbers to vote on Nov. 12. Peruvians expect the Shining Path to step up attacks as presidential elections slated for April draw closer. The Shining Path operates throughout the highlands, including in the Huallaga Valley, part of the coca-producing jungle in the northeast and the single largest source of coca-leaf in the world. Authorities say the rebels operate in league with drug-traffickers in the valley, protecting them from police in exchange for a share of drug profits. The government says more than 17,500 people, including government forces, civilians, guerrillas and American reporter Todd Smith of The Tampa Tribune have been killed in the insurgency. Authorities routinely accuse the Shining Path of massacring peasants, but in November Amnesty International accused government forces of becoming equally savage in their effort to crush the insurgency. The London-based human rights group said both sides were guilty of torture, mutilation and murder.\r\n'),(1608,2,'Here are the number of times members of the House were mentioned on nightly news programs on CBS, NBC and ABC in 1987 and 1988, according to a new study. The list contains the names of some members who are no longer members. It also contains the names of members who were elected after the study closed, denoted by an ``X\'\' following the name.\r\n'),(1609,2,'A major shareholder of embattled General Development Corp. has outlined a rescue plan calling for the sale of assets of the scandal-plagued Florida builder. United Capital Corp. filed the restructuring plan Wednesday in response to a letter from the indicted builder saying serious inquiries had been received about buying the Miami-based company, its assets or stock. GDC pleaded guilty to a mail-fraud conspiracy charge March 22 in federal court amid allegations the company priced 10,000 homes well above fair market values and kept buyers from learning the difference. United Capital, a New York-based real estate company that holds 12.6 percent of GDC\'s common stock, has asked GDC\'s board to delay any major decisions until its annual meeting May 4 to give stockholders a voice in the company\'s future. United Capital paid an average of almost $13 a share for GDC stock in 1988. GDU stock was up 50 cents to $4.75 a share in early New York Stock Exchange trading today. The restructuring plan filed by United Capital with the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed selling the company\'s time-sharing and utility businesses and undeveloped commercial property. The plan also offered short-term operating funds and pledged to complete infrastructure improvements in GDC\'s planned communities, a big worry for homeowners. GDC acknowledged it ``is experiencing severe financial pressures in large part\'\' because of the criminal investigation. In a separate SEC filing Tuesday, United Capital called for the ouster of six directors and suggested a replacement slate. GDC responded Wednesday by naming Chesterfield Smith, a senior partner with the Tampa-based law firm of Holland & Knight, to fill one of the vacancies left by the resignation of GDC\'s top two executives days before the indictment. Smith is a former president of the American Bar Association. ``It\'s my hope that whatever harmed (GDC\'s) reputation in the past, my associates and I will correct,\'\' Smith said. Prosecutors alleged that the 35-year-old GDC, which has developed nine Florida communities, pitched its houses at inflated prices primarily to out-of-state buyers looking for retirement homes.\r\n'),(1610,2,'Mario Vargas Llosa said Monday he will continue his presidential campaign and participate in an election runoff against Alberto Fujimori, a political neophyte now favored to win Peru\'s presidency. ``I will go to the second round fighting for the reforms that our country needs,\'\' the celebrated novelist said in a brief statement following a two-hour meeting with campaign strategists and leaders of his center-right Democratic Front coalition. Vargas Llosa said he had been ready to end his candidacy to save Peru the turmoil of two more months of election campaigning but was persuaded to continue for the good of this Andean nation, wracked by economic problems and a violent guerrilla uprising. He had been seriously considering dropping out of the runoff election after a disappointing showing in the April 8 opening round, according to key figures in his campaign. Fujimori, the descendent of Japanese immigrants and a political unknown when he started the campaign, ran a close second to Vargas Llosa and has emerged as a favorite in the runoff because he is expected to pick up the support of voters who favored leftist candidates. Vargas Llosa said a major factor in his decision was the constitutional requirement for a runoff if no candidate receives a majority of votes, effectively barring by law from withdrawing his name from the second round. That appeared to confirm reports he was participating in the runoff, expected to be held in late May or early June, to fulfill a legal requirement and was not enthusiastic about continuing his presidential campaign. Key supporters said the novelist had been considering dropping out because he was reportedly discouraged by the prospect that he would lose the runoff or, if he won, face the prospect of governing the country without control of Congress. Vargas Llosa, author of such celebrated books as ``The Green House,\'\' ``Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter\'\' and ``Converations in The Cathedral,\'\' went into seclusion with his family last Wednesday to mull over the decision on whether to continue the race. He said Monday night hoped the second round of campaigning would produce a ``clean debate\'\' on the best ways to solve Peru\'s problems. News commentators and political figures close to the writer had said earlier Monday they were convinced he would stay in the race. Some of Vargas Llosa\'s closest supporters have stressed the need for a runoff to ensure that Peru\'s next president can claim a popular mandate to deal with the country\'s problems. Due to the growing violence by the Shining Path guerrillas and the country\'s severe economic problems, Peru needs a president elected with majority support, Manuel d\'Ornellas, editor of the Expreso newspaper and a close friend of the writer, said last week. ``The mandate that Fujimori would receive after Vargas Llosa\'s resignation could be questioned in the future, opening the doors to a possible military coup,\'\' d\'Ornellas wrote in a column in his paper. Fujimori had been given little chance of making the second round a month ago. But a late surge propelled him into second place in the field of nine candidates. Vargas Llosa had hoped for a majority to avoid a second round but received only 32 percent of the votes. Fujimori, an agricultural engineer and former university rector running as an independent, received nearly 30 percent. Fujimori is favored in the runoff because Vargas Llosa is unlikely to receive support from the left-of-center ruling Aprista Party and Peru\'s leftist parties. Vargas Llosa harshly criticized the leftists\' policies, while Fujimori conducted a conciliatory campaign. Fujimori avoided specifics in his campaign, stressing instead general goals like improved health care and revitalized industry. Analysts say Fujimori also benefited from voter concerns about the harsh economic austerity measures advocated by Varsa Llosa and suspicions about the old-line politicians in the Democratic Front. The Democratic Front also fell far short of gaining a majority in the congressional elections. Without support in Congress, Vargas Llosa would have great problems as president imposing his economic austerity program aimed at reviving Peru\'s moribund economy.\r\n'),(1611,2,'The bodies of two climbers missing on Mount McKinley were found by rescue helicopters hovering near the 16,000-foot level of North America\'s tallest peak, a National Park Service spokesman said. The bodies of Michael Koshuta, 33, of Centreville, Va., and Stuart Jones, 29, of Washington state were spotted Tuesday afternoon, said spokesman John Quinley. No hometown was immediately available for Jones. The men were declared missing Tuesday, one day after a troubled Japanese climbing party that suffered the season\'s first fatality was airlifted off the mountain. There was no effort to remove the bodies from the 15,800-level because of the slope of the mountain and the threat of avalanche. Officials will decide later when it will be safe to return, Quinley said. The men were roped together and appeared to have died after a fall, the spokesman said. They were last sighted June 1 at the 16,100-foot level. Mount McKinley is 20,320 feet tall. Koshuta and Jones were experienced mountaineers who had climbed elsewhere in the Denali Range, Quinley said. There were no immediate clues as to what caused the accident or when it happened. The two climbers were scheduled to complete their descent four days ago. Three food caches they left along their planned route down the mountain hadn\'t been touched, Quinley said. Denali National Park rangers began looking for them Monday as rangers and two Army Chinook helicopters rescued three frostbitten, ill Japanese climbers and lowered the body of a fourth Japanese to 14,000 feet. The helicopters began looking for the missing Americans on Tuesday. The body of Hairoaki Ito, who died Sunday of altitude sickness, was expected to remain at 14,000 feet until friends could arrange for its removal or until an Army helicopter is called to the area on other business, Quinley said.\r\n'),(1612,2,'The man accused of killing Rabbi Meir Kahane says he believes a Jewish man shot the militant Jewish leader to death, according to reports published today. State Supreme Court Justice Alvin Schlesinger set bail Wednesday at $300,000 for El Sayyid Nosair, 35, of Cliffside Park, N.J., during a hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court. Nosair is accused of shooting Kahane to death Nov. 5 as the rabbi finished speaking to a Jewish group at a midtown Manhattan hotel. He also is accused of wounding two other men and threatening a third while fleeing. He was stopped when a U.S. Postal Service police officer shot him in the neck a block from the hotel. New York Newsday and The New York Times reported today that Nosair gave a statement to police in which he said he believed a Jewish man did the shooting. Newsday said Nosair claimed the gun was placed next to him as he lay wounded in the street. Nosair also said in the statement that he went to see Kahane\'s lecture because he agreed with much of Kahane\'s anti-Arab rhetoric. Groups of Jews and Arabs nearly came to blows in a raucous confrontation outside the courtroom at Wednesday\'s hearing. ``No bail for murderers!\'\' yelled the Jews, and the Arabs shouted, ``God is great! Thanks be to God!\'\' as they met in the 13th-floor hallway. Nosair\'s lawyer, Michael Warren, was accompanied by an Egyptian lawyer, Abdel Halim Mandour, who said he was helping in the case. Nosair came to this country from Egypt in 1981. ``We will raise the bail as quickly as we can,\'\' Warren said. Warren had asked that bail be set at $100,000. He said Nosair had never been arrested before, has a wife and child and other relatives here, and was a responsible city employee. Nosair, a university-trained engineer, worked as a boiler tender. Assistant District Attorney William Greenbaum opposed bail, telling Schlesinger that the prosecution had witnesses, the murder weapon and ballistics evidence to tie the defendant to the crimes. Schlesinger scheduled another hearing for March 4.\r\n'),(1613,2,'Unisys Corp., striving to show its commitment to standards in the computer industry, announced technology agreements Wednesday with American Telephone & Telegraph Co. and Sun Microsystems Inc. Unisys said the agreements would bolster its use of Unix, a computer operating system or ``traffic cop\'\' that was developed by AT&T and is gaining popularity among commercial computer users. In addition to working with AT&T to enhance Unix, Unisys said it was licensing a computer chip design from Sun Microsystems, known as Sparc, that would be used in future Unisys computers running Unix. Unisys, the world\'s third-largest computer company, said its strong support for Unix set it apart from its two larger rivals, International Business Machines Corp. and Digital Equipment Corp. The company said its business based on Unix doubled last year and amounts to more than $500 million a year. ``There\'s no doubt by now that Unix is going to be a very sizable portion of the information systems industry,\'\' Jan Lindelow, Unisys senior vice president for corporate marketing and services, said in an interview.\r\n'),(1614,2,'A woman who has camped for two years in front of the motel where Martin Luther King Jr. died was ordered today to get out of the way of workmen building a museum. Chancery Court Judge George Lewis said he would send in sheriff\'s deputies at noon Saturday to move protester Jacqueline Smith if she defied his order. Ms. Smith promised to stay. ``Right now, I don\'t have no intention of moving no place,\'\' she said as she left Lewis\' courtroom. Lewis denied her request to delay the hearing days while she tried to find a lawyer to represent her. He said she has had ample time to find a lawyer. Ms. Smith has been camped on a sidewalk in front of the Lorraine Motel, where she was a former employee and resident, since March 1988. She contends the motel should be used as housing for the homeless, not as a museum. King was assassinated at the Lorraine in 1968. The $9 million museum, called The National Civil Rights Center, is being built by the state, county and city governments. It is to open July 4, 1991. Lewis said Ms. Smith must carry on her protest somewhere other than the museum site. She has refused requests to move to a sidewalk across the street. ``The court has no alternative except to order her out of the way of the construction,\'\' Lewis said. His order came on a petition from Jameson-Vaccaro Construction Co. Inc., the primary contractor for the museum. Anthony Vaccaro, project manager, said Ms. Smith is camped in a spot that must be torn up for utility lines.\r\n'),(1615,2,'Trading of stock-index futures has begun in Japan, theoretically giving investors a new opportunity to protect themselves if and when the big rally in the world\'s largest securities market ends. Although stock-index futures have been blamed by some critics for playing a significant role in the October stock market crash in the United States, there seems to be little concern the same thing could happen in Japan, where trading in index futures began Saturday.\r\n'),(1616,2,'Avon Products Inc. said Wednesday its third quarter profit jumped 29 percent on slightly higher sales of its beauty goods. Avon earned $44.6 million, or 63 cents a share, in the three months ended Sept. 30 compared to $34.6 million, 46 cents a share, a year earlier., Sales rose 5.9 percent to $830.8 million from $785.1 million in the same quarter of 1989. For the first nine months of 1990, Avon\'s profit rose 34 percent to $107.3 million, $1.42 a share, compared with $80.3 million, 97 cents a share, a year ago. Nine-month sales jumped 3 percent to $2.33 billion from $2.27 billion in 1989. ``Our strong third quarter reflects continued profit improvements in the U.S. and the Americas, continued reduction in interest expense and a lower tax rate,\'\' said James E. President, president and chief executive officer of the New York-based company. Third-quarter sales in the company\'s international unit jumped 8 percent while those for Avon\'s domestic unit rose 2 percent. The company cut its debt during the quarter to $603.3 million, down from $1.09 billion at the same time last year and $838.1 million at the end of 1989. Avon is trying to sell half of its 60 percent interest in its Japanese subsidiary and should know soon if the transaction can be completed this year, Preston said.\r\n'),(1617,2,'The dollar narrowed losses against the Japanese yen and ended slightly lower Tuesday in Tokyo following approval by the U.S. Senate of a deficit reduction plan. Share prices erased early gains and fell. The dollar ended the day at 129.95 yen, down 0.10 yen from Monday\'s 130.05-yen close. It opened lower at 129.65 yen and ranged between 128.95 yen and 130.35 yen. Tuesday\'s close was the lowest since Mar. 15, 1989, when the dollar closed at 129.88 yen. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 134.89 points, or 0.57 percent, ending at 23,495.11. The index at late afternoon fell about 550 points from the day\'s high before narrowing the losses toward the end of the afternoon session, traders said. They said the index fell as market players, discouraged by the slowdown in the yen\'s surge against the dollar, started selling issues. Meanwhile, the dollar inched up in mixed trading after opening lower following a ``substantial amount\'\' of dollar selling in the Sydney market, which opens earlier than Tokyo, dealers said. They said the dollar turned upward in the late morning when the Bank of Japan made ``rate check\'\' phone calls to some Japanese banks. A rate check does not involve any market activity, but is a tactic the central bank uses to make banks voluntarily refrain from too much dollar selling. Also, reports that the U.S. Senate gave final approval to a $500 billion deficit-reduction plan helped support the dollar, said Yoshikazu Kuroda, a dealer with Fuji Bank. The Senate passed an emergency bill on a voice vote Monday night that would let the government open normally Tuesday morning and the House concurred, 362-3. The vote came just as dollar trading closed in Tokyo. The White House said President Bush would sign the legislation and that all federal employees should report to work as scheduled. But the dollar will remain weak despite temporary fluctuations, according to Toru Kanai, a foreign exchange analyst with New Japan Securities Co. ``There are no positive factors to encourage dollar buying now,\'\' he said. ``In addition to already serious worries over the U.S. economy, market players are heavily discouraged by the House\'s disapproval of the budget plan,\'\' Kanai said. Expectations that the Federal Reserve Board will lower interest rates are also depressing the dollar, dealers said.\r\n'),(1618,2,'Clashes between government troops and Communist rebels in the northern and central Philippines have left 25 people dead, the military said today. Troops killed 11 rebels and suffered six dead in an encounter Monday with an undetermined number of Communist New People\'s Army guerrillas in the town of Claveria, 270 miles north of Manila, a military report said. A separate report said four soldiers and one rebel were killed Tuesday when a guerrilla band ambushed a military patrol on the central island of Negros, 300 miles south of Manila. In the Negros city of Bacolod, two rebels were killed in a shootout with troops Tuesday, one day after a soldier was gunned down by suspected rebels. The rebel army, which operates in most of the Philippines\' 73 provinces, has been fighting for 21 years to establish a Marxist government in the country.\r\n'),(1619,2,'Federal inspectors say they were impressed with the pilots at Continental Airlines and found no serious flaws with the management. The Federal Aviation Administration reported Friday on the Continental inspection, conducted in October, which did find some shortcomings in record-keeping and listed 142 specific items in which there were technical violations of federal regulations. Among the concerns raised by the FAA inspection team were that Continental pilots on numerous occasions did not get enough rest between flights, that records were incomplete and that manuals often were not up to date. The inspection by a special team of investigators was similar to those regularly scheduled at all major air carriers and not prompted by any specific incident or concern. Many of the 142 violations cited in the report were not considered to be major. For example, a flight attendant was found with no flashlight, ``fasten seat belt\'\' signs were found missing on the back of some aircraft seats, and an inspector observed two pilots eating their meals at the same time while at cruising altitude _ all technical violations of regulations. Among other items cited in the report were pilots who failed to record maintenance discrepancies in a log after items were fixed, a pilot not making proper altitude callouts during a landing and a crew failing to use an anti-ice mechanism while descending in possible icing conditions. But the team of FAA inspectors said that overall, ``team members were very impressed with the professionalism displayed by Continental cockpit and cabin crews while conducting en route inspections. Cockpit resource management was evident on all flights.\'\' The FAA report said the inspectors conducted 358 en route inspections at Continental beginning last Oct. 13. The FAA said Continental\'s management ``is adequate for the scope of the operation\'\' but that at times there are problems with the flow of information from upper and middle management to first-line supervisors and personnel. Flight and training manuals have not been brought up to date because of the introduction of a wide array of aircraft to the airline as it expanded and absorbed other air carriers, the FAA said. Some manuals were not accurate in the location of some emergency equipment such as fire extinguishers on certain aircraft, the report said. The inspection team said that Continental\'s training program ``is in compliance\'\' with regulations but it said training records did not always clearly reflect in summary sheets when a pilot\'s performance was unsatisfactory. In addition, inspectors were not able to adequately determine whether Continental pilots are in full compliance with flight and duty regulations because of poor record-keeping. ``On numerous occasions Continental Airlines flight crews received less than the (amount) of reduced rest required by Continental\'s operations manual pilot scheduling policy,\'\' said the report.\r\n'),(1620,2,'Radioactive gas leaked from the Connecticut Yankee nuclear plant for 10 minutes Monday morning, but no one was injured and there was no danger to the public or employees, a spokeswoman said. The release of xenon-krypton occurred while technicians were taking a test sample, Northeast Utilities spokeswoman Barbara Luce. She said the accident did not affect operations at the plant. The spokeswoman said the release was measured as two-hundredths of a millirem, a unit used to measure radiation exposure. By comparison, she said, a diagnostic chest x-ray involves between 20 and 30 millirems of radiation. Luce also said that there are daily, planned releases of the gas of less than a millirem. The gas is produced during fission. The utility notifed state and government officials of the accident and were investigating, Luce said.\r\n'),(1621,2,'Here are provisions of the drought relief bill that President Reagan signed today. The new law: _ Authorizes $3.9 billion for relief for drought-stricken farmers. _ Provides payments for farmers who lose more than 35 percent of their crops because of drought, hail, excessive moisture and related problems. _ Furnishes 65 percent of income lost from damage to the portion of the farmer\'s harvest exceeding the 35 percent level, and provides 90 percent of income lost from damage to the portion of the crop exceeding the 75 percent level. _ Combines two existing livestock feed assistance programs and streamlines machinery for making it available to farmers who otherwise would produce their own feed. _ Caps benefits at $100,000 for each individual. Bars benefits for those with $2 million or more a year in gross farm income. _ Requires that those who receive crop loss benefits must purchase federal crop insurance next year if their losses this year total more than 65 percent. _ Provides that farmers will not have to return income-support payments received in advance if their losses represent less than 35 percent of their crop. This helps producers whose payment level has been lowered by drought. _ Requires producers receiving disaster benefits on 35 percent to 100 percent of their crop to repay these advance income-support, or ``deficiency,\'\' payments but not until July 31, 1989. _ Blocks an increase of 50 cents for each 100 pounds of weight in the dairy price-support level that was scheduled for January. Increases the level by 50 cents a hundredweight for April, May and June of next year. _ Allows the Agriculture Department to sell corn to ethanol producers at reduced prices but limit participation to producers who use no more than 30 million bushels of ethanol annually. The secretary of agriculture is free not to implement the program.\r\n'),(1622,2,'President Bush won resounding bipartisan praise Tuesday for a speech explaning his Persian Gulf policy as a leading Democrat warned Iraq\'s leader that if he starts a war, ``we will finish it.\'\' But Democrats showed less enthusiasm for portions of the president\'s address to lawmakers that emphasized the inability of congressional budget negotiators to reach a deal on the deficit. Moments after Bush assured Congress that Iraq\'s aggression against Kuwait would fail, House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., responded in the official Democratic reaction: ``The president has asked for our support. He has it.\'\' Senate Republican leader Bob Dole, of Kansas, said, ``If there are any fence-sitters on the president\'s decisons in the Middle East, this speech ought to push them off the fence.\'\' Dole said Bush reminded lawmakers that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ``has sounded the wake-up call on the defense front. It\'s a little premature to be spending a peace dividend when we\'re deploying 140,000 troops on the sands of Saudi Arabia.\'\' Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., a frequent Bush critic, was just as effusive on the Persian Gulf policy, saying Congress ``has real respect for what has been achieved by the president in marshalling the international community.\'\' But Kennedy was among Democrats expressing some discord over Bush\'s comments that ``Most Americans are sick and tired of endless battles in the Congress and between the branches over budget matters.\'\' ``The use by the administration of this crisis in order to enhance the defense budget,\'\' Kennedy said, ``will not be tolerated or accepted.\'\' Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said, ``Democrats are quite angry\'\' about Bush\'s remarks on the budget, and added, ``If the president and the Republicans think that because of the Persian Gulf they are riding high and can get their way on a budget agreement, that\'s not going to happen. This speech didn\'t help on the budget.\'\' Bush was called ``a courageous leader\'\' by Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Sen. Warren Rudman, R-N.H. said the president gave ``a very tough, steely speech. He just drew the line. It\'s important that the American people continually be reinformed and reinforced as to what the stakes are here.\'\' Rep. Larry Smith, D-Fla., a frequent critic of Republican policies, backed the president\'s prediction that Saddam Hussein\'s aggression would fail, saying he hopes Saddam ``gets the message and begins to act on it.\'\' But he said Bush could have could have acted more quickly in trying to get American civilians out of Kuwait and Iraq before they became hostages. That remark did not sit well with House Republican Whip Newt Gingrich, of Georgia, who countered, ``I don\'t know of any practical method by which we could have intervened once the invasion took place.\'\' House Armed Services Committee Chairman Les Aspin, D-Wis., said Bush broke little new ground, but ``essentially laid out in one document a very comprehensive argument for our position in the Gulf.\'\' Gephardt contrasted his party\'s backing for the administration with criticism of Germany and Japan for not doing enough to support Operation Desert Shield. While concentrating on the United States\' response to Iraq\'s invasion of Kuwait, Gephardt also stumped for the Democratic position in crucial budget talks, reminded Americans of Bush\'s new willingness to raise taxes, and called for cuts in expensive defense programs. And he indirectly criticized Bush and his predecessor, Ronald Reagan, for the lack of an energy policy during the past decade. Gephardt said the United States was in the Persian Gulf ``not simply for oil, or to save emirs and kings, but to defend the most fundamental values of a more stable and decent world.\'\' ``Firmly, clearly and unequivocally, wemust say to (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein: Let our people go. Let Kuwait go. And if you start a war, know that we will finish it.\'\' Declaring that the nation\'s vital interests are at stake, Gephardt said ``We cannot and will not permit the invading forces of a fanatical regime to control half of all the oil reserves which are the lifeblood of the world economy.\'\' Criticizing German and Japanese contributions so far for Operation Desert Shield, Gephardt noted that those countries, along with members of NATO, ``depend far more heavily on Mideast oil than we do.\'\' ``When countries like Egypt can stand beside us, when young Americans stand on front lines, only miles from the threat of poison gas, the least the Japanese and Germans can do is support us _ and not just with words; they must respond to our potential sacrifice of lives with at least a financial sacrifice of their own.\'\' Referring to closed door budget talks underway at Andrews Air Force Base, Gephardt said Democrats offered cuts in domestic programs but ``will never abandon the cause of working families.\'\' He contended Bush has given a ``commitment to raise taxes,\'\' and said the higher tax burden must be borne by wealthy Americans. Without specifically mentioning the Republican administrations of Bush and Ronald Reagan, Gephardt criticized the nation\'s free-market energy policies of the past decade. He said the nation ``must not be permanently faced with a choice between standing up against aggression or standing still in gas lines.\'\' He also pushed hard for proposed Democratic cuts in the defense budget, saying the planned ``Star Wars\'\' anti-missile system, the radar-evading B-2 bomber and the MX missile ``are costly systems designed for a Cold War that we have already won.\'\'\r\n'),(1623,2,'The United States last month secretly proposed a ban on some land-based missiles with multiple nuclear warheads but the Soviet Union said the plan was too limited, according to a published report. The New York Times reported in its Sunday editions that Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev responded to the proposal last week, complaining that it excluded submarine-based ballistic missiles. A letter containing Gorbachev\'s reply was delivered to President Bush Friday by Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, the paper said, quoting administration officials it didn\'t name. The White House refused to confirm the offer or refusal, the Times said. The offer signals an attempt by Bush to put his stamp on arms reduction talks which thus far have followed proposals made during the Reagan Administration, the Times said. The rejection of the proposal caught the White House by surprise, the Times said, adding that Bush administration officials believe the Soviet Union\'s tougher position reflects a move by Soviet military officials to assert themselves. One unidentified White House official told the Times that Secretary of State James Baker III first presented the proposal to Shevardnadze last month in Namibia, where both were attending independence ceremonies. The proposal would ban mobile land-based missiles with multiple warheads, followed by the eventual elimination of all land-based missiles with multiple warheads. Administration officials said Moscow showed little interest in the first stage of the Bush plan, the Times reported. That first step, which could have been considered as part of the strategic arms treaty being negotiated this year, would have prevented the United States from deploying 10-warhead MX missiles on rail cars. It would have forced Moscow to remove its 10-warhead SS-24 missiles from railroad launchers and put them in stationary silos. The United States bases more of its ballistic missile warheads at sea, while the Soviet Union has most of its missiles on land.\r\n'),(1624,2,'Attorney General Don Siegelman hoped for a strong turnout today to carry him past teacher-lobbyist Paul Hubbert in a Democratic runoff for the right to challenge Republican Gov. Guy Hunt. Hubbert led a six-candidate field in the June 5 primary with 32 percent of the vote against 25 percent for Siegelman, and remained the front-runner in weekend polls. The three-week runoff has been bruising. Siegelman tried to close the gap with negative ads, and the candidates accused each other of racist tactics. Whoever wins the Democrati nomination, once tantamount to winning the governor\'s office in Alabama, will face an uphill battle against Hunt. The preacher-farmer in 1986 became Alabama\'s first GOP governor in 112 years thanks to a split in Democratic ranks. He is favored in the polls over either Hubbert or Siegelman. An estimated 31 percent of Alabama\'s 2.4 million registered voters cast ballots in the primary, and analysts forecast lighter turnout today. Siegelman said if voters whose candidates lost in the primary returned to the polls today, it could spell victory for him. Hubbert, 54, has been executive secretary of the Alabama Education Association for 21 years. He built the teacher organization into one of the most influential forces at the Statehouse. Siegelman, 44, a former executive director of the Alabama Democratic Party, was state manager of George McGovern\'s 1972 presidential campaign. He won two terms as secretary of state and then the attorney general\'s office in 1986. Siegelman has depicted his opponent as a man opening classroom doors to child molesters, while Hubbert has exploited Siegelman\'s admission he smoked marijuana in college. Siegelman accused Hubbert of using ``racist code words\'\' in calling for a workfare program to replace welfare, while Hubbert\'s camp said a Siegelman ad warning about a black leader\'s influence amounted to ``racist tactics.\'\' The black leader is Joe Reed, the No. 2 man behind Hubbert at the teachers union.\r\n'),(1625,2,'The United States and Iran have signed a $105 million settlement of some 3,000 financial claims, bringing the two countries one step closer to re-establishing economic relations, a U.S. official said today. The settlement deals primarily with so-called ``Small Claims\'\' for under $250,000 that stem from the 1979 Islamic revolution, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. It clears the way for the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal to deal with about $16 billion in major claims, whose resolution in turn could open the way to normalizing economic ties between the two nations, the official said. The settlement accord was signed late Sunday night or early this morning by Timothy Ramish, U.S. agent to the tribunal, and Iranian Agent Ali Nobari, according to the American official at the tribunal. The most recent settlement talks between U.S. and Iranian officials occurred shortly after the release of American hostages Frank Reed and Robert Polhill by pro-Iranian kidnappers in Lebanon. But U.S. and Iranian representatives to the tribunal have repeatedly stated the talks dealt only with financial arbitration and not with the six remaining Americans still in captivity in Lebanon. Last week a U.S. State Department official in Washington, who commented on condition of anonymity, said he could not predict whether resolving its financial disputes will result in the release of remaining hostages or was in any way related to the release of Polhill and Reed. The Small Claims package dealt primarily with Americans who left behind personal possessions or were owed salaries by Iranian companies when they fled Iran during the revolution. They were settled for a total of $50 million. The settlement also provided $55 million for repayment of a loan from the U.S. Agency for International Development. The tribunal was set up as part of the Algiers Accord of 1980, which resulted in freedom for the American hostages held by Iranian militants at the U.S. embassy in Tehran for 444 days. The tribunal has three Iranian, three American and three third-nation arbitrators. The biggest claim still before the tribunal, valued at up to $11 billion by Iran, is for military equipment which Iran ordered but did not receive as a result of the embargo imposed by the U.S. government. After the overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1979, Iran canceled contracts for $9 billion worth of weaponry, including four destroyers under construction that were later taken over by the U.S. Navy. Remaining major claims, totaling about $5 billion, were filed by American oil companies for property and operations expropiated by the Iranian government, as well as for broken contracts.\r\n'),(1626,2,'In giving political newcomer Alberto Fujimori a landslide presidential victory, the people of this economically crippled nation rejected the free-market shock therapy advocated by novelist Mario Vargas Llosa. Fujimori, an agronomist and the son of Japanese immigrants, captured Sunday\'s runoff by 13 to 19 points, according to exit polls conducted by independent firms. Official returns were not expected for at least three weeks because of poor communication with mountain and jungle regions. Vargas Llosa, a celebrated novelist, conceded defeat three hours after polls closed. He told supporters he wished Fujimori ``success in the difficult responsibility the Peruvian people have placed on him.\'\' He urged Peruvians to put the bitterly fought campaign behind them. Vargas Llosa had been the early favorite. He won the most votes in the first round of voting on April 8 _ but not the majority needed for election. Fujimori, a 51-year-old former university rector, ran a shoe-string campaign against Vargas Llosa\'s well-heeled Democratic Front coalition. A political unknown just months ago, Fujimori gained the support of Peru\'s poor, Protestant evangelists and leftists opposed to Vargas Llosa\'s plans to privatize state industries and lift price controls. He takes charge of a country where four in five people lack a steady job, annual inflation is 2,000 percent and violence related to the Maoist-inspired Shining Path insurgency has claimed more than 18,500 lives in the last decade. ``I realize it will be a titanic task,\'\' Fujimori said soberly Sunday night, addressing reporters. He invited all political parties to participate in his government in areas where agreements could be reached. Fujimori\'s critics accused him of ties to the Aprista Party of President Alan Garcia. Many people blame the populist policies of Garcia, who by law could not run for re-election, for Peru\'s desperate economic situation. Fujimori, who begins his five-year term on July 28 in a country weathering its worst economic crisis of the century, has said little about the makeup of his administration. He has said, however, that he would not appoint members of the Aprista Party to his Cabinet. Vargas Llosa, 54, had pledged harsh austerity measures to revive the economy while Fujimori advocated continued price controls and subsidies for basic goods and services. Fujimori said his government would stress economic development over military and police repression as the best way to fight both leftist guerrillas and cocaine trafficking. He did not indicate where the money would come from for economic development. The Peruvian treasury is $100 million in the red. Peru is the world\'s main source of coca leaf, the raw material for cocaine. The U.S. government is pressuring Peru to reduce its coca production, and has offered to send U.S. soldiers to train Peruvian troops in jungle warfare methods to fight guerrillas. Fujimori said he shared Vargas Llosa\'s view that Peru ``must be reinserted into the world financial community\'\' and said he would seek to renegotiate Peru\'s $20 billion foreign debt. Garcia suspended foreign debt payments early in his government and international lending agencies eventually cut off credit to Peru. Many attributed Vargas Llosa\'s loss to a multi-million dollar media campaign that angered people in this country of 22 million people where the average annual income is $900 and the minimum wage is $45 a month. Vargas Llosa is widely associated by the South American country\'s indigenous and mixed-race majority with the European-descended coastal elite. Thousands of campaign supporters paraded and celebrated early today outside the run-down headquarters of Fujimori\'s Change 90 party in downtown Lima. The independent polling firm Apoyo gave Fujimori 51.1 percent of the vote to 37.8 percent for Vargas Llosa, with 11.1 percent blank and null votes. POP, another independent polling firm, showed Fujimori with 56 percent and Vargas Llosa 36.5 percent. POP put blank and null votes at 7.5 percent. Nearly 10 million Peruvians were registered to vote, and the law requires them to cast ballots. As the polls opened Sunday, armored helicopters crisscrossed Lima\'s skies. Tanks and troop carriers patrolled the streets of the capital, home to about 7 million people. Little violence was reported around the country on Sunday despite threats by the Shining Path to disrupt the elections. At least 10 bombs exploded Sunday in Huancayo, a highland farming center 120 miles east of Lima. Police said that one, placed by guerrillas at a polling station, killed one person and wounded eight. In a separate attack, rebels shot and killed three brothers. Police said a note was found on one of the bodies that said, ``This is how informers die.\'\' Fujimori, the son of Japanese immigrants, said Sunday that he would seek improved relations with countries of the Pacific basin. ``I understand that in the land of my ancestors there is great interest in my election,\'\' he said.\r\n'),(1627,2,'A publisher has refused to halt distribution of a directory of charitable organizations that the Council of Better Business Bureaus says contains ``stale and unreliable information\'\' about the council\'s evaluations of charities. The action came to light Thursday as the council issued an alert to its members and to users of its Philanthropic Advisory Service. The alert says the council did not review, approve or collaborate on the directory published by the Taft Group in Rockville, Md. The directory is called Charitable Organizations of the United States. It lists about 700 charities, with information including whether they claim to meet the council\'s standards for charitable solicitations. James H. McIlhenny, president of the council, said in the alert that the book contains 120 references to evaluations by the council and 11 of them are wrong. He said Steven J. Cole, vice president and senior counsel of the better business group, wrote to the directory publisher last month asking that further marketing and distribution be suspended pending discussion of the council\'s objections. The alert said that Taft responded earlier this month that it is ``willing to discuss modifications in future printings regarding specific errors which you may wish to bring to our attention. Nevertheless, we unequivocally reject any request to discontinue or inhibit full distribution and sale of the present edition.\'\' Marty Mattare, president of the Taft Group, declined comment except to say that the issues raised by the council were under discussion between the two groups. She said officers of the council and the publishing firm would be meeting ``in several weeks.\'\' The Council of Better Business Bureaus says it promotes ethical standards of business practices and protects consumers through voluntary self-regulation and monitoring activities. It is a private agency whose members include major businesses and better business bureaus in the United States and Canada. The Taft Group is a division of Gale Research Inc. of Detroit, whic is affiliated with the Thomson Information-Publishing Group of Stamford, Conn., and Toronto.\r\n'),(1628,2,'The biggest athletic show on earth opened today with a record number of nearly 10,000 Olympic athletes from 160 countries marching under a massive security blanket and the jealous glare of communist North Korea. A colorful, 3{-hour spectacle mixing ancient Korean rituals with space-age technology kicked off 16 days of athletic competition at the Seoul Summer Games. The Games will provide a showcase for South Korea and produce the first all-out East-West gold rush since the 1976 Montreal Games. ``I\'m glad the sky is so high and so blue,\'\' Yuk Hee-Jin, a 17-year-old Korean high school student, said on entering the stadium. ``I believe God is blessing my country for its years of hard work and preparations for the Olympic Games.\'\' After mutual boycotts of the 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Games, Soviet bloc and Western athletes strode into Seoul\'s sun-washed Olympic Stadium in closed ranks to the tumultuous roar of a sellout crowd of 70,000. On the streets of downtown Seoul meanwhile, police arrested about a dozen radical students today for mounting an anti-Olympic protest, witnesses said. But no tear gas was fired to quell the protest and no injuries were reported. At least a billion others watched the Olympics via a 115-nation, worldwide television hookup. NBC alone paid $300 million for television rights to the Games, which cost the South Korean hosts $3.1 billion for stadiums, arenas and various support facilities, all of which were in place well before the start of the Games. By decree of the International Olympic Committee, North Korean television was blacked out. The communist nation had demanded to co-host the Games, but Olympic officials said only one nation can do so. Superlatives of the Seoul Games included: the most athletes (9,633), the most countries (20 more than at Los Angeles), the most gold medals (237) and the most venues (34 for 23 official sports and three demonstration sports). Communist North Korea sparked a mini-boycott that failed to sway its biggest political allies, including the Soviet Union and China. Of the countries following North Korea\'s boycott, only Cuba ranked as a sports power, while Ethiopia had hopes in the marathon. Both also boycotted the Los Angeles Games. The other no-shows _ Albania, the Seychelles, Madagascar and Nicaragua _ are not regarded as major sports nations. On the eve of the opening ceremonies, North Korea again displayed its wrath, saying in an official Communist Party statement that South Korean President Roh Tae-woo\'s call for a ``successful opening of the Olympics ... will help intensify the fascist rule, increase the danger of war and mean tolerating the schemes to perpetuate the division of the nation.\'\' Similar criticism of the Games has come from student radicals in the south, hundreds of whom staged scattered anti-Olympic, anti-government, and anti-U.S. demonstrations in Seoul as the Olympic torch arrived in the capital Friday. But none of the demonstrations came near the heavily guarded Olympic facilities or the torch procession. They also failed to arouse popular support. In one protest at the Kookmin University, about 300 students burned an effigy of President Reagan as well as a U.S. flag. But the anti-Americanism of the radical students found no echo in the Olympic stadium, where the crowd gave one of its loudest accolades to the U.S. team. For South Korea, the Games offered a worldwide showcase for its emergence from a developing country to an Asian industrial power whose exports include computers, automobiles and super tankers. To guard against internal or external threats to the Games, South Korea has marshalled a 120,000-man security force and placed its 650,000-member armed forces on heightened alert. Although not directly involved in Olympic security, the 40,000-member U.S. ground forces were placed on ``increased alert\'\' and a U.S. Navy carrier task force patrolled off the coast. South Korea has stressed the Games\' theme of reconciliation and of ``Harmony and Progress\'\' _ a theme symbolized in the omnipresent South Korean flag at the center of which is a sunlike disc combining the opposing forces: the red Yin and the blue Yang. The strains of Beethoven\'s Choral Symphony, lauding the brotherhood of man, resounded through the stadium as the procession of Olympic athletes got underway. From his box which appeared to be enclosed in bullet-proof glass, Roh rose to declare the Games of the 24th Olympiad officially open. Iran, in line with its fundamental Islamic beliefs, was the only country in the procession to have a Korean man, not a woman, carry the signboard bearing its name. The first competitions scheduled for after the ceremony today were women\'s platform diving, soccer, men\'s volleyball, men\'s basketball, boxing and taekwondo, a demonstration sport at these Games. The first gold medal was to be awarded Sunday morning in the women\'s air-rifle competition. The United States, Soviet Union and East Germany were expected to garner the most medals. As a prelude to the Stadium ceremony today, a flotilla of nearly 400 boats sailed majestically on the nearby Han River, led by a dragon drum ship. The stadium extravaganza, involving 1,500 performers, blended taekwondo demonstrations, age-old Korean folk dances, electronic synthesizers, rock music and sky divers. It also provided the first suspense of the Games in the form of some white doves, who perched on the unlit Olympic torch basin as a platform carrying flame-bearers rose upwards. When the torch was lit, exploding into an inferno, the doves scattered, and it could not be determined if any were killed.\r\n'),(1629,2,'The heat is on in the henhouse, but the flame is out. Chickens don\'t like to mate in high temperatures, when they also become sluggish eaters, says Frank Jones, a poultry expert at North Carolina State University. That means layers aren\'t laying as often as they do in lower temperatures and the birds that are supposed to gorge for slaughter are taking their time about it, said Jones and Holly Farms spokesman Gordon Miller. ``They\'re subject to a lot of the same stresses we are as humans,\'\' Jones said. ``That means there will be less mating. They don\'t really feel like eating.\'\' Turkeys react the same way to summer heat, which has been in the 90s in North Carolina, the nation\'s top turkey producer and the No. 4 chicken producer. The state is expected to sell more than $1.5 billion worth of poultry this year. Miller said consumers may end up getting burned. If the heat continues, fewer birds could be on the market in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas and fewer eggs could drive up prices. Perdue Farms Inc. spokesman Steve McCauley doesn\'t believe that higher prices are a given. He said Friday that since the heat is an annual summer ailment, most growers are prepared. ``Typically, if a flock is affected, it\'s because something went wrong _ fans broke, alarms didn\'t work,\'\' McCauley said. ``But one flock is a few thousand birds and Perdue processes 1.6 million a week, and that\'s Perdue alone, so the loss of a flock or two would never have a significant impact on prices,\'\' he said.\r\n'),(1630,2,'The successful rehabilitation of First City Bancorporation of Texas Inc. is hindered by the apparent failure of some debt holders to accept current conditions for tendering their bonds, according to the head of a private group seeking to complete a $1.5 billion restructuring of the company. ``Each day of delay costs money,\'\' said A. Robert Abboud, a Chicago investor, in a speech to the French-American Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday. As of last week, 51 percent of First City\'s $225.8 million in bonds had been tendered, but the restructuring deal requires 90 percent participation by the close of business next Tuesday. ``It\'s not in their best interest to hang onto the bonds if they\'re going to crater the deal in the process,\'\' Abboud said. Caving into demands for better terms could set a negative precedent for similar transactions in the future, he said. Senior debt holders have been offered 45 cents on the dollar for their debt, while subordinated debt holders have been offered 35 cents. ``On a liquidation basis, their investment is worth zero,\'\' Abboud said, referring to the $100 million in subordinated debt. ``Once the preconditions are established, we have to stick to them.\'\' ``The professionals in the market should understand that (banking) is not a regular industry,\'\' Abboud said. ``The institutions that are so integral to our financial system should know this.\'\' He did not elaborate. Abboud is trying to restructure Houston-based First City using $970 million in assistance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., $500 million infusion of capital raised privately by an investor group headed by Abboud and a spinoff of $1.79 billion in book value of poorly performing assets. First City, the state\'s fourth-largest bank holding company with 59 banks in Texas and one in South Dakota, grew quickly during the Texas oil boom, but was hammered by energy and real estate losses when oil prices plummeted. For 1987, the company posted a $1.1 billion loss. Abboud, who become chairman under the federal bailout plan, said he was optimistic a deal could be closed by March 31. Besides a successful tender, First City still needs to renegotiate unfavorable leases. First City shareholders already have voted to support the Abboud plan.\r\n'),(1631,2,'Eagle-Picher Industries Inc. is seeking class-action status for 65,000 asbestos-related claims to avoid arguing the same issues repeatedly in individual cases. The company said Monday it has filed a request for class-action status with U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein in New York, who last week was given authority to reorganize the Manville trust. The $3 billion trust, which was formed as part of the 1988 bankruptcy reorganization of Manville Corp., has run out of money to pay about 130,000 new claims. Manville was driven into bankruptcy court by thousands of lawsuits by victims of asbestos-related diseases. Eagle-Picher, which reported settling 7,800 asbestos claims in the first six months of the year, said it believes the Manville trust will have to participate in the settlements. A federal judge in Cleveland recently authorized creating a national class-action to settle more than 100,000 asbestos lawsuits crowding U.S. court dockets. Negotitations have begun on structuring the settlement mechanism. Eagle-Picher has been inundated with lawsuits by people who say their health suffered from exposure to an asbestos-based pipe sealer Eagle-Picher made for ships during World War II. Eagle-Picher said its own settlements for the first half of the year averaged $5,900. About 11,300 new plaint too ridiculous to comment on. ``Since when is it against the law for a senator to talk to one reporter?\'\' she asked, adding that ``no prearrangements\'\' were attached to Metzenbaum\'s comments. Meanwhile, the Times reported in today\'s editions that Thompson invested $100,000 with a federal regulator, Paul G. Heafy, who also was involved in Thompson\'s negotiations to buy an insolvent bank in Oklahoma. The newspaper reported that the investment, which was to buy distressed loans from federal regulators, did not violate conflict of interest laws, but Senate investigators wanted to look into the financing of the deal. Heafy is chief liquidator for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in Oklahoma City. The Times said he and Thompson refused the Times\' requests for interviews.\r\n'),(1632,2,'Q: Do you think Americans need to be careful in travelling to others places than the Middle East? A: Well, I think they\'ve always _ always been advised to be careful of travel, but I\'m not prepared to say nobody should travel to any place in the Middle East. I\'m not prepared to say that at all. Q: What about outside the Middle East? A: I\'d be careful wherever you go, these days. Q: Speaking of trips, did you have any concern about your own trip to Kennebunkport, that you\'ll be able to stay on top of things while you\'re up here _ A: I think we\'re going to have a safe trip. Are you referring to the safety of the trip? Q: (Off mike.) A: No, I can easily stay here. We have a highly complex and highly efficient communications. I have some of my top advisers here. Others will be coming up there from time to time. I expect to see Jim Baker up there very soon. And I\'m in very close _ I will be in very close touch with Pentagon officials or whoever\'s behind National Security Council right now, it\'ll be General Scowcroft. So I\'m determined to _ that life goes on. I will have a busy schedule _ busier than I\'d like to have had _ of contacts. In fact, I\'ve got a list of calls that I\'ll be making over the next couple of days _ not all to the Middle East, incidentally. And so it\'ll be a little different than I\'d hoped but I think I\'m doing the right thing. I think the American people want to see life go on so long as they understand that their President and his top officials are on top of a troubled situation. So, that\'s the way I looked at it. And if I find it gets _ matters seem to be _ require my going back, it\'s an hour and a half to go back. So, I think we\'re in pretty good shape on that. Q: (Off mike.) A: Yeah. I mean, you\'ve seen the telephone in my golf cart, or boat. Word of honor, well, I talked, you know _ where was it? We talked to _ where was it when we were out in the Fidelity last time? STAFF: (Off mike.) A: No, no. No, no, well, that was one, yeah, that was one. But, no, the other day we were out in _ and talked overseas, I believe it was, but in any event, I think it\'s _ I should reassure the American people that the communication is extraordinarily good. And if I found that I needed meetings with these top officials or with foreign officials and it would be more convenient to do it in Washington, it\'s very easy to go back. Q: Any concern _ (inaudible) _ Mr. President? A: No. I think the American people will support what I\'m _ you mean on this? Q: You\'re going _ you\'re on a vacation at the same time as _ A: No, not at all. Q: Thank you. A: When I\'m going to be working _ normally, you know, what I\'ve said is, ``Look, if I\'m on vacation, I want to have a vacation, and I don\'t want to try to kid the American people that I\'m working _ play and play hard and then work like hell the rest of the time when you\'re in Washington.\'\' And I think I\'ve done that. Go to work early in the morning, go home late at night. This one will be different because there are some tasks that I must undertake up here, but _ so, it\'ll be a little _ it\'ll be legitimately a combination of work and play, but I don\'t want to deceive the American people. Just tell them what you think and ask for their support. And I think people will understand that. So, that\'s the way _ that\'s the way I approach this. You know, what you don\'t want to do is appear to be held hostage in the White House to events. And I\'m not going to do that. That\'s why we have all this sophisticated intelligence. So, I feel all right about it.\r\n'),(1633,2,'NASA said Monday it will ask contractors this summer to submit proposals for a $1.2 billion program to design and build an advanced space shuttle booster rocket in a government-owned plant. Under the plan, the winning contractor will design, build and operate the plant. The rockets to be built there will be used by the shuttle program well into the next century. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration gets its shuttle rockets from a single private source, Morton Thiokol Inc., whose manufacturing facilities are situated in Utah. A government-owned plant will enable NASA to change contractors if it becomes dissatisfied. The request for proposals will be issued in June or July, NASA said, so the advanced solid rocket motor will be available for launching after Oct. 1, 1993. The new booster will enable the shuttle to carry 12,000 more pounds of cargo to orbit than the current 65,000 pounds. That increase will be equivalent to 2.4 extra shuttle missions a year on a 14-flight schedule. ``To achieve the level of process control and automation needed for high quality and reproducibility, NASA has concluded that a substantially new facility is required,\'\' the space agency announcement said. The overall cost for development and testing the booster is $1 bilion. The facilities will be budgeted at $200 million to $300 million. The site has not been announced, but NASA officials have told Congress the prime candidates are Bay St. Louis and Yellow Creek in Mississippi and an area near Cape Canaveral, Fla. NASA says the government plant must be accessible by rail and water. J.R. Thompson, director of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, said five firms have expressed an interest in making the rockets. United Technologies, Atlantic Research, Aerojet and Hercules were interested in operating a government-owned plant, he said, while Morton Thiokol wanted to improve its Utah facilities. Contractors bidding for the plant will be required to propose a private-financing option for the facility, both for a government site or a location of the contractor\'s choosing.\r\n'),(1634,2,'Europe and the United States are beginning to adopt similar strategies for disposing of wastes, spurred by common recognition that there\'s not enough space to bury it all and burning causes too much pollution. ``For centuries, Western Europeans marveled at the luxury of available land in North America,\'\' says a report from the non-profit Institute for Local Self-Reliance. ``This luxury allowed for ready access to disposal sites for solid wastes, as well as for a casual disregard of the maintenance of soil fertility for agriculture.\'\' But as that luxury decreases, new methods are being tried. A company in Oakland, Calif., has long collected wine bottles, washed them and sold them back to vintners at less than the cost of new bottles. Now the practice is spreading to Michigan, Massachusetts and New York. Italy has passed a law that in 1991 will ban all packaging unless it can be recycled or will decompose naturally. The institute report favors recycling, but says little has been invested in it and that some professional planners are skeptical. Neil Seldman, one of the authors, nevertheless sees recycling as the path that must be followed. ``You\'ll have the bottle manufacturers asking for a national bottle bill because they don\'t want to have to deal with 50 different bottle bills, so I would say that within a few years we will have that,\'\' he predicted. State bottle bills typically require consumers to pay a small deposit which is refunded by shops when the empties are returned. The bills have been strongly opposed by business interests, especially container manufacturers. Brenda Platt, the institute\'s staff engineer, said that some communities, states and governments are now setting a three-tiered set of priorities for disposing of waste: _First, ``source reduction,\'\' or discouraging the use of materials that become waste. Seldman cited a proposal in Philadelphia that would put one tax on bottles, and a double tax on ``secondary packaging,\'\' the cardboard or plastic that goes around a six-pack. _``Source separation,\'\' the separate handling of different kinds of waste in both homes and businesses. Ms. Platt spoke approvingly of a ``three container\'\' system in some communities of West Germany, with a green container for one type of waste. ``If you don\'t put your recyclables in the green can, they\'ll take away the green container and give you maybe a black one, and you\'re labeled as the slob of the neighborhood,\'\' she said. ``Peer pressure can do a lot to encourage recycling.\'\' _Large-scale burning and burial of waste only as a last resort. ``Iowa, New York, the Netherlands, Sweden and Italy have endorsed this hierarchy,\'\' she said. The report says the average American produces about 1,300 pounds of waste annually, compared with a little over 1,100 pounds for the average West German. The U.S. figure is for 1986, the German figure for 1984. Disposal methods vary widely. The United States burns only about 5 percent of its waste, while Switzerland burns more than 60 percent. The United States still can bury nearly 85 percent, while mountainous Switzerland can find space for less than 20 percent. Switzerland recycles over 20 percent or uses it as compost for farmers, twice the proportion in the United States. The institute is a research organization that serves local governments, citizen groups and industry. The West German government\'s Marshall Fund of the United States financed the study.\r\n'),(1635,2,'Junk bond financier Michael Milken probably won\'t get a chance to face his main accuser, Ivan Boesky, before sentencing. Federal prosecutors said Tuesday they do not plan to call the inside trader to testify against Milken at a pre-sentencing hearing. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Carroll also said the government was dropping one of four alleged illegal transactions against Milken on which it planned to present evidence and testimony at the planned two-week hearing. The move not to include Boesky in the unusual hearing, scheduled to begin Thursday, was not a great surprise. Boesky was the main source of information against Milken but also was susceptible to attack from defense lawyers. Milken has pleaded guilty to six felony counts and has agreed to pay $600 million in penalties in connection with the biggest government probe of Wall Street fraud. He faces up to 28 years in prison when sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood. Sentencing was delayed for the hearing into uncharged allegations against Milken raised by the government in its lengthy pre-sentencing memorandum. Wood has said the hearing is designed to shed light on Milken\'s character. In a telephone conference with the judge and Milken\'s attorneys, Carroll said the government was unlikely to call Boesky to the witness stand. But they did not rule out the possibility altogether, he said. Carroll also said to save time the government was dropping from its presentation an inside trading allegation involving Milken and Boesky in securities of MGM-UA Entertainment Co. Boesky also was a central player in two of the other transactions being aired - stock manipulation charges in Wickes Cos. securities in 1985 and a web of alleged wrongdoing in the 1985 takeover of Storer Communications Inc. The third alleges insider trading in Caesar\'s World Inc. securities in 1983. The Caesar\'s and Storer transactions involve new charges against Milken not contained in the government\'s original 98-count indictment last year or earlier Securities and Exchange Commission charges. Wood has given each side a total of 20 hours to present eestimony and cross-examine witnesses at the hearing. The burden of proof on the government is lower than at a trial, though. Boesky, who was sentenced to three years in prison and paid $100 million in penalties to settle insider trading charges, is widely reviled on Wall Street and would have given Milken attorney Arthur Liman a broad target to discredit. Boesky was not regarded as a successful witness when he testified earlier this year against former stock speculator John A. Mulheren Jr. Boesky was perceived as combative on the stand and was forced to admit a litany of serious lawbreaking. Instead, Carroll said the government\'s first three witnesses on the Wickes transaction would be former Boesky head trader Michael Davidoff and former Drexel employees Cary Maultasch and Peter Gardiner, who worked under Milken in Drexel\'s Beverly Hills, Calif., high-yield bond department. Carroll said the Wickes testimony would be followed by testimony on Storer and then Caesar\'s. The prosecutor also disclosed that former Drexel trader James Dahl and mutual fund manager Prescott Crocker were among about 10 planned witnesses on the Caesar\'s deal. The witnesses for the Storer transactions were not disclosed. Prosecutors last week gave defense lawyers a list of 17 possible witnesses and Wood has ordered the government to say in what order it would call them, to help the defense prepare its case. The witness list also includes former Drexel chairman Frederick Joseph. Liman indicated during the conference call that Milken would be present at the hearing in Manhattan federal court.\r\n'),(1636,2,'The plight of whales trapped by Arctic Ocean ice got worldwide attention, and the part played in their rescue by two Soviet icebreakers got the special attention of members of a third grade class. ``I feel sorry for every living creature that has to go through this,\'\' said Lisa DeLack, a third-grader at Centennial Elementary School in Loveland. Lisa convinced her teacher and school principal that the Soviets deserved some thanks for their help in freeing two California gray whales off the north coast of Alaska. A third whale disappeared and was presumed dead. ``I saw the whales and the Russians helping and I thought it was very nice of them to do it,\'\' Lisa said. So she and her classmates penned their appreciation on blue-lined school paper, some illustrated with drawings of whales. Their letters were sealed in an envelope and mailed to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow. Centennial principal Sam Simonetta says it\'s natural for the children to respond to animals, be they pets or wild creatures thousands of miles away. `They like them and they\'re concerned about them,\'\' Simonetta said. ``When someone came in and was willing to help our country, it made these kids feel real good about it,\'\' he said.\r\n'),(1637,2,'Iraq has said it might attend a proposed Arab summit aimed at avoiding war in the Persian Gulf, but only if the meeting also deals with the Arab-Israeli dispute. King Hassan of Morocco proposed the emergency summit on Sunday as a ``last chance\'\' for peace. There were new signs, meanwhile, of cracks in the alliance against Iraq. Egypt\'s President Hosni Mubarak was quoted today as saying that Egyptian soldiers will not enter Iraq even if U.S. and other troops attack. He said his troops could, however, enter Kuwait as a peacekeeping force. At the same time, the European Community said it would urge Baghdad to accept a U.N.-brokered solution concerning the hundreds of Westerners held by Iraq. The EC wants countries negotiating hostage deals with Iraq to work together and thereby prevent tensions among nations in the anti-Iraq alliance. Meanwhile, an Arab summit attended by Iraq appeared possible. On Sunday, Iraq\'s ruling Revolutionary Command Council said Iraq would attend the summit under three conditions. Those were that Baghdad be consulted in advance on the agenda, that the timing and location be chosen so Saddam could attend, and that the agenda include not just the gulf crisis but all Middle East issues - including the Palestinian question. The council, led by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, also suggested it would not allow certain topics to be discussed. It did not specify which ones. ``The proposed summit should not be part of efforts to prepare the political theater as a cover for American aggression against Iraq and the Arab nation,\'\' the statement said. In Tunis, the Palestine Liberation Organization issued a statement saying it agreed with King Hassan\'s initiaive. Saddam has long demanded that a solution to the crisis be linked to the Palestinian issue. He made the offer shortly after his Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait. King Hassan suggested that the summit be held in Rabat, the Morrocan capital, in a week. But he said he would attend a summit wherever it might be held. Morocco, outspoken among Arab nations in condemning the Iraqi invasion, has committed more than 1,200 soldiers to the U.S.-led multinational force based in Saudi Arabia. In an interview with British television, Saddam again urged dialogue on the crisis and said he did not believe the world was united against him. The major powers and ``a number of countries\'\' are lined up against Baghdad, Saddam acknowledged. ``But to say that the world is unified against Iraq is indeed not a correct thing to say. ``In the statements of the U.S. and Britain, they themselves are voicing their concern that the unity - so-called unity against Iraq - is perhaps ... suffering from a split,\'\' Saddam said. Secretary of State James A. Baker III received assurances from key allies last week that they will accept nothing short of an unconditional Iraqi pullout. However, officials said China, France and the Soviet Union reportedly expressed concern that Washington might attack Iraqi forces without giving the U.N.-ordered trade embargo enough of a chance. There were also signs of cracks in the Arab alliance against Iraq. When Baker visited Cairo last week, a senior U.S. official said the United States is confident that Egypt would fight alongside U.S. forces if war broke out. But asked by his party\'s newspaper, Mayo, whether Egypt would send troops to Iraq following a U.S.-led attack, Mubarak said: ``No, we have nothing to do with Iraq.\'\' But if the anti-Iraq allies invaded Kuwait, he said, ``We do not mind at all entering Kuwait as peacekeeping forces ... although I do not hope for this day at all.\'\' In Washington, the powerful chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said the Bush administration must have the support of the American people if the nation is to go to war with Iraq. ``The last thing we need is to have a war over there, a bloody war, and have American boys being sent and brought back in body bags and yet not have the American people behind them,\'\' said Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga. ``We\'ve gone that route one time. We don\'t need to do it again.\'\' In Brussels, meanwhile, European Community foreign ministers said they would step up pressure on Iraq to open talks with a U.N. envoy on the fate of hundreds of Westerners that Baghdad is holding. They said they would encourage about 40 nations to pressure Sadam into accepting mediation by such an envoy. In other developments: -Foreign Minister Qian Qichen of China met today with Saddam in Baghdad. A Chinese diplomat said talks focused on how to achieve a peaceful solution to the gulf crisis. -In Tokyo, Foreign leaders gathered for Emperor Akihito\'s enthronement were pessimistic about a peaceful solution to the gulf crisis, an aide to Vice President Dan Quayle said on condition of anonymity.\r\n'),(1638,2,'The Navy\'s A-12 stealth aircraft program, already under attack for cost overruns and schedule delays, now is the focus of a criminal probe, the Defense Department says. ``The U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri presently is conducting and directing a criminal investigation into the overpayment of progress payments,\'\' the Pentagon\'s inspector general, Susan Crawford, said Monday. Crawford made the disclosure at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the attack plane, designed to replace the Navy\'s aging fleet of A-6 Intruders aboard aircraft carriers starting in 1995. ``Both the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, which works for me, and the Naval Investigative Service are working in a joint fashion under the direction of the U.S. attorney,\'\' she said. The plane\'s contractors, McDonnell Douglas Corp. and General Dynamics Corp., are based in St. Louis. The Navy announced last week that it was removing three top overseers of the A-12 program, including two admirals, for failing to disclose serious flaws in the aircraft\'s development. Five weeks after Defense Secretary Dick Cheney told Congress in April that the program was on track, it was disclosed that the A-12 was 18 months behind schedule and more than $1 billion over the planned $4.7 billion cost. Navy Secretary H. Lawrence Garrett told Cheney last week that he was forcing Vice Adm. Richard C. Gentz, commander of the Naval Air Systems Command, to retire by Feb. 1. Garrett also said he was reassigning Rear Adm. John F. Calvert, the program executive officer for tactical aircraft programs, and Capt. Lawrence S. Elberfeld, A-12 program manager, and writing each a letter of censure. But Garrett said he would not stop Elberfeld\'s scheduled promotion to rear admiral. Garrett, testifying before the House panel Monday, faced criticism for that decision from Rep. Andy Ireland, R-Fla. ``I wonder what message you send when you include censure and a promotion as well,\'\' Ireland asked. ``The message is already clear,\'\' Garrett responded. ``That you can be promoted,\'\' Ireland interrupted. The Navy secretary argued that the promotion of Elberfeld was based on his 20 years of service and the censure even with the promotion would be ``embarrassing and debilitating\'\' to Elberfeld\'s future career. An internal Navy report and the Pentagon inspector general\'s investigation indicated last week that the government did not sufficiently challenge overly optimistic cost and schedule estimates of the contractors. The Navy report said McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics contract officials failed to tell the Navy of cost and schedule problems. Garrett testified that briefings from the Navy\'s management team on the A-12 program ``gave no indication of risk that the contract would not be completed within its ceiling price, nor any risk that first flight and the follow-on test program would not be achieved.\'\' The Navy secretary blamed ``human errors in judgment\'\' for problems with the aircraft that were never reported. He added that although the current procurement system works, individuals ``find it very hard to push bad news up to the top.\'\'\r\n'),(1639,2,'A new series of mistakes by air traffic controllers at O\'Hare International Airport has plagued one of the world\'s busiest airports, which already is the subject of a federal safety investigation, officials say. Controllers at the airport made one error Sunday and two Friday, bringing the number of recorded errors at O\'Hare this year to 29, officials said Tuesday. By comparison, Atlanta\'s Hartsfield International Airport has had six errors this year, and Washington\'s National Airport two. In one incident Friday, two Air Wisconsin jets came near each other when a controller apparently mistakenly gave one of them an order to descend from 14,000 feet to 11,000 feet, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said. In the day\'s other incident, an American Airlines jet and a Delta Air Lines jet came within 400 feet vertically and a mile horizontally when the pilot of the American apparently failed to repeat an order to reduce speed and the controller did not seek confirmation, the Chicago Tribune reported today. On Sunday, two United Airlines jets came within 500 feet of each other horizontally after the pilot of one plane apparently followed an order intended for the other, the newspaper said. The FAA requires airplanes in the area to be separated a minimum of three miles horizontally or 1,000 feet vertically. The incidents occurred just two months after the National Transportation Safety Board issued a report saying that chronic understaffing, mandatory overtime, outdated equipment and inadequate training had contributed to mistakes at O\'Hare. And now NTSB officials are worried that the trend has not been reversed, said regional director Carl Dinwiddie. The FAA, which has 90 days to respond to the NTSB report, has not yet replied, said an NTSB spokesman in Washington. Both agencies are investigating the recent errors. Joe Bellino, regional representative of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said O\'Hare\'s radar room on Friday was ``a zoo.\'\' With Friday\'s 3,842 takeoffs and landings _ 11 below the record set the day before _ there should have been 18 journeyman controllers and several ``developmental\'\' controllers on duty. But Bellino said there were only 14 controllers in both categories, and the problem was made worse when the controllers who made the errors were temporarily relieved of their duties, giving those who remained even more responsibilities. ``We had airplanes all over the sky,\'\' Bellino said. ``We were buried all day long.\'\' The FAA could not immediately say how many controllers were on duty Friday, but spokesman Donald Zochert said the total number of controllers working at the airport has risen from 87 last year to 94 as of Sept. 1. There are now six new developmental controllers and one new journeyman.\r\n'),(1640,2,'Women reporters covering the U.S. military buildup in male-dominated Saudi Arabia exulted when the invitation came to join female soldiers in their exercise classes. Exclusive! We gloated. But the chance to swim and sweat with the U.S. women in uniform nearly backfired when the three reporters - myself included - walked through the front door of the $80 million gymnasium at a Saudi air base. Several Saudi custodians, all men, leapt up and followed us to the registration desk, complaining loudly that we had violated custom by using the front entrance. Women, they said, must enter through the rear door. Our timing, it appeared, couldn\'t have been worse: we had committed this faux pas on a Friday - Islam\'s holy day - during Moslem prayer time. The Saudis were not the only ones who were annoyed. `You nearly ruined it for all of us,\'\' one angry Air Force nurse told the sheepish reporters. ``They almost kicked us out.\'\' The military women had fought hard for the privilege of using the gym three times a week, and they dreaded the idea of losing it. The culture clash was an example of the hidden challenges that American women encountered in Saudi Arabia, a country where females don\'t vote, don\'t drive, don\'t go out in public without covering their faces and heads with veils, don\'t socialize in meeting places and rarely hold jobs that bring them in contact with the general public. Most Saudi women seem to accept the social structure that is based on the laws of Islam. They say they are put on a pedestal in their homes and treated generously by their men. The female reporters - writers, television and radio correspondents, photographers and television camera crews - have been treated fairly by both Saudi and American officials in terms of access to events and opportunities to cover the U.S.-led military deployment. We have slept on cots in the desert with the 82nd Airborne out of Fort Bragg, N.C. We have visited Egyptian paratroopers near the Saudi-Kuwaiti border; interviewed the powerful Saudi petroleum minister; and toured the strategic petroleum refinery at Ras Tanura. In deference to Saudi custom, we cover our arms, wear longer skirts and keep bare skin to a minimum. But none of us wear the black cloaks known as abayas or head coverings. The heat argues against wearing stockings. We act generally as we do in the United States: eating in restaurants, sipping coffee in the hotel lobbies. But we remain oddities on the social scene, the only women attending an Arabian nights dinner under a big tent hosted by Saudi prince, for example. We were warned about the muttawa, the so-called religious police who enforce the Islamic dress code and insist conservative standards are upheld. But an informal survey indicated none of the reporters has been accosted by the muttawa, who have the power to make arrests. On the streets or in the souks (markets), our small cadre of female reporters has grown accustomed to sares from curious Saudis, but the incredulous looks did not interfere with work. The major complaint - and the biggest frustration - is the ban on driving. We must hire taxis, drivers or rely on male colleagues to ferry us around, an expensive inconvenience in a country with a modern system of interstate highways. The U.S. Embassy also advised women not to sit next to a man to whom she was not married. In one case, I drove to a remote post on the Saudi-Kuwaiti border with a male colleague, 300 miles from the coastal city of Dhahran, to meet with the governor of the province. The trip would have been impossible without a male escort. Air travel was potentially a problem because Saudi custom dictates women must be accompanied by a male relative. Expatriate women have to obtain a letter approving their travel from their sponsoring company. Airports have check-in lines designated for ``males\'\' and ``families.\'\' Saudi officials seemed to ignore the rules for the foreign reporters. I was never asked about my marital status, for instance, when I flew to Riyadh, the Saudi capital, in the company of an American male reporter. Female reporters benefit from the famed Saudi hospitality and generosity. When one reporter mentioned she had lost a contact lens, her host insisted on having his driver take her the next day to the clinic for a replacement. At Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd\'s daily Majlis - a combination of a town meeting and a magistrate\'s court - Saudi citizens ask the governor of the Eastern Province to resolve problems ranging from land disputes to homelessness. After meeting the prince, I jokingly told himII had some problems he could solve. Pressed on what theywere, I assured him I was only kidding. That night, I received a call from the prince\'s worried press officer. ``You mentioned you had some problems and the prince wanted to know if there was anything he could do,\'\' the press officer said. ``A car to take you shopping? Some interviews? Anything?\'\' --- EDITOR\'S NOTE - Joan Mower, a Washington reporter for The Associated Press, reported from Saudi Arabia for four weeks.\r\n'),(1641,2,'To most, Carolyn Warmus is a bright, energetic schoolteacher. To police, she is an obsessed woman who pumped nine shots into her lover\'s wife, then met the man for drinks and sex. It took a year of intense legwork by two detectives to put together the case that made a murder suspect out of the 26-year-old computer science teacher and insurance heiress. Warmus was charged with second-degree murder Monday. Police said she shot Betty Jeanne Solomon, 40, nine times on Jan. 15, 1989, then drove to a local hotel to meet her lover, fellow schoolteacher Paul Solomon, for drinks and a sexual tryst in her car. Her attorney, Charles Fiore, maintains his client is innocent. He said Thursday that she passed a polygraph test taken on the advice of her family attorney five days after the slaying. Warmus was not the initial suspect in the killing. Solomon was. ``You can compare it to a large puzzle with many, many pieces,\'\' said Lt. Cornelius Sullivan, head of detectives in Greenburgh, a New York City suburb near White Plains. Police would not say when their focus shifted to Warmus, daughter of a wealthy Michigan insurance executive, but a vacation trip to Puerto Rico five months after the killing may have been key in highlighting Warmus\' alleged obsession with the dead woman\'s husband. Police said Solomon, 39, told investigators that Warmus followed him and a friend, Barbara Ballor, 28, to Puerto Rico. Once there, they said, she called a member of Ballor\'s family pretending to be a police officer and made disparaging comments about Solomon in an apparent effort to break the couple up. Police traced the call back to Warmus. Investigators then focused on other telephone records. The paper trail led them to Vincent Parco, a private investigator in New York City who told police he sold Warmus a silencer and a .25-caliber handgun, the same type of weapon used to kill Mrs. Solomon. Police say they linked the weapon that Parco sold to the killing through ballistics evidence, but did not elaborate. The weapon has not been recovered. On Thursday, Parco\'s New York City pistol permit was suspended and Parco agreed to give police his weapons, said city police spokesman Detective Joseph McConville. Law enforcement sources said Warmus knew Parco because she had hired him before to investigate an ex-boyfriend, a married bartender who lived in New Jersey. Police said Warmus, who lives in a high-rise on Manhattan\'s East Side, told Parco she needed the gun for protection, but Parco\'s ex-partner, Gabe Laura, told the New York Post she offered him three different reasons. ``We figured her for a flake,\'\' Laura said, adding, ``We told her to get us some proof about what she was saying and sent her away.\'\' Warmus and Solomon had been having an affair for a year, according to an indictment unsealed Monday. They met in 1987 at an elementary school in Greenburgh. At the time of Mrs. Solomon\'s murder, police said, Warmus wanted to intensify the relationship; Solomon wanted to cool things off. Investigators said he ended the affair after his wife\'s death. In her statement to police, Warmus said she called Solomon at home hours before the murder and they talked for 45 minutes about everything from his 15-year-old daughter Kristan\'s basketball team to a bar mitzvah he attended. They agreed to meet for drinks at a Yonkers hotel bar at 7:30 p.m. Mrs. Solomon was killed between 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., police said, adding that Warmus knew Mrs. Solomon would be home alone. Warmus told detectives they left the bar at 10:30 p.m., went out to her car in the parking lot and had sex before leaving each other about 11:30 p.m. Her attorney said Warmus frequently had dinner with the Solomon family at their home and that neighbors knew both her and her car. ``It would be a pretty good trick for her to knock on the door, kill her ... and leave and not be seen or have her car seen,\'\' Fiore said. Warmus\' father is president of American Way Life Insurance Co. in Southfield, Mich., whose assets reportedly are about $150 million. She grew up in Birmingham, Mich.\r\n'),(1642,2,'Ticket scalpers, familiar outside rock concerts and sports events, have invaded unlikely turf: a dance for middle-school students. The dance scheduled for Friday night was canceled after the Vernon Junior Women\'s Club discovered that the $3 tickets were being sold for as much as $10 apiece by student scalpers. The league sponsors dances with the Parks and Recreation Department. A limited number of tickets are sold because the dances are held in a gym that can accommodate only 250 people. There are about 1,100 middle-school students in town. That situation led to students\' duplicating tickets and now selling them at inflated prices, club President Peggy Jackle said. She said she hopes the cancellation of the dance will serve as notice to the scalpers that the future of the dances depends on their conduct.\r\n'),(1643,2,'Thousands of relics left by a lost Indian tribe in the ruins of their famed cliff houses were methodically looted before the turn of the century. Now a band of ``reverse archaeologists\'\' wants to bring them home. Before Congress outlawed the practice in 1905, collecting baskets, pots, tools and other everyday household items from Anasazi Indian ruins was a thrilling romp through history for explorers hired by East Coast collectors. Like the swashbuckling treasure hunter in the ``Indiana Jones\'\' movies, they took the ancient ruins of a culture that vanished before Europeans reached the New World. Most of the loot eventually found its way into museum display cases. Large collections are housed at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the Museum of the American Indian in New York, among others. But a group of volunteer researchers is eager to bring them home to the Four Corners area of the Southwest where the Anasazi pioneered farming and built dense communities hundreds of feet high in scenic cliffsides. Julia Johnson, the director of the volunteer Wetherill-Grand Gulch researchers, decried the looting at a recent symposium on the early Anasazis, known as the Basketmakers, in Blanding, Utah. The group wants to reverse the actions of 1890s explorers and return the artifacts to museums as close to the ruins from which they were taken as possible. To help achieve that and to help scientists study the Anasazi, 5,000 pages of documents and 500 photographs have been compiled on the museum artifacts to trace their origins. Since many of the early-day explorers kept meticulous diaries, ``it\'s possible in some cases to identify exactly which hole something came out of,\'\' said Fred Blackburn, a biologist who joined the ``reverse archaeologists.\'\' Blackburn, 40, and his colleagues crawl through Grand Gulch in Utah, about 100 miles west of Cortez, searching for signatures the explorers carved into cliff walls. By matching the individual artifacts on display in Eastern museums with the diaries, Blackburn\'s group can supply a research base for scientists studying the Basketmaker era of the Anasazi, he said. The ruins were virtually cleared out and their treasures carted off by the time Congress forbade the practice in 1905, Blackburn said. ``And the expeditions weren\'t real researchers,\'\' said Blackburn, whose wife, Victoria Atkins, is an archaeologist. ``There\'s so much we don\'t know about the Basketmakers.\'\' The Basketmaker Anasazis lived in the area from about the time of Christ until the year 700, Blackburn said. They are believed to be the farming pioneers of the tribe that built a thriving civiliation in the famous cliff houses of Mesa Verde National Park. Their Pueblo Anasazi descendants disappeared from the area, apparently driven by a long drought, in about 1300. ``We\'re putting this together so researchers can go back and find out what the origins of these people were, their customs, where they came from and where they went,\'\' Blackburn said. He started with the diary of Charles Cary Graham, who with Charles McLoyd began excavating Grand Gulch in 1890. The pair met Richard Wetherill and Charlie Mason just as the latter two were riding out after discovering the landmark Balcony House at Mesa Verde. Wetherill, a nearby rancher and amateur archaeologist, hired Graham and McLoyd to bring artifacts from Grand Gulch to the local historical society. The collection later ended up at the Field Museum in Chicago. As news of the rich ruins spread, other expeditions followed, explorers erasing clues to the mysterious Anasazi\'s past in their diligence to gather prized artifacts. One likely site for any relics returned to the region would be the Anasazi Heritage Center in Dolores, a town north of Cortez. Initial efforts will try to arrange artifact loans, with the eventual goal of establishing permanent exhibits, volunteers said. Fund-raising is under way to pay for lobbying visits to museums that house large Anasazi collections. Blackburn, who specializes in studies of Bighorn sheep, says his strong ties to the Four Corners area prompted his ``reverse archaeology\'\' work. He\'s especially fascinated with evidence of the Anasazis ability to co-exist with the sheep that used to roam the area in large numbers. The fledgling ``reverse archaeolgist\'\' movement _ looking for artifacts in museums to bring them back to historic sites, rather than the other way around _could provide clues to true archaeologists enabling them to unravel the mystery surrounding the demise of the Anasazi, he said. ``Archaeology is really pretty new here in southwest Colorado,\'\' he said. ``And there hasn\'t been much done on the Basketmakers. ``There are a lot of parallels between the Anasazi and what we have today. Overpopulation and drought were a major problem for them and many archaeologists think that\'s what drove them out of here. Overpopulation and drought are big problems for us, too.\'\'\r\n'),(1644,2,'Two opposition leaders expelled from Haiti were welcomed Sunday by fellow exiles in Miami, where they asked for support in ridding their Caribbean homeland of the government of Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril. Dr. Louis Roy, co-author of Haiti\'s 1987 constitution, arrived on a noon flight after being thrown out of his country for the second time in 30 years. ``I was arrested yesterday afternoon and put in jail,\'\' the 74-year-old civil-rights leader said after arriving at Miami International Airport. ``This morning, I was put on a Miami flight. They didn\'t even tell my why I was arrested.\'\' Asked if he was physically abused, he said ``Yes, I was beaten ... in the police department.\'\' Avril, who took power in a September 1988 soldiers\' revolt that ousted military leader Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy, has promised to hand over power after elections this year. Avril declared a state of emergency Saturday and arrested dozens of critics who expressed doubts about his commitment to democracy. Roy, founder of the Haitian Red Cross, was first banished in 1957, when Francois ``Papa Doc\'\' Duvalier was in power. Also addressing reporters Sunday was conservative leader Hubert de Ronceray, 65, who was expelled Saturday. He said that the killing that led Avril to declare a state of siege was an assassination meant for him. De Ronceray said Avril\'s armed forces were aiming for what they thought was his car when they killed an army colonel driving a similar auto near de Ronceray\'s home. He said his political colleagues had warned him that Avril wanted him ``destroyed,\'\' so he changed his Friday schedule. ``They made a mistake and killed the colonel,\'\' he said. ``Thirty minutes after he was killed, the guards arrived for me.\'\' The former vice minister of education under Jean-Claude ``Baby Doc\'\' Duvalier said he was then arrested, beaten and thrown in jail. Once there, he said, guards slapped him, beat him with sticks and gun butts and even put a cigarette in his eye, which was noticeably red. ``It is clear the United States must help Haiti to stop Mr. Avril,\'\' he said in a news conference and rally at the Haitian-American Republican Council of Dade County. De Ronceray said his party would refuse to participate in the upcoming elections in Haiti because of Avril\'s military regime, which he said only ``promised elections to get help from foreign countries.\'\' ``There\'s no possiblity of democracy with Mr. Avril,\'\' he said. ``He is a dictator.\'\' Members of Miami\'s Haitian community joined de Ronceray in asking the United States to help them oust Avril. About 40 Haitians attended de Ronceray\'s news conference, and several hundred later rallied in the neighborhood called Little Haiti in opposition to Avril and support of the expelled opposition leaders. ``The United States is fighting for democracy in the world,\'\' de Ronceray said. ``Mr. Avril is demonstating he is able to block the democratic process.\'\'\r\n'),(1645,2,'NEW YORK _ Stringent security on the one hand and a trusting openness on the other mark the dealing in New York\'s exotic Diamond District. Barbara Mangiameli was an outsider who proved remarkably successful in that environment _ until that day when she was murdered and the $500,000 in diamonds she had been carrying disappeared. It\'s a story worthy of a movie plot.\r\n'),(1646,2,'At least 40 people suffered broken bones or heat exhaustion after the crowd surged toward the stage at a rock concert, authorities said. The incident occurred at Greenville Memorial Auditorium just before the start of a concert Tuesday night featuring David Lee Roth and Poison. ``They got caught up in the action, scared to death, being pushed up against the stage. They were sort of crushed between the crowd and the stage, and they couldn\'t breathe real good because of that,\'\' said Pat Browning, county Emergency Medical Service director. Several spectators suffered broken bones, EMS said. The building is air conditioned, but the crush of people made the temperature soar in front of the stage, said Clifford Gray, executive director of the auditorium. Four ambulances were called to the auditorium and an infirmary was set up, Gray said. Nine people were taken to Greenville Memorial Hospital, a spokeswoman said. ``Those people (the crowd) just don\'t have any regard for human life,\'\' said Inez Jones, whose daughter Terry was one of those treated at the hospital.\r\n'),(1647,2,'Rare furniture designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright will return to its original home in Springfield following efforts by Gov. James R. Thompson and more than $800,000 in donations. Thompson said Friday he has negotiated deals for the state-owned Dana-Thomas House museum to buy the furniture, a $704,000 double pedestal table lamp, a $20,000 drafting table and four dining room chairs costing $120,000. ``There are only a few major pieces from the Dana home that are still privately owned, so the opportunities to purchase them, either at auction or by private sale agreements, are extremely rare,\'\' Thompson said. Experts describe the Dana-Thomas house, built by Wright for $60,000 around 1903, as one of the finest examples of the architect\'s Prairie School houses open to the public. The house, commissioned by Susan Lawrence Dana and now maintained by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is one of the most completely furnished of all Wright\'s buildings. The lamp was purchased by the Dana-Thomas House Foundation through a direct sale arranged without fee by Christie\'s auction house in New York, Thompson said, noting that it is scheduled to arrive upon final payment next June. ``Considering the near-hysteria surrounding the acquisition of authentic Wright pieces and the rapidly escalating prices being offered by collectors, we were pleased that Christie\'s agreed to the private sale of this rare lamp,\'\' he said. The chairs were bought from a Colorado family and were returned to the Dana House in September. The drafting table will be bought from a private owner through Christie\'s.\r\n'),(1648,2,'Lowell P. Weicker Jr., the maverick three-term Republican senator whose liberal positions often enraged his party\'s more conservative wing, was ousted Tuesday by moderate Democrat Joseph I. Lieberman, the state\'s attorney general.\r\n'),(1649,2,'Oil futures prices have tumbled in the wake of a report showing domestic inventories of gasoline and crude were at higher-than-expected levels. In Wednesday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, June contracts for West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark crude, fell 17 cents to close at $17.20 per barrel. Among refined products for June delivery, wholesale unleaded gasoline lost 0.56 cent per gallon, settling at 49.72 cents, and wholesale heating oil dropped 0.57 cent to 46.20 cents per gallon. The American Petroleum Institute, a Washington-based trade organization, reported late Tuesday that domestic gasoline supplies grew by 5.9 million barrels in the week ended April 29, while crude stocks shrunk by 700,000 barrels. Those figures in particular sent prices lower in London and New York, because they left more inventory than was expected, said Mary L. Haskins, an analyst at the Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. When inventories rise faster than demand, prices tend to fall. Wednesday\'s declines also reflected continuing market perceptions that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would be unable to agree on a way tighten up its production, even when it meets next month in Vienna, Ms. Haskins said. Technical factors also contributed to the day\'s declines, she said.\r\n'),(1650,2,'A man accused of raping, knifing and shooting three teen-age runaways was found guilty Saturday of murdering one of them. A Kitsap County Superior Court jury found Daniel J. Yates guilty of aggravated first-degree murder and other charges in the attack last year. The same jury now will hear more testimony before deciding between a death sentence or life in prison without parole. Yates, 33, a tattoo artist from nearby Bremerton, was accused of taking the boy and two girls he picked up Sept. 17, 1987, to an isolated area, raping them at gunpoint, and tying them up. Bunnie Lynn Brown, 13, was shot in the head during the attack and died two months later. The other girl, 15, and the boy, 13, survived. Yates was also found guilty of two counts of attempted first-degree murder and three counts of first-degree rape. Kris Brown, the mother of the murdered girl, smiled, cried and hugged a supporter when the verdict was read. The 15-year-old girl, who survived gunshots and a slashed throat, also was in the courtroom for the verdict. In closing arguments Friday, Kitsap County Prosecutor Dan Clem pointed at Yates and said, ``The state has presented to you an ugly, violent picture with that man at the core.\'\' The isolated area where Yates took the three had ``no houses, no lights, no traffic _ perfect place to rape and murder,\'\' Clem said. Yates raped the teens at gunpoint and tied them up, and while binding them he had time to premeditate murder, Clem said. The death penalty can be given only when murder is premeditated. Yates raped a girl, tied her up, then shot her in the eye and ear, but she remained conscious and watched as Yates sodomized a boy, Clem said. After the assailant left she freed herself and ran barefoot down the gravel road to get help, the prosecutor said. ``Who should she run into but the defendant?\'\' Clem said. ``This nightmare shouldn\'t happen to anybody.\'\' Yates slit the girl\'s throat in the second encounter, but ``he\'s still not done,\'\' Clem said. ``He strangles her, smashes her face into the ground.\'\' The girl played dead to make Yates leave, he said. The defense maintained that Yates attacked the children only after one of the girls consented to have sex with him, and the three then threatened to double-cross him for money. ``I am not denying to you _ Daniel Yates is not denying to you _ that he cut, choked, shot and strangled\'\' the teens, defense attorney Judith Mandel told jurors. But ``there are different versions of these events,\'\' she added. The three teens are from Bremerton, across Puget Sound from Seattle.\r\n'),(1651,2,'He performed in places like Madison Square Garden more times than Frank Sinatra, Jack Dempsey and lots of other big names. But after 11,697 shows, animal trainer Gunther Gebel-Williams performs his last death-defying act Sunday with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. ``Everybody asks me, `Why now?\'\'\' he said in the thick German accent he hasn\'t lost since he came to the United States 22 years ago. ``I want to step down when I am really good. I don\'t want to be like Ali, Sugar Ray, `Another fight, another fight.\' \'\' A U.S. citizen since 1979, he calls himself ``German-engineered but a proud American\'\' and often sports a cowboy hat and a Western-style shirt. Though he\'s 56, Gebel-Williams remains enviably trim, 141 pounds with a ruddy complexion and his trademark sweep of blond hair. He announced two years ago that he would retire from ``The Greatest Show on Earth\'\' at the end of the 1990 season. He plans to settle at his winter home in Venice, Fla., with his 20 Bengal and Siberian tigers. After 42 years on the road, he said, training 20 tigers is getting a little riskier because he has lost some of his quickness and his eyesight is not what it used to be. And glasses wouldn\'t look so hot with his skin-hugging tights and sequined boleros, he joked. ``When you have 20 tigers, it\'s not easy to act like nothing can happen,\'\' he said. ``I\'ve been like their father, their brother. I\'ve been in charge always. But when one tiger is hurt, they always blame me.\'\' His domination in the ring comes from a soft-spoken training method based on mutual respect that separates him from his chair-and whip-wielding predecessors like Clyde Beatty and Mabel Stark, who taught animals to fear them. Gebel-Williams strokes his elephants\' trunks, pats the tigers and mumbles commands in German, Indian or English. He welcomes animal rights advocates to attend his training sessions. ``That\'s the difference between me and everybody else,\'\' he said. ``I did everything with open doors. ``In 21 years never did somebody say I treated an animal wrong.\'\' Gebel-Williams began his career when he joined Circus Williams in Germany as an usher at 12. He became so much a part of the Williams family, who had hired his mother as a seamstress, that he added their name to his. By the 1960s, he was well-known as one of Europe\'s top animal trainers. In 1968, he caught the eye of Irvin Feld, owner and producer of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, who bought the entire Circus Williams to get their star to come to America. Now Gebel-Williams will yield the ring to his 20-year-old son, Mark. But he won\'t yield the tigers because he\'s afraid they won\'t transfer their devotion to his son. Mark\'s act will include the African and Indian elephants, white Lippizaner horses, zebras and camels. ``I think it\'s time for Mark. I have to step back,\'\' said Gebel-Williams, adding that he\'ll continue to work with the animals behind the scenes. Gebel-Williams said he didn\'t plan anything special for his last show, explaining that a change in routine would confuse the animals. And he hopes no one calls for a speech. ``It\'ll be very tough, but as long as I don\'t have to talk I can get through it,\'\' he said. After a lifetime with the circus, it would be impossible for him - and his tigers - to give it up entirely, he said. ``I believe some of my tigers will miss this. Maybe once in a while, I\'ll take them in the ring in Venice, turn on the music real loud, and let them pretend.\'\'\r\n'),(1652,2,'The Supreme Court dealt a devastating blow to political patronage today, ruling that government employers generally may not base hiring, transfer and promotion decisions on someone\'s party affiliation. By a 5-4 vote, the justices said refusing to hire, transfer or promote people for politically partisan reasons in most cases violates their constitutionally protected freedoms of speech and association. The court said partisanship may play a role in such employment decisions only when political affiliation is an appropriate requirement for carrying out a job, such as a high-level policy adviser. ``Unless these patronage practices are narrowly tailored to further vital government interests, we must conclude that they impermissibly encroach on First Amendment freedoms,\'\' Justice William J. Brennan wrote for the court. The decision reinstates a lawsuit by three Illinois residents against Gov. James Thompson and Republican leaders in the state. Its sweeping prohibitions apply as well to federal and local government employers. In a landmark 1976 ruling and a 1980 sequel, the high court significantly weakened the political patronage system, sometimes called the ``spoils system.\'\' The rulings prohibited government employers from firing anyone _ even some policy-making and confidential government workers _ solely because of their political party unless party loyalty is a requirement for effective performance. But those decisions dealt only with firings. Before today, the court never had said partisanship can play no role in hiring, transfers and promotions as well. The court also struck down patronage powers of government employers in laying off and rehiring public employees. In other action, the court: _ Expanded police powers by allowing them to search a home when they are let in by someone they mistakenly believe has authority to consent to a warrantless search. In a 6-3 ruling in a case from Chicago, the justices said evidence from such searches may be used in court as long as police, at the time of the entry, reasonably believe the person who granted them access shared authority over the premises with the owner. _ Reinstated a former wrestling coach\'s lawsuit against an Ohio newspaper, ruling that allegedly libelous statements in the case can be treated as assertions of fact, not merely opinion. But the 7-2 ruling did not appear to reduce significantly the free-speech protections from libel law that opinion traditionally has been given by the nation\'s courts. For the first time, the court said the Constitution\'s First Amendment does not require a special, separate privilege for stated opinions. The decision makes clear, however, that the fact-opinion distinction will remain important in libel cases, and courts may continue to throw out lawsuits that seek damages for someone\'s stated opinions. _ Generally barred states and energy consumers from bringing federal antitrust suits against energys producers accused of conspiring to fix prices. In a 5-4 ruling, the justices said only direct purchasers of energy _ in this case utility companies _ may file such suits. A federal appeals court had upheld the Illinois patronage policy in hiring, transfers and promotions but banned such considerations in layoffs and rehirings. It said layoffs are too similar to firings. Brennan said employee loyalty to government policies can be ensured without widespread patronage. ``A government\'s interest in securing employees who will loyally implement its policies can be adequately served by choosing or dismissing certain high-level employees on the basis of their political views,\'\' he said. Brennan was joined by Justices Byron R. White, Thurgood Marshall, Harry A. Blackmun and John Paul Stevens. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Sandra Day O\'Connor dissented. In a dissenting opinion, Scalia wrote, ``Today, the court makes its constitutional civil-service reform absolute, extending to all decisions regarding government employment.\'\' In the Illinois patronage case, two men and a woman who said their job status suffered because they did not vote in Republican primaries or give money to the party sued the governor, the state GOP and the heads of several state agencies. Cynthia Rutan said she repeatedly was denied promotions to supervisory positions in the state Rehabilitative Services Department because she did not support Republican candidates. Franklin Taylor, an equipment operator, said he was denied an Illinois Transportation Department transfer to another county because party officials opposed it. James Moore said the state Corrections Department has refused to hire him since 1978 because he could not get the backing of key GOP leaders. The three sued for more than $1 billion in damages. Their suit also seeks to shift control of the state employment system to a court-appointed federal receiver. During oral arguments before the justices last January, their lawyer, Mary Lee Leahy of Springfield, Ill., said Thompson\'s office has controlled all new hires since 1980. In all, 62,000 civil service jobs are under the governor\'s jurisdiction. She previously had submitted to the court a form used to screen state employees who seek a promotion and live in Sangamon County. The form asks employees to declare how they, or in some cases their parents, voted in primary elections. It also asks whether the person would be willing to work for Republicans during an election. Lawyers for Thompson and state GOP leaders argued that hiring political allies stimulates good government because the employee is likely to appreciate the job and, in turn, serve the public well. Today\'s decision means all the lawsuits remain alive. Several groups from the state, including Independent Voters of Illinois and Common Cause-Illinois, argued in a ``friend-of-the-court\'\' brief, ``A politically conditioned employment system inhibits the free functioning of democracy, rather than advancing it, since it seeks to assist only a single favored political party and to dissuade all other political activity.\'\' In a similar brief, lawyers for the AFL-CIO said, ``Allocating governmental resources purely in the interest of partisan politics grants the favored party an advantage that threatens the legitimacy of our governmental structure.\'\' Lawyers for the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, however, urged the justices to uphold the Illinois system. ``The prospect of employment is a significant incentive to political effort (and) opportunities to implement the administration\'s democratic mandate are enhanced significantly by patronage hiring,\'\' the Puerto Rico lawyers contended. ``These are compelling state interests which outweigh the possible First Amendment impairment resulting from patronage hiring.\'\' No other state filed a brief in support of the Illinois system. The cases are Rutan vs. Illinois Republican Party, 88-1872, and Frech vs. Rutan, 88-2074.\r\n'),(1653,2,'The former director of immigration under Manuel Antonio Noriega, charged with selling passports and visas, left the Vatican Embassy on Wednesday and gave up to U.S. troops, an embassy official said. Former director Belgica de Castillo and her husband, Carlos Castillo, left the nunciature of their own accord, said the Rev. Joseph Spiteri. Still inside is Capt. Eliezer Gaytan, chief of Noriega\'s personal security force. The Castillos sought refuge shortly after U.S. troops invaded on Dec. 20. Deposed dictator Noriega himself holed up in the embassy from Dec. 24 to Jan. 3 before turning himself over to U.S. soldiers. Spiteri said a U.S. military vehicle picked up the Castillos and took them to a U.S. base. Panama\'s new government said Monday that eight former immigration officials, including Mrs. Castillo, were being charged with corruption for selling visas and passports. Attorney General Rogelio Cruz announced Wednesday that a private law firm had filed a complaint against Manuel Solis Palma, who served as acting president for six months in 1988, but was never recognized by the United States, which considered him a Noriega puppet. The complaint accusing Solis Palma of ``usurping public functions and committing crimes against political liberties\'\' was being investigated, Cruz said. He said Solis Palma, now a private citizen in Panama, asked for a guarantee he would not be arrested if he agreed to meet with authorities for questioning. Solis Palma replaced President Eric Arturo Delvalle after Delvalle tried to fire Noriega in February 1988 and was acting president until Sept. 1, 1988. New U.S. Ambassador Deane R. Hinton presented his credentials to President Guillermo Endara on Wednesday and said U.S.-Panamanian relations were ``perfect\'\' following Noriega\'s ouster. ``I see no problems now,\'\' Hinton said, speaking to reporters in Spanish after meeting Endara. ``We will support and work with the democratic government of Panama.\'\' John Grant McDonald, the new British ambassador, also presented his credentials but made no statement. Panamanians continued to pick over the remains of the building in downtown Panama City where Noriega had his military headquarters, toting away everything from furniture to track lighting and pornography. The building, heavily damaged by fighting in the invasion, will be demolished on Thursday, Housing Minister Raul Figueroa said. Foreign Minister Julio Linares said Panamanians linked to Noriega have taken refuge in the embassies of Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Cuba and the Vatican. All but the Bolivian mission are surrounded by U.S. troops. Cruz said two of the 12 Panamanians who sought refuge in the Peruvian Embassy were suspects in the killing of Maj. Moises Giroldi, who led an unsuccessful coup attempt against Noriega on Oct. 3. He did not identify the two but said the Foreign Ministry would tell Peru ``they are not being persecuted politically\'\' and so could not be given asylum. Noriega\'s family is in the Cuban Embassy. Linares said Panama is considering their request for safe-conduct to the Dominican Republic but must first decide whether they can be charged with any offenses.\r\n'),(1654,2,'Young men who go out at night with romance in their hearts and condoms in their wallets should find another storage place, medical researchers say. Ozone, a major component of smog and a product of lightning storms, damages the latex in condoms, and any practice threatening to tear condoms\' packaging and expose them to air should be avoided, the researchers said. ``It\'s not something you should subject to putting in your back pocket, or sitting on, or in any way damaging,\'\' said Russell P. Sherwin, a researcher at the University of Southern California School of Medicine in Los Angeles. Ozone is a lung irritant produced when industrial pollutants and nitrogen oxide react in the presence of sunlight. It reaches high levels in U.S. cities inhabited by a total of 75 million people, the federal Environmental Protection Agency estimated earlier this year. U.S. sales of condoms _ fueled in part by U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop\'s endorsement as protection against AIDS _ totaled $290 million last year and should jump 20 percent more this year, market analysts have said. Sherwin and fellow researchers tested 20 unrolled, unpackaged latex condoms, exposing them to air containing 0.3 parts per million of ozone for 72 hours, a level comparable to a ``Stage 1\'\' smog alert in Southern California. Afterward, all but two condoms had obvious holes in them and 11 burst at pressures far below those that condoms unexposed to ozone-containing air were able to withstand, the researchers said. Examination of the ozone-exposed condoms with an electron microscope also revealed deterioration, the researchers reported in a letter in Friday\'s Journal of the American Medical Association. ``The effect on latex of 0.3 parts per million of ozone for 72 hours is serious and deserves consideration for all phases of condom storage, including the storage and dispersion of non-packaged condoms by sexually transmitted disease prevention and family planning clinics,\'\' the researchers wrote. Sherwin said in a telephone interview Wednesday, ``The package seemed to provide protection as long at it was intact, as long as it wasn\'t perforated or crinkled.\'\' He said the researchers are continuing studies and plan to issue formal findings, including whether another common pollutant _ nitrogen dioxide _ can penetrate typical condom packaging, as it does other kinds of packaging, and cause condoms to become faulty even when unopened. ``The general advice that we offer on condoms holds,\'\' said Dr. Robert Staab, vice president of scientific affairs for Schmid Laboratories Inc., the nation\'s No. 2 condom-maker behind Carter Wallace Inc. of New York. ``That is that they are going to remain safe and effective for a normal life of a product, which is in years, as long as you keep them away from heat, light and ozone,\'\' Staab said Thursday from the company\'s Little Falls, N.J., headquarters. The company\'s packaging is designed partly with ozone in mind by choosing ``only raw materials that will seal properly\'\' to keep out heat, light and ozone, Staab said. Schmid makes Ramses, Sheik and Koromex latex brands and Fourex natural skins brands, but the researchers declined to identify any of the brands of condoms involved. Natural skins condoms also are susceptible to damage from exposure to the environment, Staab added. Recent recalls of several condom lots have increased concern about their dependability, the California researchers said. ``Our general advice is if upon opening a condom and it doesn\'t look right, don\'t use it,\'\' Staab said.\r\n'),(1655,2,'Testimony in Round 2 of a comatose woman\'s right-to-die case ended without any opposition to letting her die. Her doctor and her state-appointed guardian agreed with family members and friends of 33-year-old Nancy Cruzan, who has been in an irreversible coma since 1983. Dr. James C. Davis, who opposed removing a feeding tube when the family first sought court permission to let her die three years ago, changed his mind. He said during a Circuit Court hearing Thursday he favored the mercy death because he was convinced there was no hope for any improvement. He said living for years in a coma, without feeling or thought, was a terrifying prospect. ``I think it would be personally a living hell,\'\' Davis said. Asked if he would want someone to end his life if he were in her place, Davis replied: ``I think anyone would choose that if they had observed that condition.\'\' The U.S. Supreme Court, in its first right-to-die decision, last summer rejected a request by Ms. Cruzan\'s parents to end her life, ruling the state could bar such moves if victims had not made their desires known. Ms. Cruzan left no written instructions about what she would want done under such circumstances. The family went back to court, saying they had new witnesses who could support their claims that she would want to die. Judge Charles E. Teel, who ruled in the parents\' favor before he was overruled, said he would rule on the new petition by Jan. 1. Joe Cruzan testified he knew his daughter would rather die than spend the rest of her life as a ``vegetable.\'\' ``My God, I wouldn\'t be here today if I thought there was any question,\'\' he said, his voice cracking. Two former co-workers and a former employer also said Ms. Cruzan told them she would not want to live if she ever suffered permanent brain damage. She went into a coma after a 1983 car crash. Doctors say she will never recover but could remain alive for 30 years or more in her currentcondition. Ms. Cruzan\'s state-appointed guardian said he agreed with the Cruzans and her personal physician that the feeding tube should be removed. ``I think it clearly is not in her best interest to go on this way,\'\' said the guardian, Thad McCanse. ``I\'m convinced Nancy would not want to live like she is now.\'\' Debi Havner, who now lives in Enid, Okla., and Marianne Smith of Joplin, testified that while working with in 1978 at a school for severely handicapped children in Joplin, the three once agreed none of them would not want to be kept alive artificially. Tom Turner, the former owner of an Oklahoma office products store where Ms. Cruzan worked briefly in 1981, said in videotaped testimony that she also discussed her opposition to certain life-sustaining measures with him. ``She said such things as `Vegetables can\'t hug their nieces,\'\'\' Turner said. ``Her family was a major portion of her life, and if she couldn\'t have them, she didn\'t want to live.\'\'\r\n'),(1656,2,'An upcoming report by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop will declare that nicotine is an addictive drug, the head of the federal Office of Smoking and Health said Sunday. Dr. Ronald M. Davis said he hopes the report will spur the public to understand that cigarette smoking ``is more than just a simple habit.\'\' ``We have to at least give it the serious attention that we do for the illicit drugs such as heroin, cocaine, etc.,\'\' Davis said on CBS-TV\'s ``Face the Nation.\'\' Government officials have been saying for years that nicotine is an addictive drug ``just like cocaine, just like heroin and other drugs that people commonly accept as addicting,\'\' he said. ``But this report, which will be released in a few weeks, looks at the evidence in far greater detail than we\'ve ever looked at before. It compares this drug nicotine versus other drugs,\'\' he said. The report would be the first by a federal official with as high a rank as the surgeon general to declare nicotine addictive. Davis noted that the 1986 surgeon general\'s report on smoking, which documented the health hazards of passive smoking, accelerated the trend toward restricting or banning smoking in public places and in the work place. Among the changes triggered by that report is the recently inaugurated ban on smoking on commercial airplane flights that last two hours or less. Although Davis did not say exactly what steps should be taken once the surgeon general issues his report, he questioned some current ways that cigarettes are distributed. ``Why ... do we sell tobacco products in vending machines?\'\' he asked. ``We don\'t allow other addicting drugs to be sold in vending machines. Why do we allow free samples of the product to be sent through the mail? Or to be passed out on public property where kids and others have free access to them? When we call this drug an addicting drug, we have to take it more seriously than we currently do.\'\' Attempts to reach tobacco industry officials for comment on the upcoming Koop report were unsuccessful. A spokeswoman for the Tobacco Institute and a spokesman for the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. did not answer phone calls made to numbers listed for their homes on Sunday afternoon. Davis attributed the lack of federal regulations on cigarettes to the historical social acceptability of smoking ``and probably the political influence of the tobacco industry.\'\' But Davis said he believes that as fewer people smoke, as it becomes a less socially acceptable activity and as people become more aware of the hazards of smoking, ``we\'ll begin to take actions that we\'ve taken long ago for most other consumer products.\'\' He said lower tar, lower nicotine cigarettes are not the answer because some people smoking such cigarettes ``actually start to smoke more cigarettes per day, or inhale more deeply, or puff more frequently.\'\' Davis noted that overall, only 27 percent of the adult population currently smokes cigarettes, compared with 42 percent of adults in 1964 when the first surgeon general\'s report documenting some health risks of smoking was released. But he said higher smoking rates are occurring in certain population groups, specifically blue collar workers, the unemployed, certain racial and ethnic minority groups and young women. ``Young women smoke at a higher rate than young men, which is the only age group at which we see women smoking more than men,\'\' he said, attributing that in part to advertising ploys indicating that cigarette smoking is a form of women\'s liberation.\r\n'),(1657,2,'The true legend of the Traveling Wilburys began when George Har..., er, Nelson Wilbury needed to record an extra song at short notice and invited two of his dinner companions to lend their voices. Nine days and 10 songs later, the result was one of those happy accidents that proves there\'s more to the music business than accountants and estates. You won\'t find the names George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne on ``Volume One,\'\' the debut album by the oddly-named Traveling Wilburys. But the dark glasses and pseudonyms can\'t hide those familiar talents. Orbison died at the age of 52 on Dec. 6 of a heart attack. ``We definitely didn\'t want to treat this like a supergroup,\'\' said Petty, or Charles T. Wilbury Jr. ``I don\'t even like the term all that much. But we were aware that it would be viewed as such. We look at the Wilburys as a completely other persona as ourselves.\'\' Harrison mentioned to Lynne and Orbison over dinner last spring that he needed a new B-side for a 12-inch single release. The other two said they\'d help him put together a song. The former Beatle had to retrieve his guitar, which he\'d left at Petty\'s California house during a visit a few days earlier, Petty said. The lead Heartbreaker was also asked to join in on the record. Since all the nearby studios were booked, the three amigos had to impose on another friend who had recording facilities in his house. Dylan said he\'d be glad to offer his assistance. ``We all sat around the grass at Bob\'s house and wrote this song called `Handle With Care\' and recorded it that night,\'\' Petty recalled. ``When it was all done it sounded really good.\'\' Much too good, they thought, for a B-side. So they kept on writing and recording. ``It was a very innocent thing, really,\'\' Petty said. ``We were just kind of enjoying it and we were deep into it before we realized almost what we were doing.\'\' That spontaneity, and a lot of humor, comes through on the record. ``Volume One\'\' sounds like a group of friends, albeit extremely talented friends, enjoying themselves together. All five trade lead and backing vocals and strum guitars. The results are a cross between Harrison\'s early \'70s solo work and the electronic flourishes Lynne brought to the Electric Light Orchestra. Orbison\'s ``Not Alone Any More\'\' is in the vein he\'s mined for a quarter-century and the three songs Dylan dominates are some of his best work in years. The song ``Dirty World\'\' pokes fun at Prince with a series of sexual double-entendres and the wickedly funny ``Tweeter and the Monkey Man\'\' is littered with Bruce Springsteen references. The record was a true collaboration, Petty said. On ``Tweeter,\'\' for instance, he and Dylan spoke lyrics into a tape recorder then edited them into a story. Other Wilburys added the chorus, he said. Credit a non-rocker, Prince Charles of Great Britain, with the name Traveling Wilburys, Petty said. Harrison and Lynne performed at the Prince\'s Trust concert last year and were complimented by the host following the show, he said. The prince said the two should form a band, and when they asked for a name, he suggested the Traveling Wilburys, Petty said. The quintet quickly adopted the persona. Harrison is identified throughout as Nelson Wilbury, Lynne is Otis Wilbury, Orbison is Lefty Wilbury and Dylan\'s called Lucky. The whimsical liner notes explain that ``the original Wilburys were a stationary people who, realizing that their civilization could not stand still forever, began to go for short walks.\'\' The offbeat sense of humor seemed to take the pressure off the participants and lent the album a certain mystique, said Paul Grein, author of the Chartbeat column in Billboard magazine. It\'s working _ the album debuted on the charts at No. 57 and shot to No. 23 in its second week, he said. ``It\'s destined to be a very big hit,\'\' Grein said. The Wilbury monikers also took some pressure off the businessmen, since Harrison, Dylan, Petty and Orbison are all contracted to different record companies. There are more than just joking reasons why all the names were left off the album jacket. Petty said the Wilburys have been approached to do a tour, and though no one\'s said no, they haven\'t all said yes, either. He hinted that the Wilbury family tree might be larger, but wouldn\'t say if a ``Volume Two\'\' is planned. There\'s the obvious risk of losing the spark that made this record special. ``I don\'t think anybody wants the Wilburys to be work,\'\' he said. ``I would leave the door open to that. We wouldn\'t rule it out because we had so much fun. I think it could be done again, but not right away. ``We were all very pleased with the way it came out,\'\' Petty continued. ``It\'s so nice when you get the spirit into the vinyl. That\'s what you strive for. I hope everybody smiles when they hear it.\'\'\r\n'),(1658,2,'Hungary\'s reform-minded government plans to privatize the Malev state airline, the deputy transport minister said Tuesday. In an interview with the Magyar Hirlap daily, Sandor Kalnoki Kiss said the government had already received many offers for Malev but planned to hire a professional company to handle the sell-off. ``We have not agreed with anyone but we give everyone a hearing and urge them to take part in the competition,\'\' Kalnoki Kiss said. He said that, while it would be difficult for the government to retain a controlling stake in the airline, his ministry would seek a guarantee to have a say in future company decisions, the news agency reported. Kalnoki Kiss gave no further details. Malev\'s 22-plane fleet flies to 40 countries in Europe, the Middle East and North America.\r\n'),(1659,2,'Data General Corp. today announced today that Edson D. de Castro, the 52-year-old chairman of the troubled computer maker, would resign on Dec. 31. Vice Chairman Herbert J. Richman, 56, will retire at the end of its fiscal year in September. A company statement gave no reasons for the retirements of the two executives, who helped found Data General in 1968. Ronald L. Skates, the company president and chief executive officer, praised de Castro as ``an industry legend.\'\' He also commended Richman for leading the company\'s sales and marketing efforts. Skates said Richman deserved much of the credit for Data General\'s rapid rise in the market for mid-range minicomputers. That market has fallen on hard times. Data General has not enjoyed a profitable year since 1985, when its employment peaked at 17,700. Since then, the company has suffered a string of losses, and employment has shrunk to around 9,500. Analysts say Data General has responded with some strong products, particularly its AViiON workstations. But the minicomputer slump has continued to act as a drag on earnings, hampering the company\'s repeated efforts to turn a profit. The company lost $139 million in its most recent fiscal year. Revenues were $1.22 billion, compared with $1.31 billion the year before. Neither de Castro nor Richman will seek re-election to the board of directors, but Richman will continue to serve as executive vice president for the AsiaPacific region until he retires, the company said.\r\n'),(1660,2,'South Korean President Roh Tae-woo left Honolulu Thursday afternoon for Seoul as he wound up his historic trip to the United States. On Monday, Roh held groundbreaking talks with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in San Francisco. Then, he flew to Washington to brief President Bush on the talks aimed at reducing tensions between North and South Korea. Roh spent about 18 hours in Hawaii relaxing from his high-level diplomatic contacts with the two superpower leaders. About 100 men, women and children from Hawaii\'s Korean community were on hand at Hickam Air Force Base for Roh\'s departure. Many of the women were dressed in hanboks, traditional Korean dresses.\r\n'),(1661,2,'New Jersey and Indiana lawmakers are at odds over a Senate-approved measure that would allow states to close their borders to other states\' garbage to protect shrinking landfill capacity. Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., said his bill would give ``every state the right to determine its own destiny\'\' in managing trash. But New Jersey Democratic Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Bill Bradley contend the bill could slam the door on states unprepared for critical landfill shortages. The Senate approved the measure Tuesday on a 68-31 vote. Lautenberg and Bradley say they will try to persuade a House-Senate conference committee to kill the bill. New Jersey is the largest exporter of solid waste to Indiana landfills, which Coats said are eight to 10 years from reaching their capacity. Indiana, he said, is afraid of being overrun by trash. But New Jersey says it\'s also in danger of being overwhelmed by garbage. Coats\' proposal, offered as an amendment to the District of Columbia appropriations bill, would let states block garbage imports as long as they had a 20-year solid waste plan in place. Lautenberg and Bradley charged the measure would block development of a comprehensive national solid waste policy by pitting state against state. ``What goes around, comes around,\'\' Bradley said several times on the Senate floor, as he warned colleagues that 37 states and the District of Columbia export garbage and could find themselves in New Jersey\'s position. The New Jersey senators told reporters the garbage measure could be stripped from the district appropriations bill because the House has no similar garbage provision in its version. The district appropriations bill is also in danger of a presidential veto because it contains abortion funding language that led to two vetoes last year. If the garbage provision ``is knocked out, we\'ll be back next year,\'\' Coats said. ``At minimum, we have established a 2-to-1 majority to do something about this problem.\'\' Lautenberg accused Coats of playing election-year politics with the garbage issue by running television campaign ads that depict a caricature of a New Jersey man dumping garbage on a Hoosier stoop. Coats was among those accusing New Jersey of not doing enough to control its own waste crisis. ``New Jersey has to solve its problem in a sensible, non-polluting way,\'\' Lautenberg said, acknowledging the state\'s position had few adherents outside the Northeast. ``We knew we were on the less-popular side of the issue,\'\' he said. But Lautenberg argued that passage would let states impose ``unlimited, punitive fees on out-of-state garbage\'\' without Environmental Protection Agency review. ``A state writes its own ticket,\'\' he said. Lautenberg also warned the bill ``would force locked-out states to take desperate steps ... that may mean a rush to incinerators\'\' or illegal dumping.\r\n'),(1662,2,'A wide area of Southern California rolled today with another aftershock of Wednesday\'s big earthquake, triggering a rockslide on a mountain road but no reports of significant damage or injuries. The quake shook Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. It also hit Orange County, where President Bush was addressing a noon anti-drug rally. The aftershock measured 4.7 on the Richter scale at 9:26 a.m., said Robert Finn, spokesman for the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. It was preceded today by a 2.5 quake at 2:52 a.m. and followed within two hours by about 10 quakes under magnitude 2.5, including a 2.4 at 10:41 a.m., according to Caltech. A rockslide closed Mount Baldy Road in the mountains north of Upland and only residents were allowed through, Caltrans spokesman Anthony Hughes said. ``It was scary and I\'m shaking. But nothing fell or flew this time,\'\' said Melina Manning of Ontario, two miles south of the epicenter. ``All the pans and the lights swayed back and forth. It was mild compared to the other day but very scary especially because your nerves are shot from the other day.\'\' ``I was under the desk again. It was very strong here,\'\' said state Office of Emergency Services spokesman Michael Guerin in Ontario. The aftershocks came as Southern Californians bounced by the largest quake to hit the region in more than two years were sweeping up after millions of dollars in damage. City council members in Pomona _ hardest hit of several areas struck by Wednesday\'s earthquake _ said they would meet today to request that Gov. George Deukmejian assist them in obtaining federal or state funds to repair an estimated $10 million in damage in their city. The state Office of Emergency Services said Thursday the quake, measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, caused at least $12.7 million damage in the cities of Claremont, Pomona, La Verne, Chino, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, Montclair and Upland and the counties of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino. The figure ``is very preliminary, based on information provided by cities and counties,\'\' said Guerin. The quake, felt along the coast from San Diego to Santa Barbara and as far east as Las Vegas, was centered on an unnamed fault three miles northwest of this city 40 miles east of Los Angeles. It toppled scores of chimneys, shattered hundreds of windows and collapsed one building\'s wall, but remarkably, caused no major injuries or deaths. Dozens of smaller aftershocks have rattled the area since. There was no official estimate of the number of injured other than ``several dozen\'\' from the OES. The most serious injuries, officials said, were a few broken bones. Only one person, a Pomona man, was known to have been left homeless by the quake. But the temblor spurred renewed calls for Southern Californians to prepare for the so-called ``Big One,\'\' a catastrophic earthquake measuring between 7.5 and 8 on the Richter scale of ground motion. A 1988 U.S. Geological Survey report said that a quake that size is at least 60 percent likely by the year 2018 on the southern San Andreas Fault. ``This is the handwriting on the wall and we better start looking at the design of some of our buildings,\'\' Pomona Vice Mayor Clay Bryant said Thursday. ``We\'ve already been put on notice by a 5.5.\'\' Pomona Mayor Donna Smith said city inspectors were compiling a list of how many unreinforced masonry buildings remain in the city, which has several landmark structures more than 100 years old. She said 301 buildings in Pomona were damaged and 17 were declared uninhabitable. Pomona, Claremont and La Verne all declared local states of emergency Wednesday, but the La Verne City Council withdrew its declaration Thursday after determining damage was not as bad as first believed. The destruction was widely scattered throughout the region. In Pomona, for example, part of the south face of the 58-year-old brick-and-concrete Trinity United Methodist Church collapsed while the brick Pilgram Congregational Church a block away withstood the quake. At the city\'s historic Phillips Mansion, built in 1875, a chimney toppled onto a roof, causing an estimated $500,000 damage, but surrounding buildings were unscathed. Despite the damage, the quake was far less serious than the one that struck the Whittier area on Oct. 1, 1987. That one measured 5.9 and, together with a 5.3-magnitude aftershock on Oct. 4, killed eight people, injured more than 200 and caused $358 million in damage. The Richter scale is a measure of ground motion as recorded on seismographs. An earthquake of 5 can cause considerable damage and 6 severe damage.\r\n'),(1663,2,'Oil prices tumbled more than $4 per barrel today as President Bush held out the possibility of a diplomatic solution to the Persian Gulf crisis. Contracts for light sweet crude fell more than $1 per barrel in a span of several minutes while Bush was on television giving his assessment of the crisis. His remarks followed a vote late Thursday in which the U.N. Security Council authorized the use of force to push Iraqi troops out of oil-rich Kuwait if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein does not withdraw them by Jan. 15. Crude then kept falling sharply, sinking below the $30 per barrel threshold, after Bush\'s news conference had ended. By late afternoon, contracts for crude delivery in January were down $4.21 per barrel, at $28.70, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil\'s biggest move during the crisis was a fall of $5.41 per barrel on Oct. 22. Contracts for crude delivery in several later months were down by their daily limit of $1.50 per barrel. Bush said he would invite Iraqi\'s foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, to come to Washington in December to discuss the situation. Bush also mentioned the possibility that he would send Secretary of State James A. Baker III to Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. ``The reaction is very much to his inviting Tariq Aziz to Washington and Baker to Baghdad,\'\' said Ann-Louise Hittle, a senior oil analyst with Shearson Lehman Brothers Inc. The market had moved up earlier in the week in anticipation of the U.N. resolution, so Bush\'s comments indicating that he would send troops into combat if necessary did not move the market. The president said he would accept nothing less than a complete withdrawal of Iraqi troops and freedom for hostages held by Saddam. ``This has been a war premium market,\'\' Hittle said. ``We rose on expectation of the U.N. resolution being passed. With his comment today, we\'re losing that war premium and backing off.\'\' As oil plummeted, prices for refined petroleum products also fell. By early afternoon, home heating oil was down 6.42 cents at 87.10 cents a gallon on December delivery contracts. Unleaded gasoline fell 5.12 cents a gallon to 78.25 cents on December delivery contracts. Some of the contracts for product delivery in later months were down by their daily limit of 4 cents a gallon. Natural gas was off 7.5 cents at $2.415 per 1,000 cubic feet on contracts for delivery in January.\r\n'),(1664,2,'The soloist for the Italian air force stunt team caused the fatal crash at the West German air show when he arrived too low and too soon at the point where the jets intersected, his commander said Tuesday. Lt. Col. Diego Raineri spoke to reporters shortly before the remains of the three pilots killed in the crash Sunday at Ramstein, West Germany, arrived at the airport. About 2,000 people were at the airport when the bodies arrived. Defense Minister Valerio Zanone will attend the funeral Wednesday for the pilots identified as Lt. Col. Mario Naldini, 38; the soloist, Lt. Col. Ivo Nutarelli, 41; and Capt. Giorgio Alessio, 31, who was the youngest member of the team. ``It is easy enough to tell what happened,\'\' said Ranieri, who as commader was coordinating the team\'s manuevers by radio from the ground at the time of the collision that sent one plane hurtling into the crowd. ``The first section of the formation flew in one direction and the soloist came in from 90 degrees, colliding with two planes,\'\' he said. Two of the three other planes in that group were damaged, he said. ``I was the only one (team member) to see the tragedy, but I don\'t understand what happened. The soloist came in early on the rest of the formation and at the same altitude,\'\' Ranieri said. ``The other section, composed of four planes, did not know what happened until the end of the manuever when the pilots saw the wreckage and the smoke on the runway,\'\' he said. Some Italian politicans called for a parliamentary investigation of the crash, called for the resignation of the defense minister and the Air Force commander, and criticized the Defense Ministry\'s decision to allow the team to continue its performances this year. ``The decision of the Defense Ministry to continue the next exhibitions of the national aerobatic team seems like an offense in front of the victims, the hundreds of injured at Ramstein and the pilots that died in the accident,\'\' said Greens party Deputies Rosa Filippini and Giancarlo Salvoldi. The two said they would demand an urgent meeting of the Chamber of Deputies to debate the tragedy. Deputy Flaminio Piccoli, a member of the dominant Christian Democrats and the president of the chamber\'s foreign committee, criticized the risks ``to the lives of the exceptional pilots and to the lives of the citizens and spectators\'\' and said it was necessary for the government and Parliament to investigate the tragedy. The organizers of an air show Satuday in Fribourg, Switzerland, announced they have asked the Italian team to withdraw because of the accident at Ramstein. They said the request was to show respect for the dead pilots and because the crash investigation is still underway. Also on Tuesday, organizers canceled a Sept. 11 air show in Venice. Ranieri, during his impromptu news conference, defended the decision to continue performances by the team this year. ``An experience like Ramstein cannot be erased from the memory, but the motivation to do our work has not changed very much,\'\' he said. ``The time to reconstruct the unit decimated by the accident will be months, probably years. We were the best in the world.\'\'\r\n'),(1665,2,'The value of U.S. agricultural exports is expected to jump 22 percent to a four-year high of $34 billion this fiscal year, up from $27.9 billion in 1986-87, the Agriculture Department said Thursday. In terms of actual quantity, shipments were forecast at 146 million metric tons in the year that will end Sept. 30, up 13 percent from last year. Both the value and quantity estimates were up from the previous USDA forecasts on May 26 of $33.5 billion and 145.5 million tons. Although the report cited no figures for subsequent years, it said export values may increase in 1988-89 due to higher prices but the volume of shipments may decline. The report said the rise in estimates since May stemmed from larger-than-expected exports of animal products, slightly larger subsidized wheat exports, and higher corn prices due to the drought. Noting that 1987-88 exports are now expected to be up $6.1 billion and 16.8 million tons, the report said, ``This largely reflects reduced competitor supplies; higher prices for grains, oilseeds and cotton; and increased U.S. export competitiveness\'\' helped by a lower-valued dollar and the Export Enhancement Program, or EEP. Under EEP, selected countries _ including the Soviet Union and China _ can get wheat and other designated commodities subsidized by the U.S. government. The new forecast showed the value of grain exports at $12.2 billion, up from $11.8 billion expected in May and 1986-87 shipments worth $9.33 billion. Oilseeds, mainly soybeans, were forecast at $7.6 billion, down slightly from $7.7 billion indicated three months ago. But that was up from $6.47 billion last year. Exports of livestock products this year were raised to $4.7 billion from the May forecast of $4.5 billion. In 1986-87, those were valued at $3.96 billion. Other major categories included: horticultural products, $3.7 billion this year, the same as indicated in May but up from $3.15 billion in 1986-87. Cotton export values were shown at $2.2 billion, the same as the earlier forecast. Last year\'s cotton shipments were worth $1.43 billion.\r\n'),(1666,2,'Two Americans and an Israeli have been charged in a federal indictment with conspiring to arrange the sale to Iran of three Israeli-owned U.S.-made military cargo planes. The indictment filed Thursday in U.S. District Court stemmed from an undercover investigation by the U.S. Customs Service. The sale, in which Iran was to buy the aircraft for $12 million each, never went through. The men, allegedly middlemen in the deal, were charged with conspiring to cover up the true destination of the C-130E transports by submitting to the State Department false papers that said a Brazilian company would buy them. Prosecutors said the proposed sale violated the Arms Export Control Act in which the State Department must approve all transfers abroad of American-made military goods. It prohibits the sale of such goods to countries such as Iran that have supported acts of international terrorism. Assistant U.S. Attorney Baruch Weiss said he could not say whether Israel knew the planes were to be sold to Iran. The Brazilian company, which was not identified, allegedly was to receive $500,000 for providing the false information to the State Department, the indictment said. The defendants named in the indictment were Joseph O\'Toole, 58, of Claremont, Calif.; Richard St. Francis, 40, of Fairfield, Conn.; and Ari Ben Menashe, an Israeli. All three were first arrested in April when the terms of the deal were finalized with an undercover Customs agent. The case was then presented to a grand jury, which returned the indictment, charging each with one count of conspiracy. Menashe has been jailed without bail since his arrest. The others are free on bond. Weiss said he could not give more information about the defendants. St. Francis, however, was identified in court papers as a vice president of the Connecticut office of Vienna, Va.-based TransCapital Corp. If convicted of conspiracy, the men face up to five years in jail and a $250,000 fine.\r\n'),(1667,2,'Housing construction rose a moderate 2.4 percent in July, the government reports, but economists warn that rising mortgage rates could make the two-month housing rebound a brief one. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that new homes and apartments were built at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.49 million units last month after advancing 4.4 percent in June. Housing starts dropped a sharp 12.1 percent in May to the slowest pace in three years, and rising mortgage rates were blamed.\r\n'),(1668,2,'There were 840 tornadoes in the United States last year, the second highest total on record, the National Weather Service reported Friday. The record is 907 tornadoes, recorded in 1984. There were relatively few fatalities in 1989, however, the Weather Service said. There were 48 deaths attributed to twisters, well below the 83 fatalities in an average year. Alabama suffered the most 1989 deaths with 21, according to the report. There were 9 deaths in New York, 5 in North Carolina, 4 in Georgia, 3 in Florida, 2 each in Louisiana and South Carolina and 1 each in Tennessee and Texas.\r\n'),(1669,2,'The board of directors of The Pittston Co. has elected a new president and vice chairman, the company said Friday. Joseph C. Farrell was elected president and chief operating officer, and David L. Marshall was elected vice chairman, the company said. Both had been executive vice presidents. Paul W. Douglas, chairman and chief executive officer, said the promotions were part of the transition plan for his scheduled retirement in September 1991. Pittston suffered a $10 million first quarter loss it blamed on a 10-month coal miners\' strike and by poor performance in its air freight business. The Greenwich-based company is engaged in the mining and marketing of bituminous coal through the Pittston Coal Group, Inc. and Pyxis Resources Co.; in air freight services through Burlington Air Express, Inc.; in security transportation through Brink\'s Inc.; and in home security services through Brink\'s Home Security, Inc.\r\n'),(1670,2,'After nearly seven years of court proceedings, it took a jury just over two hours to reject the claim by former Gov. Edward J. King that he was libeled by a 1981 political column in The Boston Globe. But the former chief executive claimed he was vindicated anyway because the verdict issued Thursday found one sentence in the column was false. ``We did the very best we could,\'\' King said after the verdict in Suffolk Superior Court. He said he did not consider the lawsuit a waste of time because ``now we know that something the Globe never retracted was a false statement.\'\' King, who said earlier that he might run for governor again if he prevailed, said he and his lawyer would decide whether to appeal the ruling within 30 days. He had no comment on his political plans, ifany. After six days of testimony, the jury returned a special verdict slip that said former Globe columnist David Farrell was wrong when he wrote in a Nov. 8, 1981, column that King called a judge to demand harsher sentences in a gang-rape case. But when asked if they believed the statement discredited King among ``any considerable and respectable class of the community,\'\' the jury answered no and decided the case in favor of the Globe. King needed to prevail on each question on the verdict slip to win. John Driscoll, the newspaper\'s editor, said the verdict upheld freedom of speech. ``After seven years of litigation, the jury has reaffirmed the right of all people _ including columnists and cartoonists _ to speak and write freely about the actions of government,\'\' Driscoll said. Farrell, 62, who resigned from the Globe in 1985 and now works in public relations, said he was relieved. ``I\'m very pleased and I feel vindicated. I always felt I did a good job writing the column,\'\' Farrell said. Asked if he still believes King called the judge, Farrell said, ``Yes.\'\' King, who joined the Republican party after losing the September 1982 Democratic primary to Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, filed suit in January 1982 against the Globe and several editorial employees, seeking $3.6 million. King testified that the column amounted to a charge of obstruction of justice and struck him like ``an ice pick in the ribs,\'\' causing him to lose sleep on more than 1,000 nights. On cross-examination, King acknowledged that he never publicly denied making the call. Globe attorney Joseph Kociubes argued that King, who was thinking of suing the Globe before the column, did not show evidence of financial, social or political harm. Farrell testified that he was told about King\'s purported call to Judge Herbert Abrams by state Treasurer Robert Q. Crane, an old friend of Farrell whom he considered a reliable source about Massachusetts politics. Crane testified that he was the source, but could not recall who told him about the call. Both King and Abrams swore that no call took place. Under libel law, a public figure such as King has the burden of showing not only that a publication was false but that it defamed him. Further, the governor must have shown that the column was published with ``actual malice\'\' _ that is, with knowing falsity or with ``reckless disregard\'\' for the truth.\r\n'),(1671,2,'Prices dipped in dull trading on the London Stock Exchange Friday, hurt in part by weakness on Wall Street. The Financial Times-Stock Exchange 100-stock index closed down 6.3 points, or 0.4 percent, at 1,729.8. Volume was a low 377.8 million shares, compared with 411.3 million Thursday. Prices were marked down at the opening in response to a fall Thursday in New York, brokers said. Prices barely moved for the next several hours because of a lack of trading and interest, they said. But prices slipped again in the afternoon when Wall Street failed to revive at its opening. The market currently is lacking direction because it is receiving contradictory signals about the direction of the economy, and is waiting for British companies to complete reporting their 1987 results, one broker said. Only a few companies have already reported their results, and the market needs some indication of how Britain\'s major banks and industrial concerns are doing, the broker said.\r\n'),(1672,2,'About 30 nationalists gathered Thursday night at the foot of a statue of Vladimir Lenin in a Ukrainian city for a candlelight vigil to denounce 72 years of ``red terror,\'\' the Tass news agency reported. The demonstrators in Donetsk placed a garland of barbed wire around the base of the statue to the founder of the Soviet state, Tass reported. A ribbon attached to the wire said ``To V.I. Lenin _ on the 72nd Anniversary of Red Terror,\'\' the news agency said. Another streamer reportedly bore the words: ``100 million victims.\'\' Tass said the demonstrators, all members of a Ukrainian nationalist movement, held lighted candles in the vigil, which lasted about an hour. The Tass account was headlined ``Insulting Vigil at Lenin Monument in Donetsk,\'\' and said passers-by expressed anger and bewilderment at the protest. Police asked the demonstrators to disperse, and one of the participants tried to slash his veins to protest what he called illegal police actions, Tass reported. He received medical assistance, and the demonstrators dispersed, the news agency added. Donetsk, the center of the eastern Ukraine\'s Don River coal basin, was the site this summer of a one-day strike by miners demanding less interference from the Communist Party. Miners in Donetsk also joined a long, bitter coal strike in the summer of 1989 over low wages and consumer goods shortages. Statues of Lenin have been vandalized with increasing frequency across the Soviet Union in recent months, and some have been dismantled on the orders of local authorities, to the dismay of the Soviet leadership.\r\n'),(1673,2,'The remains of Hurricane Gilbert passed across Texas Sunday, swelling rivers as hundreds of people began clearing debris from homes and businesses damaged by at least 41 tornadoes spun off by the storm. Bob Gibson, controller at the state\'s Emergency Operating Center in Austin, said Sunday night that his office was monitoring areas where flash flood and tornado watches were in effect until Sunday night, but had no reports of significant flooding. ``It\'s been actually pretty light tonight,\'\' he said. ``I think we\'re still lucky.\'\' Nearly 2 inches of rain fell Sunday at Quanah, northwest of Wichita Falls, which had a thunderstorm and high wind Sunday night, and some roads were under water in Ozona in West Texas Sunday afternoon, the National Weather Service reported. The remains of Gilbert were moving out of Texas and into Oklahoma late Sunday night, the weather service said. Forecasters told residents of central Oklahoma and southeast Kansas to watch for possible flooding early Monday. In Texas, tornadoes touched down just to the west of Abilene Sunday at Lake Sweetwater and at Eskota, but only minor damage was reported, the weather service said. A total of 41 tornadoes swept the state as the remains of Gilbert headed northward, officials said. Two people were reported killed, both in San Antonio late Friday and Saturday. State officials said they did not expect to have a dollar estimate of damages throughout the state for a few days. Trees and roofs were blown away at Kelly Air Force Base, causing $3 million damage. Scores of apartments were destroyed or damaged at one complex. Telephone and electric service was knocked out in areas. An air-conditioning system at a Veterans Administration Hospital was damaged, prompting Mayor Henry Cisneros to declare a state of emergency so replacement parts could be flown in and the transfer of patients avoided. ``San Antonio was very lucky,\'\' Cisneros said. ``We could have had 15, 20, 25 or 50 people killed in this incident.\'\' In northeastern Mexico, Coast Guard aircraft picked up people threatened by swollen rivers Sunday, but a dam thought to be in danger was re-evaluated and declared safe, said Laureen Chernow of the state Emergency Management Council. At least 98 deaths and billions of dollars in damage were blamed on the storm in the Caribbean and Mexico. An additional 90 deaths were confirmed and more than 100 others were feared drowned after a rain-swollen river overturned four buses in Monterrey, Mexico. The Rio Grande in Terrell County in southwest Texas rose 30 feet overnight and was up to 12 feet above flood stage Sunday evening, officials said. But high water that had forced the closing of two farm-to-market roads had subsided, said Sonny Holleyman, a Terrell County deputy sheriff. The roads were reopened and a rock slide that also blocked one of those roads had been cleared, he said. Authorities in the Texas Hill Country, a ranching and farming area, kept an eye on the flood-prone Guadalupe River, but no flooding was reported. In San Antonio, telephone and utility crews worked to restore service, and residents of apartments and houses hit by tornadoes began cleaning up. A twister struck a mobile home near downtown early Saturday, killing 59-year-old Emily Dickens, who was thrown about 100 feet from her bedroom. Recently widowed, she was sharing the trailer with her son and daughter-in-law. ``We\'re all pretty much in a daze. We really don\'t know how to react to anything right now,\'\' said the daughter-in-law, Deborah Dickens. ``We\'ll take one day at a time. We\'ll clean up and eventually we\'ll get our own house put up if we get some money to buy lumber and tin.\'\' On Friday, a man was killed when a tornado knocked a tree onto his house in San Antonio. Sylvia Sulsh, 54, was taking a shower when the tornado struck her third-story apartment at The Lodge apartments, where at least 120 units were destroyed, 264 others damaged and some 300 tenants left homeless. ``There was all this insulation all over me in the shower. I got out of the shower and braced myself against the door and then I saw all the roof fall down in the living room,\'\' Ms. Sulsh said. ``I was open to the world, so I grabbed my nightgown and robe. I was more worried about getting my clothes on than being sucked out of the shower by the wind.\'\'\r\n'),(1674,2,'A keen-eyed captain of a West German cargo ship rescued two British fishermen who were close to death after six hours in the English Channel, Falmouth coast guard said today. ``They were just two heads bobbing in the water,\'\' said coast guard duty officer David Mayall. ``They were very lucky to be seen.\'\' With water temperature at 59 degrees, ``we would expect people to die after that length of time in the water,\'\' Mayall said. ``It was pure luck we spotted them,\'\' said Capt. Gunter Feicks of the Hamburg-registered Jan Becker, 3,170 tons, which was en route from Rotterdam to Waterford in the Irish Republic. Fishermen Fred Steel and Gregory Lett, both age 38 from Cornwall, grabbed life belts and jumped into the sea at 2 a.m. Sunday when their 60-foot boat, Semper Parates, sank from an unknown cause in 10 minutes off Land\'s End. Six hours later, the freighter passed by and Feicks, looking through his binoculars, spotted something in the water ``that shouldn\'t have been there.\'\' The ship called for help and a Royal Navy helicopter winched the two men from the sea and flew them to a hospital in Truro. They were suffering from hypothermia _ subnormal body temperature _ but were comfortable, the hospital said.\r\n'),(1675,2,'Fire swept through a three-story apartment building early Saturday, killing six immigrants, including two children, as they huddled in their kitchen, authorities said. The fire started in a vacant second-floor apartment and spread to the hallway and third floor, said Newark Fire Department spokesman Larry Krieger. ``There was no one in the apartment when it started,\'\' he said. ``It was being remodeled and someone could have left something on.\'\' Three men, a woman and two young children died when their third-floor apartment was engulfed by flames, Krieger said. The victims were found in the kitchen, he said. Another man in the apartment, Juan Rodriguez, managed to escape by jumping out a window. Krieger said the seven, natives of the Dominican Republic, had moved in less than a week earlier. Identities of the victims were not immediately released because relatives had not been notified, Krieger said. He said one child was about 3 months old, the other 2 years old. Rodriguez and five residents of another apartment were taken to University Hospital, Krieger said, but hospital officials said their records indicated that only five people were treated. Three of the five, including Rodriguez, were admitted for observation and were listed in fair condition, hospital officials said.\r\n'),(1676,2,'President Turgut Ozal of Turkey tells of glancing at the television screen just in time to see and hear President Bush saying he was about to call him up. The Turkish president walked into his office and picked up the ringing telephone. It was Bush. That\'s the way it often is in the Persian Gulf confrontation. Cable News Network\'s constant, live broadcasts from scenes of crisis and diplomacy lets leaders a world apart look over one another\'s shoulders as events unfold. In another era, information on crisis situations moved to diplomats and warriors over secret, coded, back channels. The world knew only what these movers and shakers wanted known. The Gulf crisis is broadcast around the world in color, often live, 24 hours a day on CNN. Among the most avid watchers are the world leaders who make the news, including Britain\'s Margaret Thatcher, France\'s Francois Mitterrand, Libya\'s Moammar Gadhafi and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia. CNN staffers in Washington are reminded of this by a photograph tacked to their bulletin board. It shows President Bush and his top advisers watching an Iraqi newscast, the CNN logo prominent in one corner. ABC\'s Ted Koppel, broadcasting from Baghdad, paid a rival the ultimate compliment by saying that the Iraqi foreign ministry was following events by watching CNN. And Turkey\'s Ozal, a key player, says he has kept his television tuned to CNN since Iraq troops crossed into Kuwait Aug. 2. An Associated Press reporter arriving for an interview recently found the president chuckling over a brawl between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. Each morning, Iraqi television sends CNN\'s Atlanta headquarters two or three messages advising what stories it plans to carry. Such a message might advise that ``at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time, Iraqi TV will be carrying a message from President Saddam Hussein to President Bush.\'\' Television has become a weapon in this war of nerves, just as it was when the Ayatollah Khomeini allowed U.S. camera crews to film frenzied mobs of Iranians denouncing ``The Great Satan\'\' America during the 1979-1980 hostage crisis. And it\'s getting on President Bush\'s nerves. Bush complained to reporters this week that they were asking harder questions of him than of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. Ed Turner, CNN\'s executive vice president for news gathering, said the network tapes most Iraqi TV offerings and screens them before they are put on the network. But on Thursday, when Hussein appeared on television for 50 minutes with a roomful of English-speaking hostages, CNN stayed with Iraqi TV the entire time. The other American networks showed excerpts of the bizarre, profoundly disturbing scene. Turner, no relation to CNN founder Ted Turner, shrugs off any suggestion that the network is being used for propaganda by the Iraqis. ``The technology that permits all this is not going to be disinvented,\'\' he said. ``When we worry about being used or manipulated, or becoming a part of this story as opposed to being chroniclers, it seems to me that since the technology exists, it\'s a question of using it responsibly.\'\' Robert MacNeil, co-anchor of ``The MacNeil-Lehrer Hour\'\' on the Public Broadcasting service, said television is doing what wire services and newspapers have been doing for more than a century. ``It\'s just that television has speeded it up,\'\' MacNeil said. ``It\'s a kind of television version of the hot line that Kennedy and Khrushchev set up after the Cuban Missile Crisis.\'\' The international audience for CNN\'s broadcast is awesome. The network\'s broadcasts are seen in 95 countries, including 25 in Europe, 3 in the Middle East and 10 in Africa. ``We\'re virtually the primary source of news for many people, including many principals involved in the current crisis,\'\' said Peter Vesey, director of CNN International. ``It\'s gratifying, but it emphasizes once again our responsibility as journalists not only to get it fast, but to get it right.\'\' Ted Turner began with 1.7 million domestic subscribers and now has over 55 million. At any given time the evening newscasts of the other three commercial networks out draw CNN 10-to-1, but that is not a valid comparison since the cable network\'s audience is spread over a 24-hour day. Vesey estimates that CNN has nine million subscribers worldwide, but its audience is far larger, since the service is available unscrambled to people who have the right kind of equipment, but don\'t pay. The network observed its 10th anniversary last month and Newsweek, describing a celebration, headlined its piece ``CNN is the network of the new world it helped create.\'\' National Public Radio\'s Daniel Schorr, who was with CNN at the start, called it ``The world\'s intercom.\'\' CNN took out a three-age advertisement this month in the industry publication, Electronic Media, to brag about how far it\'s come. ``They laughed when we decided to create an all-news network,\'\' said the first page. ``Nobody\'s laughing now,\'\' says the second.\r\n'),(1677,2,'Nicolae Ceausescu was a morose boy who dreamed of power while fellow children in his hometown pursued more innocent ideals, the former dictator\'s cousin recalled Saturday. Florea Ceausescu, who has spent his life a stone\'s throw from his infamous cousin\'s modest childhood home, depicted him as a cruel and selfish man with no time for anyone outside his immediate clique, and other long-time Scornicesti residents concurred. ``Even as a youngster he had the feeling that he would lead the people,\'\' the 71-year-old said of his cousin, nodding toward Ceausescu\'s first home. ``He was a cruel man, who worked only for his own people and had no feelings for outsiders.\'\' Florea Ceausescu lives across the street from the three-room hut where Ceausescu spent his first 12 years. He said Ceausescu showed no interest in neighbors on his rare visits, ``and we had no chance to talk to him because he was always surrounded by bodyguards.\'\' Municipal officials painted a picture of an inward, unapproachable man, whose dreaded Securitate secret police took over the town of 13,000 whenever the dictator visited. ``They would never announce his coming,\'\' Mayor Ilie Manea said. ``Around 500 Securitate would converge in town, and in the surrounding hills and forests, and the mayor\'s and local police\'s only job was to find enough people to get together a cheering crowd.\'\' The town, about 120 miles northwest of Bucharest, showed little sign Saturday of the violent upheaval that toppled Ceausescu and led to his and his wife\'s execution Dec. 25. But there was evidence of the depth of feeling against the dictator and his clique. The dirt floors of Ceausescu\'s childhood home were covered with shards of glass from broken portraits of the iron-fisted leader and his parents. The inside of a luxurious adjoining villa belonging to Ceausescu\'s sister, Elena Bobulescu, was in disarray, its cupboards ripped open and their contents strewn about. Florea Ceausescu, his face bearing uncanny resemblance to his cousin except for several day\'s growth of beard and deep lines etched by a hard life, smiled when asked if his name would cause him trouble. ``I will change my name,\'\' he declared. ``Everyone will now say that we are all bad because of the name.\'\' Ceausescu said he had little contact with his cousin after the future leader moved to Bucharest at age 12 and became an apprentice cobbler. But he recalled a moody, strange youth with a sense of mission. ``He would play for awhile, and then he would suddenly stop for no reason and say, `I\'ve had enough,\'\'\' he said. ``He was a little strange. He never laughed, he was serious all the time.\'\' Nicolae Ceausescu\'s thirst for power was at least initally intertwined with idealistic strivings to improve the lot of a backward people, his cousin suggested. Shortly after his move to Bucharest, the young Ceausescu was arrested for illegal activities tied to his activism in the Communist Party, and he reappeared briefly in Scornicesti at age 14 after two years in prison. Before World War II, the Communists were a tiny group viewed as anarchist troublemakers by Romanian authorities. ``My father asked him `Why did you go to jail?\'\' Florea Ceausescu said. ``He answered, `I went to jail so we can work the land with heavy machinery and we can raise production.\'\'\' But all idealism appeared to be extinguished in the last years of Ceausescu\'s 24-year tenure at the helm of the country. The 1980s were marked by growing privation across the nation. The meager amount of national income left by Ceausescu\'s drive to pay off a massive foreign debt was consumed by extravagant construction projects of questionable value. ``The only thing important to Nicolae was not people but building monuments,\'\' his cousin alleged, saying his own small house nearly fell victim to the dictator\'s grandiose scheme to raze traditional village homes and move their owners into impersonal apartment blocks.\r\n'),(1678,2,'A proposed merger of financially troubled CenTrust Bank with a bank owned by a billionaire cruise ship magnate was announced late Wednesday as part of a plan to ward off regulators from the Miami-based savings and loan. The non-binding agreement calls for CenTrust and Ensign Bank to begin negotiations to reorganize under a new holding company. The merger would include a cash infusion from Ensign\'s parent, Hamilton Holding Co., which is controlled by Carnival Cruise Lines Inc. principal owner Ted Arison. The merger would be contingent upon several conditions, including federal approval of CenTrust\'s plans to sell 63 of its 71 branches to Great Western Bank of Beverly Hills, Calif., according to a statement by both companies. Ensign Financial Corp., which operates New York-based Ensign Bank, has 27 branches in metropolitan New York and in Florida and reported federally insured assets in 1988 of about $2 billion. Last year, Ensign called off a $170 million takeover bid for Anchor Savings Bank of New York, a merger that would have created the nation\'s fifth-largest savings bank with assets of about $10.3 billion. The latest proposed merger is intended halt pressure from regulators seeking to reorganize CenTrust, which was criticized for its heavy investment in an expensive art collection and the lavish lifesytle of Chairman David Paul. In December, the federal Office of Thrift Supervision ordered CenTrust to sell its art collection, some of which had been kept at Paul\'s home, as well as limousines, a corporate jet and a sailboat. It also forbid CenTrust from increasing its executives\' salaries or paying dividends to stockholders. State Comptroller Gerald Lewis on Dec. 20 gave Paul 21 days to resign or contest the complaint. A statement released by CenTrust said Paul would ``vigorously oppose\'\' removal. Lewis\' complaint claimed Paul violated his duty as officer of a financial institution by using CenTrust employees to perform personal services, charging the company for personal bills and buying luxuries. It cited $30 million in art bought with CenTrust funds, including $12 million paid for Peter Paul Rubens\' ``Portrait of a Man as Mars.\'\' The complaint also questioned Paul\'s $4.8 million salary from January 1988 to September 1989, when the thrift suffered pre-tax operating losses of $76 million. Last week, a U.S. District Court judge in Washington refused an appeal by CenTrust and ordered the bank to take back a $310,000 bonus paid to Paul in October. CenTrust, with $9 billion in assets, is Florida\'s largest thrift and the 22nd largest in the country. The statement issued late Wednesday did not place a price on the proposed merger or indicate how much would be paid to CenTrust shareholders.\r\n'),(1679,2,'A train struck a car Tuesday at a railroad crossing in fog, killing five members of a family in the car and injuring three others, authorities said. The parents and three of their children were pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. The other three children were taken to hospitals. The children were all under age 9. No one in the train was injured, and the train was sent on its way, according to the Highway Patrol. The crash occurred on a rural gravel road about five miles west of Valley City, said Dolph Oldenburg, a Barnes County correctional officer. State Highway Patrolman Roger Haga said the engineer of the westbound Burlington Northern train blew the engine\'s whistle before crossing the intersection. But fog covered the area, and the driver of the northbound car apparently did not see nor hear the train, the patrolman said. Two children were taken to Mercy Hospital in Valley City. One child wandered away from the wreck and was found about an hour later and taken to the hospital, Haga said. Mercy Hospital spokeswoman Connie Reed said a 5-year-old girl was transferred by ambulance to a Fargo hospital where she was in critical condition Tuesday night, and two boys, ages 4 and 6, were in stable condition in the Valley City hospital. The identities of the victims were not released. No other details were available.\r\n'),(1680,2,'Leaders of the world\'s richest nations began their 16th economic summit today, urged by President Bush to harness ``the power and energy of free wills and free markets\'\' to bolster the troubled economies of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The seven leaders were deeply divided on how and when to provide financial assistance sought by Mikhail Gorbachev, but officials said a team of western bankers and other experts would be sent to assess Soviet needs. As the meetings began, the leaders lined up ``about half on one side, and half on the other\'\' over how to extend financial assistance to Mikhail Gorbachev, said White House chief of staff John Sununu. Bush has said he has ``big problems\'\' with extending direct aid to Moscow until it reduces military spending, moves more forcefully toward a free-market system and curtails the $5 billion a year subsidy to Cuba. A Gorbachev aide said Monday that western aid must be unconditional, explaining, ``We aren\'t taking orders.\'\' Bush met this morning with Francois Mitterrand and a French spokesman said both men stuck to their position: Bush opposes direct aid _ at least for now _ while Mitterrand favors ``all aid that is serious and useful.\'\' Officials said the leaders would approve an assessment team to recommend applications for western assistance. Sununu said the study might be conducted by a mixture of western financing agencies, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Bush is offering the Soviets technical assistance for transportation and agriculture and advice on developing free-market mechanisms. Sununu pointed out that the Soviets currently lose almost half their grain crop through faulty storage. Sununu noted that different countries view Soviet circumstances in different ways, perhaps a hint that Bush will not staunchly oppose direct aid from France, West Germany and Italy _ nations that are ready to proceed. Also meeting here are leaders from Britain, Japan, Canada and the European Economic Community. ``We are called upon as allies and as friends to work toward decisions that will bring new stability and prosperity to the world, by tapping the power and energy of free wills and free markets,\'\' Bush said in a statement opening the summit. ``These economic summits have become a framework for frank, constructive dialogue, a dialogue for progress that I believe will be advanced greatly in these next three days. A new world of freedom lays before us. Hopeful. Confident. A world where peace endures, where commerce has conscience, where all that seems possible is possible. ``So let us begin, in good faith, to set the stage for the new millennium.\'\' Soviet aid questions were a highly charged and undecided issue as the three-day summit began. Decisions were likely to come Wednesday in a final communique. From Moscow came a fresh plea for financial assistance. Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze told reporters at the Communist Party Congress,``I feel it would be advantageous, for us and the West.\'\' He said Moscow was looking to the west for ``credit, technical cooperation, personnel training, joint ventures and joint projects.\'\' Meanwhile, the summit partners faced a tangle of their own differences over trade and the environment. Europeans are resisting Bush\'s demand for phasing out farm subsidies over the next 10 years and, together with Canada, are pushing for agreement on new steps to halt global warming. Sununu sniped at European critics of Bush\'s go-slow policy on curbing carbon dioxide and other pollutants blamed for warming the global environment. ``I think West Germany got a lot of good grades for rhetoric,\'\' he said on ABC. ``If you take a good look at what the United States has actually done in terms of cleaning up our environment ... I don\'t think the United States has to take a back seat to anyone.\'\' Yet, a prominent U.S. environmental group, the Wilderness Society, quickly chimed in to say, ``the U.S. gets a failing grade, no matter how Governor Sununu tries to rejigger the numbers.\'\' Before calling the summit into session on the campus of Rice University, Bush met separately with Mitterand and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl to discuss their $15-billion aid proposal for Moscow. The world has changed dramatically since the last economic summit in Paris. At that time, the West was considering a limited aid package to encourage the beginings of reform efforts in Poland and Hungary. Since that time the Berlin Wall has crumbled and most of the communist nations of Eastern Europe have been swept away, leaving the West groping for a way to respond to the dramatic changes. Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady said today the chief message from Houston will be to urge East European nations to undertake necessary economic reforms before they receive Western assistance. ``There\'s no sense in pouring money into a system that isn\'t ready to receive it,\'\' he said on NBC.\'\' Despite temperatures in the 90s and humidity topping 80 percent, the city of Houston went all out to welcome the heads of government, their contingents and hordes of reporters. Air conditioning was pumped onto the outddor platform to make the arrival ceremony comfortable for the leaders. Bush was host Sunday night to a pre-summit rodeo, complete with bareback riding, barrel racing and a calf scramble. Japan\'s Toshiki Kaifu, a first-time summiteer, waived his cowboy hat as if he\'d been doing it all his life. Mitterrand, Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti and Kohl delayed their arrival until today. Kohl was in Rome to watch his West German team win soccer\'s World Cup; Andreotti was there to present it. Bush had been in Houston since Friday, arriving from London, where he saw the NATO allies adopt a U.S. proposal to rewrite NATO\'s war-fighting strategy as a way of lessening tensions with the Soviet Union. Bush, as summit host, received a letter from Gorbachev appealing for western help. Gorbachev\'s latest plea was expected to be aired fully during a working dinner tonight. Pressing the Soviet case, foreign ministry spokesman Gennady Gerasimov said Moscow was shrinking its military and moving toward a market-price system that would curtail Moscow\'s huge subsidies to Cuba.\r\n'),(1681,2,'Bulgaria may send prosecutors to Britain to investigate the 1978 killing of a Bulgarian exile stabbed to death with a poisoned umbrella, the Foreign Office said Friday. Britain has blamed Bulgaria for the death of Georgi Markov, who fled to London in 1969 and worked for the Bulgarian service of the British Broadcasting Corp. He was killed by a poison pellet injected by an umbrella tip as he walked across London\'s Waterloo Bridge in September 1978. British officials suspect the murder was the work of agents of Bulgaria\'s Communist government, which was controlled by hard-liners until last year\'s reforms swept much of Eastern Europe. Britain has pressed the Bulgarian government to take responsibility. A Foreign Office spokesman said Bulgarian Ambassador Dimitar Zhulev told British officials Friday that Bulgaria was willing to send prosecutors to discuss the case with British officials. No date was given for a visit, and there were no further details.\r\n'),